It's been nearly a year since the Monster Haven finale came out and Zoey's story wrapped up. But that doesn't mean all the characters are settled. In January, Kam, one of the most popular characters from Monster Haven gets her very own series. Here's a peek into the middle of the book. I'm going to throw you in with no context and no spoilers.
Fans of the Monster Haven series by R.L. Naquin will love this beguiling spin-off, featuring a trapped djinn caught in a hot mess of lost souls, fast food and otherwordly murder.
Kam is a soul chaser for the Hidden Government, a much harder job now that the Hidden look like everyone else. Broke, out of magic and sick of playing waitress in a pirate-themed dive bar, Kam jumps at a chance for an out-of-town mission.
A reaper-and his loaded soul stone-have gone missing. The stone contains souls that might get permanently stuck if Kam doesn't find it, like, yesterday. She tracks the reaper down to a food truck outside Kansas City, only to find a dead reaper and no soul stone in sight. Which means that someone who should be dead killed the reaper and is running around with a powerful magic item. Not good.
And apparently the killer is targeting food-truck owners that also happen to be Hidden. So the only thing to do is open her own truck and go undercover-goodbye Kam the Djinn, hello Mobile Food Entrepreneur-and hope that she and her new runaway friend won't be the next targets…...
Coming January 9th!
Preorder: Amazon B&N iBooks Kobo
*****
I stood in the middle of our motel room in a long red velvet gown, hair up, dripping in costume jewelry, my hands and arms encased in full-length gloves.
Ash sat on the bed, legs crossed, regarding me as if I’d escaped a freak show. “Have you lost your mind? Is that…” She frowned. “Is that the
Pretty Woman dress Julia Roberts wore?”
“Too much?” I did a slow twirl and touched my gloved hand to my throat.
She grunted. “Try again. Something a little more casual.”
I closed my eyes and tapped into my magic. The dress—which had started life as a tank top and cutoff shorts—shrank and altered until it was a tight black dress with a slit up the side. I glanced down at my new nosebleed black sandals with crisscrossing straps. My hair was now curled and cascading down my back.
“How about this?” I held my arms out.
“Dinner, right? He just said dinner. Why are you dressed for a proposal?”
My face felt hot. “I don’t know. I haven’t been on a lot of dates lately. What do people wear for dinner these days?”
“Well, not that.” She waved her hand at me. “That’s a cocktail dress. You went from a ball gown to a cocktail dress. You’re on the right track. Keep going.”
I groaned and tried again. The next one was a sundress, totally inappropriate for the weather, then a sweater set that looked too much like I was somebody’s mom. Three outfits later, I grew frustrated and found myself in jeans and a dark green cotton shirt that skimmed above the waist enough to flash the slightest bit of skin.
“There,” Ash said, clapping. “Now add a pair of medium-heeled sandals and tasteful jewelry.”
I closed my eyes and made adjustments. “How’s that?”
“Perfect.” She frowned. “How much magic have you got left?”
I moved my gold bangle and took a look. Both gems were dark. “I think I overdid it.” I hated when my magic was tapped out. It made me feel vulnerable somehow. I had no self-discipline. “Dried up.”
She gave me a wary look. “After this, maybe we should shop for clothes instead of changing one thing into another.”
I shrugged it off. Never in my life had my magic helped me out of a truly bad situation. I always managed that with my brain or a good kick in the nuts. Magic was fun and occasionally useful, but being a djinn had mostly gotten me into trouble in life, not helped.
Rachel writes stories that drop average people into magical situations filled with heart and quirky humor.
She believes in pixie dust, the power of love, good cheese, lucky socks and putting things off until the last minute. Her home is Disneyland, despite her current location in Kansas. Rachel has one husband, two grown kids and a crazy-catlady starter kit.
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