EXCERPT ~ TELEPHONE ROAD

Stalked, assaulted, and left for dead, Marlena thinks her life is over. Then she meets Destiny and they decide to take matters into their own hands. For these two, justice has a new meaning. 

It's called revenge.

 

 

Chapter One: Twenty-Three Steps

 

            When I walked into the long narrow art gallery behind my roommate, Joanna, it felt as if I were being funneled toward him. Preston Stevensen. Perfect hair and a smirk for a smile, he appeared to be the man of the hour. Even gazing at me over the head of a ponytailed patron in a slick, yellow shirt, he somehow made me feel like the center of attention.

            Twenty-three steps. 

            His eyes were on me the whole way.

            My name is Marlena Matthews. Joanna calls me Marlena “Miss Priss” Matthews. She thinks I’ve led a sheltered small-town life and she’s right. That’s why I felt so fortunate to be accidentally paired with her my freshman year. We were both serious students.

            Joanna’s friend, Antonio, is the one who invited us to the Visual Arts Gallery. He had several pieces of his beautiful high-glaze pottery on display.

            But nothing compared to Preston’s art. It took up the entire back wall. Every piece featured some sort of wide-slashed mouth or other wide-open gash. Some of the mouths were created from melted red lipstick and some were splash-painted on canvas; a couple were fashioned of metal, then shellacked onto blank mannequin faces made of charred or broken plastic. I overheard a girl walking ahead of us refer to the mouths as Freudian. “Yeah,” her companion snickered. “All about sex. Weird sex." They both laughed behind their hands.

            Twenty-three steps. Each one carried me closer and closer to the guy who would change my entire life. In hindsight it seems obvious that Preston’s art should have been a big red flag. But Joanna didn’t call me Miss Priss, The Sheltered One, for nothing.

 

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RELEASE DAY ~ TELEPHONE ROAD ~

"You can't always depend on others. 

Sometimes you have to save yourself." 

http://www.5Princebooks.com/annswann.html

Stalked, assaulted, and left for dead, Marlena thinks her life is over. Then she meets Destiny and they decide to take matters into their own hands. For these two, justice has a new meaning. It's called revenge.

REVIEW:

Jul 18, 2020Laura Drake rated it it was amazing

I started this book at 10 am and put it down for the first time when I read the last word at 7 pm. Wow. What a genre-bender! Twists and turns I didn't see coming kept me turning pages - that the writing was wonderful. I felt like I traveled with the flawed characters on that roller coaster. The ending will stay with me a long time, wondering what I would have done.

Highly recommend it!

NEW EXCERPT:

            I pulled my sweater close. The air grew crisp as the sun went down. The giant moon rose even higher.

            “How about a cup of hot cider?” Jimmy asked.

            I nodded. “I’ll lay claim to a table before they’re all gone.” I couldn’t believe how quickly they were filling up. It appeared the entire town had turned out. I’d heard about these dances, seen them mentioned in the weekly newspaper and on Facebook, but I’d never attended one. My high school friends had called them lame. Said they were for the old folks. The old “settlers.” Guess something had changed my tune. Perhaps it was just being away from home for the past few months, or maybe it was Jimmy. Nothing seemed lame with him.

            He proved to be an excellent dancer, too. 

            “Do you have to know how to waltz and two-step when you own a ranch?” I asked as he steered me around the floor.

            “Oh, sure.” He swung me in a tight circle. “I practiced on the steers every night growing up.” When the song ended, he said, “And what about you, Miss I’ve-never-been-to-a-Settlers’-Day-dance? You’re holding your own pretty well for a newbie.”

            I felt a little heat rise to my cheeks. “If I tell you, will you promise not to laugh?”

            He crossed his heart and held up his fingers like a boy scout. “I would never laugh. Dancing is serious stuff.”

            I elbowed him in the ribs as we made our way back to our little table. There had been a Sharpie marker tucked in amongst the tiny pumpkins and we’d immediately decorated the round gourds with mustaches and triangular eyes, then Jimmy signed his with a flourish so of course I did the same. I think that’s why no one sat there while we were dancing. The little pumpkins turned out to be excellent placeholders.

