Title: Bird With a Broken Wing & That Summer: Two Sweet and Scary Tales For All Ages
Author: Theresa Dale
Genre: Supernatural Thriller
Book Blurb:
In this collection:
Bird With A Broken Wing - A fourteen-year-old girl living in a rural community of Nova Scotia, a group of neighborhood kids, and hours spent exploring or just hanging out in the woods and on the train tracks along the river. Bird With A Broken Wing brings us back to a time when the best thing about evenings and weekends was heading outside to find your friends - but there is nothing typical about Margot's new friend, Wren. And the new family at the bottom of the hill knows why. Just as she tries to accept her feelings of being perpetually left behind, Margot discovers some of the different faces of love in the most unexpected way.
That Summer - Twelve-year-old Peyton is dealing with an Asperger's diagnosis and a summer spent away from her parents. Everything changes for her that summer, but it takes some new friends - live and ghosts alike - to get through it all. In the end, she not only learns that being herself is her best option, but that she can make a positive difference in the lives of others, too.
Excerpt from Bird With a Broken Wing:
“You want to talk to him?” Margot asked.
Chris looked around. Everything was still, even the trees. Finally, he met her gaze, nodding.
Margot walked a few steps away, thinking of Wren. Picturing his eyes. Remembering the way he held her hands when he apologized for not helping her when she fell. She felt her consciousness change, open up to him. “Wren?” she said, her voice barely a whisper.
And he was there.
“Hey, Margot,” he said from behind her, and she turned, already smiling.
“You’re looking good,” she responded. “Healthy,” she said, her eyes going directly to his clean hair and complete pair of shoes.
“Enjoy it while it lasts,” he joked. He raised a bent arm, resting his elbow on Chris’s shoulder.
Margot looked at Chris for the first time since Wren had appeared. He was looking sideways in Wren’s direction. Then he looked at her. “I FEEL HIM, MARGOT,” he whispered, loudly.
Wren smiled. “Something feels different, Margot. It was so easy to – be here – this time. I felt you before I saw you. When you said my name, I was just here. I didn’t even have to will it to happen.”
“I’ve been wondering how it works, me seeing you. I wondered if I could help, so I was concentrating on reaching out to you, even before I said your name.”
Wren shrugged, letting his arm drop. Chris instantly raised his opposite hand to his shoulder, looking at Margot.
“You really do feel him,” she said, in awe. “Can you see – anything?”
Chris shook his head, his hand still rubbing his shoulder.
“Whatever you did, it worked,” Wren said, approaching her. Then, motioning with his thumb toward Chris, “Are you aware of how much this guy likes you?” he asked, a twinkle in his incredible eyes.
Margot smiled. “People have told me -” she broke off and looked at Chris.
“Just tell him I saw you first,” Wren smiled and Margot smiled, charmed.
“What’s he saying?” Chris asked quietly.
“Um -” Margot struggled with how to respond.
Wren made a motion toward Chris. “Tell him,” he said, a challenge in his eyes.
Not one to back away from a challenge, Margot took a breath. “He told me you like me,” she started.
“DUH,” Chris said, and Wren looked surprised, and then impressed.
“AND he told me to make sure you know that he saw me first!” she finished, feeling giddy.
“Oh, is that so?” Chris said, folding his arms. “How does he plan to compete with someone who’s actually here – like, physically?” Chris asked, a smile on his face, too.
“Nobody’s competing for anybody!” Margot said, a laugh in her voice.
Wren looked at her intensely. “I really do wish my timing was better,” he said, so quietly that the sound of his voice raised the hairs on the back of Margot’s neck.
She looked sideways at Chris. “He really is smooth,” she said, and both boys laughed.
Excerpt from That Summer:
Peyton quickly lost herself in the rows of the garden, examining each group of plants to see how they were coming along. Most were babies, their leaves still bright green. But Gram hadn’t lied; the lettuce was bordering on bushy. Peyton paused, looking back toward the peas, their delicate vines twisting around and grasping the tall stakes and the mesh in between with curling tendrils. Starting toward them, she thought, I’ll get the lettuce after the peas; the leaves won’t wilt as much that way. She grinned, impressed with her own forward thinking.
She delighted in choosing which peas to pick, running her fingers along the pods, feeling for size and shape. She’d chosen several handfuls-worth and was ready to turn back for the lettuce when she heard a sound from the direction of the trees at the edge of the property. She brought a hand up to shield her eyes from the waning sunlight and looked, expecting to see the rabbit at the very least, but she could see nothing out of the ordinary. She turned back toward the lettuce, but then it came again. She spun once more, and there he was. The boy. He was in shadow, but Peyton recognized his lean, tall figure and the way he leaned against the trunk of a tree. Now he stood straight and motioned for her to come closer.
She started, but paused, looking back toward the house. Conflicted, she turned toward the boy, whose hands appeared to be in his pockets, now. What am I supposed to do? She grimaced. She had promised her father she’d figure out how to be “normal”. But did that have to mean all the time? What about when she was alone and nobody could see her? Could she be herself then?
That noise again. What is that? Her feet started moving toward the trees before she had finished turning back around. Guess I’m going to find out, she resolved, partially thankful her body had made the decision for her.
The boy seemed anxious, hopping from one foot to the other. Peyton noted inwardly that he was dry this time, and his blonde hair feathered dramatically away from his face. She was still studying his hair as she approached him. She pointed, asking, “How do you get it to stay like that?”
He rolled his large eyes, then opened his mouth to reply, but water gushed out instead of words. Peyton dodged to the side with a squeal. She remembered the basket and checked the peas. Dry. Good. She ruminated on them, though, considering the guilt of bringing peas that had in any way been contaminated by vomited water of a – friend – to the table.
A sound from beside her made her jerk her gaze from the peas back to his mouth, which was still trying to work around the words it wished to say. Peyton went closer; perhaps he was whispering. But it didn’t sound like a whisper. It sounded like gurgling.
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Why is your featured book a must-read?
For me, these are the books that started my indie journey. I’d written Rose’s Ghost, but wanted to learn how to use Amazon to publish before unleashing Rose. I also wanted to grow a reader base and get my name out there a bit, first. So, I wrote Bird With A Broken Wing on my blog, a chapter a day, and then wrote That Summer in about a week, then used them to figure out Amazon’s KDP and got them up and running. I’ve since reworked them, but they’re not perfect as far as formatting and style is concerned. I’ve improved in the dozen or so books I’ve written since then! Still, I loves these stories, and have put them together so readers can enjoy them both.
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Author Biography:
Combining a lifelong love of words and a penchant for all things supernatural, Theresa delights in enticing readers with lovable characters, then spooking them with unexpected twists. Theresa lives with her husband and children in Gatineau, Québec.
Social Media Links:
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/dashboard