Romantic Suspense & Giveaway: A house is a home when... with Sandy Curtis.

GIVEAWAY NOW ENDED
Winner is: Kerry McKenzie!

​We’re back with four fabulous authors over four days and a book giveaway a day!
What does a house or a home mean to a character in a book?
 
All my guest authors this week are ARRA (Australian Romance Readers Association) 2014 Award finalists for Romantic Suspense fiction - and for good reason.

In today's post there's an international giveaway of an eBook copy of the featured book: GRIEVOUS HARM 
plus a choice of one of any of my books (Amazon Kindle) for either you or a friend.
 
Enjoy!

Today's guest is Sandy Curtis, author of Romantic Suspense and Contemporary Romance

Sandy Curtis. “Where crime and passion collide.”

Sandy Curtis lives on Queensland’s Central Coast, not far from the beach where she loves to walk and mull over the intricate plots in her novels. Her husband says he doesn’t know how she keeps it all in her head, and her friends think she must be far more devious than she appears.
 
Sandy is the author of seven Australian-set suspense thrillers (and three contemporary romances). She is also an ARRA 2014 and award finalist for Grievous Harm. Among many awards, two of Sandy’s books were finalists in the Romantic Book of the Year R*BY awards at Romance Writers of Australia. Her literary short stories have won awards, and her crime and romance stories have been published in leading Australian women’s magazines. Her novels have all been nominees in the Ned Kelly Awards hosted by the Crime Writers’ Association of Australia.
 
(Quite a resume! Welcome, Sandy, what a thrill to have you on my blog.)

The Book

ARRA 2014 Award finalist for Romantic Suspense

The character

John Corey, hero
 
Character bio: John’s family were forced to leave their cattle property when his father committed suicide after the bank threatened foreclosure. He went to university to study law and ended up in Intelligence in Canberra before being seconded to the Agency, a covert group answering only to the Prime Minister. Losing his first girlfriend in terrible circumstances has led to him guarding his heart, but he can’t help the overwhelming feelings he develops for Kate Maclaren. He’s a good man, but he must go beyond his own moral code in order to keep them both alive, and it tears him apart to know that this will lose him the love of his life.

The house

​The house where John grew up had been in his family for generations, and since they were forced to leave he has found it impossible to call another dwelling “home”. He remembers the wide verandahs, the high ceilings, the old kitchen and bathroom that were modernised during the good years. He remembers his mother’s vegetable garden that she kept alive in the drought by using the dish-washing water and water she saved from their showers. He remembers the eucalypts and the tang of their oil in the summer heat, swimming in the creek with his brother, learning about cattle from his father. But he also remembers the devastation of drought that tore his family apart and took away the only home he ever knew. 

What makes a house a home for John?

​It’s not bricks and mortar, or lavish interiors, or architectural design, or landscaped gardens that create a home for John. His love for Kate makes him realise that a house will only be a home if she is there with him.

Grievous Harm: book blurb

When a child is in danger, every second counts. 

​In Sydney, Australia, The Loving Hand church understands how children can be a commodity more precious than gold. When Kate Maclaren flies in from Los Angeles, desperate to find her missing niece, she opens a door into this world, and uncovers a network of corruption and cruelty that stretches across the country.

Agent John Corey, torn by long-buried guilt, and harbouring secrets he must not reveal, joins forces with Kate to expose the sinister cult before more children disappear. He will risk everything, even defying orders, to help Kate uncover the truth and keep her safe.

​But when their journey into Australia’s Outback reveals the psychopath at the centre of the network, it is Kate who discovers she will do anything for the people she loves.

