Welcome back, Stacy! I’m so happy to have you visit again and tell us all about your new novel, Garda, and what inspired you to write it. It’s sounds so interesting and imaginative!
Bonnie – thank you so much for inviting me here to your blog today so I can visit with you and your readers!!! It is always an honor to visit and talk about my writing and my life.
On February 10, I released a new novel, Garda – Welcome to the Realm. This was the first time that I have written about Guardian Angels. In my book, I call them “Garda” or “Gardaí”. The reason I choose to use that term was because the word Garda is Irish and translates to Guardian. In Ireland they call their police force Garda Síochána, or translated, the Guards of Peace.
Your readers probably don’t know that I am a police officer full time. So I love the term Garda, and when I started writing this book about Guardian Angels, that just fit perfectly.
One of the things I am most often asked is, do I believe in guardian angels? My answer is a simple, yes. Without going into religious beliefs and such, let me explain why I think the way I do.
My job is very stressful and at times very dangerous. I work for a very small department, and many times I have been out patrolling the streets alone. On those nights, or days even, that I drive around and protect my township, there have been many times when I am responding to a scene or about to stop a car, and instincts tell me to be careful. Maybe the hair on the back of my neck stands up, or some thought flashes through my mind randomly. Whatever it is, I take it seriously.
Maybe I’ll call for an extra car before I respond into a call, or maybe that car I was about to stop for not stopping at the stop sign will get a free pass that night as I turn off and look for another car. Is it just instinct, or is there something or someone else that whispers into my mind to let that one go, or be extra careful? I’m not sure, but I will tell you that I believe it is a guardian angel that watches over me. It is the one that comforts me when I am sad, the one that guides me when I am lost and the one that protects me when I walk towards danger. On those days when I must confront the beast face first, I go in knowing that I am not alone.
Whether you truly believe in them or not, the concept is appealing to many and that is one of the reasons I wrote my newest novel. I hope your readers will take the time to check out some of the links about the new book.
Thank you again Bonnie for the opportunity to visit with you and your readers!
After writing this initial post and sending it to Bonnie, she replied back and asked if there was any particular incident that I could expand on. I told her of course! So this is one of my brushes with what I believe was an angel watching over me.
It was a night shift several years ago, and I was working the street alone. The township that I work in is south of the only city in our county, but while we are next to a city, we are considered to be a rather country setting. We have a couple of major streets in our area, but no stop lights. Neighborhoods range from trailer parks to multi-million dollar ranches. Anyway, it was sometime shortly after midnight and I was sitting in my car watching a stop sign. There wasn’t much traffic, and when a car came to the intersection and didn’t completely stop, I thought about stopping them. Then I noticed that one of the brake lights was out, a second reason to make contact with them.
The car pulled away and I flipped on my headlights and put the car into drive to catch up to them. About a mile down the road I got behind the car, but because of the area we were in I held off flipping on my red and blue lights to direct them to pull over. The road was dark where we were driving and I wanted it in a brighter spot.
I ran the license plate on my computer, nothing interesting came back on it and I continued to follow it for a short time. Just as I reached down to flip on my lights, a tingle traveled down my spine, and the hair rose on my neck and arms. A voice inside my head said simply, “Don’t”.
For just a second I thought about ignoring it, but after years on this job, I have learned to heed the gut feelings, the instincts or the whispered words in my head. I backed off the car as I saw the passenger in the car turn to look at me. At the next street, I turned off the roadway and let the car move on.
Later that night, a department south of me got into a pursuit with that car. At the time I didn’t know it was the exact car, but I heard the call go out by the officer that he was attempting to stop a vehicle and they were fleeing. The car ended up crashing and the driver and passenger were injured. Inside the vehicle were several firearms and a trunk full of stolen electronics.
Had I attempted to stop that vehicle, many things could have happened. I don’t dwell on what could have happened, I just remember that there is a reason words whisper through my mind, and I take comfort in knowing that I have an angel watching over me.
Thank you again Bonnie! So glad you asked to me to elaborate on that!
Me, too, Stacy. Wow, that’s some story! I’m glad you listened to that “little whisper”! Best of luck with the book and thanks so much for sharing!
Read an excerpt from Garda
“He is my destiny.”
There is a place that lies between heaven and Earth, it is called The Realm. Within this place, the Guards of Peace, known as Garda Síochána, learn to guide and protect the ones that live below until they are called home.
Officer Corey Hamilton is dedicated to being the best that she can be, in uniform and out. Her loving nature, compassionate thoughts, and warrior strength make her the perfect candidate to join the Garda Síochána and spend her eternity protecting and guiding others.
