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Rowan Shannigan, AKA Shiloh Darke

Rowan Shannigan, Author of the awakening Awareness Series Rowan Shannigan has always harbored a deep fascination for the paranormal. She believes in Ghosts! She believes Angels watch over us. She knows Demons stalk us and she really wishes Elves were around to be yummy and heroic when we need them for inspiration!

Rowan lives in Texas with her son and her very own Soul Mate. Her house is filled to the brim with love and laughter, not to mention a few ghosts here and there. Oh, and more than just a few cats! You can’t forget the cats!

Awareness and Sensations are Rowan’s first Young Adult novels, with one more book planned out for this, the Awakening Awareness series. She also writes Romance for adults under the pen name of Shiloh Darke.

Website
AWARENESS ON FACEBOOK

New Title(s) from Rowan Shannigan

Awareness by Meridian Mychaels Christmas Dance by Rowan Shannigan Sensations by Rowan Shannigan
Order the AWARENESS Print book TODAY!
Order the SENSATIONS Print Book TODAY!

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Awareness by Meridian Mychaels
Waking in the hospital after a car accident nearly claims her life is a serious jolt to Rebecca, a sixteen-year-old with a promising future. Learning she had been there for over a week is pretty nerve-wracking as well. But that isn’t what really bothers her. No, what is really bothering her is her newfound ability to see shadows no one else around her can see, and to hear voices no one else can hear. Then, the ghost of a little boy materializes in the middle of her room, walks right up to her and starts talking. TO HER! In front of her mother, no less.

Now she has to re-learn everything she once believed to be true about the world she lives in, and what is real in that world is becoming a pretty daunting task to face. Because ghosts she can see and hear are not the only ones popping out of the woodwork; let’s just say... Elves and Angels, demons and Faeries, oh my! And would someone please just answer this one question: What’s a girl supposed to do for a good night’s sleep?

                                                                           Excerpt
Word Count: 65,900
Buy at: Smashwords (all formats) ~ Barnes and Noble ~ Amazon                
Price: $ 4.99
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Awareness by Meridian Mychaels


To order this book in print, please contact Charlotte Holley at cholley@gypsyshadow.com  (ISBN #978-1-61950-045-7)


 
Christmas Dance by Rowan Shannigan Maddie is a teenager who is in LOVE with a boy who is just so out of her league. She's a dork, He's a Jock. She's plain, He's Drop-Dead-Gorgeous! Of course, she doesn't believe he could ever have feelings for her. Then, amazingly, he asks her to be his date to the dance. She's totally shocked, skeptical and suspicious. Why would someone like him ask HER out? But Stephen has secrets and a crush of his own. Will she accept him when he lets her in on them?

                                                                          
Excerpt
Word Count: 6300
Buy at: Smashwords (all formats) ~ Barnes and Noble ~ Amazon
Price: 2.99

   
Sensations by Rowan Shannigan
When Rebecca woke up in the hospital after her near death experience with the ability to see as well as hear things others didn’t, she thought the Ghosts and Demons were the worst thing she’d have to deal with. Little did she know they really were just the tip of the iceburg.

Now, she finds herself thrust into a world hidden within her own—a world that doesn’t want her. She isn’t good enough for the Elf King’s son, all because she’s human? And if that’s not bad enough, now she has to make a decision: Keep her new talents to herself, as she's sworn to do, or help someone who desperately needs her.

Tough Decision...
                                                                                                     Excerpt
Word Count: 66000
Buy at: Smashwords (all formats) ~ Barnes and Noble ~ Amazon
Price: $4.99
 

Sensations by Rowan Shannigan
To order this book in print, please contact Charlotte Holley at cholley@gypsyshadow.com (ISBN #978-1-61950-162-1)



Excerpts
 

Awareness

“When He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth;”
John 16:31


One—Voices

Voices... the first thing I remembered hearing when I woke up in the hospital that morning. I was confused and disoriented. My mother sat perched near me with a worried expression on her face, but all I could do was take everything in.

I was lying in a bed with tubes connected to me. Shadows danced along the pristine walls, but had no apparent point of origin. Who did the shadows belong to?

Voices; hundreds of voices whispered all around me, but I saw no physical body for any of them. My heart sped up as I looked around, trying to make sense of it all. Surely I was going crazy. I had no other explanation for it, though.

My inner musings were interrupted when the doctor entered and greeted me with a smile. “Well, look at you! All bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.”

I glanced from the doctor to my mother and back again. “What’s going on?” I asked in a voice that was hoarse from disuse. “Why am I here?”

Mother leaned forward and took my hand. “Baby, you were in a car accident. You’ve been unconscious for six days.” Tears welled in her eyes. “I’ve been so worried.”

Swallowing the lump that had formed in my throat, I whispered. “Is everyone else okay?”

