Saturday, September 3, 2011

Six Sentence Sunday: The Saddest Eyes


Hello and welcome to my Sunday Six offering. Thank you for stopping by and thanks to all those who leave comments. I appreciate your time, because time is a precious commodity and seems to grow scarcer on the weekends for some reason. I know I never have enough of it to read as many of the other Sunday Six authors as I’d like--and there are so many to choose from!

I always try to reciprocate with the comments, though too often time runs out. If I don’t get to you one week, I will try my best to get there the next. I’ve found the Sunday Sixers to be a wonderful, supportive group and want to return that support as well.

I hope you enjoy this week’s excerpt. It pretty much takes up where last week’s left off.

The set-up:  Jonathan leaves his hiding place behind the screen when he hears Isabelle cry out in pain after she cuts herself. When Isabelle finally comes to herself enough to realize he’s beside her, she turns to speak to him and for the first time sees why he keeps himself hidden.

A Bed of Thorns and Roses #9

She thought for a moment she was back in the nightmare. He had no face, this man, just a fabric mask with two dark circles cut out for eyes.

Yet after she recovered from her initial surprise, she was strangely unafraid. Frowning, Isabelle leaned forward and peered into the dark circles, then said the first thing that came to mind. “You have the saddest eyes I’ve ever seen.”

She said this with great wonder, because she had seen her own eyes in the mirror.

*     *     *

That’s it for now. Here’s the link to send you back to the Six Sunday site.

Have a great week,
Sondra

18 comments:

  1. What a moving moment in the story, Sondra. I'm so interested to see his response to her reaction, since she wasn't afraid when she saw him. Makes me want to know all the reasons his eyes are so sad!

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  2. This small scene is chock-full of emotion. The description of her immediate connection to his eyes, is perfect. Great six!

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  3. I'm on chapter twenty-five of A Bed of Thorn and Roses. It is wonderful. I can't put it down. It is so poignant and so well written. It flows beautifully. I've been following your six sentences each week, but they can't do this book justice. You really have to read the book in its entirely to fully appreciate how good it is.

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  4. Very intrigued by this snippet! I'd love to know his response.

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  5. Very touching and intriguing. What does he say to her?

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  6. Amy and Cherie, I'm glad you felt the emotion I was aiming for. It was a challenge to have a hero who cannot communicate with facial expressions, so the eyes were important.

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  7. Cara,
    Wow, thank you! I appreciate your feedback. Sometimes when I've spent so long writing something, it all starts sounding awful to me. But if the reader is happy, so am I. I'm really glad you're enjoying the book.

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  8. Sarah, Carrie Ann, you want to know his response? Last week when Isabelle cut herself, I warned that this was a disastrous first meet. This is a brief lull before things get much worse. It will be difficult to choose next week's six. I hope you'll stay tuned.

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  9. Saddest eyes she'd ever seen -- and she'd seen her own in the mirror. Such a powerful, yet subtle emotion. Great line.

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  10. This scene is intense and the way you tie the last line in with the whole snippet is fantastic.

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  11. *goosebumps* Amazing writing, well done!

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  12. wow... sad eyes for both... I'd say they're made for each other!
    Great six
    Barb

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  13. That's beautiful Sondra, and very emotive, loved it.

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  14. It might be 'cause I'm really tired right now, but I'm confused... if there are only two dark circles on his mask, then she's not seeing his eyes until she leans forward. Then she says he's got sad eyes. Up to this point, I think I'm following, then the last line throws me. When did the mirror come in? And are you saying that her own eyes were the saddest she'd ever seen until she saw his?

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  15. saddest eyes... wow. I just loved this six.

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  16. Sondra,

    I just finished reading A Bed of Thorns and Roses and was blown away. I've been enthralled with the Beauty and the Beast tale, and all its many incarnations and retellings, for as long as I can remember--so much so that I'm currently writing one of my own. Yours is one of the most beautiful I've ever read. I'm very much looking forward to reading more of your work. If it's half as good as this one, I'm in for a real treat.

    Kind regards,

    Grace Draven
    www.gracedraven.com

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    1. Thank you, Grace, I'm so glad you enjoyed my book. As you can probably tell from the lack of entries on my blog, I've "gone dark" to work on my new fantasy romance series, The World of Pangaea. Book One is titled The Beast. I do seem to keep coming back to that theme! Sometimes I wonder if I need a support group to help me with my addiction :-) I'd love to read your take on the tale when it's finished. If you're on Facebook, drop by and friend me if you'd like. I'll announce there when the book is ready for publication.
      All the best,
      Sondra

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