Blog Tour: Review & Excerpt of Love Under Protection by Aubree Valentine

Title: Love Under Protection

Author: Aubree Valentine

Release Date: 3/23/20

Series: 425 Madison Ave, #16

Genres: Contemporary Romance

Harley

My best friend asked me to be his best man at his destination wedding.

With a demanding and stressful job with NYPD life for me was all work and no play, but a week-long trip to Hawaii to celebrate Jameson's nuptials sounds like the perfect excuse to get away.

Leaving work behind wasn't as easy as I thought it would be, though.

That was until she walked up to me at the bar.

After a night of unbridled passion, I discover...she’s the maid of honor in Jameson’s wedding.

Raylynn

My best friend asked me to be her maid of honor at her destination wedding.

After finding my now ex-fiance in a compromising position, escaping to Hawaii is the perfect excuse to find myself again.

With nothing to lose, I approach the hottest guy in that bar and take a chance on getting my own groove back.

There's just one hiccup...he's actually the best man in Liv's wedding.

It was only supposed to be a fling, but when returning home leads to chaos and one relocation to New York, can these two love birds go from fling to forever? Time will tell.

Afterall...425 Madison is the perfect place to fall in love.

My thoughts:
Love Under Protection is the 15th book in the 425 Madison Avenue series. This is also the follow-up to Love Under Construction (book 6).  While not my favorite of the series, I did enjoy this one.  I liked it a lot more than the other Love Under Construction, mainly because I liked the characters more.  I thought Raylynn and Harley were a good couple. I enjoyed the second half of the story more than the first half when they were in Hawaii.  It showed them more in a realistic setting and allowed them to become friends before lovers again.  The main thing the story suffered from was length.  I would have liked it to be longer because there were some parts that would have benefited from being more fleshed out.  Despite that, I would recommend this one. 

Excerpt 

Copyright @ Aubree Valentine 2020

Raylynn gives me a once over then bursts into laughter. 

I look down to see what’s so funny and nearly lose it. 

Son of a bitch. 

There’s a huge white spot on the crotch of my shorts. It doesn’t help that I’m hard as a rock too, because of what she’s wearing. 

“I didn’t mean to interrupt. You could have said you were busy.”

“Funny. Get the hell in here so I can get these off,” I grunt. 

She steps inside my apartment and looks around. “Nice place.”

“Thanks. I’ll be right back.” I dart toward the bedroom. “It’s paint by the way,” I call over my shoulder before shutting the door. 

Last goddamn time I go paintballing with Jameson and Liam too. 

“That’s what they all say,” she yells back.

When I come out, I’m dressed in a nice pair of jeans and a polo shirt. Raylynn gives me a whistle and motions for me to spin around. 

“Forget it. You’re not objectifying me.” I grin. “And that paint. Ask Jameson what happened.” 

She holds up her hands and snickers. “I’ll pass, but thanks.”

“You good to walk in those?” I point to her shoes. “We’ll need to take the subway.”

“These old things?” Raylynn lifts a foot. “I could run laps in these.”

“We’re not running laps, but I’ll take your word for it.” 

She reaches for my shoulders and starts massaging the muscles. “Aww, you’re tense. Are you in a mood?” 

I’m tense because she’s standing in my apartment looking like a whole damn snack, and I know nothing is going to happen besides a few drinks.

“Sweetheart, the only mood I’m in is the mood to get out of this apartment for a while,” I lie. 

“Well then , let’s get the fuck out of here!” she cheers. “Ooo. Wait a minute. Harley Wagner , are you wearing a gun or are you happy to see me?”

“Christ, I’m tense, and you’re in a really good mood.”

“Seriously, are you wearing your gun?” I sigh and slip my keys into my front pocket. “Yes, Raylynn. I’m packing heat.”

“Well, that I knew.”

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About Aubree

Aubree Valentine is a wife, mom and avid reader. Her love of books goes far behind weaving her own stories to tell. She realized her dream of becoming a published author by the time she was in high school and knew she'd stop at nothing to make that happen.

When she's not writing, she can be found chasing after her twins or her dogs, curled up with a good book or still working with some of her favorite authors.

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Spotlight: Excerpt of A Simple Wedding by Leigh Duncan

Today we have the blog tour for A SIMPLE WEDDING by Leigh Duncan! Check it out and be sure to grab your copy today!

