Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Day Scene from Someone To Come Back To – Book One In The Omega Security Series Where emotions run high

Thanksgiving dinner. Roasted turkey garnished with cranberries on a rustic style table decoraded with pumpkins, vegetables, pie, flowers and candles

John looked over at Maggie.  The closer they got to Richmond, the less she spoke and she hadn’t said anything at all in the last five minutes, which had to be some kind of record.  He reached over and placed his hand on her thigh.

“It’ll be fine, Maggie,” he assured her.

She looked over at him and smiled. “That’s easy for you to say, you know these people.”

John laughed. “Yes, I do and that’s all they are, people, not girlfriend-eating monsters.”

Maggie laughed. She supposed he was right but she still couldn’t help being nervous.

They passed the university and were soon driving through the affluent neighborhood of Westham.  A few minutes later John turned off the main road and drove along a secondary road from which he steered the truck onto a private driveway.  Rock was going nuts with excitement and pacing along the back seat.  Over the past few weeks Maggie had successfully trained him, with the liberal application of treats, to sit in the back.  She reached behind her to pet him, wishing she could share his excitement.

A few seconds later the picture perfect colonial style home of a successful upper middle class family came into view.  Maggie drew in a sharp breath.  John squeezed her hand and smiled.

“I promise I’ll be by your side the whole time.”

Maggie smiled weakly and was just about to reply when the air was filled with a high pitched squeal.

“Uncy Don! Uncy Don!  Wocky, wocky, I’m here.”

John burst out laughing. “They’ve sent their most evil emissary as the welcoming committee.”

Maggie looked out the window to see the most adorable two year old girl jumping up and down with excitement, her dark brown curls bouncing around her chubby cheeks and her caramel colored eyes gleaming with excitement.

She laughed. “She might not be able to swallow me whole but she looks like she could take a fair chunk out of me.”

John got out of the truck and scooped his niece up into the air, which resulted in more high-pitched squeals.  Maggie got out and released Rock before he combusted.  John had explained this is where he stayed when John was on deployment, so it was like his second home.  He had also warned her she could expect to take a back seat in his affections as the dog adored the three kids.  Judging from the way Rock was licking Sophie’s face, she didn’t doubt it.

“Uncle John!”

A young boy of about eight years of age burst from the house and hurled himself at John.  

John laughed. “Hey buddy,” he said as he reached down to ruffle his nephew’s hair.

A few seconds later an older boy appeared.  She knew from what John had told her this was Marc, his oldest nephew but she wasn’t prepared for how much he looked like his uncle.  John’s house was full of family photos of when he and his sister were children and it was as if Maggie was watching one of those photos come to life in front of her.  

Marc was a much cooler emotional prospect than his siblings and approached with his hands in his pockets and the practiced nonchalance of a pre-teen but his smile gave away his absolute delight at seeing his uncle John.   

John high-fived him as Maggie reached into the back of the truck for the flowers and post-dinner treats.  When she turned around, a carbon copy of John’s mother was making her way towards them, a huge smile on her face.  She and John took each other into a warm embrace and then she turned her attention to Maggie.

“Hi, I’m Juliette,” she said, her eyes brimming with kind curiosity and her hand extended.

Maggie shook her hand.

“Maggie,” she replied, “I’m pleased to meet you.”  

Juliette’s smile widened.

“Oh these are for you,” Maggie said as she placed the flowers in Juliette’s hands.

“Thank you,” Juliette said and then motioned towards the house, “come on let’s get inside and rescue George from the kitchen.”

The two year old cherub known as Sophie had both her arms encircled around John’s neck and his youngest nephew, Luc, held onto his hand.

Marc fell into step beside Maggie, his hands now safely back in his pockets and his eyes focused on the driveway.  Maggie could almost feel his shyness.

“Hi Maggie, I’m Marc,” he said in a quiet voice.

Maggie smiled over at him and said, “I’m very pleased to meet you Marc.”

Marc glanced sideways at her and smiled and again she was struck at just how like his uncle he was.

Sophie waved from John’s shoulder. “Hi Aggie, my name is Sophie, I’m peesed to meet you too.”

Everybody laughed as they went into the house and that set the tone for the whole day.  The next few hours were a happy mix of laughter, teasing and easy conversation.  Maggie was touched at the closeness between John and his sister and amazed at the loving relationship he had with the children.   

