Once Upon a Twilight!: Book Blitz: Phantom's Dance | Lesa Howard | Excerpt

Phantom's Dance
Author:Lesa Howard
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Romance
Released: April 6th 2014

Christine Dadey’s family uprooted their lives and moved to Houston for her to attend the prestigious Rousseau Academy of Dance. Now, two years later, Christine struggles to compete among the Academy’s finest dancers, her parents are on the brink of divorce, and she’s told no one about her debilitating performance anxiety and what she’s willing to do to cope with it.

Erik was a ballet prodigy, a savant, destined to be a star on the world’s stage, but a suspicious fire left Erik’s face horribly disfigured. Now, a lonely phantom forced to keep his scars hidden, he spends his nights haunting the theater halls, mourning all he’s lost. Then, from behind the curtain he sees the lovely Christine. The moldable, malleable Christine.

Drawn in by Erik’s unwavering confidence, Christine allows herself to believe Erik’s declarations that he can transform her into the dancer she longs to be. But Christine’s hope of achieving her dreams may be her undoing when she learns Erik is not everything he claims. And before long, Erik’s shadowy past jeopardizes Christine’s unstable present as his obsession with her becomes hopelessly entangled with his plans for revenge.

Excerpt

Hand in hand, we retraced our steps to Templeton Towers. Raoul did most of the talking on the way home, while I contemplated how hours could pass like minutes.
Back at the Towers, inside the elevator, Raoul moved close to me. A confident grin curling his lips, he backed me against the wall, and I grabbed the handrail behind me to keep steady. When he ran a hand through my hair, I quivered and was glad for the railing.
“Damn—” he sighed, “—you are hot.”
His words reduced my insides to mush, and my lungs refused to take in air. Finally, I stammered, “So, are you staying at your dad’s tonight?”
“Mm-hmm,” he groaned, planting a kiss on my eyelid.
“Will you be around in the morning?”
“No, Dad’s making me go fishing with him.” He trailed kisses down my cheek. “We’re leaving for Galveston before the sun comes up,” he whispered into my ear.
“Wow, you won’t get much sleep, will you?”
Mental head-butt. Could I have sounded more lame?
“Christine,” he said.
“Yeah?”
“I’m gonna kiss you again.” And he did—a long, slow kiss that coaxed my lips apart with his. Then the elevator stopped at my floor and the doors squeaked open. Raoul moaned and let his head fall into my neck, sending shivers up my spine.
Inhaling deeply, he lifted his head and stepped back, allowing me to exit the elevator. In the hall, I stopped to look at him. “I had a great time.”
“Yeah, me, too.” He raised a hand and mussed his hair.
“So, I’ll see you later,” I told him.
“Later,” he said, and the elevator doors closed.

I'm not the typical author. I didn't always enjoy reading or writing. While in school, I found it to be a chore I'd just as soon skip. I would rather have been daydreaming, my favorite past time. It wasn’t until I grew up and didn’t have to, that I realized reading was fun. I soon discovered that reading fueled my daydreaming. So, remembering a short story I'd written in high school, I began imagining expanding that story into a book. Before long I found I had loads of ideas for not just the short story but other books and stories as well. Fast forward a few years, a lot of studying about writing, practicing my writing, studying some more, taking classes from people who knew what they were doing, studying and practicing yet more, and ta-dah, author! In the same way I had learned I loved reading, I learned I loved writing, too. It’s just that writing is a lot harder than reading.