*~*Love Notes: Xavier to Helene – The Witches of Auburn Series by Hazel Black*~*
In the dark woods I’m forbidden to go into, lying on top of the one person I swore I’d stay away from, and hiding from the men who chased him, I hold still as Ike Kennedy whispers in my ear, “Don’t leave me.”
The questions of why my mother packed up our lives and moved us to Auburn, New Jersey when she, herself, fled here twenty years ago, plague me every day. Her past and the people in this town loom over our family with a haunting understanding of the coven I was born into, but realize I know nothing about. The enemies I heard stories about as a child attack without warning or regard for human life, but I don’t know who they are.
I’m Ever Ayars. I can fly. I can disappear. I can move things with my mind, but my gifts are my only clarity. Lost within a new school, new friends, and a new life, there is only one thing I know for sure.
I’m not leaving Ike Kennedy.
It was a mistake. One night that would change the course of not just their lives but the lives of generations to come. Gisel and Isaiah Kennedy could blame loneliness or fear or the tequila for their ranks among the fallen, but instead, they chose to condemn each other and then marry one another.
Apart from her best friends—her coven—and without an understanding of life’s gift of true love, Gisel raises her children and mourns the loss of her powers. She was an Earth witch, who now is ordinary, along with her daughter, her marriage, and the life she’s built for her family.
After twenty years of unanswered hopes, Gisel’s predicament changes. Life is renewed and love is defined. Gisel must decide where her beloved coven belongs in her heart and what she’ll risk to return it there.
In a town where everyone knows each other, figuring out who is an evil witch should be simple. Yet, the witches of Auburn are surrounded by men and women whose honor they question. The cafeteria lady at the high school, the pastor’s wife, a dog walker at the park … the seemingly benign citizens of New Jersey can no longer be trusted.
When Helene Ayars reunites with the man she’s been inexplicably drawn to since her youth, she abandons the memories of her prior poor choices in love and follows her heart. She and her daughter, Ever, will ignore their nagging suspicions, palpable evidence, and the voice of every witch they trust except the ones that speak from the dead. When their coven’s enemies attack too close to home, Helene must make a choice—trust her heart or stay true to the sisters who are pieces of her soul.
Xavier puts it all in his note…
Keep reading to see the full Love Note!
Helene,
You have taken my stable world and ripped it from its axis sending me flying through the universe grasping for some control that no longer exists.
I hate you,
but I loathe this life without you.
I have witnessed you heartbroken and happy, lost and triumphant, and in each moment I fought the urge to take you away with me. To steal you from your precious Auburn and make you a part of my life because since the first time I laid eyes on you, you became lodged at the center of my soul.
I miss the sound of your voice, the look in your eyes when you say my name, and most of all, I miss the way you think. The silence of your thoughts haunts me without you here. I can’t sleep. I am incapable of laughter. You’ve done this. You’ve ruined everything.
And yet, still…
I want you more than I need you.
I love you more than I want you.
Xavier
Hazel Black graduated from Rutgers University and returned to her hometown in rural South Jersey. Her mother encouraged her to take some time and find herself. After three months of searching, she began to bounce checks, her neighbors began to talk, and her mother told her to find a job.
She settled into corporate America, learning systems and practices and the bureaucracy that slows them. Hazel quickly discovered her creativity and gift for story telling as a corporate trainer and spent years perfecting her presentation skills and studying diversity. It was during this time she became an avid observer of the characters she met and the heartaches they endured. Her years of study taught her that laughter, even the completely inappropriate kind, was the key to survival.
She currently lives in New Jersey with her family and a misbehaving beagle named Odin. As an avid swimmer, if Hazel is not with her family and friends, she’d rather be underwater. While she enjoys many genres, she is, and always has been, a sucker for a love story…the more screwed up the better.
Hazel Black writes contemporary romance as Eliza Freed. To keep up with all new releases and giveaways, sign up for her newsletter here.
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