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My new release, a fantasy romance from Raven Tale Publishing, was released on October 4th, 2023. Yesterday’s Angel is told in first person POV by the angel Azazel. In this book, Azazel is a fallen angel, but he is not evil, as Hollywood portrays him. He was a leader of the Grigori or Watchers, angels sent to Earth to teach Man after the oust from the Garden of Eden. There is one reference in the modern King James version of the Bible in Genesis 6:2. They found the daughters of Man attractive and married mortal women, siring the evil giants, The Nephilim.

I didn’t mean to wander off into my research! Here is the blurb and a short excerpt:

Blurb:

I am, and always have been, addicted to love. ~ Azazel

Azazel is a warrior angel, the leader of the Grigori when they fall from Grace for marrying mortal women. Their other sin is revealing the secrets of Heaven. Azazel gives the women the arts for seduction—mirrors, paints, perfumes. He gives men the weapons of war.

Fast forward to the current day. Azazel lives in Las Vegas, but he’s bored and seeking a Purpose. He finds Nan—badly in need of his talent with beauty. She’s a sad, faded woman working double shifts in a diner. He determines to polish this diamond in the rough. Azazel never fails. His problems begin when he falls in love with his lovely (but married) project…and Gabriel’s Trumpet announces the Second War in Heaven.

Excerpt: (Azzi [hero] taking Ninian [heroine] home after their first outing)

“You made me feel like a princess, made me feel pretty for a while. You’re a special man, you know, but it’s time for Cinderella to pick up her broom.”

I shook my head. “You are beautiful, and I intend to show you how special you are.”

Lips trembling, she planted her hands on my chest and pushed. “Goodbye, Azzi.”

I backed away. “Never goodbye. You work for me, remember? In the morning, I’ll pick you up at eight sharp-ish.”

Laughing, she paced my retreat. “Sharpish?  Does that mean you’ll be late? You talk funny, eh?”

“You talk funny, eh?”  I halted, and she put her hands on my shoulders.

Her mouth brushed mine in a sweet kiss spiced with the magnetic attraction between us—and I lost control. I bent, cradled her face in my hands, and brought my mouth down on hers, as I’d wanted to do since that night in the diner. Her lips parted, resistance melting.  She buried her hands in my hair, her tongue meeting my thrusts. Ninian trembled against me.  Through the cheap perfume, I smelled her arousal, and desire flamed hotter.

“No.” She shoved at my chest. “No.”  Breathing hard, she said, “I can’t do this. I can’t resist you, and I can’t do this.” 

She wheeled, disappearing into the apartment.  The lock clicked.  On the street, voices rose in an argument.  Drunks doing what drunks do.

“It has begun, My Fair Lady.”  I blew a kiss at the closed door, skipped down the stairs, and burst into the afternoon sunshine.

Red lights blinking, a school bus spilled children onto the sidewalk. Their laughter blended with the song of a lone bird.  Before Man was ousted from the Garden, Eden had owned birdsong and innocent laughter.  Leaning against a chipped stucco archway, I studied the kids disembarking from the bus. Three of them—two boys and a girl—weren’t laughing. They clung close to each other.  Their clothes were clean but showed signs of wear.  None of them had a cell phone glued to an ear.

A boy of thirteen strode across the street, dodging a car.  A girl of twelve and a lad of ten followed.  Her children looked as wary and downtrodden as Ninian had this morning. Losing your home robbed one of more than a place to live.  How well I knew. The older boy glanced at me, whisked by, and bounded up the stairs.  Edward Clyde bore a strong resemblance to his father, big-boned and stocky with a rather prominent jaw and curly dark brown hair.  The girl and the younger boy looked like their mother though Amy Elizabeth had dirty blonde hair.  Our eyes met.  She gripped her younger brother’s arm and hauled him to a stop.  Daniel James looked up from rummaging in his book bag.  He had his mother’s grace, her beauty, and her coal black hair.  My heart caught.  For a couple of seconds, he stared at me before his gaze fled to his sister.

He swallowed hard, shaking Amy’s arm. “There’s an…an angel in the doorway.”  

“You’re nuts.” She shot me a wary look, seizing her brother’s hand in a protective gesture.

Hello Daniel.  I spoke in his thoughts, and his stunning eyes widened.

As his sister propelled him past me, he murmured, “Hello, angel.”

Amy elbowed him and frowned at me over her shoulder. “Mom told us not to talk to strangers.”

“I wasn’t talking to him.” Daniel adjusted the strap on his book bag. “He was talking to me. He knew my name.”

“You’re too weird.  The stranger didn’t say a word.”  The girl cuffed him on the arm.

“I’m not a stranger,” I muttered, watching Ninian’s children hurdle up the stairs. “I’m the man who should have been your father.”

The full realization of what I’d said struck me, and I turned to stone.  If I’d sired her children, they would all be male, and it would be a tragedy of grand proportions.

AMAZON BUY LINK

Yesterday’s Angel is currently priced at only 99 cents. Get your copy now at the special price!