TODAY, WE ARE DELIGHTED TO WELCOME GUEST AUTHOR, VANESSA ROSE, WHO IS SHARING CHAPTER ONE OF HER NOVEL, 'AS THE FIRE DIES' #RWRTeamBlog #ReadWriteRepeat
- Feb 11
- 12 min read
New Release – As the Fire Dies (Metal Embers
Series Book 1) – Release 2/20/2026
Kindle - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GF191T53
Blurb
Abel Sharp has no idea that one letter could change the course of his life forever. Having spent his life fighting for success after almost ruining everything from the start, he is now at the top of his game. His band Louder in Silence has risen to being one of the most popular metalcore groups in the scene, playing sold-out arena shows all over the country. Controversial since his twenties, Abel isn’t known as being the easiest to work with. However, when he receives a letter from a woman about her sick mother, something in him says this is more than a cry for attention. Never would he have expected the woman to soak into his very soul and change his life forever.
Alanna Merrick has spent her whole life fighting. A teenage mother forced to work lifeless jobs, Alanna’s whole world revolves around making a good life for her daughter. Then, she finally gets to live a sliver of her dreams by performing in a Louder in Silence tribute band. No matter what she had to endure, it’s been the highlight of her adult life, and she wouldn’t change a thing. However, she was never meant to have nice things, and her clock is quickly running out.
They know it’s stupid. They know nothing good can ever come of it, but love will not be denied. Being chased by death only makes them fall faster… harder. A passion that can change the world. A romance that reads like a fairytale. A love that never dies.
Tag Line: A beautiful woman who lived a not so beautiful life.
Trigger Warnings
Just a note to my readers. This book takes you on an emotional journey, and with it we delve into some themes that may be difficult to read. These themes include loss/death, cancer, drug abuse, recovery, and relapse, surviving domestic violence, death of a parent, teen pregnancy and alluding to abortion, depression, grief, abandonment, and suicidal thoughts. While this story does not have a happily ever after, it is the catalyst that brings about the joy and happiness for the rest of the series. Without this story, none of the others would be possible. There can be beauty in sadness, and the goal of this story was to show that even short-lived love can last a lifetime.
If any of these themes will affect your mental health, please put down the book. I care more about your health and well-being than anything else.
Otherwise, happy reading!
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Excerpt
The Letter
Dear Abel,
You don’t know me. Hell, you will probably never even read this letter, but I had to write it. For myself, if nothing else. You are my mother’s favorite singer, and her favorite band. So much so that for years she performed in a tribute band that exclusively did your music, but this isn’t about that. No, this is just about her. See, I can’t let her die without sharing her with you. I feel like you deserve to know about her. If nothing else, this is one last thing I can do for her.
My mother is a very beautiful woman who has lived a not so beautiful life. Through all of the pain she has gone through—the abandonment, the abuse, the loneliness—she was always able to smile. My mother hid so much from me that I am just now finding out about. She never let me know when she was hurting. She never let me see her cry. Though her life was hard, she made sure my life was amazing.
Whenever she felt sadness or darkness, I would find her singing and dancing. She used your music to heal from the things she always kept hidden from me. I think deep down, she relates to your music and your story more than she could express to me. Unfortunately, now, she is lucky if she can get through one song. I’m slowly watching her waste away, and there is nothing I can do about it. She sits and listens to music, and she fights for her life, but I think she is only doing it for me. I see hopelessness behind her eyes that was never there before. She has always been a fighter.
See, it has been just me and her for as long as I can remember. My grandmother decided my mother made too many bad decisions and left. It’s been ten years since I saw that woman. My father abandoned me before I was even born. My mom dated off and on while I was growing up, but about ten years ago she got into a relationship with a man who promised her the world. Or at least her dreams. That is when she started the band. How was I supposed to know what was really going on? I was just a child.
Lately I have found myself listening to your music as well. I’m older now, and I see what my mother got out of it. I feel what she felt. Feels… she isn’t gone yet.
The doctors say she waited too long. Had we brought her in when the symptoms first started, maybe we could have saved her. Maybe it wouldn’t have spread as far as it has. It is eating her away, and there is nothing I can do but sit back and watch death come for her. It is lurking in the shadows, and I’m so afraid. I don’t know if I can live my life without her. If only I had pushed her to go to the doctor when the weakness started. When the dizziness came. When she complained about pain she had never had before. If I had made her go, maybe I wouldn’t be losing her now.
