“You don’t have to rush into anything,” Lucas had said, pulling her close for a hug.
“I know, but it isn’t the actual job that I don’t like. I love working with numbers and organizing all the systems. I’m just burnt out on being overlooked and overworked.”
“This sounds perfect then,” Lucas said. “But only if you want to do it. Try it out on a temporary basis. Take your time with it. I’m worried you’ll burn out again and hightail it off to another island for some other handsome lonely bachelor on the beach.”
Delighted with him, and the world in general, she’d pulled him to the bedroom to show him just how unlikely that scenario was.
Smiling at the memory, she stretched her arms lazily above her head.
“You’ve got a job already! This is amazing,” Lola gushed. “Have you told your parents?”
“I… well. I told them that I’ve met someone and that I’ll be staying down here for a while. I also said I’ve accepted a new position in luxury eco-tourism. Between all the bombshells I dropped, I don’t think they really knew what to say. My mother asked if I was renouncing my citizenship.” Samantha sighed and pinched her nose.
“Sounds about right. I guess it’s too much to hope they’ll be happy for you,” Lola said.
“That’s okay, I’m going to learn to change my expectations of them. I think the best thing is that I’m happy for me,” Samantha said and beamed over at Lucas, who was lecturing Pipin for stealing a scrap of bacon from his plate when he wasn’t looking.
“That’s all I’ve ever wanted for you,” Lola said, and sighed in delight. “This is the best kind of story. Way more interesting than your spreadsheet stories.”
“Hey!”
“I’m just saying… I love a good love story,” Lola laughed.
“I guess I do too,” Samantha laughed, fingering the mermaid pendant at her neck.
She would never share that moment with anyone, but forever after, whenever she put her mermaid comb in her hair, she promised herself she would go forth and wreak as much magick on the world as she could.
Because in the end, that was all that mattered, really – believing that, just under the surface, lay a world of magick.
The Siren Island Series
Also by Tricia O’Malley
Good Girl
Up to No Good (Coming Soon)
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Sign up to Tricia’s mailing list to be notified about the release date of her upcoming novel, Up To No Good. You will also receive fun giveaways, info on free books and stories about her Island life.
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The following is a chapter tease from the upcoming book, Up to No Good, Book 2 in the Siren Island Series.
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Chapter 1
Lola didn’t open her eyes as she felt her lover roll from the bed. She steadied her breathing, listening as he used the bathroom and dressed quickly in the early morning light. The apartment door squeaked, hinges worn with age, a tell-tale sign that once more a man was leaving her life.
“And thank god for that,” Lola said out loud, stretching decadently in the sheets that tangled around her still-naked body. Lola adhered to a strict “love ‘em and leave ‘em” policy that suited her lifestyle down to the bone. The few times she’d danced too closely to the flames of love, Lola had pirouetted away, with only a few singe marks on her heart.
It was better that way.
With so many men to sample, and so many places to visit, Lola approached life like the smorgasbord it was – with gusto and great enthusiasm. So, what if she rarely held down a job or a relationship for longer than a few months? If anything, it provided her with a lengthy and diverse work history and enough experience with men to know to get while the getting was good.
She’d been restless of late.
Not that being restless was anything new to her, for it typically signaled that it was time for her to move on.
Lola leaned across the bed and unlatched the arched window, the wood dented and splintered, and swung it open. Propping herself on the pillows, she casually rolled a cigarette – a habit she only allowed herself when visiting France or Italy. Lighting it, she watched as a thin curl of smoke danced with a ray of wane sunlight. Below, a child called out in rapid Italian, his mother responding harshly, and slowly the small fishing village hugging the coast of the Mediterranean sprung to life.
There could be worse ways to wake up, Lola mused. And yet, the scene had lost its charm for her. For a brief moment, Lola allowed herself to wallow in melancholy as she listened to friends and family greet each other on the narrow cobblestone street beneath the apartment.
The life she’d cultivated was a rich and fascinating one, Lola thought, as smoke curled into the air around her.
So why did she feel so lonely?
Afterword
I’m delighted to be writing a new series, set against the backdrop of the Caribbean island that I am blessed to live on. Hopefully, this series will bring you joy and maybe, if one day you find yourself by the sea, you’ll look out to the horizon with the hopes of seeing a mermaid.
