Proposals and Poison, Wedding Planner Mysteries book #3 Rachelle J. Christensen
“Cozy mystery meets romantic comedy in this fabulous, fast-paced story.”
Cami Checketts author of The Resilient One, A Billionaire Bride Pact Romance
Love can be a very dangerous thing.
At least it seems that way to Adri Pyper, the premier wedding planner in Sun Valley, Idaho. When one of her clients dies mysteriously, Adri takes the advice of the local detective and swears she will stay out of the investigation . . . this time. Luke Stetson’s involvement in the case, along with the possibility of a kiss between the two, should be enough incentive to keep Adri out of trouble. But when a dog-themed wedding is almost ruined by a suspect, Adri and her assistant, Lorea, are thrust into private eye mode. When poison enters the picture, even a reluctant sleuth can’t steer clear of danger.
“Packed with danger and romance, intrigue and entertainment, Rachelle Christensen’s Wedding Planner series is romantic suspense that will keep you turning pages late into the night!”
–Maria Hoagland, Author of The ReModel Marriage (Romance Renovations series)
Author Rachelle J. Christensen
Rachelle is a mother of five who writes mystery/suspense, nonfiction, and women’s fiction. She solves the case of the missing shoe on a daily basis. She enjoys raising chickens and laughing with her husband. She graduated cum laude from Utah State University with a degree in psychology and a minor in music.
Rachelle is the award-winning author of ten books, including The Soldier’s Bride (a Kindle Scout Selection), Wrong Number, Diamond Rings Are Deadly Things, What Every 6th Grader Needs to Know, and Christmas Kisses: An Echo Ridge Anthology. Her novella, “Silver Cascade Secrets,” was included in the Rone Award–winning Timeless Romance Anthology, Fall Collection.
Rachelle has a VIP mailing list where all subscribers get access to free books, guides, and other resources. Sign up now to hear what exciting news Rachelle has to share. http://eepurl.com/eFD3o
Series endorsements
“Mystery, suspense, murder and romance all intriguingly tied together in one very fun walk-down-the-aisle cozy mystery!”—Shauna Wheelwright, reviewer
“I love a great mystery that keeps my interest and keeps the pages turning. I loved the Hawaiian setting, that was a character on its own. As the story progressed, I enjoyed where the author went with the mystery, doing a perfect job of planting the right amount of seeds to try to throw me off the trail of who the killer was.”—Mindy Holt, reviewer
Giveaway Details
$25 cash giveaway plus an ebook bundle of the Wedding Planner Mystery Books 1 & 2. (gifted via Amazon)
Ends 3/3/16
Open only to those who can legally enter, receive and use an Amazon.com Gift Code or Paypal Cash. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be chosen by rafflecopter and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Giveaway was organized by Kathy from I Am A Reader and sponsored by the author. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.
Burning Heat Publisher: Five Star Publishing (January 20, 2016) Hardcover: 286 pages ISBN-13: 978-1432831110
.
My Review
Having read the first book, Southern Heat, and really liked the characters, I couldn’t wait to meet them again and see what calamity they fell into this time.
Let me introduce you to the main character, Brack Preston. He’s an Afghanistan War veteran, a man of independent means after inheriting his uncles estate, which includes a little cottage with a million dollar view of the ocean and a ramshackle bar, the Pirate’s Cove. His best and most loyal companion is his dog, Shelby. Next is his friend Mutt, owner of a rundown bar in the bad part of Charleston. You’ll also get to know Brother Thomas, a preacher as big as a grizzly with the heart of a teddy bear, until you get him riled up.
There’s also Darcy Coates, a reporter and friend who helped solve his uncles murder and took a bullet for it. Her and Brack do a two step around their feelings. Maybe this time we’ll see where that goes.
From the gritty digs of poverty to the glitz of affluence, Brack butts heads, stirs up several hornet’s nests, and dodges bullet.
He can’t walk away when a girl takes a bullet for him. Especially when her body disappears. Brother Thomas asks him to dig into it, and along with Mutt, Darcy, and a few old and new friends, you get dragged along, thrown in front of bullets, enter neighborhoods the police won’t even venture into, and race around in some very expensive cars.
What charms me with both of these books is Brack’s affection for his dog, Shelby. When things get dicey, he has one person he trusts to take care of the dog. And he always finds time to spend with him until it’s safe to bring him home again. Friends say Shelby is his chick magnet. I can see that.
