Tuesday, November 11, 2014

His Frozen Heart by Nancy Straight Giveaway & Excerpt


Author Nancy Straight will be touring His Frozen Heart from November 3-14, 2014. Join us for reviews and more!


Title: His Frozen Heart
Author: Nancy Straight
Publisher: Self-published
Age Group: NA
Genre: Romantic Suspense

Blurb:
For best friends, Candy and Libby, money is tight with hardly enough to cover their living expenses. When they are desperate for grocery money, the girls bet on their pool playing skills to add to their income.

A simple wager on a quiet winter evening has devastating results, with a stalker determined to kill them both. With Libby in the hospital after a vicious attack, and Candy being pursued by the same stalker, she vows to find Libby's attacker.

What she finds is Dave, an old friend with a secret past filled with misfortune. Will Dave’s past provide the answer to all of Candy’s problems or will it become Candy’s worst nightmare realized?


His Frozen Heart – Excerpt #2

“So I was out on a date with a girl just after graduation.  We had both landed a couple fake ID’s and were wearing them out.  I was lit, so was she.  We thought it would be fun to go out and get tattoos.”  Dave paused, as if assessing my ability to keep up with the conversation.
I let his words marinate for a second.  He had been on a date, he was drunk, and he thought it would be fun to get a tattoo.  The pieces fell into place – he had a woman’s name tattooed on him and didn’t want me to see it.  From his desire to keep it hidden from me, it was probably an “Eternal Love” or sappy “Love of my Life” design.  Jealousy flared for no good reason as I felt my eyes narrow on him.  My reaction was absurd.  Who cared if another woman’s name was permanently written on his chest? 
Dave studied me for a minute before deciding, “I can tell from your reaction you’re going to see it and think it’s creepy.  So I’ll just do us both a favor and keep my shirt on.”
My posture stiffened.  What kind of idiot gets the name of a girl he hardly knows tattooed on his chest?  The words were out in a flash, “So what was her name?”
Dave leaned in questioningly, “Who?”
“The girl you went and got a tattoo with?”
Confused, he answered, “Jill.  I still see her every now and again.  The guy she’s dating owns that purple custom downstairs.”
Now it was my words that were confused.  He had tattooed her name on his chest, and now her boyfriend was one of his customers?  “That’s got to be awkward.”
He shook his head, “No, not really.  She and I only went out the one time.”
“Wait, you just said you see her every now and again.  What’s that mean?”
He smiled as if he had to explain a horrifically complicated concept to a moron, “I mean when her boyfriend comes into the shop – I see her then.  I don’t hook up with her or anything.”
“Oh.”  I wanted to be okay with it.  I’ve made some tragically stupid decisions – not stupid enough that any of them were permanently etched on my body – but some things I wasn’t too happy about after I had done them.  We both lay there awkwardly on the bed.  His hand reached for mine.  I didn’t push it away, but I wasn’t overly eager to pick up where we had left off just to be shut down again.  Curiosity got the better of me when I rolled over on my side and said, “Show me.”
Dave grinned.  “I’m a betting man.  And I’m betting that if I show you my ink there are only a few possible outcomes.  Most of them are bad,” he paused.  A charming grin that reached all the way to his eyes studied me until he continued, “I’m not willing to risk it.  My shirt stays on.”
His summation of the possible outcomes made me giggle.  “What if I promise not to react one way or the other after you show me?”
Dave’s head cocked to the side in consideration, but answered, “Not good enough.”
“What if I promise no matter what it looks like, I know that it was done when you weren’t in your right mind?”
He smiled, not the sweet grin from before, but the perfect wide smile of a Cheshire cat.  “I didn’t say I wasn’t in my right mind.  I said I was drunk.”
“Whatever.  Show me.” 
Dave’s hand began gliding up my arm.  Sternly I accused, “You’re purposely delaying.  Either show me now, or I’ll think of all the worst possible tattoos you could have.  If it’s really bad, I promise to wake up before you every morning and color it in with a black Sharpie.” 
“Every morning?”  I worried that I had said something wrong and began thinking of something clever to say to cover up the fact that I would like the idea of a sleepover at his place for more than just a couple nights.  His lips began nuzzling my neck, whispering kisses just under my jaw.  Heat spread over my skin as my body made me more acutely aware of his touch.  His breath was labored and with each new sensation, I fell a little deeper under his spell.  Dave turned toward me, hiking his leg up over my hip and pressing his body firmly to mine.  “Just promise me you won’t think I’m creepy.” 
Creepy?  Images of skulls, zombies, even a swastika came to mind, but I needed to know.  “I promise.”
Dave eased off of me, boosting himself into a seated position on the other side of the bed.  He shook his head as if having an internal argument with himself.  I faked disinterest, taking my boots off and setting them beside the bed.  He turned away from me, his muscular back facing me, and then in one quick motion removed his shirt and proceeded to fold it into a six by six square laid neatly beside him.  Nearly a minute passed before I heard an audible sigh and he turned toward me.
As my eyes took in the tattoo on his chest, my mouth gaped.  Even after he had prepared me, I wasn’t prepared.  My breathing sped up and tingles spread from my head to my toes.  It wasn’t creepy.  It wasn’t even remotely offensive.  It was the most unexpected cartoon tattoo I had ever seen. 

   
Author Bio:

I LOVE Starbucks’ White Mocha Latte and Mountain Dew, (but not together). I have a lead foot so I set cruise control when I drive, even in 25 MPH zones. I almost never win when I play Angry Birds, but have my 9 year old close, so he can clear the hard levels for me. I grew up on a farm and am opposed to eating fresh chicken (not opposed to meat - just opposed to any meat that was alive a few hours before lunch). I am a huge fan of the show, Big Bang Theory, on CBS. I share my life with two fantastic sons, three rotten dogs and a husband that I adore.

Twitter: @NancyStraight
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4114202.Nancy_Straight

GIVEAWAY:
$100 Amazon gift card, 10 signed paperbacks, 10 audiobooks, and 20 ebooks

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