I am thrilled to share the latest release from my friend, Marissa Garner. Marissa and I ‘met’ years ago when I was coordinator for the Finally a Bride contest for unpublished authors. Marissa and I hit it off and remained in touch. She’s a fabulous author, and she has worked hard for many years to realize her dream of becoming a published author. I was editor for her debut novel, The Marriage Trap, through The Wild Rose Press. And now, she has a new book out wiht Grand Central Publishing, and it sounds amazing. Huge congratulations to Marissa!
GIVEAWAY: Visit Facebook or website to enter $25 Amazon e-Gift Card giveaway
BLURB:
Hot agents on explosive cases in the FBI Heat series: For San Diego’s elite FBI agents, risking their lives is standard procedure when it comes to capturing the city’s most dangerous criminals—but falling in love is the greatest risk of all.
Catching bad guys in San Diego’s underworld isn’t just FBI Special Agent Ben Alfren’s job, it’s his life. He doesn’t have time for a serious relationship, doesn’t want one either. So when he meets his sexy new neighbor, Amber Jollett, he has nothing more in mind than unwinding with a glass of wine, a romantic walk on the beach…and maybe a hot fling.
But Amber is more than he bargained for. Hunted by an obsessed ex-boyfriend, the fiercely independent nurse chooses fight over flight for the chance at a future with her hot, blue-eyed neighbor. When she gets caught up in Ben’s plans to rescue five kidnapped women, their lives get entangled and their attraction flares into passion. But they’ll learn that in this dangerous game of cat and mouse, real love can save—or doom—them . . .
EXCERPT:
The man in the gray hoodie was watching her. Amber Jollett couldn’t see his face, but he was the right height and build. Even from the opposite street corner, the intensity of his stare bored into her. She shivered despite the sunny morning.
Her focus never wavered as she slid behind two people. The man’s head turned with her movement.
The traffic light changed, and the crowd surged forward. Amber’s hand dug into her purse until it gripped reassuring metal. Weaving between bodies, she moved to the outside edge to put as much distance as possible between her and the man before the other pedestrians passed on the street. With each step, her heart beat faster.
Halfway across, the man reached up, pulled back the hood…and smiled. Straight black hair. Almond-shaped eyes. Asian features.
Not him.
Amber’s knees went weak with relief.
Not him. Not this time.
A car horn blared. She jumped and spun around to find a taxi idling a few feet away, its driver gesturing impatiently for her to get out of the way. Waving an apology, she scurried across the street. She found a spot out of the pedestrian flow next to the corner of a building. She needed a moment to quiet her nerves.
She braced her hands on the knees of her pastel pink nurse’s scrubs, inhaled deep breaths, and released them slowly. Fear began to fade as calm returned.
Damn you, Jeremy Nelson. I want my life back.
Amber grimaced and closed her eyes. It was starting all over again. Two years had passed since she’d broken up with her obsessed boyfriend, but he continued to stalk her. Restraining orders and calls to law enforcement had proved useless. Now she alone was responsible for her safety. She’d lived in Coronado, across the bay from San Diego, for only two months. But two or three months was the amount of time it normally took for Jeremy to find her. From now on, she would have to be on constant alert. The worst part was imagining him wearing every hoodie, hiding in every shadow, or following in every vehicle. Usually, she didn’t wait for an actual sighting—that would be too late. No, she couldn’t hesitate. Once her instincts told her he was closing in, she had to move on. She cringed. How much longer will I be hunted?
BUY LINKS:
Amazon: http://amzn.to/1PjQLGK
iTunes: http://apple.co/1SpIDSJ
Kobo: http://bit.ly/21m7Zao
BIO:
Marissa Garner is a wife, writer, chocoholic, and animal lover, not necessarily in that order. As a little girl, she cut pictures of people out of her mother’s magazines and turned them into characters in her simple stories. Now she writes edgy romantic thrillers, steamy contemporary romance, and sexy paranormal romantic suspense. Her stories will titillate your mind as well as your libido. She lives in sunny Southern California with her husband, but enjoys traveling from Athens to Anchorage to Acapulco and many locations in between.
