Hello to you, and welcome to my take over on LBAS. I have to be honest, I’m a little overwhelmed with all the support I have received from fellow authors with the release of Alana, my first publication. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Jessica Stevens and I thought I would stop by here and tell you a little bit about myself and my book.
I was born in Northern Ireland and moved to the UK when I was only 6 weeks old. I am married to a fantastic man and we have three beautiful (challenging at times) children, ranging from nine years to 23 months. Yes I am in denial about the nearly two thing, he is my baby.
Growing up I was always writing songs and poems. The way words were used to tell a story or express a feeling always stuck with me. I had such admiration for people who were so expressive with their words.
I started writing a few years ago, dabbling with stories and taking my time to get to know my voice. It was only when I started writing for Nano WriMo that I embarked on a story that stuck. I mean really took over. I cannot remember what actually sparked off the story, but I can tell you it has certainly changed from what I thought was going to happen. Once the story started, the characters took over and I had no real direction.
I can tell you that Angie Harmon is the inspiration for Alana. I am a big fan of Rizzoli and Isles, and I started writing Alana when the first series of this started on U.K. T.V. When I saw her on T.V I was like “Oh my god, that’s Alana!”
And now, a few years later, it is being published. This is my cover:
Alana Knight has the power to control the minds of animals,
including shifters, who want her dead. A tragic past has meant that Alana has
spent most of her life in hiding. Concealed as a conservationist she’s helped
reintroduce wolves back into the wild. A dead body on her land proves her
enemies have found her. She has no choice but to call on her protectors.
Detective Nick Valaskin has been secretly watching over
Alana for years. He had vowed to protect her since coming of age. When she
calls the police about a dead body on her grounds, Nick takes no chances and
goes to her protection. Face to face with his childhood companion, it’s not
long before passion burns between them. It puts Alana’s life in more danger
than Nick could have imagined. Torn between love and a promise Nick struggles,
but together they face Alana’s tragic past in the hope of preventing history
from repeating itself.
“Hello,
Miss Knight,” he called to her softly. She looked up at his dark, sunken eyes
and couldn’t help but pity the man, having worked through the night, and still
having to come and speak to her.
“Can
I get you a coffee, Detective?” she asked him with a nervous smile.
He
looked up at her as she stepped down off the stool and headed round the counter
to the kettle, already anticipating his answer to be “yes.”
“Coffee
would be great, thanks,” he replied, returning her smile. “I do need to ask you
some questions, Miss Knight, about the body and the break-in to your cabin. I
don’t want to keep you in the dark here, for your own safety.” He paused, so
she turned around and met his gaze. She tucked her long, wavy black hair behind
her ear, the way she always did when nerves got the better of her.
“We have found evidence that the two incidents
are related,” Nick said, and the sugar container dropped from her hand,
spilling its contents all over the side.
Alana
was shaking, but she tried to clear up the mess. “I’m sorry,” she muttered. “It
was just a shock, that’s all. I’m fine.” She tried to convince him as he put
his arms around her. It surprised her how safe she felt in his arms. Nick then
nodded to PC Cox to finish the coffee.
She
walked with him as he led her out of the kitchen and into the front room.
The
room had dark oak wooden floors, which were broken up by a very large, silvery
cream shag pile rug, neatly placed in front of a small fireplace. The soft,
inviting cream-colored sofa was placed opposite the fire, with a large bay
window looking out at the access lane to her property. The walls were cream and
the décor broken up with red curtains and cushions for the sofa, and a red–colored beanbag resting at the side of the fireplace.
Around
the room there were other red furnishing, lamps and ornaments in the alcoves,
but on the whole, it was a very minimalistic room. Usually the room made Alana
relax, but that didn’t happen today.
Nick
let her go as she sat on the sofa. She sat with her legs tucked up under her as
she rested her head back.
If
she was scared before, she was shitting herself now. She had known there was
more to the body being on her land when Aatu had filled her mind with images of
the murdering wolf confused with images of a man. Her fears were further
confirmed when she returned to find the cabin broken into. The fact the
Detective had found evidence to link the two was just the icing on the cake.
And now she couldn’t contact her father.
PC
Cox entered the room and placed two cups of coffee on the table next to the
sofa. Alana managed a quiet “thank you” and he returned her gratitude with a
smile.
“Cox.”
Detective Sorin said. “You and Lang head on over to the cabin and make sure the
forensics have everything they need. Then I want you to circulate the perimeter
of the two buildings, see if anything gives.”
PX
Cox nodded acceptance of his duties and backed out of the living room. Alana
looked at the detective, who was still standing, waiting for him to speak. The
silence in the room was broken with the sound of the back door closing as the
other two PCs left her house.
Nerves
crept through her body, and her skin crawled as the detective slowly removed
his dark-grey suit jacket, his eyes focused on her. He stepped closer to where
she sat and started to unbutton his shirt at the neck. Alana swallowed hard,
unsure of what do to. One part of her mind told her that he was just getting
comfortable, while the other part told her to run.
She
drew a deep breath as he moved down to the second button. “What are you doing?”
Her voice as assertive as she could manage, she tried to hide the panic. It was
the way he smiled at her then that had her heartbeat thumping in her ears. It
was a slow, easy smile, with eyes that twinkled with mischief as he continued
to watch her. He now moved on to the third button and took another step closer
to her.
Alana
was about to stand up and make a dash for the door as his hand slipped inside
his own shirt. Curiosity got the better of her and she sat still, waiting. He
pulled out a black threaded necklace with a silver pendant the size of a fifty
pence piece.
Instantly
she recognized the pendant, and adrenaline pumped through her body and made her
feel light headed. She stood up and reached out to touch the circular coin with
the figure of a wolf’s head embossed on it. It had the word “Altor” inscribed,
meaning “protector” in Latin. An old family name her father had given to his
protector, as his father had done before that. She smoothed her thumb over the
coin’s surface, and looked deep into the detective’s eyes, not trusting what
her gut was telling her.
“Alana,
your father sent me.”
I hope you enjoyed that. As I said earlier, it is release day, so you can purchase Alana now, from:
http://www.bookstrand.com/alana-stevens
Please leave a comment, I would love to hear from you. If you would like to know more, you can find me on twitter or follow me on Facebook. You can also find out more on my web site. Just click on the links below.
You can contact me from my website @ www.jessicastevensauthor.com
You can follow my blog: http://jp-stevens.blogspot.co.uk/
Find me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100006515566274
Or follow me on Twitter @JPStevens79
I look forward to hearing from you. Until next time, take care.
Jessica
xXx
Congratulations, Alana! I look forward to reading it.
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by Kiru. I really hope you enjoy the read xxx
DeleteIt's nice to meet you, Alana. You book looks great.
ReplyDeleteThanks Maya. Nice to meet you too.
ReplyDelete