Madison's Life Lessons

• Title Page
  
• Life Lesson One
  
• Life Lesson Two
  
• Life Lesson Three
  
• Life Lesson Four
  
• Life Lesson Five
  
• Life Lesson Six
  
• Life Lesson Seven
  
• Life Lesson Eight
  
• Life Lesson Nine
  
• Life Lesson Ten
  
• Life Lesson Eleven
  
• Life Lesson Twelve
  
• Life Lesson Thirteen
  
• Life Lesson Fourteen
  
• Life Lesson Fifteen
  
• Life Lesson Sixteen
  
• Life Lesson Seventeen
  
• Life Lesson Eighteen
  
• Life Lesson Nineteen
  
• Life Lesson Twenty
  
• Life Lesson Twenty-One
  
• Life Lesson Twenty-Two
  
• Life Lesson Twenty-Three
  
• Life Lesson Twenty-Four
  
• Life Lesson Twenty-Five
  
• Life Lesson Twenty-Six
  
• Life Lesson Twenty-Seven
  
• Life Lesson Twenty-Eight
  
• Life Lesson Twenty-Nine
  
• Life Lesson Thirty
  
• Life Lesson Thirty-One
  
• Life Lesson Thirty-Two
  
• Life Lesson Thirty-Three
  
• Life Lesson Thirty-Four
  
• Life Lesson Thirty-Five
  
• About the Author
  

The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement (including infringement without monetary gain) is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.

Please purchase only authorized electronic editions and do not participate in, or encourage, the electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

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

Madison’s Life Lessons

Copyright © 2010 by Gracen Miller

Cover art by Gracen Miller

All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work, in whole or in part, in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.

Published by Gracen Miller

Look for me online at

www.gracenmiller.com

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Table of Contents

~ Reviews ~

“The most unique read of the year. With exceptional detail and perfect execution, Gracen Miller sets the stage for a terrifying, yet sexy ride on The Road to Hell.”
~
Shelley (Bella) Bunnell

“I absolutely loved the life lessons! If I hadn’t read them before I read Pandora’s Box I know I would have a whole different take on the characters. I wouldn’t love them the way I love them now and that would be so sad. Gracen did an excellent job with these. They help prepare you so that you are ready for the SHOCKER in Pandora’s Box. Without the life lessons you can’t really understand the relationship that Madison and Micah have. The book would still be AMAZING but it would be lacking a lot of spark without the Life Lessons. I give the Life Lessons 4 of 5 stars.” ~
Christina Irelan (Intoxicated by Books)

“
Gracen is a first class writer with a natural ability to bring her characters to life.” ~
Leticha Brewster

“The perfect blend of romance and horror that will knock your socks off and leave you begging for more!” ~
Kristina (Kristina's Books & More)

“Madison’s Life Lessons is a jaw-dropping, heart-stopping, gut-wrenching journey that leaves you drooling for more. The early experiences of Madison’s life, creates a spark in the reader that will solidify a connection with her that will carry on throughout the series. A fantastic, can’t put the book down, real page turner type of read that I highly recommend!” ~
Kathryn Grimes

“Gracen does excitement, love, complication, emotion, and mystery perfectly and I really enjoyed the whole story. We get such a cliffhanger at the end that you will say OMG and want to run, buy and read the next novel from this series immediately. I loved this book, as this is a perfect, gripping prequel for Pandora’s Box. I highly recommend you read it before reading Pandora’s Box, as many things will be made clearer and you will see some characters in a totally different way.” ~
Krisztina Ferenc

“Madison’s Life Lessons started like an ordinary love story. But this book isn't just that simple. This is a story filled with intrigue, misery, romance and most of all mystery. A naive, teenage girl's journey which led her to a world that no one would want to experience. Madison's Life Lessons is an outstanding novel. And this is just the beginning.” ~
Andrea Kozári

“Madison’s life lessons are the addicting prequel to Gracen Miller’s novel Pandora’s Box. Gracen weaves the perfect mix of romance and horror that will knock your socks off. Each lesson will leave you with a strong urge to frantically turn the page in order to find out what happens next. I strongly suggest that you pick up a copy of Pandora’s Box after you finish the Life Lessons!” ~ Kristina Haecker (Kristina’s Books and More
)