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Please consider leaving a review online. It helps other readers to take a chance on my books.
As always, you can reach me through my website at www.triciaomalley.com
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Tricia O’Malley’s Mailing List
Stone Song
Book 1 in the Isle of Destiny Series
Available now as an e-book, paperback or audiobook!
The following is an excerpt from the USA Today bestselling novel, Stone Song.
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“‘And you, Children of Danu, shall go to the land of which shall be called Inisfail, the Isle of Destiny. It is your destiny to populate the earth and bring to it the great wisdom and direction that you have learned under our hands,’” Bianca intoned as Clare rolled her eyes and winked at her roommate, who was giving a mythological tour of Dublin to a group of eager Americans. “Look now, there goes one of the great beauties of the Children of Danu. A living goddess herself.” The group turned to stare at Clare as she rushed past them, shaking her head at Bianca.
“I’m as much of a goddess as you are a delicate rose,” Clare shot back, and the group broke out in laughter.
“And so the children of Danu came to the Isle of Destiny, which you know today as Ireland, with only the four treasures in their hands to protect them against those who were determined to rule the island in darkness.”
Bianca’s mythology lesson faded behind Clare as she tucked a rioting mass of auburn curls under a wool cap, her mind already focused on her dissertation project. It was her last bit of work to be finished before she could call herself an honest-to-god doctor.
A person with a geology doctorate is nonetheless a doctor, she reminded herself as she pushed through the glass doors that housed the science wing of Trinity College.
She’d been lucky to get accepted to the reciprocal geology program at such an esteemed college, and even luckier to have won a full scholarship. Her parents had scratched their heads in confusion – wondering what a farmer’s daughter from small-town Clifden, Ireland would want with a doctorate degree.
To study stones, no less.
She could still see her father striding out into the yard, his boots mucked with mud, as he bent over and picked up a rock from the ground and held it up to the light.
“This? This is what you’re wanting to be studying then? Sure and there isn’t all that much to learn about them now, is there?”
Though he’d been confused by her choice, Madden MacBride had quickly been found boasting about his brilliant daughter in Paddy’s, the corner pub he favored.
Clare still remembered her first moments of panic when her parents had dropped her off in the city, their truck rumbling away from the college, looking conspicuously out of place next to the slick cars that cluttered the busy streets of Dubl
in. As she’d glanced down at her worn denim pants and faded button-down shirt, she’d imagined that she looked much like the dilapidated truck she’d been dropped off in.
The better to dig in the dirt, she’d reminded herself and had lifted her chin high as she’d returned to the apartment she’d rented with a girl from a list the college had provided her with. And even though they’d spoken a few times on the telephone over the summer, she’d still felt like her stomach was twisted in knots as she’d waited for her new roomie to arrive.
It had taken less than thirty seconds, and one glance at the tears streaming down the chubby blonde’s face, before Clare had instantly bonded with Bianca.
They’d lived together ever since, graduating to a slightly better apartment, slightly better fashion-sense, and the worldly air that comes with finally navigating a city as an adult.
Bianca, who’d majored in history with a minor in mythology, was currently in a year-long debate with herself over whether or not to pursue her doctorate. In the meantime, she worked full-time in the National Museum of Ireland, and part-time as a tour guide for those who had a yen to learn some of the of Celtic myths that wound their way through Ireland’s rich history.
Though Clare’s scholarship covered her tuition, she still needed some extra cash for certain essentials – like the camera she’d been eyeing for eons, and a full Irish breakfast after her nights out on the town with Bianca. Clare supplemented her income by working one or two nights a week at a pub down the street from their flat, and a few afternoons a week at a local crystal shop.
Crystals were rocks, after all. Geodes, if she was going to get specific.
Clare winced as she thought about her second job. She couldn’t really say how she’d ended up walking past the crystal shop one sunny fall day, but the pretty display of glittering stones had drawn her eye. Artfully arranged on varying tiers of lucite towers, interspersed with delicate jewelry and a few books, the window display managed to be both fanciful and tasteful in the same breath.
Unable to resist, Clare had found herself stepping inside. Her skin had hummed with the energy pulsing from the crystals, and the warm lights and the bright smile of the woman standing behind the counter had made her feel like she was being welcomed home.
