How can she reclaim her life when she’s lost her faith? #AngelsAndDemons #PNR #TheGarguiem

The Garguiem

An ancient order secretly working to fight evil and corruption within the Catholic Church through faith, duty and love

Blurb

She’s a tragic heroine, lost in the dark after a heartbreaking mission. He’s a man in love, determined to rescue his wife from the depths of her depression.

Isaac may be part of an ancient organization that’s been combatting evil for millennia, but he isn’t a warrior. Gifted—or cursed—with an infallible memory, he’s more useful behind a computer, hacking records and coordinating operations, but his family has stumbled onto a threat to the Catholic Church that just might reach the highest levels. Isaac has a single clue to lead him forward, but getting any more information requires finding the courage to join the fight of his life.

A year ago, Jericho walked away from nearly everything after her service to the cause asked too much of her, demanding a price too high to pay, a sacrifice she couldn’t live with. Now her husband is asking for more. Isaac wants her back—back on the team, back in the field and back in his bed—but how can she reclaim her life when she’s lost her faith?

Excerpt

The sound of his palm slapping the wall came a heartbeat before the overhead light flared. Weak yellow illumination, a faint buzzing sound. The light’s enclosure was beyond dirty, an unnatural filter that kept the radiance dim, but it was still enough to burn Jericho’s eyes.

And slice through her sanity.

Screaming like a wounded animal, she folded over her lap and slid off the chair. Throwing an arm over her head, she struggled to hide and fought to find some semblance of composure, but the exposure was too much. Her reaction was a beast of its own making, beyond her control, rampaging freely. Oxygen ripped from her lungs and her stomach burned under a wash of acid that climbed her throat.

Then Isaac’s arms were around her. Desperate, she turned her face into the damp leather covering his chest and denied the flash of need that exploded in her heart. Jericho was torn between pushing closer to fill her senses with one last immersion in all things Isaac, and pulling away so he couldn’t feel the texture of her skin, or the limp greasiness of her hair.

“Easy,” he soothed her. “Just be easy.”

“Go. Please go.”

“I can’t, Jericho. Now that I’ve found you, I won’t leave. I…can’t.”

“How?” She did try to push from his embrace then, but her muscle weakness didn’t let her get far. Isaac held her easily, not even exerting force. She tucked her head down, hoping the limp clumps of her hair hid her face. “How did you find me?”

“You received a letter a long time ago with a change of address on it.” Bitterness filled his sharp laugh. “It took a while to find my courage and come.”

“You shouldn’t have.”

“I should have come sooner,” he argued. “Then maybe you would have found your courage, too.”

“This isn’t about—” Using every ounce of willpower at her disposal, Jericho wrenched from her husband’s hold and lunged toward the wall. On her hands and knees, her movements were jerky and awkward, much too revealing, but she couldn’t help herself. She reached for the light switch.

Isaac caught her shoulder and hauled her back against his chest. She dropped her chin, letting her hair hide her. “Does the light hurt your eyes?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“Do I hurt your eyes too, Jericho?”

Strength deserted her. The last gasp of sanity blew through her lungs with an agonizing burn. Her heart seemed to collapse in on itself. Unable to breathe or make a sound past the pain, she simply shook her head.

“Then look at me.”

She shook her head again, squeezing her eyes closed, tucking her chin until her neck ached.

“Who are you hiding from, Jericho?”

When she remained silent, Isaac pressed his lips close to her ear, burrowing through her dirty hair until his rough whisper abraded her skin. “Who the fuck do you think was at your side in the hospital? You really think I haven’t seen your face?”

Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BT8RHGM

Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07BT8RHGM

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39353276-the-garguiem

About Lola White

Delve into the emotions, dive into the erotic.

An extensive traveler who loves to incorporate various legends from around the world into her tales, author Lola White likes to twist reality at its edges in her stories. She likes delving into the emotions of her characters, finding their strengths and weaknesses and seeing how they get themselves out of whatever trouble has found them—if they can.

www.lola-white.com

Always the Hard Way (#stubbornness #Christmas #pnr @AuthorLolaWhite )

By Lola White (Guest Blogger)

I think I’m just destined to do everything the hard way. Or maybe the hard way is destined to do me…not sure about the order of that.

My whole life has been spent doing things on my own, my own way, because the easier, shorter route either wasn’t available, didn’t work or wasn’t even on my radar. And I’m more stubborn than people realize, so sometimes I get stuck on a particular way of doing something. Maybe I just made some bad choices in my life, though most things seemed to work out well enough. If they were bad choices, at least I learned a lot from them.

That’s how some people are though. I think I can only learn through true adversity. I can’t be told, I can’t be warned. I’ve got to get in there, get messy, make mistakes, break my heart and walk the edge of insanity before I learn whatever was needed to take me further.

I accepted this about myself long ago, but, until this month, when I found myself in the position of releasing two very different stories in three days, I hadn’t realized how much of this particular hard-headedness of mine had made it into my characters. It’s amazing what you see when you have to explain a creation, then explain another in short order.