Title: A Simple Wedding

Author: Leigh Duncan

Genre: Sweet Romance

About A Simple Wedding:

Fall in love with Heart’s Landing, a romantic wedding destination, in the first book of a Hallmark series. Jenny always dreamed of getting married at Heart’s Landing. But when she finally visits the charming small town, she’s there to make wedding arrangements for someone else: her cousin, who also happens to be her boss and a famous movie star. Her cousin wants a simple wedding, not a media circus. To keep the event top-secret, she’s talked her assistant Jenny into pretending she’s the one getting married. Nick, a baker and lifelong resident of Heart’s Landing, is intrigued by this bride-to-be who starts visiting his bakery for sweet treats and conversation. It seems strange that her fiancé isn’t at least little involved with the wedding plans. As Jenny tries to keep up with her fickle cousin’s ever-changing demands—which exasperate the florist, the caterer, and several other vendors—she tries to hide her attraction to Nick. Meanwhile, the people in town talk Nick into trying to distract Jenny with a sightseeing tour in order to keep her from changing her mind again. The more time Nick spends with Jenny, the harder it becomes to remind himself that she’s already spoken for. Planning this wedding couldn’t be more complicated…and what will happen once the truth comes to light?

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Enjoy this excerpt:

“I know just the place!” Kay’s mouth twisted into a sly smile. “Actually, it was your idea.” 

“Oh?” Confused, Jenny pursed her lips. She and Kay hadn’t discussed weddings in years, probably not since they’d played dress-up in grade school. Back then, her cousin had insisted she’d only get married on the white sandy beach of some faraway tropical isle. Jenny, though, had dreamed of walking down the aisle in the one town that consistently received a five-star ranking from Weddings Today. She glanced at Karolyn. Surely, her cousin hadn’t chosen that spot for her own wedding.

Apparently, she had. 

“We’ve decided on a Heart’s Landing wedding. It’s the perfect place because everyone will expect us to choose an exotic destination. Even better, I called this morning and spoke with the event coordinator. She’s had a cancellation. A bride and groom who’d rented out the entire Captain’s Cottage for their wedding had a change of plans. I was able to snag the reservation for the last week in June. Isn’t that fabulous?”

 The tiniest spark of frustration burned in Jenny’s stomach. She quickly squelched it. What did it matter if Karolyn had stolen her choice of wedding venues? It wasn’t like she planned to get married next week, or next year. She didn’t have anyone special in her life, a situation she didn’t see changing anytime in the foreseeable future.

 Not that she minded. Even though her hours were long and her schedule as capricious and hectic as a hummingbird in flight, she enjoyed her job as an assistant to one of Hollywood’s leading ladies. But it was definitely not the kind of job that allowed for much of a personal life. She could hardly remember when she’d last been out on a date, much less had gotten involved in something serious. So no, she refused to be mad at her cousin for jumping at the chance to get married at one of the top ten wedding destinations in America.

 Besides, she knew just about everything there was to know about Heart’s Landing. Thumbing through the latest issue of Weddings Today would fill in any gaps. Given that Karolyn and Chad had decided to keep things small and intimate, she really didn’t know what she was worried about. Why, she’d probably have this wedding wrapped up within a week, two at the outside. She rubbed her fingers together. “When do we get started?”

 “Well, that’s the thing.” Karolyn heaved a sigh worthy of the stage. “We don’t. Between my shooting schedule and the rest of my commitments”—maintaining her position in the top echelon of Hollywood’s leading actress required daily workouts and weekly pampering at an exclusive spa, not to mention the nights Karolyn spent hobnobbing among the industry’s movers and shakers—“I won’t have time to even think about it. I need you to handle everything. But not here. You know how good the paparazzi are at sniffing out details. To throw them off track, you’ll need to go there and pretend you’re arranging your own wedding.”

 “But…” Jenny sputtered. Fly to Rhode Island and plan a wedding that wasn’t hers? She could think of a million ways that could go wrong in a wedding that was growing more complicated by the minute.