Just before Corey dies in a line-of-duty accident, she meets Officer Mitchell O’Reilly. Her feelings for him may change her destiny, but not for the better, as she falls in love with this married man. Brock, Corey’s personal Garda, will bring her home to The Realm and attempt to train her for her future, even while she still fights for her past.
Will Brock be able to direct Corey down the right path, or will she cross the line and fall from grace?
Join Corey, Mitchell, and Brock for an emotional and heart-pounding adventure that is sure to make you wonder if angels are really guiding us in our everyday lives.
Get in touch with Stacy here…
Website: www.stacyeaton.com
Blog: http://stacyeatonauthor.blogspot.com/
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4826711.Stacy_Eaton
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Stacy-Eaton/191880767522183?ref=hl
Twitter: @StacySEaton
You Tube video Trailer: http://youtu.be/uNJcU7Ni8k8
KINDLE: http://tinyurl.com/b43msy6
NOOK: http://tinyurl.com/bbw6l7j
About the author:
Stacy Eaton is a police officer by profession. Currently, she is working as the department investigator and enjoys digging into cases and putting the pieces of the puzzles together.
Stacy resides in southeastern Pennsylvania and is the wife to a police officer and the mother of two. She is very proud of her son who is currently serving in the United States Navy and equally proud of her nine year old daughter who works hard in her Tae Kwon Do studies.
When Stacy is not working her demanding job, or spending time with her family, she works on her business and volunteers with the World Literary Café. When there is time, she writes.
Stacy is currently working on book 3 of the International Best Selling “My Blood Runs Blue” Series (release anticipated late 2013). She is also working on a second Domestic Violence Novel, You’re Not Alone. She also has plans to add a second book to her newest series, Garda, along with publishing a contemporary romance later this year.
As many of you know, I absolutely love romantic comedies–reading them and writing them! So I’m thrilled to have a fellow romantic comedy writer and good friend visit my blog from way across the pond in England. She’s here to tell us about her life as a RomCom author and to present her latest book. I love the title and look forward to reading A Little Bit of Madness. Welcome to the very talented and lovely Sheryl Browne!
Hi Bonnie!
Thanks so much for inviting me along today and helping me launch A Little Bit of Madness, my fourth Romantic Comedy published through Safkhet Publishing.
So, why four books in the genre you might ask? I’m not quite sure would be the honest answer, other than I can’t seem to write without injecting humour into my story. I like to write romantic comedy because I hope to allow people a little escapism and also to leave the reader with that all-important feel-good factor. I do, however, like to write about real people, dealing with real life events, someone the reader identifies with and wants to get to know. A ‘boy meets girl, boy gets girl, despite all obstacles’ story portraying characters readers can relate to and hopefully laugh with as they fall over life’s little ‘obstacles’ – because the reader is empathising with the character, because they’ve been there.
Bearing in mind real people then, along with changing population demographics, in A Little bit of Madness, I aimed for a multigenerational read. Alongside my hunky but flawed hero and my feisty yet vulnerable heroine, therefore, I’ve starred a cast of people of the Queen’s generation, or as Celia – our heroine – prefers to call them, her elderly independents: people who have life skills you couldn’t possibly learn from a book and who still have lives to live and something left to give.
I’ve written the book. My publisher loves it. Now comes the nervous nail-biting bit. Will the readers love it, too?? I hope so. Having seen a sneak peek of an upcoming review, I think so. He’s a teeny snippet: ‘This book had me laughing so hard at the antics of the elderly characters…’ I won’t say more for fear of spoilers. I have, however, popped the blurb and a brief excerpt below. Ooh, I do hope you enjoy! Thank you so much for reading!
A Little Bit of Madness
No rest for the wicked
Saving Charlton hall will burrow into your heart.
Celia Summers, intrepid mother of two, is too cuddly for sweatpants, she suspects. But then, her class at The Harbour Rest Home are similarly clad. Celia loves her work as an art therapist. She’s proud that she gives her elderly independents something to look forward to, even if her partner, Martin, disapproves of her efforts. He also has other things on his mind – telling complicated lies to Celia so he can sell Charlton Hall, his mum’s house, to pay off his debts.
Meanwhile, Celia fights to secure gallery space for her geriatric charges’ artwork, and to keep The Harbour from being closed. She’s even ready to abseil from a church steeple to bring attention to the plight of her old people, no matter that she might fall and end up splattered all over the flagstones. When she does fall, however, it’s much more painful – in love with PC Alex Burrows. Will he be her white-knight-in-blue and ride to her rescue?
