As the sky lit up before him, Jake reflected on the last few months. When he’d left Rehoboth in January, the beach had been covered in eight inches of snow. Now, in the third week in June, it looked as though it was going to be a beautiful summer’s day. This was the longest period of time that he’d spent away from home and, for the past ten weeks of the tour, his heart had been yearning for the sights and sounds of the ocean and the beach house.
Life over the past five years had become more and more demanding as Silver Lake had gone from strength to strength and Weigh Station had enjoyed a successful revival. Juggling musical commitments, recording sessions and tours for two of the planet’s biggest bands had been a logistical nightmare. He’d long since lost count of the number of shows he’d played, finding it harder and harder to remember where he was and who he was with. If it wasn’t for the journal he kept, Jake would have lost track of time and place entirely.
On the flight home, he’d been sitting between Grey and Jethro, having lost the coin toss to see who would take the middle seat. As Grey had slept soundly at the window, Jake had confided in the band’s manager that he didn’t want to even think about music until at least the fall. Understanding completely, the older man had nodded his silent agreement, noting how raw and hoarse Silver Lake’s vocalist’s voice was sounding.
Now, as he sat watching the horizon, Jake was wondering if he would be able to sing again by fall even if he wanted to. Ghosts of a past duet with Tori from Molton were tormenting him. The last three shows had really put a strain on him and, by the end of Flyin’ High in Los Angeles, his voice was gone. A sign to take a much-needed rest perhaps he thought.
Lost in his thoughts, he sat enjoying the view and the tranquillity of the beach.
The familiar screech of the patio door to the sun room opening startled him back to the present. He listened closely wondering who was about to approach him.
“Daddy!”
Before he could turn round, he felt sand spray over him as Melody threw her arms around his neck. As he hugged her close, she smothered his face with kisses.
“I’ve missed you, Daddy,” she said as he pulled her into his lap.
“Bet I’ve missed you more, Miss M.”
Want to read more… check out the Silver Lake series today.
Amazon.com links –
Stronger Within – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00VXDSC1M
Impossible Depths – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01C0GS30K
Bonded Souls – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XSQHG71
Shattered Hearts – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07ZY8ZSDM
Long Shadows – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08RR1FGLG
Amazon.co.uk links –
Stronger Within – https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00VXDSC1M
Impossible Depths – https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01C0GS30K
Bonded Souls – https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B06XSQHG71
Shattered Hearts – https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07ZY8ZSDM
Long Shadows – https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08RR1FGLG
Jake watched her from the distant vantage point of the boardwalk. He had headed for the beach after the end of his shift at the pizza parlour. It had been a rough day and he had decided to walk off his black mood before heading to meet the guys. The last thing they needed was him turning up in a foul mood, stinking of tomato sauce and cheese. He had walked to the south end of the promenade and had just turned back when he saw the girl walking down on the sand. It was the sun catching the golden highlights in her hair that had attracted his attention. He never noticed her crutches at first. Watching from a distance, he had kept pace with her, then stopped to watch as she turned towards the boardwalk. When he saw her stumble, he regretted not following his instincts and going down to walk on the sand with her.
“Shit,” he muttered. “Shit.”
There were no breaks in the fence nearby, so he jumped over the wooden palings into the dune grass and ran towards her, sand immediately filling his shoes. By the time he was close enough to call out to her, she was sitting up and looked to be unhurt. He almost turned away but decided against it and continued to walk down the beach.
“Hi,” he called out. “Are you ok?”
