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__________________
The author is looking for teen readers to review THE SHELLS OF MERSING. If interested, please contact her directly.
“Gripping”
Coming of age Mystery. Seattle, 1995.
The
perfect summer read. Escape to Hawaii, Malaysia,
and
Thailand. A story of Forgiveness, Finding family,
and
Friendship. And Sweet Romance.
Back Cover Blurb:
When
notorious Uncle Azman disobeys orders, and sends Callie and Lucas to meet their
mother's long lost family in Malaysia, fourteen-year-old Callie Davis believes
their troubles are over. After all they've endured, what more could go wrong?
Their
American dad is dead, Mom is missing, and their foster dad in Seattle was
murdered, with Callie falsely accused. If that wasn't enough, Callie and
eight-year-old Lucas stowed aboard a sailboat to escape, only to be targeted by
their uncle’s boss in Hawaii upon arrival for immediate sale in Thailand’s
human trafficking market.
Disguised
in case Azman’s boss sends someone after them, Callie believes it’s simply a
matter of time. They need to find safety with family in Mersing and begin the
search for Mom, but a shell box, a ruby, and a boy from Chicago named Sam are
about to change everything.
BUY HERE
SHARON’S BIO:
Sharon
loves adventure. Whether traveling through Malaysia on a jungle train, sailing
in the San Juan Islands, or flying in an experimental airplane she helped her
husband build, her life has been on a road less traveled. She has experienced
hurricanes tornadoes, earthquakes, volcanoes, and more. She has seen sunsets
that take your breath away.
Her first
publishing credit was as a travel writer in Malaysia, traveling by rail from
Kluang to Kota Bharu on the now defunct "jungle train." Some of the
Malaysian and Thai settings and characters she later wrote about in her novel, The Shells of Mersing, came from her
experience living in Malaysia and the diary she kept.
She later
edited, researched, and wrote young adult nonfiction for two educational
publishers, Greenhaven Press and Lucent Books. Her interest in history stems
from a degree in American Studies. Her day job at Washington State University also
included editing science papers, articles, and books.
As a
storyteller, Sharon knows that facts and life experiences are the foundation of
good storytelling. If she were to credit one life experience behind wanting to
be a writer, it would be the term paper she wrote in the ninth grade on the
bubonic plague. "I don't know why, but I have always remembered the pride
I felt writing that paper," Sharon said. And if she were to credit a
character in a book who inspired her, it would be “Jo March” in Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. Jo
wanted to be a writer.
Today Sharon
is working on a second novel at home in Central Washington, where she lives with
her husband on the edge of a desert runway . . . but that's another story!
Here’s a way to TWEET Sharon’s book:
#YA #EvernightTeen #TeenChoice #Mystery. Seattle 1995. Lost! Finding Home, Family & Love. The SHELLS KNOW THE WAY. https://t.co/35jzUyQNn9
FIND
HER ON SOCIAL MEDIA:
Teaser Excerpt – The
Shells of Mersing by Sharon Marie Himsl
Groaning, his eyes
flicker open. “What happened?”
“Don’t move, Mr. Pirone.
I’ll get Judith.”
He grabs my wrist.
“You’ll do no such thing. Help me up.” His face softens. “Please, I hurt my
back.” I pull him to his feet.
He staggers to the door
and stops mid step at the threshold, hanging there for the longest time. “What
are you doing here?” he finally says.
“Benjamin, my old
friend,” a male voice replies.
Benny inches backward.
Glancing back at me, he speaks in a low deliberate voice, “Run, Callie.” He
mumbles something else, but all I really hear are his first words. Run, Callie.
A muffled pop pierces the
air. Benny falls to his knees and collapses face down. I cover my mouth,
stifling a scream, afraid to move as blood gushes from a bullet hole in Benny’s
temple. A crimson pool forms on the floor.
A flashlight beam travels
over his face and the wound. I gasp, recalling the glowing moon eyes in my
dream. The beam of light shines on my face next and goes out, blinding me at
first.
“Who’s there? Please. Who
are you?”
A cold, unmistakable
chill travels down my spine, and then I see him, a man clad in black. He steps
over Benny’s body, entering the room. A gun hangs loose at his side in his
black gloved hand. I step backward. He flicks his black hair away from his face
and moves closer. Two sunken cheeks dominate his long face. A red scar zigzags
across his nose. He’s young, in his twenties, maybe thirties. He eyes Benny’s body,
snickering to himself.
A toilet flushes
upstairs. Please let it be Judith. I
step to the side, eyeing the door and the stairs behind him. I can run for it.
I can do this.
He snatches my hand. “Not
so fast.” His steely eyes are those of a cobra’s. I can almost hear the hiss
when his bony fingers clamp down, pinching me. He forces my palm over the gun
handle, curving my index finger around the trigger. “You tell anyone about me,
and I’ll kill you. Your mama too.”
My mouth goes dry. “My mother?”
He smiles, a cruel
deliberate sneer. “That’s right, your mama in Thailand.”
My heart rips apart, a
scream building inside. This horrid man knows my mother. He knows her!
His cobra eyes gloat.
“Yeah, that’s right. I think you understand. Now don’t forget.”
I struggle to move the
gun wedged in my hand. No, I’ll never
forget your warning and cruel voice, or your snakelike stare and jagged scar.
He snorts. “Tell them it
was self-defense.” He kicks Benny’s body as he leaves.
My knees shake as I watch
him disappear. The soles of my feet are molded to the floor. I have a gun
frozen in my hand, and a scream welling up inside. No one would believe me in a
million years if I told the truth, because the only truth I could fabricate is
an outright lie. Tell them it was self-defense,
he said. But I can’t lie, nor can I live with the deadly consequences of the
truth.
Judith rushes into the
room. I have no idea when. Seconds, minutes, hours could have passed. I’m
standing where the stranger left me.
Thank you for the shout out, Laurisa!
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