Pandora #Paranormal Box Set Author Showcase: Louise Caiola

I am honored to feature bestselling author Louise Caiola today. Her new novella, What Truly Knows will be a part of Pandora. It's so exciting to join with so many great writers in this project!

Blurb:

She was born with the Magical Knowing – a gift, some said. A curse, said others. But for Truly, it was the very thing meant to save her life. If it didn’t kill her first.

Excerpt:
Mama said that eighteen years ago I was plucked from her belly with the Magical Knowing right there waiting for me. She said it was like somehow I knew there’d been a cord wound tight as an ole’ clock spring round my neck, keeping me from my rightful first breath of life. And yet, I wasn’t bothering with fussing over it, ‘cause just as soon as those doctors wrestled me free, the story goes, I looked Mama square in the eye and winked. Much as it sounded like a whole mess of hogwash, Mama swore on the Holy Book that it was true. I reckon she oughta know for real. Though some said Mama did her fair share of fibbing, when it came to the Magical Knowing, Mama didn’t lie.
It was on account of this that I had a horrible feeling someone was due to be dying on Skinners Bridge that night. With the Magical Knowing a person could sense beginnings and endings real clear, the way some folks could tell if it was planning to rain by the way their joints started up with aching. I was hoping it wouldn’t be so. Really hoping.
But then there was that moon that hung over our heads, all crimson-colored and with a mean look on its face. If that wasn’t a deadly moon I don’t know what was.
Locals in Madison County, Alabama say that Skinners had seen its equal split of love and tragedies. Seeing as how it was situated at the butt end of nothing more than some silly little lake, a chunk of trees, and practically no light, kids for years saw fit to visit and do the things nature led ‘em to. Mama says most girls around these parts had babies brewing in their britches from the time they could toddle across the kitchen floor. Lots of those young’uns were shot from their daddy’s lustful limbs right down under those wide oak, only yards from the mouth of the bridge.
As for the tragic part, well that was a tale for unfolding like a linen hanky in a dainty lady’s lap. This was how the Magical Knowing grew into more than Mama or I had ever imagined it could – in a calamity that intended to be much, much more.
On the night in question, Ridley Fisher and I were set to meet Jayden Collins at Skinners to square matters. Jayden had been all bowed up over the very notion that Ridley, who’d arrived in my universe all the way from South Africa if you can imagine that, was fixing to steal my heart and all that went along with it. Not that Jayden and I were a thing. At best we were the very closest a boy and girl could be without ever having locked lips. Our houses were so near you could lie down in between them and have your head in his garden, your toes in mine. Suppose that was one of the reasons Jayden felt like he had some ownership of me, since we’d been next-door neighbors for six years and counting.
Didn’t matter none that when it came to my affection, it wasn’t a lick of Jayden’s concern. Didn’t matter none that Jayden could have practically had me a hundred times over if he really tried. Which he never had up till then, and thusly my heart was officially up for the taking.

About Louise:
Louise Caiola, former administrative assistant and small business owner, has authored several works of genre fiction, including WISHLESS, released in 2011, and THE MAKING OF NEBRASKA BROWN, an Amazon bestseller released in 2014. Her two-book short story collection PETIT FLEURS and VIGNETTES will be released in September 2014.
Louise has just wrapped up work on the first installment of a romantic fiction series, LITTLE MAY BIRDS. She has also begun crafting another contemporary mystery entitled COUNTING SNOW DOVES. WHAT TRULY KNOWS is her first paranormal novella debuting on August 5, 2014.
Visit her at www.louisecaiola.com or on Twitter via @AuthorLouiseC and @lcwritten.

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The Making of Nebraska Brown Review and Guest Post

Today I'd like to welcome Louise Caiola to Trip the Eclipse. Her new book The Making of Nebraska Brown has just been released.