            “So? Are you going to fess up or do I have to tickle it out of you?” He made crawly fingers in the air.

            “No, no. You don’t have to bring out the tickle-spiders. I’ll tell you.” I looked over my shoulder to make sure no one was listening, and then I leaned toward him and whispered, “Lana and I took dance lessons one summer. We learned all the basics plus a few line dances, too.”

            Jimmy threw his head back and laughed out loud.

            “Hey!” I slapped his knee. “You promised not to laugh.”

            He couldn’t seem to stop. “Sorry. It’s too good not to laugh.” Grinning, he leaned back in his folding chair and tried to get control of himself. “At least now I know why you had the cowgirl footwear.” 

            I looked down at my beautiful turquoise-inlaid boots. “You didn’t think I bought them just for tonight, did you?”

            That shut him up. “Well, maybe I did. I mean—”

            I let him off the hook. “Oh, it’s all right.” I patted him on the arm. “You can’t help it if you’re a guy.”

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TELEPHONE ROAD ~ Revenge Fiction

Available for Preorder Now through Aug. 4th

Stalked, assaulted, and left for dead, Marlena thinks her life is over. Then she meets Destiny and they decide to take matters into their own hands. For these two, justice has a new meaning. It's called revenge.

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Telephone-Road-Ann-Swann-ebook/dp/B08C9WTPR3

iTunes: https://books.apple.com/us/book/telephone-road/id1521929421 

Smashwords https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1030842

BN: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/telephone-road-ann-swann/1137285312?ean=2940163015979

Excerpt:

  

The remains of the sunset reflecting across the rippling water drew me to lean down and dip my fingers into the cold, bubbling flow. The sounds lent a storybook feel to the scene. The air was cool and still, fragrant with the loamy, nose-tickling scent of damp earth and fresh water. Multicolored leaves and drifts of pine needles carpeted the ground, softening our steps and turning the whole area into a painter’s fall palette.

I sat cross-legged on the plaid blanket he’d spread. “This is kind of amazing,” I admitted around a mouthful of pizza. “How’d you find it?” 

            Preston looked into the distance. “I spend a lot of time in the woods,” he said. “It’s my refuge. I just needed you to share it with me.” 

            He looked at me and I knew, suddenly and without a shred of doubt, that I had made a huge mistake. His light blue eyes had gone as cold as the water in the creek. 

            I tried not to panic, tried to keep my suspicions in check, but alarm bells clanged inside my head. “It’s really beautiful,” I said. “Thank you for sharing it with me.” I put one hand down to push myself to my feet. “Now I’ve really got to get bac—”

            He grabbed my shoulder, forcing me to remain seated on the blanket. For a moment, I had a ridiculous hope that he was playing, roughhousing the way Jim and I had done. But when he held me there, when his other hand clamped down on my opposite shoulder, when he smashed me backward onto the remains of the pizza, I knew this was no game.

            “Stop!” I cried. “What are you—?”

            His face came closer and closer, his lips questing. 

            I jerked my head from side to side. “Preston, stop! What’re you doing?” 

            His weight pinned me to the blanket, his hard chin dug into the side of my neck. He tried to hold my face still without using his hands.

            “I love you.” His voice had gone as hard and cold as his eyes. “I know you love me, too. I don’t know why you won’t show it.” 

            His lips found mine and he let go of my right shoulder long enough to tangle his fingers into my hair.

            My head was trapped. Anger crashed through my body. I jerked my head aside to get his mouth off mine. Strands of my hair were ripped out of my scalp, but suddenly my hands were fighting, clawing, raking at his face, his clothing, his skin. Anything to get him off me. 

            He tightened his grip on my hair, but his other hand came up holding the campfire lighter. Just as he depressed the trigger to ignite it, my right hand found the wine bottle lying on its side. I wrapped my fingers around the neck of the bottle and swung it through the air, smashing it into the side of his head with as much force as I could muster.

COVER REVEAL AND GIVEAWAY!

Release day August 4, 2020

Stalked, assaulted, and left for dead, Marlena thinks her life is over. Then she meets Destiny and they decide to take matters into their own hands. For these two, justice has a new meaning. It's called revenge.

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