Tag line:
Anything can happen when the rules change.
Back Cover Blurb:
Jezebel Smith is different. She can’t talk,
she doesn’t look like anyone in her family, and no matter what she does it’s
always the wrong thing. God accepts her for who she is, but He’s the only one
who does. Then she finds an unconscious man in her favorite cave, and her life
is turned upside down. New people and new rules collide with the old, leaving
Jezebel unsure of which set of rules apply to her life. When the strangers in
town attempt to help her out of the nightmare she’s grown up in, it promises to
change her life forever.
Excerpt #1:
The distant
drip of water echoed off the rocky walls as Jezebel Smith wandered through her
cave. Pungent fumes from her kerosene lantern stung her nose, and she wished
for a flashlight. But her family would miss a flashlight. They never noticed
when she took the old lantern from the barn.
Turning her
face away from the lantern, she caught a whiff of the familiar scent of the
rocks around her. She loved the fresh, earthy smell of her cave. Through
countless hours of careful practice, her hiking boots barely produced a whisper
on the bumpy path leading to her special cavern. If she swung the lantern on
its creaky handle, however, she could fill the cave with a creepy echo that
reminded her of Halloween.
She passed
through an opening in the wall and entered a large cavern with several ledges
in one end. As she approached the lowest ledge, the glow from her lantern
touched an unfamiliar lump on the floor below the rocky shelf and she froze.
She knew every inch of this cavern — every rock, ledge, and bump in the floor.
No one ever came here. Nothing ever changed unless she changed it. The cave was
the only thing she could count on to always stay the same.
This time, however, there was something
new. The cave had broken its own rules, adding a boulder where one didn’t
belong. She crept toward it, fighting tears of hurt that the cave would trick
her like everyone else, and the golden light of her lantern revealed it wasn’t
a boulder after all — it was the still form of a man. Her pulse pounded in her
ears, so loud it threatened to drown out her own thoughts. Where had he come
from? Why wasn’t he moving? Her heart skipped a beat. Was he dead?
Excerpt
#2:
Fear shivered
through her that he was sleeping so much. One of her brothers had fallen out of
a tree once and hit his head, and the doctor said they had to keep him from
falling asleep for a while. Jezebel didn’t know if falling off a ledge and
hitting his head made the man have to stay awake or not.
After worrying
for a while longer, she finally decided she’d have to risk a beating from her
parents and go get the doctor. She didn’t know if he’d come, but she had to
try. Daniel was the only person to ever treat her kindly, and he needed help.
She put a
couple more sticks on the fire so it would keep burning while she was gone, and
then she lit the lantern and headed out of the cavern. As she neared the cave
entrance, the flame went out. She slowed her steps and followed the faint glow
of daylight. Hopefully the doctor had a flashlight. When she stepped into the
woods, she set the lantern by the cave entrance and ran toward town. She
practiced saying Daniel’s name while she ran, praying the doctor would come if
she told him the injured man’s name.
As she neared
the edge of town, she slowed down to catch her breath. She hesitantly stepped
onto the main road, terrified at the thought of trying to convince the doctor
to go with her. She’d learned a long time ago that no one believed her about
anything, and since she couldn’t talk, people didn’t understand what she tried
to tell them anyway.
A lot of
strange cars and people clogged the main street through town, and Jezebel
wondered who they were. Unless Reverend Brown was holding one of his many
revivals, the town rarely had many
visitors. As she continued toward the doctor’s office, a woman carrying a stack
of papers walked toward her with a smile. Jezebel stopped, her mind whirling
with uncertainty, and the woman handed her a paper.
“We’re looking
for this man. He went hiking in this area a couple of days ago and didn’t come
back.”
Jezebel studied
the sheet in her hands, and her heart skipped a beat. A picture of Daniel
stared back, and some words had been printed across the bottom in black ink.
She pointed to the photo. “D-Dan... Daniel.”
“That’s right,
his name is Daniel,” the woman said, her tone changing a little. “Have you seen
him?”
Jezebel nodded
and looked back the way she’d come. “C-c-cave.”
“You saw him in
a cave?”
She nodded again, excitement rushing
through her. For the first time in her life, someone understood what she tried
to say. She touched the photograph on the paper, indicating where the cut on
Daniel’s head was. Before she could see if the woman understood, she heard her
older brother spit out her name. She cringed and felt herself shriveling inside.
Buy Links:
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Different-E-West-ebook/dp/B00M0E4ZU0
Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/books/1119984134?ean=2940149685615
Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/460703
Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/books/1119984134?ean=2940149685615
Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/460703
Author Bio:
E.A. West, award-winning author of sweet
and inspirational romance, is a lifelong lover of books and storytelling. In
high school, she picked up her pen in a creative writing class and hasn’t laid
it down yet. When she isn’t writing, she enjoys reading, knitting, and crocheting.
She lives in Indiana with her family and a small zoo of pets.
Where
to Find Me:
Website: http://eawest.mcphitty.com
Blog: http://thewestcorner.wordpress.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/EA-West/34280264617
Twitter: http://twitter.com/eawest
Google+: http://plus.google.com/107709864908331978411/posts
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/authoreawest
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/eawest
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