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Tag: Darq Antonello

The oldest of the Antonello Brothers

Meet the Hero of Crystal Clear Truth #SciFi #Romance #MFRWhooks

Crystal Clear Truth - a slow-burn, forced proximity scifi alien romance set in the far future, in an empire full of treachery and secrets

Crystal Clear Truth is supposed to be the final* book in the Antonello Brothers series.

I said that when I wrote book #2 also, so there's that.

This excerpt introduces the hero, Joe Townsend.

In this excerpt, we meet him at the start of his journey in Crystal Clear Truth.
*Subject to character approval 😉

Meet Joe - Crystal Clear Truth

Tarthian Empire, Kyrenie
Fenris City, Taskya District
Birit 53

 

The barren house echoed the void inside. Empty places looked back, demanding a reaction. But Joe Townsend the third had nothing left to give.

From the moment he'd learned of his folks' accidental death, life had screamed past him like a banshee. The never-ending whirlwind of people needing around-the-clock decisions sucked his energy dry. He leaned against the inside of his parents' front door and slid down.

Today, he'd said his formal goodbyes at their memorial. He'd smiled like a wooden soldier at the unending I'm-so-sorrys and the non-stop oh-poor-Joe-how-are-you-doings.

How did they think he was doing?

Life had plunged him into a lightless, inescapable world of sympathetic platitudes.

How could he move forward when everywhere he looked, the past held him fast?

How could he move forward when every step led him further away from the people he'd loved most?

How could he move forward and lever past this pain?

There had to be a better way to handle heartbreak. A saner way.

Joe stood and dusted himself off. He would throw himself into his work. That's what his dad always--

A fresh ache swept over him.

"Whatever you can't change, accept and work through, Son. Focus on what you can do, what you have to do, and don't waste time looking back."

Joe braced an arm across his stomach. Would he ever think of his father's words of wisdom again without this foreboding sensation of loss? This sense that part of himself was missing? Or of his mother and her strength? Her abiding belief in him, encouraging him, guiding the way?

Dragging his feet, Joe staggered through the house, back to the room that had been his when he lived here as a boy, now stripped bare. His parents had put the house on the market and accepted an offer weeks prior to their deaths. They'd put everything in storage, preparing to move. The new owners would arrive tomorrow.

Nothing remained of the place Joe had once called his haven.

There was no home to go to. Starting tomorrow, this place would be someone else's. Not his parents'. Not his. Not anymore.

This sterile room symbolized everything he'd lost.

He couldn't think about this tonight. Couldn't think about work, even work he'd been preparing for his whole life.

Joe had longed for the opportunity to work at his father's side. The pride he'd felt when appointed had rivaled the thrill of collaborating with him. The joy of raw discovery, uncovering new truths while pushing the frontiers of knowledge to the nth degree.

Now, he was taking his father's place instead. Trying to fill shoes he would never be worthy to wear.

Right this moment, success was a meaningless distraction.

Exhausted, he curled up in the middle of the floor, surrounded by nothing but loss. He'd spend one last night in this empty shell of a place he'd once considered home.

Come morning, he'd walk away forever.

Antonello Brothers

Click covers for the buy link. Click text for the website page and excerpts.

#SciFi #Romance


Welcome to Book Hooks!
Book Hooks is a weekly cooperative meme hosted by Marketing for Romance Writers as part of the MFRW Authors Blog.
It's a chance each week for you to discover current works in progress or previously published books by possibly new-to-you authors.
Thank you for stopping by. Please say hello or leave a note in the comments.

You'll find these characters mentioned in multiple books in my story universe. Download a printable book list and check them off as you read.

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~ Copyright ©2025 Kayelle Allen. All rights reserved ~ Kayelle Allen participates in the Amazon Services LLC Associates program, an affiliate advertising program which provides the means for sites to earn fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com. If you purchase an item listed on the site from Amazon.com, Kayelle will earn a small commission. Other sites might be affiliate links as well. These will not result in higher prices for you. Thank you for your support!

My characters may be found in multiple books in my story universe. Pietas images Nik Nitsvetov as Pietas cosplay.


A window on a new world. Sneak peek at Crystal Clear Truth #SciFi #Romance #MFRWhooks

A window on a new world. Sneak peek at Crystal Clear Truth #SciFi #Romance

One of the fun things about writing a series is that you get to use some of the same settings in different books.

The Royal Arms Hotel has played host to characters in two books and the one I'm writing now features it as well.

In each of these scenes, a character is looking out a window toward Tarth City Park, a wide stretch of park that splits the entire city.

At the Mercy of Her Pleasure - NarrAy

Once they reached the Royal District, the car pulled up to the front of the luxurious Royal Arms Hotel. Shaped like a giant arrow being driven into the ground, it displayed Tyran engineering at its finest. Like their suite on the ship, the empire-class suite at the top sported a common living area and four bedrooms with private baths.

NarrAy's corner room had a breathtaking view of vast Tarth City, showcase of the empire. Impossibly tall spires drove through the clouds. Steady shuttle traffic climbed into the sky to the west, near the starport. The wide swath of Tarth City Park divided the metropolis in half all the way to the horizon, and the Cyr de Typhin River meandered through the center, its bright blue water glinting in the sun.

