Silver Smoke (#1 of Seven Halos Series)

by Monica O'Brien

Brie burst into the room, startling Sirena out of her thoughts. Brie was showered and dressed, holding a magazine in one hand.

  Sirena quickly shuffled a stack of papers over the device. "Your hair is still wet," Sirena observed, hoping to provide some distraction. Brie's hands went automatically to the tips of her hair, to Sirena's relief.

  "Never mind that," Brie said, flipping her hair over her shoulder. She walked over to Sirena, slamming the magazine on Sirena's desk. "It's the stones," she said. "I think I've found one of them."

  The book doesn't end after Chapter 21!

  You can access additional and deleted scenes online. Go to:

  http://forms.aweber.com/form/00/446944400.htm

  Or, if that link isn't working for you, go to:

  http://monicaleonelle.com/seven-halos-extras

  About the Author

  Monica Leonelle is a 27 year-old writer living in Chicago with her husband and Westie dog. She started writing the Seven Halos series in 2008. When she's not working on a Seven Halos book, she can be found working on her YA cyberpunk trilogy, starting with the first book, Socialpunk.

  Acknowledgments

  Books, like relationships, can't happen in vacuums. (Sorry Pilot!) A TON of people helped make this book possible, starting with the amazing and ever-supportive Tanya Fraser, who read some truly terrible first drafts of this book and kept encouraging me to write more. Without her, I doubt this book would have been completed. Thank you to Jay Wigley, who edited this book when it was incredibly broken, and Matt Gartland, who took the book to a whole different level. Thank you to my brother, Matthew Crupe, for the inspiration behind Brie and Pilot's sibling relationship and the perspective on Barcelona. Thank you to all my high school and college crushes, dates, and boyfriends, for inspiring many of the clueless interactions Pilot and Rykken have with girls. (And the sweet ones, of course!) Thank you to my parents, for helping with both the marketing and the editing process.

  Thank you to all my Kickstarter supporters! I was so amazed by the outpour of love from this group.

  Thank you to Steve Meister, Susan Pogorzelski, Krams, Lauren Burns, Mike Forst, Tiffany Monhollon, Michelle Carter, Jessica O'Brien, Amethyst Kemp, Todd Richards, Kenneth Lim, Greg Rollett, Roman Zelvenschi, Juveria Mozaffar, Brendan Crain, Christine Thompson, Angela Farabee, Andy Drish, Rachael Perrault, Louisa Balich, Ilui, Molly Wenberg, Mike Scalise, Grace Boyle, Adam Baker, Colin Wright, Jun Loayza, and Lennie Leon Guerrero. Special thanks to Natassia Cherne and Margarita Crupe for letting me create what I have dubbed "fan-inspired characters" within my book. Look for the minor characters named after them in Silver Smoke, and keep reading to learn the backstories as these characters develop. I'm looking forward to having more fan-inspired characters in the future!

  And lastly, thank you to my husband, Eric, for putting up with my never-ending shenanigans and creative outbursts. It's not as easy as it looks!

  <<<<>>>>