Dark Promise Excerpt and Giveaway

Dark Promise
Julia Crane & Talia Jager
Release date: July 28, 2012
Age Group/Genre: YA fantasy/paranormal

Synopsis

Rylie has it all - great friends, dream boy, loving family. But on the eve of her sixteenth birthday, her perfect little world shatters. A stranger claiming to be her real mother appears with a secret: Rylie is a faery whose powers will be unleashed on her birthday. Captured and forced into a new life, Rylie struggles to keep everything she loves and discovers a terrifying truth: some promises cannot be broken.

EXCERPT

My mother led her into the living room. The lady’s piercing green eyes rested on me,
sending a chill down my back. My father followed her gaze. “Rylie, do you know this woman?”
Dad asked.
“No.” I shook my head slowly. “I’ve never seen her before.”
“Rylie, maybe you should go to your room,” Dad suggested, his gaze demanding I do as he
said.
“No. If this has something to do with me, I want to hear it.” I crossed my arms and sank
against the back of the couch.
Mom and Dad exchanged a worried glance, but turned back to the lady on the
couch. “Please, go on.”
Without taking her eyes from me, the lady calmly stated, “My name is Azura, and I am
Rylie’s birth mother.”
My father, who was always a level-headed man, was on his feet in seconds, his face
hard. “What are you talking about?”
I felt like I had fallen into some kind of parallel universe. Did this woman just say she was
my birth mother? How could she be my birth mother? That would mean I was adopted, but
wouldn’t my parents have told me something like that?
My mother shook her head. “Birth mother? Rylie isn’t adopted.” She reached over and took
my hand. “Believe me, I’ll never forget the eleven hours of labor.”
The woman sat perfectly still in the blue armchair across from us, with her hands clasped on
her lap. “I know it’s hard to accept, but it’s true. Your daughter died shortly after she was born. I
switched the infants. Rylie is mine.”
The wind left me as if I had been punched in the stomach. I couldn’t breathe, and the room
spun. I gripped the pillow next to me with my other hand as I clung to my mother.
Silence filled the room for a moment, and then my father exploded. “You need to leave
now!” He pointed to the door. “Get out of this house and don’t come back without a court order.”
The lady smiled sincerely, her face still as calm as it had been when she walked in the
door. “Please, hear me out. I realize this is a lot to take in.”
“No! This is preposterous! Nobody died. Rylie is ours.” Dad’s voice was like thunder.
I studied the lady. She seemed so honest and soft-spoken. Why would she pretend
something like this? Why would she ruin our family if it weren’t true? And if was true, why was
she coming clean now? Something in me believed her even though I didn’t want to. I swallowed
hard and rubbed my sweaty palms on my shirt.
“Let her talk,” I said hoarsely.
“Rylie, you can’t believe her.” Dad looked stricken.
“I’m curious as to why she thinks I’m her daughter. Let’s hear her out.” I crossed my arms
and scooted closer to my mother, comforted when she wrapped an arm around me.
Dad turned back to the woman called Azura, and his frown deepened. “Fine.” He sat back
down in his seat and glared. “Talk.”
“Thank you. I’m going to tell you something not many humans know, and I have to trust
you to keep it secret for Rylie’s sake.” She addressed the statement to my parents.
Humans? Who talks like that?

SOCIAL MEDIA
Julie Crane’s website: http://www.juliacraneauthor.com/
Facebook for Julia Crane: http://www.facebook.com/julia.crane.5
Twitter for Julia Crane: @JuliaCrane2, https://twitter.com/#!/JuliaCrane2
Twitter for Talia Jager: @TaliaJagar, https://twitter.com/taliajager
Talia Jagar’s blog: http://taliajager.blogspot.com/
Facebook for Talia Jagar: http://www.facebook.com/authortaliajager 

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