For Women Only - Mehfawni

Mehfawni's hotel room overlooked Tarth City Park, a green strip of manicured garden that cut the city in half as far as the eye could see. The family servants unpacked her belongings while she stood at the window and gawked like a child. Seventy stories below, ground traffic crawled, and trains snaked out of holes and zipped halfway up the sides of buildings into more holes. In the distance, shuttle traffic cluttered the sky. Slender towering structures speared the clouds. Closer in, right on the edge of the park, a massive black building towered over all the others, dominating the view.

Why didn't it fall over? It looked too big, too flat. Mehfawni went to another window, straining to get a better view. The tallest building on Felidae rose six stories. Her family still used horse-drawn carriages, even though all of them owned modern hovers too. She'd marveled at the starport in Ruh Township, a provincial outpost compared to vast Empire Central on Tarth. She'd slept through the jump to Sanity IV and missed the wonders of seeing the vast array of habdrills taking the planet apart.

Crystal Clear Truth - Joe

By the time Joe reached his room, darkness blanketed the world outside. Out on the balcony, he braced his hands on the railing and drew the moist evening air deep into his lungs. It had been ages since he'd experienced Tarth City's cool evenings. Every bit as good as he remembered. If he had to live anywhere other than Kyrenie, he'd pick here. A whisper of wind shivered across his skin, and he rubbed his arms.

His room lay on the one hundred and tenth floor of a building shaped like the letter V. Tyran engineering ensured it stayed upright, even during the worst storms and earthquakes. Nothing ramshackle. Pure genius, especially considering they designed for people with legs, while they, themselves possessed haunches and hooves.

Lights along the outside raced from the topmost floor downward, giving it the appearance of some gigantic arrow, burying itself. Up here, with fog starting, the light created an ambient glow.

Considering the size and population of Tarth City, the fact that he smelled fresh air and not filtered blankness spoke to an outstanding municipal plan. Creating a city that harmonized with nature began with masterful terraforming.

The major drawback of a megalopolis -- lights stretched from horizon to horizon, blotting out the stars, with the single moon making no more than a thin crescent of silver.

A vibrating rumble tickled his chest. Off to the west, a sleepliner descended toward the starport. That it made only this much sound meant powerful buffers held vibrations at bay. No matter how many times he visited this city or where he went within it, the sight of a massive ship landing almost soundlessly never ceased to amaze.

He'd have stayed out here all night, but he had a workshop to teach the next day, so he dragged himself back inside.

Here's the blurb so far for the new book. I plan for this to be the last book in the Antonello Brothers series. We'll see! Sometimes characters have other plans.

Crystal Clear Truth - Antonello Brothers series #5

His entire life, Joe worked for this moment: Terraforming Specialist First Class, assigned to the firestorm planet. Yet tragedy mars the day with the accidental death of both parents. Grief-stricken, he plods through family decisions and moves forward, surviving day by day. While reading his mother's handwritten diary, he discovers a folded flatpic of a teenaged girl and the cryptic words, "our son's mother." He searches for details, determined to know more.

When a friend asks Shohn to help a locate someone, she jumps at the chance. She's researching the firestorm planet for her employer, who seeks access to eyes-only information. Helping Joe might be her opportunity to uncover long-hidden secrets.

A window on a new world. Sneak peek at Crystal Clear Truth #SciFi #Romance

As their unexpected friendship deepens into more, each mystery they solve reveals yet another hidden layer. The truth they seek could immobilize interstellar commerce in the empire. To protect the Empire they both love, they must solve the riddle behind the elusive young woman in the picture, and trust one another.

But how can they trust when the "truth" they've been fed is a lie?

A slow-burn, forced proximity romance set in the far, far future in an empire full of treachery, mystery, and long-hidden secrets...

Antonello Brothers

Click covers for the buy link. Click text for the website page and excerpts.

#SciFi #Romance


JOIN US FOR BOOKHOOKS
Book Hooks is a weekly cooperative meme hosted by Marketing for Romance Writers as part of the MFRW Authors Blog.
It's a chance each week for you the reader to discover current works in progress or previously published books by possibly new-to-you authors.
Thank you for stopping by. Please say hello or leave a note in the comments.

You'll find these characters mentioned in many books in my story universe.
Download a printable book list and check them off as you read.

Download a printable book list or a list of trigger warnings for all books. Claim your immortality by signing up for my newsletter

Immortal Reviews Rock & Rule - Join the Review Team


~ Copyright ©2025 Kayelle Allen. All rights reserved ~ Kayelle Allen participates in the Amazon Services LLC Associates program, an affiliate advertising program which provides the means for sites to earn fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com. If you purchase an item listed on the site from Amazon.com, Kayelle will earn a small commission. Other sites might be affiliate links as well. These will not result in higher prices for you. Thank you for your support!

My characters may be found in multiple books in my story universe. Pietas images Nik Nitsvetov as Pietas cosplay.


