Shooting Stars Above
by Patricia Leavy
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GENRE: Romance
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BOOK BLURB:
For fans of Colleen Hoover comes an emotionally charged contemporary romance about a internationally best-selling novelist and a federal agent fighting to heal past wounds.
Tess Lee is a world-famous novelist. Her inspirational books explore people’s innermost struggles and the human need to believe that there is light at the end of the tunnel—but despite her extraordinary success, she’s been unable to find personal happiness. Jack Miller is a federal agent working in counterterrorism. After spending decades immersed in a violent world, a residue remains. He’s dedicated everything to his job, leaving nothing for himself.
The night Tess and Jack meet, their connection is palpable. She examines the scars on his body and says, “I’ve never seen anyone whose outsides match my insides.” The two embark on an epic love story, but old traumas soon rise to the surface as Jack struggles with the death of a loved one and Tess is forced to confront her childhood abuse. Can unconditional love help heal their invisible wounds? Together, will they be able to move from darkness to light?
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EXCERPT ONE:
“So, what do you do?” she asked.
“I’m a federal agent with the Bureau—counterterrorism. I joined the military right out of high school, Special Forces. I was in the field, often deep undercover, until about a year ago, when I took a desk job as the head of my division.”
“Wow, you’re like the real-life Jack Bauer. You even look a little like him, with that whole rugged, handsome hero thing you have going on,” she said.
He blushed and ran his hand through his light brown hair. “I promise you I’m no Jack Bauer, even on my best day. People thought that character was so tragic, but the real tragedy is that Jack Bauer doesn’t exist, and you’re stuck with guys like me.”
She smiled. “What made you choose that line of work?”
“My parents raised me and my siblings to value community, to be patriotic. My father was in the military and then became a firefighter. The idea of service always seemed important. I wanted to serve my country, to protect people. It’s hard to explain, but when I see someone innocent being threatened, I’m willing to do whatever is necessary to protect them. I know it sounds cliché, but I feel like it’s my purpose in life.”
“That’s noble,” she remarked.
He shook his head. “The lived reality often isn’t. When you spend most of your life in the abyss, it gets pretty dark.”
“A residue remains, right?” she asked.
He looked at her intently, a little surprised. “Yes, exactly.”
“I understand. You convince yourself it’s all been for something that matters more than you do, that whatever part of yourself you sacrificed was worth it, because it simply has to be.”
He looked at her as if she had read his innermost thoughts. “Yes,” he said softly. “Tell me, what do you do?”
“I’m a novelist.”
“What are your books about?”
“That’s a difficult question to answer. I guess I wanted to write about everything: what it means to live a life, why it’s so hard, and how it could be easier. To walk people through the darkness, in a way. Perhaps my goals were too lofty, and in that respect, each book fails more spectacularly than the one before.”
The bartender smirked.
Tess wistfully said, “Maybe reality can never live up to our dreams.”
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GUEST POST:
Describe What Steps You Take to Achieve and Maintain a Healthy Work/Life Balance
Work/life balance is a tricky thing. One of the issues is that sometimes we think that means things are always perfectly in balance. This is totally unrealistic and can make us feel like failures. The truth is, many of us do not have work lives where everything is the same every day. Many of us have busier or higher stress times. The same is true in our personal lives. Sometimes the people and relationships we care about need a lot from us, and sometimes they don’t. So, to me, work/life balance is about my overall life, not any one day or week or month. Writing is an integral part of my daily routine. It’s about more than doing my job or getting words on a page. It's about my mental health and joy. To me, writing is oxygen. I don’t feel good without it. So, I write every day—weekends, vacations, and holidays. I don’t write all day, every day, but I do write every day. A normal weekend routine in my house is to write in the morning and then go out with my husband for the afternoon and dinner, or we’ll go to a café together and I’ll write while he reads a book, before we do whatever else we’re doing that day. On vacation, I get up early in the morning and write for a couple hours while my husband exercises or goes for a walk. Sometimes I have an especially busy time and devote most of my time to my job. For example, when I’m on a deadline to review copy edits or page proofs, or during a book release when I’m doing promotion. There are other times when I’m just on my own writing and I make extra time for people I love, meeting a friend for lunch or seeing my adult daughter. So it’s not always the same, but overall, my life has balance. I never sacrifice the people I love, but I always make time to write.
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AUTHOR BIO & LINK:
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Patricia Leavy, PhD, is an award-winning, best-selling author. She was formerly Associate Professor of Sociology, Chairperson of Sociology & Criminology, and Founding Director of Gender Studies at Stonehill College. She has published more than fifty books; her work has been translated into many languages, and she has received more than one hundred book honors. Recently, her novel The Location Shoot was featured in Ms. Career Girl's “10 Perfect Books to Get Your Fall Reading List Started” and She Reads in “Novels to Read if You Love Classic Movies” and was the 2024 Best Book Awards First Place Winner in Women’s Fiction. Patricia has also received career awards from the New England Sociological Association, the American Creativity Association, the American Educational Research Association, the International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry, and the National Art Education Association. In 2018, she was honored by the National Women’s Hall of Fame and SUNY-New Paltz established the “Patricia Leavy Award for Art and Social Justice.” Patricia lives in Maine and serves on the board of the London Arts-Based Research Centre. In addition to writing, she enjoys movies, art, reading, and travel.
Website:
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AMAZON BUY LINKS:
Amazon US Kindle eBook:
Amazon CA Kindle eBook:
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