About the Author:

Leigh Duncan, an Amazon bestselling author and a National Readers’ Choice Award winner, has written over two dozen novels, novellas and short stories, including A Simple Wedding, A Country Wedding, and Journey Back to Christmas for Hallmark Publishing, the Glades County Cowboys series for Harlequin, and her own Orange Blossom series. Leigh lives on Central Florida's East Coast where she writes complex, heartwarming, and emotional stories with a dash of Southern sass.

Connect with Leigh:

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Blog Tour: Review & Excerpt of The Sea Glass Cottage by RaeAnne Thayne

Author: RaeAnne Thayne 

ISBN: 9781335045164

Publication Date: 3/17/2020

Publisher: HQN Books

The life Olivia Harper always dreamed of isn’t so dreamy these days. The 16-hour work days are unfulfilling and so are things with her on-again, off-again boyfriend. But when she hears that her estranged mother, Juliet, has been seriously injured in a car accident, Liv has no choice but to pack up her life and head home to beautiful Cape Sanctuary on the Northern California coast.

It’s just for a few months—that’s what Liv keeps telling herself. But the closer she gets to Cape Sanctuary, the painful memories start flooding back: Natalie, her vibrant, passionate older sister who downward-spiraled into addiction. The fights with her mother who enabled her sister at every turn. The overdose that took Natalie, leaving her now-teenaged daughter, Caitlin, an orphan.

As Liv tries to balance her own needs with those of her injured mother and an obstinate, resentful fifteen-year-old, it becomes clear that all three Harper women have been keeping heartbreaking secrets from one another. And as those secrets are revealed, Liv, Juliet, and Caitlin will see that it’s never too late—or too early—to heal family wounds and find forgiveness.

The Sea Glass Cottage ended up being a pleasant surprise. I ended up really enjoying the story of a broken family with secrets. Olivia heads back to her hometown to help care for her mother who broke her hip after falling off a ladder. She is met with a cold shoulder from her niece, a business she knows nothing about and a potential romance.

The story is told through several points of view. At times, I felt like this made things a .little repetitive. I mean how many times did I have to be reminded the Melody's soon to be ex-husband was a douchebag cheater who deserves to die a slow horrible death? Having said that, along with Olivia's story, we also get her mother Juliet's storyline as well as her niece, Caitlin's search for her birth father. Of the three, I enjoyed Juliet's the most. Her friendship/ love story with Henry was so sweet. I was cheering them on the entire book! I'm not sure if this is a stand alone or will be a part of a series. I would love to peek into the future and see what happens to an adult Caitlin and Jake! I do recommend this sweet and healing story about how love and honesty can help to heal family wounds.

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 Enjoy this excerpt:

1

Olivia

Olivia shoved her hands into her pockets against the damp Seattle afternoon. Nothing would take the chill from her bones, though. She knew that. Even five days of sick leave, huddling in her bed and mindlessly bingeing on cooking shows hadn’t done anything but make her crave cake.

She couldn’t hide away in her apartment forever. Eventually she was going to have to reenter life and go back to work, which was why she stood outside this coffee shop in a typical spring drizzle with her heart pounding and her stomach in knots.

This was stupid. The odds of anything like that happening to her again were ridiculously small. She couldn’t let one man battling mental illness and drug abuse control the rest of her life.

She could do this.

She reached out to pull the door open, but before she could make contact with the metal handle, her cell phone chimed from her pocket.

She knew instantly from the ringtone it was her best friend from high school, who still lived in Cape Sanctuary with her three children.

Talking to Melody was more important than testing her resolve by going into the Kozy Kitchen right now, she told herself. She answered the call, already heading back across the street to her own apartment.

“Mel,” she answered, her voice slightly breathless from the adrenaline still pumping through her and from the stairs she was racing up two at a time. “I’m so glad you called.”

Glad didn’t come close to covering the extent of her relief. She really hadn’t wanted to go into that coffee shop. Not yet. Why should she make herself? She had coffee at home and could have groceries delivered when she needed them. 

“You know why I’m calling, then?” Melody asked, a strange note in her voice.

“I know it’s amazing to hear from you. You’ve been on my mind.”

She was not only a coward but a lousy friend. She hadn’t checked in with Melody in a few weeks, despite knowing her friend was going through a life upheaval far worse than witnessing an attack on someone else.

As she unlocked her apartment, the cutest rescue dog in the world, a tiny, fluffy cross between a Chihuahua and a miniature poodle, gyrated with joy at the sight of her.

