Sunspots
by Karen S. Bell
Contemporary
Paranormal Time-Travel Romantic Suspense
Categories: Comedy,
Mystery/Thriller
Publisher: KSB
Press
Release Date: December
12, 2012
Heat Level: Sensual
Word Count: 102,300
Buy Links
Amazon (Kindle): http://www.amazon.com/Sunspots-ebook/dp/B00ANBR4TQ/
Amazon (Print): http://www.amazon.com/Sunspots-Karen-S-Bell/dp/148230757X/
http://www.cblspromotions.com/2013/03/blogbarrage-sunspots-by-karen-s-bell.html
Blurb
“One can never be,
and should never be, smug about life,” says Aurora Goldberg. An aspiring New
York actress who has never realized her dreams, Aurora keeps herself afloat by
doing odd temp jobs where her rich fantasy life helps her get through the day.
Aurora sees the world through the lens of characters in literature and film and
these fictionalizations are woven into her interpretation of reality.
On one of her temp
assignments she meets Jake Stein, a man who could “charm the skin off a snake”
and she decides to follow her destiny as his wife in Austin, Texas. But Jake’s
sudden death after two short years disintegrates her world and Aurora must
reevaluate her life and let go of a love that has become an obsession.
With the help of
friends, family, and the ghost of Viola Parker (her home’s original owner),
Aurora accepts her fate and the secrets revealed about Jake’s true character.
She realizes that in this life she will finally break the cycle of pain caused
by her love for this man, Jake Stein, through the centuries.
Excerpt
Although I had
started to speak, I immediately fell speechless creating another awkward moment
as his dark flame-throwing eyes studied my face. He was smiling and I could see
dimples forming on either side of his mouth. We just stood there, apart, in
silence, yet there was an unmistakable sexual tension gluing us together like
Kelly McGillis and Harrison Ford in Witness or Omar Shariff’s Dr. Yuri Zhivago
and Julie Christie’s Lara Antipova. When he finally spoke, he asked me if I
could recommend a good restaurant nearby elongating his vowels in a cute
Southern accent that I would later learn was peculiar to Texans.
“If you like French
cuisine, there is a wonderful place right around the corner, La Grenouille. I
believe it’s quite popular with some of the executives here,” I said no longer
mute, and handed him a business card that was kept in a stack on the desk.
“Would it be too
much trouble, ma’am, for you to call and make a reservation?” he asked in a
faux subservient manner. “I can’t understand French accents, especially over
the phone.”
“Of course… sir,” I
said returning his request with sugary sarcasm. I was, after all, nobody’s
secretary and certainly not of the vintage that brought forth ma’am from the
lips of a virile stranger. When I got the restaurant on the phone, I looked up
and asked casually, “For what time, sir?”
And then he paused,
looked at me with a gleam in his eye and said quite softly, “Well, let’s see.
What time is good for you?”
Shocked but not
rattled, I responded without any hesitation, “Now,” I said steadfastly meeting
his gaze, “Now is perfect.”
And that’s how I
met Jake Stein and sealed a future that fate ordained. Life-changing events
seem to come when you’re ready even if you’re not aware of their import.
Intuition can nudge feelings into your conscious space making a seemingly
ordinary encounter, like a dropped book, one of great significance. Somehow, I
understood that then and I understand that now. Meeting Jake Stein was my dance
with destiny.
We instantly
harmonized, interacting on two levels. The overt reality of the commonplace
chitchat, sexually charged banter, and frothy intellect contrasted with a
covert reality, a place where everything had deeper meaning, connection, and
familiarity. In some cosmic way, our unspoken language was far more important
than the spoken. Scientists might describe our attraction as the interaction of
airborne pheromones—chemical messages emitted through our skin conveying our
primal sexuality. Indeed, we seemed to be enchanted at the deepest levels of
our instincts. Two realties happening at once—the outer and the inner—one a
slick manifestation of the intelligentsia, the other a calming and gentle
journey afloat a timeless river.
Throughout our
initial encounter, playing faintly in my mind was the music from the sappy but
tender, A Man and a Woman, my mother’s favorite movie when she was a teenager
and strangely at odds with her penchant for a counter-culture way of life. She
played the album all through my childhood—sealing my connection with whispery
French sounds to all things romantic. And so that haunting melody was my
personal soundtrack as we walked to La Grenouille.