Squeezing my hand, Mom nodded. “You were the only one who had to be admitted. Everyone else went home that first day.”

“Thank God,” I responded, closing my eyes. When I opened them, a woman was standing just to the left of my mother, looking down at me with a curious expression.

Then, just as fast as she had appeared, she vanished. I blinked and reached up to rub my eyes, trying to clear them of the days of crusty sleep that had built up in the corners. Surely I was seeing things. How bad were my injuries? Did I have a concussion?

“So, what’s wrong with me? When do I get to go home?” I asked quietly.

The doctor smiled. “Well, I’m keeping you for a little longer, just to make sure your head injury is truly on the mend. But I think we can probably let you go home in time for the weekend.”

When he spoke, a shadow raced past him, drawing my attention as it stopped just as abruptly and turned toward me. As I watched, it moved closer and a face took shape.

The boy looked me over intently before offering me a lopsided grin. “Don’t tell him you see me, or they’ll transfer you to the State Hospital, just as sure as I’m floating around.”

He glanced over toward my mom and the doctor, adding, “They’re watching. You need to tell them your head’s hurting and ask them to turn down the lights.” Glancing back at me, he clicked his tongue. “Trust me. Do it now!”

Without even thinking, I turned and covered my eyes with my hands. “I’m sorry. The lights hurt my eyes. Can we turn them off?”

The doctor nodded. “Of course; you have a couple of hours until lunch. Why don’t you try to get some more sleep?” Turning to my mother, he smiled. “She seems to be in the clear now. I’ll be back to check on her later.”

She offered him tears of gratitude, and I watched, feeling pretty overwhelmed. I wondered silently how close I had actually been to dying.

“Oh, you were close,” the boy said. “They’ve been in and out of here for days.”

I looked back at the boy, who had now materialized completely to stand beside me. He couldn’t have been any older than twelve, but he seemed very with it. Glancing over, I saw my mother was standing at the door, talking to the doctor still, so I could respond without worry of being overheard.

Looking back at the boy, I asked quietly, “They? Who are they?”

He looked from me to my mother, then back at me. “Okay, two rules. One: you don’t talk to me. I can hear your thoughts. You don’t want just anyone seeing you talking to things they can’t see. They’ll think you’re crazy.” He smiled. “And second: don’t ask questions you aren’t prepared to hear the answers for.”

He chuckled. “I’ll come back tonight after your mom goes home. It’ll be easier for you to understand me and not freak her out by talking to imaginary friends she probably can’t believe in.” He smiled and reached to touch my arm, but stopped, holding his hand just inches from my skin.

Fascinated, I watched as the hair on my arm directly below his hand stood straight up. A chill ran through me, making me shiver. I could feel him. But I knew he had no physical body.

He stepped back. “Just don’t freak out at what you see today. The things you see here in the daylight won’t hurt you. I’ll explain when I come back tonight.”

With those few wise words, he vanished, exactly like the woman who’d been standing beside Mom earlier had. To say I was shaken would have been an understatement. This went beyond anything I’d ever imagined possible.

“Well, baby girl, it looks like you’ll be going home soon,” Mom said as she moved back to take the seat beside my bed. “That’s wonderful.”

I turned to smile at her. “Yeah,” I answered. “That’s good.” And it was. I just wasn’t sure this other thing was good. But how could I tell her about that? I mean, I was seeing ghosts. Wasn’t I? How was that even possible?

Or maybe I had just hit my head so hard this was all still a hallucination and I only thought I was awake! Yeah. That sounded like the better option. It was a heck of a lot easier to believe than the version of ghosts, disembodied voices, and shadows dancing all over the walls. I mean, move over, space cadet... Psycho in ward three!

Okay, so ghosts were real. All right, I could buy that. I mean, it was actually pretty cool... on a really weird, spooky, don’t-tell-anyone kind of way. But they didn’t need to talk to me. I mean, no way was I going to continue seeing them. I could refuse. Couldn’t I?

I was soon to learn just how impossible it would be to ignore the spirits that float around us every single day of our lives. I was also about to learn the plans I had been making for my life were no longer an option.


Two—Ghosts and Angels

Later that night, my mother kissed me goodbye and promised to be back early in the morning. I had to clasp my hands together to keep from grabbing her and begging her not to leave me. I didn’t want to be alone. But I was too old to act like a baby.

It was just all too crazy. I wasn’t prepared to handle it with people all around me during the daylight. How the hell was I supposed to handle it at night with no one—no one alive, that is—here?

Biting my tongue, I waved goodbye as she walked out the door. Then, I counted. One-one-thousand, two-one thousand, three... nothing. Maybe I had only been hallucinating. Nope, I had quit counting too soon.

“Hi there! Miss me?” His voice almost made me jump completely out of the bed.

