SMALL TOWN HIDES MYSTERIOUS AND DANGEROUS SECRET #NEWRELEASE #NEWMYSTERY #NEWROMANTICSUSPENSE

Halloween is coming soon and Inkspell has a wonderful twisted mystery for you. IN THE SHADOW OF ROOTS AND WINGS tells about a secret that a small town has kept for years, and the brave girl who fights to find answers.  Many people leave their hometown when they graduate, but few had such a scary event that sent them away. Yet Everly hasn't cut ties totally with Splendid, Colorado. Her mom still lives there. Her best high school friends are there. So when she's drawn back to town, can she face the past or will the town's secret harm her?

A. D. Brazeau writes compelling mysteries and paranormal romances that thrill readers. Her characters are flawed, realistic, and passionate. IN THE SHADOW OF ROOTS AND WINGS reads like a Stephen King novel when the small town becomes it's own entity, sending Everly and her friends into danger. The mystery unfolds and readers will enjoy trying to find the answer to the who-done-it as well as just what is really going on.


BUY LINKS:
AMAZON- https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FBS298NQ
KOBO- https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/in-the-shadow-of-roots-and-wings
BN- https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/in-the-shadow-of-roots-and-wings-a-d-brazeau/1147847402
APPLE- https://books.apple.com/us/book/in-the-shadow-of-roots-and-wings/id6748781328
 
Blurb:
Everly Palmer swore she’d never return to Splendid, Colorado—a town too perfect to be real and too haunted to forget. But when news of a childhood friend’s sudden death reaches her, she’s drawn back to this unusual place. Founded by her ancestor, Splendid is a town frozen in time, its beauty unmarred, its secrets buried deep. Everly has spent her life trying to decipher the cryptic nightmares that plague her, and now, back in the town she once fled, she begins to suspect they were never just dreams.

As the funeral passes and the shadows lengthen, Everly stumbles upon a forgotten grave and a chilling truth: Splendid’s perfection is not a gift, but a curse. Old ties with her estranged friend Rose fray under the weight of buried memories and sinister revelations. The deeper Everly digs, the more she realizes Splendid was never meant to be escaped. In a town where nature doesn’t obey natural law and happiness comes at a terrible cost, Everly must choose—unearth the truth and risk being swallowed whole or surrender to the darkness that’s waited for her return.

In the Shadow of Roots and Wings is a suspenseful mystery that meets magical realism, reminiscent of The Secret History by Donna Tartt and The Maidens by Alex Michaelides, and is set in the fictional town of Splendid, Colorado.


Author A. D. Brazeau’s latest mystery grips readers on the first page and never lets go.

 
Excerpt:
Everly strode toward the back of the cemetery, to the section she knew was the oldest. The markers here were more prominent, some tall obelisks, some giant slabs of granite or marble. Most were so old that the names and epitaphs were faded, barely legible in some places. She’d never been that far in, but something propelled her away from the funeral, in the direction opposite her car. The farther she walked, the quieter it was.

A tall gravestone, the likes of which she’d never seen, caught her eye. She moved toward what appeared to be a cylindrical column. As she drew closer, she realized the column was a tree trunk.

“Wow.” She ran her hand over what felt like plaster, spread on the piece in a way that made it look like real bark. A few branches jutted off at various angles, adding to the naturalistic effect. A symbol was etched below the epitaph.

She pulled her reading glasses out of her vintage handbag, then knelt on the ground. She’d seen Mason’s symbols on graves many times, but never had she seen anything like this. This was a figure eight, the symbol for infinity, lying on its side. Inside one loop was a wing, and inside the other was a tree with exposed roots. She ran her finger over and around the loops. There was something familiar about the symbol, but she couldn’t say what.

Unusual, for sure.

She stood, pulling out her phone to snap a photo of the grave. If anything, this may be fun to investigate, to give her something to do while she was in Splendid. Standing back to line up her picture, she spied another tree trunk-like grave not far off.

“What in the world?”

She captured her picture, then took off for the second grave.

“Everly.” The deep, smoky voice that called out was unmistakable.

I should have gone to my car. Why hadn’t she done that?

Everly turned her heel in the grass. “Hi, Rose.”

There was a glare behind Rose. The sun streaming through tree limbs framed her in goddess-like light. She stood before Everly in her designer dress, her sky-high heels in one hand. They were probably too expensive to get dirty.

Everly was right about one thing: Rose hadn’t aged a day. Even up close, she’d barely changed. Matured, maybe, her face a little slimmer in the cheeks, but all in all, she looked the same.

Rose wasn’t alone. Fletcher and Leigh, hand in hand as always, walked up behind her.

Rose glanced over her shoulder at them momentarily, then directed her attention back at Everly. “We were surprised to see you here. Pleasantly surprised.”

The sentiment took Everly a little aback. She needed a second to compose her thoughts and make sure she didn’t say anything stupid, but then matched Rose’s honesty with her own. “I surprised myself. Mom told me what happened last week, but I didn’t decide to come until this morning. A last-minute plane ticket meant a back-row seat.”

“Sitting by the bathrooms is the worst.” Rose looked Everly up and down. “You look great, Ever. You’ve hardly changed.”

Everly blinked in surprise. Not only had Rose been friendly so far, but she’d used the nickname she’d given her in preschool. Before Everly could respond, Leigh moved up alongside Rose.

“Hardly a wrinkle,” Leigh said. “And the same chestnut hair I always envied. Now, I’d take some hair. Any kind.” Leigh touched the edge of her blue head scarf. Her once bright blue eyes were dull and bloodshot, the skin around them sunken and dark.

Discomfort edged around Everly’s gut as her mind scrambled for something to say. She ran a hand through her hair, then felt like maybe that was showing off. She wanted to throw up. Social interactions had never been her strong suit. “It’s dyed these days. There are so many grays, I’m considering letting it go.”

How do you ask a former best friend about her apparent illness? Was it rude to ask, or was it rude not to ask? If only someone would speak and save her from this moment.

Everly glanced over at Fletcher, who was staring off into space. He looked like his dad had when they were in school, except Fletcher was more fit. His hair was more gray than black, his face smooth, except for two deep parentheses lines on either side of his mouth, and the crinkles around his eyes.  

Rose cleared her throat. “Well, how long are you staying?”

Everly shrugged, grateful that the spell of awkwardness had been broken. She shifted her feet. God, they hurt. “Not sure. I don’t have a return flight, so I might stay for a few days. I haven’t seen my mom in years.”

“Of course you haven’t.” Leave it to Rose to get in one good shot.

“Yeah, well, I’ll see you guys around.” Everly took off toward the parking lot. Drawing this out any longer was pointless. She heard Leigh say something behind her, but Everly was already twenty feet away, and there was no way she was turning around.

She flung off the too-tight pumps as she marched through the grass, past tombstone after tombstone, not bothering to retrieve them. They didn’t fit anyway, kind of like her.
 
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​About the Author
A.D. Brazeau is an award-winning author who writes what she loves. From dark and fantastical fairytale retellings to quirky romance, and everything in between, she loves nothing more than to immerse herself in new worlds. A.D. Brazeau is a book-obsessed wife, mother, and dog lover who grew up surrounded by stories. Not much has changed. A.D. is from Colorado Springs, CO.

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