“
READ Pandora's Box by Gracen Miller TODAY to learn what happens when a little girl plays with fire and gets burnt by the fires of Hell!” ~
Mindy Janicke

“Only one word can summarize
Madison’s Life Lessons
: AMAZING! Once again, Gracen Miller has woven a spectacular tale that leaves you dying for more. She does an excellent job of making us feel Madison’s emotions right along with her.
I read
Madison’s Life Lessons
before I read
Pandora’s Box
, which is book one of
The Road to Hell Series
. I’m glad that I did. Reading the Life Lessons really helped me to understand Madison’s actions and reactions in
Pandora’s Box
. So, buckle your proverbial seat belts and get ready for the wild ride that is Madison’s Life! I guarantee you won’t be able to put it down.” ~
Brea Essex, Author of Foreshadow and owner of Clu’s All Night Preview

~
Dedication
~

To my Hellhounds because, not only do I have the best out there, but each of you make the journey on the Road to Hell so much fun!!

A special thanks to the Hellhounds who helped edit this book: Nicole Hicks, Mindy Janicke, Andrea Kozari, Krisztina Ferenc, Joella Elbert, Tawnya Peltonen, Kathyrn Grimes and Brea Essex. You ladies rock and I love each of you!

“You’re morally damned, Madison Grace Wescott!” Bruce Wescott screamed the outraged whisper into his daughter’s face. “It shames me to recognize you as my daughter.”

Madison shrunk further into the corner of the church bench, wishing she could shrink out of sight. Maybe if she were out of Daddy’s sight, she’d be out of his mind too, she thought as she blinked back the stinging tears. A hurried peek around the church sanctuary confirmed no one else witnessed her setback.

Unsure what she’d done to receive his censure this time, she offered a weak, “Yes, sir, I’m sorry, Daddy.”

Not that an apology ever appeased him.

“It’s not me you should be apologizing too, young lady, but the Lord,” he snapped drawing to his five-foot six stature. “If you don’t repent and alter your ways, God’ll see you burn in Hell.”

“Yes, sir, I understand.” She hoped she sounded meek enough to suit his temper or she’d find herself on her knees after church service praying for her soul. Depending upon his mood, she could pray for hours without a restroom break or a knee break. And boy, oh, boy, could her knees suffer brutal agony in that position.

It would be great if she knew what to repent so she could avoid the burn of Hell. She didn’t want to burn any more than he wanted her to burn. A typical complaint centered on her appearance. Her hair was too blonde, her eyes too blue, her boobs too big and her figure too lush for her too-tall frame. At fifteen she was already three and a half inches taller than him. All these complaints apparently forced men to sin against God by lusting after her. Not that she encouraged men to lust after her, mind you, but on the off chance that they did, it was still
her fault
in Daddy’s eyes.

“Brother Wescott,” Becca Slayter said with her hand extended to her father, cheap red lipstick smeared outside the lip-line of her saggy mouth. The over-abundance of lipstick did not give her the appearance of fuller lips. Reminded of another one of her father’s complaints—her lips were too full and sensual—Madison pinched her lips together. “I wanted to extol how much your sermon last Sunday enriched my life this week. Why I was telling Cynthia Jones…”

Madison stopped listening to Becca Slayter’s conversation with her dad because she didn’t much like ‘Sister’ Becca or her high-pitched annoying voice. And she was old, like thirty or thirty-five, and all Sister Becca ever did was brag about some new object she’d received.

She peeked around the sanctuary and took special care not to openly snag the gaze of
any
man. Opening her worn leather-bound Holy Bible to the Gospel of Luke, she began to read and mentally pray God would forgive her for whatever sin she’d committed. If she were lucky, by the time Daddy finished his morning sermon he would forget all about her morally damned soul. She sure didn’t want to spend the afternoon praying on her knees.

Daddy didn’t forget. She should’ve known he wouldn’t.

Madison set her Holy Bible beside her on the backseat and snapped her belt buckle into place. Daddy and Momma slid into the front, but Daddy didn’t start the ignition. Instead, he swiveled to face her, one arm flattened along the bench seat of the Cadillac. His pose implied a casual undertone, but his eyes crinkled at the corners and his mouth pinched in a white line of displeasure. Maybe anger. Either way, she was about to find. She clamped her teeth together and waited for his explosion.

“Even after I singled out your despicable behavior, you still failed to modify it.”