He slept on the floor, surrounded by loss… Excerpt from Crystal Clear Truth #SciFi #Romance #MFRWhooks

Crystal Clear Truth

Introducing a new book in the Antonello Brothers series, a slow-burn, forced proximity romance set in the far, far future in an empire full of treachery, mystery, and long-hidden secrets...
His entire life, Joe worked for this moment: Primary Terraforming Scientist assigned to the firestorm planet. Yet tragedy mars the day with the accidental death of both parents. Grief-stricken, he plods through family decisions and moves forward, surviving day by day. While reading his mother's handwritten diary, he discovers a folded flatpic of a teenaged girl and the cryptic words, "our son's mother." He searches for details, determined to know more.

When a friend asks Shohn to help a locate someone, she jumps at the chance. She's researching the firestorm planet for her employer, who seeks access to eyes-only information. Helping Joe might be her opportunity to uncover long-hidden secrets.

As their unexpected friendship deepens into more, each mystery they solve reveals yet another hidden layer. The truth they seek could immobilize interstellar commerce in the empire. To protect the Empire they both love, they must solve the riddle behind this elusive young woman, and trust one another.

But how can they trust when the "truth" they've been fed is a lie?

Crystal Clear Truth - Chapter One

Tarthian Empire, Kyrenie
Fenris City, Taskya District
Birit 40, 4669 Tradestandard

 

From the moment Joe Townsend had learned of his folks' accidental death a week ago, life had screamed past him. A banshee bearing a never-ending whirlwind of around-the-clock decisions. He leaned against the inside of his parents' front door and slid down.

Today, he'd said his formal goodbyes at their memorial. He'd smiled like a wooden soldier at the unending I'm-so-sorrys and the non-stop oh-poor-Joe-how-are-you-doings.

How did they think he was doing?

Life had plunged him into a lightless, inescapable world of sympathetic platitudes.

How could he move forward when everywhere he looked, the past held him fast?

How could he move forward when every step he took led him that much further away from the people he'd loved most?

How could he move forward and somehow lever past this pain?

There had to be a better way to handle heartbreak. A saner way.

Joe stood and dusted himself off. He should throw himself into his work. That's what his dad always...

A fresh ache swept over him as he recalled the man's sage advice.

"Whatever you can't change, accept and work through, Son. Focus on what you can do, what you have to do, and don't waste time looking back."

Joe braced an arm across his stomach. Would he ever think of his father's words of wisdom again without this foreboding sensation of loss? This sense that part of himself was missing? Or of his mother and her strength? Her abiding belief in him, encouraging him, guiding the way?

Dragging his feet, Joe staggered through the house, back to the room that had been his when he lived here as a boy, now stripped bare. His parents had put the house on the market and accepted an offer a week prior to their deaths. The new owners would arrive tomorrow.

Nothing remained of the place Joe had once called his haven.

There was no home to go to. Starting tomorrow, this place would be someone else's. Not his. Not his parents'. Not anymore.

This sterile room symbolized everything he'd lost.

He couldn't think about this tonight. Couldn't think about work, even work he'd prepared for his whole life.

Primary Terraforming Scientist assigned to the firestorm planet. Part of the elite team studying the formation of fiery tornado-like monsters that ripped across the planet Kyrenie, leaving wakes of sand crystalized in an instant. Joe had studied his whole life for the opportunity to follow in his father's footsteps. Carried three doctorates, each chosen with an eye to firestorm science.

The pride he'd felt when appointed had rivaled the thrill of working at his father's side. The joy of raw discovery, uncovering new truths while pushing the frontiers of knowledge to the nth degree.

Right this moment, science felt like a meaningless distraction.

Exhausted, he curled up in the middle of the floor, surrounded by nothing but loss. He'd spend one last night in this empty shell of a place he'd once considered home. Come morning, he'd walk away from his past forever.

Currently, there is no release date for this book other than "early next year." I'm about half-way finished writing it. Want to read chapter two? Nothing to sign up for. Just click and download in a format you prefer.

Read Chapter Two

The first book in this series is permafree and introduces all the major players in my Tarthian Empire. Check out A Stolen Heart, linked below.

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You'll find these characters mentioned in many books in my story universe.
Download a printable book list and check them off as you read.

Download a printable book list or a list of trigger warnings for all books. Claim your immortality by signing up for my newsletter

Immortal Reviews Rock & Rule - Join the Review Team


~ Copyright ©2025 Kayelle Allen. All rights reserved ~ Kayelle Allen participates in the Amazon Services LLC Associates program, an affiliate advertising program which provides the means for sites to earn fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com. If you purchase an item listed on the site from Amazon.com, Kayelle will earn a small commission. Other sites might be affiliate links as well. These will not result in higher prices for you. Thank you for your support!

My characters may be found in multiple books in my story universe. Pietas images Nik Nitsvetov as Pietas cosplay.



JOIN US FOR BOOKHOOKS
Book Hooks is a weekly cooperative meme hosted by Marketing for Romance Writers as part of the MFRW Authors Blog.
It's a chance each week for you the reader to discover current works in progress or previously published books by possibly new-to-you authors.
Thank you for stopping by. Please say hello or leave a note in the comments.