Kindle Edition Audiobook Download to your Nook (eBook) Download from Apple iTunes (eBook) Download from Smashwords (eBook) Amazon Author Alaina Stanford Category:  Romance Publisher: Hypnotic Publishing ISBN-10:  1507735855 Type: Non-Fiction Pages: 230 Copyright: Apr 18, 2015 ISBN-13: 9781507735855 Price: $2.99 (eBook) Other books by Alaina Stanford Alaina’s Amazon Author’s Page Hypnotic Journey – A Paranormal Fantasy Forbidden Quest (Book 1) When Magic Fails (Book 2) As Darkness Falls (Book 3) A Sequence of Darkness (Book 4) Necromancer’s Whisper (Book 5) The Price of Magic (Book 6) The Rule Series Three-Year Rule (Book 1) Seven-Year Rule (Book 2) Twenty-One-Year Rule (Book 3) Termination Rule (Book 4) Widow’s Rule (Book 5) Treborel – A Sci-Fi Adventure Tempest Rise (Book 1) Vengeance’s Fire (Book 2) Archangel – A Paranormal Romance The Light of His Sword (Book 1) The Power of His Touch (Book 2) The Echo of Her Presence (Book 3) The Defiance of His Conviction (Book 4) Angel From Hell (Book 5) – Coming soon! Royal Duty Order of Succession (Book 1) Virtuous Trickery (Book 2)- Coming soon! Thousands of years ago, Ariel's moment of weakness changed the face of the world. She not only failed mankind; she'd failed God. As a result, her heart turned into an island of ice, encased inside a barrier of steel no one could penetrate. Ariel races to Texas to help heal the land from a devastating drought when she meets a stubborn Texas rancher. The moment their eyes met, Ariel felt that long forgotten feeling in the core of her being. It was as if her heart finally started to beat again. Will Ariel risk her divine duty to feel love again?       Excerpt Even angel’s get sunburnt. Ariel’s ivory skin held a light pink glow. The Texan sun was merciless. She gazed across the cattle range searching for her target. The drought had turned the grassy range into a yellowed field of dying grass. Even the usually humid Texan air was so dry the sweat didn’t have time to form on her skin. Her long chestnut hair flowed freely about her shoulders in the hot wind, as it brushed against her. She left her wings extended to shade her bare arms and back. The unhindered sunlight illuminated the brilliant cobalt blue center of her wings, highlighting a vibrant purple hue which sprang from an emerald green base. Her wings ended with a thin tan border. “SPF 50,” she muttered, licking her parched lips. “And a side of icy bottled water would make my day.” This was her final stop in the Texas sun. Half a dozen previous locations all led to this last point. Bringing rain to a drought-plagued land was a slow process. This time the very air around her seemed resistant. It took twice as long at each stop than she’d planned. She should be lounging poolside at the hotel right now, out of the mid-day sun, instead of fighting dehydration from foolishly failing to bring any water along. Ariel found the dry stream bed she was searching for and glanced up at the sky. She spread her arms out wide and closed her eyes. Ariel concentrated on the task at hand instead of the headache throbbing in her temples. If she pulled moisture in too quickly, the resulting storms could devastate the entire southern region of the US. High winds, tornados, flash floods, and destructive lightning, running rampant across the land, would not put her in favor with the Big Guy. She wiggled her fingers as they began to tingle. That was odd. The tingling usually indicated a demon presence. But none were near. She dismissed it as a side effect of the heat. Her thoughts flowed west across Texas toward Mexico and the Pacific Ocean. The jet stream ran directly across Mexico from the ocean toward Texas. Then she reached north past New Mexico, Arizona, and Nevada to the jet stream that rushed across California and down into Texas. She gently pulled moisture toward Texas. It would take several days possibly a week or more for enough moisture to build and move into the state. She had to bring it slowly to avoid torrential rains that would do nothing more than produce runoff and flooding. “Come on baby, mama needs a long dip in a cold pool.” She whispered to the air. “What the hell are you doing out here?” A deep voice with a southern twang said from behind her. Her eyes flashed with annoyance as she turned to find a man in a cowboy hat with a scruffy, unshaven face sitting on a horse staring down at her with a pair of steely gray eyes. “I’m minding my own business doing nothing that should concern you,” She squinted at him in the harsh daylight; there was no worry about her wings. Mortals could only see her wings if she allowed it, which she never did. “You got a death wish?” He snapped and glanced around, “Where is your man? Sleeping one off in his air conditioned dune buggy while you try to get snake bit?” Ariel