It annoyed Clare that to this day she couldn’t figure out why stones spoke to her. Well, not literally talked to her, but she knew each of their signature energies, could tell what they needed or who they needed to be with, and could even gauge where they’d come from with just a glance.
Sure, some of that was a result of her education. What was she getting a geology degree for if she couldn’t eye up a stone and estimate its age? But the energy and the power of stones? Well, she’d yet to understand how she could physically feel that.
Not that she’d brought it up to any of her professors. Getting an education in a scientific field – especially as a woman – didn’t much lend itself to flights of fancy. Instead, she’d proven herself to be a rational, brilliant, and committed scientist. Once a week, Clare taught an undergraduate class that was well attended – though some would say that was because the teacher was hot.
Clare snorted at the thought as she pushed open the door to the science wing and waved at the girl working the front desk.
It mattered little what you looked like when you were knee deep in the bog, pulling out stones to be analyzed. The sooner her students realized that looks weren’t necessarily a benefit in this field of study, the better off they’d be.
“Hey Seamus,” Clare called to the lab attendant as she entered the small lab dedicated to her field of study. Not that rocks and the formation of the earth weren’t an interesting branch of science – but Clare knew that the biomedical engineers and chemists rated much better labs on the top floor of the science building, not to mention better funding. Sometimes she felt like they’d sequestered her department to the far recesses of the dungeon.
“Still blustering out?” Seamus called easily, popping a mint in his mouth as he crossed his wiry arms over his chest and leaned back in the chair. At six feet tall, he was all arms and elbows, with a crop of dark hair that stuck up all over his head. He made up for his lankiness with an effortlessly cool street style.
“Misting at best, I’d say. Bianca had a group out, so not all that bad,” Clare said as she pulled her knapsack off and hung it on the back of her chair.
“Ah, maybe I should go say hi,” Seamus said, a blush tinging his cheeks. “She still dating that Conor?”
Clare glanced up at him. “Nah, she’s given him the boot after him staying out all night with his band a few weeks ago.”
Seamus straightened, his feet hitting the floor with a thud.
“Maybe I should go say hi. Just, you know, to catch up with her,” Seamus mumbled as he grabbed his coat and hit the door at almost a run.
Clare chuckled as she put her ear buds in and fired up her computer.
Her dissertation wasn’t going to write itself.
The Mystic Cove Series
Also by Tricia O’Malley
Wild Irish Roots (Novella, Prequel)
Wild Irish Heart
Wild Irish Eyes
Wild Irish Soul
Wild Irish Rebel
Wild Irish Roots: Margaret & Sean
Wild Irish Witch
Wild Irish Grace
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“I have read thousands of books and a fair percentage have been romances. Until I read Wild Irish Heart, I never had a book actually make me believe in love.”- Amazon Review
The Althea Rose Series
Also by Tricia O’Malley
One Tequila
Tequila for Two
Tequila Will Kill Ya (Novella)
Three Tequilas
Tequila Shots & Valentine Knots (Novella)
Tequila Four
A Fifth of Tequila
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“Not my usual genre but couldn't resist the Florida Keys setting. I was hooked from the first page. A fun read with just the right amount of crazy! Will definitely follow this series.”- Amazon Review
The Isle of Destiny Series
Also by Tricia O’Malley
Stone Song
Sword Song
Spear Song
Sphere Song
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“Love this series. I will read this multiple times. Keeps you on the edge of your seat. It has action, excitement and romance all in one series.”- Amazon Review
The Stolen Dog
Also by Tricia O’Malley
A non-fiction account of our dog being stolen and how we recovered him. A read that will renew your faith in humanity. All proceeds donated to animal rescues. For a list of organizations you have helped by buying one of Tricia O’Malley’s books here is the link to a blog post thanking her readers.
Author's Acknowledgement
First, and foremost, I’d like to thank my family and friends for their constant support, advice, and ideas. You’ve all proven to make a difference on my path. And, to my beta readers, I love you for all of your support and fascinating feedback! And last, but never least, my two constant companions as I struggle through words on my computer each day - Briggs and Blue.
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To sign up for notification of a new release, please go HERE.
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Please consider leaving a review! A book can live or die by the reviews alone. It means a lot to an author to receive reviews and I greatly appreciate it!
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You can also find me on Facebook HERE.
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