Maureen Willett
Genre: Paranormal Romance/Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Publish Green
ISBN: 978-1-62652
ASIN: B00ED1WLCW
Number of pages: 251
Word Count: 92,317
Book Description:
Hunter Blackthorne has almost all he needs: powerful magic and the seductive art of deception. Now, all he needs is her soul.
In the dark, twisting world of The Soul Stealer, half-human Hunter Blackthorne embarks on a quest to vanquish the heir of his father's enemy by stealing her soul. Though his father would settle for her mere death, Hunter is determined to pilfer Malia Smalls' very essence in hopes of obtaining supreme power. The Soul Stealer is a story of questioned loyalties, power struggles, and decidedly unconventional romance.
Since his target is a mere human, Hunter's mission seems laughably straightforward. However, upon meeting Malia, Hunter realizes that this task is anything but uncomplicated. Hunter starts to waver between commitment to his father's cause and an unshakable feeling of foreboding guilt over his mission. Hunter thought he knew everything there was to know about his identity and his family, but signs of a darker truth lurk below, threatening to overturn everything.
A story of alternate realities and twisting complications set in exotic Hawaii, The Soul Stealer is a story of fantasy, magic and mysticism, but also a story about humanity and the moral and emotional conflicts that we all face. The Soul Stealer transports the reader to an exciting, dangerous, and captivating world that won't be easily forgotten.
CHAPTER ONE
Hunter Blackthorne had seen the face of death on others and now wondered how it might look on him. The journey through the abyss to another reality proved more difficult than before. Loud, torturous screams filled the silence as he churned around and around. It didn’t matter if he closed his eyes or not, because the bleak darkness made it impossible to see. Maybe the screams belonged to him. Hunter wasn’t sure. He was in an often-used wormhole and anyone could be in there.
The journey ended with a gut-wrenching fall as he dropped through layers of atmosphere to reach the portal—the one place where the wormhole was soft enough to get through. Wind whipped around and penetrated his body with sharp force. Then, light increased and the ground pulled at him, getting closer and closer, until he could no longer refuse his destination. The twirling before his eyes stopped just in time to gain control and ease the point of impact.
As he touched down, he gulped in warm, moist air, but he was too dizzy to maintain footing and fell flat on his back. Life-ending pain seeped into his pores like poison, but he was pretty sure he hadn’t died.
He never landed in the same place on the island but, even so, he felt more disoriented than usual. The soothing coconut tree palms swaying in the breeze overhead were not an unexpected sight but much too serene for the way he felt. Even the scent of gardenias couldn’t ease the pounding in his head. Souls cried out in anguish all around him.
The toxins of the abyss mixed with the pollution of this reality were already affecting his ability to focus. He needed to purify in a quiet place; gather his thoughts and feelings in meditation. Whenever he traveled here, Hunter marveled at how much the humans in this reality had snuffed out their ability to live harmoniously, even in the most remote place on the planet, one heralded as “paradise.”
Hawaii was one of the few places that was still forming, spitting fire and rocks from the belly of volcanoes. And with that new life came all sorts of mystical creatures, attracted to the power and magic of the heart of Earth. The strong magnetic field around the active volcanoes pulled the portal out of the clouds and toward the land, but the unsuspecting people inhabiting the islands had no idea that all sorts--good and bad--came through the funnel from inner space.
Hunter had been to Hawaii many times and had seen it disintegrate over the years--an unfortunate thing, for soon the portal between the two realities would be clogged with all the crap they let seep into their air, and no one would be able to get through. It was of the utmost importance he capture her this time, because he might not have access to this world in the future.
That would heartbreaking; he liked it here despite all the flaws. It was so easy to fool everyone into believing he was human. In this tarnished, stale world, unlike that of his own reality, no one believed in magic anymore. It was quite freeing. No one got suspicious of him the way they did at home.
Hunter got to his knees and brushed off the dust from his clothes but then looked around to make sure no one was there to see the glittery sparkles flying all around a man who had just fallen from the sky. It was then he noticed all the broken and faded headstones with barely discernible engravings. Some were written in Chinese or Japanese characters, but most were in English. None had flowers by them. Green moss and ferns overwhelmed each plot. Hunter
smiled as he ran his fingers over the smooth headstone he had hit on the way down. This particular spirit was no longer around. Not even remnants still existed.
A crack of thunder made him look up. The air felt heavy with moisture as black clouds roiled overhead, and the pungent smell of rain hitting hot pavement somehow seemed real even though the squall wouldn’t hit for a few more minutes. As with most island storms, it would pass quickly, but the downpour would be harsh while it lasted.
The small square cemetery was enclosed with a wrought-iron, spiky fence that was discolored and mossy. Outside cars whizzed by. Indeed, no one noticed him standing there, looking as disheveled and worn as the gravestones, surrounded by death in the bustling city of Honolulu.
Another crack of thunder made Hunter grab his leather satchel and vault over the fence. He ran to the nearest awning, stumbling toward the doorway of a nearby electronics store to wait for the storm to pass. It was then he checked the front pocket of his leather bag to make sure he still had it. As his fingers grasped the cool, smooth emerald and ivory handle of the dagger, Hunter wondered if he would find her this time. He almost hoped she’d be able to resist him.
Most of the time, he hated inflicting pain, but this time there would be pleasure, too. The taste of her lips played heavily on his imagination, and he anticipated being captivated by the slanted green eyes and golden hair he had seen so many times in his visions. Yes, he would find selfish pleasure in this particular task. His father had devised the plan well, but even he didn’t understand what it truly meant to Hunter—the power it would give him to capture their enemy’s only heir.
But life got in the way. A successful career in automotive journalism and public relations in Los Angeles took her places in the corporate world she had dreamed of while majoring in communications in college. Climbing the corporate ladder to vice president of a prestigious public relations agency was engrossing, but did she really want to spend her days writing about cars and monster trucks, and trying to break through the thick glass ceiling of the automotive world?
Then one day, she was offered a transfer to the Honolulu, Hawaii, office of her agency. She jumped at the chance to change her predictable and stressful existence for one of soaking up the sun on a white, sandy beach. Or so she thought.
Hawaii didn’t prove to be as stress free as Maureen had hoped, but it did offer a fresh perspective. After two uncertain years of trying to blend into the foreign island culture, Maureen fell in love with Oahu and vowed never to leave. The tropical paradise held a soft yet powerful mysticism that inspired her to set pen to paper once again.
Even the office buildings in downtown Honolulu were haunted. Maureen often saw ethereal beings in the halls of the radio station where she was the manager of local and national sales. These pesky pieces of grey mist didn’t bother her, though. Maureen thought of them more as interesting topics for urban fantasy tales than scary apparitions.
Magical creatures pop off the pages of her novels, but at the core of each story are great characters in very human conflicts that anyone will find compelling. Very often, Maureen writes about angels, faeries, and even leprechauns, but they are always woven through an authentic story.
As an avid reader herself, Maureen wants a page-turner that keeps her up until the wee hours of morning. She strives to create that same experience for her own readers. Each novel is carefully crafted as an exciting, mind-bending experience that will take readers beyond their day-to-day lives.
But don’t expect to think too hard, or contemplate the meaning of life. Pure fun and page-turning entertainment is what you’ll find in a novel by Maureen Willett. It’s almost a magical experience.
Website: www.maureenwillett.com
Twitter: @maureenwillett
Facebook: www.bit.ly/soulstealerseries
Thanks for introducing me to Maureen Willet's book The Soul Stealer.
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