There’s more than one plot in this story. Someone is trying to kill Brack. Someone is always trying to do that, it seems. And his bar is being sabotaged.
As you get closer to the end of the book, it all comes together. And I was truly surprised by the actual killer. The character never stood out and the motive was as old as time. Should have thought of that.
Another winner in this series and I can only hope it continues.
5 Stars
~~~~~
Synopsis
As darkness blankets the holy city of Charleston, South Carolina, Brack Pelton, an Afghanistan War veteran, steps out of a rundown bar after a long night. Before he gets to his truck, he finds himself in the middle of a domestic dispute between a man and a woman on the sidewalk. When a little girl joins the couple and gets hit by the man, Brack intervenes and takes him down. But the abuser isn’t finished. He pulls a gun and shoots the woman. Brack saves the little girl, but his world has just been rocked. Again.
The next day, while sitting on a barstool in the Pirate’s Cove on the Isle of Palms, his own bar, Brack scans the local paper. The news headline reads: Burned Body of Unidentified Hispanic Man Found at Construction Site. Nothing about a dead woman in the poor section of town. Brack feels a tap on his shoulder and turns around to see an eight-year-old girl standing behind him. She’s the little girl he rescued the night before, and she wants him to look into her sister’s shooting.
Violence and danger make up Brack’s not-too-distant past. Part of him craves it–needs it. And that part has just been fed. Things are about to heat up again in the lowcountry. May God have mercy on the souls who get in the way.
.
About This Author
David Burnsworth became fascinated with the Deep South at a young age. After a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Tennessee and fifteen years in the corporate world, he made the decision to write a novel. Southern Heat is his first mystery. Having lived in Charleston on Sullivan’s Island for five years, the setting was a foregone conclusion. He and his wife along with their dog call South Carolina home.
Is it a coincidence that a weird storm forced several planes to crash land on the same island? That’s what the survivors begin to question.
And what if the island isn’t deserted? What if there’ a secret facility, guarded by armed troops?
And what of the storm. It’s not normal. Especially when it affects your mind.
During a test, several young pilots are forced to land on a deserted island. Separated and unsure if the others survived, the teams set off to find each other.
Along the way, the separated teams encounter strangers. Some are obviously dangerous and some are questionable.
One team encounters a survivor from another crash. Not one of their group. Need to know information has them following him to find out what happened. Danger lies all around them. This stranger isn’t the only one that survived the crash. Dangerous people are roaming the island. Death lurks around every tangled path. And another storm is looming.
While I liked the young pilots. Enjoyed their dialogue, quirks, and the bit of romance that blooms, it was Rios, the stranger from the other crash, that really grabbed me.
As the groups find each other, you also meet Yale. She knows things. Things Rios and the young pilots will need to survive.
Yale also captured my interest. Her and Rios have a connection. Both are double tough, trained to kill and think on the run. I did get some background on them, but would love to know more. Crossing fingers there will be a sequel.
I did run into a few bumps in the road while reading this. A few places felt awkward and caused me to slow down. But as I got further into it, things smoothed out and I was carried away be the action and mystery.
The ending is a whirlwind. You finally get answers, and come up for air after the horrific storm that wreaks havoc.
The title is perfect for this mystery as there are many secrets to uncover. And the cover is thrilling and shows you some of the story inside.
I feel this would be a fun series and hope there are more books to follow. While it didn’t blow me away, it did keep me turning the pages, curious about what would happen and wanting those answers. I would give it three and a half stars, but I don’t do halves, and I always bump up, so I gave it four.
4 Stars
~~~~~
Synopsis
Special Agent Rios wakes up in an abandoned aeroplane. He finds himself on an unfamiliar island in the Bermuda Triangle, suffering from what appears to be amnesia. He must search for clues about his identity, as well as decipher the secrets of the island itself.
But will the truth be too terrifying to live with? Strangers hell-bent on murder, stranded young pilots, and signs of organized weapons trade. These things only touch the surface. What lurks in the skies above is far more sinister.
There is a strange energy high above the clouds, stewing deep within the Bermuda waters. And it grows restless. A storm is coming. A storm like no other, seeking to invade their minds. With the help of his newly acquainted team of special ops pilots, Rios must find a way to stop the storm before it destroys them…from the inside out.
