A Love Restrained by Becky Flade (spotlight, excerpt, review, and GIVEAWAY) GFT

A Love Restrained

by Becky Flade

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GENRE:   Romantic suspense

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BLURB:

Old secrets, new threats...What are they willing to sacrifice?
Philadelphia police officer Kylee Parker is dedicated to protecting and serving. She sees the work in absolutes: right and wrong, black and white, good guys and bad guys. That is, until she chases a drug dealer into a dead-end alley and finds the bad boy she had a painful crush on throughout her teen years has turned into a more dangerous and more attractive man.

Jayson Donovan knows he doesn’t deserve someone as good as Kylee Parker. As the right hand man to a local drug-pushing mobster, he’s solidly on the wrong side of Kylee’s moral compass. But he can’t help reaching for her time and again when he knows he shouldn’t.
Even when his secrets threaten them both.

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EXCERPT

Spring in the city brought people out of winter hibernation like a siren song but as the temperature rose, so in turn, did the crime rate. Cops had to be sharp as they walked the streets of Philadelphia. In her ten years on the force, on these streets, she’d seen a lot of crazy and often stupid criminals do a lot of crazy and often stupid things. But to be so brazen, or so plain dumb, as to do a hand-to-hand drug buy right in front of two uniformed officers rode high on her list of top ten. “Tell me you saw that?”

“Saw what?” Hunks of half chewed soft pretzel fell from Sherman’s mouth.

Pete Sherman’s not a bad cop, just not an observant one whose paunch portrayed his love of all things fried and his reupholstered recliner. He hadn’t seen a thing in the last six months. But he took direction well, despite the fact he had seniority.

“There, across the street.” She pointed. “The junkie walking east just scored off the guy in the leather bomber heading west. I swear the dealer looked right at us before the exchange. Call it in, Pete, and grab the junkie. I’m going after the dealer.”

Sherman didn’t argue. She took off into a quick lope, kept her footsteps light so as to not alert the man she pursued. The spring day had drawn people out and the complaints of the pedestrians she weaved through grew loud. The guy glanced over his shoulder, and the edge of his mouth tipped into a grin before he sprinted around the corner.

“Cocky jerk.” She turned the corner, and shouted, “Stop! Police.”

She ran clean and fast, closing the distance between them with little effort. The dealer ducked into an alley she knew to be a dead end. She slowed and put one hand on the butt of her service pistol as she approached. He had his back to her, his hands on his hips as he stared at the brick wall in front of him.

“Philly PD, you’re under arrest. Slowly put your hands above your head and against the wall to your left.” She closed the few feet between them, using her free hand to release the handcuffs from her belt, the other remaining on her weapon. She cuffed him, with practiced efficiency, and then read him his rights before leading him out of the alley, preferring to do the pat down with her partner present.

“Kylee Parker, I’ll admit I daydreamed a time or two about you cuffing me, but it was never in this context.”

Amazon
During the tour, the book will be on sale for $0.99.
(please check price before purchase)

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

A city girl, born and bred, I tend to place my stories in and around southeast Pennsylvania, or at least have a character or two from the area. Home is where the heart is and I make mine with my very own knight in slightly tarnished armor, three beautiful daughters, my son-in-law and two grandsons. When I’m not busy living my own happily ever after, I’m writing about someone else’s.

I’d love to have you visit with me at any of my virtual homes or write to me directly.

CONTACT INFO

Website

Facebook

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Author's Amazon page

Pinterest

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GIVEAWAY

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The tour dates can be found here

 

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My review:


4 out of 5 stars

A Love Restrained by Becky Flade is a contemporary romantic suspense story that follows the complicated relationship between bad boy Jayson Donovan and Kylee Parker, the woman who has caught his attention ever since they were both in high school. Their very divergent paths in life have put them on opposite sides of the law, but their attraction to each other can’t be quenched, no matter how high the odds are against them, until betrayal threatens to kill anything they might have together.

This exciting story draws one in and provides a story that involves personable characters who are caught in difficult circumstances that are complicated even more by perception issues that abound. I liked the story itself, but the delivery frustrated me, with its constant shifting between third and first person point of view within the same scene. The positive aspect was the ability to see exactly what the particular character was thinking, but the continual shift from musings to sharing the experience made the action jerky for me. Despite this, I enjoyed the twists and turns in the story (although I wasn’t thrilled about the time lapse of years that were glossed over) and cared enough about these folks to hope they overcame the painful issues that shaped their lives.

There is a sobering look at the issues of addiction and abuse that forms a running theme through the story and occasional episodes of violence that may disturb those with triggers. This is an intense and entertaining adventure that reminds the reader of the sacrifice and danger that is involved with working in law enforcement which impacts not only the officer but also his or her extended family, and emphasizes how important family is—to make a positive or negative impact on one’s life.

A copy of this title was provided to me for review