Erica Cope Guest Post

Hi everyone!
My name is Erica Cope and I am the author of the Lark Trilogy (Lark, In the Shadows and Like the Dawn) which are YA Fantasy as well as the NA contemporary romances Pieces of Me and Unfamiliar (which I co-wrote with author Komal Kant).

I was going to take the summer off after I published the conclusion to the Lark Trilogy in May and dive right into writing my new WIP this fall.

However, I was so excited about this story that I ended up unable to stop myself from writing anyway!

I just recently revealed the gorgeous cover...I told Eden I wanted something dreamy and blue and underwater and this is what she came up with:
Cover Designed by Eden Crane of Eden Crane Design
I love it so much! I think it might be my new favorite cover!
Even though I haven't officially announced a release date, I thought today I might share the very first sneak peek!

~PROLOGUE~
Tonight was going to be one of those nights—the ones where the calming lull of the ocean coaxed me awake and refused to let me sleep peacefully.
The gentle swooshing of the waves washing across the sand was hardly as soothing to me as it was for most of the world. Of course, that was probably due to the fact that I was positively terrified of any large body of water.
I threw the covers back and fumbled clumsily for the switch on my bedside lamp. When I finally managed to find it, the dim light exposed the culprit behind my insomnia—I left the window open. No wonder I couldn't sleep.
I was almost positive that I had closed it before I went to bed but I guess I must have forgotten. I left the window open most of the day because if I didn't, it grew so stifling hot that I wouldn't be able to bear being up here. My room was at the very top of a renovated light house which gave it a lot of character, but for some reason my parents didn't believe in central air. They said it was because they wanted to maintain the authenticity.
They found it to be charming. I mostly just found it to be inconvenient. Aunt Sarah kept promising to have one installed but until then an electric fan was my best friend.
Leaving the windows open during the day didn't bother me so much since the typical daytime noises drowned out the whispering of the waves. But at night when the world grew silent the whispering inevitably grew louder. Most nights I was convinced that the waves were screaming at me.
I knew that sounded crazy though so I never so much as mentioned it. Some nights when I was exhausted after a long day, I fell asleep before remembering to shut the window and I managed to make it through the night undisturbed. Those nights were rare though, and obviously tonight was not one of them.
The moon reflected off the waves in a line of glowing white wrinkles. It was so stunning that I knew I had to paint it. I didn’t normally paint landscape scenery—most of my work was abstract, but that didn’t matter. I knew I'd easily be able to capture the way the reflection seemed to dance on the smooth surface of the ocean. It was pretty calm tonight which is why I was so surprised I was awoken. If my window would've been closed I doubt I would have stirred at all. But I was up now so I might as well take advantage of it.
I readied my palette and when I glanced back out my window something caught my eye. I couldn't quite know for certain because of the darkness, but something made me think the silhouette—whatever it was—was looking at me.
Again, I knew that was crazy but I was paranoid enough that I grabbed the spotlight I always kept on my desk to try to get a better look. This wasn't the first time I let my paranoia get the best of me. I flipped it on and pointed it where I was certain I saw something. But somehow in the thirty seconds it took me to do so, it—whatever it was—was gone, leaving behind ripples that distorted the reflection of the moon.

Even then I think a part of me always knew that someday—somehow—the sea would consume me.

                                                                           ~
What did ya’ll think?

SEA SWEPT
will be a stand alone novel BUT I am writing a prequel just for a little something extra. RIPTIDE will be released around the same time as Sea Swept. I originally was just writing it for myself but I thought that my readers might want to read it so now I'm definitely going to publish it as well.

I hope you guys will add SEA SWEPT on Goodreads and be sure to Like me on Facebook for updates!
A HUGE thank you to L.L. Hunter for letting me stop by today!

XOXO
Erica Cope


Erica Cope lives in Missouri with her husband and their three children. She has been writing short stories and poetry since she was a child, though Lark is her first novel.
She enjoys knitting, pretending she knows how to play her guitar, and reading pretty much anything you put in front of her.
You can find Erica on Facebook, Twitter (@EricaCope3), and she blogs at www.ericacope.com.


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