If you want to read more then check out the Silver Lake series today
Amazon.com links –
Stronger Within – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00VXDSC1M
Impossible Depths – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01C0GS30K
Bonded Souls – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XSQHG71
Shattered Hearts – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07ZY8ZSDM
Long Shadows – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08RR1FGLG
Amazon.co.uk links –
Stronger Within – https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00VXDSC1M
Impossible Depths – https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01C0GS30K
Bonded Souls – https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B06XSQHG71
Shattered Hearts – https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07ZY8ZSDM
Long Shadows – https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08RR1FGLG
His inbox was crammed full of unread mails – most of which were advertising junk. Before this infuriated him further, he tweaked his junk mail filters, then returned to his inbox. There was one email from Maddy that caught his attention. The subject heading was “Silver Lake album and merchandising artwork.” He opened the message, scanning the details about a band meeting scheduled for Friday to discuss the attachments. Jake opened the first of four attachments to reveal the three draft designs for the album cover, each significantly different. Instantly his eyes were drawn to the distinctive signature on the drawings. He opened the other three attachments and found a variety of other designs tagged as t-shirt proposals and miscellaneous. One proposed album design caught his eye – a dragon, with its wings spread out nestled inside an intricate Celtic knot. The twist of its tail reminded him of the Celtic trinity that was in the band’s logo. When had Lori found time to complete this portfolio? Why hadn’t she told him? Suddenly, he desperately wanted to talk to her, but it was four o’clock in the morning. Smiling for the first time since Monday, Jake reached for his phone and turned it on. A barrage of text alerts pinged through – he ignored them for now. Quickly he typed, “Love the designs. Love the Celtic dragon knot. Love you. J x”. He hit send.
(extract from Stronger Within, book 1 in the Silver Lake series)
If you want to read more then check out the Silver Lake series today
Amazon.com links –
Stronger Within – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00VXDSC1M
Impossible Depths – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01C0GS30K
Bonded Souls – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XSQHG71
Shattered Hearts – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07ZY8ZSDM
Long Shadows – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08RR1FGLG
Amazon.co.uk links –
Stronger Within – https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00VXDSC1M
Impossible Depths – https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01C0GS30K
Bonded Souls – https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B06XSQHG71
Shattered Hearts – https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07ZY8ZSDM
Long Shadows – https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08RR1FGLG
The cottage garden was sheltered from the breeze and, with the chimnea blazing, the patio felt cosy and intimate. Lit tealights in old jam jars were scattered around the boundary of the paved area, their flames flickering in the darkness. Plucking a gentle melody, Taylor watched as Nana and Jen brought out bowls of crisps and dips and some beers and cider. He smiled over at Ellen, who was sitting on a pile of cushions beside the fireplace.
“You ok?” asked Taylor, noting that she was staring intently at the flames.
“Never better,” she replied with a relaxed smile. “I was just daydreaming.”
“Ghosts in those flames?”
With a wistful smile, she nodded before confessing, “A year ago I couldn’t have sat here. Couldn’t stand to see flames. My dad helped me over those ghosts. Calmed my fears.”
“Shit! I never thought!”
“It’s fine, Tailz,” assured Ellen warmly. “In fact, it’s more than fine. This is perfect.”
Want to know more? Check out Ellen on Amazon today.
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged #Amazon, #books, #contemporaryromance, #CoralMcCallum, #ebook, #Ellen, #Kindle, #romance, #romancenovel, #weekendread
escape to the beach this weekend with Jake Power….
An early morning mist had rolled in off the ocean creating an eerie atmosphere along the beach. It had been early when Lori had crept out of the house to go for a walk. She did some of her best thinking alone down on the sand. Over the months her confidence and her physical strength had grown allowing her to walk along the shoreline without a constant nagging fear of falling. With the broad base plate attached, she still used her cane for support, psychological as much as physical. She had left Jake snoring loudly in bed, his long limbs spread out over more than his fair share of the mattress. When she had come down the hall, she had found Rich asleep on the lounge floor, his leather jacket serving as a blanket. As she wandered through the sun room, Lori wasn’t surprised to find both Paul and Grey asleep on the couches. The last two revellers hadn’t even made it indoors. Gary and Scott were dead to the world on the sun loungers outside. Someone had had the good sense to cover them with the fleecy blankets from the sun room. Images of the sleeping rock stars made her smile as she strolled along the sand. This early the beach was deserted, and the pockets of morning mist created her own small private thought bubbles.
