Long Live Dead Reckless
Safari Spell
(Long Live Dead Reckless #1)
Publication date: July 19th 2016
Genres: New Adult, Paranormal, Romance

Talor Gardin may be a princess, but her life is no fairy tale.
A year ago, her mother died and her father burned down their house. Now with a father in and out of a mental ward, she’s working a minimum wage job to finish her last semester of college. To make matters worse, she gets itchy every time a guy makes a move on her. The itch could be anything, really: a desire to escape her haunted hometown, a financial windfall, the name of some vampire…or all the above. Whatever the reason, she thinks the answers are written in the freckle constellations of her cute new coworker, Sage Talis.
Sage is the quiet, polite type with plenty of secrets – like fangs and a price on his head – and Talor can’t figure out what makes him so irresistible until she hears him sing. But when cryptic letters appear on her wrist, Talor is thrust into a world where fantastic creatures lurk just below the skin, strangers keep calling her a princess, and everything she’s been through is nothing compared to what’s coming.

They could change his clothes, but they couldn’t change his sickness. Only Sage could do that. And Sage was here. Sage’s thumb rubbed against mine, pulling me out of the sullen moment. His warmth filled me with peace. Dad and I would finally be a family again. Redemption had arrived, and I brought it through the door. I gave a gentle tap on the door even though we were already in.

“Dad?”

Caught off guard, he shuffled and wiped his eyes quickly, probably hoping I hadn’t noticed his tears before I got close enough to see them. He coughed and stood from the chair, whirling around with a grin. It dropped off his face when he saw Sage.

“Peanut – oh…who’s this?”

I looked between them and stepped forward, letting go of Sage’s hand. At twenty-three, it was still weird to hold a guy’s hand in front of Dad.

“This is Sage. He’s my friend from work. I hope it’s ok that I brought him?”

Dad waved a flippant hand in the air and nodded vigorously. He straightened his collar and brushed off his jeans as he strode across the room in two steps.

“Yes, come in, son,” he replied, pumping Sage’s hand like they’d just agreed on some major merger.

“Thank you. It’s an honor to meet you, sir,” Sage said, smiling.

After I hugged Dad, we all settled into the chairs around the room. He tried to keep the same bright-eyed, friendly manner going, but I could tell he was exhausted. He probably didn’t sleep the night before, but he wouldn’t admit that to me.

“So, Sage, was it? You a musician? You look like one.”

Sage gave a little laugh and nodded. “I am, Mr. Gardin.”

Dad slapped his knee with force.

“I knew it. My little peanut is a musician, too. It makes sense that she’d be interested in someone like you. She’s very talented. Have you ever heard her play the piano? Or sing? She’s got such a beautiful voice. Just like her mother does – I mean, did,” Dad said, suddenly stopping.

His eyes caught mine and we stared at one another. Every time either of us mentioned mom, we were brought back to the same moment in time – the funeral. It was there that we caught eyes for the first time in days. It was a fleeting look, but we cycled back through it a billion times over since that day. It was the somber, soulless kind – one that acknowledged the void we would suffer the rest for our lives. The one that knew she was never coming back. We shared it at the mention of her because it was the only way we could keep from diving into the grave after her. After all, Dad tried to put us there with the fire.

Dad broke away first, eyes turning to the ground. I was equally shattered, unable to speak. Sage had come for my father, but he decided to save us both then.

“To answer your question, sir – no, I haven’t had the pleasure, but I couldn’t imagine a single thing about Talor not being beautiful.”

Author Bio:
Safari Spell is a native of Albany, Georgia. She has a BA in Journalism from Valdosta State University. She currently lives in North Georgia with her husband, hilarious daughter, and a backyard jungle harboring all the dinosaurs everyone thinks are extinct. Her dreams include chasing autumn around the globe, owning a wallaby, and riding a camel for at least nine seconds.

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