EXCERPT
‘I think I might be able to assist. Excuse me, dears.’ May squeezed between them, potty in hand. ‘There,’ she said, opening the window and chucking the contents out. ‘That should cool their ardour.’
‘Oh my God.’ Celia gawked. ‘May, I can’t believe you just did that!’
Eleanor laughed. ‘Relax, Celia. He hasn’t been assaulted quite as rudely as you think. It’s tea, not pee.’
‘I’ve been practising.’ May nodded importantly. ‘It’s not as easy as it looks, you know, making huge potfuls and getting it right, especially when it’s orgasmic.’
‘Organic, May.’
‘Oh, don’t be such a baby,’ Celia shouted through the window, as Martin gave an outraged screech and clutched his shirt from his chest. ‘It was tea, not pee.’
‘It was bloody hot!’ Martin looked up, po-faced. Appropriately, Celia thought. ‘She could have seriously injured me, the silly cow. Come on, Celia, see sense and come out before something awful happens.’
‘It already did, Martin. You happened.’
‘Fine. Have it your own way,’ Martin snapped, ‘let’s see if the police can persuade you, shall we?’ With great fanfare, he flicked open his new mobile, and whoosh, in an instant it was gone—swept away on a cloud of fire extinguisher foam.
‘Yessss!’ Celia did a little twirl on the landing. ‘Well done, Eleanor!’
‘That is it!’ Martin shouted through a face-full of suds. ‘I’m going to find a public telephone. The police will be here in minutes, Celia. You’d better get out under your own steam, while you still can!’
‘Do what you like, Martin,’ she called, as the two men in suits climbed from their vehicle, now parked behind Martin’s Jaguar. They’d had the good sense to stay out of the line of fire until now. ‘We’re not budging. We’re not even prepared to talk until we get assurances no contracts have been exchanged!’
Let him chew on that for a while, Celia thought as she turned away. Damn! The bailiffs! She realised they could split up at any moment and bolted downstairs, missing the last step from the bottom to land in a heap.
‘Ooh bloody, bloody Martin.’ Celia crawled up the banister and limped on, sure at least one of the bailiffs would be trying to gain entry at the back by now. ‘Batten down the hatches,’ she shouted, stumbling into the kitchen.
‘All battened m’dear. Blighters won’t get in here,’ the colonel assured her, walking stick ready to thrash any hand that might nudge through the cat-flap.
‘Mum,’ Luke yelled from the front hall, ‘it’s Alex.’
Oh no. Celia’s heart plummeted. Why, why, why, if he cared about any of them, couldn’t he have turned a blind eye, bunked off work, done anything but be involved in their eviction?
‘Where?’ She raced back toward the front hall, ready to dish out the same treatment to him as they had Martin, except, um, it seemed someone already had.
‘Here,’ said Alex, meeting her in the hall looking disarmingly Colin Firth-ish. Shirt plastered to his chest, his new shoes sloshing water as he walked, his expression one of total exasperation.
‘Who let you in?!’ Celia stared at him flabbergasted.
‘Luke,’ Alex supplied. ‘On the condition I told the bailiffs to back off and in the hope I wouldn’t drown, I imagine.’
‘Good God!’ The colonel blinked his monocle-free eye. ‘Not raining is it, lad?’
Alex sighed. ‘Torrentially. You might want to point out to May that hosing down policemen isn’t the best way to proceed if she wants to avoid a visit to the station.’
ABOUT SHERYL
Sheryl Browne grew up in Birmingham, UK, where she studied Art & Design. A partner in her own business, a mother and a foster parent to disabled dogs, Sheryl has also been writing for many years, the road along the way often bumpy. She was therefore thrilled beyond words when Safkhet Publishing loved her writing style and commissioned her to write her debut novel.
RECIPES FOR DISASTER – combining deliciously different and fun recipes with sexilicious romantic comedy, is garnering some fabulous reviews and was shortlisted for the Innovation in Romantic Fiction Festival of Romance Award. Sheryl has since been offered a further three-book contract under the Safkhet Publishing Soul imprint. SOMEBODY TO LOVE, a romantic comedy centring around a single father’s search for love and his autistic little boy, launched July 1. WARRANT FOR LOVE, Blackmail, lies, adultery, entrapment – three couples in a twisting story that resolves perfectly – released August 1 and A LITTLE BIT OF MADNESS –White Knight in Blue rescues the Harbour Rest Home – releases Valentine’s Day 2013.
LINKS:
Romantic Novelists’ Association
Sheryl is a loveahappyendingfeatured Author and Editor.
Twitter: @sherylbrowne
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