Maggie Blackbird

Today, author Jayne Townsley is guesting at my blog.  She’s here to talk about her latest release Run to You, book one in the Season of Love series, a romantic suspense.  Don’t forget to enter the Rafflecopter giveaway.

****

Maia (Silver Dagger Book Tours) graciously gave me some suggestions for this post. With her smart recommendation to not answer all of them in bullet points, I decided to jump in and attempt a paragraph style post. First stop? Google precisely how to do that. Google was most unhelpful. So, I decided to approach this how I approach my books: I start writing my story.

It all started on a rainy night…no, scratch that. It didn’t. Almost five years ago, the country was too divisive, and I was overwhelmed by all the ‘stuff’ on social media. I took a social media break and deleted all my accounts. The problem was, I enjoyed entering sweepstakes, and you have more chances to win if you have social media accounts. What to do, what to do?

I hit upon the marvelous idea of creating social media accounts devoid of anything personal. They would strictly be for entering sweepstakes. That decision led to finding all the indie book authors on Facebook and their groups. I had recently gotten a Kindle, and as an avid reader, I was devouring these indie short stories. Sometimes 2 or 3 a day.

Kindle suggested an author named P. Jameson, who had a paranormal series set in Joplin, Missouri. I used to live there, so I was very interested. The Ozark Shifter series led me down the paranormal shifter rabbit hole, and I discovered TS Joyce. I cannot adequately put into words, verbal or written, how much her books meant to me at that time and still do. It comes out like gibberish. I read everything by her I could find and then got involved with her book groups. I began attending book signing events and joined other Facebook groups that focused on self-published indie authors.

In a group focusing on premade covers, an artist posted a graphic of a woman walking on a beach with shoes in her hands. This cover reminded me of Blake Shelton’s song Sangria, which reminded me of my honeymoon in Panama City Beach, which reminded me,…you see how this goes? And Run to You was born.

I put it on the shelf for four years due to some chaos, and then COVID came along. While it’s been challenging in many ways, for my family, it has birthed new opportunities. In August, I watched the documentary The Last Dance, which told Michael Jordan’s final season with the Chicago Bulls. I consider myself a native Chicagoan even though I am, in all reality, a former suburbanite. I was there for the 90s. I went in for the nostalgia and to remember good times and shut out the negative and came out of it with a purpose to ‘Be Like Mike.’

No, not a GOAT NBA player. But to find my passion and put everything I had into it. To ignore the naysayers and use all negativity as fuel for me to chase my dreams. I picked up Run to You again in August, and here we are.

And the ride isn’t over. Good things are coming.

****

Title: Run To You
Series: Seasons of Love Book 1
Author: Jayne Townsley
Genre: Contemporary Romantic Suspense

A friend of the family has done despicable things and has his eyes set on Rin and she has no idea what he has in store for her.

Blurb:  Rin lost her mother four years after the murder of her best friend on the night of their high school graduation. Although her mother’s death was unexpected, there is nothing suspicious about it whereas Hannah’s death is an open cold case. At least Rin thinks her mother’s death was nothing more than an untimely tragedy. Going on the long dreamed of post-college vacation that she and her friends have been planning since grade school, she hopes to leave the pain behind for a bit and relax in the Florida sunshine.

Kevin loves his life and his job as an Army Ranger. When he and his Army brothers use some well-earned time off to visit Panama City Beach, he’s not expecting to meet the woman who will change his life forever. A woman being hunted by an unknown monster intent on keeping them apart by any means necessary.

Can Kevin keep Rin from Hannah’s fate? Or is it his turn to face loss like Rin?

**Only .99 cents!!**

Goodreads | Amazon

Pour Some Sugar on Me by Def Leppard came on the speakers, the bartenders went right into dance mode, and the place went wild. Carefully, Rin began dancing. She did not want her rear end hanging out the backside of this ridiculously short miniskirt.

Even with her cautious attitude, Rin was enjoying the song, the drink, and the atmosphere. She was not enjoying the hands that made a sudden appearance on her rear. Rin quickly turned around, intending to put whoever thought they could be Mr. Grabby Hands with her in their place.