She hadn’t really thought about this side of him and she felt another piece of her heart slip away as she watched the easy affection he shared with them.  Juliette’s husband, George, seemed to pick up on her nerves and had gone out of his way to make her feel comfortable which had eased her stress levels considerably and she’d found herself enjoying the day much more than she’d thought possible.

They’d taken a break from eating after the turkey and Maggie, John, Rock and the kids had all gone for a walk but now everyone was seated back at the table as Juliette approached with a stunning looking cake.   

Maggie wondered why there were a number of candles on it and figured maybe it was George’s birthday.  Sophie bounced up and down with excitement on John’s knee and Maggie turned to laugh at him but the laugh died away in her throat as she noted his strained expression.  

“I’m not sure if John has told you Maggie,” Juliette spoke, “but today is also our mother’s birthday.”

Maggie looked at Juliette and glanced quickly at John, who was staring steadfastly at the cake.

She turned back to face Juliette.

“No, he didn’t mention it,” she said quietly, as she sat there very much wishing he had and wondering why the subject of his mother seemed to bring him so much pain.

Juliette half-smiled and looked at John but he didn’t meet her gaze either.

“I blow, I blow,” exclaimed Sophie as she ratcheted up the bounce factor on John’s knee.   

“No! Me, I want to blow,” shouted Luc.

Juliette laughed. “All the children have to blow out the candles together, you know that,” she admonished her youngest son as she set the cake down in front of John and Sophie.  Marc and Luc crowded around.

“Bonne anniversaire Maman,” Juliette said in a quiet voice that splintered slightly at the end.

The children blew out the candles all at the same time and their happy faces were in stark contrast to the tight jaw and unsmiling face of their uncle John.  Maggie continued to stare at him, willing him to look at her.  She reached under the table and searched for his hand.  She found it and laced her fingers between his.  He turned to look at her and the pain in his eyes washed over her like a shockwave.  

She wanted to take him into her arms and soothe it all away but even if she could get past Sophie, she knew it wasn’t going to happen.  He had been very careful all day not to be overly physical.  Maggie wasn’t sure why, maybe he was shy about showing his feelings in front of his sister or maybe he wanted to keep the heat factor under control.  Either way, Maggie found it a bit strange, as back in Virginia Beach he could never keep his hands off her for more than five minutes and it wasn’t always in a sexual way. Whether they were sitting on the couch or out on the deck he would have his arm thrown around her or take a hold of her hand.  It was one of the things she loved about him, amongst a long list of others.   

Love.  There was that word again and as she repeated it in her head, she knew she was totally in love with the man beside her.  Seeing the pain in his eyes had caused her heart to swell with a need to take his hurt and ease it, to make it her own and free him of it.  If that wasn’t love she didn’t know what was.

He turned to her and passed Sophie into her arms.

“I need the bathroom,” he told her in a tight voice as he walked past her in the direction of the hallway.   

Juliette handed George a knife and followed her brother.

Maggie looked questioningly at George as he sliced into the cake.   

His expression was one of grudging acceptance as he passed her a piece.

“Their mother’s death is still something that doesn’t sit easy between them,” he explained to Maggie.

Maggie was just about to ask how she died when Sophie dropped her slice of cake on to the floor and went into the kind of meltdown only a two year old was capable of.

Juliette came running back into the dining room when she heard the screams of her daughter and Maggie could see the tears hiding in her eyes.

“John has just taken Rock out for a few minutes,” she informed Maggie before she scooped Sophie up into her arms and tried to console her over the cake that was now splattered all over the floor.

“Okay,” Maggie nodded, wondering what it was about their mother’s death that caused such pain for the two of them.

***

John watched Rock disappear into the trees and let out a long breath.   

“Fuck,” he exclaimed and the words formed a small breath-cloud on the cool Virginia air.

He dragged his hands through his hair in a vain attempt to calm the emotions swirling through his body.  All the familiar ones were there, guilt, regret, sorrow and grief but they were overlaid with the ones he wasn’t so familiar with, happiness, contentment and joy.  He’d been having one of the best days of his life up until Juliette had produced that damn cake.  It wasn’t that he didn’t want to observe their mother’s birthday, he’d just have preferred it to be more of a private moment between him and his sister.  He’d known the minute he’d seen the candles that the cake wasn’t just dessert and he’d been completely unprepared for the juggernaut of emotions it had released.  And all that in front of Maggie.

