Ava James ~ Romance To Last A Lifetime

Deadly Secrets , Sylvia Dickey Smith

Rookie PI Sidra Smart thinks she knows where she’s headed. She’s divorced her preacher-husband, she’s inherited a private detective business, and she’s solved her first case. But then she moves into a ghost active house and discovers that the past holds the key not only to her future, but to the lives of innocent people trapped in an unholy web of deception that spans decades.
This mystery/suspense novel is set in a small Texas town where everyone knows everything about the other—or at least think they do—until the sins of the past catch up with the secrets of the present. Where yesterday’s lighthouses, yellow fever, and Civil War skirmishes play a significant role in uncovering the sins of today.
When Sid’s second case requires she clear the name of a dead man, she finds herself confounded by clues that lead nowhere. She battles her own prejudice, a burned-out office, the disappearance of a local preacher’s wife, and a midnight trip through a murky swamp before clues begin to fall in place. Then, with assistance from a seemingly unknown and perhaps ghostly force, Sid learns something about herself—when the cause is right she never retreats.
The interaction between Sid and her client, a tobacco-spitting, chair-rocking old codger more interested in the shine on his shoes than the dust on his furniture, once again brings small-town America to life.
Buy Deadly Secrets
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Warrior’s Rise Blurb:

Logan Savage is a man’s man. His idea of a good time has never included watching over and entertaining a bunch of kids at a summer camp. Especially when that camp happens to be full of kids with a love for mythology and medieval fantasy. In other words—a bunch of geeks. Unfortunately, in order to avoid a jail sentence for assaulting a cop, that’s exactly what he has to do. Head counselor and owner of the camp, Willow Avaris, is a nice surprise. Beautiful, fiery and sexy… Too bad she loathes his very existence. Plus, the kids are making his life a living nightmare. Could the summer get any worse?
Bravery and strength were things Logan always thought he had in spades, but as the summer goes on, and strange, surreal events take place around the camp, Logan is forced to look within himself and figure out what’s important to him. It’s safe to remain the self absorbed, shallow man he’s always been, but can he find the courage to reach inside and embrace the true warrior he was destined to become?

Warrior’s Rise Excerpt:

The bailiff was a definite hottie. Blonde, petite, slender waist, nice rack. He could tell she had a killer body even in that unflattering uniform. His fingers itched to peel her out of it. He caught her eye across the court room as the judge began to pass the sentence. He gave her a boyish smile and a flirty wink. That always did the trick. This time was no exception. She smirked and averted her eyes, obviously trying not to attract attention, but she slid her gaze back up to his and chewed on her bottom lip.
Logan heard the judge sentence him to so many hours of community service and he suppressed a gloating chuckle. That’s right. No jail time for Logan Savage. He stole a sidelong glance at the tall brunette representing him. His sister was one fine attorney. He could murder someone and she’d be able to get him a lesser sentence, if not get him off completely.
It was nice to have connections.
Court adjourned and he turned to his sister with a grin. “You’re the best, Iz.”
She rolled her eyes and shoved various papers in her briefcase. “Whatever, Logan. You owe me several grand.”
He frowned. “Excuse me? I’m your brother!” he protested.
“You’re an idiot,” she stated. “That’s what you are.” She snapped her briefcase shut and started to stride out of the courtroom.
Logan threw a momentary glance back at the cute bailiff, but followed after his sister. “Isabelle, what the crap did I ever do to you? Name calling? That’s not very professional. You do that to all of your clients?”
“Only the really clueless ones.” She sneered. She shook her head. “I swear, Logan, when are you going to grow up?”
He blinked and grabbed her elbow, stopping her and turning her to face him. “What are you talking about? It’s not like I’m living in Mom’s basement. I have my own apartment. I have a good job.”
Isabelle heaved a sigh. “Logan, you’re twenty-nine years old and you’re still getting into bar brawls. You beat a guy within inches of his life. You think you’re sooo cool, but you’re really just making a fool out of yourself.” She shook her head and handed him a manila envelope full of papers. “I’m not bailing you out again. The next time you decide to pull your macho crap and deck an officer of the law, figure it out yourself. I’ve been fixing your mistakes my entire life and I’m not going to do it anymore.”
She shook the envelope at him until he took it. He frowned. “What’s this?”
“The information on the summer camp you’ll be working at.”
His frown deepened. “Summer camp?”
She rolled her eyes. “Yeah. If you’d been paying attention to the judge instead of trying to undress the bailiff with your eyes, you would have heard him say that. You’re to serve out your sentence working as a volunteer counselor at a kids’ summer camp.”
His first reaction was repulsion. Just what he needed was to be stuck hanging around a bunch of stupid nose-pickers all summer long, but his second thought was that it might not be so bad. Summer camp was full of outdoor activity. He could teach the ankle biters how to hunt and fish, be men’s men. He could see the reverent looks on their faces now. “Cool. Thanks, Izzie.”
“Don’t thank me. Just quit being stupid. I’m sick of having the delinquent brother who never grew out of his teenage years. Get over yourself and get a life.”
She turned her back on him again and he let her go this time. No point in following after her if she was only going to verbally bash him. Whatever. Isabelle had no idea who he was or what he did with his life. Get over himself? He snorted. He wasn’t stuck on himself. It wasn’t his fault that every woman he met wanted to do wicked things to him… And it wasn’t his fault if the men that were with those women felt really inadequate, thus resulting in bar brawls that got him arrested. Besides, how was he supposed to know that the man he’d shown what-for was a cop?
Not like he asked for a resume before he handed someone their butt on a plate.
Besides, Isabelle was probably just jealous. She was stuck in a tedious routine living in suburban, 2.5 kid land. That kind of torturous existence would make anyone look at someone free and rootless like him in envy.
Dismissing his sister’s words, he opened up the envelope and looked at the information packet he’d been given. Rogue River Fantasy Camp. He frowned. Fantasy Camp? What in the world did that mean? His interest piqued. Maybe there were strippers involved. That would definitely be a fantasy. Somebody in a Catholic school girl outfit maybe…
He smirked and shoved the papers back into the envelope. No biggee. It was somewhere in between Gold Hill and Shady Cove. He’d find it easy enough. He’d camped and hunted most of the forests in his area of Oregon. Shouldn’t be too hard. All he had to do was find the camp and show up on the scheduled date. No use in reading a bunch of papers that would just bore him to death. He had better things to do with his time.
He glanced at his watch and smiled, then smoothed his sandy brown hair. Perfect. It was happy hour and he was still in his suit. That would definitely attract some attention. He’d get his game on tonight. He was feeling particularly lucky.
Squaring his shoulders, he folded the papers in half and shoved them in his back pocket, then made his way out of the courthouse.

