Banish (Soul
Retrievers)
by Nicola Marsh
Release Date: 05/26/15
264 pages
Summary from Goodreads:
Alyssa
has one week to destroy her enemy, save her spirit... and save her soul.
After her ex-boyfriend commits suicide and her mum’s alcoholism sparks yet another psychotic episode, seventeen-year-old Alyssa Wood flees her small hometown of Broadwater and heads to New York City to stay with her bohemian aunt — a Wicca High Priestess.
Alyssa revels in the anonymity of a big city and her new life. Her grades climb, she has a new best friend, and a new guy: the sexy geek Ronan — a saxophone player who prefers jazz to pop.
But her newfound peace is soon shattered when she sees a dead body in one of Ronan’s music clips — and she’s the only one who can see it. Worse still, Alyssa recognises the body that has been murdered a week forward!
Alyssa doesn’t believe in the supernatural...despite her family’s Wicca background. So how will she overcome evil when it’s closer than she thinks?
After her ex-boyfriend commits suicide and her mum’s alcoholism sparks yet another psychotic episode, seventeen-year-old Alyssa Wood flees her small hometown of Broadwater and heads to New York City to stay with her bohemian aunt — a Wicca High Priestess.
Alyssa revels in the anonymity of a big city and her new life. Her grades climb, she has a new best friend, and a new guy: the sexy geek Ronan — a saxophone player who prefers jazz to pop.
But her newfound peace is soon shattered when she sees a dead body in one of Ronan’s music clips — and she’s the only one who can see it. Worse still, Alyssa recognises the body that has been murdered a week forward!
Alyssa doesn’t believe in the supernatural...despite her family’s Wicca background. So how will she overcome evil when it’s closer than she thinks?
EXCERPT
Curious, I shifted closer to
the screen. The shot narrowed and swiveled lower, moving past a bucket chair in
a dingy corner, grazing across pockmarked floorboards, before landing on a hand
painted wooden trunk in the middle of the floor.
I squinted, making out some
kind of Chinese carving of two ladies posing in front of a jade screen, with a
whole bunch of letters etched around the edges. It jarred, surprisingly exotic
and out of place with what I’d seen of Ronan’s recording studio in the clip so
far.
The camera swept upwards,
showing a stainless steel oblong calendar, a chrome lamp, a pale blue porcelain
bowl filled with Tibetan prayer beads and a leather-bound journal perched on
top of the trunk. Odd, I’d never picked Roman as the prayer type. As the shot
swung wider I glimpsed two pillows propped behind the trunk on the floor and,
as the camera panned, someone sleeping on their side.
A girl. With bad taste in
clothes, going by her faded camouflage harem pants and splotchy crimson halter
and purple sneakers.
Annoyed at the instant flare
of jealousy, I closed my eyes for a second and rubbed them. Ronan seemed like a
stand-up guy. He wouldn’t have asked me out if he had a girl- friend—one with
shocking fashion sense who liked to take naps on the floor.
Taking a calming breath, I
opened my eyes and refocused. On that ugly red halter-top. And how the
splotches seemed to have seeped into the girl’s skin, tattooing her in a random
gross pattern.
My breath quickened as I
leaned so far forward my nose almost touched the screen. The crimson darkened
in patches. At odds with any commercial dye job.
That’s when I saw it.
The deep red pool spreading
beneath her torso and staining the floor.
The puckering of her skin
beneath her arm.
The gaping gash as the arm
fell forward, revealing a horrific crisscross pattern of slashes.
One-second time frames
depicting a horror I couldn’t contemplate.
I stared at the screen in
revulsion, transfixed, not daring to comprehend.
The camera panned back to
the calendar: November 11.
Seven days from today.
A whole week leading up to
the murder of a faceless girl.
Slain on my boyfriend’s
floor.
A silent scream wedged in my
throat, choking, struggling to get out. I shut down the clip with shaky
fingers.
This couldn’t be real.
Unless...
I almost wished the horror
I’d glimpsed on that screen was real, for if it wasn’t then I had a far greater
horror to face.
The possibility I’d imagined
the entire episode.
Just like Mom.
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About the Author
USA TODAY bestselling author and multi-award winner Nicola Marsh writes flirty fiction with flair for adults and riveting, spooky stories for teens.
USA TODAY bestselling author and multi-award winner Nicola Marsh writes flirty fiction with flair for adults and riveting, spooky stories for teens.
She
has published 54 contemporary romances with Harlequin, Entangled Publishing and
indie, and sold over 6 million copies worldwide. Her first mainstream romance
BUSTED IN BOLLYWOOD was nominated for Romantic Book of the Year 2012. Her first
indie romance, CRAZY LOVE, was a 2012 ARRA finalist.
Her
YA urban fantasy SCION OF THE SUN won the 2014 National Readers’ Choice Award
for Best Young Adult novel.
She’s
also a Waldenbooks, Bookscan and Barnes & Noble bestseller, a 2013 RBY
(Romantic Book of the Year) and National Readers’ Choice Award winner, and a
multi-finalist for a number of awards including the Romantic Times Reviewers’
Choice Award, HOLT Medallion, Booksellers’ Best, Golden Quill, Laurel Wreath, More
than Magic and has also won several CataRomance Reviewers’ Choice Awards.
A
physiotherapist for thirteen years, she now adores writing full time, raising
her two little heroes, sharing fine food with family and friends, and her
favorite, curling up with a good book!
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