“Forest. Trees, weird palm-frond things. Dirt. It completely ruined my first pair of brogues.” He wrinkled his face at the memory.
“But that’s impossible.”
“Not necessarily. I’ve run some calculations and I believe the room functions as a kind of wormhole through space-time. In this case, time. I believe it shows past and perhaps even future permutations of the bookshop. What was and was will be on this very site. After I escaped the forest, I told Heathcliff what I saw. After yelling at me for a solid three hours, he and I looked in the room again, and this time it was a dusty, empty room. No furniture at all. The only thing inside was a large, empty leather book with a gold symbol on the cover. That same book sits in the occult room downstairs.”
“I saw it.”
“Yes, and you saw a Victorian master bedroom, after the door opened to you of its own accord. The occult room opened for you, as well. I don’t know what it means, but I do know that the bookshop wants you to discover its secrets.” Morrie grinned, and pinched my bum. “That’s good. Secrets are fun. I’m enjoying discovering your secrets, Mina Wilde.”
I grinned back. Maybe we still had no idea why the guys were here or what kind of magic the bookshop possessed, and maybe Quoth was sort of trapped here, and maybe I was kind of sort of infatuated with all of them, but for the first time in a long time, I felt okay about the future. I felt settled. I felt like I might have the strength to deal with my eventual blindness.
In Nevermore Bookshop, I felt as though I’d come home.
TO BE CONTINUED
* * *
Need to uncover more secrets of Nevermore Bookshop? Grab book 2,Of Mice and Murder.
(Turn the page for a sizzling excerpt).
* * *
Can’t get enough of Mina and her boys? Read a free alternative scene from Quoth’s point-of-view when you sign up for the Steffanie Holmes VIP list.
From the Author
Don’t worry! I promise there’s an excerpt of book 2 in a couple of pages. I’ve just got to do some thank you and say some bollocks first.
The Nevermore Bookshop Mysteries are some of the most personal books I’ve written, for a number of reasons. I’ve poured my love of books into these characters, and tried to convey the power of stories to transform our lives – both the stories we read and the ones we tell ourselves.
For Mina, books saved her when she was lonely and vulnerable, and now, when she returns to ___field, books – and their hot fictional men – are going to get her through her latest challenge.
You might not know this, but I’m legally blind. Unlike Mina, my eyesight didn’t fade over time. I was born with the genetic conditionachromatopsia, which means my eyes lack the millions of cone cells required to recognise colours and perceive depth. I’m completely colour blind, light sensitive with poor depth perception, I squint and blink all the time, and struggle to make eye contact. I’m so short-sighted I’m considered legally blind.
As a kid, I was bullied relentlessly because I was different. I had wonky eyes and an overactive imagination and I sucked at sport. Other kids taunted me because I couldn’t do the things they did. I thought I was a freak, destined never to have any friends. I expected to be alone forever.
I found solace in books, and in music. I lost myself in worlds that took me far away from my small town and people who hated me. In those worlds, it was okay to be different, and unlikely heroines got to have all sorts of adventures.
As I grew older, I experienced discrimination in a similar way Mina did. I felt both the pull of outrage and the push of inevitability. If someone says I can’t do a job, are they right? Our world goes out of its way to tell us that people who are different should be pushed aside.
Fuck that.
Sometimes life shuts you out of opportunities, of things you deserve. Sometimes working hard isn’t enough. It sucks and it hurts, but there’s only two ways to proceed – you can curl up and wither away, or you can make your own opportunities.
Four years ago when I published my first Steffanie Holmes book, I had no idea where it would lead. Now I got to write this book and tell Mina’s story, and part of my own story, too.
There are so many people who’ve supported me and believed in me, even when I struggled to believe in myself. My parents, Mother and Father Metal, and my sis, Belinda, for their unfaltering support.
The writers with whom I’ve celebrated and commiserated – the peeps on Dirty Discourse, the fab ladies of Romance Writers of New Zealand, my reverse harem babes. Thank you for teaching me that when one of us succeeds, it lifts everyone up.
To my friends, the bogans, my extended family, my brothers and sisters of metal. I apologise for the volume of our shenanigans that end up in my books.
Always, to my cantankerous drummer husband, who is everything. Every hero I write is a piece of you and what you mean to me.
And lastly, to you, my readers, for going on this journey with me. I love you more than words can say.
Mina’s got a hell of a journey ahead of her. She came to Nevermore Bookshop broken and defeated, but she’s stronger than even she knows. And she’s got Heathcliff, Morrie, Quoth, and Jo by her side. With a gang like that, she’s invincible.
