This is a story of US Navy SEAL, Mike Tarik, who is an American citizen, but 1/2 Saudi and 1/2 American, through his mother.  His father is a world renown cardiac surgeon.  Dr. Bedir Tarik met his wife, Annie, over in Saudi Arabia where she was an American school teacher.  Bedir, who is Sufi, believes firmly that love is the only way to peace and harmony in the world.  He falls in love with Annie, and they marry in Riyadh.  Later, she gets pregnant with Mike and he is born in San Diego, California.

Bedir takes his young son over to Saudi Arabia for three weeks every year.  He has a charity in Riyadh, and he and Mike take a pickup and distribute clothes, food and money to the poor at the fringes of that city, as well as to  many others.  He teaches his son generosity, giving back and being grateful for what he has.

Mike grows up wanting to become a Navy SEAL.  Bedir has already shown him his family’s lineage and tells his warrior son that he has the genes of his warrior great-grandfather.  Mike’s view on it is that he wants to help the poor and oppressed, to rid them of tyrants who kill or make their lives miserable.  When he deploys to Afghanistan with Seal Team 3, he works with NGO charities to bring food, clothing, and shoes to the desperately poor Afghan villages near where his team is located.

He carries on his father’s belief in always helping those who have less.  But on one mission, he finds himself in need.  He and his four-man SEAL team are out on a mission.   And it is a black ops US Marine Corps sniper who saves his team and him from a deadly ambush.  And she’s a woman!  Mike’s entire life changes in the moment he is injured and saved by this mysterious operator who cares for him deep in the cave systems of the Hindu Kush Mountains near the Pakistan border.

Sergeant Khatera Shinwari is wary of this SEAL, must maintain her deep black ops cover and although she’s powerfully drawn to Mike, there is no way she can act upon it.  Mike, before he’s picked up by a Night Stalker helicopter once he’s ready to leave her care for FOB Bravo, promises her, he will see her again.

Khat doesn’t believe him, as much as she wished she could.  Her life is not her own.  Her loyalty is to her Afghan people, not to a single man like Mike.  But life has a funny way of changing up, and Mike isn’t about to just let this enigmatic, beautiful woman disappear out of his life.  No way…..

I had great fun creating this story and it’s unlike anything my readers have read.  I’m very excited about it, about the sympathetic characters that you are sure to cheer on!  And toward that end?  I’ve created a “Director’s Cut” of a much longer ending to TAKING FIRE.    Don’t worry, the book you’ve bought is complete with an HEA ending.  But if you want to know “what else” happened?  Then ON FIRE, HQN, 5.1.2015, digital only, 40,000 words long and $2.99, will be available to you to continue their twisting and dangerous destiny with one another!

TAKING FIRE, HQN, 2.25.2015.
This is a Shadow Warriors series pocket book and ebook.
ISBN-10: 0373785054
ISBN-13: 978-0373785056
ASIN: B00OYCW3SC

Coming…

ON FIRE, HQN, Ebook only, Director’s Cut to TAKING FIRE
Pub. date: 3.1.2015
On all major ebook platforms
ASIN: B00QXN8J3S

Lindsay

Hey, dearest readers!

I was going to post something pithy today, but friends of mine have a brand new book, and they asked me if I could help get the word out. They have this awesome contest accompanying the release. They are giving away an iPad Mini and it will be loaded with books. So if you want a chance to win—look at the picture below! And get the book—The Other Brother! ~DD

The Other Brother: Forbidden, part 1

From two New York Times bestselling authors comes a stunning tale of betrayal and blood…

Simple. The consummate good girl, this is the word I used to describe my life… until my stepbrother Seth came to live with us. Until that point, I’d been a very good girl… but my older, emotionally blocked stepbrother made me want to do very bad things.

With him.

In the course of one night everything changed, and my simple world was torn to shreds. I wanted to hate him. I did hate him. Mostly.

But now he’s back. And nothing will ever be simple again.

The Other Brother is a novel told in three parts. This is part one of three.

Buy links:
Amazon – https://amzn.to/17sRfWU
B&N – https://bit.ly/1FmvlzF
Kobo – https://bit.ly/1LxVj5z

Citizen Soldier Series/Book 2: Mason
Buy link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PULHSAO

Jill is a chocoholic with a big heart, a flair for baking and confection, and a knack for getting into predicaments, including the one where she was almost financially ruined by her ex. Now she’s in a new town, with a new business, and is determined to stay away from trouble. Especially, the gorgeous guardsman with the haunted gaze, brooding expression and miserable attitude.  Her days of helping people were over. She was tired of being taken advantage of and was looking forward to getting back on her feet. Too bad her new business venture puts her in daily contact with the sexy man.

