Excerpt Tour: Selkie's Song by Clare Austin

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Clare will be awarding a print (US only) or digital copies (international) of the first two books in the series, Butterfly and Angel's Share to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

They call her Selkie. Muireann O'Malley often felt she was born of the sea but refuses to let sentimentality stand in the way of her crusade to protect the shore she has wandered since a small child. A patch of West Clare, Ireland, and a derelict building are all that stand between the cliffs she loves and the callous grip of progress.

Tynan Sloane should be content with success, but a dream beckons. O'Fallon's Pub in historic downtown Boston is for sale and Tynan wants to make it his. An unexpected inheritance of land in the west of Ireland could provide the financing he needs. He doesn't expect his quick trip to sell the land to rekindle youthful passion.

Fifteen years ago, they had an adolescent crush. Now disparate ambition and a legend as old as Ireland herself stand between them. Will love and myth collide to bring them together or tear them apart?

Enjoy an excerpt:

It was an unusually warm day in Galway. If the paving stones of Quay Street had a voice to complain,they would have cried out under the thousands of feet that trod the ancient thoroughfare.

Ty and Muireann walked past vendors, buskers, skirted groups of students with matching caps and rucksacks as they headed toward Spanish Arch.

Muireann kept her hands in her pockets in an attempt to avoid touching Ty. He tried to stop and kiss her, but she faked a cough and he rubbed her back between her shoulder blades to soothe her instead.

The stretch of Galway Bay lay before them as they traversed Wolf Tone Bridge, walked along the sea wall and into the Claddagh district. Muireann started several times to try to query Ty further about the plans he had for his pub, but she was afraid she would find out how important it was to him. After all, she was about to make a commitment that would not be in his best financial interest.

She couldn’t possibly tell him her true heart. Not now when she planned a deception. After all, it was only a little ruse, not meant to be malicious, and wouldn’t hurt him, if he didn’t know. The result would free him of the tax burden, allow him a swift departure from Ireland and from her. Tynan would be the better off for the losses, though Muireann was sure the sting would wound him for a small while.

“There’s a shop I’d like to step into for just a moment.” Best do it now before she changed her mind.

“Sounds grand. Lead the way.” Ty slipped his arm over her shoulder. It felt possessive and she knew she should find an excuse to wiggle away, but Muireann’s heart was about to take a hit and she craved comfort.

With each step in the direction of the shop she sought, Muireann had a tightening in her throat. Once she offered the harp, there would be no turning back.

The little shop she sought was tucked away in a back street. Tourists generally missed it, but every musician from Kilfenora to Cleggan could find it blindfolded.

About the Author:

Clare Austin submitted her first manuscript to a publisher at the age of eight years. She wishes she still had that rejection letter.

Many years and not a few stories later, with characters knocking at the inside of her cranium and begging to be released, Clare’s romantic comedy, Butterfly, was published. There followed a suspenseful sequel, Angel’s Share, and Hot Flash, a women’s fiction/romance for mature women and the men who love them.

Clare lives in the beautiful Rocky Mountains and enjoys her horses, playing her violin, and traveling to Ireland every summer.

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