Excerpt from Selkie's Song by Clare Austin

 
A second chance romance, a hint of mythology, the beautiful and fabled land of Ireland - all story elements that are hard to resist and today's book has them all. I have a brief excerpt to share with you. 

Clare Austin submitted her first manuscript to a publisher at the age of eight years. She wishes she still had that rejection letter.

Many years and not a few stories later, with characters knocking at the inside of her cranium and begging to be released, Clare’s romantic comedy, Butterfly, was published. There followed a suspenseful sequel, Angel’s Share, and Hot Flash, a women’s fiction/romance for mature women and the men who love them.

Clare lives in the beautiful Rocky Mountains and enjoys her horses, playing her violin, and traveling to Ireland every summer. 

 Find Clare Online:


Website: www.clareaustin.com
Blog: http://clareaustin.wordpress.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Authorclare

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Headlights flashed as a car rounded the traffic circle, casting a mocking light on the high crosses guarding the souls of the departed.

Muireann expected to hear the rattle of Simon’s old clunker. He’s come to save me from myself. Her heart thumped as a red compact pulled over.

“Lovely evening for a ramble,” he called through the rolled-down window.

“It’s a tradition here in West Ireland,” Muireann shot back.
  
“What’s that? Giving a man a tongue-lashing or walking home in the rain?”

“It’s only a heavy mist,” she called through chattering teeth and kept walking.

The car followed at her pace. “Want a lift?”

“No, thank you. I don’t mind the air.” She stopped beneath a large hanging basket of lobelia to deflect the chill and relentless downpour.

He pulled the car to the roadside, shut down the motor, and stepped out into the street, clicking the door lock behind him.

Muireann rolled her eyes. What was he doing?

He popped the boot and extracted an umbrella.

“Since it’s just a mist and you seem to be enjoying the air…how would you like to show me around this old abbey?”

She should beg off. She should go home. Cú would be waiting. “I really need to be getting on home.”

He stepped to her and stood close, covering them both with his umbrella. The patter of raindrops beat in contradiction to her heart, and she wondered if he could hear the rhythm.

“Surely you won’t refuse me after I came all this way?”

“Took you a while,” she said before thought could stop her tongue.

“Most good things take some time to mature,” he quipped. “May I walk with you?”

The musky perfume of rain on stones and dampened flowers mixed with his scent triggered a
shiver.

 

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They call her Selkie. Muireann O'Malley often felt she was born of the sea but refuses to let sentimentality stand in the way of her crusade to protect the shore she has wandered since a small child. A patch of West Clare, Ireland, and a derelict building are all that stand between the cliffs she loves and the callous grip of progress.

Tynan Sloane should be content with success, but a dream beckons. O'Fallon's Pub in historic downtown Boston is for sale and Tynan wants to make it his. An unexpected inheritance of land in the west of Ireland could provide the financing he needs. He doesn't expect his quick trip to sell the land to rekindle youthful passion.

 Fifteen years ago, they had an adolescent crush. Now disparate ambition and a legend as old as Ireland herself stand between them. Will love and myth collide to bring them together or tear them apart?

 

Publisher: Wild Rose Press

Format: ebook, paperback

Release Date: June 25, 2013

Buying Link: Amazon*

 
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Clare will be awarding a print (US only) or digital copies (international) of the first two books in the series, Butterfly and Angel's Share to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour. Follow the tour and comment; the more you comment, the better your chances of winning. The tour dates can be found here:

http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2013/09/virtual-excerpt-tour-selkies-song-by.html