I’m not asking anything from you other than the hope that you will read this letter and learn about someone you brought peace and love to in the hardest moments of their life. When she sings your songs, she smiles. She becomes another person. It is like watching an angel burst out of the shell of the body my mother inhabits. I hear the passion in your music, and I feel it come from her. My friends used to beg her to sing at school functions, but she always said the music she sang was not appropriate for school, and she refused to soften herself for anyone. She never cared about singing in front of me. I remember being in the car as a small child watching her rock out as if she were a star and the world was watching, even though it was just me and the other cars around us.
When I say my mother performed your music, I don’t mean she sang like some weak karaoke imitation. No, she belted it with every ounce of emotion and depth within her. I honestly think you would have been proud of her had you ever seen her. It didn’t matter if she was on stage or cooking dinner. She sang, she screamed, she roared, and I loved every moment of it because I saw the powerful strong woman that no one else believed in.
My grandmother always told her music wasn’t a real career. My mother was sixteen when she got pregnant with me. Luckily my grandmother made sure she finished high school, but she never went to college. She ended up working customer support jobs, becoming a zombie to the man to provide for me. She put all of her dreams to the side because no one believed in her, and her spirit had been beaten down so much that she stopped believing in herself. So, when she finally started doing music, she never pursued more than a few festivals and local shows. It made her happy, but she could have been more. She could have been great.
I know this letter is long, and it is probably rambling. I know there are splotches where my tears have fallen. I’m sorry for that, but if you ever do read this, I hope you know one thing. My mother, Alanna Grace Merrick is a beautiful woman with a not so beautiful life, and you made it just a little bit better. She may just be another fan in a long line to you, but you for her, well, you saved her life. You gave her an outlet. You made her smile.
The doctors have given her six months or less to live. She is doing treatment, yes, but I know it is only so she can live longer for me. I honestly believe that if my daughter and I were not factors, she would just let the cancer take her. I have enclosed some pictures of her as well as a small drive that has a copy of her performing her favorite of all of your songs. That video was taken three days before we found out she was sick, yet she still performed like the world was hers and you were speaking through her. That is what
she used to say. That she was just a vessel for you to speak through. She is weird that way. That video is not my favorite performance of hers, but it is the only one I have of her performing that song. And since it is her favorite, I wanted to share it with you.
Again, I know you probably will never read this. I wrote this for me, but I am still going to send it to you anyway. If you do ever happen to read it, I hope you find comfort in knowing that though you may have touched many lives with your music, this life was special. This life was beautiful. This life’s light is going out having been touched by you.
With my broken heart,
Hannah Merrick Reading
Chapter 1
Abel
“Abel, I think you should read this,” Mason said, walking into the green room and handing him an envelope. Inside was what Abel could only assume was a letter, some pictures of a pretty woman, and a USB thumb drive.
“What the fuck is this?” he asked with a shrug.
“It’s a fan letter. Well, not exactly. It’s the daughter of a fan letter,” Mason answered.
“I don’t have time for this,” Abel groaned and tossed the envelope down on the table.
“Make time. I really think you should read it,” Mason said, his voice serious.
Mason was never serious. They were all always joking around and being idiots. It helped break some of the stress of being on tour all the time.
Picking up the envelope, Abel went to sit down on the couch and pulled out the letter. He read it completely once before he looked up at his friend, “Is this for real?”
“Seems to be. I looked up that Hannah girl. She has a pretty decent social media network and YouTube page. She has been posting videos about her mom for years now. In the last few months, though, it has all been about that,” Mason answered.
Abel looked at the pictures again. The woman in them looked like a rock star. She was singing into a microphone, and her face expressed the same passion he felt when he was on stage. “Did you check out the drive?”
“No, I was worried it might have a virus, but the YouTube page has performances,” Mason explained.
“Let me see,” Abel said, getting up and going to his computer. He wasn’t sure what was coming over him. Something itched at the back of his brain. Sure, he got letters from fans all the time telling them about their sad stories and how his music had helped them, but this one felt different. Abel couldn’t put his finger on it, only that it did.
Mason typed at the keys until he brought up the site. The girl in the videos didn’t look like the one in the pictures. She was younger and had darker hair than the woman in the photos. Of course, the letter had told him it came from the daughter. Mason went to click on the most recent upload of the woman performing, but Abel stopped him. “Give me some privacy please. Go tell the band to get ready. I’ll be out in just a few minutes.”