Please join me in welcoming another great author to the blog, Brieanna Robertson!
Below is my breif interview with the talented author.

Ava: What drew you to writing? When did you first put your fingers to the keyboard, or pen to paper and write your first complete manuscript?

B: In all reality, I think I've been writing since I was first taught how. lol. As far as I know, I've always had stories in my head. They've never not been there, and I've been writing them down ever since I was a little kid. My mother would have thought something was terribly wrong if she didn't see me surrounded by notebooks, scribbling madly away. I wrote my first real manuscript when I was thirteen. As we can all imagine, it sucked pretty badly. lol. Then I started writing seriously in high school. I sent my first manuscript to a publisher when I was 17, but of course got rejected. My first publication-worthy novel was first completed when I was 19, and it went through several drafts before it was finally acceptable to my own standards.

Ava: That's great that you had such an early start and a lasting passion for writing. Is your first novel still out there for those of us interested to read?

B: Yes! It's the first in my Serendipity Series of contemporary romance. It's The Road Less Traveled and is available in ebook at www.forbiddenpublications.com and in print at www.amazon.com

Ava: What is something all of us should know about you? Besides the fact that you are a fabulous author.

B: I guess one thing I like to tell everyone is how much of a heavy metal music fan I am. lol. It seems to contradict the image of an author, I guess. People seem surprised when they hear about me going to concerts, banging my head and stalking rock stars. Music is a great inspiration for me. I have a lot of plots in my books that revolve around music in some fashion. It also goes hand in hand with my overall philosophy to be true to yourself. That's the one, main, consitent theme in all of my books.

Ava: Well, would you like to know where I was on the first two tuesday's in November? ZZ Top and Sammy Hagar-- and I was in pampers when their first music videos came out. LOL

B: Right on! Keep rockin' :)

Ava: What is your all time favorite movie? The one that you could watch again and again.

B: My absolute favorite would have to be Anne of Green Gables. When I was a little girl, all I wanted to be was a stubborn, rebellious, no-nonsense girl like Anne, and I always wanted to have flaming red hair. Now, twenty years later, here I am. I have flaming red hair by choice and couldn't have turned out more like Anne Shirley if I'd tried. lol. She is my favorite heroine of all time, indomitable and indestructable. She doesn't let anything stand in her way. I watch this movie whenever I'm feeling down. It instantly lifts my spirits and makes me feel like I can take on the world again.

Ava: What would you like to find underneath your Christmas tree?

B: Well, I actually don't celebrate Christmas, but if I did...Could it be my favorite musician standing there with two plane tickets, waiting to take me to Finland? LOL

Ava: Certainly! Brieanna, thanks for joining me. Before you go, where can we find you out in the ebook world?

B: You can find my ebooks at www.forbiddenpublications.com, www.amirapress.com, www.freyasbower.com, and www.fictionwise.com as well as many other online resellers. I also have print work available at www.amazon.com and www.whimsicalpublications.com

I am proud to announce the arrival of my first review. Although, she does have a valid point. I should have showen Demetri's pain a bit more. But, oh well.

http://dirtygirlreviews.blogspot.com/ Here's the link if you would like to read the full review of the One Touch, One Glance Anthology.

Waking Up by Ava James
Waking up is a military romance, with a wounded soldier, who has more than physical pain, his heart needs healing too. Ripping out the catheter would have caused excruciating pain and damage, but after I got over that forgotten detail I has found this a really enjoyable romance. That’s what I get for having a medical background, I can’t read the medical romances not written by someone with experience in that field. Ava James is an extremely talented author and I can’t wait to see what she has planned next. I do love men in uniform.

I did an author interview with Michelle E. Ellis over at Four Strong Women!

http://fourstrongwomen.blogspot.com/2008/11/ava-james-m.html

Check it out, and leave a comment!

My muse has deserted me. To make matters worse--I have neglected my blog for far too long. I was soo busy with editing my upcoming stories that I let this go and lost my muse.

*Sigh*

Maybe she'll be back this weekend.