Maggie.  Watching her interact with the kids and engage in easy conversation with Juliette and George had done something strange to his heart.  It was as if the bindings he hadn’t realized he’d wrapped it in had been loosened and he’d felt a happiness he barely remembered flowing through his veins.   

“Fuck,” he swore again as he started to climb back up the hill to the house.  He’d promised he would stay by her side throughout the day and here he was out in the woods caught up with the pain of his past when he should be focusing on the new-found happiness of his present.

He entered the front door only to find Maggie coming out of the downstairs bathroom.

“Hey,” she said, “you okay?”

He smiled at her and took her hand.

“Yeah, I’m fine, Rock just needed to go out” he told her, brushing off the concern in her eyes and continuing to walk in the direction of the dining room.

Maggie didn’t move, forcing him to stop.

“What’s up?” he asked

She took her hand from his and crossed her arms across her chest, protective and wary.

“I think we’ve just stepped into the ‘getting to know each other’ stage John but for that to happen, we’ve got to actually talk to each other.  You and I both know it wasn’t Rock who needed to go out, it was you and you can try to hide what’s really going on with you as much as you want but at some stage you’ve either got to open up to me and tell me what’s going on or maybe we’re best rethinking this whole thing before it goes any further.”

John was taken aback at the depth of emotion quivering in her voice and the hurt smoldering in her eyes.  He was so used to keeping his feelings to himself, to clinically compartmentalizing them and storing them away in a shiny safety deposit box in his mind, he hadn’t realized his actions had affected Maggie.  How could he?  He wasn’t used to having someone like Maggie in his life, someone who cared primarily about him and he most certainly wasn’t used to sharing his innermost thoughts and feelings.  He stood in front of her now, not sure what to do.

She walked past him.

“Think about it John,” she whispered, as he watched her disappear into the dining room.

***

To find out more about John & Maggie or to buy the book, click the image below.

Cover Reveal!

Here it is! Drum Roll please!

I can finally reveal the cover for The Games We Play – Book Three In The Omega Security Series – releasing on May 27th 2021. The wonderful cover designer Hang Le has done it again and brought the magic. I hope you love it as much as I do.

The book is currently available on pre-order for the special pre-order price of $2.99. It will be releasing straight into Kindle Unlimited and will be going to full price on 27th May. So don’t delay and grab your copy today! Click the pre-order link here >> https://readerlinks.com/l/1819028

Blurb

“I’m only going to say this once, so listen carefully. There is not going to be a you and me.”

Behind his seductive smile and piercing blue eyes, ex naval intelligence officer Sam Taber hides a world of disappointment, pain and heartbreak. He conceals it all behind a cocky, devil may care facade and is content to find fleeting intimacy in the emotionally empty world of easy hook-ups and one night stands. He doesn’t care if he’s seen as a player with no heart. The shattered pieces of his heart are safely locked away in a steel vault and that’s where they’re going to stay.

Gina Gallinaro, former New York prosecutor, is looking for a quieter life in Little Creek, a small town in the heart of the Adirondacks. Burnt out and exhausted she’s looking forward to a slower pace of life, making new friends and maybe even finding something meaningful in the relationship department. Therefore, it takes her all of two seconds to shoot down Sam Taber’s offer of fun times and no strings attached sex. The only pity is, their chemistry is off the charts and those ice blue eyes of his do peculiar things to her insides. However, she’s had her fill of the games guys like him play back in New York. She’s making a fresh start – in all things.

However, when Gina’s world comes crashing down, Sam is uniquely placed to understand what she’s going through and when a lethal predator puts her life in danger his special skill set is just what’s required to keep her safe. The only problem is, the closer he gets to Gina the more his own defenses come tumbling down and the steel bolts around his heart start to give way. Incredibly, he’s being given a second chance at love but the question is, can he reconcile what happened in the past and get out of his own way or should he simply walk away?

I’m so excited to finally be bringing Sam and Gina’s story to you! I’ve totally fallen in love with this kind hearted but complicated man and adore the uncompromising but fun loving Gina. The sparks fly between these two, so buckle up and settle in for the ride because this book isn’t called The Games We Play for nothing!