Excerpt:

Who would’ve guessed chocolate penises would lead her on a path to financial freedom?

A loud knock reverberated through the silent car. Jumping straight up, she hit her head off the roof. Pain radiated across her face, again. “Ouch.”

Unable to make out more than shadows, she twisted the key and pushed the button to roll down the window. With her heart hammering in her throat, she prayed an axe murderer wasn’t on the other side.

“Are you okay?” a familiar voice asked, and it took her a second to focus on the handsome man in fatigues.

Her mind registered the National Guard uniform with the name WYNE on his chest, while her body registered just which of the four gorgeous Wyne brothers stood outside her door.

Mason. The grumpy one. Serious one. Cute, drop-dead gorgeous one. The one whose mere presence always interrupted her pulse and sent a tingle to all her neglected good parts.

But he was a man. And she was off men. For over a year-and-a-half now. So, her body was just going to have to starve because she was still fasting.

“Jill?” Another face appeared. Another Wyne brother. The youngest. The friendliest. Keiffer. “Is that you? Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” she finally answered, pushing at the air bag. “I got in a fight with this and lost.”

“What the hell are you doing out here?” Mr. Grumpypuss asked, withdrawing a huge knife from his ACUs—Army Camouflage Uniform—and stepped closer. “Turn your head and close your eyes,” he ordered before she even had a chance to answer his question.

A second later, she heard a huge pop, and felt a burst of air. When she opened her eyes and turned back around, the airbag was deflated, and she could breathe a little easier. Read the rest of this entry »

Psst! Yesterday’s contest will stay open until tomorrow morning, so there’s still time to enter…

My alarm went off at 6:30 this morning, and I said to myself, “Just 5 minutes more…”

Yeah, I woke up two hours later. Guess I really did need the sleep. Or maybe it had something to do with the codeine cough syrup I used last night. The changes in weather we’ve been experiencing has really done a number on me. Yesterday alone, we started out warm and getting warmer. The temperature rose to nearly 70. Then a huge deluge hit. Still warm, but water, water everywhere. When that ended, the temps grew colder and colder until last night we were back in the low 30’s.

I’m f@#*-ing sick of winter!!!!!! There, I said it. I feel better.

My dd and I found some wonderful treasures at the flea market. I found a couple of beaded necklaces with pretty green beads I’m going to repurpose. We found pretty flowered vintage tins. My dd is always quick to swoop in and take the best of those first because she thinks it’s a crime to cut them up, while I look at them and wonder if I can carve pieces out for earrings or a station bracelet. I found vintage map sheets I’ll use for paper beads… Vintage postcards I hope to use in collages or to decoupage a box… An old art magazine that had plenty of pictures of how to draw and paint birds… I think I maybe spent a total of $15.00 for all my treasure. Not much, but that’s the point. It’s fun finding bargains! And isn’t treasure a very personal thing?

This next week is going to be a big ole grizzly bear. I’m dreading it and had to reorganize my schedule to remove a bunch of work because I know it won’t get done. Between doctor appointments in the big city (Little Rock), and working or babysitting to help my daughter out, there’s not much time for new words. Hopefully, March will be more manageable.

This week, I will have two releases…

One is about a SEAL-Texan come home to get his girl, and the other’s a paranormal short story. Be watching for those. My sister made both covers. Nice, right?!

How does your week look? Crazy busy? Or are you much better at just saying no to distractions than I am?

UPDATE: The winner of the free download is Vi!

* * * * *

This is a quick fly-by! I’ll be working at my dd’s shop for half the day, and then heading out to hit a flea market a couple of towns away. I love flea markets! So many hidden “treasures!” Be sure to check out the contest details at the bottom of this page!

Friday’s New Shorty

I promised a new short story every Friday until April. Here’s this week’s new release, Dr. Mullaley’s Cure.

For now, these 5000-word stories can be found only on Kindle. They are free to Kindle Unlimited readers and just $.99 to everyone else!

She’d been warned the doctor was eccentric, but this nurse discovers his cures are of a mechanical nature…

Be warned! It’s medical erotica (do you want to play doctor?)—not romance! Get it at the Kindle store!