If you want to read more then check out the Silver Lake series today
Amazon.com links –
Stronger Within – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00VXDSC1M
Impossible Depths – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01C0GS30K
Bonded Souls – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XSQHG71
Shattered Hearts – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07ZY8ZSDM
Long Shadows – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08RR1FGLG
Amazon.co.uk links –
Stronger Within – https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00VXDSC1M
Impossible Depths – https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01C0GS30K
Bonded Souls – https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B06XSQHG71
Shattered Hearts – https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07ZY8ZSDM
Long Shadows – https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08RR1FGLG
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged #Amazon, #amreading, #books, #bookstagram, #CoralMcCallum, #ebooks, #IndieAuthor, #KDP, #Kindle, #SilverLakeseries
Sh…don’t tell your Kindle…but the paperback format of Long Shadows has crept out early and is available to purchase worldwide now on Amazon. 😉
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged #Amazon, #amreading, #availablenow, #book, #IndieAuthor, #KDP, #LongShadows, #paperbackbook, #realbook
Jake and Lori return to Rehoboth Beach to pick up the threads of family life.
As they look forward to Jake’s first solo tour with Garrett, the album launch and the arrival of the new baby, life is looking good but then a cruel twist fate casts Long Shadows over the Silver Lake family.
Will life ever be the same?
Long Shadows is now available to pre-order on Kindle worldwide
Here’s the pre-order links:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08RR1FGLG
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08RR1FGLG
**Long Shadows will be released on 14 February 2021 **
And if you’ve missed the start of the series, don’t panic. Here’s the links to help you catch up
Amazon.com links –
Stronger Within – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00VXDSC1M
Impossible Depths – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01C0GS30K
Bonded Souls – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XSQHG71
Shattered Hearts – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07ZY8ZSDM
Amazon.co.uk links –
Stronger Within – https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00VXDSC1M
Impossible Depths – https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01C0GS30K
Bonded Souls – https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B06XSQHG71
Shattered Hearts – https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07ZY8ZSDM
Jake and Lori return to Rehoboth Beach to pick up the threads of family life.
As they look forward to Jake’s first solo tour with Garrett, the album launch and the arrival of the new baby, life is looking good but then a cruel twist fate casts Long Shadows over the Silver Lake family.
Will life ever be the same?
Long Shadows is now available to pre-order on Kindle worldwide
Here’s the pre-order links:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08RR1FGLG
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08RR1FGLG
**Long Shadows will be released on 14 February 2021 **
And if you’ve missed the start of the series, don’t panic. Here’s the links to help you catch up
Amazon.com links –
Stronger Within – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00VXDSC1M
Impossible Depths – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01C0GS30K
Bonded Souls – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XSQHG71
Shattered Hearts – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07ZY8ZSDM
Amazon.co.uk links –
Stronger Within – https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00VXDSC1M
Impossible Depths – https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01C0GS30K
Bonded Souls – https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B06XSQHG71
Shattered Hearts – https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07ZY8ZSDM
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged #Amazon, #books, #comingsoon, #ebooks, #IndieAuthor, #KDP, #Kindle, #Kindleunlimited, #LongShadows, #newfiction, #pre-order, #SilverLakeseries, #tellyourfriends
This week I’d like to introduce you to fellow indie author, Sarah M Reed. I first came across Sarah’s work when I read If I Fell In Love last summer and I’ll be honest I fell just a tiny bit in love with Ray in that book.
The lady herself has a new novel, The Boyfriend Pact, out today- yes, today! (The link to purchase it is below.)
So without further ado, here’s how my recent virtual interview with Sarah went :-
Tell me a bit about yourself. Have you always wanted to be a writer?
When I was seven years old, my first-grade teacher did a unit with our class on how books are created. We all wrote our own story and made it into a book. My book was entered into a schoolwide contest and won a blue ribbon for first place. I have been writing ever since!
