Climbing out of Hell by Liza0Connor

Climbing Out of Hell 

 Book 4 of the series

A Long Road to Love

Romantic Comedy

Billionaire Trent Lancaster has destroyed his relationship with the only woman who ever loved him. Now we discover the full truth of what happened. 

He actually had reasons for his behaviors.

Still, there is no going back. Trent has lost Carrie forever, but he would rather die than marry Coco, so he does just that. Trent gives away most of his possessions, fakes his death, and starts over with a new face and a better attitude in a small town in Iowa where his half-brother Sam is sheriff.

Losing his true love has fundamentally broken Trent to his core. His only chance for happiness is to become the better man Carrie had always seen inside him.

True change is not easy. Can Trent grow up and become a man we can love?

Excerpt

“Stop it! Get off of me!” Carrie screamed.

Trent couldn’t lose the only woman who had ever loved him. He covered her protest with his mouth, certain if they made love, everything would right itself.

As he fumbled with the zipper of her pants, the limo jerked to the right and came to a halt. Seconds later, someone yanked him out and slung him to the sidewalk. He stared up at his half-brother storming around the car, returning to the driver’s seat.

Tires squealed as the car pulled out in traffic. Once the vehicle disappeared from sight, Trent focused on himself. His right knee seared with pain and his head throbbed from slamming against the concrete. He sat up, so people would stop walking over him. New York City pedestrians were like marching ants. They stopped for nothing.

He stared at the four lanes of bumper-to-bumper honking traffic.

Carrie and his limo were gone.

Along with everything good in his world.

For one glorious month, life had been perfection. Well, he’d thought the first week was hell, but compared to his life now, it had been Nirvana.

He’d lost Carrie forever, broken a love he’d thought impervious to damage. Due to a stupid error he’d made months before, a cascade of problems had rained upon him. Trying his hardest, he still failed to protect her from the blow back.

Tears streamed down his cheeks for all to see. Normally, he’d be horrified to allow common people to gawk at him, but his self-respect and pride had been stripped away when Sam had to pull him from his limo to save Carrie.

From him.

He’d almost raped her—the only woman he had ever wanted. He thought if they made love, she would forgive everything he’d done. But he had broken the unbreakable and she wanted nothing more to do with him.

He buried his face in his hands and sobbed, knowing there was no way back to his month of happiness. Everything good in his life was gone.

A gentle hand touched his shoulder. His heart leaped in joy. Carrie had returned and forgiven him. But, no. He stared up at an old man in black—a priest—studying him with concern. “Are you ill? Do you need help?”

He opened his mouth, intending to declare himself beyond help, but stopped. Maybe the man could be of assistance. “I think I need an exorcism.”

Links

Book Four of the series:

A Long Road to Love

Climbing out of Hell

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Amazon

 “Easily, the best of the series!”

Other books in the A Long Road to Love series

Book One

Worst Week Ever

 “Love this book and couldn't stop laughing from beginning to end.” 5 stars – Alves - Amazon

Book Two

Oh Stupid Heart

 “Be warned though, this book is completely different from The Worst Week Ever. Yes, there is still humor, dry wit, situations that you would think...NOT AGAIN but this one humanizes Trent more.” 5 stars - Brian’s Mom – Amazon

Book Three

Coming to Reason

Once again, Ms. O’Connor has written a brilliant book about the complexities of relationships, good and bad. Again, to me, the book is the best break up book EVER and it left my heart singing in the end. Best.Book.Ever…

Liza O’Connor

Author Bio:

Liza lives in Denville, NJ with her dog Jess. They hike in fabulous woods every day, rain or shine, sleet or snow. Having an adventurous nature, she learned to fly small Cessnas in NJ, hang-glide in New Zealand, kayak in Pennsylvania, ski in New York, scuba dive with great white sharks in Australia, dig up dinosaur bones in Montana, sky dive in Indiana, and raft a class four river in Tasmania. She’s an avid gardener, amateur photographer, and dabbler in watercolors and graphic arts. Yet through her entire life, her first love has and always will be writing novels. She loves to create interesting characters, set them loose, and scribe what happens.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT 

LIZA O'CONNOR & UPCOMING BOOKS:

I have over 60 books now

https://www.lizaoconnor.com/p/liza-oconnors-books.html

Liza's Blog and Website   Facebook   Twitter

The Gift by Daryl Devoré

The Gift

Daryl Devoré

The Gift is my latest re-release. It has a new title. It used to be called Red Tulip and it has a new author.

What?

Excuse me?!?

Daryl Devoré writes hot romances, most with steamy sex scenes. Victoria Adams – who wrote Red Tulip – is the tamer side of Daryl Devoré. She writes sweet romances and New Adult romances. But now, I have decided to meld them.

At one point, I had 2 blogs, 2 FB accts, 2 Google + accts, 2 Amazon Author accts, etc. It was beyond confusing.

So, Red Tulip by Victoria Adams has been re-released as The Gift by Daryl Devoré.

The Gift is a whimsical episodic novella that was the final result of a flash fiction period I went through. I can be a bit long-winded. One of Victoria Adams books – A Guy and A Girl – the first draft came in at 125,000+ words and after editing – it got longer. It was cut back before it was published.

I needed to learn to cut my word count. I joined a group that wrote a weekly story that was based on a limited number of 1,000 words and had to include some of the offered prompts. Some were words – extinct, a piece of paper with a single line on it, or the twelfth of never. Others were pictures – a red tulip, blue DNA or a kiss.

I’m a pantser. I, rarely, know where my story is going from chapter to chapter. Being given my prompts weekly led – even more – to my pantser style of writing.

Then I realized this story was written similarly to stories that were printed weekly in the newspapers of old. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle presented Hounds of the Baskervilles this way – with weekly installments. Brilliant idea. The newspaper sales that would generate as people got into the story. So instead of adjusting to fit the story to more modern thinking, I left it in the episodic form.

There are elements of mystery, playfulness, and romance which tie up at the very end. But I did leave a deliberate hole for the readers to fill. If you read the story and wish to discuss with me what you think was on the ground – daryl.devore@yhoo.ca or @daryldevore.

Excerpt

Do you believe in magic? I am beginning to think I do. It can be the only possible explanation for my story?

~***~

"When was the last time you were offered the gift of a red tulip?"

I turned to see who spoke while I wondered if he was addressing me. A man sat on a park bench, dressed in a dark suit, with a bowler hat, holding a cane and his head bowed. I shifted to continue along the path,  and when his face lifted I found myself gaping at two glowing green eyes.

"When was the last time you were offered the gift of a red tulip?"

I blinked, trying to look away from those mesmerizing orbs. A mixture of fear and intrigue fluttered in my belly. "Uh, never. I mean, no one has ever offered me a tulip."

"A red tulip."

"Okay, no one has ever offered me a red tulip." Uneasiness slithered through me.

"Nice chatting with you."

Smiling, I scurried down the path leading away from the park bench and towards the gardener's shed. With Jacobs being sick today, I had to hurry to get the last of the flower beds cleaned and prepared for spring plantings. The past winter had been bitter. It seemed tree branches and mouse damage wreaked havoc on every one of the one hundred and sixteen different flowerbeds.

I slipped my key into the lock, opened the shed door, stepped inside and shut it behind me. The fragrance of old wood, potting soil and gas fumes brought a tickle to the back of my throat. Closing my eyes, I allowed myself a moment to indulge in the beauty of his eyes. Emerald green. As brilliant as the gems locked among the diamonds at Tiffany's. Not that I shop there. Couldn't possibly afford anything on a junior gardener's salary, but I do fantasize when wandering the aisles.

What would it be like to be with a man like that? For those few moments in his presence, I was unable to think. My breath caught in my lungs. My palms were slick with beads of sweat. I shook my head, opened my eyes, and tugged the ever-present hair tie off my wrist. "Get over yourself, Darcy. A man like that wants a supermodel who can slink around on eight-inch heels. Not someone who digs in the dirt all day."

Blurb and Buy Links

Daryl Devore’s latest is a sweet whimsical romance with a touch of mystery

Darcy O'Calahann, a junior gardener from a small mid-western town, is trying to make her way in the big city. After a stranger asks a mysterious question, Darcy finds a red tulip inside her locked gardening shed.

Shamus McTavis is a wealthy bachelor with a mysterious family past. But more surprising is his resemblance to the stranger who offered her the red tulip.

Are Darcy's eyes playing tricks on her? Is she losing her mind? Or is there really a red tulip trying to link Shamus and her together?

Note- This book was previously published under the author’s pen name – Victoria Adams

Buy Links

Amazon - U.S.

Amazon U.S. - Print

Amazon - Canada
Amazon - Canada - Print

Amazon - U.K.

Amazon - U.K. - Print

Amazon - Australia

Amazon – Australia – Paperback – later date

Pinterest Page for The Gift

Unexpected Love by Liza O'Connor

Unexpected Love

Three strong women are willing to do anything, include taking on the Mafia, to preserve the last White Oak Forest in Iowa.

Helen has lived and protected the property for most of her long life, but she’s dying and needs to find a new caretaker. Her Mafia crazed sons wish to raze down the forest to make themselves billionaires. She locates an avid hiker in New Jersey with the love and money to take over the woods.

Megan is convinced her lottery win came with a curse. The day she receives Helen’s offer to buy her woods she also learns a serial killer has her in his sight, so she changes her identity, moves to Iowa, and buys Helen’s forest. While the Mafia Don, Benito Campinelli, would not order a hit on his own mother, Megan is fair game.

Tess, the granddaughter of Helen, has lived with her grams since her father tried to force her to marry a Chicago Mafia Don when she turned sixteen. Under Grams’ guidance, she learned how to care for the forest. To protect Tess from being forced to sell the lands to her father, Megan turned the lands into a State Park with the caveat that Tess will become the forest manager once she gets her Master’s degree. Until then, she will assist the person in charge.

Together these women can take on anything, but what happens when Tess is on her own?

Contemporary Suspense/Romance

Blurb

Megan Clarke had a good life until she wins the Mega Times Lottery and discovers the prize comes with a curse. Worse than the many money-hungry suitors, a serial killer has her in his sight. She changes her name and moves to Iowa with plans to buy their last major forest of white oaks and turn it into a State Park.

Unfortunately, the Lottery Curse doesn't stop at state lines and someone there wants her dead, as well. Good thing a disturbingly handsome law officer is just as determined to keep her alive.

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Available at multiple book stores via D2D

Also available at Amazon

Unexpected Love

Contemporary Suspense/Sweet Romance

Blurb

Tess Campbell is a mafia princess who wants nothing to do with her dangerous family. She’d rather spend her life making Grams' forest the best state park in Iowa. 

Alistair Castile, aka Steel, is a British prince, his archeological career in ruins due to his promiscuous nature. He’s hired on as forest manager of Tess’s woods and quickly falls in love with the charming young woman, so different from the socialites of his world.

Only there are several serious barriers between them: Steel’s career cannot withstand another scandal and Tess’s father will kill anyone who gets in the way of his daughter marrying a Chicago mobster.

Excerpt for Unexpected Love

By the time Tess climbed in the car, she was perilously late. She drove the pot-holed road as fast as she dared, but she saw no chance of making up the time.

She arrived at the airport at 6:16 p.m.  “Please let the plane be late,” she said to the ceiling of her car. She wondered if God would realize she was talking to him. Since she hadn’t spoken to God since her mother died, he probably had no clue who she was.

By the time she parked her car and made it inside, it was 6:28, and according to the board, the plane had arrived at 6:02.

“Shit!’ she yelled and held up her sign with Dr. Castile’s name. She waved it about as she hurried to the luggage carousels. She rechecked the board to determine which luggage loop she needed to haunt.

She’d made it two-thirds of the way around the carousel when someone gripped her arm and turned her around. An annoyed, blond Adonis with long hair pulled into a ponytail, wearing tight jeans and a tweed jacket, glared at her. “Gads, woman! I’ve been chasing you through the whole bloody airport!”

His English accent reminded her of James Bond, but his attitude wasn’t nearly so polite.

“Shouldn’t you stand in one place and let your passenger come to you?” he demanded.

Dear God, this couldn’t be her new boss. Surely, Mr. Barkman wouldn’t send a hippie to Grams’ house. “Are you Doctor Alastair Castile?” Please say no.

He rubbed his temple. “Why else would I chase you all over the airport?” His gaze swept up and down, taking her in. “I must presume you are new to your occupation, and no one has taken the trouble to train you.”

Great, a misogynist. But he sure as hell didn’t look like a doctor. “May I see your passport please?”

“I beg your pardon?” His voice had a decided chill to it.

“To prove you really are Dr. Alastair Castile.”

“Surely, you jest.”

“You can either show me your passport or move on. You’re too young to have a doctorate, and you look more like a male model than a forest manager, so I’m thinking this is some stupid frat prank.”

 Tess turned to leave, but he grabbed her arm again. When she turned, an obnoxious smirk formed on his lips as he shoved his passport under her nose.

Opening the passport, she read Dr. Alastair Bastion Castile.

God knows her, all right, and he’s clearly pissed as hell.

About the Author

Liza O’Connor lives in Denville, NJ with her dog Jess. They hike in fabulous woods every day, rain or shine, sleet or snow. Having an adventurous nature, she learned to fly small Cessnas in NJ, hang-glide in New Zealand, kayak in Pennsylvania, ski in New York, scuba dive with great white sharks in Australia, dig up dinosaur bones in Montana, sky dive in Indiana, and raft a class four river in Tasmania. She’s an avid gardener, amateur photographer, and dabbler in watercolors and graphic arts. Yet through her entire life, her first love has and always will be writing novels.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT

LIZA O'CONNOR

Investigate these sites:

Liza's Blog and Website   Facebook   Twitter

Check out Liza's Books
There are over 60 of them now
https://www.lizaoconnor.com/p/liza-oconnors-books.html

Saving Proud Mary @Liza0Connor

Small town politics can be extremely complex

 and dishonest.

