KAREN’S KILLER BOOK BENCH: Welcome to Karen’s Killer Book Bench where readers can discover talented new authors and take a peek inside their wonderful books. This is not an age-filtered site so all book peeks are PG-13 or better. Come back and visit often. Happy reading!

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CHRYSALIS
A Perfect Order Series Book One
BY DREW KIENTZ

Blurb

Juniper Appleblossom is a drug addict, self-appointed rock star, and unknowingly one of the most powerful Enlightened ever to walk the Earth. After meeting Dr. Tuppence Buckingham at gunpoint, she is dragged into a world of secret societies where people with special abilities jockey for power while holding back threats who prey on mankind.

In a matter of days, Juniper discovers that demons, spirits, and witches are all very real, and a 187-year-old French man tells her she is supposed to be mankind’s latest budding savior. Even though her powers develop faster than anyone else who has come before, Juniper is more concerned with getting her next fix.

She’ll have to bring together clashing lifestyles if she has any hope at tackling her first supernatural threat. A local Arkansan Cherokee tribe has a wendigo problem, and she’s the only one who can stop it.

CHRYSALIS
A Perfect Order Series Book One
BY DREW KIENTZ

Editor’s Note: Edited for some language

CHAPTER 2

“Baptism by Fire”

 Everything was going in slow motion. Juniper could feel the very life force of a few hundred other people smothering her senses. She could see electricity flowing through all the monitors along the wall, the floor. Heart beats set to beating against her ear drums. She covered her ears with her hands but it did nothing to stymie the near-deafening humming noise against her skull.

She had to get out of here. Juniper quickly jumped off the stage and aggressively pushed her way through the crowd. Some people tried to talk to her but she couldn’t focus on them right now. As alive as she felt, she was also incredibly overstimulated. Hiding her eyes with her sunglasses barely helped.

She worked her way upstairs and her vision shifted. To her. everyone was glowing. Their brains were shining out from behind their eyes. Juniper stumbled her way through the throng, messily bumping into people and softly whimpering to herself when they’d shout something in protest. Other people ignored her. Just another stupid white girl too wasted to walk normally.

When she made her way outside, Mike the Bouncer said something to her but she couldn’t make it out. Whereas she was normally very friendly with the huge man, this time all she could manage was shrieking, “Get away from me!” at him as she made a beeline for the alley next to the club. It was dark there. She needed dark. Once she stumbled about halfway down the alley she fell to one knee and focused on her breathing for several minutes. After what seemed like an eternity she stopped seeing the pulsing lights from electrical currents flowing through the club’s wall and the incessant sound of a few hundred heartbeats wailing on her ear drums.

The pain was sharp and hot before her jaw instantly went numb. Before she realized what was happening, a boot, attached to a leg, whipped out of the darkness and caught her in the solar plexus, causing all the wind to escape from her lungs and dropping her body to the ground like a sack of bricks.

“You stupid bitch,” hissed a Liverpool dockside accent. “Meddlin’ in f**kin’ shite that you don’t have any f**kin’ business meddlin’ with.”

Juniper’s inhale was a rasp as she clawed at the loose gravel and asphalt of the alleyway. Her vision was tunneling and she finally understood what the phrase “seeing stars,” meant. Before she could begin to make sense of what was happening, her attacker kicked her square in the abdomen again, causing an involuntary shriek of pain to escape her lips.

“Where’s your Tuppence now, eh?” The man hissed, turning away and walking a few steps as the tell-tale *snick!* sound of a switchblade let known the true intentions of her assailant.

Meet Author Drew Kientz…