Title: Our Souls to Keep
Author: Gary Caruso
Genre: Dark YA, Romantic Thriller 15+
Blitz Host: Lady Amber's
Tours
Synopsis:
After seventeen-year-old Wake Reynolds agrees to sacrifice
his soul to protect his suicidal mother from the fiery tortures of Hell,
Satan strips him of his humanity and forces him to become a demonic
collector of souls. With no memory of his human existence, Wake spends
years in loyal service—but something within him is changing. His stolen
human emotions are beginning to return.
As Wake struggles to keep
his new sensations hidden, Satan orders him to corrupt the soul of a
pregnant girl, Annemarie. Beautiful, gentle Annemarie. From the moment
Wake sees her, she brings lightness to his blackened heart, dampening
his loneliness, fueling his passion. If he chooses to defy Satan and
spare the lives of Annemarie and her unborn child, his mother’s soul
will writhe in Hell’s deepest pit for eternity. Annemarie or his mother?
It’s a choice no one should have to make.
Author Bio:
Gary Caruso lives in northern Virginia with his wife Jill, but their
favorite place is in Ohio with their three beautiful grandchildren.
Although Gary is exhilarated when he sits down to write, teaching
middle school science is his first love. He’s passionate about empowering
students to make thoughtful decisions and positive choices in life.
Gary enjoys reading, especially fiction that blurs the line between
what’s real and what’s fantasy. He never imagined becoming a writer
until an ordinary car ride on a spring day jolted an unlikely thought
into his head. Gary’s early experience writing is a reminder that
no matter how intimidating the challenge, action and determination are
the foundations for fulfilling any dream. Gary has an insatiable love
for writing, a blessing he’s excited to share with his readers.
Links:
Excerpt:
The crowd thins,
eventually leaving Annemarie and me alone in the hallway. She gathers
her books and turns, quicker than I expect. I can’t maneuver out of
her way. Our collision is mild, but jarring enough to dislodge the books
from her hands.
“I’m
so sorry,” she says as she kneels to pick up her scattered books.
I should
be helping her, but my eyes are fixed on her graceful movements. Her
long brown hair has fallen to the side, exposing the back of her softly
curved neck, and every reach for a stray book lengthens her back and
shoulders, inviting my touch. From the lowest point, just above the
waist of her jeans, the tip of my finger would snake upward, navigating
the gentle ridge of her spine until my hand laces through the richness
of her flowing hair.
She
tilts her head upward and grins at me. “Are you okay?”
Her
voice snaps me from my fantasy. “Me? Yeah, I’m…fine. Oh, god.
I’m so sorry. I should be picking up your books. You’re…you know.”
I point feeble-mindedly at her extended stomach.
“Pregnant,”
she says as she stands and straightens her blouse. “It’s all right
to say it. I already know.”
The
tip of her tongue unknowingly caresses her lower lip and the gentle
arc of her full upper lip stretches, the smallest amount, as a smile
slowly radiates across her flushed cheeks. These emotions, human, raw
and…hormonal, forgotten for so long, now my only hope for clear thought
is to suppress them. This has to be one of Satan’s sadistic jokes.
I laugh
from embarrassment, but it’s the first time, in too long, that the
sound of untempered, unrestrained joy bubbles from my heart. How can
she have this warming effect on me? I want to say something cute and
funny, but my mind is a hornet’s nest of scrambled thoughts.
“You
look familiar,” she says. “Do we have a class together?”
I gaze
into her hazel eyes. I must appear flustered because she tilts her head
and grins.
“No.
I mean, I don’t know. Today is my first day at this school.”
“Great.
Welcome to Roosevelt High School. My name is Annemarie.”
“I’m
Wake.”
“Wake?
That’s an interesting name.”
“Yeah,
I know. It sounds like a funeral.”
“I
like it. But I have to go. My little guy keeps pushing on my bladder.
Lately, I have to use the restroom between every class.” She covers
her mouth as if she gave too much information to someone she just met,
but her joyful eyes can’t hide the smile hidden behind her hand.
“I
can’t believe I just told you that.” She starts to hurry away, but
looks over her shoulder. “See you later, Wake.”
I wave
like an embarrassed adolescent. What a lousy first impression. I sounded
like a bumbling, immature little boy.
I watch
as she continues down the hall. I’ve seen other pregnant women before.
They were clumsy, out of balance from carrying extra weight in front.
But not Annemarie. Her steps are graceful and refined, like she’s
gliding on a frozen pond. The gentle curves of her hips have remained
slender, and sway hypnotically side-to-side in a rhythm that matches
the drumming of my heart.
What
am I thinking? Mooning about like a lovesick teenager. I can’t let
my physical attraction for Annemarie erode the resolve I’ll need to
complete this assignment. Yet, she’s the most beautiful… Does she
even know how she makes me feel…how human? I’m stuck in a moment
reserved for young love. There’s nothing merciful about denying the
uninhibited excitement coursing through every inch of my body, but my
plan is already in motion. The fate of my mother’s soul is in my hands.
As much as I hate myself for thinking it, Annemarie’s beauty has to
be extinguished. I have to collect her. I know Satan is convinced these
human emotions will help, but right now, I wish I was a stone-cold demon.
It would make it a lot easier to incinerate her goodness from the earth.
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