Extract from Grievous Harm by Sandy Curtis

As the plane began its descent over the snow-capped Brindabella Ranges into Australia’s capital, John had no feeling of coming home. His unit in the neatly laid-out city was no more his home than the short-term flat he’d rented in Brisbane while negotiating with Leon Thompson, or the little cottage where his mother lived in a small town in Outback New South Wales. This lack of belonging hadn’t bothered him for years, but the thought of who he was now going to see brought it back with an ache he’d thought long buried.
                  The face of the dead girl started changing in his mind, growing older, the hair darker. But the expression of pain was the same, the foetal curl of the body the same. Sweat filmed his forehead as he tried to banish the image, and he concentrated instead on the meeting ahead of him. It had been years since he’d seen Toni Webster, but he knew the guilt they both felt would never be erased.
 
Toni Webster watched John Corey walk into the well-lit restaurant. Canberra was caught in winter’s icy grip, but the room was pleasantly warm, and he shrugged out of his coat as he looked around. Toni took the opportunity to assess the visible changes in him. He’d been a lean youth whose natural muscularity had been honed by the heavy workload of a storeman-packer as he’d worked his way through university. She’d noticed his hands, once, as they’d lain protectively on her sister’s waist; strong hands, capable hands, and the urge to push him away from Jessica’s slender body had been almost uncontrollable.
                  Outwardly, little about him had changed. He’d filled out a bit, but that was only natural for a man in his mid-thirties, and the weight certainly wasn’t from fat. His dark blond hair was now a light brown, but still as thick, though the shorter style emphasised his broad forehead and strong facial bones.
                  She wondered if he would recognise her, but his scanning of the restaurant stopped as soon as he saw her. He walked towards her table, and her tension increased. He hesitated when he reached her, as though waiting for permission to sit, or to speak.
                  ‘Hello, John.’ She was grateful her voice sounded firm, and relieved that it could almost be construed as welcoming. She saw him visibly relax, but his eyes, a shade of blue that was almost grey, held a wariness she found disconcerting. She gestured for him to sit.
                  ‘How are you, Toni?’ he asked.
                  The old urge to lash out, to punish him with her words, rose in her chest, but she quickly repressed it. He hadn’t deserved it all those years ago, and he definitely didn’t now. 

BUY Grievous Harm
Amazon Australia
Amazon.com
Clan Destine Press
Kobo

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Other books by Sandy Curtis

Romantic Suspense thrillers by Sandy Curtis

All Sandy's books can be read as stand-alone novels.

Contemporary Romance books by Sandy Curtis

Sandy's latest contemporary romance is The Marriage Merger

Book blurb:
She’s expecting a holiday.
He wants a solution.
Jenna Martin knows a great body when she sees one. After all, bodies are her business. And Braden Fleetwood has the sexiest body she’s seen in a long time.
But one disastrous love affair was enough. She doesn’t need to fall for someone like him.
Braden has always been in control, building up his business empire, protecting his sister, taking pride in his strong-minded niece; but now he is frustrated beyond measure, helpless to restore the shattered lives of the only people he has allowed himself to love.
What he doesn’t want is the woman he needs.
​Can they both learn that healing isn’t always physical?

BUY The Marriage Merger
Amazon Australia
Amazon.com

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Find out more about Sandy Curtis and her books on her webpage SandyCurtis.com
Say hi to Sandy on her Facebook page SandyCurtisAuthor

​Huge thanks to Sandy for participating in my A house is a home when... series.
I love to share great books with my readers.
 
LEAVE A COMMENT for Sandy and you’re in the international draw to WIN an eBook copy of Grievous Harm plus your choice of one of any of my books (Amazon kindle) for either you or a friend.
​Giveaways drawn Sunday 22 Nov midnight AEST.

GIVEAWAY NOW ENDED
Winner is: Kerry McKenzie!
 
Jennie, in the company of Sandy xx

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Leave a comment for Sandy and go into the draw to win an eBook copy of Grievous Harm

Plus your choice of one of my books (kindle or iBooks) for either you or a friend.

Pop back tomorrow for another fantastic guest author of Romantic Adventure Fiction - and another giveaway.
 
Check out more giveaways in this series of Romance! Adventure! Suspense! (still ongoing):
Lee Christine & In Safe Arms
Cathryn Hein and The French Prize