Second
Chance Academy
Book
One
Ella
J. Smyth
Genre: Urban Fantasy Romance /
PNR
Publisher: Unapologetic Romances
Date of Publication: Oct 30, 2020
ISBN: 979-8664544787
ASIN: B08CSXWG72
Number of pages: 252
Word Count: 63,800
Cover Artist: Ella J. Smyth
Tagline: Homework on top of a
life sentence for murder? You've got to be kidding me.
Book Description:
"My name is Amber Whitman,
and I’m seventeen years old. Just over one month ago, I was taken from my home,
from my parents and everything I’d ever known. The reason? I’d killed three
strangers.
Not on purpose, you understand.
It was an accident. But the government decided I was too dangerous to be kept
around normal people. I now live at the Farkas Academy for Magical Advancement.
I was told I’ll be here for years. Until somebody decides I’m no longer a
menace to society. My only solace are three boys who are as trapped as I am.
But things are not as they seem.
My survival may depend on figuring out quickly who to trust and who to run from
at the Second Chance Academy."
This is book one of the Second
Chance Academy series, a #whychoose medium-burn novel with a HFN, a grumpy cat,
and three men trapped by their past.
Excerpt
“Welcome to my class, Amber. I expect you’ll
get great benefit from it. I hear your powers are elemental in origin?”
I wasn’t sure
how to answer this. Aware that every student in the classroom was staring at
me, I shook my head. “I’m sorry, I have no idea what my powers are.”
Other than
calling down lightning. I wasn’t going to say that out loud, though.
Mrs. Palmer
nodded. “That’s okay. That’s what this class is for. To help you figure it out,
and, more importantly, how to control it.”
Behind me,
somebody hissed, “Before she kills us all.”
The teacher
looked up sharply and said, “Ah, yes. Sharon. Why don’t you come forward and
show us how much control you’ve learned after your first lesson.”
A shocked,
“But—” was quickly interrupted by Mrs. Palmer. “No ‘but.’ Come on. Show us.”
Sharon walked
past the front row to stand next to the teacher. As she passed, she threw me a
nasty glare as if it was my fault the teacher had her up front to demonstrate.
Mrs. Palmer
clapped her hands. “Right, class. Pay close attention. Sharon, please create
three water bubbles above your head. One large and two slightly smaller. You
don’t have to move them in any way. Just keep them in position for thirty
seconds.”
Sharon’s face
tightened into an expression of pure focus. Clearly, she’d done this before.
She closed her eyes and brought her palms together. I stared at them, wondering
if I was imagining the light-blue glow around her skin.
But no, the light
grew in intensity. Sharon pulled her hands apart, and between her palms, a
shimmering bubble grew. When it was the size of a child’s head, she stretched
her hands high and released the bubble. It rotated slowly, catching and
reflecting the light, creating fantastic reflections on the walls of the
classroom.
This was the
first time I’d seen practical magic at play. Sharon had created a water ball
out of thin air, right in front of me. The other students were equally
spellbound by the beauty of the creation.
But they’d
witnessed this before. To me, it was brand-new. Would I be able to do something
similar? Could I control lightning the way Sharon seemed to juggle water so
effortlessly?
She had created
a second, smaller bubble, and was about to finish her task by doing a third
one. Soon, all three balls rotated above her head, bathing her in an eerie,
blueish light.
That’s when Mrs.
Palmer clapped her hands again sharply. “Well done, Sharon.”
My roommate
gasped, clearly not expecting the smacking noise. Her concentration broke, and
the three bubbles disintegrated above her head into a torrent of water. Her
outraged scream was drowned out by howling laughter. Our hysteria increased at
Mrs. Palmer’s sheepish, “Oops.”
Sharon’s pretty
hair hung around her face like a curtain of beetroot-colored noodles. Her
designer top clung to her like a piece of plastic wrap, showing her bra and
belly-button piercing. She looked like a drowned rat.
I would have
felt sorry for her, had she not acted like such a bitch to me ever since we’d
met. Mrs. Palmer rushed to console her, her expression one of concern. Except
when she passed me, I could have sworn she winked at me.
My jaw dropped.
Had I seen this right? Had my new teacher set this up to embarrass Sharon? Her
next words confirmed my suspicion.
“Class. Quiet,
please. Before Sharon gets a new change of clothes, I would like you to
consider this: You’ve all had several lessons in Elemental 101 already. And yet
even a star student like Sharon finds it difficult to control her water powers
when distracted.
“I would like
you to consider how difficult this is for somebody who’d never had any formal
training. If I hear anybody else attempting to make new students feel
uncomfortable or bully them, I will not hesitate to bring this to the head
witch’s attention. Am I making myself clear?”
And just for one
moment, the harmless, middle-aged Mrs. Palmer looked dangerous enough to make
us think twice about messing with her.
Ella J. Smyth writes steamy urban
fantasy romance, full of adventure and excitement. Ever since she discovered
#loveislove and #whychoose, she has embraced her motto “Unapologetic romances
because love needs no excuses.” She guarantees a happy ending, even though she
puts her characters through hell to get there.
Ella is currently working on a
Reverse Harem Academy series called Second Chance Academy. Book one of the
series, Second Chance Fate, will be released on the 30th of October 2020 and is
available on preorder.
Website: https://www.ellajsmyth.com
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/ellajsmyth
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/ellajsmyth
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