Title: The Only Exception: Broken
Author: A.L. Davis
Genre: Romance
Release Date: Dec 13, 2014
“Everyone I’ve ever loved has been taken from me and I can’t take the heartache anymore. It’s time to build that wall around my heart and let no one in, no exceptions.”
Ellie never did know her mother; before she turned twenty she lost her father in the line of duty; a freak accident stole her fiancé from her before they had a chance to start their life together. She wants answers, but now that she’s living in a new town and trying to start over, she’s finding that it’s not that easy. Maybe new surroundings are what she needs to make it easier to move on and forget all about her old life. It could have been…until he showed up.
“Having the sort of job that is as dangerous as what I do doesn’t allow for a personal life, no exceptions.”
Jack and his team of military misfits have seen their fair share of war zones and violent criminals. Skilled in precision rescue operations, they’ve traveled into some of the most terrifying countries and stood up to intimidating adversaries, but when a mentor of Jack’s calls them in for a favor that he is unable to turn down, he finds himself up against his most challenging fear of all…his heart. There is a fine line between getting close enough to do your job and getting so close that you get attached. That line used to be obvious, but now that he’s met her, things have blurred and priorities have shifted. Can he keep his feelings in check and still protect Ellie from an adversary more dangerous and twisted than she could ever imagine?
“And this…” I tossed the manila envelope back to the desk, “…is not a job. It’s a death sentence. My death sentence. I’m walking in blind. I mean, how do I know she’s not running from the law?”
Lou shook his head, his mouth contorting into a tight frown, and answered matter-of-factly, “She’s not. And why would that stop you?”
“How do I know for sure? How do you know for sure?” I challenged, making him smile.
Somehow, that irritated me even more. He was hiding something.
“Because I know,” he answered, lips pursed, eyes narrowing at me. He didn’t look away and neither did I. I wanted to know what he was thinking. What was he hiding? Unfortunately, he was going to make it difficult to find out.
I sighed, knowing that was the only answer I was going to get. “Is she hiding from her husband or boyfriend or something?”
“Most definitely not,” he answered with a heavy sigh, sadness flicking across his face.
This piqued my interest. And why was a small part of me so damn happy with that answer?
“Did she kill someone?” I figured I already knew the answer to this one, but I had to ask.
He chuckled. “Absolutely not.”
“What if she’s got the mob after her? Did she piss off a terrorist group?”
“So what if they are? So what if she did? You’ve been wrapped up in worse and handled it,” he answered quickly. “Stop with the stalling already, Jack. I need to know. Are. You. In.”
“Lou, I don’t help people against their will because if they won’t listen and do what I tell them to do, bad things happen. She doesn’t want me anywhere near her. She won’t even look at me, let alone talk to me. Ellie dodges me all day long. I tried to just talk to her like you asked me, but she avoids me like the plague and scurries off in the other direction. She looks at me like…like…”
“Like the frightened child she is,” Lou interrupted sighing.
Author Interview
1. Tell us about yourself
My name is Amanda. I live in Southern California with my hubby, two boys and our over-sized lab named Kodi. I love me a Cali winter. I'm not so loving on the Cali summers, though. I've been writing since high school. I stopped for a few years when I met the love of my life, got married, and had kids. One day I decided I'm doing this again and the rest is history.
2. Tell us about your new book?
Oh, gosh. Well, in short, Ellie is a PI turned reporter now living in Colorado. Jack enters her life and things get complicated. It's the first in a series I'm working on. I initially set out to just write one book, but as I progressed through this one, the characters wanted more. It's a love story. It's suspenseful at times. There is a little bit of mystery. And just so you all know, because it's a series, this one is a cliffy. Don't worry, it's not a pull the rug out from under you ending where you sit there and scratch your head going what the hell just happened? There is an actual ending. Think of it like when the season ends on of one of your favorite shows and how much you anticipate the next season.
3. When you write, does your real life spill over into your book at any time?
Some parts of real life will always spill into my books. Especially emotions and how certain situations make me feel. This one in particular really brought in a part of my real life. The female lead (Ellie) has a terrible fear at the beginning of the story. It's the same anxiety that I feel because of an accident my family and I were involved in a few years back. (FYI none of us were injured in the accident) All the emotions just spilled onto the pages. I hope it comes across when you read it.
4. Do you think about a book of yours, being made into a movie, or not when writing?
Not really. I mean I'll think about it when I hear of another author whose book is being brought to the big screen, but I think my books would be a better series on TV than a movie.
5. When naming your characters, do you give any thought to the actual meaning?
I didn't. I just went with names I liked. Ellie had been a name I'd wanted to use for years. The name Jack just sort of came to me one day. And all the others sort of fell into place. It's the last names that were hard for me.
6. What made you want to write and also what made you want to write the genre you are writing?
I enjoy stories. My sister remembers me gathering her and my brother and telling them stories as kids. As a teenager I fell in love with romance stories. The tummy tingles of love at first sight. The unexpected heart pounding moment you look into someone's eyes, but try to fight the feelings it brings. The accidental hand touching that brings about feelings you didn't know were even there. I just love it all.
7. If you had to choose, which writer would you consider a mentor?
Wow. Hmmm. This is a hard question. I have a ton of authors out there that I am honored to call friends of mine and look up to. I guess if there was one that made a difference in me becoming an author, it would be J.M. Darhower. Years ago, after getting sucked into the Twilight series, I was trying my hand at fanfic as a start back into writing. While in there, I found J.M. and was hooked with her stories. I watched J.M.'s amazing fanfic turn into an even more amazing book (Sempre) that she published that I realized that's what I wanted to do.
8. Do you have any tips for our readers that might dream of writing?
All you need to do is write. Anytime you can. Doesn't matter if it's five minutes or five hours, one day a week or every day, just do it. Forget about spelling mistakes, grammar, punctuation mistakes, because that's what editing is for. Get the story out of your head and onto paper.
9. Tell us anything you want?
I think I'd just like to take the time to thank the readers. We do this for you. I hope you guys enjoy my book and know book number two of the series is in the works. Thank you!
A.L. Davis lives in Southern California with her husband, two kids, and one fur baby. A.L. has had a passion for writing since high school where any free time was spent thinking up new stories. Shortly after graduating high school writing took a back seat to start a family. Now that the kids are older, writing has become her hobby once again.
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Julie Johnstone is a best-selling author of Regency
Romance and the author of a new urban fantasy/paranormal romance book. She’s
been a voracious reader of books since she was a young girl. Her mother would
tell you that as a child Julie had a rich fantasy life made up of many
different make believe friends. As an adult, Julie is one of the lucky few who
can say she is living the dream by working with her passion of creating worlds
from her imagination. When Julie is not writing she is chasing her two
precocious children around, cooking, reading or exercising. Julie loves to hear
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