Gasping, I turned to look at the boy I had seen earlier, now perched precariously at the foot of the mattress. “Don’t do that!” I growled. “You scared my heart half out of my chest!”

He tilted his head, considering my words and looking at the vicinity around my heart. “Still looks like it’s beating in place to me.”

I fought the urge to throw my pillow at him. Instead, I tried the calm, I-don’t-believe-in-you approach. “You are figment of my imagination. I am going to sleep now and you...” I grumbled, pointing at him, “. . . are going to go invade someone else’s nightmares.”

He actually looked insulted. “Hey!” he pointed back, “I’m here to give you a quick lesson. You had better be nice, because I’m not going to help you at all if you’re gonna act like that!”

I groaned, shaking my head. “You are not real! I hit my head and I am just hallucinating!” I pointed, wagging my finger at him. “I don’t need a lesson. I need to get some sleep so tomorrow they’ll decide they can let me go home.” I rolled my eyes. “You’re younger than me anyway. What could you possibly teach me?”

                                                                                       Back to Awareness 
 
Christmas Dance

Chapter 1

Stephen Daniels; that’s the name of the boy I loved. Now, you have to understand, when I say loved I’m not referring to some little schoolgirl crush. I was not taken to flights of fancy. I never swooned when a cute boy walked past me. I never even really swooned with Stephen, either. Panicked if he walked near me? Yes. Stared at him when I thought he wasn’t paying attention? Of course. But what I felt for him wasn’t some fickle crush.

How do I know, you ask? It’s simple, really. My affection for him started the first day of kindergarten. I was walking past a row of desks and tripped over a book bag. He caught me and worried over whether I was hurt or not for the rest of the day.

Now, I won’t say we became fast friends. I was too shy, and he was too perfect. I’m not exaggerating, either. He was perfect. Beautiful green eyes, wavy blond hair, and a smile that just made my heart melt. He was an amazing person, too. From that very first year, and every year following...perfect because he wasn’t a stuck-up snob like other people who were naturally beautiful could be. No, not my Stephen; he was kind, with a huge heart. He was always friendly and outgoing. He never had a bad word to say to anyone.

Of course, he had so many people who were attracted to his natural inner and outer beauty that he really didn’t get to know me all that well. I was outside of his circle. But he still always found a way to be nice, and we sometimes talked to each other; when I wasn’t too busy being tongue-tied around him. Like I said, I never swooned, but I often stuttered like a fool in his presence.

Of course, I could never say I was the beautiful, outgoing girlfriend my Stephen so richly deserved. I’d like to tell you he fell madly in love with me the first time he saw me; just like I had with him. But the truth is: I didn’t believe he’d ever seen me. Not really, even though he went to my high school and had the same lunch hour as me. Heck, he was in five of six classes with me. He always had been in at least four classes with me ever since we started middle school. It almost seemed like some cosmic order was trying to thrust us together. Hmm... sometimes I wondered if he’d ever noticed it like I had.

We were as different as night and day. He sat in the front of the classes; I always lingered in the back. Where he was outgoing, I was the introvert. If I thought it would do me any good, I’d have tried to come out of my shell. But I was always scared to death of rejection. So I stayed where I was and just dared to daydream about him. Daydreaming can be almost as good; if more than a little unsatisfactory.

My name is Madison Elliot. My friends call me Maddie. Unfortunately, where Stephen is dreamy perfect, I’m only average. My hair is mousy brown. It doesn’t even have any highlights in it to make it look like it might have any luster. It’s long and straight. My eyes are just an average color of brown; nothing fancy, no sparkle in them, either. My mother says there are flecks of green in them and they light up when I laugh, but I really don’t see it. I think I was God’s idea of a joke.

The reason I say this is because... well, my mom was head cheerleader when she was in high school. My dad was the star quarterback on the football team. They were high school sweethearts who fell madly in love. When they got married, everyone said they were going to make such beautiful babies.

As a baby, I was sweet. I can admit it; I’ve seen the pictures. But from the age of two to the first year of school, something went drastically wrong. It’s like the opposite of that story, The Ugly Duckling. I started out being really pretty. Then, as I aged, I wilted like a flower without sunlight.

Add all these things together and it equals a sad existence, with a mundane life. Or at least, it did. My life would have stayed that way, I’m certain, if it hadn’t been for that fateful day, two weeks before the Christmas Dance of our eleventh grade year. That was the day everything changed.
Stephen and I were both in Miss Oscar’s homeroom. She was in charge of planning the Christmas Dance that year. She had been told to pick two students from her homeroom class to assist her in the planning. I don’t know if it was God or fate, but when she picked, Stephen and I were the two students she wanted to help her.

I don’t know how it happened, but during the time we were helping Miss Oscar plan for the dance, fate finally stepped in and my life—not to mention my luck—changed. I remember it all like it was yesterday...

