I always thought that my seventeenth birthday would be like anyone else’s. I always thought it would be filled with laughter and shared with friends. I expected it to be a celebration, along with all my other birthdays. But then, I used to believe that I was an ordinary girl. I used to believe that the world-with its mysteries and wonders-was knowable. Understandable. That there was nothing more to it than what was in plain sight. But I was wrong. I was wrong about it all. The world that I trusted, that I felt safe in, suddenly became unrecognizable and menacing. Things I felt only existed in my darkest nightmares were suddenly real; they were standing right before my eyes, existing among ordinary people. And me? Well, nothing about me was what I believed to be true. Yes, I was still Mercy Good, an ordinary, small town girl who recently moved from England to the States. But I also discovered I was more. So much more. Far more than I could ever have been prepared for. Far more than I could have ever imagined. And I wasn’t alone. In this strange new world, my life, my fate, was part of something much bigger-something I could barely comprehend. As for my soul? The soul that I always thought was mine and mine alone, was melded with another’s, soldered to another’s... Someone dark and dangerous. Him. The mysterious boy I never saw coming. The boy who was as integral to my existence, as I was to his. Turning seventeen revealed a world I didn’t recognize, but quickly needed to master. Turning seventeen brought with it my truth. My truth, and in turn...his.
Author
Amazon & USA Today Best Selling Author, Tillie Cole, is a Northern girl through and through. She originates from a place called Teesside on that little but awesomely sunny (okay I exaggerate) Isle called Great Britain. She was brought up surrounded by her English rose mother—a farmer's daughter, her crazy Scottish father, a savagely sarcastic sister and a multitude of rescue animals and horses. Being a scary blend of Scottish and English, Tillie embraces both cultures; her English heritage through her love of HP sauce and freshly made Yorkshire Puddings, and her Scottish which is mostly demonstrated by her frighteningly foul-mouthed episodes of pure rage and her much loved dirty jokes. Having been born and raised as a Teesside Smoggie, Tillie, at age nineteen, moved forty miles north to the 'Toon', Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, where she attended Newcastle University and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts honours degree in Religious Studies. She returned two years later to complete a Post-Graduate Certificate in Teaching High School Social Studies. Tillie, regards Newcastle to be a home from home and enjoyed the Newcastle Geordie way of life for seven 'proper mint' and 'lush' years. One summers day, after finishing reading her thousandth book on her much loved and treasured Kindle, Tillie turned to her husband and declared, "D'you know, I have a great idea for a story. I could write a book." Several months later, after repeating the same tired line at the close of another completed story, she was scolded by her husband to shut up talking about writing a novel and "just bloody do it!" For the first time in eleven years, Tillie actually took his advice (he is still trying to get over the shock) and immediately set off on a crazy journey, delving deep into her fertile imagination. Tillie, ever since, has written from the heart. She combines her passion for anything camp and glittery with her love of humour and dark brooding men (most often muscled and tattooed – they’re her weakness!). She also has a serious side (believe it or not!) and loves to immerse herself in the complex study of World Religions, History and Cultural Studies and creates fantasy stories that enable her to thread serious issues and topics into her writing—yep, there's more to this girl than profanity and sparkles! After six years of teaching high school Social Studies and following her Professional Rugby Player husband around Europe, they have finally given up their nomadic way of life and settled in Calgary, Alberta where Tillie spends most of her days (and many a late night) lost in a writing euphoria or pursuing a dazzling career as a barrel-racing, tasselled-chap wearing, Stetson-sporting cowgirl... Ye-haw!