Your latest book The Boyfriend Pact is due to be released on 21 Jan 2021. What can you tell me about it without giving away any spoilers?
“The Boyfriend Pact” is a best friends to lovers story that has a little steam and a whole lot of feels. It actually started as a novella that I wrote in high school twenty years ago, but when I dusted it off and set about trying to expand it into a full-length novel, it became something completely different. I love the way it turned out.
Which of your characters do you like most? Why?
Lauren, from my first book, “If I Fell in Love,” is my favorite because she is the most like me. However, Michael, the main character of “The Boyfriend Pact”, is the best book boyfriend a girl could have, so…
Is there one particular person who inspired you to write?
There have been many – starting with that first-grade teacher and on through the years. Recently, I’ve been inspired by the community of other female indie authors who have welcomed me and accompanied me along this journey.
A cruel question, but what’s your favourite book/who’s your favourite author?
Just one?? I am a big fan of rom-coms, so I love Jennifer Crusie, Jill Shalvis and Jo Watson. I’ve read pretty much all of their books. “Faking It” by Crusie and “Nobody but You” by Shalvis are the two books that I could (and have) read over and over again and never tire of.
Tell me a bit about your approach to your writing. Are you a meticulous planner or do you tend towards letting your characters go with the flow?
I am a go with the flow type of writer. I have the characters in mind ahead of time, and a general idea of where the book is heading, but sometimes the characters have their own ideas about things and I have learned to go with them. Their ideas are often better than mine…
I love to write outdoors. Where’s your favourite place to write?
Since I have two little kids to keep an eye on, I do most of my writing at the kitchen table. Keeps me right in the middle of the action!
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given?
In terms of life? Be today who you want to be tomorrow. In terms of writing? Just get it on the page and then clean it up later.
How do you overcome writer’s block?
I have found that usually writer’s block happens when I am trying to make the story go in a direction it doesn’t want to go. If I take a step back, think it through, let me imagination go… oftentimes the right path will come to me.
So, what’s next creatively? Are you working on anything else just now?
I am writing a love story for two of the side characters from my previous books: Lexi from “The Boyfriend Pact” and Simon from “If I Fell in Love”. Then I have a romantic suspense I’d like to write, which will be similar in style to my second novel, “In Pursuit of Happily Ever After.” After that, I don’t know.
Let’s finish with a few of Sarah’s favourite things…
Favourite food – ice cream
Favourite drink – just water (boring, I know)
Favourite band – the Beatles
Favourite holiday destination – Disneyland. Seriously. Disneyland at Christmastime is magical.
If you want to catch up with Sarah, here’s the links to her social media:-
FB page: www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100054158571494
Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/author/show/20514616.Sarah_M_Reed
And if you want to get to know her characters better, then the links to check out her books are below:-
If I Fell in Love www.amazon.com/If-Fell-Love-Sarah-Reed-ebook/dp/B08BKRLH3T
In Pursuit of Happily Ever After www.amazon.com/Pursuit-Happily-Ever-After-ebook/dp/B08JK6GQB9
The Boyfriend Pact www.amazon.com/Boyfriend-Pact-Sarah-M-Reed-ebook/dp/B08R32N93Y
I was lucky enough to be given an ARC copy of The Boyfriend Pact a couple of weeks ago. I was curious right from the start about where this storyline was headed. Within a few pages I felt totally invested in these characters’ lives. This is one of these books you can hear in your head as you’re reading it. More importantly, its one you can feel too. I’m not about to give any spoilers away here but this tale is filled with love- the kind of love you find in friendships, family and in relationships. I love how Sarah captures the quaintness of Winston Prairie. I could also hear the buzz and smell the cooking in the scenes involving Michael’s family. Great read. Don’t believe me then check it out for yourself.
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged #Amazon, #authorinterview, #IndieAuthor, #interview, #Kindle, #newfiction, #newrelease, #SarahMReed, #TheBoyfriendPact
Coral McCallum 