Keep reading for more on MARKED BEAUTY, S.A. Larsen, some exciting teasers, two exclusive excerpts, and two fantastic giveaways!! You won’t want to miss out! 

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The Book

Title: Marked Beauty
Author: S.A. Larsen
Publisher: Ellysian Press
Release Date: October 2017

Uncovering hidden secrets can sometimes kill you . . . or worse, steal your soul.

Anastasia Tate has a secret. She can feel the emotions of others through their life energy auras. Not a welcome gift for a teenager. Especially when a sinister presence begins stalking her.

Viktor Castle also has a secret. He’s tasked with protecting humanity yet cursed by an ancient evil to destroy it.

After Viktor saves Ana’s life, her abilities grow stronger. Drawn together, she senses Viktor has answers to lifelong questions. Only he shuns her at every turn, knowing he has saved her only to put her in more danger. As Ana struggles with her attraction to Viktor, he tries everything to bury his unexpected feelings for her. But they must find a middle ground. For only together can they combat the dark forces threatening both their lives . . . and their souls.

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Purchase Links:
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Excerpts

MARKED BEAUTY
Excerpt #1
S.A. Larsen

The seatbelt jolted Ana back into her seat as the car plunged into the water, the hood crinkling like a weak soda can. Glass shards peppered her skin. The first sensation of cool water sprayed over her.

Ana moaned. She rolled her head to the side. Katee’s hair lay in strings across her crumpled seat; she wasn’t moving. God, why wasn’t she moving?

Pain screeched up Ana’s thigh as she yanked on her leg to move closer to Katee; it wouldn’t budge, wedged between two sheets of metal. It stung so badly that her stomach rumbled. She felt faint.

“Katee,” Ana rasped, the seatbelt pressing against her throat. “I’ll get you out of here.”

She didn’t respond. Blood trickled from her forehead, and her arm flared out in a direction it shouldn’t; it was definitely broken.

Ana fumbled to reach the clasp of her seatbelt, but the mangled console was in the way. Her fingers wouldn’t fit in the space.

Tears threatened to leak from her eyes, but she held them back, hiccupping instead. She always hiccupped when things went wrong. And that was as wrong as it had ever been.

The car shifted. Metal creaked and grunted. The lake poured into their glass and steel coffin. Ana wrenched her seatbelt, trying to loosen it and loop it over her head, hoping to shimmy free. There was too much tension. It wouldn’t let go. And like the rest of her pathetic life, she had no control.

Stupidly, Ana screeched for help and gulped a mouthful of lake. Why should she bother? No one would hear her. She rested her head back to float in the water, waiting for the inevitable. She thought of her father. She could never leave him like her mother had.

She spit water from her mouth and gasped for air. Her chest burned. The strain of expanding her ribcage was too much. Her vision blurred. Dizziness taunted her head. A soft buzz was all she could hear. She thought about praying, like Mem said.

MARKED BEAUTY
Excerpt #2
S.A. Larsen

The air shifted, clouds tumbling in the sky. Out of nowhere, heavy mist blanketed them and quickly collected into droplets. Viktor backed from Anastasia, making way for a few students to jog between them, but he kept his eyes on her; she didn’t look away either. More kids scurried past with backpacks and blankets jostling in their arms. Sara and Finn trotted toward them.

A funnel of smoke billowed from the bonfire and, at the same time, a presence washed over Viktor; actually, it was more than one. He ripped his gaze from Anastasia to scan the area. Had someone detected his link with her? Had he been that stupid?

Energy bursts popped up all over the field, which could only mean one thing: Elementals were here, either for their own reasons or for hire; neither prospect could be good. Usually they were brought in to create diversions.

He darted a glance at Anastasia, now a few yards away. A force of hot and sticky energy slammed into them. Viktor stiffened to absorb the energy, but Anastasia’s body dropped to the craggy grass, spilling out the contents of her satchel.

Spurts of cranberry, amber, and ultramarine embers shrieked into the sky. Globs of ash and shards of wood littered the field. Students’ panic was the only music now playing in the air. Anastasia pushed to her knees, strands of hair crisscrossing her face. She coughed and gawked at the fire, horror infecting her eyes.

Viktor raced to her. As he kneeled by her side, her scream pierced him. “Can you see it?”

Her terror crimped a piece of his soul.

His eyes roved over a solid black hole of energy hovering near the flames, the tug fierce on his Rifter half knowing what he saw. Separate shadows and shades of energy fanned eel-like tails toward the sky. He’d never seen a compilation of energy that daring. The source could be anyone who dealt in energy from blood magick to witchcraft. But what had Anastasia seen?

The area lit up with sirens and blue lights brighter than the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center.

“I’ll get you out of here, Anastasia.”

“Not so fast, young man,” a voice of authority said.

Glancing up, Viktor saw a security guard in all the expected attire – useless sparkles of metal and a taser harnessed on his belt, which struggled to support his donut belly. A fancy uniform did not make a man. He wondered where they got these mall cops and opened his eyes, his pupils widening and flaring with lights. Having the ability to traipse around in the psyche of others, slipping them thoughts, did have its advantages on occasion. It took a lot out of Viktor, though.

The security guard dazed, turned around, and strolled away from them.

“Anastasia, take my hand,” Viktor said.

She gazed up at him like an innocent child wanting to know why. Surprisingly, she didn’t ask any questions. But the moment her hand slipped into his, it began.

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The Author

S.A. LARSEN is the author of the award-winning novel Motley Education, the first book in a fantasy-adventure series for middle grade readers. Her work has appeared in numerous local publications and young adult anthologies Gears of Brass and Under A Brass Moon by Curiosity Quills Press. Marked Beauty is her debut young adult novel.
Find her in the land of snowy winters and the occasional Eh’ya with her husband of over twenty-five years, four children, a playful pooch, and three kittens.
Visit her cyber home anytime at www.salarsenbooks.com.

Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Blog | Goodreads

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Giveaways

Blog Tour Giveaway

One (1) winner will receive a $25 Amazon Gift Card (INT)

Release Party Giveaway

What better way to celebrate a book birthday then by a giveaway! There are many ways to enter, which you’ll find below. You can win an iTunes, Amazon, or Starbucks gift card, an authentic Vera Bradley Little Crossbody in Cobalt Tile, an assortment of bookish swag, and even a KINDLE Fire HD 7″! The giveaway runs from release day, October 17, 2017 to December 5, 2017. Winners will be announced via social media December 7, 2017.

*No purchase necessary to win*

However, if you have read Marked Beauty or purchase it and read you can earn extra entries by posting a review on any major online retail bookstore and Goodreads! All the information you’ll need is in the form below. BUT there’s more…FOR WRITERS!

Writers who enter can WIN a first five pages critique!

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