Today, I am happy to say I am on the tour for Ashes Of Innocence by Phil Price and published by Spellbound Books. I am sorry to say I didn’t have time to read the book, so I am sharing an extract from this fabulous sounding book. If you wish to follow the tour, check the blog banner below. Thanks to ZooLoo’s Book Tours and Spellbound Books.
“Good girl,” Lucy replied, kissing the top of her head before closing the door. The lock reminded her of the type found in hospitals, a long chrome handle that is turned vertically to lock the person inside. As she struggled with the wobbly handle, two things happened at once. Firstly, the door handle came away in her hand, locking Lucy within the small confines of the toilet. Secondly, the fire alarm in the coffee shop sounded, a commotion filtering through to where she was stood. “Shit!” she exclaimed, trying to fit the lock onto the bolt that would open the door. As she exerted pressure on the bolt, the handle on the other side of the door fell off, clanking on the tiled floor. “Fuck!” Lucy called out, a sense of panic spreading over her as she thought of Lottie, who was only a few feet away. “Lottie. Can you hear me?”
“Yes, Mummy. What’s the noise for?”
“It’s the fire alarm.” She was about to continue, when she heard the door to the main area open. She banged on the door, a cold sweat peppering her brow as her anxiety ramped-up several notches. “Help! I’m stuck in here. Somebody get me out!” Lucy could hear customers moving chairs against the flooring, muffled voices filtering under the door. “HELP ME!” she screamed as she heard the outer door open.
“Hello?” a male voice replied.
“Thank God! Hello. I’m stuck in here. The handle came off. Can you get me out, please? Lottie, are you still there?”
“Yes, Mummy,” her daughter replied, her voice almost drowned out by the fire alarm.
“Hang on,” the male voice replied. Lucy heard a metallic sound followed a clunking noise as the man tried to fit the bolt and handle onto the door. “You need to line up your handle. Can you do that?”
“What’s going on, Steve?” a female voice asked.
“Someone’s locked in the toilet. Her daughter is here with her.”
“I’ll take the daughter outside while you try and open the door,” the female voice responded firmly.
“No,” Lucy shouted. “She stays here with me!” Tears began running down Lucy’s cheek as sense of panic spread through her.
“I’ll look after her,” the woman responded calmly. “Steve, hurry up and get her out of there.”
The man turned towards the broken lock as the first vestiges of smoke began seeping under the outer door. “Can you line up the handle?” Steve asked, his voice strained.
“Hang on,” Lucy replied as she bent down to retrieve the discarded handle, her hands shaking. After a few minutes of trying to get it to fit, the door came open and she stumbled out into the small corridor, almost bumping into the man, a kind-looking fifty-something with thinning grey hair.
“Come on. We need to get out. There’s a small fire in the kitchen.”
“Thank you,” Lucy replied, noticing the smoke as she tugged at the outer handle before striding across the deserted coffee shop. Through the glass, she could see a large group of people, standing by expectantly in the light drizzle. Within seconds, Lucy was amongst them. “Has anyone seen my daughter? Lottie! Lottie, it’s Mummy. Where are you?”
Customers started looking around themselves as Lucy bustled around them. “Lottie!” she shouted, tears beginning to form at the corners of her eyes. “Where are you? LOTTIE?”
Steve came to her side, calling the female who’d escorted Lottie outside. “Diane, where’s the little girl?”
A middle-aged woman, a few inches shorter than Lucy, with a closely-cropped grey hair and steel-rimmed glasses, pointed behind her. “She’s…” The little girl was not there.
Synopsis
He was fighting for his country in a far-off land, hoping to make his home a safer place for his family. However, the danger was not where he thought it would be.
He had no clue that it would be stalking the streets of Birmingham, looking for easy pickings.
It never entered his head that two young boys could tear his world apart, taking what he loved most.
Returning from conflict, John is plunged into his own dark war, trying to keep his family from falling apart.
Twelve years later, his life has become bearable, the monotony keeping him on track.
But just as things start to look up, shadowy figures from his past threaten to bring it all crashing down once more.
Taking the one thing worth fighting for.
Well, I for one will be reading this as soon as I can! If you fancy picking it up the buy Links are here.
Buy Links
Amazon UK
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09PWP3PW2
Amazon US
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09PWP3PW2
Author Bio
Phil Price was born in Sutton Coldfield in 1974. He lived in various places in the UK until his family settled in Rednal, a suburb on the outskirts of Birmingham in 1979. Growing up with an older brother and sister, he always flirted with reading, his home always littered with books. Then in 1997, Phil embarked on a travel expedition that took him from Greece to Thailand, via East and Southern Africa. Sitting in dusty bus stations in Kenya, Tanzania and Malawi with Wilbur Smith and James Herbert accompanying him, his imagination was sparked into life. Since those far-off days, he has never been without a book to read.
Phil started toying with the idea of writing a book in 2009. After writing a few short stories, he caught a whiff of an idea in his head. It started to evolve in 2010 until he had enough to begin his writing journey. Marriage and two children came along, with the story being moved to the back burner for periods of time. However, during those periods of writing inactivity, the story continued to manifest until it just needed one thing. To be written down.
The story was littered with places that had influenced Phil’s life. From the Lickey Hills in Birmingham to the Amatola Mountains in South Africa, with other many other locations, in-between and far beyond.
The book was finished sometime in 2014, left on his computer until a chance conversation with an author friend made Phil take the bold step to publish his story, Unknown.
From there, Phil’s love for the first book spurred him on, creating The Forsaken Series. A vampire/paranormal/horror trilogy, set in our world, and others too. His love of horror and all things supernatural, inspired by authors such as King, Herbert and others, helped create the epic series.
After writing a science fiction novel, titled Zoo, Phil released his first psychological thriller, Ashes of Innocence, a story that he’d kept bubbling away for many years.
Aside from his writing, Phil lives on the edge of a small town in Worcestershire, UK. A wife and two sons keep Phil happily occupied as he steers his way through life, playing the husband, dad and world creator in equal measure
Follow him at:
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/949097912297893
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/phil_price_author/
Twitter:
sharonbeyondthebooks.uk 
Thank you so much lovely for sharing this extract today and support the tour x
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