Cirrus@Austlit

'A tree. A dare. A wish that can't be unwished.

'Mirror. Mirror. Indigo pushed the button on the golden diamond studded compact, and it flipped open. Two mirrors. Two of Indigo. The one before the event. The one after. Which one is she?

Before the event ...

'Indigo Feather Danube is a neuroscientist, studying the most complex object in the universe, mapping regions of the brain that store memories, and researching how to access them, digitally. She is involved in top secret bodiless living brain experimentation, at a high security research laboratory in the depths of a university in the town of Tarrin. The neuroscience team objective is to identify memories of violent trauma, PTSD, #metoo, and then to remove them, allowing victims to move forward with their lives in happiness.

'One day, at the request of her parents, Indigo attends a reunion at the park of her youth, where Tobiah Brooks dares her to climb the Jacaranda tree of her childhood. But first, she has to remember who he is.

'Under the luminous full moon they meet. Indigo's intention is to succeed at the dare, then leave. But his is to win her heart and so, the full moon becomes their sign for a secret rendezvous at the Jacaranda tree each month. And becomes rule number one. Under the full moon it was light enough to connect and see into their souls, their heart language, but dark enough to cloak their presence. No one could possibly know they were there once a month. Together. Alone.

'Every story has a beginning. And at the beginning of Indigo and Tobiah's story, is a girl who met a boy. A girl who wasn't in the habit of falling in love, until love's spell undid her, coaxing her heart to bloom like a thousand red roses, with a scent of citrus, spice, and sweet fruit, surrounded by a meandering, dreamy and exhilarating love melody ... until the event ... that day that can't be undone. On that day of the wish that can't be unwished ...

'What is a wish anyway? Does it have enchantment encrypted in the words? Is it released from your mind, carried with your breath and something captures it, good or evil, and does whatever it wants with your words, good or bad? Does a wish really have a magical quality that can make your dreams come true? Or is it just your heart's desire, fanciful thoughts filled with extravagant wants, a bliss-bomb of a dream that can never be achieved, or a wish for a result that you never put in the effort for. The unattainable: blown on the wind in silence, and destined to return to the earth, unfulfilled?

'After the event ...

'Indigo is running scared. There's a death. Did she cause it? And how can her best friend, Scarlett, who has a cochlear implant and uses sign language help her?

'Unbeknown to her, Tobiah is withholding information. He isn't who she thinks he is.' (Publication summary)

'Yolande Lawrence-Harrison was a fake, hiding a dark secret. She'd returned to her hometown of Tarrin, to help her ailing grandmother in her store, Flowers for Fleur, where she had to put her engineering career aside to learn the science of flower art. As Yolande fussed with the blooms outside the store one day, she discovered a note pushed into the pale pink roses in the basket of her grandmother's 1950s Schwinn Cruiser bicycle. Yolande fumed at the pitiful manners and pure arrogance of the wording, and then after numerous exchanges, she became irritated by the persistent, annoying, pig-headed, obstinate human being who wouldn't take no for an answer. But when Alexander Parker walked into the store, her thoughts scattered. However, she refused to inhale the luring potion offered. She could see through his projected façade, where his perfection was practised deceit to hide something. She wondered, if she could see through his pretence, could he see through hers? Could he see that she was damaged, hiding a past that ate away at her core, allowing the darkness to engulf what was left of her inner light. Could he see that she was the colour of broken? Yolande wanted to run, back to the safety of her other life, away from the flowers. Away from Alexander Parker. But she couldn't. Her grandmother's life was fading with her incurable illness, and she needed to choose whether to fight her past, ultimately exposing her inner demons and forgive herself, in order to save her grandmother and herself from the same fate.' (Source: Publisher's blurb)

'Cohen Darcy leaned over and blew the dust off the top of an ancient book. The dust flowed into the air like a wave turning over on itself, leaving the worn brown leather cover naked to the eye. He ran his finger tips lightly over the bizarre book cover. It was smooth and soft, like the skin of a newborn baby. But then he felt some bumps at the top right hand corner. It was blemished, damaged. He picked up the leather bound book and raised it level with my eyes to look closely at the area of damage. It wasn't tarnished, it was embossed. He raised his eyebrows, confused by the appearance of the book, and placed it back onto the bedside table while he figured out what to do with it. He didn't do books. Simple as that. Cohen stepped out into the new day. A new rainy day. A new day of unwelcome events. It had started with the arrival of the bloody book, then came the seduction, the unlawful act of the CIA stealing his work, and the promise that his existence would never be the same. He wanted to do a system restore of his life to an earlier time and bypass the events of today. Could his day get any worse? Absolutely. He needed to meet a girl to get rid of the bloody book! He doesn't do books - or girls. Simple as that.' (Source: Trove)

