Aurora Springer: Super Starrella for SFRB Showcase #Superhero #Romance

Welcome to the March Showcase of the Science Fiction Romance Brigade at http://sfrcontests.blogspot.com/p/sfr-brigade-presents.html

Remember to go back and read the posts from the other authors.

This month, I’m showcasing my latest venture. A couple of reviewers complained my writing had a comic book style. So, I wrote Super Starrella, a superhero adventure/murder mystery/romance set in Atalanta, a sunnier, southern version of Gotham City. And, with animal characters – Narnia crossed with Superman? I can’t keep my genres straight!

The story has a triangle off sorts, but Estelle is correct to be suspicious about the two men. In this excerpt, Toby has apparently saved Mark and Estelle from their kidnappers.

Excerpt:

Estelle dived through the blazing garage doors, groaning at the twinge of pain from her bruised hip. She rolled onto her feet and looked round. Seeing nobody, she raced across the lawn to the driveway and jumped behind a dense clump of privet bushes. Yells from the house cut above the crackle from the burning garage. She crouched lower and peered through the leaves.

A minute later, Toby stepped out of the side door with Mark’s arm draped over his shoulders. They stumbled unsteadily to the tarmac with Toby supporting Mark’s sagging body.

“Round the corner,” Toby snapped as they staggered by her hiding place in the bushes.

Running ahead beyond the curve in the driveway, Estelle found Mark’s sedan parked on the grass at the verge.

Toby was close behind. “Open the doors,” he called. He propped Mark in the passenger seat and motioned Estelle into the back of the car. A large bruise blackened Mark’s left eye. He groaned and buried his head in his hands. Fingering her sore cheekbone, Estelle hoped she looked better than Mark.

Taking the driver’s seat, Toby steered the car in a tight circle over the lawn and rolled towards the road. He didn’t drive far. Swerving into the next side road, he parked behind a dilapidated warehouse. The cracked windows and piles of cardboard boxes suggested the building was abandoned.

“Why are you stopping here?” Mark asked in a weak voice.

After a long stare at Mark, Toby drawled, “You’re in no shape to drive.” He held up a cell phone. “Call your army buddies and tell them to clean out that rat’s nest we left.” Brows lowered in a fierce frown, Toby growled, “You can wait here. I don’t want Estelle detained for questions when her granny’s dying. I’m taking her straight to the hospital.”

Mark gazed at Toby’s stony face and opened his mouth as if to protest. Then, he rubbed his forehead and groaned, “You’re right, Ryan. They beat me up.” Turning to Estelle, he asked, “You okay?”

Her face serious, she nodded. “I’m fine.”

Fingering his bruised cheek, Mark turned to Toby. “I’m grateful you rescued us. But, how on earth did you find us so fast?”

Toby’s lips twitched into a grim smile. “Know a doctor in Prescott City. Thought he might look at Estelle’s Granny. Spotted her bag by the road.” He pointed behind a green dumpster. Estelle’s distinctive red tote hung from the handlebars of the black motorbike. Remembered the Farleon tracker in the wrist band tucked inside her tote, Estelle knew how Toby had located her, but she approved of his clever explanation.

“Come on, Estelle,” Toby urged, stepping out of the sedan and striding to the motorbike. He never called her ‘Star’ in front of other people.

“Look after her, Ryan,” Mark called.

Handing her the tote, Toby straddled the bike and jerked his chin at Estelle. “Get on and hold tight. I’m leaving fast before the army arrives.”

Blurb

Teen superhero, Starrella, and her flying horse fight vicious villains in the skies above Atalanta.

A quiet summer at her uncle’s farm turns frighteningly weird for seventeen-year old Estelle Wright after she trespasses onto an Army base. Blown into the air and knocked unconscious, she wakes with a nascent superpower. Not to mention a winged horse with a snarky attitude and a mind of her own.

Back home in Atalanta, a serial killer is targeting the students at Goldman University. Before long she must juggle college classes with sneaking out of the house after dark to battle alien monsters. Estelle’s life is in danger, but who can she trust with her secret: handsome Captain Copper from military intelligence, or hunky Toby, the tough gangster with a motorbike?

Buy Links

US: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01C7WC8R6/

International: http://authl.it/B01C7WC8R6?d

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