Book Three In The Omega Security Series

It’s official! Book three in the Omega Security series is in production and it has a title! I can’t tell you much about it at this stage, only that we are headed back to the Adirondacks (where the series began!) and book three will focus on Sam (the Little Creek mechanic from book one who lends Maggie his old F150 truck) and Gina (Maggie’s defence lawyer). The sparks are already hopping off the page between these two!

Of course some of the other Omega characters will make various appearances and that pain in everyone’s ass – Joker – will be up to his usual tricks.

I can tell you that book three has even more romantic suspense elements and a nasty piece of work who is hellbent on getting his revenge on Gina. However, he doesn’t bargain on  going through Sam Taber and the Omega Security crew to get it. Oh and then there’s Gina’s Nonna and her four-legged fur ball of fury!

The publishing date has yet to be set and there’ll be an update on that soon but in the meantime I can reveal the title of Book Three in The Omega Security Series is – drumroll please! – The Games We Play.

Title announcement

All The Little Pieces

So, I released another book… yup, All The Little Pieces – Book Two In The Omega Security series released on 19th July 2018.  Hadn’t heard? Well that’s no surprise really because I didn’t tell anyone!

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In keeping with my reverse marketing approach, I hit the publish button and that was it. This wasn’t intentional and as a matter of fact I had a totally different release strategy planned for this book (yes, I had an actual plan this time). However, my impulsive nature got the better of me (again…) and I changed the plan about three quarters of the way through and decided to set up a pre-order on Amazon. Unfortunately, when I did this, I didn’t realise it would then lock me in to the date I had set for publication – the 19th of July.

Then, of course, life decided to kick my ass and things other than writing had to take priority, so it was all I could do to just meet the publishing deadline.  Marketing and promotion efforts went out the window and things became quite manic!

Throughout it all I had my lovely editor – the wonderful Sheryl Lee – waiting patiently for the finished product. I thank heavens for her incredible understanding and patience!

Shery Lee

The lovely and ever so patient Sheryl Lee!

In keeping with tradition, I asked her to give her editorial opinion of All The Little Pieces on release day.  It’s a bit late but here it is.

“Nobody writes a book about damaged people finding their way better than Roisin.

From the very beginning your heart bleeds for Ruby and you’re in her corner, willing her to let out her pain so she can heal.

Ruby and Snake are two people with troubled pasts. Ruby is a complex person, a person who can’t allow herself to face her demons and overcome them. She is pretending she has put her terrifying experience at the hands of terrorists behind her, but inside she is a broken mess.
Snake could have followed a very different, dark path in his life, but instead he chose the
higher, perhaps more difficult way. He is strong, protective, caring, and perceptive. He sees through Ruby’s façade into her broken heart and he wants to help her to heal.
The situation is complicated, there are secrets on both sides, and Ruby has a long, long way to go before she can be part of a couple. Snake is willing to do whatever it takes to keep her safe and help all her little pieces become whole again.
Roisin writes from the heart. Her characters are not perfect, they are three dimensional, real people. Ruby and Snake come off the pages and into your heart, and you won’t forget them for a long, long time. Fortunately, you don’t have to as there are more books to come in this series, and Roisin has given us a tantalising glimpse into the direction the series is headed, and it’s a cracker.”
So there you have it! All The Little Pieces  – Book Two In The Omega Security Series is available at all good digital retail outlets a click away from you and in paperback on Amazon.
It’s currently on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and ibooks and will be on Kobo soon. Just click the links below.
3D Mockup of All The Little Pieces

RELEASE DAY!!! RELEASE DAY!!!

It’s finally here!  In just a few hours Someone To Come Back To is live!

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In honour of the day that’s in it, lets have an excerpt.

“The cabin was illuminated by a number of lamps and the fire was crackling to life in the hearth.  Maggie came around by the side of the fireplace when she stopped dead in her tracks.  Over beside the bed, his back thankfully to her, stood her rescuer, totally naked.  Maggie clamped her hand over her mouth to stifle the gasp that was rapidly making its way up her throat.  She had seen thousands of bodies in her time but never one quite like the one before her now.

Christ, thought Maggie, even this guy’s muscles have muscles.

She knew she should retreat in to the bathroom to give him enough time to get dressed but she stood transfixed.  The breadth of his shoulders and the way his muscles flexed as he reached down to the bed for his shirt held her spellbound.   The perfect form of his back as it tapered flawlessly down to his hips and the tightness of his ass, followed by the incredibly toned muscles in his legs all combined to immobilize Maggie into a state of almost euphoric appreciation.