Author Shona Parrett
Shona Perrett is a first time author, blogger and closet poet. Her novel A Storm of Secrets is due to release November 2015. Shona studied applied writing in her home town of Whangarei, and is now looking to branch out into creative business enterprising.
Passionate about finding beauty in the dirt, she aims to write stories of redemption. Shona believes that narratives exist to teach us how to love one another. That every day, we all communicate through the medium of story, seeking out ways to connect with the world around us.
She believes they are one of the most ancient forms of creative expression and vulnerability, and are therefore a fundamental part of what it means to be human.
You can visit her at www.shonaperrett.com or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/shona.perrett.
Michael Quinn heard the hysterical crying the minute he entered the police station. The young woman creating the commotion was inside Detective Jake Larue’s office. Someone else was trying to soothe her while not becoming hysterical herself.
“This one is right up your alley,” Larue told him as he approached.
“My alley?”
“That young woman is certain she saw a rougarou. She was on a bayou tour in Honey Swamp last night.”
He smiled. No kid grew up in Southern Louisiana without hearing about the rougarou. Every region of the world had their own particular brand of monster. The rougarou belonged to the Cajun region of Southern Louisiana, stretching right into the city.
“Honey Swamp?” he asked. “Doesn’t a problem in that area go to the Pearl River police?”
“Yep,” Larue said. “But she’s here because she believes the rougarou followed her home, showing up in the window of her hotel last night.”
He arched a brow at the ridiculousness of the statement. “I’m assuming there’s more.”
“A dead man in the swamp. Head bashed in, throat ripped.”
Which grabbed his attention.
“I want you to talk to them,” Larue said. “I told them that you’re a rougarou expert and that you’ll get to the bottom of things. They were out on some night ghost tour in the bayou and their boat came upon the dead man. Right now, she’s so hysterical that she’s not making sense. But you rougarouexperts are used to dealing with that.”
He shook his head at Larue’s sarcasm. He was no more a rougarou expert than someone was a ghost expert. Once upon a time, he’d worked with Larue as partners in the NYPD. Before that, Quinn’s life had been anything but normal. He’d actually been a pretty horrible person, not as in deadly or criminal, but as in vain and egotistical. His prowess in sports had led to excess, which eventually led to him being declared legally dead.
Which changed everything.
About BLOOD ON THE BAYOU: A Cafferty & Quinn Novella
From New York Times bestseller Heather Graham…
It’s winter and a chill has settled over New Orleans, binding a stream of blood that leads a tourist to a dead man, face down in the bayou.
The man has been done in by a vicious beating, so violent that his skull has been crashed in.
It’s barely a day before a second victim is found . . . once again so badly thrashed that the water runs red. The city becomes riddled with fear.
An old family friend comes to Danni Cafferty, telling her that he’s terrified, he’s certain that he’s received a message from the Blood Bayou killer–It’s your turn to pay, blood on the bayou.
The two quickly become involved, and–as they all begin to realize that a gruesome local history is being repeated–they find themselves in a fight to save not just a friend, but, perhaps, their very own lives.
About Heather Graham:
New York Times and USA Today best-selling author Heather Graham majored in theater arts at the University of South Florida. After a stint of several years in dinner theater, back-up vocals, and bartending, she stayed home after the birth of her third child and began to write, working on short horror stories and romances. After some trial and error, she sold her first book, WHEN NEXT WE LOVE, in 1982 and since then, she has written over one hundred novels and novellas including category, romantic suspense, historical romance, vampire fiction, time travel, occult, and Christmas holiday fare. She wrote the launch books for the Dell’s Ecstasy Supreme line, Silhouette’s Shadows, and for Harlequin’s mainstream fiction imprint, Mira Books.
Heather was a founding member of the Florida Romance Writers chapter of RWA and, since 1999, has hosted the Romantic Times Vampire Ball, with all revenues going directly to children’s charity.
She is pleased to have been published in approximately twenty languages, and to have been honored with awards from Waldenbooks. B. Dalton, Georgia Romance Writers, Affaire de Coeur, Romantic Times, and more. She has had books selected for the Doubleday Book Club and the Literary Guild, and has been quoted, interviewed, or featured in such publications as The Nation, Redbook, People, and USA Today and appeared on many newscasts including local television and Entertainment Tonight.
