The HBS Author's Spotlight SHOWCASES Mimi Barbour's book: Retaliation.
Mimi is a NYT & USA Today, best-selling, and award-winning author. She writes Romance, Paranormal, and Suspense novels.
Retaliation
Her Sweet Revenge Series Book 1
Author: Mimi Barbour
AVAILABLE
Amazon
A virgin librarian with hot-chick potential, the conflicts in her story won’t let you put the book down. Be prepared for an all-nighter…
She watches the mob kill her twin and is too frozen with fear to stop them. How can she live with that cowardice eating away at her self-respect? Revenge claws at her sheltered existence until she can’t breathe. Though she’s naïve, she isn’t stupid. When she finds a stash of loot in her brother’s gym locker, she has the means.
Now all she needs is the guts to make every one of those low-life gang members pay.
People might think detectives are hard-assed cops with no home life, but Trace McGuire has a dying mom he loves fiercely. Already stressed over his personal problems, he takes a bullet for a virgin beauty hiding while mobsters shoot her brother.
This chick draws out every protective instinct he thought had disintegrated over years on the job and he becomes invested – in her hot body, her plans for retaliation and her fighting spirit.
Helpless, he watches her enter the seedy underworld that’ll eat her alive.
Then he sees her fight.
And wonders if they’ll survive her.
Excerpt:
Excerpt from Retaliation
What the hell was she doing following her brother, especially at night? Cassidy Santino didn’t do darkness. Not in the slums of a city like Las Vegas when, molasses thick, it threatened and terrified.
Gagging, sweating, she’d reached the end of her backbone. Thoughts of giving up and retreating gobbled up the small amount of bravery still hanging on by a thread, making her hesitate. Then worry for her twin, Raoul, kicked in.
Biting her lip, she eased forward so she could see around the rickety fence into the semi-lit alley behind a big warehouse. A group of men milled about in a circle. Two of them were head-to-head in a heated discussion. Adrenalin kicked in when she saw her brother step out of the circle.
Raoul’s shoulders were hunched in the same way he’d hold himself when their father had intimidated him as a boy. She watched him flinch and start to turn away. Then the man he’d been arguing with let out a bellow, backhanded him across the face and shoved hard. Before she could get her bewildered brain to accept the incident, Raoul went down and the other men crowded in and began kicking him.
No! Stop!
Her mind screamed the words, but her voice didn’t connect. It froze. When she opened her mouth fear struck her mute. Though she tried to release her rage, to force sound past the blockage in her throat, not even a peep escaped. She’d never felt so useless in all her sad, ineffectual years. Forcing her limbs to move, she fell forward onto her knees but couldn’t get her leg muscles to function.
Infuriating seconds ticked by as she watched the men work her brother over like he was a soccer ball, rather than a human being.
God! Please…
Movement, shuffling, a voice called out from another direction. “Police. Stop what you’re doing and back away. Get your hands up. Do it now!”
Thank you, Lord! Confidence arrived with the authorities, and Cassi felt a flood of energy. Springing to her feet, she started forward. Before she went two steps, one of the assailants stepped over to Raoul, extended his arm and a gunshot changed the rest of her life. She heard her twin grunt and saw his body jerk.
“No!”
Fear vanished under her instinctive urgency to get to Raoul. She ran. To help him, save him, give up her life for him. He was all she had in the world, the only one who mattered.
Blinded by grief, unaware of the loud gunplay going on around her, she fell to her knees next to his lifeless form. Before she had a chance to understand the danger, a man dashed out, swept her to the side and covered her with his own body.
“Keep down.” Rough, his hands hurting, he pushed her head under his chest while she wiggled to get back to Raoul. “Stop it. You’ll get us both killed.” His voice, hard and angry drew her attention. She shook away from his hand and looked at him, trying to explain that the injured man was her brother and he needed help. When their eyes met, the bit of light from the building’s illumination revealed his face.
Deep blue eyes, encircled with a dark outer ring of pure determination, penetrated for an instant, an order clear and visible that only a man in command could produce. Compelled to obey, but overridden by her need to get to Raoul, she kept pushing at him, until she felt him jerk and heard his grunt of pain.
One of those monsters had shot her rescuer. Disbelief overwhelmed and in seconds the relentless fear returned. Imprisoned and helpless, the horror of the moment clawed at her sanity. Surrendering to its magnetic lure, darkness claimed her and she knew no more.
Author Genre: Romance, Paranormal, Suspense
Website: Mimi Barbour Believe
Author's Blog: AUTHORS’ BILLBOARD
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Twitter: @MimiBarbour
E-Mail: mimibarbour66@gmail.com
Goodreads: Check Out Goodreads
Facebook: Check Out Facebook
Amazon Author Profile
Author Description: NYT & USA Today, best-selling, award-winning author, Mimi Barbour, has nine romance series to her credit.
She also has many single titles and a huge number of box sets - her own and multi-author collections.
Mimi lives on the East coast of Vancouver Island with her new puppy, Charli, and writes her various romances with tongue in cheek and a mad glint in her eye. She's been known to say: "If I can steal a booklover's attention away from their everyday grind, absorb them into a fantasy love story, and make them care about the ending, then I've done my job."
Reviews "Love Mimi Barbour, love her books. When you can read a book that within just a few words, you are brought right into the book. You feel, taste, see everything going on. Great storylines. Fantastic characters, fantastic plots, storylines like real life both honest folk and of crooks. Humor that will have you giggling then full-on belly laugh. You may even shed a tear or two. All in all, Mimi never disappoints."
~ Reviewed by Shirleen Miller
For a Complete List of Mimi's Books, visit Amazon Author Profile.
Post Created by: James Moushon
Mystery Author, Industry blogger and Author Advocate
James is the author of the following blogs:
HBS Author’s Spotlight
Indie Author's Corner
Mystery Reader’s Circle
This is such a nice surprise, James. Thank you so much!!!
ReplyDeleteThe reviews for this book make me believe that the readers have enjoyed this story. So... I'm happy that it's free.
Take care and stay safe.