Yet another reason she didn’t have to leave. If she needed love and attention, she only had to call her dog and Otis would come running.

She scooped him up and let him lick her face, already feeling some of her anxiety calm.

“I was thinking how great it would be if you and the boys could come up and stay with me for a few days when school gets out for the summer,” she said now to Melody. “We could take the boys to the Space Needle, maybe hop the ferry up to the San Juans and go whale watching. They would love it. What do you think?”

The words seemed to be spilling out of her, too fast. She was babbling, a weird combination of relief that she hadn’t had to face that coffee shop and guilt that she had been wrapped up so tightly with her own life that she hadn’t reached out to a friend in need.

“My apartment isn’t very big,” she went on without waiting for an answer. “But I have an extra bedroom and can pick up some air beds for the boys. They’ve got some really comfortable ones these days. I’ve got a friend who says she stayed on one at her sister’s house in Tacoma and slept better than she does on her regular mattress. I’ve still got my car, though I hardly drive it in the city, and the boys would love to meet Otis. Maybe we could even drive to Olympic National Park, if you wanted.”

“Liv. Stop.” Melody cut her off. “Though that all sounds amazing and I’m sure the boys would love it, we can talk about that later. You have no idea why I called, do you?”

“I… Why did you call?”

Melody was silent for a few seconds. “I’m afraid there’s been an accident,” she finally said.

The breath ran out of Olivia like somebody had popped one of those air mattresses with a bread knife.

“Oh no. Is it one of your boys?” Oh please, she prayed. Don’t let it be one of the boys.

Melody had been through enough over the past three months, since her jerkhole husband ran off with one of his high school students.

“No, honey. It’s not my family. It’s yours.”

Her words seemed to come from far away and it took a long time for them to pierce through.

No. Impossible.

Fear rushed back in, swamping her like a fast-moving tide. She sank blindly onto the sofa.

“Is it Caitlin?”

“It’s not your niece. Stop throwing out guesses and just let me tell you. It’s your mom. Before you freak out, let me just say, first of all, she’s okay, from what I understand. I don’t have all the details but I do know she’s in the hospital, but she’s okay. It could have been much worse.”

Her mom. Olivia tried to picture Juliet lying in a hospital bed and couldn’t quite do it. Juliet Harper didn’t have time to be in a hospital bed. She was always hurrying somewhere, either next door to Sea Glass Cottage to the garden center the Harper family had run in Cape Sanctuary for generations or down the hill to town to help a friend or to one of Caitlin’s school events.

“What happened?” 

“She had a bad fall and suffered a concussion and I think some broken bones.”

Olivia’s stomach twisted. A concussion. Broken bones. Oh man. “Fell where? Off one of the cliffs near the garden center?”

“I’m sorry. I don’t know all the details yet. This just happened this morning and it’s still early for the gossip to make all the rounds around town. I assumed you already knew. That Caitlin or someone would have called you. I was only checking in to see how I can help.”

This morning. She glanced at her watch. Her mother had been in an accident hours earlier and Olivia was just finding out about it now, in late afternoon.

Someone should have told her—if not Juliet herself, then, as Melody said, at least Caitlin.

Given their recent history, it wasn’t particularly surprising that her niece, raised by Olivia’s mother since she was a baby, hadn’t bothered to call. Olivia wasn’t Caitlin’s favorite person right now. These days, during Olivia’s regular video chats with her mother, Caitlin never popped in to say hi anymore. At fifteen, Caitlin was abrasive and moody and didn’t seem to like Olivia much, for reasons she didn’t quite understand.

“I’m sure someone tried to reach me but my phone has been having trouble,” she lied. Her phone never had trouble. She made sure it was always in working order, since so much of her freelance business depended on her clients being able to reach her and on her being able to Tweet or post something on the fly.

“I’m glad I checked in, then.”

“Same here. Thank you.”

Several bones broken and a long recovery. Oh dear. That would be tough on Juliet, especially this time of year when the garden center always saw peak business.

“Thank you for telling me. Is she in the hospital there in Cape Sanctuary or was she taken to one of the bigger cities?”

“I’m not sure. I can call around for you, if you want.”

“I’ll find out. You have enough to worry about.”

“Keep me posted. I’m worried about her. She’s a pretty great lady, that mom of yours.”