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of A Daily Rhythm.
Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page.
•Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
.
My Teaser for this week is from
Descent
by Tim Johnston
Teaser from page 73 of the paper back edition.
She began to rise, and stopped. He’d said something.
What? she said. Sean?
Don’t, he said.
Don’t what?
Don’t go.
You want me to stay?
No.
What do you want me to do?
He said something else, hoarsely, weakly, and she leaned closer. What? she said, nearly as weakly, and held her breath, watching his lips.
~~~~~
Read on if you want to know more.
Synopsis
The Rocky Mountains have cast their spell over the Courtlands, who are taking a family vacation before their daughter leaves for college. But when Caitlin and her younger brother, Sean, go out for an early morning run and only Sean returns, the mountains become as terrifying as they are majestic.
The only rules are to grab a book (any book), turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader and find a sentence or a few (no spoilers) that grabs you and post it.
Then go over to Freda’s Voice and leave your link so we can visit your 56!
My 56 for this week is from
Murder And Other Unnatural Disasters
by Lida Sideris
My 56
In a new place, familiarize yourself with your surroundings before heading inside. And always look up, Dad had said.
Don’t you love that cover?! This is going to be such fun.
Read on if you want to know more.
Synopsis
Watch out Southern California! There’s a new entertainment attorney in town and she’s got game. Only problem is, it’s not the one she should be playing. Corrie Locke belongs behind a desk, not behind a Glock. She should be taking VIP calls, not nosing around a questionable suicide. Instead, she’s hot on the trail of a murderer. Luckily, she’s the daughter of a late, great private eye and she’s inherited his love of sleuthing…and illegal weaponry. It doesn’t help matters that her gene for caution is a recessive one. Corrie finds herself in the center of a murder case, unearthing suspects in shocking places. With a cold-blooded killer on the loose, Corrie will have to up her game, or die trying.
The ideal gift for mystery and wine lovers — An immersion in French countryside, gourmet attitude, and light-hearted mystery.
Two amateur sleuths gumshoe around French wine country, where money, deceit, jealousy, inheritance and greed are all the ingredients needed for crime. Master winemaker Benjamin Cooker and his sidekick Virgile Lanssien solve mysteries in vineyards with a dose of Epicurean enjoyment of fine food and beverage. Each story is a homage to wine and winemakers, as well as a mystery.
In Treachery in Bordeaux, barrels at the prestigious grand cru Moniales Haut-Brion wine estate in Bordeaux have been contaminated. Is it negligence or sabotage?
In Grand Cru Heist, Benjamin Cooker’s world gets turned upside down one night in Paris. He retreats to the region around Tours to recover. He and his assistant Virgile turn PI to solve two murders and a very particular heist.
In Nightmare in Burgundy, a dream wine tasting trip to Burgundy turns into a troubling nightmare when Cooker and his assistant stumble upon a mystery revolving around messages from another era.
This made-for-TV series is “difficult to forget and oddly addictive” (ForeWord Reviews).
About The Authors
Jean-Pierre Alaux and Noël Balen,
wine lover and music lover respectively,
came up with the idea for the Winemaker Detective series
while sharing a meal,
with a bottle of Château Gaudou 1996,
a red wine from Cahors
with smooth tannins and a balanced nose.
ABOUT THE TRANSLATORS
Anne Trager loves France so much she has lived there for 27 years and just can’t seem to leave. What keeps her there is a uniquely French mix of pleasure seeking and creativity. Well, that and the wine. In 2011, she woke up one morning and said, “I just can’t stand it anymore. There are way too many good books being written in France not reaching a broader audience.” That’s when she founded Le French Book to translate some of those books into English. The company’s motto is “If we love it, we translate it,” and Anne loves crime fiction, mysteries and detective novels.
***
Sally Pane studied French at State University of New York Oswego and the Sorbonne before receiving her Masters Degree in French Literature from the University of Colorado where she wrote Camus and the Americas: A Thematic Analysis of Three Works Based on His Journaux de Voyage. Her career includes more than twenty years of translating and teaching French and Italian at Berlitz and at University of Colorado Boulder. She has worked in scientific, legal and literary translation; her literary translations include Operatic Arias; Singers Edition, and Reality and the Untheorizable by Clément Rosset, along with a number of titles in the Winemaker Detective series. She also served as the interpreter for the government cabinet of Rwanda and translated for Dian Fossey’s Digit Fund. In addition to her passion for French, she has studied Italian at Colorado University, in Rome and in Siena. She lives in Boulder, Colorado with her husband.