sighed and glared at him. He was probably one of those archaic cowboy types who chewed tobacco and slept under his horse. “Relax Hoss; I’m just doing my job. So why don’t you get on with yours? I don’t want to keep you from branding a cow or shooting at something.” He turned back to gaze at her. His eyes ran down her slender, athletic form. He chuckled. “You’re a bit of a hellcat, but those pretty brown eyes aren’t going to stop a wild hog from ripping your head off. This country is full of them.” “How fascinating,” She muttered. Then turned and began following the dry stream bed hoping he’d ride off. “Look, lady,” He called moving his horse toward her, “You don’t seem to understand. It's 102 degrees out here. We are in the middle of a drought. You don’t appear to have any water on you, and that dusty stream bed you’re following isn’t going to lead you to any. Now, I’m not partial to riding double, it’s hard on the horse, but I don’t see any option at this point. So give me your hand, and I’ll pull you up.” She stopped and turned to glare at him. The fight had gone out of his face, replaced by a sincerity she couldn’t ignore, but somehow found annoying. “So let me get this straight. You want to be my knight in shining armor and save me from certain death?” He smiled. He had a kind smile full of perfect white teeth. He pulled off his hat and smoothed back his thick brown hair with one hand. “Lady, I don’t know how you got out here or what you think you’re doing. Frankly, I don’t care. But I’m not leaving any woman, crazy or not, in the middle of the range with no horse and no water. Now I’d like to get out of this heat. Contrary to what you may believe Texans are tough, but we’re still human. I can see you’re in a horn tossin’ mood, but you need to put that aside. I’ve got some water in my saddle bag which I am happy to share. Now we need to get going because it’s a bit of a ride back to the stables. So if you want to climb up on my horse voluntarily, that’s great, I’d prefer it.” His smile vanished, “However, if you are going to stand there arguing with me like an empty headed princess, and I have to get off of my horse to fetch your skinny ass…” “Are you threatening me?” Ariel locked eyes with him. He sighed and admitted, “Yes, I guess I am. Ma’am, I’m not leaving you behind. You’ll die.” “Is it clean water or did you squeeze it out of a cactus?” She asked with the slightest suggestion of a smile and moved toward him. His face filled with relief, “Don’t knock cactus juice. It tastes pretty good after a couple of days without fresh water.” He offered her his hand when she reached his side. His large hand engulfed hers and pulled her onto the back of his horse in one swift movement. She snaked her arms around his waist and tried not to lean against his muscular back. He turned the horse around and gave a sharp whistle. A dot appeared on the horizon which grew quickly into a few head of cattle flanked by two large dogs. He spun the horse around further and started heading west. His hand slipped under her leg and reached into the saddlebag. He pulled out an insulated flask and handed it to her. “I’m Colton Anderson. Welcome to the Legacy Ranch.” He added as she took a sip of the surprisingly cold water. “Colton Anderson?” She answered, “Rancher, oil billionaire, and hunting expedition expert?” “The horse gave me away, right?” He chuckled. She laughed and said, “It was the ten-gallon hat actually. I’m Ariel Williams.”

I love this series!!
It is so hard to stop myself from jumping into the next book. I genuinely feel Alaina Stanford deserves six stars for this one. I keep trying to find words to describe why I love it so much. Unfortunately they all would count as spoilers. You'll just have to read it yourself.

Gets Better
Ariel is the center of this book. She is in Texas trying to end the drought, when she meets Colton. Rafael loves and loses his woman and Gabriel tries to protect his family from the chords of demons and fallen angels out to destroy them.

Mike is a task master, but does his job well. More angels are added to the mix. The story gets better with each page.

Heart-meltingly good!
This story keeps the momentum of the series going in a positive direction. I could really identify with the character, Ariel. I felt an acute sense of familiarity with the way she has closed herself off to love and carries the guilt of her mistakes and thinking she will never be good enough. She touched me in more ways than one. It was heartwarming to see her overcome her struggle and realize that she is just as worthy of happiness as anyone else (or any other angel). Previous characters make a reappearance and keep you in the loop with how their lives and loves are progressing. Without a doubt, this was my favorite book in the series, so far.