Snippet Sunday and Weekend Writing Warriors

Welcome to Snippet Sunday and Weekend Writing Warriors, your chance to sample the work of a talented group of authors. My excerpt today is from Return Engagement. In this excerpt, my hero questions my heroine about his competition, a lawyer by the name of Alex Crawford. If you've been her before, you know that Richard and Elizabeth met by accident on the beach ten years after his father broke them up.

Her voice trailed off, and she fell silent. Alex was a wonderful man so why had she let Richard upset her so much? She hadn’t seen him in ten years; they couldn’t just pick up where they left off. True, she had never been able to forget him, but she had moved on with her life because she had to. So apparently had he. 

“I know lots of lawyer jokes,” said Richard, his voice serious and earnest in spite of the gleam in his eyes. “Would you like to hear one?”

The Seacrest

If you came for Beyond the Book, scroll on down, but why not enjoy this post too?

The Seacrest

by Aaron Paul Lazar

The Seacrest will be on sale for only .99 at all outlets today only. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BLURB:

They say it’s better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.

Finn McGraw disagrees.

He was just seventeen when he had a torrid summer affair with the girl who stole his heart—and then inexplicably turned on him. Finn may have moved on with his life, but he’s never forgotten her.

Now, ten years later, he’s got more than his lost love to worry about. A horrific accident turns his life upside down, resurrecting the ghosts of his long-dead family and taking the lives of the few people he has left.

Finn always believed his estranged brother was responsible for the fire that killed their family—but an unexpected inheritance with a mystery attached throws everything he knows into doubt.

And on top of that, the beguiling daughter of his wealthy employer has secrets of her own. But the closer he gets, the harder she pushes him away.

The Seacrest is a story of intrigue and betrayal, of secrets and second chances—and above all, of a love that never dies.

EXCERPT

July 2, 1997

I’ll never forget the day I fell in love with her.

There she stood, all tall and lanky, dark hair blowing in the breeze as if it loved caressing her face.

She held a beach ball and faced the sea.

She was sixteen.

That’s all it took. That one salty, sandy, sunshiny day—forever staked in my memory.

Her father had claimed a spot on Paines Creek Beach, right next to ours. They laid out a red-and-white striped blanket and matching umbrella with beach chairs, a cooler filled with watermelon and soda, and white paper bags that smelled of fries and burgers.

I’d settled on a beach towel next to my grandfather, Dex McGraw, surreptitiously watching them. 

Gramps sat beside me, drinking from a cold thermos of gin and ice, his favorite. He sat with his shirt off and long legs stretched out, his head back and shaggy silver-blond hair glinting in the sun. He always told me his time was “before the hippies,” but I had a feeling he would have made a good one. He was one helluva rebel. And he always stood up for what was right, no matter what.

He saw me watching the girl and casually appraised her, gray eyes slit and his head nodding in approval. With a low whisper, he turned to me. “Pretty girl.”

I know I blushed, because at sixteen that’s all I seemed to do when girls were involved. “Yeah. I guess.” I traced circles in the sand with my forefinger. The sun burned the skin on my back and shoulders, although I’d slathered plenty of sunscreen on earlier at my mother’s insistence.

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Aaron Paul Lazar writes to soothe his soul. An award-winning author of three addictive mystery series, writing books, and a new love story, Aaron enjoys the Genesee Valley countryside in upstate New York, where his characters embrace life, play with their dogs and grandkids, grow sumptuous gardens, and chase bad guys. Visit his website at http://www.lazarbooks.com and watch for his upcoming Twilight Times Books releases, SANCTUARY (2014), and VIRTUOSO (2014).

Links:

Author’s website:  www.lazarbooks.com

Author’s collaborative writing blog: www.murderby4.blogspot.com

Author’s personal blog: www.aaronlazar.blogspot.com

Connect with Aaron Lazar:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aplazar2

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/aplazar

Goodreads:  http://www.goodreads.com/AaronPaulLazar

Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/Aaron-Paul-Lazar/e/B001JOZR2M/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1

Linked In: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/aaron-lazar/4/b50/a2a/

Google+: https://plus.google.com/106903480874581085678/posts

Twilight Times Books by multi-award winning author, Aaron Lazar:

LEGARDE MYSTERIES: http://www.lazarbooks.com/guslegardemysteries.htm

DOUBLE FORTÉ (print, eBook, audio book)

UPSTAGED (print, eBook, audio book)  

TREMOLO: CRY OF THE LOON (print, eBook, audio book)

MAZURKA (print, eBook, audio book)

FIRESONG (print, eBook, audio book)

DON’T LET THE WIND CATCH YOU (print, eBook, audio book)

VIRTUOSO (~2014)

MOORE MYSTERIES:  http://www.lazarbooks.com/sammooremysteries.htm

HEALEY'S CAVE (print, eBook, audio book)

TERROR COMES KNOCKING (print, eBook, audio book)

FOR KEEPS (print, eBook, audio book)

TALL PINES MYSTERIES:  http://www.lazarbooks.com/tallpinesmysteries.htm

FOR THE BIRDS (print, eBook, audio book)

ESSENTIALLY YOURS (print, eBook, audio book)

SANCTUARY (2014)

MURDER ON THE SACANDAGA (~2014)

STANDALONES: 

THE SEACREST (coming fall of 2013)

WRITING ADVICE:

WRITE LIKE THE WIND, volumes 1, 2, 3 (ebooks and audio books)

http://www.lazarbooks.com/forwriters.htm

AWARDS:

Double Forté 

 2012 ForeWord BOTYA, Mystery, FINALIST

Tremolo: cry of the loon –

 2013 Eric Hoffer Book Awards: Grand Prize Short List

2013 Eric Hoffer Book Awards: Honorable Mention, Eric Hoffer Legacy Fiction

2011 Global eBook Award Finalist in Historical Fiction Contemporary

2011 Preditors & Editors Readers Choice Award – 2nd place Mystery

2008 Yolanda Renée's Top Ten Books

2008 MYSHELF Top Ten Reads

For the Birds

 2011 ForeWord Book Awards, FINALIST in Mystery

2012 Carolyn Howard-Johnson's Top 10 Reads

Essentially Yours

2013 EPIC Book Awards, FINALIST in Suspense

2013 Eric Hoffer Da Vinci Eye Award Finalist

Healey’s Cave

2012 EPIC Book Awards WINNER Best Paranormal

 2011 Eric Hoffer Book Award, WINNER Best Book in Commercial Fiction

2011 Finalist for Allbooks Review Editor's Choice

 2011 Winner of Carolyn Howard Johnson's 9th Annual Noble (not Noble!) Prize for Literature

 2011 Finalists for Global EBook Awards

 Terror Comes Knocking

 2013 Global Ebook Awards, Paranormal – Bronze

For Keeps

 2013 Semi Finalist in Kindle Book Review Book Awards, Mystery Category

Amazon Link: http://amzn.to/16pjh4i

Smashwords Link: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/369357

Goodreads: http://bit.ly/17dYYY8

Aaron will be awarding at random six individual prizes to six randomly drawn commenters during the tour: For the Birds eBook(Kindle, Nook, or PDF), For the Birds Audio Book narrated by Hannah Seusy, For the Birds print book, Essentially Yours eBook (Kindle, Nook, PDF), Essentially Yours Audio Book, narrated by Hannah Seusy, Essentially Yours print book.  Use this link to enter.

 a Rafflecopter giveaway

You can find the tour schedule at http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2013/10/virtual-super-book-blast-tour-seacrest.html

Snippet Sunday: Return Engagement

Hello, and welcome to Snippet Sunday. Today I'm sharing an excerpt from Return Engagement. Why that book? Because the sequel, Blue 52, releases in December from Whiskey Creek Press. In this excerpt, my hero is about to meet my heroine ten years after his father broke them up. She's an A-list actress whom he could never quite forget.

Hoping to get into the game, he jumped up to make his way down the beach, but out of the corner of his eye he spotted a group of people surrounding a roped off area. What were they looking at?

Curious, he wandered over to see. “What’s going on?” he asked one of the bystanders.

“Someone’s making a movie. They’re supposed to start in a few minutes if you want to stay and watch.”

Richard decided he might as well stay. Since he was on vacation, he had no appointments to keep. A brief, familiar slash of pain cut him. Movie making had interested him ever since…a long time ago.

Blurb:

Elizabeth Lane has heard the call of the four most seductive words in the entire English language: what might have been.  Would you risk everything you hold dear to find out what might have been?  That’s the choice which Elizabeth has to make.

 Elizabeth is lucky, for she has it all, money, fame, a satisfying career and a devoted fiancé.  Her humble beginnings are all but obscured, but she isn’t the kind of woman Senator Henry Lovinggood wants for his son, Richard.  Senator Lovinggood plans to make Richard the President of the United States; he’ll need a woman from a wealthy, powerful family by his side.  Ten years ago he broke Richard and Elizabeth up, but this time it won’t be so easy, for Elizabeth wants to know what might have been. This time she’ll fight back, a struggle which ultimately leads to kidnapping and attempted murder and alienates her from the man of her dreams.

 

Return Engagement is available at most all online retail outlets and from the publisher at http://www.whiskeycreekpress.com