Visit each blogger on the tour: tweeting about the giveaway everyday
of the Tour will give you 5 extra entries each time!
[just follow the directions on the entry-form]
Special Agent Rios wakes up in an abandoned aeroplane. He finds himself on an unfamiliar island in the Bermuda Triangle, suffering from what appears to be amnesia. He must search for clues about his identity, as well as decipher the secrets of the island itself.
But will the truth be too terrifying to live with? Strangers hell-bent on murder, stranded young pilots, and signs of organized weapons trade. These things only touch the surface. What lurks in the skies above is far more sinister.
There is a strange energy high above the clouds, stewing deep within the Bermuda waters. And it grows restless. A storm is coming. A storm like no other, seeking to invade their minds. With the help of his newly acquainted team of special ops pilots, Rios must find a way to stop the storm before it destroys them…from the inside out.
Enjoy this glimpse inside A Storm Of Secrets
The heat sank in like a deprived leech, eagerly awaiting its feast of blood. If this place was one or the other, it felt a lot like hell. Was he dead? Hard to know. He felt aloof, broken. But he always imagined death as quieter, like that gentle feeling you get before drifting off into a dream. This was more like a nightmare. Not frightening enough to rouse him from slumber, but not peaceful enough to let him rest.
The ticking of a clock sounded, dully at first, then rose in volume. It reminded him of a time gone by, a distant memory of people marching in single file. The sound rose, beckoning him. Ancient, mysterious. Like war drums, summoning him to consciousness.
Was this finally death? No. It couldn’t be. This was too loud a chant for even death. It was filled with passion, violence. No, this was life. But whose? The rhythm pulsed through the chasms of his being until all he could feel was its power, raw and unrelenting.
The climax of the drums rose to a deafening volume, in perfect tempo with the beating of his flurried heart. And then in one final rise it all went quiet. A nice, peaceful sort of quiet. He felt himself breathing in deeply as he opened his eyes to a dreary sky, sunlight peeking through the clouds like pinholes. He was alive. But where was he? And who was he? He remembered his name. Rios.
He glanced down at his side, noticing an open gash through his ripped shirt, blood oozing from the flesh. He was lying on his back. Rios patted at his torso, finding a small flask of whiskey in his jacket pocket. He sat up, pulled the flask out and unscrewed the cap, pouring a little over his wound. Groaning in pain, he drank the last quarter, hoping it would offer some relief. He took off his jacket and then his T-shirt and tied it in a knot around his waist to stop the blood flow.
Rios was in the aisle of a small aeroplane. Some of the chairs were strewn about, ripped from their bolts. Their blue cushions torn apart in places, drooping over the sides of the white and silver framing. Part of the roof had been torn off. The door exit sign to his left was hanging half off its hinges, still flickering, and there was an electrical buzz from the front of the plane.
Rios tried to call out for help, but all he could manage was a mumble. He took a moment, then propped himself up against the chair next to him. Rios scanned the aisles for people, but saw only empty chairs, the middle row stained in what appeared to be thick, sticky blood. Some of the overhead luggage compartments were open, suitcases and smaller bags scattered around the floor of the plane.
Puzzled, Rios peered cautiously out the windows. No one in sight. Only a clearing, followed by palm trees for what looked like miles on either side. He put his black jacket on unbuttoned and clambered down out of the wreckage, into the boggy swamp, a little over knee height. Where was he? Where was he headed before the crash? Frustrated, he pushed against his head, hoping the answers would pop out.
“Think damn it” he muttered to himself. “Where are you?”
Rios looked down, noticing a shiny grey briefcase in the water. Something in the back of his mind recalled it as important.
The water stirred as he picked up the metal case. It reflected clearly for a second as the muddy water parted, just long enough for him to notice that a figure had emerged from the trees behind him. His instincts kicked in.
Rios spun around as quickly as he took his next breath, holding a three inch knife to the man’s throat.
“Who are you!?”
Author Shona Parrett
Shona Perrett is a first time author, blogger and closet poet. Her novel A Storm of Secrets is due to release November 2015. Shona studied applied writing in her home town of Whangarei, and is now looking to branch out into creative business enterprising.
