Excerpt from "Devoted" by Katherine Polillo
"I stared down into
the musty, dust-covered bouquet of artificial white roses. It smelled vaguely of basement, and was
slightly squished on one side. I still
couldn’t believe I was standing here and my stomach rolled with anxiety just to
reiterate that fact. What was I
thinking? My breathing sped and I felt a
trickle of sweat roll down my back.
Actually I knew exactly how I got here, and I should have known he had
ulterior motives.
We had been
somewhere in Oklahoma driving though the beauty that was the grasslands of the
Great Plains, enormous wind turbines slowly turning in the distance. I found myself as infatuated with Gabriel’s
beauty as I was with the scenery around us.
The top of the convertible was down and his dark curls blew wildly in
the breeze. He caught me staring and
shot a heart-stopping smile back in my direction as he reached over to turn
down the music playing from the radio.
“So
I was thinking,” he began.
I interrupted because I never let
the opportunity for a bad joke pass me by, “Aww you don’t have to do that, just
look pretty.”
He
rewarded my terrible joke with a flash of perfectly white teeth and a brilliant
smile. “No really, “ he continued. “I was thinking that we drive past Colorado
and Utah, and visit Vegas.” He again
turned to me eyebrows raised with question.
“I
told Cami and my Mom we would be there to see them tomorrow.” I racked my brain for the reason for his
little change in plans.
“So call and tell
them we’ll be a few more days,” he replied matter of fact with a shoulder
shrug.
“Why
Vegas?” I asked as I shifted in my seat.
I was going to have some serious tan lines from my shorts and the way
the sun was beating down on the car.
“From
what I hear, Vegas is like nothing else around.
I’ve seen a lot of the world, but I’ve never been to Vegas. “
The answer seemed
simple enough, of course looking back; the dark sunglasses he wore made it
difficult to read his face. But I had
given in, mostly because I never wanted to tell him no, but also because I liked
the juxtaposition of a former Archangel in Sin City.
Now here I stood
in cut off denim shorts, a white peasant top, flip-flops with feet covered in
desert dust staring into a wedding bouquet.
If I didn’t stop my rapid breathing and hammering of my heart I was
going to throw-up. No one in their right
mind did things like this. I wasn’t an
inebriated pop star or a Hilton sister, and I was stone cold sober. At that moment something seemed terribly
wrong with 18 not being old enough to drink in Vegas, but plenty old enough to
get married.
Here I stood at
the Little White Wedding Chapel with a sign out front boasting a 24 hour drive
up window and the place where Michael Jordan and Joan Collins tied the knot,
not to each other of course. For the low-low
price of $55 we were about to make it official.
Don’t get me wrong, I loved him and couldn’t picture a world without him
in my life, but marriage at 18 seemed like a crazy idea. So why than did I agree to this when he
asked? Honestly my heart spoke before my
brain had a chance to chime in. I wanted
to spend the rest of my life with him, and yes I’m aware how many 18 year olds
make that same proclamation, but to our defense we had a little more going on
than your typical high school romance.
He and I had been through more together than most people would ever have
to deal with, and he had taught me that I needn’t fight all my battles
alone. I wanted to make him mine
forever, it was the getting from point a to point b that I was having a little
trouble with." (Excerpt 1 from Devoted by Katherine Polillo)
About The Author
Katherine Polillo originally planned to grow-up and become an archaeologist. Unfortunately, the desert air dried out her skin, the dirt was impossible to get from under her fingernails, and she just could not pull off a fedora like the iconic Harrison Ford character Indiana Jones. So - instead, she pursued a career in education. She courageously teaches high school history and special education. Which, from first hand experience I can contest, is not for the faint of heart.
In her free time she creates these fictional stories that has received numerous awards (listed below). She never really outgrew her imaginary friends stage, and instead has created lives and stories for the creations of her imagination to live in. When she is present in reality ad not off on an adventure with her imaginary friends, she lives in a small, New Jersey town with her husband, the man to which all fictional leading men are compared, and their two spoiled rotten, ungrateful cats.
About The Book
Devoted is the second book in The Water's Trilogy and asks the crucial decision, can love conquer all?
Michelle has managed to survive high school against all odds, but now she finds herself floating adrift in "the real world". With two horsemen defeated, there are still two unaccounted for, and surely they are plotting her immediate demise. Michelle leaves her small New Jersey town behind to venture off west. Barely able to comprehend her role as humanity's savior she now has to grapple with some new roles and identities. With her Watcher, Gabriel, by her side she must again face the evils of Hell and attempt to keep her family safe. Will love conquer all or will 'till death do us part come too soon?
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Other Titles By Katherine Polillo
Giveaway Dates: 12:01 am July 8th through midnight July 31st
Book Tour Schedule (open dates may be filled)
July 9th - Twitter Party 8 pm (EST) #Devoted
July 10th - Playing For Sweeps (Review)
July 11th - Ali's Bookshelf (Guest Post)
July 12th - A.B.Shepherd (Author Guest Post)
July 13th - Rayborn Rambles (Review)
July 14th - Aria Glazki Writes (Author Guest Post)
July 15th - R&M Fab Book Reviews (Review & Top 10)
July 16th - Into the Land of Books (Author Interview)
July 17th - Lindsay and Janes Views and Reviews (Review & Character Guest Post)
July 18th - What Shall We Blog About Today? (Excerpt)
July 19th (open)
July 20th - Book Dream Land (Review & Author Guest Post)
July 21st (Open)
July 22nd - Girl Who Reads (Author Interview)
July 23rd - Cabin Goddess (Review & Character Guest Post)
July 24th - Our New Generation for Reading (Review & Excerpt)
July 25th - Karen Pokras Toz (Author Interview)
July 26th (open)
July 27th - Lubs Book Chatter (Review & Character Interview)
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