Olivia shifted, uncomfortable as she always was when others spoke about her mother to her. Everyone loved her, with good reason. Juliet was warm, gracious, kind to just about everyone in their beachside community of Cape Sanctuary.

Which made Olivia’s own awkward, tangled relationship with her mother even harder to comprehend.

“Will you be able to come home for a few days?”

Home. How could she go home when she couldn’t even walk into the coffee shop across the street?

“I don’t know. I’ll have to see what’s going on there.”

How could she possibly travel all the way to Northern California? A complicated mix of emotions seemed to lodge like a tangled ball of yarn in her chest whenever she thought about her hometown, which she loved and hated in equal measures.

The town held so much guilt and pain and sorrow. Her father was buried there and so was her sister. Each room in Sea Glass Cottage stirred like the swirl of dust motes with memories of happier times.

Olivia hadn’t been back in more than a year. She kept meaning to make a trip but something else always seemed to come up. She usually went for the holidays at least, but the previous year she’d backed out of even that after work obligations kept her in Seattle until Christmas Eve and a storm had made last-minute travel difficult. She had spent the holiday with friends instead of with her mother and Caitlin and had felt guilty that she had enjoyed it much more than the previous few when she had gone home.

She couldn’t avoid it now, though. A trip back to Cape Sanctuary was long overdue, especially if her mother needed her.

Author Bio: 

New York Times bestselling author RaeAnne Thayne finds inspiration in the beautiful northern Utah mountains where she lives with her family. Her books have won numerous honors, including six RITA Award nominations from Romance Writers of America and Career Achievement and Romance Pioneer awards from RT Book Reviews. She loves to hear from readers and can be reached through her website at www.raeannethayne.com.

Social Links:

Author Website

Twitter: @RaeAnneThayne

Facebook: AuthorRaeAnneThayne

Instagram: @RaeAnneThayne

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/116118.RaeAnne_Thayne

Blog Tour: Excerpt & Giveaway of Inherent Lies by Alicia Anthony

by Alicia Anthony
Series
Blood Secrets
Genre
Adult
Mystery, Thriller, & Suspense
Romantic Suspense
Publisher
Drury Lane Books
Publication Date
March 17, 2020
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A woman with a haunted past…

An agent with a dangerous secret…

A madman with a twisted sense of revenge…

While honing her gifts as a cold-case consultant with the Dublin Garda, Liv Sullivan uncovers a personal connection to the spirits who seek her help. Faced with a chance to bring peace to the living, rather than the dead, Liv can’t resist. Even if it means working alongside the man who broke her heart.

Special Agent Ridge McCaffrey chose duty over desire, a mistake that nearly ended Liv Sullivan’s life. So, when a missing person’s investigation exposes a link to Liv, Ridge vows to bring her home, hoping for a second chance with the Bureau’s most valuable asset.

As they rekindle their relationship, an enemy from Ridge’s past looms dangerously close. And when Ridge’s sister is abducted, Liv makes the ultimate sacrifice, placing herself in the crosshairs between a corrupt psychic intelligence operation and an ex-agent with a score to settle.

Can Liv stop a killer before death becomes her only escape?

Inherent Lies is the compelling second book in the Blood Secrets psychological suspense series. If you like flawed heroines and complex plots laced with a hint of romance, then you’ll love this second installment of Alicia Anthony’s award-winning thriller.

Enjoy this excerpt!

INHERENT LIES
A Blood Secrets Novel

© 2020 Alicia Anthony

---

CHAPTER ONE

LIV 

I should have been three thousand miles away that night, not standing in the drizzle watching recovery units unearth the remains of a twelve-year-old girl. I shivered as the piercing caw of a crow sounded from the church steeple behind me.

“Tis an omen, it is.” Michael Donaghey's white hair lay plastered to his head, darkened by an afternoon spent in Irish mist. Although he now lived in Dublin, he'd grown up in County Cork and his accent was heavy even to native Irish. To an American like me, he sounded like what I'd always thought an Irish man should sound like, a mix between Darby O'Gill and a post-pubescent Lucky Charms leprechaun.