She had never seen a man quite like this before and she couldn’t help but gape.  However, as she looked closer, she began to notice scars and the more she looked the more she realized the embodiment of male perfection before her was covered in them.  Some seemed a few years old but her medical knowledge told her some were quite recent.  Worryingly, she noticed a few were gunshot wounds.

Oh God, she groaned to herself, who is this guy?

He threw the shirt over his head and she started to back up towards the bathroom when he turned around.

“No need to leave because of me,” he grinned at her.

Maggie blushed the color of her hair.

“I….I….I’m sorry,” she stuttered as she tried to look anywhere except between his legs.

“It’s ok, I’m not the shy type,” he chuckled as he pulled on a pair of boxer shorts and slung a pair of jeans across his hips.  He left the shirt hanging loose and it was then Maggie realized, as she looked into his laughing brown eyes, just how incredibly handsome he was, like Henry Cavill and Eric Bana all rolled into one.  She didn’t think it was possible but she blushed even more.”

You like? Go read some more by clicking the link below and then clicking “buy”!!!

https://read.amazon.com/kp/embed?asin=B01E25PE86&preview=newtab&linkCode=kpe&ref_=cm_sw_r_kb_dp_RgBdxb0QEYK5T

 

The Editor’s View – Someone To Come Back To

They say time flies when you’re having fun but let me tell you it completely disappears when you are trying to launch a book!  I can’t believe my last post was on Valentine’s Day – which seems like a lifetime ago.  Since then I’ve had the big Cover Reveal for my upcoming novel Someone To Come Back To and the response was so phenomenal I’ve hardly had a second to spare since.  The irony wasn’t lost on me, however, that my cover was out there on a plethora of blogs across the globe and not on my own!  So, let me correct that right now.  Here it is – the cover (ebook and paperback) for Someone To Come Back To  – releasing April 13th 2016.

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In my next post (which shouldn’t take as long as this one!) I’ll be talking about the amazing people involved in the production of this beautiful cover but today I’m going to introduce you to another person who has been crucial to the development of my story – editor extraordinaire – Miss Sheryl Lee.

Shery Lee

Sheryl very kindly stepped in at the last minute when another editing arrangement I had organised didn’t work out and am I so glad it didn’t because I could not have imagined a better editor for me!

Sheryl is quick and efficient and my goodness does the woman know her stuff.  Misplaced modifiers and dangling participles – watch out when Miss Lee is about!

On top of being a superb editor Sheryl is a very warm and kind-hearted person and deeply respectful of another author’s work but she’s kinda hard-ass when she needs to be (I’m still smarting over one particular scene!)  She makes the gruelling editing process almost bearable and Someone To Come Back To is all the better for having had her sharp editor’s eye thrown over it.

As I was sending out ARCs the other night it occurred to me that I should ask her to write a few lines about the story – considering she was the only other person in the whole world, apart from myself,  who had read it!  And this is what she had to say:

“A couple of days ago Roisin asked me to write a few lines about what I thought of her new book, Someone To Come Back To. An impossible ask, for how can you write a few lines about a book you loved?

As her editor I got to read this book before almost everyone else and that’s one of the perks of the job!

I love this book, I loved it so much that I kept forgetting to do my job with it. In the end I had to read the whole thing and then go back to edit. That’s how compelling this story is.

The main protagonists, John and Maggie, are wonderfully and realistically complex. Essentially good people, they are shaped by their environment and circumstance. They both have a lot to learn about themselves and what is important to them, and they don’t learn the easy way.

This is a love story, between the main characters, between friends, between family. It has love, romance, action, humour, tears, good guys and bad guys. It has a lead man who will have you swooning, a feisty female lead you’ll be cheering on, and supporting characters you will want to know more about, and will once Roisin gets her writing mojo on with the rest of the books in the series.

I had planned to give out a few teasers, but you know what? I’m not. This is a great book, read it and be enthralled. It’s a world you will not want to leave.”

So there you have it, the Editor has spoken!

If Someone To Come Back To sounds like your kind of read then log on to amazon on 13th April and click on it and buy.  It will be at a special promotional price of $2.99 (U.S.) for the first two weeks.

If you are an author in need of a top class editor then click the link below

http://sherylleee.wix.com/editor

 

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