First, here’s a blurb about it:
The last thing
Valerie needs, after escaping an abusive marriage to an alcoholic and
rebuilding her life, is a broody, secretive, standoffish man. But that’s
exactly what she gets when she becomes a makeup artist on the set of a hit
sitcom and draws the attention of the series’ star.
John Samuels hides
a terrible past—a life of abuse and neglect. A successful acting career and the
affection and support of cast, crew and friends, does nothing to convince him
that he is anything other than an unlovable monster.
Will
he learn that the life he’s been living has been built on a lie or will he be
doomed to repeat the sins of his father?
Here’s an excerpt:
That night, after all the
scenes had been shot, Valerie waited for everyone to leave. She didn’t want to
answer questions or receive pity.
She arranged and rearranged
drawers and tools. The trailer contained three stations, each with its own
make-up chair. A long table ran down one wall, with plenty of drawers for
storage space. Well-lit mirrors hung above the table. Unable to find anything
else to do, and convinced by the silence that everyone had to have left, she
took out her keys to lock up. She jumped as a knock sounded at the door, the
trailer rattled, and a head peeked in.
“Valerie?”
“Oh, hi, John.” She expelled
a deep breath and willed her heart to slow its frantic beat. “Do you need
something?”
“No.” He entered and stood
by the door. John Samuels played the lead. At almost six-foot three, he dwarfed
the trailer and had to tip his head to fit. He folded his muscular arms across
his chest and spread his feet apart. “Michelle told me you were not joining us
tonight. I thought I would see if I could change your mind.”
Valerie rolled her eyes.
“She is persistent.”
“You noticed.” John’s dark
eyes twinkled. His mouth widened with a ghost of a smile. Valerie tried not to
gasp.
He reminded her of a rugged
cowboy—broad-shouldered, with a prominent brow, dark piercing eyes, high
cheekbones, and a cleft chin. When he smiled, even a slight trace of one, his
eyes looked like liquid velvet and his dimples twinkled like stars in the night
sky. A five-o’clock shadow covered his cheeks. Her fingers itched to brush
against their rough texture, to tease his mouth into a full-blown grin.
“So, what can I say to make
you join us?”
As he leaned against the
wall in well-fitting jeans and a T-shirt that left nothing to the imagination,
Valerie’s mind said, “Sleep with me.” Heat crept up her neck, over her cheeks,
and continued to the roots of her hair. A thin sheen of sweat dampened the
space between her breasts. She felt the sudden urge to fan herself, like a
damsel in distress in an old B-movie. Instead, she ignored her traitorous
thoughts. Her balled fist pressed into her tight stomach.
“Tonight, not even chocolate
will change my mind.”
She didn’t exactly lie. She
had no intention of going to the bar, or of sleeping with him, no matter how
her thoughts might try to sabotage her good intentions. She’d been fooled by
surface finery before, and it had almost killed her. She wouldn’t let it happen
again.
“I will remember that,” he promised.
“But next time you will not get off so easy.” His eyes bored into hers for a
moment, and then he turned on his heel and left.
* * * *
True to his word, John
arrived the following day pre-pared for battle. With a cursory knock on the
door, he dangled a bag of M&Ms inside the trailer, but snatched it back
be-fore she could grab them. “We are going out for pizza. I will pick you up in
ten minutes.” Before she could answer, he walked out.
Valerie shrugged as she
finished her work. The new Val-eerie never allowed other people to make
decisions for her, but she’d practically handed John a permission slip. And, he
had M&M’s. How could she refuse?
Ten minutes later, he
returned, ushered her out the door and down the steps. Although he didn’t touch
her, she could imagine the warmth of his hand on the small of her back, and
feel the gentle puff of his breath against her hair. The angle of his body
steered her toward the others in the parking lot as if he had taken her by the
hand and dragged her with him. An invisible electric charge pulled her. Or
maybe it was his Dial-soap scent. That scent—soap and man—made her stomach flip
flop. Her uncontrollable reaction to him disturbed her, especially since he
appeared unaffected.
He remained silent, strode
toward their meeting place, and studied his surroundings as if he expected
someone to pop out of the shadows and yell, “Boo!”
Then she saw the brown bag
of M&Ms sticking out of his white shirt pocket. Before he could stop her,
she reached around and grabbed them, opened the bag and popped three in her
mouth.
“Hey, those are mine!” He
reached for the bag, but not fast enough to retrieve them.
“Not anymore.” As she danced
away from him, she stuck another handful in her mouth.
He brought his hand up to
his heart, as if she had wounded him deeply, but the twinkle in his eye gave
him away. Valerie had all she could do not to burst out laughing.