Back to Christmas Dance
 
Sensations

Prologue—Purgatory
Sam:

“I said no!” Becca stood in the center of the room, glaring at the Angel who had transported us to this beautiful place suddenly, and with no explanation. Honestly, I didn’t blame her. It was pretty wild.

We had been pulled out of what I would only call a scary situation, and thrown into one that was just as spooky and intense. There was no way we were staying here! Seriously? I mean, people didn’t belong in the spiritual realm. Not when they were still alive. Did they? And where were our bodies? How long could a body survive without a soul connected to it?

So, anyway, now here I was, standing in this room that looked as if it was part of a palace, with these long flowing robes, like what a person wears when they sing in a church choir, watching Becca spit and hiss like a cat at the Angel who had just informed her that we would be staying here until they had a course of action against the Demons who were trying to kill us.

Shocking, right? But there was even more good news. Apparently, the demon who had taken over my body had been able to do so because of my Fae heritage. Who knew Faeries were more susceptible to demon possession when in the human realm if they were unprepared.

Then, the Angel had even looked down his nose at me and criticized my mother for keeping me in the dark about my true identity. I was outraged! I had been so shocked and surprised that I hadn’t even been able to come up with a good comeback. Until after he left us.

Then I had turned to Becca with my bewildered expression and done what any headstrong, angry teenaged Faerie would do. I puckered up like a baby and wailed for all I was worth. “How could she do this to me, Becca? My own mother hid my memories from me!” I sank to the floor, in shock and grief. “Who am I, anyway?”

The thing that always made me believe Becca was a really good friend was the way she could just drop whatever worry or anger she might be feeling at the time to offer comfort to anyone who needed it. The girl seriously didn’t have a single mean bone in her body. I loved that about her. It made me proud to call her friend.

Her fierce sense of determination was also something I admired; like now. She was standing toe to toe with an Angel, no less. And she wasn’t afraid. No, that wasn’t even the right word! What she was at that moment? Well, the best word I can come up with was furious!

“You gave us no warning, Zeek! Not one!” she accused. “Not even a, oh, by the way, we may need to take you into protective custody for a while, or anything!”

She threw her hands up in the air. “What are we supposed to do now? I mean, am I just taking a sabbatical from my life?” Her voice rose as the frustration grew. “I am a junior in high school, for heaven’s sake! I can’t just put that on hold!” Then her voice wavered. “What about Mom?”

There it was. For the last, oh I don’t know, half hour, she had comforted me and encouraged me not to panic or be upset. Now, it was her turn. Tears filled her eyes, and I moved forward to try to comfort her. She held to me even as she continued to stare the beautiful Angel in the face. “What does she know? Does she know I’m here? Does she know I’m safe?”

I hugged her tighter as she finally let herself cry over the entire mess we’d just unexpectedly found ourselves thrust into.

Zeke, or whatever his name was, finally had the good grace to seem somewhat apologetic for what we were going through. He took a step closer to us and reached out to pat her shoulder. “This will not interfere with your human life, Becca. I promise, when this is over, we will set everything back as it should be.” He sighed. “But for now, I need you both to trust me.”

She held to me for a moment longer, returning my hug before she let go and stepped back a little. “Where’s Darethmar? Where did you take him?”

Zeke gave her a smile and I felt like someone was getting ready to tell a huge lie. “He’s a prince, with obligations to his people, Becca. He was taken back to his home. You’ll be seeing him soon, I promise.

Now, maybe that wasn’t a lie, but it wasn’t the most upfront and honest response I’ve ever heard either.

Then, as if his answer wasn’t enough to throw my hackles up, what he did next really irked the hell out of me. He offered us both a parting bow and promptly disappeared, leaving us alone in the middle of what seemed for all appearances to be a deserted palace.

Becca groaned and moved to sit at the end of the bed on the far side of the room. She looked around with an exasperated expression before glancing at me. “If anyone had told me a year ago that I would be seeing ghosts, fighting demons and kidnapped by Angels, I would have told them they were nuts!”

I nodded, crossing my arms over my chest and looking around us at the room we were in. “I hear that!” I gestured at myself, shaking my head slowly, “I mean, look at me! I never in a million years would have believed I was a Faerie if it wasn’t for these wings.”

Even as I said it, I turned my head to glare at the appendages protruding out of my back. “I still don’t know if I really believe it. I keep trying to figure out how in the world I’m supposed to sleep with them!”

Almost as though my words changed my reality, I suddenly felt completely exhausted. I felt like I had run a marathon, and then did a thousand jumping jacks. I don’t remember much after that. I only remembered feeling like if I didn’t find a way to lie down I’d just fall over in a heap.

Just as well, I suppose. This isn’t my story tell anyway. Not really. I play a small part in it, but Becca is the only one who knows the entire tale.

Back to Sensations
 
 
 
 
 
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