I love fairy tales so I jumped at the chance to participate in this tour for T.J. Bennett's gothic fairy tale, "Dark Angel".
TJ Bennett has been writing for publication since 2000, but
she’s been interested in it a lot longer than that. It wasn’t the best of books
that got her writing, however; it was the worst. After slamming one
particularly awful novel against the wall and complaining to her husband, “I
can do better than that,” he challenged her to “just do it.” That was all the
encouragement she needed.Since then, TJ has placed in over a dozen literary
contests, including the Pacific Northwest Writers Association’s mixed-genre
contest, the Daphne du Maurier mystery contest, the Holt Medallion, the Book
Buyers Best, and many others. In 2005, she received a nomination in RWA's
Golden Heart paranormal category for her novel, Dreamweaver. In 2006, The
Justice Seeker, a paranormal romance about an alien cop, received first,
second, and third place, respectively, in the three well-known and highly
respected contests in which it was entered. Her first published novel,The Legacy,
a historical romance set in Early Reformation Germany about the destructive
nature of secrets, was released in April 2008 (Medallion Press). Her second, The Promise,
a follow on to The Legacy, was released in May 2009.
TJ has been a judge for several contests, including the Golden
Pen, the Emily, the Golden Heart, and the RITA, and she has led plotting and
characterization workshops for several writers’ groups. She also served as the
editor for the Los Angeles Romance Authors award-winning newsletter, The
LARA Confidential, as well as contributing several articles.
Her varied background includes extensive travel in her youth as
a military dependent in Europe; being president of her own consulting business
for several years, where she used the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator to help CEOs
and managers develop successful work teams; and working thirteen years as a
civilian contract negotiator for the US Air Force, buying multi-million dollar
satellite and weapons systems.
She returned to her first love of writing in 2000. Armed with a
BA and an MA in English, she also taught college level English and edits
dissertations and novels.
TJ knows a lot about the black moments of life, and uses that
knowledge to enhance her writing. She believes that nothing is ever lost, and
no painful experience is in vain: it’s all research.
Find TJ online:
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In
this scene from Dark Angel, my
heroine Catherine Briton, a former nurse who served in the Crimean Theater with
Florence Nightingale, has just washed up on the shore of Ynys Nos, an island somewhere in the middle of the Irish Sea—or so
she believes.
EXCERPT
Twilight
was bleeding into the darker black of night. Shouting in the distance made me
turn my head. It pounded ruthlessly, bringing on an almost overwhelming nausea.
Fighting it back, I blinked hard. A rush of wind rose above the sound of the
waves and a shadow passed over me.
I tried
to follow the shadow with my eyes. The mist parted, and for a moment, I saw
something move along the edge of the shoreline: a sleek, powerful beast, its
fur black as midnight, its pale gaze fixed on me, its enormous body swaying as
it stalked closer.
Fear
possessed me, made me dimwitted with terror.
My
vision wavered again, and a dark form loomed over me. I tried to scream,
certain the beast was about to lunge for me, but my lungs would not draw
breath. I turned to face it, but the creature was gone. Instead, a man was
there, reaching for me, his large hands clasping mine and pulling me just
beyond the waterline and up onto the beach.
“I have you,” he shouted.
He hung
over me, sheltering me from the biting wind. Intense eyes beneath a slash of
dark brows stared down at me from a lean, striking face—a face hewn out of
wilderness and shadows, more frightening than beautiful, and yet somehow both.
I closed
my eyes.
It did
not matter who he was. I was safe.
“How in bloody hell are you here?” The deep voice above me sounded utterly
perplexed. “How the devil did you accomplish it?”
I
coughed out more water and said the only thing that came to mind. “Please do
not—swear at me, sir.” A spasm of pain seized me, and I flinched.
“Well,”
said the bemused voice. “You’ve spirit, at least. Good. You will need it.”
My
tenacious grip on consciousness loosened, and I fought to retain it. I looked
up at him with a sense of urgency pushing me on. I had to warn him. “A wild
animal…I think—it might attack…”
His
unblinking gaze reminded me of the creature’s fixed stare. “There was no animal
when I arrived. You must have imagined it in your distress.”
“But—”
“I must move you,” he said. “Be brave.”
He
lifted me and I cried out, my side screaming in agony.
He
shifted me in his arms, tucking my head beneath his chin, warming me with his
body heat.
Memories
assailed me of the captain’s terrified face, of the futile push of oars against
a raging sea, of bodies tumbling past mine in the water, of someone reaching
out, capturing my hands, dragging me to the surface—
I
struggled to lift my head and battle back the darkness long enough to ask him
about my fellow passengers. My throat was raw with the seawater I had
swallowed. I forced my head up. “Did you…save the others?”
He
paused in midstride, then resumed walking. I heard the great weariness in his
voice when he spoke again.
“There
are no others.”
When young widow Catherine Briton is washed ashore, the sole survivor of a violent shipwreck, all she wants is to go home to London. But injured as she is, she can’t escape when a shadowy stranger rescues her and takes her to his castle—where she’s healed with suspicious, almost magical speed.
The more time Catherine spends in the castle, the more her curiosity rises where her fiercely handsome new "master," Gerard, is concerned. As she begins to investigate, though, her discoveries only bring more questions. It seems Gerard isn't the only one on the island keeping secrets…
The small town is full of strange mysteries and townspeople who know more than they should about her. And when a hulking beast that stalks the nearby hills and valleys catches up to her, Catherine must figure out what’s going on before it’s too late.
Publisher: Entangled: Edge
Genre: Fantasy, historical, romance
Format: ebook
Format: ebook
Release Date: October 21, 2013
Buying Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble
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Tourwide Giveaway
TJ is giving away a cameo necklace and a $20 gift card to the winner's choice of Amazon or Barnes & Noble. Please read my Giveaway Policy.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Love this author's back story about how she became a novelist. A nice demonstration of spunk and talent!
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting my recent WoW post.
Thanks for the use of the hall, Bea! I hope your readers enjoy the except.
ReplyDeleteOf course that should be excerpt. Stoopid autocorrect.
DeleteI love this story, altough just read a review :)
ReplyDeletehope I can buy this novel :D
Thanks for the great post and giveaway!!!
ReplyDeletekac_030 at yahoo dot com
This book sounds right up my alley. I loved the excerpt too, and I am off to add it to my amazon wish-list. Great post and thank youfor the contest!
ReplyDeleteJust from the excerpt I can tell I'll like her writing. This sounds like a cool book.
ReplyDelete