Passionate about finding beauty in the dirt, she aims to write stories of redemption. Shona believes that narratives exist to teach us how to love one another. That every day, we all communicate through the medium of story, seeking out ways to connect with the world around us.
She believes they are one of the most ancient forms of creative expression and vulnerability, and are therefore a fundamental part of what it means to be human.
You can visit her at www.shonaperrett.com or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/shona.perrett.
Kiss Kill Love Him Still
by Jamie Blair & Dawn Rae Miller
Release Date: November 10th 2015
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary
Synopsis:
Jackson Landis kept secrets. It’s how he got girls into bed, the grades he wanted, and a reputation for being the life of the party.
But now he’s dead, and no one knows how or why. Especially not the four girls whose secrets he protected. Secrets so scandalous they could cause each girl to lose something valuable. Secrets so dark, someone may have killed for them.
The four girls – a campus drug dealer, an overweight bookworm, a closeted lesbian, and a spoiled princess have one thing in common – they’re terrified the things Jackson knew may not have died with him. As Reggie, Haddie, Val, and Livie try to piece together her own role in Jackson’s death, each girl realizes Jackson had some not-so-pretty skeletons of his own.
Which makes a girl wonder, who really wanted Jackson Landis dead?
Readers have decided that Livie killed Jason Landis and that’s why we’re sharing an exclusive excerpt today with you!
.
KISS KILL LOVE HIM STILL
Haddie pauses at the door before holding it open for me. “After you.”
Shouting erupts from across the parking lot. Four-letter expletives fill the air. The guy, the one whose car I stole, is walking toward me in handcuffs and a police escort.
They work quickly around here.
“You little bitch,” he snarls as he passes me. “What did you tell them? What?”
I grin and toss my head back, letting a laugh tumble out of me. “Have fun in there,” I say. “It’s a swell place.”
Haddie places her hand on my arm. “Really, Livie. Do you need to take it to that level?”
“What level?” I say, batting my eyelashes. “He tried to make me a felon. Only fair he gets a little of the action himself.”
Haddie bites her lip and leads me over to a Toyota Camry. I would have pegged her more as a VW Bug kind of chick, being round and oh-so-jolly like her, but I guess plain and boring is about the same thing.
A flash of cherry red catches my eye, and I spy the BMW convertible in the impound lot. Too bad it’s locked up. Driving it was a million orgasms worth of fun. I shut my eyes and remember Jax standing up in the passenger seat, his hair blowing in the wind, as I sped down the freeway.
Oh, Jax. Why, why, why did you have to die?
“Where would you like to go?” Haddie says with the most Goddamn sincere voice I’ve ever heard. It’s like she has a zillion girl scouts living in her pudgy body.
“Jax’s. I need to pick up some things.” Like all of my Louis Vuitton bags, my Hermes scarves, and of course, my Chanel everything.
She sits in the driver seat and tilts her head. “And that would be where?”
“39 Cherrywood Drive.”
Haddie slowly backs out of the parking space, and the car crawls toward the exit. “Can’t you make this thing go any faster?”
“Like the BMW you stole?”
How did she know that? “I didn’t steal it. That guy gave it to me in exchange for…favors.”
“So you’re claiming prostitution?” Haddie says with a smirk. “Nicely done.”
“That man knows what he did. He knows I didn’t steal the car.” I force my jaw together to keep any more information from spilling out.
“Really? Then why did they impound it?”
I shrug. “Don’t know.”
“It is interesting that they’d impound your car when you’re claiming prostitution.” We’re at a stoplight, and she turns her head to look at me. “But it must not be too bad if they let you off without bail.”
That surprised me too. Ruiz had mentioned bail, but they let me walk out on my own accord. I keep my mouth sewn shut.
Haddie must notice how hard I’m trying to keep it together because she laughs. “Not everyone is buying the prostitution story, Livie.” She signals and turns the corner. Jesus, can’t she go faster? “I know you stole that car, and I’m pretty sure Regina Walker knows too.”
Cool sweat pricks at the back of my neck. Who was this girl? And how does she know so much about me?
Young adult author of the Kirkus-starred novel Leap Of Faith (Simon & Schuster 2013), and Lost To Me (2014), featured in the New York Times and USA Today bestselling anthology, Dirty Boys of Summer. Represented by Rebecca Friedman of RF Literary.
