Sunday Snippet: The Souvenir (an Academy of Light novella)

Well, July is off to a banging start. Heat wave, the holiday weekend, and a lot of things converging at once. I've been a little off also. Not sure if it's menopause hormones or just general fatigue, but it's been a long week.

We should get a bit of relief from the extreme temperatures when some rain moves through over the next few days. I'll welcome the lower heat indexes.

Work is staying busy. I had a couple of great calls with potential author clients, and I'm excited to see where those go. I have project that shifted to the back burner that needs attention this week, hopefully tomorrow. I also had a project that might be coming back … again. It's the one that won't die, but thankfully, the revisions are all author requests and nothing concerning the edits. Whew. Moved a few smaller things in and out, which is always fun to break up the week. Almost finished with a manuscript proofread of a thriller that has a lot of twists and turns. I need to finish a written assessment on a read through of the opening book to a five-book series sometime this week also.

Had an okay viewing week. Didn't quite make it all the way through my usual shows but didn't do terrible either. I think the heat makes it hard to focus on more than one thing so the entertainment took a back seat to my work projects.

Started the week with another behind-the-scenes bonus episode of Foyle's War. This one focused on the historical recreations for the final episode and I thoroughly enjoyed the interviews.

Caught another episode of Tales of Irish Castles. We're into the seventeenth century, which apparently saw a lot of upheaval.

Finished up the second half of Silent Witness. Again, very interesting how closely related to reality this season has been. I also think I'm liking how there seems to be an overarching thread that's following through all the episodes. That's not really standard or hasn't been for this series.

Watched another episode of Poirot and enjoyed the twists and turns. I love it when Poirot questions what he sees with his own eyes to solve the mystery.

Elementary had a great episode. Seeing the fallout from Shinwell's actions is interesting and I kind of hope there's some redemption there. The case itself ended up being really twisty and wildly bizarre as well.

That's all I had time for this week and that's it for the life update. Tonight's post is from The Souvenir, a fun novella about mages who are finding their way to each other.

Here's the miniblurb:

Melick Traynor and Ramona Peartry, childhood friends and top students in the Academy of Light, compete for prominence in their respective classes. But when Melick throws out a challenge, Ramona takes an insane risk to prove him wrong and winds up tangling with the dragon plaguing campus grounds.

And a preview snippet…

Melick raked a hand through his hair. "I can't be her precept anymore." Okay … he could be, if she didn't feel the same way he felt about her.

But … her parting shot before they took her to the healing chamber made him wonder. What if she felt the same way about him? That could get tricky. And Melick didn't want to damage her progression through the levels of illumination. If word got out that the heir apparent and the mage's ward were involved, others would scream favoritism. Not that they didn't already but hooking up with Ramona while being her guide would cause major problems.

The whole situation tonight showed Melick something profound. He had to get a grip on how he felt, make sure Ramona had the same inclination toward him, and find a way to make sure nothing blew up in their faces.

The timing would have to be pitch perfect. "And I'll have it even worse being that my grandfather is the Mage Superior." Master Sawitch would have a field day and try every play in the book to remove Melick from the higher adept position if Sawitch even caught a whiff of Melick's plans.

Melick stared down the corridor where they'd taken Ramona. Thinking she'd been gone for good had definitely affected him greatly. But how did the experience affect her?

He only had one option. "I'm done wondering what if." He grinned to himself.

Having a solid idea of how to possibly test the waters, he made a quick stop or two to gather a few things he'd need. For once, he took a page out of Ramona's playbook and didn't think too far in advance. He'd worry about the fallout later.

With purposeful strides, Melick walked toward the infirmary, rewinding his last conversation with Ramona in his head. She'd be very surprised when she saw what he had planned for her. And he'd know for sure what step he had to take next…

This is such a fun story to write. Melick and Ramona are kind of destined but they have to get out of their own way first.

 

That's it for this week.

Cheers!

Skye