Meredith Allard, Author of Her Loving Husband’s Curse (Book 2 of Loving Husband Trilogy): On Tour

Publisher Copperfield Press (April 25, 2012)

Series: Loving Husband, #2 (trilogy)

Category: Paranormal Romance, Fantasy, Some Historical

Tour Date: April, 2014

ISBN: 978-0615613680

Available in: Print & ebook, 300 Pages

ABOUT THE BOOK

And then, as if he could read her mind, he said, “We’ll be all right, Sarah. Just the two of us. I’ll never leave you ever.”
Finally, after many long and lonely years, James Wentworth’s life is falling into place. Together with his wife, Sarah, the only woman he has ever loved, he has found the meaning behind her nightmares about the Salem Witch Trials and now they are rebuilding the life they began together so long ago.
But the past is never far behind for the Wentworths. While Sarah is haunted by new visions, now about the baby she carried over three hundred years before, James is confronted with painful memories from his time with the Cherokee on the Trail of Tears.
Through it all, the persistent reporter Kenneth Hempel reappears, still determined to prove that the undead walk the earth. If Hempel succeeds in his quest, James and Sarah will suffer. Will the curse of the vampire prevent James and Sarah from living their happily ever after?

Her Loving Husband’s Curse is Book Two of The Loving Husband Trilogy. Book One, Her Dear & Loving Husband, and Book Three, Her Loving Husband’s Return, are also available from Copperfield Press.

Prologue

I am among the masses as they limp and drag toward some foreign place they are afraid to imagine. Even in the dimness of the nearly moonless night the exhaustion, the sickness, the fear is everywhere in their swollen faces. The weaker among them, the very old and the very sick, the very young and the very frail, are driven in wagons steered by ill-tempered soldiers. The riders are not better off than the walkers, their sore, screaming bodies bumped and jostled by the wobbly wheels over the unsteady forest terrain. No one notices as a few drop like discarded rags from the wagon to the ground.

“Here!” I cry. “Let me help you. I will find water for you to drink.”

But they pass me without looking. They see nothing, hear nothing. They walk. That is all they are. Walk. That is their name. Walk. Or “Move!” That is what the soldiers scream in their faces. They struggle under the weight of the few bags they carry and stumble under the musket butts slapped into their backs. And still they do not see me.

I wave my hands in the air and yell to make myself heard over the thumping of thousands of feet.

“Here!” I cry. “Who needs something to eat?”

I push myself into the center of the mass. Men in turbans and tunics, women with their long black hair pulled from their faces as they clutch their toddlers—all focus their eyes on a horizon too far away. One old man, unsteady under the weight of the pack he carries, stumbles over some rocks and he falls. The soldiers beat him with their muskets—their futile attempt to make him stand. The man tries to push himself up but cannot, so the soldiers try the whip instead. The old man prostrates himself on the ground, arms out, face away. He has accepted that this is how he will die.

“Step around him!” the soldiers bark. And they do step around him, their eyes straight ahead. They do not see the old man any more than they see me. To acknowledge the fallen elder would force them to admit that his fate is their fate and they will all die here among unknown land and foreign trees. The old man does not stir. He does not lift his head or seem to breathe. And the people pass him by. When they stop to make their encampment for the night, the old man does not arrive.

I throw my hands into the air again, my frustration boiling the blood in my brain. “Let me help you! Why will you not listen to me?”

“Because they cannot see you.”

I have seen the man before—his blue tunic, his white turban, his solemn bearing—and he has seen me. He is an elder, his hair silver, his face a ridged map of everything he has seen, every thought he has had, every prayer he has said. There is wisdom behind his wary glance and oh so tired eyes.

“That’s ridiculous,” I say. “I am standing here among them.”

The old man shakes his head. “You are the Kalona Ayeliski. They cannot see you.”

“The what?”

“The Kalona Ayeliski. They cannot see the Raven Mocker.”

I watch the walkers, hundreds of them, their heads bowed under the weight of losing their possessions, their land, their ancestors, everything they had in this world and beyond, and I realize the man is right. They do not see me. They have never seen me.

“What is a Raven Mocker?” I ask.

