Pretty Sassy Cool All Things Pretty, Sassy, and Cool.
We are so excited to participate in the blog tour for Hidden Impact, the first romantic suspense book in the Safeguard Series by Piper Drake. We’ll be sharing our thoughts on the book as well as a great giveaway and an excerpt today. But first, author Piper Drake stopped by to chat with us about her new book.
***INTERVIEW***
Researching the various dishes Maylin Cheng creates when she was stress cooking was a lot of fun. I wanted to show Maylin cooking a wide variety of cuisines, but fall back to childhood comfort foods when things got harder.
Writing scenes in which food was intertwined with character development was probably one of my favorite aspects of this particular book. Food can tell you a lot about a person.
I researched military structure and how the various military branches utilize fire teams. I also referred back to interviews with private military contractors to get perspective on the “mercenary” experience consulting for government and private sponsors.
For the detailed action scenes, I requested feedback from military and veteran friends.
It might not be possible to truly “get it right”, but I hope I captured the essence in my characters and the actions they take.
Maylin is an entrepreneur, an owner of her own catering company. She’s an accomplished woman who has found herself in need of help. She’s not too proud to ask for it, determined and willing to do what it takes. When every option is exhausted, Maylin creates new options.
She might not be a kick ass action hero herself, but she is an example of the way there are different kinds of strengths in this world.
Gabriel has all the swoon-worthy physical attributes. He’s hot.
If we look beyond the physique, he’s got the tough guy exterior with the considerate and warm heart. He starts out very brusque, struggles with some clumsy efforts at being a nice guy in a few endearing scenes, and proves to be a committed partner as the story progresses.
I think it’d be fun to introduce Maylin Cheng to Sophie Kim from the True Heroes series, coming soon (Book 1, Extreme Honor, releases January 2016). The two ladies have the quiet strength and are the heart of the teams around them. Plus, they could trade recipes and we’d all end up hungry!
Empathy, Hungry, Nifty! 😉
Daemon Sadi. OMG. *swoon*
Hidden Impact is the first of at least three books in the Safeguard series. The next book, Deadly Testimony, is already up for pre-order at various digital vendors and I can’t wait to share the cover with everyone. 😀
Would you like a second dessert?
(P.S Most likely my answer would be YES.)
Thank you for having me! I hope you enjoy it!
***About Piper Drake***
Piper J. Drake (or “PJ”) began her writing career as “PJ Schnyder” writing sci-fi & paranormal romance and steampunk. She has recently received the FF&P PRISM award for her work as well as the NJRW Golden Leaf award and Parsec award.
Now, PJ is exploring the complexity of romantic suspense, incorporating her interests in mixed martial arts and the military into her writing.
***About the Book***
Hidden Impact by Piper Drake Series: Safeguard #1
Published by Carina Press on November 9, 2015
Genres: Contemporary Romance, Falling for the Bodyguard, Romantic Suspense
Character(s): Military Guys
Pages: 231
Goodreads Buy the Book
He's not the hero she's looking for...
As part of the elite Centurion Corporation team, military-veteran-turned-mercenary Gabriel Diaz is a natural defender. He'll do anything to ensure a mission is successful. Anything but get emotionally invested—he learned the hard way that can be deadly. Easy bodyguard jobs in between the more challenging missions are all he's interested in now.
Maylin Cheng is desperate and running out of time. Her younger sister has gone missing but no one seems to take her concern seriously. Her last hope lies in asking an aloof bodyguard for help. He dismisses her outright, but all that changes when she is almost killed in a not-so-accidental hit-and-run right before his eyes.
As Maylin leans on Gabriel, she begins to rely on him for more than just her safety. But as their attraction grows, so does the danger surrounding them. When the elaborate web they're trapped in unravels, Gabriel will do anything to protect them. Even if that means putting his heart in the crosshairs.
***Our Review***
Kassiah: This was a quick read, and I enjoyed it. After her sister goes missing, caterer Maylin will do anything to find her. In comes military-guy-turned-mercenary-for-hire Gabe who, after saving Maylin’s life, agrees to help her.
Maylin was a sweet character that reminded me a lot of Monica from Friends. She cooks and cleans and is kind of quirky. Gabe came off a little too much for me at times. I guess that’s the way it is with his type a lot though. I liked him, though. There’s some stuff that happens with his ex that I just didn’t love.
The pacing of this story is great. It’s action-packed and has a good storyline, and it gets pretty steamy. Piper Drake is definitely an author that I’ll keep on my watch list.
- {Review} Heartland by Sarina Bowen (with Excerpt) - January 31, 2020
- {Cover Reveal} Moonlighter by Sarina Bowen (with Giveaway) - September 26, 2019
- {Spotlight} The DNA of You and Me by Andrea Rothman - March 26, 2019
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| Overall: | 3.5 |
***EXCERPT***
“What you need to do is hear me out.” Steel edged her voice now, and maybe a bit of desperation.
It was the former, not the latter, that made him take a real look at her.
Her eyes caught him first. Deep emerald green. Shocking, actually, set in a delicate Asian face framed by a cascade of hair so black the lighting caught blue highlights. Her features were naturally beautiful, accented with a minimal amount of makeup. Very different from the majority of the people in attendance, regardless of gender.
Color leached from her face as she must have realized she had his full attention. But she didn’t back away or break eye contact. Good for her. Lesser men had balked when Gabe had stared them down.
“My little sister is missing.” The edge was gone from her words but the desperation was still there.
Keep Reading the Excerpt for Hidden Impact
Keep Reading the Excerpt for Hidden Impact
Anger washed away. Damn. “I’m sorry, miss. But the police are the people to contact.”
Political targets, reporters and prisoners of war were the kidnap victims private military might be contracted to locate and retrieve. The kind of people held for ransom in places so far off the radar, even sunlight might not find them. And those weren’t his team’s specialty.
The woman in front of him was a normal civilian. Willowy, slender. The thought of a little sister conjured up images of some tiny waiflike kid. He and his partners were heavy hitters, not the kind of people you sent in to do anything but cause strategic destruction. They went into hot spots overseas and did the things politicians didn’t admit to knowing about at these glitzy events, things a US uniform wouldn’t be doing. Delicate, gentle—the sort of handling a traumatized girl retrieved from a kidnapping situation would need—was not their forte.
The older sister shook her head. “I’ve spoken to the police and the US Embassy. No one will do anything, not yet. And by the time they believe something’s actually wrong, I might never find her.”
Missing persons cases were tough. She was right about the time crunch. There was only a short window before the abducted was more than likely dead. Considering what could have already happened, death might not be the worst thing either.
Definitely not going to add to what this woman was already imagining. Hopefully she didn’t know what could happen.
“You’d do better hiring a private investigator.” He drew his eyebrows together, tried not to let the urge to squirm under her very direct stare show. Damn. Give him vapid groupies and a clueless entourage and he had no problem staring them down. This woman, it was like she could see straight through him and know how much he didn’t want to cause a scene at this very moment. There was nothing good he could do for her.
***GIVEAWAY***
Good luck and don’t forget to check out the other stops on the blog tour for Hidden Impact by Piper Drake!
