Hello and Welcome to my stop on Jill James Virtual Book Tour for her book Dangerous Shift. Jill has graciously done a short guest post for this stop. Please be sure to leave a comment or question for her below as she will be awarding one ebook copy of her Dangerous Shift at every stop of her tour to one random commenter, she will also be awarding 2 print copies of her book at the end of the tour to two random commenters and a grand prize of a $25 Amazon Gift Card to another random commenter. The more often you comment, the better your odds of winning. You can follow her tour here and read my review of her book here.
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Thank you to Michael Crichton and
the tree frogs.
Hi, thank
you for having me on Queen of the Night Reviews Blog. I’m here to tell you
about Dangerous Shift, my first paranormal romantic suspense.
Every
writer starts with “what if”. Mine started with Michael Crichton’s Jurassic
Park - the movie and the Amazon tree frogs. A scientist is explaining that
although all the dinosaurs are born female because they used Amazon tree frog
DNA in their makeup, that the dinos can change gender. “What if people could do
that?” Thus, Dangerous Shift - the idea was born.
Jill James
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Dangerous Shift
By Jill James
By Jill James
Genre:
paranormal romantic suspense
ISBN:
9781476499673
ASIN:
B008RDPN72
Number
of pages: 222
Word
Count: 76,000
Cover
Artist: Elaina Lee, For The Muse Designs
Book Description:
HE
IS MR. BY-THE-BOOK, WITH A SECRET...
Shapeshifters
live among us but remain unknown to most people except for the highest echelons
of law enforcement, the military, science, and medical fields—until now.
SHE
IS A LOOSE CANNON WITH AN ATTITUDE PROBLEM...
When
a fatal virus strikes Shapeshifters all over the West coast, including members
of the Shapeshifter Task Force in San Laura, California, reinforcements are
called in from around the United States.
TOGETHER,
THEY JUST MIGHT CATCH A KILLER
Lt.
Nikki Hill of Missouri comes to San Laura and is partnered up with Lt. Sean
Evans. They quickly butt heads on everything from proper police procedures to
the moral ethics of euthanasia. They can’t seem to get a lead on the serial
killer even as members of their own families are stricken with the virus. In
their grief they turn to each other and hope they have time to discover if
their relationship stands a chance or if they might just be the next victims of
the species extinction disease.
Excerpt:
Prologue
Fort San Laura Army Base
San Laura, California
May 2017
Sean Evans turned away as tears
rolled down his ex-partner Colin Rodriguez’s face. The man sat by his fiancée’s
bedside, her hand clasped in his, waiting for her to die. The sound of boot
heels echoed up and down the hospital corridor. All marched past the closed
door, none brave enough to stop at this room.
Sean stared at the dying woman.
Paulette’s red hair was the only color in the monochrome-toned hospital room.
Colin’s hand shook as he brushed the hair back from Paulette’s sweaty face. The
virus wreaked havoc on the young woman.
Sean swallowed bile rising in his
throat as the young Shapeshifter in the bed screamed. Her flesh boiled, roiling
beneath the surface, and she screamed again. Her back arched off the bed. For
months now, the Shapeshifter Task Force had been working to track down the
cause of the virus and it struck close to home, killing two of their own.
First, his own partner, Barry, and now, Paulette.
Her fingers turned into talons that
dug into Colin’s hand. Blood dripped from the cuts onto the crisp, white sheet.
Colin held her hand; the only sign of his pain was the grimace on his tanned
face.
Sean rubbed his burning eyes,
surprised to find tears on his own cheeks. He scrubbed the wetness away and
raked his fingers through his hair. His tears wouldn’t help Paulette or Colin.
Nothing could help them now. His hands clenched into fists at his side. He
ached to punch a wall, anything to kill the tension in the room.
A scream built in his throat. Just
last week he had sat here, forced to watch the young man, new to the task
force, breathe his last. He stared into the ceiling lights, his eyes watered
with the brightness. He repeated his personal mantra of calm and cool until his emotions mellowed, until they no longer
threatened to overwhelm him.
He turned his head back as
Paulette’s screams died down to whimpers. She had lost all control of her
shifting. She grew fur and it disappeared. Her head changed shape as she
shifted into a canine form, then a feline form, then back to her own. Her limbs
flopped against the mattress as she convulsed. The shifting now happened every
few seconds.
Colin threw himself across her body
as if he could stop the tragedy from its conclusion.
“Noooo.” His voice ricocheted across
the room and down the hall.
Sean rushed to his best friend’s
side and ripped him up off of the dying Shifter. No one had discovered yet how
the virus was transmitted. They didn’t need masks and gloves anymore, not in
the last several months at least, but no one wanted to find out what full-body
contact might do.
Colin struggled against Sean’s hold.
Tears blurred Sean’s vision as Paulette struggled to breathe, and Colin’s cries
became anguished sobs. His shoulders shook under Sean’s hands.
The monitor blared as Sean searched
Paulette for any life signs and found none. Her chest didn’t move. She was
gone. Just like Barry. Just like all the other Shifters in the past few months.
Sean turned away as Paulette’s flesh
jellified and sank into the mattress, only a slight bump under the covers to
show a living being had been there.
Colin’s anguish pierced his soul,
and when Colin threw himself across the bed again. Sean didn’t bother to stop him. What did it matter when his friend had just
lost his partner and the love of his life?
The sounds of harsh breaths and sobs
still echoed in Sean’s ears when the door opened and the Captain of the Task
Force rushed in. Sean turned to the man and shook his head.
Captain Connors motioned for Sean to
talk to him outside. Sean shot a quick look to Colin and followed the captain
outside to the hallway.
“Lieutenant Evans, with Robertson’s
death today, added to the others, the task force is low on numbers. We will
need to send word to the other task forces and ask for reinforcements.”
Sean’s hands formed into fists at
his side. The human captain made no bones about his dislike of Shapeshifters,
but Paulette’s body wasn’t even cold yet and he drudged up business decisions.
He took deep breaths and relaxed his
hands. As the Lead Lieutenant in the task force, business took priority. Even
over death.
“Will you send a request to the
Southwest office in Las Vegas?” Their own task force office covered the
Northwest—Northern California, part of Nevada, and all of Oregon, Washington
state, and Idaho.
The captain shook his head. “A few
cases have been reported in Los Angeles. We can’t risk it. I’ll request someone
from the Midwest. No cases have been reported yet out there. There is a small
task force in Columbia, Missouri, an hour outside St. Louis.”
~~~~~~~~~~
Author Bio:
Jill
James didn’t start out wanting to be an author. Along the way she wanted to be
an astronaut, President of the United States, a lawyer, and a doctor. Once
married with children she realized she could be all those things in the pages
of the stories she wrote.
She
lives in Northern California with her husband, who is the inspiration for all
her romance novel heroes.
Website: http://www.jilljameswrites.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/jill_james
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Don't forget to leave a comment or question below for Jill. Please use the Rafflecopter form below to enter her tour wide giveaway. You can follow her tour here.
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