A warm Love Bytes welcome to author Shelly Connors, visiting our blog today. Shelly shares with us her experience and motivation writing her first book , shares and excerpt and has brought with her a Fantastic Giveaway!
Welcome Shelly
First I can not say thank you enough to Dani, Dan and Love Bytes for everything they have done to help promote my first book. Their support has given me the confidence to continue.
Like most people you’ve read about, I’ve been writing on and off since middle school. I had an incredible eleventh grade english teacher who was relentless helping me write a short story which won a local contest. I haven’t stopped writing since then however, it was more in the form of letters (before email), journals, and scrapbooking.
I will mostly likely never be a professional author but the pleasure and escape writing gives me as become extremely important. Serve and Protect is the first book I have actually published. The idea for Serve and Protect came about five years ago when a colleague/friend and I were traveling for work. I love to dance, but am terrible at it. My friend and I decided that if for some reason we ever lost our teaching jobs, we would open up a restaurant/bar together where people could dance with the staff. An then it morphed from there.
I never thought I would be reading a same sex book much less writing one. I gladly blame Abigail Roux/Madeleine Urban who got me hooked with the book Caught Running which is about a Physical Education teacher/coach. Since I teach high school Phys. Ed.(hence the spelling and grammatical errors), it caught my eye. Never knew it was a same sex book. Personally, I’d like to think Serve and Protect is about people who find each other at a time when each one of them needs it most. Love is love and I hope everyone is lucky enough to find it. I have enjoyed a whole new world with wonderful authors.
I also have to thank Scotty Cade, an incredible author, who answered every one of my emails sent and gave nothing but hope and inspiration. Thank you!
I hope to have my second book out by the end of August. It is a sequel to Serve and Protect entitled Dust In the Wind. More than anything, I hope people who read the book find enjoyment and escape even if it’s only for a little while.
Thank you for taking the time to read this and if you have any questions or would like to contact me, I would love to hear from you.
Blurb:
It’s been five years since twins Kolby and Kaleb Bailey moved north from Texas. Kolby trying to escape her abusive husband and Kaleb getting out of a corrupt business partnership. Detectives Dean Davis and R.J. Kennedy live and breath for their job, and as partners they spend most of their time together working. The twins and detectives lives intersect when R.J. forces Dean to go on a double date with him.
Here To Serve is a different kind of establishment that has great food and dancing. On the Friday night of their double date R.J. and Dean both find something that they didn’t realize they were looking for. A confrontation with a patron, and one of the Here to Serve employees being beaten, leads to the Baileys seeing a lot more of the detectives. Even though R.J. and Dean aren’t working the case, they can’t seem to keep their hands out of it. One accident leads to another and then to tragedy, but through it all Kolby and Kaleb continue to run their restaurant while trying to help their friend, Jason, recover from his beating and his loss.
Buy Link: Amazon
It was R.J.’s turn to be defensive. He turned to Dean and said, “You say that like it would be a bad thing to live with me. Come on, I make a mean tuna casserole.”
Dean laughed at the easy banter R.J. could bring out. “I’ve had your cooking, and the mean thing about it was the way it treated my digestive system.”
R.J. whacked the back of Dean’s head before he continued. “We don’t live together. We both have scanners and we just happened to be listening to them at the same time. Not an unusual occurrence for us. Dean called me when he heard it and I was on my way out the door so I picked him up on the way here.” R.J. pondered for a moment. “However, it’d probably make life a whole lot simpler if we did live together. What do ya think Davis, wanna move in?”
“You’re a fucking slob, I could never live with you. Plus you’re too old for me.” Dean was catching on to what R.J. was doing. He was trying to make the gentleman who had come in with Kolby and Kaleb relax. Dean remembered the call had said a white male was being brought in and with how distraught this man was, Dean figured he was probably a boyfriend. A brother would have been angry and more accusing, but someone who was in love with the person brought in would just be overwhelmed with grief.
Richards broke in now. “Alright Cagney and Lacey, enough about your love affair, can we get our work done?”
“Ouch Richards. What’s with the name calling?” R.J. tried to look hurt. He turned to Dean and said, “Well at least he didn’t call us Starsky and Hutch.”
Dean looked at R.J. confused, “Who the hell are you guys talking about?”
R.J. slapped his hand to his forehead, “Oh my god, you’re young Davis.”
O’Leary dismissed the banter going on between the two other detectives, “I’m Detective O’Leary and this is Detective Richards. I’m assuming you’re the ones who called 911.”
“Yes, we are.” Kolby was short but not sweet with her answer. R.J. put his hand up over his face to hide a smirk. They had definitely stoked the fire and Richards and O’Leary were going to get burned.
“And you know the victim how?” O’Leary continued his questioning.
“Jason works for us.” It was Kaleb’s turn to be short and also not sweet with his answer.
Dean and R.J. shared a look. Jason had been their waiter that night and was the one the burly dude wanted to mess up. Dean was impressed Kolby did not once let out Jason’s homosexuality when she confronted Mr. Burly. However, if she had done so, maybe Jason wouldn’t be in the hospital right now. Dean was also assuming it was Mr. Burly who had done the beating, which didn’t have to be the case.
O’Leary furrowed his brow. They were not going to make this easy. “Can you tell us what exactly happened without us having to ask five hundred questions?”
