Tom Hobbs's Blog, page 13

Virtually Perfect

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‘I’ll show you my darkroom.’

It’s all the way up there with ‘Come up and see my etchings’ and Eve knew it.

Set in Brighton, England, Virtually Perfect is a dark romantic comedy exploring the world of internet dating.

Auctioneer, Evelyn Blake, needs a plus one for her colleagues’ wedding. No one likes rocking up to those things alone. Fuelled by Pinot Grigio, sheer frustration and a smattering of panic, Eve lands on a dating website. Amongst all the bare-chested mirror shots and men-with-no-neck, one dating profile stands out.

Shutterman has been single for a while (since walking in on his fiancée and best friend in the throes in his own bed). Years of hard work, one fluke Mont Blanc shot, and photographer Benjamin Macy finds himself catapulted to fame and fortune. Handsome, young, rich and accomplished, he’s the ultimate bachelor. Far from the Deptford tower block where he grew up, the past he tries so hard to hide.

In the afterglow of a particularly good sale, Eve agrees to ditch her microwave meal and go out with Ben.



She ordered a glass of Rioja. Her voice was low, self-assured, very well-spoken. She smiled at Ben. He was taller than she’d imagined. She was smaller than he’d thought. She had the blackest eyes he’d ever seen.

His hair was dark and ruffled – a touch of wax and a hint of gold. His eyes were supposed to be blue. She couldn’t tell in the light. Pinched cheekbones, a dented chin, full, soft lips. There must be something wrong with him. His face was perfectly symmetrical. I bet he’s got a hairy bum. Eve didn’t normally go for facial hair, but Ben’s stubble stopped him looking too pretty. Maybe he’s one of those guys with no bum at all? His neck was lovely, great definition. Oh no, not a hairy back! She could see the chest hair, peeking from the undone top button. Is it rough, like a brillo pad? Please don’t say he’s got a teeny, weeny…

She heard Ben clear his throat.

He was watching, confident, like a cat. He was smirking.

Say something… Words! Anything!

Maybe it’s the ambiance: the mood-lighting, the Spanish guitar. The food (possibly the wine). Eve finds herself captivated.

‘He’s a conman.’

‘Oh really,’ said Eve. ‘Based on what?’

Curtis shrugged.

‘Normal blokes don’t do dating sites.’

He could be such a smug git at times.

‘And what about normal women?’

Eve glowered up at him, her thumbnail gouging grooves in her pencil. At that moment, all Eve wanted to do was take that pencil, and jab it up his nose.

Virtually Perfect explores the doubts and insecurities of two people forging a new relationship. They’ve both been burned in the past. The relationship quickly develops into a passionate affair, but it isn’t long before reality bursts their bubble.

Eve stared at her reflection in the mirror. She’d dreamt of coming back. It felt nothing like she’d imagined. Her fingertips drifted across her face. All the Touch Éclat in the world wasn’t going to fix that frown line. She needed to tell Ben now. She was just one ‘Hello’ away from being found out.

Though Ben and Eve come from different worlds, their pasts have crossed before. When the secrets resurface; when the rose-tinted spectacles slide, will they stand and face the music together, or unravel and part?

‘Dance with me.’

‘What?’

‘Dance with me,’ Ben said again. Eve just stared at him.

‘Look, I don’t know what’s going to happen when we leave here. From where I’m standing, it’s not looking good. But we’re here now. It’s a wedding, Evelyn. Dance with me. Just once.’

Ben liked opera. He could sing. Now he wanted to dance. Handsome, accomplished, talented, smart. Eve gazed up into his pretty blue eyes. It broke her heart that he was so full of…

Sizzling with sex, bubbling with humour, crackling with tension, from Brighton Pier to Reykjavik to the deserts of Saudi Arabia, Virtually Perfect is an online romance story through the eyes of both Ben and Eve. Sometimes sad, sometimes laugh-out-loud funny, Virtually Perfect is a 21st Century love story.

The Maze – The Lost Labyrinth (Suspense Thriller)

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A near death experience transports Jamie Burroughs into The Maze, a realm built by angels and demons and filled with traps and riddles for those haunted by their mistakes.

For Jamie, The Maze becomes a terrifying journey through a world of darkness where his soul and the lives of those he loves hangs in the balance. With his family in danger and his soul in peril, Jamie is forced to reevaluate the kind of man he truly is as he struggles to escape The Maze before it’s too late.

Praise for The Maze

“Jason Brannon shows us a place of reckoning and judgments, of creatures that wait to ensnare us. The Maze is a novel of damnation and deliverance, of corridors fortified with death and spirituality. I found a bit of myself in The Maze.” ~ Steven Lloyd, author of The Wooden Box

“From his style, you’d think Jason Brannon was the dark double of Ray Bradbury. He cares more about character and realism than most writers I’ve read and his plots flow like well-orchestrated music. Indeed, Brannon’s writing has a classical feel, reminiscent of the best traditional work in the genre, even when he’s going for gut-wrenching terror and torture in-extremis.” ~ Michael Arnzen, International Horror Guild Award winning author of Grave Markings (Dell Abyss)

“Warning! The Maze may get inside your head — and stay there.” ~ Harry Shannon, author of Night of the Beast

“Brannon’s work reminds me of the glory days of The Twilight Zone, when it was in black and white and carried bylines like Beaumont and Matheson. Often surreal, sometimes disturbing and sometimes enlightening, there’s real substance in his tales that few of his contemporaries can match.” ~ Mike Oliveri, Bram Stoker Award Winning Author of Deadliest of the Species

“It is a rare treat to find a modern writer whose work is truly a mirror of the darkest corners of the world we all share. Every one of his haunting stories is infused with clear ideas and startling notions submerged in a straightforward and engaging prose. His visions linger with you long after the book has been closed.” ~ Stephen Susco, Screenwriter (The Grudge, The Grudge 2, Pulse, Red)

One Night in Bridgeport

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Jack McGee is on his way to having it all — a promising legal

career, marriage to his high school sweetheart, and a happy

normal life — when his boss sends him to do some legal work

in Bridgeport, California. There he meets a gorgeous local

girl, Lea Rogers, and he throws caution to the wind – for one

night.

The next morning, Jack panics when he realizes what he’s

risked and rushes home, content to leave Bridgeport, Lea, and

their steamy night together buried forever. A few days later,

Jack loses everything when he is arrested for rape and hauled

back to Bridgeport, a small town full of secrets and intrigue

and citizens determined to destroy Jack.

One Night in Bridgeport is an intriguing tale of lust and

vengeance, and of one man’s desperate attempt to salvage his

life.

Whitney in Charge

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Two years ago, TV New York producer Whitney Benson returned to her roots in Ohio after her husband’s death in Iraq. Her older sisters, Shannon and Regan, think Whitney needs to move on with her life. They want her to be like them—happily married with children. Whitney is tired of her older sisters’ attempts to fix her up with every single male they meet. Shannon and Regan cross the line when they arrange for her to go skydiving with the reason that more guys like to float in the air than women. Whitney hates flying and heights.

She realizes her sisters are busy with matchmaking to keep their minds off their mother’s recent death from cancer. She decides to suggest the three of them start a business and hopes that will take the focus off their constant matchmaking efforts. The sisters have fun considering several businesses from a cable TV talk show to an all-girl band. Whitney does wonder if her sisters can treat her as an equal in their new family business instead of their baby sister.

Whitney meets two eligible bachelors, paramedic Jack Hensley and Dr. Ben Spencer, who constantly battle for her affection. Which one will she choose? Both men make Whitney realize, even a heart shattered by her husband’s death, can once again be made whole.

But did she have to fall and hit her head on a rock to figure that out?

A Path Less Traveled (A Miller’s Creek Novel)

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Trish James is tired of being rescued. When a spooked horse claims her husband’s life, she’s determined to blaze a path for herself and her traumatized son without outside help. But will that mean leaving the place etched on her heart?

Andy Tyler has had to struggle for everything, and starting a new law practice in Miller’s Creek, Texas is no different. Though prepared for business challenges, he’s not prepared for falling in love–especially with yet another woman who will probably abandon him for her career.

Will Andy and Trish be able to see past their limited human understanding to take a path less traveled?

In Good Faith (Joe Dillard Series No. 2)

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A family of four is slaughtered in rural Tennessee.

Two weeks later, a retired high school principal and his wife are brutally slain.

Two Satan-worshipping teens stand accused.

It’s up to prosecutor Joe Dillard to convict them. A former defense attorney who spent way too much time defending people he knew were guilty, Joe is determined to win this case to atone for his past. But an evil young woman named Natasha is responsible for the slayings and Joe knows it. Natasha is walking around free because the two boys who have been arrested are too terrified to implicate her. Now Joe must risk everything — including his family’s safety and his own life — to bring an evil murderer to justice.

“This book was so intense it was scary.” — M. Cottrill, Dallas, Tex.

“The book ends up moving along like a thriller should; at breakneck speed.” — N. Bilmes, Vernon, Conn.

“This author is a must read if you love attorney and courtroom thrillers.” — Kenneth J. George, Detroit, Mich.

” Better than the old Grisham.” — Tompat, Melbourne, Fla.

Cast the First Stone: A Rebecca Stone Mystery

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Cozy mystery CAST THE FIRST STONE introduces Los Angeles business reporter Rebecca Stone:

When asked to investigate the murder of a Wharton professor spending the summer term at UCLA, Rebecca Stone must also grapple with partnering with her former fiancé who broke off their engagement to pursue a career on Wall Street.

Recipes from the Jewish holiday book SEASONS FOR CELEBRATION by Rabbi Karen L. Fox and Phyllis Zimbler Miller (available on Amazon) are included in this cozy mystery.See the followup outing for amateur sleuth Rebecca Stone in TWO BIRDS WITH ONE STONE: REBECCA STONE MYSTERY SHORT STORIES at amzn.to/UWeFsa

Don’t have a Kindle? No problem. You can get a FREE Kindle app for your iPhone, iPad, Android, PC or Mac at budurl.com/freeKindleapp and in just minutes you can be reading CAST THE FIRST STONE.

Scroll to the top of the page and click on the buy button now.

Reveal (Paranormal Romance)

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BOOK ONE IN A COMPLETE BEST SELLING TRILOGY!

You think seeing ghosts is weird? Tell me something I don’t know.

My childhood best friend Jeremy happens to be a ghost.

My life is a puzzle, and the biggest piece missing has been my dad. Since his disappearance when I was six it’s been tough, but Jeremy has been by my side through it all.

But now Jeremy has gone missing too and I feel like I’m never going to get all the answers I’ve been looking for.

Fate intervenes when Hugh, a real live college beefcake, starts taking an interest in me. He divulges that he also shares my little “gift” of seeing the dead and I know I’m finally getting closer to finding all the pieces.

However, the more the puzzle is completed, the more questions I have.

Senior year is hard enough as it is, but clearly I like a challenge.

Approx 220 pages in print

Other books in this series:

Capture (Cryptid Tales 2) AVAILABLE NOW

Settle (Cryptid Tales 3) AVAILABLE NOW

Elevate (Cryptid Tales- Lacey) Coming in Summer 2013

Follow her latest releases brinacourtney.com

Fly Another Day (The Adventures of Powerhouse)

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The Champion of the Emerald City battles an onslaught of kidnappers, drug dealers, litigious lawyers, and alien robots, but he is not alone. He relies on his new-found faith, and he has the help of his friends Zolgron and Captain France. Enjoy laughs and fond memories of the superheroes you’ve loved since childhood in these two sensational novellas.

Powerhouse regains the superpowers he lost a year ago and returns to the skies of Seattle, determined to replace evil with good. Unfortunately, evil is already returning. Inter-dimensional aliens hire Powerhouse critic Mitch Farrow as the CEO of Dorado Incorporated. In exchange, Farrow must promote apathetic cynicism to destroy humans’ will to resist the aliens’ planned conquest of the Earth.

The Somali Doctrine

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A lone man lies disfigured and dying by the roadside in the arid plains of northern Somalia…

Thousands of refugees are found massacred in a camp next to the Ethiopian border…

A convoy vanishes on its way to distribute food aid…

Rumours circulate that Somali militia are responsible, but Interpol agent Jim Galespi suspects the truth is even more sinister. Sent undercover to Somalia to investigate, he soon finds himself pitted against the two madmen who have taken control of Universal Action, the world’s largest NGO.

Galespi’s quest to uncover the truth about Universal Action and the unfolding tragedy in Somalia throws him into the centre of an international conspiracy that threatens to engulf Africa and the Western world.

From the deserts of Somaliland, the slums of Nairobi and the ruins of Mogadishu to the plush hotels of Cape Town all the way to the UK government in London, the race is on to stop disaster from striking again.

And again.

And again.

Intricate and fast paced, The Somali Doctrine is an intelligent thriller in the vein of Michael Crichton and Ken Follet.

WARNING: THIS BOOK CONTAINS SCENES OF VIOLENCE THAT MAY UPSET SOME READERS.

About the author: After spending 15 years in the international development sector, James Grenton burst onto the thriller scene in 2011 with his debut novel, The Somali Doctrine. In James’s second novel, Black Coke, a British agent makes it his mission to bring down a fast-growing drugs cartel that has developed a genetically-modified form of cocaine. James is currently working on his next thriller, to be published later this year.

Praise from readers for James Grenton’s novels:

‘It’s the originality of the writing and the strength of the plot that really worked for me. I couldn’t put the book down!’

‘Grenton’s characters are certainly made to suffer, but this is a more grown-up affair than Ludlum’s Bourne trilogy – probably a reflection of the moral ambiguity of the modern world in contrast to the clear distinctions of the Cold War. There are no forgone conclusions here, and this is not a comfortable ride for the reader; there are some genuinely shocking moments, and it is hard not to feel tainted by the corruption and compromise of the main characters and events.’

‘A terrific thriller! I simply couldn’t put it down, the action keeps you hooked until the last scene.’

‘A real page turner – full of action and excitement throughout. I’ve not read a book so quickly in years!’

‘I really liked Grenton’s first novel, The Somali Doctrine, which I found absorbing and a great read. Black Coke is even better – far superior to the books produced by many of the blockbuster thriller writers. So go ahead and read it. You won’t regret it!’