I have a brand new page on my website devoted to the shorties. If you’d like to see what’s already out, as well as what’s coming, check it out! The Short Story Page

An excerpt:

I’d been warned the doctor was a bit eccentric. That he dabbled in machinery and had been ostracized by others in his profession for the lengths he went to please his patients.

“You’ll never find another employer,” I was told. “Not once they see your only reference is Doctor Mullaley.” The mad Irishman. The charlatan who promised cures to bored housewives and whose waiting room hadn’t been empty since I’d arrived for my first day’s work. If I hadn’t already been turned away at every other respectable physician’s practice, I might have heeded the advice. However, those warnings only served to stir my interest.

I was intensely curious about the nature of the doctor’s cures. Even more so about the conditions he treated, but they were only spoken of in whispers and never in the presence of an unmarried woman. Which made me wonder why he’d hired me. Not that I was going to complain. One glance at his tall rangy frame, frosty blue eyes and dark, slicked-back hair, and my misgivings evaporated.

However, my curiosity about the man and his practice wasn’t to be satisfied at that moment, because the doctor waved me toward the reception desk where I worked at fitting in patients who arrived without an appointment. A task I found akin to cinching in the waist of a corset. There was only so much ribbon one could pull before something gave.

That something was the inimitable Mrs. Davies. She arrived in a dudgeon. Cheeks flushed, eyes a little wild. The afternoon was very balmy, and the painstaking curls at the sides of her cheeks had wilted and stretched toward her jaw like earthworms. I couldn’t help staring while she tapped the counter with a sturdy finger, insisting her needs were of the highest import. If she didn’t receive a treatment that afternoon, somebody would hear about it. Read the rest of this entry »

UPDATE: The winner of the goody bag is…David!

* * * * *

Do you – as either readers or writers – have a theme or era or setting that will not let you go? I was recently re-reading Susan Hill’s excellent “Strange Meeting”, which is set in WWI; in the introduction she said how she felt compelled to write WWI out of her system and did so with that book. On the one hand I was frustrated by that, as I’d have loved to read more of her work set in that era, but on the other, I was envious of her because she’d been able to produce that one book and walk away. You see, WWI keeps whispering in my ear saying, “Write about me, write about me…”

I guess it’s partly my own fault because I have always read a lot of books from the late 19^th and early 20^th century (Conan Doyle has a lot to answer for) and enjoy ploughing through biographies of WWI poets, or true accounts from soldiers, sailors and airman of the time. Time and again I come across something that makes me think, “Ooh, that would be a great idea for a story”. Then I have to tell the writer side of my brain to behave itself as I’ve “done” WWI four times and really, do I have to go there again?

I’m sure this is as much a reading obsession as a writing one. There was a period when I almost had to sneak WWI themed books out of the bookshop and into my house in a plain brown wrapper, so my family wouldn’t know I’d bought yet another tome about sportsmen who’d lost their lives in the Great War or some such theme. But once you get bitten by the bug, it has you in its grip as strongly as Lyme Disease does, and I’ve had that too so I know what I’m talking about!

It’s the same when you come across a new author. Maybe I should rephrase that – it’s the same when I come across a new author, because I just want to work through anything of theirs I can get my mitts on. And it’s not just “new” authors. I’ve read and re-read The Lord of the Rings many times, and then I’ve pored over all those books about the writing of the trilogy. Similarly I’ve read the Sherlock Holmes stories, then felt compelled to get books about Sherlock’s’ London, the world he lived in, the men who inspired the character, and all things Holmes and Watson.

So, tell me. What’s your reading or writing obsession? Best answer wins a goodie bag.

Latest release:
https://www.riptidepublishing.com/titles/lessons-for-survivors

A more than professional interest . . . a more than personal intrigue.

Orlando Coppersmith should be happy. WWI is almost a year in the past, he’s back at St. Bride’s College in Cambridge, his lover and best friend Jonty Stewart is at his side again, and—to top it all—he’s about to be made Forsterian Professor of Applied Mathematics. And although he and Jonty have precious little time for an investigative commission, they can’t resist a suspected murder case which must be solved in a month so a clergyman can claim his rightful inheritance.

But the courses of scholarship, true love, and amateur detecting never did run smooth. Orlando’s inaugural lecture proves almost impossible to write. A plagiarism case he’s adjudicating on turns nasty with a threat of blackmail against him and Jonty. And the murder investigation turns up too many leads and too little hard evidence.

