Hello lovelies! It gives me
great pleasure today to host fellow Oregonian Dixie Lee Brown and her new book,
“Heart of a SEAL”! For other stops on
her Goddess Fish Promotions Book Tour, please click on the banner above or any
of the images in this post.
Be sure to make it to the end
of this post to enter to win a $30 Amazon or Barnes and Noble Gift Card!!! Also, come back daily to interact with Dixie
and to increase your chances of winning!
Thanks for stopping by! Wishing you lots of luck in this fabulous
giveaway!
Heart of a SEAL
by Dixie Lee Brown
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GENRE: Romantic Suspense
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BLURB:
They’re brothers in arms, Navy SEALS risking their lives for
their country… and the women they love.
This is Luke Harding’s story.
Six
months in a desert hellhole taught Navy SEAL Luke Harding things he never
wanted to learn about life and death. Only tender memories of the beautiful
brunette he met a few weeks before his deployment helped get him through the
torturous days and nights. Back in the States after a perilous rescue,
physically and emotionally damaged, Luke’s about to plunge into a new kind of
war. In a seemingly bucolic Idaho town, Sally Duncan faces real—and
unpredictable—danger.
All
Sally ever wanted was a safe place to raise her nine-year-old daughter. Her
identity hidden behind a façade of secrets and lies, can she trust Luke—a man
she barely knows—with the truth? Even as they give in to long-denied passion, a
killer with a personal vendetta is setting an ambush that will leave them
praying for a miracle and fighting for the future they may not live to see.
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EXCERPT ONE:
“Are
you Petty Officer Second Class Luke Harding?” The man in battle gear knelt
beside him.
As
hard as he tried, Luke couldn’t make a sound—or even nod his head. All he could
do was stare until his eyes misted, and he squeezed his eyelids shut so he
wouldn’t humiliate himself.
They
know my name. Somebody knows who I am. Gratitude washed over him even as sorrow
intruded into his momentary peace. Except for two short weeks, he could have
celebrated with Ian.
The
warrior reached for Luke’s hand, gripping it firmly. “It’s okay, Son. You stay
with me. You hear me, Sailor? That’s an order.” He leaned over Luke and there
was understanding in his eyes. “We’re here to get you home alive, and failure
is not an option. You copy that?”
Luke
would have smiled if he could have. Did the guy know the phrase he uttered so
effortlessly was the only thing holding Luke together?
“Medic!”
the man yelled over his shoulder, and two seconds later another warrior stuck
his head into Luke’s space.
It
was getting harder to breathe. His rasping and gurgling grew louder and filled
his ears.
“Chest
wound.” The second man applied pressure, none too gently, to the hole in Luke’s
torso.
Jesus,
you stupid SOB! Luke would have given anything for the strength to shove him
away, while using every four letter word he knew, but the most he could manage
was a pained groan.
“Hang
in there.” The first man pulled Luke’s attention from the medic. “I know you’re
in pain. The chopper will land any second, and we’ll get you onboard. Next
stop—a nice clean hospital and then…stateside. We’re going to give you the good
stuff so you can sleep through this next part. You’re going to make it, Sailor,
so start planning your homecoming.”
Sally.
The image of the sweet brunette he’d promised to return to flashed in Luke’s
mind. He barely felt the prick of the needle before his eyes fluttered closed
on his last memory.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GUEST POST:
Thanks
for stopping by the Fabulous and Brunette Blog site. I’m Luke Harding, and I
have something I’d like to get off my chest.
Life
is a constant learning process, and that’s a good thing because the minute you
stop learning new things—well, that’s when you get left behind, lamenting
by-gone days when you could pump a gallon of gas for less than a buck—or some
foolishness like that.
We
may not have met, but you can call me Luke. I was a Navy SEAL up until about
two years ago. A few of you might have read about me and some of my friends in
Dixie Lee Brown’s Heart of a SEAL,
released recently. Pull up a chair, if you’ve got some time. I’d like to tell
you what I learned from the most important person in my life.
It’s not all about me!
My
last deployment to Iraq didn’t go quite the way we expected. Returning from a
successful mission, one of our choppers was shot down. Another SEAL, Ian
Matthias, and I were the only survivors, which was bad enough, but then we were
captured and held hostage in a filthy terrorist stronghold. Those were the
darkest days of my life, but Ian and I had each other, and we managed to keep
our spirits up. Until they killed him…and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do
to stop them.
Life
got hard after that. Long days of mind games and torture—longer nights of cold,
loneliness and pain. Hatred drove me. Hatred and the tattered picture of Sally
and her daughter, Jen, gave me a reason to live, despite being critically
wounded in the rescue operation that brought me home.
Meanwhile,
Sally, my sunshine and the reason I didn’t go stark raving mad, went through
her own hell. Her torture was mental and emotional. Going to bed every night,
not knowing if I was alive or dead—not knowing which to pray for. Crying
herself to sleep because she couldn’t stand the thought of what might be
happening to me. Trying to explain my disappearance to her nine-year-old
daughter without shattering Jen’s innocence.