Blurb (From Amazon):
The last thing eighteen-year-old Ann Leigh remembers is running from her boyfriend in a thick Nebraska cornfield. This morning she’s staring down a cool Italian sunrise, an entire continent from the life she once knew. The events of the eighteen months in between have inexplicably gone missing from her memory. 

All at once she’s living with Tommy, an attractive, young foreigner asking for her continued love. Though he’s vaguely familiar, she recalls a boy named Shane in America who she reluctantly agreed to marry. Juggling a new world while her old one is still M.I.A is difficult enough without the terrifying movie scenes spinning a dizzy loop in her mind: glimpses of a devastating house fire, a romance gone wrong, an unplanned pregnancy, and a fractured family – each claiming to be part of who she once was – a girl and a past somehow discarded. 

Ann Leigh must collect the pieces of herself to become whole again, but she doesn’t know who to trust especially when Tommy’s lies become too obvious to ignore. And above all, her heart aches to discover what became of the child she may or may not have given birth to. 

The Making of Nebraska Brown tells the story of one girl’s coming apart from the inside and the great lengths she’ll go to reclaim herself and find her way home.

Review:
This isn't my usual genre. As all of you who come to my blog know, I’m more a paranormal type of girl. However I found the story to be highly engrossing. We have a whole mystery to discover who Ann Leigh or Ana Lisa really is.

Ann Leigh has quite a few flaws. She’s spoiled, impulsive, and a bit brash, but I still liked her. She wasn’t going to let herself be sidetracked by the honeyed words of her boyfriend Tommy, especially when she suspected something was wrong. Tommy himself had me on ups and downs. I was torn between thinking her really loved her and that he was playing her in some way.

This book kept me reading into a couple late nights just so I can find out what truly happened. This one had me guessing until the end. If you like a cozy mystery and a story about self-realization, then you should really pick up this book.

The Making of Nebraska Brown is Published by Immortal Ink Publishing.

Guest Post: The Joys of the First Draft

There's something inherently beautiful about the firsts of the world. I can rattle some right off the top of my head that are pretty dang cool. The first date followed swiftly by the first kiss.  First place (in pretty much everything.) First words. First steps. First birthday. First car. Okay, you get the gist.
But what about the writer’s first draft. His/her maiden voyage on the literary sea? How goes it?
Typically – not such a beautiful thing.
Most times the first drafts are fraught with plot holes, unintended character flaws, typos, grammar grunge and repetitive words enough to fill an entire second draft. However, there is something naturally pretty about this initial piece of work. Something joyful. Now, before you assume that I must be inhaling those glue fumes again, I will explain.
Let’s call it abandon. For some writers the first draft is where we get to clomp around in our mommy’s shoes. This is our chance to try the story on for size. To experiment with the phrases until we stumble upon the exact right ones. The first drafts allow us to spew forth from our creative gut those lovely lines that feel so right before we are forced, via editing and revision, to discard those very same lovelies. This is the place for our mistakes to see the light of day – if only long enough for us to learn from them.
Each and every writer strives for that perfect end product. Their masterpiece. These results are nearly never just our own doing. Just as it takes a village to raise a child – it takes a team to raise a book baby. But those first drafts are our proof that we had the what-for to set pen to page. To make our mark. Bravely and alone.  An important first among them all.

About Louise:
As a young girl who spent her allowance on Nancy Drew mysteries, Louise realized that one day, she might have a story of her own to tell. Maybe even more than one story. After years focused on raising her children she eventually reconnected with her passion for creative writing. She soon began to craft a large collection of short stories which were published in the inspirational online magazine, Faithhopeandfiction.com. Shortly thereafter, she authored her first novel, Wishless, a contemporary YA, released in 2011.

Louise devotes a portion of each day to honing her skills. She has several other novels currently in various stages of development. A confirmed bibliophile, Louise enjoys reading outdoors on a warm spring day and watching her pup chase leaves on a breeze. She looks forward to meeting others who share her love of the written word and invites you to visit her blog, her website and follow her on Twitter and Facebook.

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