WHERE TO FIND MARISSA:
Newsletter: http://bit.ly/1NTfT19
Website: www.marissagarner.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarissaGarnerAuthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/M_Garner_Author
Pinterest: https://pinterest.com/garner1819/
Author Alicia Dean 
Thanks, Alicia, for the lovely introduction. It’s been a long, winding road since that contest for sure. Another contest is how I found my Grand Central editor, or maybe I should say it’s how she found me. That connection led to a three-book deal, which is the FBI Heat series. I’m so excited to get it started with HUNTED. Thanks so much for having me here today. I hope all your readers will enter my giveaway.
(BTW How did you get it to snow on your website? Do you think it would work in SoCal? LOL)
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You are most welcome. Yes, it has been a long and winding road. I’m so proud of you! Here is how I got the snow…LOL. It might work in SoCal 🙂
Go to your dashboard.
Navigate to Settings → General.
Check the box next to “Show falling snow on this blog.”
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Whoo hoo! It worked in SoCal. Closest I’ll probably be to snow all winter. Thanks!
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Fantastic excerpt, Marissa. Wishing you much success with this story.
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Thanks, Leah! I love writing romantic thrillers.
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Wow, I love the story of ‘how you met’ and Marissa’s publishing story. I love to read how-I-got-published stories! Hunted sounds like the beginning of a fabulous series! (and I love the snow…on here..not in real life 😉
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Thanks, Maureen! I also think it’s pretty cool how Alicia and I have stayed connected in different ways over the years. I hope you enjoy Hunted and the rest of the series.
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Oh, Lordy! I love stalker stories. So creepy and scary! Sounds like a good one.
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Thanks, Kara! I think it’s cool that the title has two connections to the story. First, Amber is hunted by her stalker, and Ben is hunting as a good guy for the kidnapped women.
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I love the snow, too! And the post looks great, Alicia! I’m really looking forward to this series! I love a little sexy cloak and dagger! Bring it on! Thanks for sharing your talent, Marissa!
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Thanks, MJ! Definitely cloak and dagger. My editor thinks my subject matter is pushing the envelope for romantic suspense, but hey, I think romance readers can handle “edgy.” HUNTED deals with human trafficking and a stalker. TARGETED has a terrorist plot for a suicide bomb at an urban sporting event (sound like Paris and the soccer stadium?). And WANTED involves the sabotage of a nuclear power plant. Am I too dark? LOL
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Wishing you the best, Marissa.
Thanks, Alicia, for the directions on snow–as long as it doesn’t snow here for real LOL
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Thanks, Diane! The snow thing is cool, isn’t it? I put it on my website too. So glad it will stop automatically because I’d probably never figure out how to make it stop, and it’d be snowing until July. Ugh.
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Great excerpt, Marissa! I was more than happy to settle in for a good long read LOL. This series is sure to be a winner for you. Looking forward to reading more of this book. 🙂
You can keep the snow, Alicia :D…I’m already pining for Summer…if we ever have a real summer here in the UK, that is.
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Thanks, Monique! I hope you enjoy HUNTED. I’m pretty much weather-spoiled here in SoCal. I do like to visit snow though.
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Isn’t it amazing the friendships we develop even though we may never meet in person? The internet has proven just how small the world really is… Congrats again Marissa!
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Thanks, Pam. I absolutely agree with you.
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I arrived a little late for this party but I loved the “how we met story” and your new release sounds like something that must go on my TBR list. Linda Nightingale
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Thanks, Linda! I’d be honored to be on your TBR list.
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Great post and interesting excerpt. Good luck with sales. Thanks, Alicia, for the snow! 🙂
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Thanks, Judy! Would this be called snow flurries?
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What a set up for conflict! Living in NO. VA, I knew many folks who worked for the FBI–a dedicated and fierce bunch! Good luck with all your projects.
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Thanks, Susan! We lived in Reston, VA for three years. Was an awesome experience in many ways. I think the FBI gets a bum rap in a lot of books/movies, so I do my best to show them in a positive light. The hard part has been researching them. For my second book, they quit answering my questions about how they’d handle a dirty bomb terrorist plot. After Paris and San Bernardino, they probably wouldn’t even respond.
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