Michael had been with the Dublin Garda “since God was a young man,” as he liked to say, and had taken me under his wing since the afternoon I'd mustered the courage to call the number on the scrap of paper I'd found in my grandmother's old cottage. That was almost six months ago. And despite my sister’s urging, I'd never intended to stay this long.

The trip was planned. Head to Ireland, tie up some loose ends with my grandmother’s estate, go home. I’d even factored in a little time with the sister I’d never known. All that, and it’d be time to go back to Cascade Hills. Time to pick up the pieces of my jigsaw puzzle of a life. But it was easier to stay. Easier to claim that life had gotten in the way. When the truth was, death had other ideas.

Michael's arm blanketed my shoulder in warmth as he joined me at the rock wall. Below us, the countryside opened, revealing lush hills and valleys just outside Dublin City. Behind us, across a narrow road, was Johnnie Fox's Pub, whose claim to fame was being the “highest” pub in all of Ireland.

I'd been there with Ashlyn my first night in Ireland. Beyond the quaint nooks and crannies of the pub, there'd been another draw. A sensation, greater than the cozy warmth of Guinness filtering through my veins. It was a sense of belonging.

Whispers of, “Welcome home,” wafted on the breeze. Maybe it was because I was with the sister I'd just recently learned existed, or the fact that I was in a country that held a special place in my grandmother's heart. Regardless, I felt safe and welcomed in the land of my ancestors, people who afforded magic and the unexplainable an air of importance I'd never before experienced.

Trust me, I know how cheesy that sounds. And now, as jacketed professionals sifted through a blanket of overgrown vegetation to haul the decomposing remains of an innocent little girl to the morgue, safe was the most remote emotion.

I pushed the memory of that first night at the pub away and leaned into Michael's side, the rainproof fabric of our navy blue Garda jackets sliding noisily against each other.

“It's unfair,” I heard myself say, realizing too late that I was more distraught over the role I was forced to play versus the death of someone's daughter. I took a breath and tried to cover, scuffing my tennis shoe over a loose rock at the base of the wall. “She didn't do anything to deserve this.”

“Oh, Liv, thirty years I've been watching these things happen, and thirty years later I still don't understand the evils of man.” Michael paused, his voice getting quiet. “You, though, just like your ma, you see it.”

“What if I don't want to see it anymore?” For the first time I lent a voice to the frustration that nagged at me.

Michael sighed, his broad shoulders rose and fell as he gave my shoulder a squeeze. “We aren’t always afforded the opportunity to choose our destiny.”

Michael had become one of the few people I could confide in. Before the trip, I anticipated Ashlyn would have filled that role. I owed her a debt of gratitude for giving me reason enough to leave the heartache of Cascade Hills in my rear-view mirror. But since I'd been working with Michael, my relationship with my sister had changed.

We still got together for dinner and drinks at least once a week, but there was an air of inexplicable friction between us. The way my body buzzed with pent up energy when we were together proved she felt the rift as powerfully as I did. Even so, she never let on.

She was busy with her own caseload for the Garda so our talks usually circled around the everyday minutiae of our jobs. Rarely did our conversations border on our personal relationship. I was thankful for that. I had a feeling I wouldn't like what she had to say.

“Perhaps it's time to take a break, my love.” Michael had started calling me that the first day I met him, and the nickname stuck.

I glanced over at him, grateful for a reason to stop watching as techs zipped what was left of the girl’s blackened body into an oversized bag and lifted her onto a gurney.

Michael’s blue eyes twinkled down at me, the skin crinkled at the corners above round rosy cheeks. His easy smile was what had first drawn me to him. Many officers in the Garda were so serious in their work. Michael tempered his professionalism with a good dose of Irish wit. It was obvious why my birthmother had chosen him as her partner some twenty years before.

No matter what case he was working, what horrific crime he was forced to solve, he never allowed the horrible parts of his job to cloud his psyche.

“The devil knocks on our door every day, lads. The key is, not to let him in.” I'd heard that turn of phrase from Michael countless times. The younger generation of officers had taken to ignoring him. It was hard not to notice the sideways glances between them, the condescension of an old man teetering on the edge of senility, spouting nonsense. But from the beginning, I knew he was different.