Dawn is a Twitter and fashion addict whose favorite things in life are her family, gorgeous dresses, tea leaf salad, and French macarons. She splits her time between San Francisco and Northern Virginia, and is always up for a trip to Paris.
Magic or madness? Can your dreams really take over your life?
Falling Awake is the story of a book and the power of imagination to turn two lives upside down.
When Mary Parker finds an unusual book everything in her life changes. As she reads, she dreams, and the quiet, repressed woman is transformed.
She gives the book and the phenomenon a name, ‘falling awake’. The existence of the book seems to make others act out of character too. Joe’s usually dour father gambles with the factory where Mary works, and Joe, the romantic daydreamer, engages in a sexual eternal triangle to keep the dull routine of the accounts department at bay. The dominant partner in the triangle is Clem; dark and dangerous.
Extricating himself from Clem, Joe meets Mary. They fall in love and marry in haste when Mary falls pregnant, but this is no happy ever after tale. Their joy turns to misery when Mary miscarries and she turns inward to her darkening ‘falling awake’ world. Then Joe’s father dies, and he has to fight for control of the factory. He falls into Clem’s clutches again, and to make things worse, he believes Mary is going mad, and the people and places she remembers all just dreams dreamt inside her insanity. But then how can Joe remember them too?
Magic or madness?For Mary and Joe, the impossible – or the deadly – might only be a breath away.
Falling Awake is a brain teaser, an atmospheric mystery, an exposition of madness; an examination of the impossible, a fantasy, a ghost story, a psychological thriller, a love story, and a story of intrigue and sudden death. It will keep you awake at night, wondering, and pausing during the day, questioning …
One editor has already described it as:
“In the best traditions of Audrey Niffenegger and Carlos Ruiz Zafón…”
And others comment:
“…one of the most original, quirky manuscripts I’ve read for a long time…”
“…I especially like the fairy-tale and myth undertones that creep in from time to time throughout the novel: Sleeping Beauty clutching her book with echoes of Snow White in her glass coffin, the transformative red mac with its Red Riding Hood connotations, Mary’s Cinderella transformation from emotionally abused child to confident woman, the mermaid dress, Mariam’s Scheherazade dance, and especially the gambler as Rumpelstiltskin…”
“…a light, authoritative touch with both …story and characters.”
Debrah Martin is a British author writing under three different pen names and in three very different genres. She plots fast-paced thrillers as D.B. Martin, with the first in the Patchwork trilogy, Patchwork Man, having been recently awarded a coveted B.R.A.G. Medallion. Her YA teen detective series is penned as Lily Stuart – THE teen detective; irreverent, blunt, funny and vulnerable. Webs and Magpies are the first two books in the series. And as Debrah Martin she writes literary fiction. Her first literary fiction, Chained Melodies, a startling transgender story to rival The Danish Girl, and described pre-release as “…a beautiful book about love, acceptance and self-discovery…” was also released earlier this month.
~~~~~
Net Galley reviewers can access an ARC of Falling Awake there from 27th October, and all reviewers can obtain a copy and more information about Debrah’s other works by contacting her at the email address below.
~~~~~~~~~
For the first thirty reviewers to post a review of Falling Awake on Amazon, if you email Debrah with a link to the review, she’ll send you a bumper bundle (digital) of her other adult fiction books, including the award-winning Patchwork People series. Reviewers are also invited to contact Debrah for review copies of any of her books.
But apparently she could. It was the unusual challenge to the premise that had brought him here against the inclination to evade responsibility and slip home to his own dreams. She’d slept continuously for days now, without the need for water or sustenance; her only requirement, seemingly, a book. He peered curiously through the viewing panel as the attendant hovered behind him.
‘That’s her,’ the attendant announced as if pulling a rabbit from a hat. ‘Mary Parker.’
‘She’s very pretty,’ the tall young man declared, deep blue eyes narrowing to slits as he studied her. The woman’s long red hair cascaded over the side of the bed like blood streaming to the floor, her face a marble effigy of life. She reminded him of Millais’ Ophelia as she floated downstream on her layette of wild flowers – except this frozen beauty was merely asleep, not dead. He wondered what she was dreaming about. She seemed very familiar in a strange half-forgotten way.