Another moment in Liza’s Life

I once was reading the local paper and it said my town needed a financial expert, but they had no money to pay the person. In a desire to help out my lovely town, I called the Mayor and offered my services. However, when he shared that some of the councilmen were delaying payments for no reason, I changed my mind. The only reason why they would be delaying payment when the job was done and according to the mayor, the money was there, was because the councilmen were holding out for payoffs. I withdrew my offer at once, since I’d go right after them, and then they’d go right after me. They’d probably run me out of town, and I rather like living here. But I finally understood why it cost so much to live here. There’s a payola requirement that most of us never realized existed.

In my story, a God-fearing community in Arkansas hides its corruptness for quite a while. In an effort to get rid of a too honest Captain of Vice, they think they are being clever by promoting him to Chief of Police.  Unlike his position as a captain, the chief of police doesn’t have to do anything wrong to be fired. He can be removed if the councilmembers lose confidence in him. But Chief Danton is a hard man to successfully fire or kill. He’s like a cat with 19 lives.

Saving Proud Mary

By

Liza O’Connor

Book 3 of the

Requires Rescue Series

∞

Contemporary Suspense

∞

Sometimes even the strong

requires a helping hand.

Blurb

Mary Mason may have lost her job and reputation, but she has too much pride to allow vengeful women and their manipulative husbands to destroy her life and steal her new-born babies. Unfortunately, pride alone isn’t going to save her. When Captain Chad Danton answers a call about a prostitute soliciting at the local library, he discovers a determined woman in desperate need of medical care. Upon hearing Mary’s story, he resolves to help her, not realizing her enemies will join those who wish to destroy his career.

EXCERPT

Thorpe growled with frustration. “The council has already heard the evidence and has decided, while not sufficient to terminate your contract, we feel the Internal Affairs investigation is distracting you from performing to the council’s expectations. Thus, as of one p.m. today, we are placing you on paid leave for a period no less than one month while the investigation against you is completed.”

Now he understood why Eden had made him read the rules associated with the delegation duty for durations longer than one week.

“I cannot imagine Internal Affairs taking a month to clear me of wrongdoing, but if that’s the decision of the council, I will assign a person to fill my position and go on leave.”

“Thank you, Danton. Your cooperation in this matter is appreciated, as is your promise not to continue making false allegations against the mayor.”

Chad rolled his eyes and made no response.

“Now as to your replacement. We think Bobby Conrad would be a good choice.”

“I disagree. And since this is a voluntary leave of absence, the choice of replacement is mine. I’ll select John Sanders as my replacement. He’s proven very effective as my captain. I’ve no doubt he will prove equally competent as temporary chief.”

After dead silence for almost a minute, Thorpe spoke. “A word of advice. You don’t want to put a man in your job slot that the council might prefer over you. Bobby Conrad will make you look good in comparison. John Sanders is an impressive man. He found the baby girl, and he prevented Mary Mason’s assassination. Right now, he looks a much better candidate for our permanent chief than you do.”

Chad wondered how many people would be swayed by such logic. “You might be right but thinking first for my city and second for myself, I’m sticking with John Sanders.”

He hung up before Thorpe could waste more of his time arguing the point. “Eden, I need all the forms needed to cede control to Sanders.

She nodded and brought them over. “I’ve filled them all out, with John Sanders as your designee. You just need to sign them, and I’ll take them over to Joshua.”

She bit her lower lip as he began to read the first document. He looked up. “Problem?”

She nodded. “If you take time to read them all, Joshua might not get them filed in time, which means the decision reverts to the council.”

Chad sighed. “Now you’re going to see how much I trust you.” He signed the five documents and handed them to her.

She gripped them in her hand and ran from the office.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Liza O’Connor lives in Denville, NJ with her dog Jess. They hike in fabulous woods every day, rain or shine, sleet or snow. Having an adventurous nature, she learned to fly small Cessnas in NJ, hang-glide in New Zealand, kayak in Pennsylvania, ski in New York, scuba dive with great white sharks in Australia, dig up dinosaur bones in Montana, skydive in Indiana, and raft a class four river in Tasmania. She’s an avid gardener, amateur photographer, and dabbler in watercolors and graphic arts. Yet through her entire life, her first love has and always will be writing novels.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT

LIZA O'CONNOR

Investigate these sites:

Liza's Blog and Website   Facebook   Twitter

And check out Liza’s

60+ books