Skin Deep (35 page)
“We had such a great time at our Equinox Extravaganza last March that we decided we needed a fall one, too,” says organizer Kathy Hayes, one of the event’s business sponsors. “We have a lot to celebrate in Mattaquason, don’t you think?”
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
W
riting a story is a solitary endeavor. Creating a book, on the other hand, is usually the work of many. I’d like to thank the many who helped
Skin Deep
see the light of day:
My critique partners Janet Halpin and Doreen Rebh, who read early versions of this story.
E of Aquila Editing, who kindly but firmly pointed out what needed fixing and made it a much better story.
Judy of Judicious Revisions, who polished off the rough edges. Any remaining infelicities and errors are purely mine.
And for various forms of support, encouragement, and shenaniganizing, thank you to my dear friend and blogging partner Regina Scott, to Janet Halpin for years of slogging along in the trenches with me, and to my fellow Moderators and Administrators of the SCBWI Blueboard who keep me sane and laughing and aren’t scandalized when I write books for grown-ups on the side. I love you guys!
Thank you so much for taking the time to read Skin Deep. If you enjoyed it, please consider telling your friends or posting a review on the site where you purchased it or on your favorite social media site such as Goodreads or LibraryThing. Word of mouth is an author’s best friend and much appreciated. Thank you!
About the Author
Marissa Doyle originally intended to be an archaeologist but somehow got distracted. But she’s put her passion for history into writing fiction: her award-winning YA books
Bewitching Season
,
Betraying Season
, and
Courtship and Curses
(all from Henry Holt Books for Young Readers/Macmillan) blend history with magic and romance. Her first book for adults,
By Jove
, is now available from Entangled Publishing. She lives in Massachusetts with her family, multiple boxes of fabric, and a pair of bossy pet rabbits.
Connect with me
(because I love hearing from readers!)
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http://marissadoyle.com
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Other books by Marissa Doyle
For Theodora Fairchild, returning to graduate school after three years of teaching Latin to unenthusiastic middle-schoolers is a dream come true. The professors in the Classics Department at John Winthrop University in Boston are the best in their field; the classes are varied and intellectually stimulating…and she meets brilliant, sweetly nerdy post-doc Grant Proctor.
As she gives in to her feelings for Grant, someone seems determined to keep them apart—no matter the consequences. Things are not quite what they seem in the Classics Department, and someone there has plans for Theo that don’t include Grant. When Grant disappears, surviving the semester becomes only one of Theo’s worries; her wits and wisdom may be the only things that can save the man she loves.
The Leland Sisters series (young adult)
In 1837 London, young daughters of viscounts pined for handsome, titled husbands, not careers. And certainly not careers in magic. At least, most of them didn’t.
Shy, studious Persephone Leland would far rather devote herself to her secret magic studies than enter society and look for a suitable husband. But right as the inevitable season for "coming out" is about to begin, Persy and her twin sister Pen discover that their governess in magic has been kidnapped as part of a plot to gain control of the soon-to-be Queen Victoria. Racing through Mayfair ballrooms and royal palaces, the sisters overcome bad millinery, shady royal spinsters, and a mysterious Irish wizard. And along the way, Persy learns that husband hunting isn’t such an odious task after all, if you can find the right quarry.
Penelope (Pen) Leland has come to Ireland to study magic and prove to herself that she is as good a witch as her twin sister, Persy. But when the dashing Niall Keating begins to pay her court, she can’t help being distracted from her studies.
Little does Pen know, Niall is acting upon orders from his sorceress mother. And although it starts as a sham, Niall actually falls deeply in love with Pen, and she with him. But even if he halts his mother’s evil plan, will Pen be able to forgive him for trying to seduce her into a plot? And what of Pen’s magic, which seems to be increasingly powerful?
Sophie's entrance into London society isn't what she thought it would be: Mama isn't there to guide her. Papa is buried in his work fighting Napoleon. And worst of all, the illness that left her with a limp, unable to dance at the Season's balls, also took away her magic. When the dashing Lord Woodbridge starts showing an interest in Sophie, she wants to believe it's genuine, but she can't be sure he's feeling anything more than pity.
Sophie's problems escalate when someone uses magic to attack Papa at the Whistons' ball and it soon becomes clear that all the members of the War Office are being targeted. Can Sophie regain her own powers, find her balance, make a match--and save England?
CHARLES BEWITCHED
(novella)
In this novella follow-up to Bewitching Season and Betraying Season, sixteen-year-old Charles Leland is not looking forward to his summer holidays from Eton—not when he has to spend them studying history to make up for a less-than-stellar grade last term. Even the thought of staying with his sister Persy and her husband Lochinvar while his parents are in Ireland can't cheer him up.
But cramming history quickly takes a back seat to finding out what has happened to Persy, who disappears from home the day he arrives. All signs indicate that she’s been abducted by gypsies--but a gypsy boy named Nando convinces Charles that her disappearance has a much more otherworldly explanation.
Now Charles must brave the perils and sheer strangeness of the fairy lands to try to rescue his sister from being forcibly married to a powerful fairy lord, with the help of the fairy lord’s own very insistent younger sister, a copy of History and Policy of the Norman and Angevin Kings that he must read before September, and Her Majesty Queen Victoria. But will he also be able to rescue himself?