Kolby exhaled. This was about Jason, not about her. She needed to buck up and explain exactly what happened. Kolby reached down and grabbed Jake’s hand and pulled him up from the seat. He looked almost like a child standing in between Kolby and Kaleb who both towered about five inches over him. “This is Jake Stephens,” Kolby hesitated, not knowing how the detectives would take his introduction, so she didn’t elaborate. “He called us around one a.m. when Jason hadn’t returned home.”
Richards looked down at Jake. “You make it a point to keep tabs on your roommate when he doesn’t come home?”
Jake’s eyes had dried and his expression became more anger than fear. R.J. and Dean shared another look. This was not going to be good. O’Leary and Richards still weren’t getting it. “Detective, are you married?”
Richards looked at Jake, surprised by the question. “Yes.”
“To a woman?” Jake asked, not a trace of the upset man who had come in earlier.
“What? Of course to a woman who else would I be married to?” Richards was thrown off by the question. “What does that matter?”
R.J. whispered into Dean’s ear, “Well, so much for the sensitivity courses he was made to take. Department wasted a shitload of money there.” Dean snickered.
“To me, it matters how you may handle things. Is it possible to ask for someone else to handle this case? Someone who might be a little more sensitive to my needs?”
O’Leary was starting to get pissed. “This isn’t a fucking job interview, buddy. We’re here to find out what happened to your roommate and their employee. Are you going to help us or not?”
“No, you’re going to find out what happened to my husband and their friend. So to answer your question, Detective, I know exactly what time my husband comes home at night. If it wasn’t for your Cagney and Lacey comment, maybe we would have been a little more forthcoming.” Jake turned towards R.J. and Dean. “As for you two, I think you’d make a wonderful couple.” Jake smiled, despite the situation.
Read Dan’s review HERE!
Shelly Connors truly loves her profession as a high school Physical Education teacher in Central New York.
She enjoys life with her husband and two dogs in the middle of wine country.
She is a lover of a good IPA and red wine.
Dan’s Review: https://lovebytesreviews.com/2015/05/10/book-review-serve-and-protect-by-shelly-connors/
Facebook:
Shelly Connors: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100008191996144
Serve and Protect: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Serve-and-Protect/354432621380496?ref=hl
email: shellyconnorswork@gmail.com
Shelly brought along a fantastic giveaway for our readers!
Enter the rafflecopter to win one of 4 copies of her book “Serve and Protect” that she is giving away !!
Loved the excerpt…added to my wish list!
KP, thank you so much. I apologize in advance for the spelling mistakes. Crazy how much I missed. Promise to do better on the next one.
Congratulations on your new release I enjoyed the excerpt and the book is going on my wish list.
Shirley, thank you for taking the time to comment. I think it took me three days to figure out which excerpt I was going to use so I’m glad it caught your attention. Enjoy.
I’m definitely intrigued!
Trip, If you choose to read it, I hope it keeps your attention. I’d like to know your thoughts. Trying to get as much honest opinions as I can. Thanks for taking a look.
Sorry Trix, darn correct. I hopefully did better with the editing in the second book.
Thanks for the great excerpt Shelly. Good luck with the book
I really appreciate you reading the blurb and the luck. More than anything it has been a great learning experience and I’ve had fun.
Looking forward to reading this. It’s on my wish list. Will you have it available at other places or just Amazon? I like the sequel’s title.
Dara, I look forward to hearing what you think. It is available through Amazon and ibooks but that is it. Hopefully I’ll have the second book out by the end of summer. It is pretty much done just trying to not make the same mistake twice with all the typos. I’m having a few people go through it with a fine tooth comb. Thanks again for posting.
Looking forward to reading more. Great excerpt.
Debby, I appreciate the response. If you do read it, let me know what you think of the rest.
New author for me but the book sounds amazing, I can’t wait to read it.
I hope you enjoy the rest of it. Thanks for posting.
I loved the excerpt and the review about the book was great! Thank you for the post and giveaway! I am looking forward to reading it!
Ree Dee, I’m starting to hope I didn’t pick the best part of the book. I hope if you read it, you find the whole thing interesting. Thank you.
Congratulations on your first book! I loved the excerpt. Thank you for the post and giveaway chance!
My pleasure on the giveaway. I did this for fun. I’ll spend a lot more than I’ll ever make. Thanks for taking the time.
Sounds like a great book.
Gigi, thank you very much. I hope people enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.
I enjoyed the post. Congrats on the new release. From the comments above, I don’t think I’m alone in saying I’m looking forward to giving this a read. Thanks for a chance in the giveaway.
Thank you for the post! Congrats on the new release! I’ve added it to my wishlist.
Thanks for the great excerpt – this sounds just like something I’d like to read. Thanks for a shot at winning a copy.
Congrats on the release! Enjoyed the excerpt! Looking forward to reading this! Thanks for the chance to win a copy!
I am complete overwhelmed by the amount of people who decided to share a post. I hope that everyone enjoys the book as much as you did the post. If any of you do read it, I would love you honest feedback. Thank you again and again.
Awesome cover! Congratulations on the new release! Looking forward to reading it!
congrats on the new release 🙂
sounds great
Thank you to everyone for all the support. I am currently trying to reduce the price to 2.99. I will post again when I do that. I’m still learning how to do things. Thank you again.
However you came about it, I’m glad you decided to put Serve and Protect out there. It sounds like a great story!
Thanks Ashley. I hope to find a bar like that someday. All right. The price is now down to 2.99. Live and learn for the next time. I apologize to everyone who went and paid the other price (family included). Thanks everybody.
Sounds good, adding to my TBR.
This sounds like a great read. I have put it on my must read list.
I loved the excerpt and I’m looking forward to reading.