'Courage, temperance, wisdom, justice, patience... Kaden repeated the words sealing them into the depths of his consciousness, finding comfort, and solace. For four hundred years he had been trapped on the Earth sphere engaged as an Earth human, plagued by physical torment, chained to the laws of gravity and craving to return to the Light. To freedom. To love. He took a deep breath and stared at the hovering blue energy mass before he lifted his hand to it, then watched as the fourth state of matter arced to his finger tips like bolts of lightning. His fingertips tingled under the warmth until the plasma retreated back into the glowing blue energy. Then gravity forced his hand to drop beside him. He thought of Miss Finnigan. She had what he wanted. He could smell it. He could feel it, vibrating in perfect harmony with the universe. It sang to his soul like agonized poetry, reminding him of what I he didn't have. And he wanted it. Now. But ... she was forbidden. Their DNA could never absorb each other, cell to every beautiful cell, harmonizing in a melody only he could hear, unless, he found the missing piece to his immortality that would free him. He sighed. He wondered how long he would be subjected to this living nothingness cut off from his spiritual homeland. And besides ... time was running out. If he didn't find the last mystery, he would remain an immortal until the end of earth time, bound to the eternal physical torture of the human body.' (Source: Publisher's blurb)

'Zedekiah. Son of the Warrior. He hated being called that with every fibre of his being. He wanted to blend in, fit in with the others … but how could he when his destiny had already been chosen? His gifts were awakened earlier, though he tried to suppress them ... being different was a burden. His soul ached for deeper things, something he had to complete. Alone. He consciously chose not to love or be loved. It was better that way. Easier ... until he met the cloaked horse rider. She irritated him. But somehow, talking to her was the most exquisite torture he'd ever suffered. He knew their love was forbidden. It was the rule of the Council Elders. If only she could share her secret, it would change everything. The truth is a beautiful thing...' (Source: Publisher's blurb)

'Ben placed his hand onto my bare shoulder; his skin touching mine. My breath hitched. I felt like I had awakened me from the sleep of a hundred years.

I had worked so hard to forget him—the way his cerulean eyes would drink me in, swallow me, and coat me in love that moved through me and around me. I had worked so hard to forget his lips and they way they caressed mine, lighting every cell of my being, making my body hum. I had worked so hard to forget his smell—jasmine, musk, oak moss and sandalwood—and the way he moved, the way he made me feel when his voice caressed each letter of my name.

He moved his lips to mine and kissed me with a new depth of love, with such emotion that it almost broke my heart. My lavender rose heart faced its sun and exploded into bloom, infusing my life force with an intense floral fruity fragrance.

This is the way we were. Deeply in love. Deeply connected. Deeply needing the other like the air we needed to breath. 'Cate.' His voice vibrated in perfect harmony with my soul and sang to my lavender rose heart like a summer rain quenching the parched earth. I sucked in a shuddering breath. The first time I saw him my heart whispered, he's the one… Our love - tender, pure, sensual, eternal, passionate, stormy, unpredictable, heartbreaking. Love isn't meant to be like this. Is it? If it is, it will destroy us… I don't want to say goodbye.' (Source: Publisher's blurb)

'I gazed into Ben’s smoldering cerulean eyes. My heart opened like a lavender rosebud to the morning light, infusing my life force with a floral, delicate and luminous fragrance. How could I not remember how beautiful he was—is. My breath hitched. He had returned for me, with whispers of love and promises of devotion and to be wholly present, his touch resonating in perfect harmony with my being, making my heart hammer against my ribs. 

'My heart told me to absorb every single ray of his pure love like spring flower petals opening and stretching and reaching for its sun. But my mind was guarded. Matters of the heart must also be matters of the mind… I should have run. Far away. 

'I should have protected my heart. From him. Could the sensual lips that had sung love to me like poetry to my soul be the same lips that would scorch me with betrayal? Were his words truth, or a lie? None of it made sense. And in the end, who had betrayed who? 

'They say hearts heal, with time ... but, you never forget. They say minds strengthen, during the storm ... and that’s where my dreams changed - to protect my heart. I should have run. Far away... ' (Source: Publisher's blurb)

'One house.

'One last wish.

One secret... 

'I wish I had never locked eyes with Ben. He made my lavender rose heart explode into a thousand blooms, and infused me with a hypnotic potion of floral and fruity fragrances that resonated in perfect harmony with his being.

'I wish ... love at first sight ... did not exist.

'I wish I hadn't entered the wrought iron gate on that fateful day.  I should have fled when I was attacked by the black crow of war and death.

'And I wish … I hadn't met Nic. Beautiful Nic. He pushed me into my fearscape, then left. Just like that.

'Gran said I wouldn't get hurt.

'She was right. How do you feel the hurt when it is so painful you become numb?

'One house.

'One last wish.

'One shattered heart...' (Source: Publisher's blurb)