There’s always a piece of an author in his or her characters. Just like there are pieces of their parents, best friends, spouses, children, etc. We are constantly cataloging human traits to use, even if we don’t know it. When we put ourselves into our characters, it’s usually because that’s how we would act, or what we would say, or the conclusion we would jump to…or the total opposite of all that. (Authors are contrary beasts).

I’ve put a lot of myself into my characters—especially the females. I feel that I’m strong, so they are too. I’m shy and non-confrontational, but I won’t back down from my beliefs. I can be quiet, obnoxious, argumentative, reserved… Like most people, I’m a walking contradiction, because nothing in life is cut-and-dried.

And how does this apply to my two newest stories?

Hardheadedness abounds, the easier path might be favored but it sure as hell isn’t taken, and they’re all walking the edge of insanity.

The Garguiem series is about a group of people descended from angels who were cast out of heaven for not picking a side in the war. In the middle ages, they were recruited to work for the Catholic Church. They are gargoyles, real people the statues represent, and they fight evil and corruption—except Liah, the star of the new novel, comes very close to corruption with her own actions, as well as the investigation Father Tony ropes her into.

Liah is an empath, desperately trying to shut off her own emotions because she can hardly deal with everything she feels. She’s also determined to save the world, or, in this case, women who might be abused at the hands of corrupt priests. Except, there is no evidence that suggests any women are being misused.

But Father Tony is stubborn too, and he keeps dragging Liah back into the case. He’s a priest with secrets, an abomination Liah’s people can’t tolerate…but she never does anything the easy way. The faster route, sure, and that’s why she’s always in trouble, but, for Liah, her hard-headedness makes her a target and when hers is combined with Tony’s, she’s put into a situation her enemies can exploit.

And it’s a romance. Who doesn’t love a tragic, complicated romance?

The Tithe Collector is about a group of people, but with a focus on Zahra, the tithe collector who makes the very idea of a Special Collections team possible. Magic comes at a price, and everyone pays eventually—either in death or taxes. Well, the tax man cometh, in the form of a petite genie who is so addicted to human magic that her punishment will definitely make her insane.

Though she’s not as assertive as Liah, Zahra’s stubborn, too. She’s been forced onto the team, along with an adulterous vampire, a murderous fairy and a returned human Army vet suffering from PTSD. The king of gods has some plan up his sleeve, and Zahra’s got to walk his path in order to save her sister from the Djinn King. But she’s still trying to make things work with the man who got her addicted to magic in the first place, as well as trying to fit in with her new team, keep her secrets and get clean. The other three have their own issues.

In Conjurers & Candy Canes, the Christmas short I just released in the Tithe Collector series, Santa’s been kidnapped. The team is called in to investigate, and each of the four characters we follow show their tenacity in some way. The story is too short to go into how each walks the edge, but Santeria & Sorcery is free on Kindle Unlimited for any who are interested in checking out the series from the start.

Liah and Zahra surprised me with how similar they are, for all that they’re different. Different species, stories and reactions to life. Different personalities. Liah is a warrior and Zahra is a neglected pawn. They’re both addicts clawing their way toward sobriety, they’re both stubborn and determined, generous and willing to do what it takes to make a difference. Wholly imperfect, infuriating at times, but inspiring some protectiveness in others—when they’re not forgotten, which is another trait these two share. Both have been hurt deeply, but still hold hope in their heart. They are strong in their unique ways. They are facets of me.

And, just like me, these characters do everything the hard way. They can’t love easy, they can hardly get themselves together to function normally, and they can’t learn from other people’s mistakes. No, they’re messy and complicated, dangerous and destructive…but everything they do, they do with their whole hearts. Though it might be misplaced, they’re filled with faith, which they use to either walk the path before them or make their own way, because they’re both fighters. In fact, all the Garguiem and all the Special Collections team members are fighters in their own ways.

Two vibrant characters, two complex stories. So different, but so similar, and that’s somehow wonderful. Like life, a story wouldn’t be any fun if it was too easy.

The Garguiem: Liah is available on Kindle Unlimited https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N41GVNH/

Conjurers & Candy Canes is available at

~Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N1LTR0F

~All Romance ebooks: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-conjurerscandycanes-2179897-153.html

~Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/conjurers-candy-canes-lola-white/1125213381

About the Author

Delve into the emotions, dive into the erotic.

An extensive traveler who loves to incorporate various legends from around the world into her tales, author Lola White likes to twist reality at its edges in her stories. She likes delving into the emotions of her characters, finding their strengths and weaknesses, and seeing how they get themselves out of whatever trouble has found them—if they can.

Website/blog: http://lola-white.com/

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/lola.white.1690

Amazon:  https://www.amazon.com/Lola-White/e/B00GYVM6JW

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7953067.Lola_White 

Twitter: @authorlolawhite