Mason gave him an awkward smile and left the room. Instead of clicking on the performance, Abel clicked on the latest video the girl had posted.
“Hey guys! I can’t express just how much your support and love has meant to me. We just got back from the doctor, and Mom is really tired. She is out in her office sitting and listening to music. Brandon has wired the whole place, so I’m doing my best to muffle the music in here, so I don’t get a copyright strike. Anyway, I just wanted to give everyone an update. She is still fighting and smiling. I even caught her singing a little bit ago but wasn’t fast enough to record it. I will post one if I catch her again. So, yeah, thank you again, and I will give all of you an update as soon as I have one.” He assumed the girl was Hannah. The video was really short, but he could hear the quiver in her voice and feel the pain she was in all the way through the screen.
Taking a deep breath, he then clicked on the upload of the last posted performance.
“Hey, everyone! So, my mom is doing a performance tonight. I decided to record it for you in case you weren’t unable to make it. I know it’s been a while since she performed. Ever since John left the band things have been a bit on the rocks. Anyway, she is singing her favorite Louder in Silence song tonight. So, I’m excited to share it with all of you,” Hannah explained before turning the camera toward a stage.
Standing in the spotlight was the woman from the pictures, only she looked thinner. Her eyes were deeper, tired. Even if he hadn’t already known the truth, he would have known something was wrong. She wore a beautiful silver dress that fell all the way to the floor. Her hair was done with braids from either side, with the rest flowing in beautiful dark blonde waves down to her waist.
She was stunning. A man sitting at a piano started to play. Abel didn’t even realize he was holding his breath until it quivered out of him. He watched in awe and amazement as the woman sang a song he had written during one his darkest moments. It was about wanting to give up, wanting to die. She sang it like an angel, each word stabbing into him as it built from something soft, almost broken, to something powerful and full of anguish. That woman felt those words, just as much as he did when he sang them. It wasn’t a song he often did on stage. Honestly it hurt too much to perform.
His eyes stayed glued to the entire performance, and he gasped when he saw her stumble. She took several deep breaths and steadied herself without missing a note, and when she got to the end of the song, she looked directly into the camera. He felt like she was staring into his soul, and a shiver ran down his spine. Who the fuck was this woman? For several long moments he sat there in stunned silence. Hearing other people sing his songs often felt cheap and awkward, but not this woman.
Picking up the letter again, he read the name. Alanna Grace Merrick.
The doctors say she waited too long. Had we brought her in when the symptoms first started, maybe we could have saved her, the letter had said.
His head screamed back and forth in a roar of indecision. Part of him knew he should put it away and ignore it. Surely nothing good would come from him responding. He couldn’t save this woman. He certainly wasn’t a doctor. Yet another part of him really wanted to meet her. Maybe he could give her a moment of happiness. Her daughter had expressed that she’d had a hard life. He could relate to that. If he could make this woman’s last few days on this Earth happier, maybe it would go a long way into making him feel more worthy.
“Dude, we got to get on stage!” Derrik, his drummer, yelled from the door.
“I’m right behind you,” Abel answered, exiting the website and shoving the letter and pictures back into the envelope. He put the letter in his bag and grabbed his hat before he headed to the stage. Maybe the show would provide clarity.
More than twenty thousand people were waiting to hear him perform. He had come a long way from addiction, prison, and a life of poverty. He had made his dreams come true through blood, sweat, and grit. Pulling his locket out from under his shirt, he opened it and kissed the picture of his daughter inside. Without her, he may have relapsed back into oblivion, but she made him want to be better every day.
“Love you, Briar,” he whispered a moment before he stepped out onto the stage to a roar of screaming fans. Fire burst out all over the stage in a spectacle of pyrotechnic glory. No expenses were spared when it came to him putting on a good show.
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AUTHOR BIO
Vanessa Rose is a Contemporary Romance author currently residing in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. She can often be found at a coffee shop working on her books and refers to these trips to town as “Going to the Office”. She credits her friends and family with inspiring her and being a sounding board as she plots out her next book. To read her Paranormal Romance works, look for her under the pen name Cherron Riser.
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COMING SOON: On Sunday, 15th February, our guest author is Cassandra Hallman, who will be sharing an excerpt from her spicy novel, 'Hateful Vows'.
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