Posted in backstory, my books, promo

Strong Female Characters

I’m part of a promo starting Tuesday, July 28th and going through August 30th with Bookfunnel, Female Main Characters, Thriller Stories.

https://books.bookfunnel.com/femalemaincharacter-thrillerstories/n0av8ew1nd

Chrome Pink, my first novel in the Leeward Files Series is the book I’m promoting.

Rae Lynne is one of the strongest characters I’ve ever written. After being raped and ostracized during high school, Rae Lynne turned to drugs, alcohol and cutting to help her with the pain. With the help of her friends and her grandfather, she learned to focus her anger and fear on her art. Piercing and tattooing took the place of cutting, and eventually her desire for control helped her relinquish the drugs. Unfortunately the battle of the booze took her a little longer to conquer.

People often think an addict is someone who doesn’t care but too often they are people who care too much. Rae Lynne’s natural empathy battles her years of abuse. Her kindness is proof of the strength of her character. Because of her friendships with Dana and Jenna, and the support of her grandfather and brother, she finds the courage to face her demons. But it is her own determination that helps her succeed in her battle against alcoholism as she learns to love and trust herself.

We cannot love others until we first learn to love ourselves. Sometimes the greatest demons we face are those inside our own heads. I love this character because she represents hope. She overcame one problem after another. She survived and even learned to thrive simply by not giving up. She faced weakness but she fought through it.

https://books.bookfunnel.com/femalemaincharacter-thrillerstories/n0av8ew1nd

Posted in backstory, my books

Sleepless Night

Leeward Police Department

Mike McKenzie struggled to keep his eyes open. Too many sleepless nights were starting to take their toll. He sighed and saved the file he’d been working on. Standing he stretched. His jaw cracking as he gave into another yawn.

“You’re not going to get another cup of coffee,” Tar said barring his path to the break room. “Go home.”

“I need to finish the reports.”

“I’ll work on them, anything I don’t know you can finish tomorrow. Go. You’re about to fall out and all of that coffee can’t be good for your heart.”

“Yes mother.” Mike sighed and shoved a hand through his hair. Was it starting to thin? “How do you manage to deal with it?”

Tar lifted his chin and met Mike’s eyes. The two men were of a similar size and build. Tar had a little more bulk to his muscles, but neither was tall. Tar was just barely six foot and Mike fell just shy at 5’, 10”.  He was average. Average height and size, average income.

There was nothing remarkable about him so why did he push himself to be super-cop? Mike felt the overwhelming pressure to protect the town of Leeward and its citizens.

“How do I deal with the loss?” Tar asked his voice gruff with emotion.

Shit, he didn’t want to deal with the other man’s emotions, he didn’t want to deal with his own. He shrugged. “Yeah.” His mouth felt dry and his hands clammy. “How do you sleep at night?”

Tar took a deep breath and turned away. “Jenna,” he said and his dark skin reddened.

Mike wanted to laugh at the man’s blush but since they were talking about his sister, he kept his comments to himself.

Tar moved into the office and began toying with the pens and stuff on the desk. “Your sister is a pain in the ass when she wants something.” He sighed. “She won’t let me brood. She forces me to talk about things even when I don’t want to.” He laughed. “She’s the best but don’t you tell her I said that. She’ll just think it’s a license to nag more.” Tar grinned. “You need to talk about it.”

Mike nodded. He knew his brother-in-law was right, he did need to talk about what happened. So much had happened between the sex trafficking ring to the explosion, losing Jake but there wasn’t anyone he could talk to. A vision of Janie Harrell flitted through his thoughts, but he shoved that away. He’d blown that relationship before it ever had time to grow.

“You know, you could come over for dinner, let Jenna grill you for a while.”

Mike shrugged. “I’d hate to add to her list of chores. She already has you and Toby to look out for and soon this new baby. Do you know what we’re having yet?”

Tar grinned. “Jenna wants to have one of those gender-reveal parties. She and Dana have been making big plans.”

Mike’s smile froze. Dana. Jake’s fiancé. The new mayor. “How’s Dana doing?”

Tar shrugged. “You’ve seen her. She’s thrown herself into fixing this town…”

The guilt threatened to overwhelm him. “Losing Jake was hard.”

Tar agreed. “Unfortunately, it comes with the job.”

“Not in a small town like Leeward. Things like sex trafficking and explosions shouldn’t happen here.”