Thursday, October 4, 2012

RABT: "Dilemma" by Jacquie Johnson Guest Post/Excerpt/$25 Amazon Giveawway(Ends 10/27) WW





Romantic Suspense
Title: Dilemma
Author - Jacquie Johnson


Date Published: 7/22/12


Synopsis:


    
In Chicago, the name Jon Elliott garners attention. When the legal mastermind offers to mentor Alexis Winters, Bingham, Elliott and Bright’s newest associate, she jumps at the opportunity sure this will launch her career. But Jon has a dark side, one that demands unquestioning loyalty and a willingness to defy the spirit of the law, if not the letter.  
Thrust into Jon’s world and expected to play by his rulebook, Alexis grapples with her conscience. On several occasions, Jon’s orders are at odds with what she learned in law school, and she finds herself trapped between her profession’s ethical rules and her own values. When Jon’s biggest client appears to be engaging in questionable activities and he orders her to ignore the behavior, Alexis investigates on her own. Suddenly, she is not only a witness to a horrible crime but a victim in her own right. Going underground, she turns to the one person she can trust, investigative journalist Ryder Prescott, a childhood friend. Together, Ryder and Alexis work to solve a puzzle that crosses socioeconomic classes, political parties, and international borders.  
Embroiled in a global conspiracy that costs her the only family she has left, Alexis must decide how far she will go to defend truth and justice. Is she willing to sacrifice life, liberty and the possibility of love?  

Excerpt
Old leaves crunched under her feet as she raced along the path. Small pebbles and twigs broke through the tender skin on the underside of her feet. She winced, hopping on one foot when she encountered a particularly sharp rock but otherwise kept moving.
Unfortunately, it appeared she was in the middle of nowhere. She estimated that about thirty minutes had passed when she slowed near a fork in the trail. The smell of fresh pine surrounded her, and she fought back a hysterical giggle as she stood, naked and weaponless in the middle of a pine forest. She panted heavily, fear and fatigue battling for priority.
The famous Robert Frost poem crossed her mind. I took the one less traveled by . . . Probably wise in this case. She turned left, heading down the more overgrown path. If anyone’s looking for me, hopefully they’ll think I went the other way.
She switched to a brisk walk, grateful that she ran every day and was in such good shape. She must have covered ten miles before she caught sight of a lake. A small carved wooden sign read “Welcome to Paradise—No Trespassing,” and she ran toward the cluster of cottages at the lake’s edge. Thank goodness.
She knocked on several doors but no one answered, and Alexis realized that her prayers had not been answered. This was a summer area. No one was around this time of the year to save her. She rattled doorknob after doorknob, astonished when the front door to the fifth cottage opened under her hand. If only she could find a working phone or even some clothes and shoes.
About an hour later, she had ransacked the cabin and found a pair of ill-fitting tennis shoes, jeans, and a sweatshirt. She munched on a stale package of Oreos someone had forgotten while hunting for weapons. A thorough search turned up a pistol with three bullets. Well, at least she now had some protection. Now if only she could find a phone. She headed to the next cabin.
She gave up searching for a working phone after another hour. As she expected, the summer people had disconnected their landlines. Her prayers for a forgotten cell phone went unanswered, so she moved on.
She walked onward searching various cabins as she came upon them. Finally, she found a small cottage set back from the lake. She wasn’t sure why she had followed that particular path, but when she saw a small stovepipe sticking out from the roof, she smiled. A stovepipe meant people used the cottage off-season. She crossed her fingers as she hurried up the path. She knocked, but no one answered. When her attempts to jiggle the lock open failed, she resorted to breaking a small window with a large rock. She would pay for the damage later.
Once inside, she did a quick inspection of the two-room structure with the gun in one hand before lifting the phone with the other. She almost cried with relief when she heard a dial tone. She set the phone on the small table and started punching in Ryder’s cell phone number. A click came from behind her and she froze.
“What in tarnation’s name are you doing?”
She glanced over her shoulder and came face to face the barrel of a shotgun.

Author Guest Post
Why Human Trafficking
I was driving my daughters to Latin class a few months ago when I saw a billboard with the words, “Protect your daughters. Stop the trafficking.” I just about slammed on my brakes in surprise. Yes, I knew human trafficking existed, but I didn’t expect to see a warning about it in my own community. Indiana is not exactly the hotbed of crime in my mind. Those words along with an increase in newspaper articles about trafficking spawned the idea for Dilemma.
As a mother of three teenage girls, issues concerning sex, child prostitution, and kidnapping remain in the back of my mind. When most people hear the term sex trafficking, they think of people being forced into slavery. Sometimes the individuals are used as laborers or domestic servants. Other times, they are used for organ harvesting. Here in the United States, human trafficking—in large part—involves prostitution.
For example, on July 30, 2012, ABC News reported that three Washington teens filed suit against Backpage.com, claiming that they had been forced into prostitution and Backpage.com profited. According to the teens, their pimps would post pictures of them on the website, and with the simple click of a button, a customer could acquire the girl for a period of time. The lawsuit’s underlying premise is that the online site was aware that its classified ads were being used to enable the sale of sexual services but did nothing to protect the alleged victims.
This story resonated with me. After all, my daughters are around the same age as these girls, and I could not imagine how I would feel if this had happened to them. Much to their dismay, these kinds of stories make me want to lock them up in a house and never let them leave. Since I cannot do that, I chose another route—bringing attention to this issue. What better avenue than Dilemma? To assist in this effort, five percent of the profits from Dilemma will be donated to the Polaris Project to help stop trafficking and assist those who have been victimized.  

Author Bio:

Jacquie Johnson fell in love with books on her mother’s knee. From Dr. Seuss to Carolyn Keene to L.M. Montgomery, she continued her affair until her teenage years when she began reading authors ranging from Tom Clancy to Nora Roberts to Johanna Lindsey. She’s still an avid reader but now carries an e-reader instead of a paperback in her purse. Mysteries and suspense are her favorite genres, but she enjoys romance, historical fiction, and non-fiction as well.  
She graduated from Harvard and Indiana University School of Law. After ten years practicing labor and employment law, she retired to homeschool her daughters. She lives in Northwest Indiana with her husband, three daughters, and a spoiled cocker spaniel named Princess. 

Contact Links:

Purchase Links:

How would you like to win a $25 Amazon gift card?  Enter on the rafflecopter below by September 27.

8 comments:

  1. Thanks for hosting Dilemma on your blog, Ruth. By the way, I loved the plastic dorm boxes post on your page. It's such a neat idea, and one I may need next year when my daughter heads to college.

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  2. Intriguing excerpt! Romance and mystery are always a great combination! Thanks for the chance to win a $25 Amazon gift card and the chance to read the excerpt from Dilemma.

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  3. This sounds like a very interesting book, definitely one I would love to read!

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  4. Human trafficking is a very scary thing and your book sounds great. Thanks so much for the excerpt & post and the giveaway :)

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  5. Thanks for letting me know about this book. I'll have to check it out.

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  6. Thank you for the great giveaway - Paul T/Pauline T aka Paul Tran ..... emscout9 at Hotmail dot com

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  7. Thanks for letting readers know about the book.

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