The Girl and the Raven | Book Blizt

Dating a gargoyle is great, until his family gets involved.

Being half-witch/half-demon and dating Marcus, a gargoyle and demon enemy, is complicated enough for Lucy. She can almost tolerate Jude, her demon father, forcing her to undergo combat training. But when Marcus's long-lost family returns to Chicago, her world begins to crumble. Marcus's mother wants him to leave to join the gargoyle clan; his father wants him to help kill Jude. There's one major problem with this: if Jude dies, Lucy dies. 

Marcus will do whatever it takes to save Lucy and her father. Meanwhile, Lucy has her own plan and with the aid of a surprise newcomer, seeks help from the most unlikely-and dangerous-source.

Lucy Walker

The clatter of my cell phone bouncing against the nightstand startles me awake. My heavy lids refuse to open. Another late night on the roof with Marcus—and that was after spending two hours working on a killer CD mix for him. Did he struggle this much when he made my CDs last year? 

I snuggle into my pillow, sleep beckoning. My phone vibrates again. I reach for it with a groan. Marcus is probably the only person I would forgive for bugging me this early. Maybe my gargoyle boyfriend wants to meet me for an early morning kiss? Nothing could top that. 

Seriously??? Are you kidding me??? You’re the luckiest girl alive! 

I reread Katie’s text, but it makes no sense. 

I bolt upright. Is it possible she saw us last night? Crap. I fell asleep on the roof with Marcus. He and his wings, in all their glorious beauty, delivered me safely to the ground. He doesn’t need his wings for that small of a jump. He did it for me. He knows I love them. 

I swallow a shriek as I spot the figure leaning against my dresser. 

“What are you doing in my bedroom?” I snap, my heart hammering against my rib cage. Jude crosses his arms over his chest. In the year that I’ve known him, my father has learned to mimic human gestures well. Then it hits me. That’s one of my most common gestures. 

“I would like to meet your great-uncles.” 

I swallow hard. “I told you it would happen when the time’s right.” “I’m done waiting.” 

“Let me ease them into it,” I plead. 

My phone vibrates in my hand. That’s when I remember Katie’s message. 

Well???? 

What do I say to my best friend and neighbor if she saw Marcus deliver me to my bedroom window? Play dumb? 

My uncles putter around the kitchen, clanging pans and chopping vegetables. The smell of fresh brewed coffee drifts into my bedroom, followed by the heavy, smoky smell of bacon. 

“Perfect. We can have breakfast together,” Jude says. 

I return my cell to my bedside table. 

“Please,” I whisper. “Not today.” 

The front door creaks open. Sheldon grabbing the Sunday paper from the sidewalk? How do I get rid of Jude? I throw off my sheet and blanket, thinking through a safe response to Katie. 

“Bernard? Can you come here, please?” 

Something about Sheldon’s tone causes the back of my neck to get all prickly. Do they know Jude’s here? How did he get in, anyway? Did he pick the lock on the front door? 

“Lucy?” Bernard calls out. 

Jude pushes himself off the dresser. “I’ll be out front. Come and invite me in.” In one smooth motion, he climbs out the window. So that’s how he did it. 

I change out of pajamas and into shorts and a T-shirt, my stomach churning. 

How do I introduce Jude? 

Sheldon despises him for what he did to Momma. Never mind that he’s been absent my entire life. How do I explain that Gram played a role in keeping my father and me apart? And that she used magic to do it? My uncles are in the dark about everything. They don’t know Gram was a witch. They don’t know about all the supernaturals living in the three-flat building. And they don’t know I’m half-witch, half-demon. If they did, I think their heads would explode. 

Pauline Gruber is a self-professed music junkie, cat wrangler, and travel nut. She went to Paris in the 90's where she discovered a love of three things: croissants, old cathedrals, and gargoyles. Deciding that the paranormal world could use a new kind of hero, Pauline translated her fascination with the protective gargoyle into a suspenseful love story. She is the author of the series: The Girl and The Raven, The Girl and The Gargoyle, and the forthcoming novel, The Girl and The Demon. By day, Pauline is a legal assistant for a Chicago law firm where she steals identities and incorporates them into her books. If you tell anyone, she'll deny, deny, deny. 

Pauline lives outside of Chicago with her precocious black cats. 

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