She's the One Who Cares Too Much

March 19, 2021

She's the One Who Cares Too Much

She's the One Who Cares Too Much

(Book Two of the War Stories of the Seven Troublesome Sisters)

by S. R. Cronin

GENRE: Historical Fantasy

Coral, the second of seven sisters, has been hiding her affair with the perfect man until her older sister can get her life together. But the perfect man is getting impatient and now she’s gotten pregnant. Coral decides it’s time to consider her own happiness.

But what does she want? The perfect husband turns out to be less than ideal. She adores the small children she teaches but the idea of being a mother fills her with joy. Meanwhile, her homeland is gripped by fear of a Mongol invasion and she can’t stop crying about everything now that she’s with child.

Then a friend suggests the ever-caring Coral possesses a power well beyond what she or anyone else imagines. Does she? And why is the idea so appealing?

When Coral’s big sister loses faith in the army and decides to craft a way to use magic to save Ilari from the Mongols, she decides Coral’s formidable talent is what the realm needs. Can Coral raise a baby, placate an absent military husband who thinks he’s stopping the invasion, and help her sister save her homeland?

EXCERPT:

Shortly after we celebrated Svi, the coldest time of the year, Sakina took me aside to ask a question.

“Remember the day we thought thieves were coming to attack the school?”

Of course I remembered it.

“I’ve been wanting to ask you something ever since.”

My heart pounded. Had she seen me sneak off to meet Davor that night? If so, had she noticed other nights as well? Would she talked to others about it? How concerned would the school be about such behavior?

“How did you ever get those two kids to stop bickering that day?” she said. “I deal with them all the time and believe me, once they get started, there is nothing I can say to shut them up.”

I laughed with relief. I hadn’t thought about how I had done it.

“I talked to them the way I talk to my own kids. You know. Do it now.”

“No, I don’t know,” she said. “I could say that all day and they’d still ignore me.”

I shrugged.

She hesitated, as if she was about to ask me an impolite question.

“Do you know what a luski is?” she finally said.

I did. “It’s some made-up magic person who can supposedly make people do things by the way she speaks. People tell stories about them to scare small children. You don’t believe in them, do you?”

“It’s not made up. I swear, my great-aunt was one. It’s rare, but I know it’s real.”

“Are you serious?”

She looked completely serious.

“Wasn’t it creepy having a relative who could make you do things?” I asked

“No, because it doesn’t really work that way. It’s more like an emergency tactic; they can only use it when it's important. Seriously, I think you should find out more about it.”

“Why?” Then I realized why. “Oh, good grief. Everyone keeps telling me I’m too nice. I’m certainly no luski.”

“You don’t get it,” she said. “Luskies aren’t monsters the way people think. They can be nice people. You should go ask the Velka at one of their market stalls. I’ve heard they know about luskies and they can tell if you are one.”

“You think I should talk to the Velka?” I wasn’t about to do that. Frankly, I found these women of the forest, the keepers of much of the magic in our realm, scary in their own right. I’d never spoken more than a few words with any of them. The last thing I needed was to ask them if I was some kind of freak.

“No thanks. I’ve got enough other problems right now.”

And I was right. I did. I had all the problems I knew of, and a few more I hadn’t found out about yet.

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Sherrie Cronin is the author of a collection of six speculative fiction novels known as 46. Ascending and is now in the process of publishing a historical fantasy series called The War Stories of the Seven Troublesome Sisters. A quick look at the synopses of her books makes it obvious she is fascinated by people achieving the astonishing by developing abilities they barely knew they had.

She’s made a lot of stops along the way to writing these novels. She’s lived in seven cities, visited forty-six countries, and worked as a waitress, technical writer, and geophysicist. Now she answers a hot-line. Along the way, she’s lost several cats but acquired a husband who still loves her and three kids who’ve grown up just fine, both despite how odd she is.

All her life she has wanted to either tell these kinds of stories or be Chief Science Officer on the Starship Enterprise. She now lives and writes in the mountains of Western North Carolina, where she admits to occasionally checking her phone for a message from Captain Picard, just in case.

Author Social Media Links:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/cinnabar01

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/46Ascending

Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/author/show/5805814.Sherrie_Cronin

Amazon: www.amazon.com/Sherrie-Cronin/e/B007FRMO9Q

Author Blog: https://sherriecronin.xyz/

Book Series Blog: https://troublesome7sisters.xyz/