“An evil spirit. All the Raven Mocker cares for is prolonging its own life force, and it feeds from others to do it. It tortures the dying and hastens their deaths so it can consume their hearts. The Raven Mocker receives one year of life for every year its victim would have lived.”

“I am no Raven Mocker. I mean harm to no one.”

“Ever?”

I turn away, watching the families reuniting after the long day’s walk, children crying for their mothers, husbands searching for their wives. They are setting up their campsites, eating the meager gruel and drinking the few drops of water given them. I cannot meet the man’s eyes.

“Not for a long time,” I say. When the man’s stare bores through me, pricking me somewhere I cannot name, I shrug. “I do not hasten death in anyone,” I say.

“Not anymore.”

“We shall see,” he says.

Read the Prologue: http://meredithallard.com/2012/03/27/her-loving-husbands-curse-giveaway/

Praise for Her Loving Husband’s Curse:

“I really enjoyed the first book in this trilogy and have been looking forward to reading the second. I really didn’t want the first one to end. So much happened in this story I was completely wrapped up in it. I found myself getting teary eyed more than once and this time not because I was happy like before but because what was happening to James and Sarah was pretty devastating. Needless to say, I don’t want to give any more away but I will say this, I am anxiously awaiting the last book in the trilogy. I feel like I have become invested in James, Sarah, Jennifer, Olivia and the whole groups lives. I want to know what happens next and I want my happily ever after darn it!”-Kindlemom, My Healthy Obession

“Filled with research, real events and a plot that is so interesting you won’t stop reading it until you are finished once again author Meredith Allard pens a five star novel which brings to light the issues of friendship, loyalty, prejudice, hate, deceit, lies and true love. Which prevails? Read the book and decide for yourself.”- Fran Lewis, Gabina49′s Blog

“I must say I was absolutely blown away with the first two books in this amazing trilogy. It has everything I love to read about, vampires, witches, Salem, mystery, a great love story, magic, werewolves, and twists & turns like you would never see coming cause I didn’t. It always impresses me when an author puts so much time and effort into their research and writes with accurate times, dates and the stories being told are accurate as well. Leading into book two it wasn’t just another story about vampires, werewolves and witches. It was much more than that, yes it’s a Paranormal novel but it also tells of a story that can be very much related to today’s times, of what other cultures have to go through when their culture is not understood and people are scared of what they have heard through gossip or word of mouth, not by getting to know a person and understanding for themselves, seeing a person for who they really are not what they are. I really did not want the story to end, I was bonding with the characters, with their situation, cheering on their love story and for the fairy tale ending, but of course it being the second book I was left with a cliffhanger that left my jaw hanging open. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I read the last chapter. I can’t wait for the third book to come out and hope it’s soon. This really is a must read and I know you will all enjoy it as much as I did!!!“-Natalie, Purple Jelly Bean Reviews

“First off, let me say that this book was phenomenal. It incorporates some of my favorite things: vampires, witches, and love. Throughout the novel, there are snippets from letters James had written to his deceased wife, and mostly centered around the US government’s rounding up of Indians to be put on reservations and the “Trail of Tears.” I particularly loved this part, because it incorporated real, historical fact into this novel. Fact that sets up the remainder of the book, and facts that we were never taught in school. The book moves pretty fast, and I couldn’t put it down. It was a testament to true love, and that love will find you wherever you are. A very enjoyable book that everyone should read!“-Jennifer Irving, Mis-Adventures of a Twin Mommy

About Meredith Allard:

Meredith Allard has taught creative writing and writing historical fiction workshops at Learning Tree University, UNLV, and the Las Vegas Writers Conference. Her short fiction and articles have appeared in journals such as The Paumanok Review, Wild Mind, Moondance, Muse Apprentice Guild, The Maxwell Digest, CarbLite, Writer’s Weekly, and ViewsHound. She is the author of the Loving Husband Trilogy, Victory Garden, Woman of Stones, and My Brother’s Battle (Copperfield Press). She lives in Las Vegas, Nevada. Visit Meredith online at www.meredithallard.com.

Meredith on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authormeredithallard
Meredith on Twitter: https://twitter.com/copperfield101
Meredith on Google+: https://plus.google.com/101687256587444508026/posts?hl=en
Meredith on Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/meredithallard/