Welcome Guest Blogger, Chrys Fey!

 Please welcome fellow romance writer, Chrys Fey!

 Chrys's stories combine the rush of impending disaster with the excitement of   love. Her fast-paced books are always time well spent! 

 Now, here's Chrys! 

Writing about a sexual assault/domestic abuse survivor takes a lot of care. You have to understand (to the best of your ability) what a survivor would do and what they wouldn’t do. How they would react and how they may possibly think about…anything. What healing involves, how they can regress, and so much more. I took that seriously when I had to write about Amanda in A Fighting Chance.

Amanda is a survivor. Her ex-boyfriend had abused her sexually, physically, and mentally. The things he did to her in the past still impacts her today, partly because her ex is still out there and he’s made it known that he’s close and wants her back. At all costs. She’s healed physically, but with him at large, she can only heal so much. Amanda struggles with severe anxiety. She is afraid and overly cautious.

When I wrote Amanda, I drew from real stories I’ve heard, things I’ve done and how I’ve felt from experiencing sibling abuse throughout my childhood, and even things from TV shows and movies.

One TV show that I thought was neat but only had one season was Stalker with Maggie Q. This show had the most amazing music (some of which are on my playlist for A Fighting Chance on Spotify). This show also was chilling, knowing that people could do these things to another person.

There was one scene I remember, though, where Maggie Q’s character, who had dealt with her own stalker in the past, is walking through her house at night and ALL her windows are uncovered. No curtains. No blinds. Her stalker is able to watch her move from room to room. I remember thinking, “A woman who has her history with a stalker and is the head of the LAPD's Threat Assessment Unit that investigates stalker cases, would NOT be so dense.” Actually, I wasn’t so kind in that wording, but you get the idea.

In A Fighting Chance, I addressed that. Amanda checks her windows every night, making sure they are locked (even if she didn’t open them), the blinds are down and facing up (because you can’t peek through when the blinds are turned upward inside of down), and her curtains are drawn tight.

 

Other things Amanda does in A Fighting Chance:

- She has multiple locks on her front door and bedroom door.

- She has designated hiding places in her house that aren’t typical.

- She had traps in front of her windows and doors to alert her to an intruder’s presence/entry.

- She always carries Thorn’s business card on her person in case she has to make a fast escape without her phone and can’t recall his number off the top of her head.

- All of her knives and dangerous kitchen utensils are in cabinets instead of drawers (since knives, forks, meat mallets, etc. are usually stored in drawers), and inside her drawers are non-lethal supplies like napkins and paper plates. I got this from the movie Enough when Jennifer Lopez’s character (Slim) moves her ex-husband’s kitchen knives and guns and puts them in places he’d never think to look.

- She has hurricane shutters over her sliding glass door.

- She has planned ways of escape.

There’s more. She has thought about every possible scenario and what she should do. And, of course, she’s been taking self-defense classes for years and is now an assistant instructor. She may be full of neurosis. She may be scarred by the things she experienced. But she is my heroine of steel, just as all survivors of abuse are heroines (or heroes) of steel. 

Pages: 154

Genre: Romantic-Suspense

Heat Rating: Hot 

BLURB:

*A FIGHTING CHANCE is Book 6 in the Disaster Crimes series, but it’s a spin-off featuring a new couple, so it can be read as a standalone.*

Thorn has loved Amanda from afar, giving her whatever she needs as a survivor of abuse—space, protection, and stability. He yearns to give her more, though, to share his feelings, kiss her, love her, but he's worried the truth will frighten her away.

And Amanda is afraid. She’s scared of her attraction for Thorn. Most of all, she’s terrified of her ex-boyfriend, who is lurking nearby where no one can find him. When she grows closer to Thorn, Damon retaliates, jeopardizing their happy ending.

Up against an abusive ex and Mother Nature, do Thorn and Amanda have a fighting chance?

 

Book Links: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo / iTunes

 

EXCERPT:

Amanda looked up from the current list of up-to-date payments for classes. A movement outside the glass storefront caught her eye. She tilted her head to see a man coming up the sidewalk from the side where the picnic bench sat. Through the vertical blinds, she glimpsed a square face—a short, rugged beard and long, dark hair pulled into a man bun. Her breath fled from her lungs. Her body went from icy cold to flaming hot in the span of a millisecond. She dropped to the floor and slid under the counter, beneath the ledge where they put their purses and cell phones.

“What—” Beth peeked at the windows. Then she snapped her fingers at April and pointed at the stools.

April jumped into action. She pushed the stools in so they blocked Amanda. The bell attached to the door jingled as April removed the jacket she wore and draped it across the stools, creating a curtain to shield Amanda.

From a crack, Amanda watched Beth move to stand in front of the twins, who were in their walkers playing peacefully. “I’m sorry, but we’re going to be closing.”

“I don’t give a shit. I’m here for Amanda.”

The sound of Damon’s voice had her heart beating even harder. That voice had haunted her nightmares, had come back to life in her memories.

Beth cocked her head to the side. “Who? There’s no one by that name here.”

“Don’t bullshit me. I know she works here.”

His voice was closer now. 

***FREE FOR A LIMITED TIME***

THE DISASTER CURSE 

Book Links: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo / iTunes

Author’s Note: I wrote The Disaster Curse to answer a few lingering questions readers may have after reading A Fighting Chance, and to tie the whole series together with a neat, shiny, perfect little bow. Plus, there was one disaster that I hadn’t written about yet. *wink* 

The Disaster Crimes Series:

*The Crime Before the Storm (prequel)

Hurricane Crimes (novella, #1)

Seismic Crimes (#2)

Lightning Crimes (free short, #2.5)

Tsunami Crimes (#3)

Flaming Crimes (#4)

Frozen Crimes (#5)

A Fighting Chance (spin-off, #6)

The Disaster Curse (short story, #7)

*Free exclusive story to newsletter subscribers. 

 

***LAUNCHING A WEBSITE*

**

TheFightingChance.org is a website dedicated to domestic violence and sexual assault awareness. Inspired by the Disaster Crimes series.

 

***GIVEAWAY***

Prizes: Hurricane Crimes (Disaster Crimes 1) and Seismic Crimes (Disaster Crimes 2) eBooks (mobi or epub), Hurricane Crimes Playing Cards, Girl Boss Sign, and a Volcanic Blast Scented Candle

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Chrys Fey is author of the Disaster Crimes Series, a unique concept that blends disasters, crimes, and romance. She runs the Insecure Writer’s Support Group Book Club on Goodreads and edits for Dancing Lemur Press. https://www.chrysfey.com

Author Links:

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