Last month, my friend, colleague, and fellow author Stacy Eaton published a disturbing, emotionally captivating, and very important book about domestic violence. Although a novel, the authenticity of the story and its characters shine through. Perhaps this is because Stacy is not just a talented author; she’s also a police officer who has confronted domestic violence on the beat. Her book, Whether I’ll Live or Die, is featured here today along with an in-depth author interview and an excerpt. But first, here’s a little bit about the story…
“It sounded so simple in theory; ready… aim… fire… but what actually transpired was so much more.”
Officer Nicole Nolan holds the gun steady in her hands, knowing that life will be forever altered once she pulls the trigger. Her position as a small town police officer is to protect those who cannot protect themselves. It is her job, her career and her life.
Amanda stands where protection does not exist. With several failed relationships behind her, Amanda turns a blind eye to the possessiveness Josh displays in order to soothe her desperate need to be loved. As the mental abuse turns violent, Amanda must deal with the denial and embarrassment of being a victim once again. With her emotional and physical health sitting on the edge, she must fight to regain control of her life.
A gripping story with one final destination, but will it be life or death?
My interview with Stacy…
BT: Welcome to my blog, Stacy. It’s great to have you here and thanks for answering some questions about your powerful new book, Whether I’ll Live or Die. It’s quite the riveting read!
SE: Thank you Bonnie! I’m happy to be here and I know you are in the process of reading Whether I’ll Live or Die, it is a very intense read, I know. It sounds like you are enjoying it – I’m very glad to hear that.
BT: I definitely am. Now I know what a “nail biter” really is! You usually write paranormal novels that feature vampires as characters. What made you decide to switch genres for this book and tackle the problem of domestic violence?
SE: I really enjoy writing paranormal novels; it gives me a chance to use some serious creativity. I work in law enforcement so I see a lot of violence, especially domestic violence. I also have some previous personal experience with it. You could say it is a pet peeve of mine.
Writing WILoD gave me a chance to try and reach out to victims, family members, survivors and those who know nothing about it to see what it could be like first hand. I wanted victims to know there is help available. I wanted survivors to know I was proud of them and I wanted those who don’t know anything about it to learn not to turn their head from it – but to step forward and help someone who might need it.
BT: Was there a special case (or a series of cases) that you dealt with that inspired you to write this book?
SE: There is not a specific case. The story is a collaboration of many incidents that I have witnessed or been part of. It also takes tidbits of stuff that I have seen and twists them around to make them extreme in some cases to prove a point or to give the strongest visual. And like I mentioned earlier, I have some personal experience in this that I was able to base feelings and emotions off of.
BT: You are a police officer in Pennsylvania, just like your character, Nicole. What things do you have in common with her? What are the differences between you?
SE: lol… Since I write all of my books in the law enforcement world, I get asked this question quite often about the female lead characters.
Nicole is a very strong character. She believes in doing whatever she has to, to help someone. She likes to have control of the situations around her and she doesn’t let people push her around. In other words, she’s just like me.
As for what is different, well… I don’t know that there is much about her that doesn’t reflect the way I deal with situations and the way I feel. She was very easy to write since it was like writing from the real first person, me.
BT: Did you see any of yourself in Amanda, the other lead character who must overcome abusive men in her life?
SE: Once upon a time… I was like Amanda. I let other people affect my thoughts and decisions. I wasn’t a very strong person when I was young so I could relate to how Amanda was as a young woman. For the most part, she was also easy to write, although putting the emotions and actions of the abuse she deals with was very difficult at times.
BT: What kind of responses are you seeing from readers of Whether I’ll Live or Die that are different from your other books?
SE: The people who have read WILoD and have taken the time to reach out to me have all told me that they loved the story. It is heart wrenching at times, painful at others and they have all said they could feel the emotions intensely. Some have commented that they wanted to smack Amanda upside the head, although they could understand where she was coming from.
For many people, this story has been their first time viewing the inside of a domestic violence situation. They have commented on how lucky they are to have not had to deal with it. Others, who had dealt with it, have said thank you for putting it into words for others to see and understand.
It is a very intense novel, a lot of raw emotion. Many graphic scenes, while not gory, are graphic enough to show you the details that can be hard to imagine if you have never seen it firsthand. From everyone who has read the book, they have all sincerely enjoyed it, and for that I am thankful.
BT: I have to admit, I understand people’s frustration with Amanda, and it’s sad to know that there are many women out there just like her. You’ve gained some attention from some groups that help survivors of abuse. Can you tell us a little bit about that?
SE: Recently I have been talking to the National Domestic Violence Hotline and they have asked me to do a blog post talking about why I wrote the novel. I’m working on that now and hope to have it published on their blog soon. I have also been working with another local Domestic Violence Agency that is reviewing my novel and we are in talks about me coming to possibly visit with victims and talk to them. All of this humbles me greatly.
BT: Do you plan on returning to the paranormal genre now that you’ve branched out, or has writing this book opened up a new direction for you?
SE: Oh yeah! Like I mentioned earlier, I love writing in the paranormal world and using the creativity that I have to build different lives. I am currently working on the third book of the “My Blood Runs Blue” series. I am also working on a guardian angel novel and I have two other paranormal novels that I am toying with.
That is not to say I won’t be stepping back out and back into general fiction. I do have a contemporary romance that keeps things real that I have been working on for over a year. It’s about two-thirds complete, so maybe I can get that finished this year.
My mind doesn’t stay quiet very often and I tend to work on the novels that are talking to me at the time. I get ideas for other novels, but I have to tell myself to stop coming up with ideas and focus on what I have in front of me, lol…
BT: Wow, I’m feeling quite slothful now! Congratulations on all your success and thanks again for visiting with me. You are welcome back any time!
SE: Bonnie – Thank you so much for having me and for letting me talk about Whether I’ll Live or Die. It is a very important story and one I hope many people will take the time to sit and read. It’s been a pleasure visiting! Thank you again.
And now for an excerpt…
It wasn’t until we were on our way home that we broached the subject of my marriage again. Angie brought up a question that had been hovering around in the back of my mind most of the day.
“What are you going to say to Josh?” she asked me quietly as we drove along the highway. I gazed out the window beside me, watching the scenery flash past quickly, reminding me of the memories that had crossed my mind the night before, a rapid succession of images that began to blur together if I didn’t blink.
“I’m not sure,” I answered the window as I continued to view the passing world outside. “I’ll figure it out when the time comes.”
Turning up the volume on the radio, Angie let it go at that. We sang to the music for the rest of the ride home. As we turned onto the street, my heart stopped when I saw his car in the driveway next to mine. “Damn,” I muttered under my breath.
“You want me to go in with you?” Angie said as she pulled over in front of the house. “I can if you want me to.”
I smiled, “No, that’s alright.” I thanked her for a great afternoon and for being there for me. I promised not to push her away again and stepped out of the car. I picked up the bag with the single item I had purchased in it and made my way to the front door.
I didn’t take my keys out as I stepped up, figuring Josh would have left the door open when he got home. I glanced back at Angie, waved, then reached for the doorknob as she pulled away.
The door swung quickly open, and I lost my balance, stumbling into the foyer. I hadn’t even recovered my balance when I felt hands push me against the wall. The door slammed shut. I cringed as the door vibrated the wall next to me.
“Where the hell have you been?” Josh yelled.
I turned so my back was to the wall. I could smell alcohol coming off of him and his eyes looked aggressive and glassy.
“I was out shopping with Angie,” I responded meekly to his question.
“Bullshit! Who were you with?” He got in my face and my knees started shaking.
“I was with Angie,” I repeated quietly.
His forearm immediately came to my throat, forcing my head back to the wall. I tried to turn my head to release the pressure, but he held me too tightly against the drywall.
“You better not be cheating on me! Who were you with?” Spit landed on my face as he shouted. A buzzing grew in my ears as the oxygen was denied to my lungs. My heart slammed against my chest and I tried to push him away from me, but didn’t have the strength to compete with his alcohol-induced anger.
“Who were you with, Amanda?” He pressed harder on my neck and I felt things moving around inside. Breathing became even more difficult.
“Angie,” I squeaked out.
Suddenly, he released my throat, punching a hole in the wall beside me. I cringed away from him as far as I could get, sucking air into my hot lungs, the sound of bees still in my ears. I didn’t move any further until he turned and walked away. My shoulders slumped, and I bit my lip to keep the tears back.
“Where have you been?” He flopped down on the sofa and put his feet out on the coffee table. Dirt fell off his boot on to the wood. My head felt foggy, I couldn’t remember what he’d just asked me.
“What?” I licked my bottom lip, tasting my own blood from biting down so hard.
His boots came back to the floor, and he stood up in a swift movement. I froze for just a second as he turned to look at me, I felt like a deer in the headlights of an approaching Mack truck. He started to move, and I decided I didn’t need to be against the wall anymore. I tried to walk towards the kitchen to get away from him.
He was too fast. He grabbed me by my long blond hair, yanking me to a stop. I reached up to try and release the tension he had on me. He yanked me back to him, and I smashed into his chest, almost knocking us both over.
“Where the hell have you been?” he screamed at me as he twisted my hair down. I fell to my knees to ease the pressure.
“We were at the mall. Josh, let go, you’re hurting me!” The pain in my head was like someone had sliced me with a knife. He twisted the long hair around his hand and yanked. I screamed and he flung me away from him. I fell to the floor and lay there, one hand touching the soft carpet under me and the other touching my head where the hair had been pulled. If I hadn’t been touching it, I would have sworn the hair had been pulled out, but the soft locks were still at my fingertips.
I not only heard the sound of his boots on the floor, but I felt the vibration of them as he got closer. My body trembled. He put one knee into my back and pushed my neck down with his hand, forcing my face into the carpet.
“You ever, and I mean ever, cheat on me, Amanda, and I will kill you. You got that? I swear to God if I ever see you with another man, I will kill him and then I will kill you,” his cold voice slithered over me. I had never heard such venom come from him. The carpet fibers dug into my cheek, my cheekbone sharing the pain with my nose. Moisture ran down my cheek as my nose began to bleed again.
“You got that?” he shouted one last time and pushed down on me with his knee and hand before standing back up.
I didn’t speak, only nodded my head slightly into the carpet.
Buy Whether I’ll Live or Die at these links:
Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/whether-ill-live-or-die-stacy-eaton/1111941743?ean=2940014655798
Get to know Stacy Eaton and her books:
Stacy is a full-time Police Officer who enjoys crime scene investigation above all else. She also owns a business that deals with helping people get the awareness out for the causes they care most about. She is a mother of two and her husband is also in law enforcement.
Website: www.stacyeaton.com
Twitter: @StacySEaton
Blog: http://stacyeatonauthor.blogspot.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Stacy-Eaton/191880767522183
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4826711.Stacy_Eaton
Video Trailer Link to You Tube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qg6hnujjhmk&feature=youtu.be
August 21st, 2012 at 8:24 am
Bonnie – Thank you so much for allowing me to visit! You are a wonderful author and friend!!!
August 21st, 2012 at 3:52 pm
Sounds like it’s a fantastic read and if it highlights a subject such as this and brings it to people’s attention so they know what to look out for either themselves or in their friends and neighbours, it’s a wonderful thing. A great interview Bonnie and I really enjoyed your answers Stacy. Good luck with the book. Kim x
August 22nd, 2012 at 2:22 pm
Fabulous interview, congratulations to Stacy! The book sounds intriguing and the excerpt really drew me in even though this isn’t necessarily something I’d normally read. I’ve added it to my TBR, thanks for showcasing Stacy today, Bonnie! x
August 22nd, 2012 at 8:00 pm
Nicky – Thank you so much! So glad you stopped by and I hope you do enjoy it one you get to it on your TBR pile!