Please welcome my pal
J.D. Faver (http://www.jdfaver.com/) to
SlingWords. She has a new book out -- the third in her
The Edge of Texas series. Here she is to tell you all about it.
Take it away, J.D.
Thanks so much for inviting me to your wonderful blog, Joan. I am so excited to announce the release the third novel in my romantic thriller series:
Bad Vibes: The Edge of Texas ~Book 3 (Romantic Thriller)
.
About The Series
The setting for this series is about 25 miles north of the Mexican border on the lower Texas coast. South Padre Island is a beautiful semi-tropical resort separated from the mainland and the small coastal village of Port Isabel by the two-and-a-half mile Queen Isabella Causeway spanning the Intracoastal Waterway.
This area is a paradise for everyone who loves the water and water-related sports, nature and just relaxing. Visit the
South Padre website, and you will see some very colorful boat sails in the background. These are Hobie Cats (catamarans). I earned my freckles racing 16’ Hobies, and South Padre was one of our regular regatta stops. Much fun and worth all the subsequent trips to the dermatologist for freckle checks.
Bad Medicine:The Edge of Texas~Bk 1
was the first of this romantic thriller series, and it’s
free today. Bad Medicine was followed by
Bad Karma: The Edge of Texas-Book 2
.
About Bad Vibes
Bad Vibes picks right up where
Bad Karma leaves off, plunging one of the most charming characters into danger. Deputy Darla Calhoun is suffering a major heartache. Lonely and bristling with anger over her husband’s financial betrayal and suicide, Darla is carrying on in her usual plucky manner, holding her head high and trying to be the best mom to her twin 4-year-old sons as well as a valuable member of the tight-knit law-enforcement team under the leadership of Sheriff Rafael Solis.
Darla arrests a vagrant, but after he’s cleaned up, she discovers a hunky, hard-body with a smoldering gaze hidden beneath the filthy rags. He turns out to be a federal agent working undercover. He’s after a gang of human traffickers using the Intracoastal Waterway to bring sex slaves into the United States from Mexico. Rafael assigns Darla as liaison officer to work with the feds, bringing her face-to-face with the “Iceman”, Mike Burke, the undercover agent she arrested. Darla, Mike and his partner tear up and down the Intracoastal Waterway in pursuit of the human traffickers, but when two local women disappear, the search becomes personal.
Excerpt
This takes place just after Mike is jolted by the fact that the sheriff’s liaison officer assigned to his team is none other than the pretty female deputy who busted him the day before. Not a fan of working with local law enforcement, he’s even less thrilled to be working with a woman.
Mike Burke shouldered the two green duffle bags and hoisted them into the rubber rigid hull boat that was to return him to the cabin cruiser with the sheriff’s “man.”
Another tall, Hispanic deputy, beefier than the Sheriff, manned the craft. He seemed to hold Darla in high regard, chatting affably with her during the short trip.
The air was damp to begin with and droplets of water hit Mike’s face as the boat thudded over the water. In a short time, the rigid hull bumped against the side of the larger craft and the deputy handed Darla on board.
“You be careful now, Darla. You hear me?”
She leaned down to grab his shoulder and gave it a squeeze. “If I don’t come back, I’m willing my kids to you, Adriano.”
He grinned, patting her hand. “My wife thinks we’ve got something going on anyway.” Adriano tossed the duffle bags aboard and turned to Mike, a Jekyll and Hyde transformation coming over him.He jammed a finger into Mike’s chest. “If Darla doesn’t come back in mint condition, I will kill you. Got that, Iceman?” He glared at Mike, his teeth gritted together in a threatening grimace.
Mike maintained his cool gaze, thinking that this big bull of a deputy could do some damage, even to a man of his own size. “You just threatened a Federal Agent.”
Adriano gave him a mirthless smile. “Good. You did get my message.”
Mike nodded. As he climbed aboard, he wondered what was so special about Darla Calhoun, other than her pretty face and fine body. He’d noticed that she was no longer wearing her wedding band. He figured that she’d taken it off for the assignment. It was probably on her nightstand at home. But still, he had to wonder.
Freddy’s eyes lit up when he saw Darla and he grinned from ear-to-ear. He took the hand she offered in both of his. Mike wondered if Freddy was going to slobber all over it, but his partner managed to control his drooling.
Mike did a mental eye roll. This is going to be a nightmare.
“Where am I going to sleep?” she asked.
Mike bit back the answer that sprang to mind. “There are two bunks below deck. You can sleep in which ever one is empty at the time.”
She gave him a look that was somewhere between a smile and a smirk. “No, you will show me which bunk is mine, and which bunk is to remain mine for the duration of this assignment. I don’t care where you sleep.”
Freddy was about to wet himself, he was trying so hard to keep from laughing. “I’ll show you the bunks, Darla,” he said. “You can take your pick. Mike and I can share the other. One of us will be on watch at all times anyway.”
Darla nodded and followed Freddy below deck.
Mike swallowed something that felt like a boulder at the back of his throat. He stood, gripping the railing, sorry now that he’d given up cigarettes.
In a short time, Freddy returned topside, a big grin on his face. “Sweet!”
“Shut up!” Mike snarled.
“Our girlfriend is getting settled in. I may have to brush my teeth.”
“We’ve got a job to do,” Mike bit out.
“Right and it just got sweeter.” Freddy leaned closer. “Do you know what she’s got in those bags?”
Mike snorted and gave him a look intended to denote disinterest. “Her lace teddies and her collection of Victoria’s Secret catalogues?”
“She’s got her clothes all rolled up in one and the other--” He thumped Mike on the shoulder. “It’s full of weapons and ammo. She is so my kind of girl.”
When Darla came on deck, she was wearing shorts and a cotton shirt tied at the waist. She looked the part of a tourist on a rented fishing boat.
A giant fist slammed into Mike’s gut, He lifted one side of his mouth as a form of reluctant approval. “So, are you going to fish?”
“If need be,” she said. “Don’t worry. I can bait my own hook.”
Mike digested this, wondering briefly what she was going to use for bait.
Final Word From J.D.
I hope everyone has a chance to visit South Padre Island and the Lower Rio Grande Valley. In the meantime, you can visit through my series and keep up with the happenings. My goal is to entertain… and keep you up nights. ;-)
Takeaway Truth
Thanks, J.D. Good luck with
Bad Vibes: The Edge of Texas ~Book 3 (Romantic Thriller).
When the book opens, you think you know all about what has happened and why. As you read, you're wondering, since this is the first 10% of the book, how the story is going to fill the rest of the book when you already know what happened, how, and why. Don't despair. Lee Child is masterful in building a story to a climax that surprises yet at the same time seems very logical. I suspected the outcome, but maybe that's because I'm a writer and I read with more of an analytical brain than the average reader.
won't disappoint either.Since a cold front just hit Texas, this book provided an appropriately cold setting, making me appreciate the mild Texas cold weather when contrasted with the South Dakota setting of 61 Hours.
