Galilee
Rising
The Galilee Falls
Trilogy
Book Two
Jennifer Harlow
Jennifer Harlow
Genre: Urban Fantasy Romance
Publisher: Devil on the Left Books
Date of Publication: 12/10/13
ISBN: 978-0-9893944-2-0
(ebook)
ISBN:
978-0-9893944-3-7 (print)
Number of pages: 282
Word Count: 102,000
Cover Artist: Damonza
Book Description:
Love
in the time of superheroes...
The
year since Galilee Falls lost its reigning superhero Justice has not
been kind to Joanna Fallon. She's lost her best friend, her
boyfriend, her badge, even her mind. The city of Galilee Falls hasn't
fared much better with supervillain related crime skyrocketing to
cataclysmic proportions.
Deliverance
for the city arrives in the guise of The Royal Triumvirate--King
Tempest, Lady Liberty, and Lord Nightingale--who vow to be the heroes
the city needs. Salvation for Joanna appears in the brilliant form of
Dr. Jem Ambrose, another lost soul in need of saving. But salvation
comes with a high price.
When
Emperor Cain, an old nemesis of The Triumvirate, decides he will stop
at nothing to make sure there is no city left to defend, it is up to
Joanna to rise not only for her city, for her new love, but for
herself as well…
Excerpt:
His
last words were, “I love you.”
“Joanna?”
My
tear filled eyes fly open, and I spin around. Jem stands a few feet
away, concern radiating from his every pore. His hair is a mess, wild
and his clothes rumpled. No glasses either. He came in a hurry. Not
like him to forget the details. “Joanna, please get away from
there. It’s dangerous.”
I turn
back to the abyss. “I was just thinking. About last words.”
“Last
words?”
“Yeah.
I read the most common are, ‘Oh, shit’ or ‘Oh, God.’ Justin’s
were, ‘I love you.’ He looked me square in the eyes and told me
he loved me. He’d said it in passing a few times, the usual,
‘You’re my friend, I love you,’ type of thing, but deep down I
never really believed him. If he loved me then he should love
me, you know? Like I did him. But at that moment, his last moment, I
finally became a believer. Because that’s what love is, right?
Putting someone before yourself? For twenty years he loved me, and I
think I just now realized he loved me a hell of a lot more than I
loved him. If I even really did love him. Maybe I’m just not
capable of it. Two people were on that fence, and the thought
of letting go never even crossed my mind. Not even for a millisecond.
But it crossed his. Because he was good, and strong, and capable of
the biggest love of all. And he’s dead. And I’m here. It should
have been me.”
“No,”
Jem says forcefully. All of a sudden he’s next to me, grabbing and
turning me toward him. “No.”
“Anyway
you look at it, his life was worth more than mine. I die, a few
people are sad for awhile, but they move on. He dies, the whole city
implodes.” I wipe a tear off my cheek. “Who the hell am I? I’m
nothing. A traumatized alcoholic who ruins everything and everyone
she comes into contact with.”
“That’s
not true.”
“It
is. I hurt everyone I
care about. Justin, Harry, Lucy. I make everything worse. I mean, why
the hell would God let me live when such better people die? Rebecca,
Daisy, my dad, Justin. It-It-It doesn’t make sense.”
“No,
it doesn’t. That’s why it’s the eternal question: why him and
not me? Why does a murderer go free while an innocent man is
convicted? Why does my brother draw breath but Uma doesn’t? There
is no answer, Joanna. I’ve searched for it all my life and haven’t
found a clue. And believe me when I say if you let that question take
over your life, it can nearly destroy you. Pursuing that question
allows guilt to guide your life, and that is no way to live it.” He
closes his eyes. “Believe me.”
He opens his beautiful eyes again, looking square in mine. They’re
brimming with sadness and hope. “You-You turn around and survey
your life, your goals, and you don’t recognize them. Or yourself.
But you continue looking because the quest is all you have. And
you’re alone. So
alone for so long with only that guilt to drive you that when someone
wonderful comes along, so wonderful you actually begin to imagine
another life for yourself full of love and joy, it rocks you to your
core. You’ve seen the dawn after a million starless nights, and
it’s beautiful, but
you’re afraid it’s just an illusion. That it’ll be taken from
you, or that you never really saw it, and you’re alone again once
more with that ache. I don’t want that for you. Justin wouldn’t
either. You survived. You’re alive. So
live.”
I
can’t hold back a moment longer. I fling myself against him,
wrapping my arms around his torso in a hug. His limbs envelop me as I
finally allow myself to burst into tears right against his pulsing
heart. It beats so fast and strong against my cheek. Our limbs
melding, his warm body feeding my cold one, his smell of stale sweat
mixed with faint cologne, all of it bliss.
We
remain like this for one perfect second before I sense him gazing
down at me. I pull apart to look up but don’t dare meet his eyes.
His hands move to my cheeks, cradling my face. His thumbs wipe my
still falling tears, and I place my hands over his. “Please tell me
I’m not crazy,” he whispers desperately. “Please tell me I’m
not imagining this. Please tell me you feel this too. Please.”
I want
to speak, but the words won’t come out. Everything becomes real
when you say it out loud. Somehow I find the courage to gaze into his
eyes, the sadness brimming in them shifts to awe and something else
that scares me to fucking death. I leap away. “I-I have to go. I-I
can’t…I’m sorry. Bye.”
Like
the fucking coward I am, I sprint off that rooftop as fast as I can,
down the stairwell, and out of the hospital before all my resolve
fades. I can’t take much more of this. I can’t keep this up. He
just needs to…no. I stop at the edge of the dark river to catch my
breath. No more. This needs to end one way or another. I’m done.
I
quit.
Buy Links:
Barnes & Noble Nook http://www.barnesandnoble.
Amazon (book form) http://www.amazon.com/
About
the Author:
Jennifer Harlow spent her
restless childhood fighting with her three brothers and scaring the
heck out of herself with horror movies and books. She grew up to earn
a degree at the University of Virginia which she put to use as a
radio DJ, crisis hotline volunteer, bookseller, lab assistant,
wedding coordinator, and government investigator.
Currently she calls
Northern Virginia home but that restless itch is ever present. In her
free time, she continues to scare the beejepers out of herself
watching scary movies and opening her credit card bills. She is the
author of the Amazon best-selling F.R.E.A.K.S. Squad, Midnight Magic
Mystery series and Justice,
the first in the superhero thriller trilogy. For the soundtrack to
her books and other goodies visit her at www.jenniferharlowbooks.com
Twitter:
http://twitter.com/#!/jenharlowbooks
Pinterest:
http://pinterest.com/jenharlowbooks/
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