Title: Emerald Green
Author: Lindsay Marie Miller
Genres: Romance, Young Adult, Suspense, Thriller
Release Date: June 7, 2015
Available in Paperback & eBook
Synopsis
On a chilly December night in Savannah, Georgia,
seventeen-year-old Addie Smith dreams of an alluring young man, too
mysteriously handsome to be real. When spring semester commences the following
week, at Maple Creek High, a new student, named Tom Sutton, arrives, bearing a
striking resemblance to the beautiful stranger from Addie’s dream. Addie
feels inextricably drawn to Tom, and his rare, unwavering resiliency, as the
enchanting nature of first love takes hold. But when a cold-blooded criminal
returns to Savannah, in pursuit of a long-forgotten possession, Addie must
confront the darkest secrets of an elusive, hidden past that threaten to
destroy her future.
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Excerpt
I turned at the end of the hallway,
noticing a red EXIT sign above a door. I pushed the door open and climbed three
flights of stairs, before reaching an old wooden door at the top. Turning the
tarnished metal knob, I crossed the threshold and found a dark, empty room.
“Hello,” I called out, stepping
forward. But as I let go of the heavy door, it swung back into the door frame,
slamming in place. I twisted the doorknob, frowning at its immobility. The door
was locked.
“Hello.” I banged my fist against the
door, yelling for help. “Jeanine!” But she wasn’t going to hear me. I had left
her in the hallway three floors below.
After fifteen minutes of hollering, I
set my purse down and removed the thick warm coat that hung over my gown. The
room smelled of dust and sweat. I wondered why the hotel had yet to remodel it,
as renovations had been completed on the rest of the building just before the
Winter Ball date had been set.
All was dark in the room, except for a
small, square window that revealed a sliver of moonlight, which shone down on
the floor below. I stepped into the pale white light and watched the half-moon
hang in the black sky. A translucent layer of dense fog surrounded the moon,
drawing further attention to its true silvery radiance.
“Addie,” a strange voice said. I felt a
cool hand touch the bare skin of my shoulder. My heart thumped loudly inside of
my chest as I swallowed, too terrified to turn around. Lifting my eyes to the
window, I spotted his reflection in the glass. His black, neatly cropped hair
looked like Ricky’s, though not exactly. Unable to resist my fear any longer, I
turned around. The man who stood before me was not Ricky.
“Hello.” He smiled, standing much
closer than I would have liked. A pair of straight white teeth glimmered in the
moonlight as I recoiled, pressing my body into the window. Privy to my fear, he
held his hands up in innocence and backed away from me.
Breathing heavily, I closed my eyes,
and then opened them again, only to find him staring at the stretch of wall beside
me. He kept still, letting his arms hang down at his sides, as I took a step
towards him. Once I followed his gaze, I realized that he was not staring at
the wall, but at the painting that hung there.
It was a portrait of a young woman, no
more than eighteen. She sat still in the moonlight, gently holding her palms
together, over her lap. Long thick locks of golden blonde hair framed her face
and fell to the middle of her back. The hair was silky, wavy, and looked as
though it had been fashioned from an angel’s wings.
The woman’s frame appeared thin,
fragile even, yet her complexion was less fair than one would have imagined,
presumably from hours spent beneath the summer sun.
Though of all her soft, gentle
features, the most remarkable was the magic, liquid luster of her emerald green
eyes. She was beautiful.
“You remind me so much of her,” he
whispered in the darkness.
A white satin gown was draped over her
shoulders, flowing around the rest of her slim body. I looked down at my own
dress, unable to deny the similarities. The
hair.The eyes.The skin. It was all the same. If not for the emerald stone
around her neck, I would have thought I was looking in a mirror.
“Who is she?” I extended my hand,
moving close enough to touch the portrait. But before my finger could trace the
stone, all of it disappeared.
~
I woke in the darkness, lying on a bed
of white sheets. Recognizing my bedroom, I turned to the lamp on my nightstand
and switched it on. The clock by my bed indicated that it was three o’clock in
the morning. I pulled the sheet back, sank my feet into the carpet, and lost my
balance. Stumbling to the wooden chair near the window, I found my white formal
gown and winter coat that lay draped over the seat. For the life of me, I could
not remember putting them there.
I thought about the strange dream. The
boy seemed familiar to me, somehow. He had jet black hair and a tall, muscular
build, like Ricky. Yet, there was something different about the two of them.
Both had brown eyes, but they were not quite the same. Ricky’s eyes had always
been a strange mixture of red and brown, like the color of a maple leaf. But
the boy, the stranger, his eyes were golden brown, almost the shade of honey,
with flecks of yellow sprinkled throughout.
I spent the next several nights
sketching the boy’s eyes. I started with a thin gray pencil to outline the
shape of them. Then, I filled the pupils with black before coloring the irises
with a blend of orange, yellow, and brown. By the time I was finished, the eyes
reminded me of autumn, when all the leaves begin to change in color and hue.
I looked out at the tree that stood
before my bedroom window.
All of the leaves were gone.
***
About the
Author
LINDSAY MARIE MILLER was born
and raised in Tallahassee, FL, where she graduated from high school as
Valedictorian. Afterwards, Lindsay attended Florida State University and
graduated Summa Cum Laude with an English Literature major, Psychology minor,
and Specialized Studies in Markets and Institutions. Lindsay is the author
of the romance novels: Jungle Eyes, Me & Mr. Jones,
and Emerald Green. Jungle Eyes is the beginning of
a new romantic action/adventure trilogy. Emerald Green is the
first installment in a four-part series of Young Adult romantic thrillers. And
the New Adult romantic thriller, Me & Mr. Jones, will be
accompanied by a sequel. In her free time, Lindsay enjoys singing, playing the
piano and guitar, and writing songs. The author resides in her hometown of
Tallahassee, FL, where she is currently working on her next novel.
Connect with Lindsay Marie Miller
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