A Valentine’s Surprise - “It was one of the cutest and hottest novellas I've ever read. It's rare to have such a great mix of cute and hot, but this author does it perfectly!” ~ Willow Star Serenity Reviews

A Valentine’s Surprise - “This is one of the best short stories I have read in a long time!” ~ HeadTripping Books

Accidental Leigh - "This book had me laughing out loud so hard and even reminded me of myself at times. A fantastic and quick read." - A Closet Full of Books

Accidental Leigh - "This book is not only well written but gives you the humor, romance and "paranormal" oddities that you want in a book. I absolutely loved this book and with Melanie Jamie's flawless writing you will be drawn in with the characters and what the story has to offer." –

FangTastic - OddityReviews.com

A Valentine’s Surprise - “Kuddos to Melanie James for throwing a good romance our way. I want more!” ~ Jennifer Theriot, Author, Out Of the Box Series

Conjuring Darkness
–
“Conjuring Darkness captivates your attention right from the start and never let's go. The adventure packed into this supernatural thriller only keeps you on the edge and turning the page. It definitely was one of those books that was hard to put down.” ~ Angela Ford, Author of Closure

Conjuring Darkness – “This book is captivating from the first page, I could not put the book down. I was so surprised by all the twists, turns, the unexpected. I could not wait until I was through each chapter” ~ I Heart Books

Edition License Notes

This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This e-book may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you wish to share it with. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should delete it from your device and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author’s work.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is coincidental.

Joyful Leigh

By Melanie James

Editing: AVC Proofreading

Proofreading: AVC Proofreading

Cover Artist: Dreams to Media

ISBN-13:
978-0692322659

ISBN-10:
0692322655

Published in the United States of America

Acknowledgements

Claudy Conn – The sweetest dearest woman. I am so thankful you are in my life.

Carol Ray – Every day you amaze me with your dedication and thoughtfulness.

Monkeys – You are all amazing and I love you so much.

Dakota & Robyn – Thank you for kicking my ass into gear when I needed it!

Alicia – You are the absolute best. Thank you for being an amazing friend and cleaning everything up for me.

Ron – You are my life, my breath, my heart, my everything!

Dedication

To all those that find laughter with Leigh and her band of merry magical misfits. It has been the most Joyful experience to bring Leigh and her friends to life!

Chapter One
The Mouse

Thoughts about my wonderful Halloween still filled my mind, especially those first couple days of November. I can’t quite wrap my head around the fact that Hunter actually proposed! I catch myself constantly staring at the beautiful ring he gave me as a reminder. Then something so traumatic happened that it made me appreciate every single day, especially the upcoming holidays. The event had some pretty serious implications that I wouldn’t realize until much later.

It had been a long day and my brain was completely fried. I don’t think I was capable of much more than drooling when Gertie popped in for a visit at the school and joined me on my walk home. We stopped in at the local grocery store to browse around and pick up a few necessities.

“Excuse me. Do you know much about these?” I was standing in front of a display of canned goods, a virtual great pyramid of candied yams, cranberry sauce, sweet corn, and sweet potatoes.

A sweet looking, older African American woman with short gray hair, wire framed bifocals, and a bright blue vest stared at me. I really don’t understand the purpose of those pocket-less vests. You know the kind of vest I’m talking about, the ones
en vogue
at all of the retail chains these days. They are almost always festooned with little pins that display sickeningly positive slogans. I think the idea is to portray an aura of helpful customer service until you actually have a question. Then you find out they are totally and completely misleading.

The woman adjusted her glasses and leaned closer to the monolith of cans. “Let’s see. Aha!” She selected a can and stood uptight. “I know exactly what these strange things are. They’re called
can
s. These particular cans are filled with food. They have these really handy things called
labels
that tell you what’s inside. Pretty neat idea.” She looked at me as if I had just fallen off the turnip wagon. “Congratulations. You just asked the dumbass question of the week.”
So much for the sweet and helpful grandmotherly type
, I thought.

“I know they’re cans, but I wanted to know what the difference is between sweet potatoes and candied yams. I mean, are candied yams a dessert food? Are they actually just candy in the shape of a sweet potato? They look the same on the picture. Are they just the same thing with different names? But why would they do that?”

“Where are you from? Mars? The moon maybe?” She shook her head.

“No. You’re confusing me with my sister, Sarah. Do you know her or something? She and her husband live in Mars. They did live in Moon but found a bigger place. But those towns are near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. We’re from Skokie, but now I live here, just a couple blocks away. I’m a teacher from the elementary school. Or…wait, were you being sarcastic?”

She took her glasses off and tapped them against her lips, just like my mom does. After an abnormally long pause she finally spoke, “A teacher? A teacher!” Inexplicably, she turned and walked away, back into the recesses of retail hell.

“Wait! I just wanted to know the differ…never mind.” The woman totally twisted my words around. My guess is she didn’t know the damn difference between sweet potatoes and yams either. I was more determined than ever to answer the question. “Gertie? Gertie? Where are you?” Gertie came out from an aisle. The wheels on her cart made an unholy noise. It was one of those noises only a leather clad, black hooded medieval torturer could appreciate. “Please! Stop it! My God! Are my ears bleeding?”

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