“You did not have to take
them, you know. I was plan-nine to give them to you later.” He pouted and his
dark hair fell across his brow, but not before Valerie saw a flash of a smile
turn the corners of his mouth up.
“Oh really? When?”
“After dinner, of course. I
would not want to spoil your appetite.”
As if that were possible.
Valerie laughed again and John grunted, a deep hoarse sound that climbed from
the pit of his stomach and thrust its way out his mouth.
Valerie, the heroine, is a survivor of domestic abuse. Her
story has a happy ending. Not everyone, however, is so lucky. A portion of the
royalties that I receive from each purchase of this book is donated to the
Rachel Coalition, a local organization that helps victims of domestic violence.
Here are some statistics that might interest you (from The Domestic Violence
Resource Center
http://dvrc-or.org/domestic/violence/resources/C61/):
·
One in four women (25%) has experienced domestic violence in her
lifetime.
(The
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and The National Institute of
Justice, Extent, Nature, and Consequences of Intimate Partner Violence, July
2000. The Commonwealth Fund, Health Concerns Across a Woman’s Lifespan:
1998 Survey of Women’s Health, 1999)
·
Estimates range from 960,000 incidents of violence against a
current or former spouse, boyfriend, or girlfriend to 3 million women who are
physically abused by their husband or boyfriend per year.
(U.S. Department of
Justice, Violence by Intimates: Analysis of Data on Crimes by Current or Former
Spouses, Boyfriends, and Girlfriends, March 1998. The Commonwealth Fund, Health
Concerns Across a Woman’s Lifespan: 1998 Survey of Women’s Health, 1999)
·
Women accounted for 85% of the victims of intimate partner
violence, men for approximately 15%.
(Bureau of Justice Statistics Crime Data
Brief, Intimate Partner Violence, 1993-2001, February 2003)
·
Between 600,000 and 6 million women are victims of domestic
violence each year, and between 100,000 and 6 million men, depending on the
type of survey used to obtain the data.
(Rennison, C. (2003, Feb). Intimate partner
violence. Us. Dpt. of Justice/Office of Justice Programs. NXJ
197838.
Straus, M. & Gelles, R. (1990). Physical violence in
American families. New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Publishers.
Tjaden,
P., & Thoennes, N. (2000). Extent, nature, and consequences of
intimate partner violence. National Institute of Justice, NCJ 181867.)
·
Women ages 20-24 are at the greatest risk of nonfatal intimate
partner violence.
(Bureau of Justice Statistics, Intimate Partner Violence in
the U.S. 1993-2004, 2006.)
·
Separated and divorced males and females are at a greater risk
of nonfatal intimate partner violence.
(Bureau of Justice Statistics, Intimate
Partner Violence in the U.S. 1993-2004, 2006.)
·
Intimate partner violence affects people regardless of income.
However, people with lower annual income (below $25K) are at a 3-times higher
risk of intimate partner violence than people with higher annual income (over
$50K).*
(Bureau of Justice Statistics, Intimate Partner Violence in the U.S.
1993-2004, 2006.)
*Please note that those with less resources are more likely
to report incidents of violence
·
Studies show that access to shelter services leads to a 60-70%
reduction in incidence and severity of re-assault during the 3-12 months’
follow up period compared to women who did not access shelter. Shelter services
led to greater reduction in severe re-assault than did seeking court or law
enforcement protection, or moving to a new location.
(Campbell, JC, PhD, RN,
FAAN. Anna D. Wolf, Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing, Protective
Action and Re-assault: Findings from the RAVE study.)
For every comment I receive on this blog, as well as any
other venue in which I celebrate the 2
nd birthday of Skin Deep, I
will donate $1 to The Rachel Coalition (
http://www.rachelcoalition.org
).
The Rachel
Coalition is a division of Jewish Family Service of MetroWest, and a
partnership of nine northern New Jersey organizations working together to
provide services and support programs for victims of domestic violence in Essex
and Morris County. You can find more about them here.
Additionally,
anyone who comments on my blog this month will be entered into a drawing.
Prizes include: signed copy of Skin Deep, birthday gift pack or a Sephora gift
card. For anyone who purchases Skin Deep, either in paperback or as an e-book
and can show me proof of purchase (email copy of receipt to wilckjz @ yahoo dot
com—no spaces and dot should be .), I will enter you into a special drawing for
a massage gift card. Again, my goal is to help out victims of domestic violence
while drawing attention to my book!
Good
luck to everyone and thanks for celebrating with me!