Orlando and Jonty may be facing their first failure as amateur detectives, and the ruin of their professional and private reputations. Brains, brawn, the pleasures of the double bed—they’ll need them all to lay their problems to rest.

Links:

Charlie’s a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association, Mystery People, and International Thriller Writers Inc., with titles published by Carina, Samhain, Bold Strokes Books, MLR, and Riptide.

To sign up for her newsletter, email her at cochrane.charlie2@googlemail.com, or catch her at:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/charlie.cochrane.18
Twitter: https://twitter.com/charliecochrane
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2727135.Charlie_Cochrane
Blog: https://charliecochrane.livejournal.com
Website: https://www.charliecochrane.co.uk 

Tara Manderino has a unique take on vampires. They have progeny! What vampires have you see on TV or the movies, or in books, that you would love to see with children?

Comment for a chance to win Bound by Blood!

*~*~*~*~*~*

Most vampires don’t have to worry about their children. Alex does. Worse yet, now he’s worrying about the nanny.

In his two-hundred and fifty years as a vampire, Alex never had to intervene with any of his progeny no matter the circumstances. But now he has no choice. Alex is a detective sworn to protect when a little girl of his lineage is kidnapped.  When he meets Lisa, the child’s nanny, his protective instincts kick into gear, yet he finds he must expose her to ever increasing danger as they search for the missing child.

With Lisa’s help, Alex tracks the kidnapper. Learning why she was abducted rocks him on his heels and sets off a transcontinental search that leads to ancient myths of the Cardinal’s Ruby, the stone in Alex’s ring. Alex and Lisa have one shot to save the child, but will they be able to stop the impending destruction raining down?

Excerpt:

He turned to meet the nanny and  blinked twice. Nannies simply did not look like Miss Lisa Mitchell. At least none of the nannies he had known. Even if they had been younger than fifty they wore starched looking clothing, the kind that could stand up on its own. And they invariably had their hair pulled back and skewed into a so-tight braid it made an instant face-lift.

This nanny was the complete opposite in every way. Her hair, a burnished copper, curled about her face and it looked as if no amount of combing would tame it. Her mouth was a shade too wide, the kind that was perfect for smiling, and was quite mobile. At the moment, he couldn’t see her eyes because the lids were closed, but her lashes were thick and fanned against her pale skin. Her nicely shaped nose was tipped in red, evidence of her crying. He could hear her slow even breathing and was loathe to wake her. But the child needed to be found.

Standing next to her, he watched her exhausted sleep for a moment. If he wanted answers, he would have to rouse her. Slightly leaning over her, he gently nudged her shoulder with his hand.

Her eyes flew open in a second, then widened. He straightened, giving her some breathing room. She looked about, puzzled for a moment, then he saw the terror in the depths of her eyes.

“Who are you?” she asked, pushing herself against the cushions in an effort to sit up straighter.

Alex perched on the edge of the arm of the nearby chair…“Lisa — May I call you that?” At her nod, he continued. “We need to talk about what happened. I‘m sure you’ve already told the police what you remember, but maybe it would be better if we went to the scene. Perhaps something there will prompt your memory.

Alex extended his hand to the young woman. When she placed her hand in his for the second time, he automatically closed his fingers over hers. He tugged, pulling her to her feet. “I’m sure we’ll be fine. If you want to send uniforms, that would be agreeable, but not necessary. You have my badge number.”

Escorting Lisa outside, Alex knew he should drop her hand. There was no reason to hold on to it — and every reason in the world. It felt right and he didn’t want to let go. She didn’t resist.

Bio:

Tara Manderino writes in a variety of genres, from paranormal to historical. She’s She first began writing in third grade when she realized she couldn’t afford her reading habit.

She writes and is published in a variety of genres and finds that each one is her favorite at the time. Her books are available at a variety of online retailers.

Tara resides in her native town in southwestern Pennsylvania. When she’s not chasing Lydia, the Boxer, she’s writing her own stories, reading or watching old movies,

Buy link:  Amazon: https://amzn.com/B00761OURU

Social Media Links:
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/taramanderino
Author Page FB– https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Tara-Manderino-Author/125470584194435
Twitter:  https://twitter.com/TManderino
Linked In   https://www.linkedin.com/in/taramanderino