‘Yeah, she is – and quiet now, but she weren’t once. Blimey – you should have seen her then, screaming and hollering. Wasn’t until we found that old book and gave it back to her that she shut up.’ The attendant picked at his nails and watched the tall young man lean in closer still. The corner of a book poked out from under the tightly clasped hands. ‘Then she just slept,’ the attendant added, shrugging his shoulders.
‘What’s its significance?’ the young man asked. He could just make out a title scrawled longhand across its spine. He wondered if the woman had written it on herself. He could only decipher the first word – ‘Falling’.
‘Not a clue, Mister; it’s just an empty book.’ The attendant shifted impatiently, as if tired of waiting, then asked, ‘How’d you know her again?’ He flipped the visitors’ page back to read the tall young man’s entry.
22nd Sept ’92: Time in – 5.45pm. John Hathorne, Director: Geo. Tooley & Sons.
‘I don’t really. She worked at the factory, that’s all. We have to be seen as caring employers so I’m here to check on her before we sign her off the books.’ He paused. Now he came to think of it he might have met her once. There had been a girl with bright red hair like hers the day he’d been shown round the factory. He’d been surprised by her scarlet mac because of the colour clash. He dragged himself from his reverie.
‘You said she had no family?’
‘Nope, apparently the mother died a while back and the neighbours say she’s been a bit odd ever since. Before they brought her in here she was wandering the graveyard down the road babbling about how she couldn’t find herself any more. Shame – when you got no-one.’
‘How do you think she can do it?’
‘What?’
‘Not eat or drink for so long – just sleep.’
‘Beats me. Maybe she’s not really there and we’re just imagining her.’ The young man stared at him. The attendant laughed. ‘Only joking. You done then?’ The attendant looked expectantly at him, and the young man found himself involuntarily offering his business card before collecting his briefcase and coat.
‘I suppose I could see if I can do something to help her if she comes back to the land of the living.’
The attendant turned the card over and read aloud, ‘Bespoke leisure wear and stage costumiers; themed event supplies a speciality.’ He studied the tall young man. ‘Versions of reality, huh? You’ll be getting a lot of custom soon, then.’ He sniggered. Outside the midweek rush hour traffic distantly hooted on its way home. The light had dimmed to the half-dusk of early autumn, but fallen leaves and skeletal trees said winter was already in the air.
The tall young man had spotted the now redundant leather straps on the side of the bed when he’d been trying to decipher the title of the book. The reddening round her wrists indicated where no doubt they’d been clasped until recently. ‘Halloween does tend to be a busy time,’ he agreed, suddenly uneasy. The place was oppressive and the sight of the comatose and confined woman depressed him. ‘Such a waste. Will she ever recover, do you think?’
‘Don’t know, mister. Not sure if she’s actually ill. Probably just the stresses of life – grief and disappointment. They do strange things to us, don’t they? Perhaps if she had someone to look after her, she’d get well again, but then who knows when anyone recovers from life.’ He laughed mirthlessly. ‘Maybe it’s better to just dream?’ The tall young man considered the idea for a while.
‘No, reality is always better, no matter how hard.’
He went back to the viewing window and studied the young woman for a few minutes more before gathering up the Essex County Gazette he’d brought with him and stuffing it under the arm carrying the briefcase. The pages creased and he made to flatten them, but stopped abruptly and tossed the paper back on the table the attendant had been sitting at when he’d arrived. He peered at his hand as if there was something wrong with it before shaking his head. The attendant cleared his throat meaningfully and opened the unit’s outer door.
‘I hope her dreams are sweet,’ the young man added sadly as the attendant ushered him out. The attendant flicked the light off and the room behind them sank back into shadow.
Neither saw the frozen figure thaw, stir, and open her eyes – deep green pools of luminescence. They fixed on the door and she listened intently to the low rumble of the tall young man’s voice as he made his goodbyes. The marble features creased to a frown and the slack body tensed. The book still clutched in her hand shivered.
‘No!’ she murmured. ‘No, no, no!’
——————————
Two (2) print copies of Falling Awake by Debrah Martin (INT)
Ends November 19th
Prizing is provided by the author, hosts are not responsible.
Author Rachelle J. Christensen
is his first mystery. Having lived in Charleston on Sullivan’s Island for five years, the setting was a foregone conclusion. He and his wife along with their dog call South Carolina home.
About Heather Graham:
