Guest Post & #Extract ~ The Divine Heart by Danielle R Mani #YoungAdult #Paranormal

I’m pleased to welcome Danielle to BetweenTheLines today, with a guest post and extract from her book, The Divine Heart.

About the book

Seventeen-year-old Elle Collins spent most her life waiting for someone else to die…

When a heart donor is found, Elle awakes from surgery gifted with more than just a new heart—clairaudient messages and spiritual apparitions haunt her until she is convinced that she must be insane. Either that, or her donor is sending a message.

Desperate for answers the medical community can’t provide, Elle’s divination leads her to the family of her donor—a young girl named, Cas. With the help of her best friend, Rob—the guy who’s a testament that her new heart is capable of love, Elle must make sense of the clues Cas is sending. As pieces of Cas’s life and death emerge, Elle will discover that she and Cas share more than just a heart.

Book links ~ Amazon UK | Amazon US

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Extract

She lets out a long sigh. “I heard that you received the heart of a girl about the same age as you.” She looks at me intently. I can tell she’s trying to read my expression, but I play it cool and keep a straight face. “She had an accident, honey.” After a long pause and a moment of uncomfortable silence, she continues. “There was nothing anyone could do,” She takes a deep breath and pushes the strands of hair away from my face. “Are you okay?”

“I am,” I say, surprised by my composure. A sense of calm washes over me and I use my pain as a guide to trace my fingers over my chest. I feel the bulkiness of the bandages under the linen hospital gown and rest my hand over my chest. It takes a moment before I feel the beating of my new heart. It’s different—steadier. I slide my tongue over my lips and taste the salt of my tears. Thank you. Thank you. I’m not exactly sure whom I’m thanking—God or my donor. It doesn’t feel right to thank God for what’s happened. He couldn’t have taken this girl’s life just to save mine. Closing my eyes tightly, I say a quiet prayer. I wish I knew your name. Then I could know whose soul I am praying for. 

“Cas!” The voice is a soft, willowy whisper. I open one eye and gaze around the room. My mother is seated in the chair next to me, a closed People Magazine on her lap. She’s staring at a blank TV screen, lost in thought. The nurse is standing in the doorway, speaking with a doctor. From where I lie, I can’t see anyone else around. 

“Cas!” 

“Cas?” I repeat again, only louder.

My mother sits erect in the chair and the color drains from her face.

“What did you say?” she whispers.

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Danielle’s Guest Post

I’m a fan of speculative fiction in both print and film. I especially love works with supernatural elements. I guess I’ve been that way for most of my life. As a child, my favorite TV show was the Twilight Zone!

As an adult, I’m still drawn to those movies, TV shows, and books that make us wonder: Is there life after death? Do aliens really exist? I’m also a sucker for a good conspiracy theory!

My books are, in my opinion, a fun mix of the supernatural along with realistic, likeable, YA characters. In my newest novel, The Divine Heart, my protagonist, Elle Collins, is an average sixteen-year-old girl with a not so average heart. When she is gifted the heart of another teen named, Cas, Elle quickly realizes that her donor is sending an important message that will inevitably change her life forever! 

As if dealing with messages from her organ donor isn’t enough, Elle must also deal with the usual teen issues—like the jealousy that suddenly consumes her when she discovers her best friend, and confidante, Rob, is involved in a secret relationship with a fellow classmate. 

With my favorite holiday quickly approaching (and if you haven’t already guessed, it’s Halloween) ghostly reads should be on every Bibliophile’s radar. I just finished two great reads that I’d like to recommend. The first is called, Between Two Worlds: Lessons from the Other Side by Hollywood Medium, Tyler Henry. The other book is called, Never Argue with a Dead Person by Medium, John Thomas. Although both works are non-fiction, the stories they share read like fiction. Like Mark Twain once said,  “Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn’t.”

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About Danielle

Danielle R. Mani is a fan of the paranormal in both print and film. In her first book, The Divine One, Ms. Mani combines supernatural fiction with the everyday dramas of young adulthood. Her newest YA paranormal novel, The Divine Heart, is scheduled to be released later this year. Ms. Mani holds a Bachelor of Arts in education and a Master of Science in communications. She is currently a doctoral student studying parapsychology. She resides in Westchester, New York, with her husband, four children, two dogs, and two rescue cats.

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