My prudent study of
this man, this Jake Stein, as we nonchalantly strolled along, was intentionally
unintentional—I absorbed him as if he were liquid. My senses were on high
alert, a spy observing my target in secret. Now, wafting about my face and
filling the air around me was a hint of soap and expensive cologne. Now, smooth
fingertips lightly touched and guided my arm bringing an explosion of
sensuality but also feeling like a safe harbor. Now, upon my ear, the pleasant
cadence and timbre of his voice sounded like a sweet symphony. My darting eyes
savored his honey-tanned and smooth complexion and nose of quality, straight
and sharp (but not too sharp). Luxurious thick, jet black, wavy hair fell
casually over intense brown eyes. There was strength, a physical strength to
his tall, elegant, Jeremy Irons frame. A noble grace to this huckster
businessman. And his sensuous lips with just a hint of fullness, lips that I
could almost taste—wanted to taste—formed words so provocatively. Later, in the
privacy of my own thoughts, I would relive, with a slow and deliberate
progression, these mesmerizing details that stirred me to my core.
Review
Tahlia Newland
Awesome Indies
“SUNSPOTS is a
moving, beautifully-written mystery about the devastating consequences of
obsessive love.
Bell’s elegant
prose not only describes the events and scenery of this self destructive love
story in riveting detail, but also skilfully evokes the atmosphere both
internal and external. The structure of the story is very clever. At the
beginning of the book, our empathy is aroused for grieving widow Aurora
Goldberg. It appears that she had the perfect marriage to charming Jake, but as
the story progresses, we and Aurora discover Jake’s secrets, so shocking to her
that she is forced to re-evaluate their love. Through eyes opened by the
truth—and helped along by the visions provided by a ghost—she sees that all was
not as rosy as she had believed. Not only that, but the legacy he left her
could be life-threatening.
Popular fiction
tends to romanticise love where one looses themselves in the other, or feels
completed by the other, or feels they cannot live or be happy without the other;
Sunspots takes this kind of notion to its extreme to show how disempowering an
obsession with the object of our love actually is. Obsession not only blinds
you, it makes you weak, needy and boring. Your partner is likely to turn
elsewhere to get away from your clinging, especially if you end up harping on
at him that he never gives you any attention anymore. It’s dangerous to let
your whole life revolve around one person, for when they leave you—by death as
it is in this case—you are devastated. As the book progresses we come to see
how much Aurora has brought her crippling grief upon herself. She literally
looses herself in this obsession.
Bell brings a
metaphysical element to the story with the addition of Viola Parker, the ghost
of the sister of Aurora’s last incarnation. With her help, Aurora sees that
this pattern of obsessive love and betrayal by Jake—in his previous
incantations—has been repeated in past lifetimes that ended with Aurora’s
suicide. Viola urges her to take a different path in this life and cut the
cycle of self-destruction.
Bell deals with
interesting themes here, that we tend to repeat patterns until we make a
conscious effort to change them, that
the past can be changed by actions in the present, and that when someone
‘saves’ us with love, in a healthy, balanced relationship we also to some
extent ‘save’ them.
Highly recommended
to anyone who likes psychological depth in their romance. I give it 5 stars and
a place on the Awesome Indies list.”
Book Trailer
Link: http://youtu.be/GFvMgc9lZyw
Embed Code: <iframe
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src=”http://www.youtube.com/embed/GFvMgc9lZyw”
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About the Author
Walking with
Elephants was my first novel, although I am not new to writing. I was a theater
critic and celebrity interviewer for a weekly tabloid in Jacksonville, Fl and I
earned a Master’s in Mass Communication from Oklahoma State University. For 15
years I worked in Corporate America as a technical editor/editor/writer. I
experienced first hand the politics and intrigue that goes with that territory
and the balancing act that comes with being a working mother. I salute all
those mothers who are the glue that holds their families together while
pursuing the nine to five brass ring. And that is what inspired me to write
that novel.
With my second
novel, Sunspots, I continue to be in awe of the magical and wondrous phenomenon
called life. As an observer and obvious participant in feminine values and
approach to our human challenges, I bring this perspective to my work.
Fascinated by the mysteries of the unseen forces that perhaps play a role in
guiding our choices, I search for answers in the mundane as well as in the
cosmic forces that surround us.
Connect with Karen
S. Bell
Email: karen.bell@yahoo.com
Website: http://karensbell.com/KSB_PRESS/WELCOME.html
Twitter: https://twitter.com/KarenSueBell