“Donaghey, Sullivan! Over here!” One of the crime scene investigators motioned for us from the bottom of the hill. I followed Michael over the low rock wall. Picking my way down the embankment with care, I worked to keep a firm grip on the wet foliage beneath the rubber soles of my tennis shoes. Michael, by contrast, trotted easily down the incline, ignoring any threat the rain-glazed vegetation posed to a man of his age. I hurried to join him just as one of the investigators began to speak.

“Could be the murder weapon.” The older of the two men pointed into the knee-high grass.

Michael glanced back at me, waiting for my input. I peered down into the weeds. A knife, about eight inches long with a curved blade glinted up at me. It was caked with mud, the ivory handle blackened by time and grime. I blew a silent stream of air through my lips as relief flooded me. The knife had nothing to do with the girl’s death, sparing me from the impromptu vision that too often accompanied crime scene finds.

“It's not the murder weapon. She was strangled.”

Two sets of eyes bored into me.

“Quite a coincidence, then, isn’t it? How can you be sure?” The younger of the two crime scene investigators gave me a doubtful look, one eyebrow raised, voice ripe with skepticism.

“Has she been wrong before?” Michael shot back. “Give us a ring when the forensics come in. Sure, they’ll be looking for ligatures.”

And so it had been for the last several months, Michael cocooning me from skeptics while I re-opened cases long cold with ever intensifying visions. There was an obvious divide within the Garda. A good majority believed that psychic dreams held merit. Most still had grandmothers that swore by the call of the banshee. But not everyone was willing to admit those beliefs, at least not out loud.

Others asserted psychic mediums were nothing more than a spoof, a hoax meant to draw attention or money. I had a file full of newly closed cases to prove otherwise, so it didn't bother me, except when we were in the field and one of the investigators called me out.

Sometimes I think they just wanted me to go there, to tell them the gory details of the images that haunted me, rubbernecking their way into my own personal freak show. But there was only one person I wanted in the room when I was relaying a vision, and that was Michael.

I glanced up the hill toward Johnnie Fox's as we walked away from the scene. The setting sun peeked slowly from behind receding clouds, shooting rays of sunshine down onto the sheep field beyond the pub. In a moment, the weeping skies would clear and there would be a rainbow, a meteorological phenomenon marking the predictable shift of the Irish sky that never ceased to amaze me.

A crow called again from the church as Michael and I approached the car. The steeple drew my attention once more as the bird took flight, vacating the bell tower with a few strong flaps of blue-black wings. The girl had been found exactly where I'd said she would. Our job here was done.

The rain-streaked passenger window of the car brightened as the clouds drifted away. An arc of vibrant colors slid down behind Johnnie Fox’s. Michael pulled the car away from the side of the road, winding down the hill toward the city while the fear-widened eyes of a twelve-year-old girl shadowed my thoughts.

Tour Wide Giveaway

To celebrate the release of INHERENT LIES by Alicia Anthony, we're giving away a paperback copy of Inherent Truth, book one in the Blood Secrets series, to one lucky winner!

GIVEAWAY TERMS & CONDITIONS:  Open to US shipping addresses only. One winner will receive a paperback copy of Inherent Truth by Alicia Anthony. This giveaway is administered by Pure Textuality PR on behalf of Alicia Anthony. Giveaway ends 4/30/2020 @ 11:59pm EST.  CLICK HERE TO ENTER!

About the Author

ALICIA ANTHONY‘s first novels were illegible scribbles on the back of her truck driver father’s logbook trip tickets. Having graduated from scribbles to laptop, she now pens novels of psychological suspense in the quiet of the wee morning hours. A full-time elementary school Literacy Specialist, Alicia hopes to pass on her passion for books and writing to the students she teaches.

A two time Golden Heart® finalist and Silver Quill Award winner, Alicia finds her inspiration in exploring the dark, dusty corners of the human experience. Alicia is a graduate of Spalding University’s School of Creative & Professional Writing (MFA), Ashland University (M.Ed.) and THE Ohio State University (BA). Go Bucks! She lives in rural south-central Ohio with her amazingly patient and supportive husband, incredibly understanding teenage daughter, two dogs, three horses, a plethora of both visiting and resident barn cats, and some feral raccoons who have worn out their welcome.

When she’s not writing or teaching, Alicia loves to travel and experience new places. Connect with her online at http://www.AliciaAnthonyBooks.com. She’d love to hear from you!

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This promotion is brought to you by Pure Textuality PR.