Before she could finish her 180, she felt the hands leave her rear, followed by a loud ‘oof.’ Upon completing the turn, she got a gander at the handsy jerk bent over holding his gut.

At the same time, Kevin stood there, an avenging angel torn between checking on her or ripping the arms off Mr. I-Don’t-Believe-in-Personal-Space.

“Are you all right?” Kevin asked Rin with barely controlled anger in his voice.

“I’m good,” she told him. Before Rin even finished the word ‘good’ with her diligent insistence on not dropping her consonants, Kevin was hauling Mr. Grabby up so he could drag him to the door. Oh, he was hot in beast mode. She got chills watching him in action.

Crystal rushed to her side and said, “While hunting for a table, I ran into Kevin and his friends. I turned around to ask if you wanted to sit with them and realized you weren’t behind me. I was trying to locate you in the crowd, to check on you, seen Mr. Grabby, and before I could move, I watched Kevin vault over a railing and a table to get to you and remove the idiot’s hands from you.”

Rin didn’t think Crystal had taken a single breath during that explanation.

“Are you OK?” Crystal asked worriedly, “Hurt?”

“No, no, not hurt,” Rin replied. “A little shaken up. This bar is not like any place we go to back home. I am feeling small town girl-slash-idiot right now. I shouldn’t have gone out there without making sure one of you were with me. That was the original plan! Also, I hate all this attention on me, and I’m getting ready to hyperventilate.”

“Ack! Don’t do that!” Crystal shrieked.

“Not. Helping,” Rin said through gritted teeth.

“Sorry,” Crystal said. “Come on. The guys are here. You know, the ones we’ve been talking about all day? They said there is room for us at their table. Well, I haven’t been talking about Kevin because he’s my cousin, and that would be gross, but you know what I mean.”

“Hmmm…” Rin said, regaining her composure. “The Shirtless Hotties happened to be at this bar out of all the places on the strip. How. Convenient.”

“Well, maybe I mentioned it to Kevin after you got in line at the donut place,” Crystal said sheepishly.

“I don’t think there is any ‘maybe’ about it,” Rin laughed.

Crystal had been trying to find Rin a man since they discovered that boys were on the Earth for more than chasing on the playground. Rin wasn’t interested in Crystal’s matchmaking efforts until now.

Rin wanted what her parents had, and she was unwilling to audition a bunch of men to find it. Instead, for her, she would know when it was The ONE. Kevin AKA Shirtless Hottie Number One had the most potential for that role in her life out of anyone she had ever met. This feeling, this sense of wonderment, was new and fresh and crisp like that taste in the air when fall was turning to winter. Indefinable, yet real. Honestly, Kevin Garland had been on her mind nonstop since this morning, so she wasn’t the slightest bit upset that Crystal wanted to play Yenta this time.

As Rin and Crystal reached the table, the men stood up with questions about whether Rin was OK. Did she need anything? After Rin assured them that she was all right and took her seat, they sat down, visibly relaxing an inch. Rin was aware of them continually scanning the room as if they were waiting for an attack. She guessed it was part of their occupational training.

Glancing up to see Kevin returning to the table, she didn’t even try to stop the enormous smile that bloomed on her face. Kevin noticed her smile, a hint of heat flashing in his beautiful brown eyes, and returned Rin’s smile with one just as big.

If she could deal with the crowd, tonight was going to be awesome. She knew it.

****

Jayne Townsley lives with her multi-generational family in Northeast Oklahoma’s aptly named Green Country. A transplanted Okie from the Chicago suburbs, she has grown to love this state and its people with a passion, happily calling it home for the past 15 years.

Jayne shares her home with a rescued Shollie named Maui and two cats called Gamora and Nebula.

Jayne enjoys old-fashioned road trips and is in the process of planning one to tour Oklahoma’s Route 66.

She is also something of a Disney World addict.

Run to You is her debut novel. She writes clean romance with a sharp edge.

Find Jayne:  Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads

****

Enter for a chance to win a $10 Amazon Gift Card + Handmade Soap from veteran-owned Oklahoma’s Solid Rock Soap Company!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Follow the tour HERE for special content and a giveaway!