To
make matters worse, when I arrived stateside, crushed in body and spirit, I
couldn’t face her. I sent her away without a word of explanation. Always
thinking about myself. Never giving a thought to what she and Jen, my brother
Garrett, my father or friends and fellow SEALs were wrestling with in the quiet
hours of the morning while they worried…about me.
The
epiphany hit me hard one day when Sally, Jen and I were driving down a backroad
in Idaho. Though I’d been the prisoner, trying to survive in that hellhole,
their suffering was equally unconscionable, if not more so. It took Sally’s
shattered expression and the resolve in her beautiful eyes not to let one more
tear fall as she told me she wouldn’t allow me to hurt her daughter ever again.
I’d have had to be blind not to see what my imprisonment and the wounds that
nearly took my life had done…to her…as she waited halfway around the world,
hoping to hear I’d be coming home. Until that moment, my self-absorption had
known no bounds. I’d given no thought to the sacrifice made by loved ones left
behind to keep the home fires burning, alone.
Seeing
the world through Sally’s eyes started a whole new chapter in my life. First
and foremost, I need to make sure Sally never spends another night alone and
scared—that she never has to wonder where I am or if I’m safe—that she knows
I’ve got her back, just like she had mine through a worn and faded photograph.
After
talking it over with Sally and with input from Jen, we decided to do more for
families separated by military service—specifically spouses and children of
active service members who put their lives on hold for our country. Here are
seven ways our new family plans to spread the love:
·
Join
with local churches or civic groups and volunteer to perform maintenance and
minor repairs at the homes of active duty military spouses.
·
Offer
to watch the kids of families we’ve become acquainted with through such
outreach, while the spouse goes shopping, gets a manicure or meets friends for
coffee.
·
Mentor
a young person whose parent is overseas.
·
Give
an anonymous gift card for a meal out, a movie, a tank of gas…or?
·
Remember
a child’s birthday with a small gift.
·
Hire
a veteran. (MacGyver, Coop, Travis and I are starting a private security
company. Travis says it’s the wave of the future, whatever that means.)
·
Check
out various organizations and support ones that help veterans re-enter civilian
life, get a job and succeed after military service.
To
all the service members and veterans reading this, Sally, Jen and I say: “Thank
you for your service.” It’s the least we can do.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR BIO:
Dixie Lee Brown lives and writes in Central
Oregon, inspired by gorgeous scenery and at least three hundred sunny days a
year. Having moved from South Dakota as a child to Washington, Montana and then
to Oregon, she feels at home in the west. She resides with two dogs and a cat,
who are currently all the responsibility she can handle. Dixie works fulltime
as a bookkeeper. When she's not writing or working, she loves to read, enjoys
movies, and if it were possible, she’d spend all of her time at the beach. She
is also the author of the Trust No One romantic suspense series, published by
Avon Impulse.
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CONNECT WITH DIXIE:
Website:
Facebook Page:
Facebook Group – Street Team:
Twitter:
BookBub:
Goodreads Author Page:
Goodreads Book Page:
Amazon Author Page:
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BOOK BUY LINKS:
Amazon Kindle:
Barnes and Noble:
Kobo:
Apple iBooks:
Google Play:
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GIVEAWAY INFO:
Dixie will be awarding a $30 Amazon or B/N GC to
a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour.
**This post contains affiliate links and if clicked and a
purchase made I may receive a small commission to help support this blog. This does not cost you anything, it just
helps pay for all those awesome giveaways on here.**
This contest is sponsored
by a third party. Fabulous and Brunette is a registered host of Goddess Fish
Promotions. Prizes are given away by the
sponsors and not Fabulous and Brunette. The featured author and Goddess Fish
Promotions are solely responsible for the giveaway prize.
Thanks for hosting!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed getting to know your book and thanks for the chance to win :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by and following the tour. Good luck!
DeleteThanks so much for hosting "Luke" and Heart of a SEAL again, Ally!
ReplyDeleteI definitely need to add this book to my reading list.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Kim! I hope you will. Thanks for stopping in and reading the post!
DeleteHi love the cover of this need to finish reading it!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Sandra. I was happy with the job my publisher did on the cover too! I hope you get time to finish it soon. Thanks for coming by.
DeleteI liked the excerpt.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Rita! I think that's the first time for this particular excerpt. Thanks for reading it!
DeleteSounds like my kind of book, thanks for sharing :)
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome, Victoria. I'm glad you liked the teaser!
DeleteGood luck with the release!
ReplyDelete--Trix
Thanks for the good wishes, Trix!
DeleteCongrats on the release. I hope you have a great tour. Bernie Wallace BWallace1980(at)hotmail(d0t)com
ReplyDeleteThanks, Joseph. The tour has been great and I've met such nice people. It's a good way to connect with readers who've never read my books, as well as reconnect with old friends!
DeleteAn excellent post and interview.
ReplyDeleteI look forward to more with Luke and his friends.
Dixie's books are excellent.
Aw...thanks so much, Chele. Luke's friend, MacGyver, has his own story releasing October 9th! I hope you'll check it out as well.
DeleteWhat a great cover and I would love to read your book.
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by and reading the post, Bridgett!
DeleteI really enjoyed reading the excerpt, thank you!
ReplyDelete