FEARLESS FRIDAY
Okay, Readers, this is one fun Fearless Friday guest post. Welcome Amber Daulton to Discover... She's brought the heroine of her new book with her. How exciting to hear a tale directly from the character's mouth. So in addition to Amber, let's welcome Carmen Lozano.
Hello, everyone. I’m Carmen Lozano,
the heroine from Amber Daulton’s dark romance novel, Dark Hearts Aflame. Today,
I’m going to talk about redemption.
My story starts before I was born,
when my criminal father married my ambitious beauty queen mother. He was the
leader of a powerful cartel and had scores of brutal enforcers at his
fingertips to do his bidding. His lavish lifestyle provided everything my
siblings and I could want—exotic pets, expensive clothes, wild vacations, and
all the top gadgets. We had it all—except for our parents’ love. The price of
all that useless material stuff was blood. Death. Destruction. Humiliation.
Fear. Misery. I could go on and on, but I don’t want this post to be about a
whiny little rich girl.
Let’s move forward to when my
father sold me into marriage to one of his capos. For five long years, I turned
a blind eye to my husband’s activities, which ranged from drug running, rape,
and murder. Then I snapped. I couldn’t take it anymore. Miraculously, I managed
to escape and took refuge with an anti-cartel resistance group. There, I found
freedom, my passion, a chance to do something good with my life. I learned from
the nurses and medics that volunteered at the rebel base, and after a while, I
was the go-to person called upon to extract bullets, sew up wounds, administer
life-saving injections, and things like that. Far too often, rebel soldiers
would be injured while fighting with the cartel in our backyard, so medics were
a godsend. For the first time in my life, I felt like a decent person in
helping others. I found real friends, a family of sorts. Then my past caught up
with me.
I never thought I would see Bristol
Rieger again. Back when I was a child, he was an up-and-coming enforcer in my
father’s inner circle. I had a crush on him, but since he was seven years older
than me, nothing ever happened between us. Now, I’m all grown up. When
circumstances thrust us together, we have to go on the run to survive. My life
as a healer was over, or so I thought, but I crave redemption as much as I do
love and peace. After all the horrible things I’ve seen and brushed aside out
of fear for my own safety, I’m done hiding in the shadows. I’m a strong,
fearless woman. Whether I use my words, my fists, or my ability to heal, I will
no longer stand aside while an innocent person is in danger. My soul cannot
take anymore needless death.
Bristol says I have nothing to seek
redemption for, that I was a victim trapped in a horrible situation. Maybe he’s
right. Maybe not. I need to atone for the sins of my family, and the only way
I’ve found to do that is to help the kind of people my family seeks to
destroy—the innocents, the weak, the downtrodden.
So that’s my story. It’s not
pretty, but it’s real. Thankfully, it has a happy ending. Bristol and I are
crazy, madly in love. While I’m still working as a medic, he’s seeking his own
redemption to try to wash the blood from his hands. We have a long way to go,
but we’re in it for long haul.
Want to know more? Read Dark Hearts
Aflame. You won’t be disappointed.
*****
A
drug lord on the run. A cartel princess in hiding. All it takes is a spark to
set their world ablaze.
Bristol
Rieger left his criminal life behind for a fresh start in Mexico. Flying under
the radar of the government and the cartels alike, his best-laid plans go awry
when a woman from his narco days discovers his whereabouts. Carmen Lozano,
however, is no longer the innocent girl he remembers.
Carmen
escaped the chains of her tiara and her abusive marriage to join a group of
resistance fighters. The last thing she expected was the now-retired capo
setting out to seduce her with his wicked touch. Embracing the blood on his
hands is easy, but his secrets wear on her patience.
When
their enemies close in, Bristol will have to summon his inner monster to
protect her. But can that monster be tamed again?
Excerpt:
Bristol sighed, more
angry with himself than with her. “Believe me when I say I wish we could have
more. Just trust me and know we can’t. It’s for your safety.”
Carmen slowed to a
stop and trailed her index finger over the line of his jaw.
The resignation in
her eyes scorched him.
“Your mind is like
stone. If you never tell me your secrets, the truth you think I will not
understand or accept, then it’s your loss. Not mine.” She notched her chin. “I
know my worth, Bristol. Maybe I can do better than you. Maybe not, but
at least I’m happy with you, and that’s all I ever wanted. So fine, keep your
secrets. Someday, if I’m safe enough, I will find a man who can trust me
implicitly and love me without reservation. When that happens, I hope your
secrets will keep you warm at night because I’ll be gone.”
Though he intended
to let her go, the idea of losing her almost cracked his knees on the floor. He
had to protect her, but what about her heart? And his? He couldn’t push her
into the arms of another man. He wanted—needed—her for himself. Bristol
pulled her close and kissed her, desperate to feel her soft lips with his
firmer ones and her tight body in his arms.
She opened her
mouth, inviting his plunder. Her scent invaded his nostrils. Her sweet,
delectable taste rolled through him, seeking to claim him.
After three days of
starvation, he needed more. How could he survive three years? Thirty years? He
couldn’t do this anymore, couldn’t keep quiet. He wanted her to be happy, yet
the idea of some other man giving her everything she deserved sickened him to
his core.
“Let’s go, Carmen. I have something to tell you.”
Add to Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/211106548-dark-hearts-aflame-lozano-cartel-book-1
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Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1509101
– Book one is an Interracial (Hispanic
woman/white man) dark romance novel in the Lozano Cartel series. All the books
can be read as a standalone, but are part of an interconnected series.
– Scenes featuring
torture/violence, kidnapping, attempted assault, infertility issues, child
abuse (discussed), and suicide (discussed) may be uncomfortable for some
readers.
– No cheating and HEA
guaranteed!
– Written in 3rd
POV.
Amber Daulton is the
author of the
Lozano Cartel, the
Arresting Onyx, and the
Ramseys
in Time series, as well as several standalone novellas. Her books are
published through Daulton Publishing, The Wild Rose Press, and Books to Go Now,
and are available in ebook, print on demand, audio, and foreign language
formats.
She lives in
North Carolina with her husband and demanding cats.
Social Media Links
Follow Me: https://linktr.ee/AmberDaulton
Check out my website (Daulton Publishing): https://amberdaulton.com
Sign up for my Exclusive
Newsletter (free ebook to new subscribers): https://amberdaulton.com/newsletter-signup/
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