Once: Gypsy Fairy Tale by Dana Michelle Burnett (Guest Post/Giveaway)

Today I would like to give a warm welcome to Dana Michelle Burnett, who is joining us with the first book in her Gypsy Fairy Tale series, ONCE!

The Gypsy Graveyard

First off, thank you so much for having me on the blog today!  I love visiting blogs and getting the chance to introduce myself and my characters to new readers.

My new novella is entitled Once and it is the first book in my Gypsy Fairy Tale Series.  I set the story in Corydon Indiana, which may sound like an odd place to have a group of Irish Travellers hiding an ancient tribe of immortals, but hey, why not?

Actually, Indiana and gypsies have a long and frightening history that I only recently discovered.  In the town of Crown Point, there is a cemetery which holds the graves of a group of Romney gypsies and it is one of the famous ghost stories of Indiana.

The story goes that the gypsies came to Crown Point and the townspeople demanded that they move on.  The gypsies made camp outside of town.  When they all came down with deadly influenza, no one in town would help.  Many of the gypsies died and were buried at the campsite which would later become Southeast Grove Cemetery.

Now people that visit the cemetery claim to come away with blood around the hems of their pants and glowing figures.  The most famous claim is that the dirt over the century old graves remains fresh, like the grave was just dug or recently disturbed.

I wish I could say that I knew about these stories before I wrote the book (what a great tie-in) or that the gypsies in question were Irish Travellers, but I’m not that good.  For me it’s enough that it’s a really good ghost story.

What’s your favorite ghost story?

Beautiful.Secretive.Magical.  You envy their freedom, but you are distrustful of their ways.  A strange carnival has come to Corydon, Indiana and the Irish Travellers have captured the small town's attention--but it's Harmony who's attracted theirs.
Harmony sees the Travellers everywhere and just like everyone else in town she's curious.  But once she meets the mysterious and captivating Kieran, Harmony's life takes anexciting and chilling turn.
Up until now, Harmony never believed that fairytales or myths were real, but Kieran and his family belong to an ancient tribe called the Tuatha de Dannan and someone else has discovered their secret.

An ancient battle is about to begin again, and now no one is safe, especially Harmony.  Can Kieran resist the urge to be with her or will his feelings put her in the crossfire?

Goodreads

Excerpt:
The bumpy dirt road leading out to old man Macready’s farm was dark, but still I turned off my truck’s headlights and slowed down to a crawl. I leaned forward and peered out at the darkness, squinting to see anything at all.
I could feel Kieran watching me from the passenger seat. I didn’t turn to see his expression, but I could feel him near and close.
“What?” I whispered without taking my eyes off of the road.
“I get the feeling that we’re not supposed to be here.”
“You would be right,” I said with a laugh. “A bunch of us kids used to come out here back in high school and more than once he chased us off.”
Kieran laughed as well and moved closer on the seat, “How would he chase you off?”
“He’d shoot at us with bird shot,” I said glancing over at him and just being able to make out his shocked expression.
I pulled the truck to a stop just as the road ended. I shut off the engine and got out, standing in the tall woody weeds.
“The pond is just on the other side of the trees,” I said as Kieran came around the truck.
Not giving myself time to think about it, I reached over and took his hand and started walking through the trees.
Easy Harmony... It’s just his hand... You’re just showing him the way... It doesn’t mean anything...
Despite the conversation in my head, I still trembled as our fingers intertwined. I didn’t look back at him, but I held his hand a little tighter.
“When I graduated from high school, and everyone else went off to college, I used to come out here by myself before Grandma got so bad.”
“What was that like? Coming out here all alone?” Kieran asked as he followed close behind.
“It was great,” I said with a quick glance back. “It was so quiet I could just forget everything else. I didn’t have to think. I didn’t have to take care of anyone. I didn’t have to do anything and there would be all these butterflies just flying around. I could sit and watch them for hours.”
“Sounds beautiful.”
“It was,” I said. “Have you ever noticed you never see butterflies that much anymore? I miss them.”
Oh God... That was a stupid thing to say...
Kieran pulled at my hand to stop me just as we reached the edge of the trees.
“Is something wrong?” I asked as I turned around.
“No,” Kieran said as he took my other hand as well and then tilted his head back and closed his eyes. “Just wait.”
Suddenly, into the air rose a cloud of orange and black butterflies. They fluttered all around us, landed on my arms and shoulders.
I looked at him amazed, “How did you do that?”
Kieran stepped forward and brought his lips down on mine in a feathery soft kiss. When I opened my eyes, the butterflies were gone.
“Magic,” he whispered and backed away.

Dana Michelle Burnett Bio:

Dana Michelle Burnett spent most of her life writing short stories and sharing them with family and friends. Over the years, her work was published in numerous commercial and literary magazines  includingJust Labs, Mindprints: A Literary Journal, Foliate Oak, and many more.  Her short story John Lennon and the Chicken Holocaust was include in The Best of Foliate Oak 2006.

Dana Michelle's Spiritus Series introduced the idea of a ghostly romance and became a Kindle bestselling series.  She's an avid reader of anything dark and romantic.  Dana Michelle lives in Southern Indiana with her dancing diva daughter and an assortment of pets.

http://www.danamichelleburnett.com/

~*GIVEAWAY*~

Dana is giving away an Ecopy of ONCE to one reader (INT) as well as a gypsy inspired book thong (US) to three readers! To enter, just leave a comment below answering the author's question and then fill out the rafflecopter below. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway