Book Excerpt from One Wish ~ Bookish Madness

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Till sat on the front porch, rocking on the swing. She was shielded from the showers, but not from the errant drops that blew past on the restless wind.

Her hair gathered glistening diamonds of water as it hung down against her soft, fair cheek. As he stood just a few feet away, Gus had to fight every urge inside of him; especially the one that howled for him to pick her up off that swing, carry her out into the rain, and kiss her there until they were both soaking wet.

He feared the thought may have transferred into her head before he could stop it, because she shivered where she sat and closed her eyes, seeming to be a million miles away from her current location.

Just as quickly as her eyes had closed they snapped open again. She was definitely aware of his presence, if not his specific, and explicit, desires.

“You going to just stand there, or are you going to join me?” she asked.

Gus shifted uneasily and ran a hand back through his hair. “Not sure. What do ye think, Tilda Mae?”

“Just sit with me a while,” she said, dragging her feet against the porch to stop the swing. “You don’t have to say anything.”

Slowly he approached, and sat. He was quick to push the swing back into motion, and grasped the armrest with one hand to remind himself that he had better keep both as far away from her as possible. Still, he couldn’t stop himself from asking a rather loaded question.

“If we were to talk today, what would we talk about?”

She sighed in response. Her thoughts, which had been jumbled and difficult to sort, now evaporated from his consciousness like sand swept away by rising tide.

“When do you get used to it, Gus?”

“To what?”

“To the… frustration in it all. To not being able to fix everything, and everyone.”

“Not everyone struggles so with bein’ unable to fix everythin’ and everyone,” he said, thinking how her idealistic temperament surely left her wide open for the hardest parts of being a Fairy Godmother, emotionally. “No one as much as ye do, I think.”

“So.” She turned to him, brushing a strand of damp hair out of her eyes. “What do I do with it?”

“Ye could try confidin’ in me, as ye used to,” he offered, but he knew that she wouldn’t tell him what was really bothering her. If she was going to, she would have by now; and the layers of defense she’d built up around herself were so complete, so high, and so thick that he knew better than to try to breach them. To do so could be not only her undoing, but his as well.

Instinct told him to be patient; to watch and wait, and offer to be there. It was all that he could do.

“Maybe one day,” she said wistfully, lifting her hand and bringing it toward his as if to hold it. She stopped at the last minute and dropped it back into her lap. “Maybe someday I will be able to tell you everything.”

“Ye think?”

She smiled sadly. “I hope.”

About the Books

Title: One Wish – The Of Stardust Collection

Author: February Grace

Genre: Fantasy Romance

Two books, one unforgettable romance!

Till Nesbitt had no idea what she was getting into when she learned the truth about her future from her Great Aunt Tilda: that she was destined to become a Fairy Godmother, because the skills were written into her DNA.

Faced with a whole new world of rules to navigate and a heart full of confusion, will Till be able to live for her work, or will her partnership with sweet, handsome Gus Duncan lead to her downfall?

Author Bio

February Grace is a writer, artist and poet who lives somewhere that is much colder than she would like most of the time.

She sings on key, plays by ear, and is more than mildly obsessed with music, clocks, colors, and meteor showers.

Her poetry, prose, and/or flash fiction have appeared in The Rusty Nail Literary Magazine, Vine Leaves Literary Journal, and Rose and Thorn Journal. Her work can also be found in the following anthologies: Poetry Pact Volume One, Anything Prose…And Poetry, Too! and Orange Karen, Tribute To A Warrior.

GODSPEED, her debut novel, is a labor of love she refers to as “Literary romance with steampunk embellishments.”

Her second novel, OF STARDUST, is a modern, romantic fantasy tale. IN STARLIGHT is its sequel.