Guest Blogger: Jacqui Jacoby

Hello, my little raindrops!

I'm busy doing all the last minute pre-release stuff for The Karmic Connection (can't believe launch day is in 5 days!) and things are naturally insane, so I'm particularly pleased to welcome Jacqui Jacoby today as a guest blogger. Or to be more accurate, I'm actually welcoming Jaime Walsh, the star of Jacqui's latest book, With a Vengeance. Take it away, Jacqui! Er... I mean Jaime!

A Day in the Live of Jaime Walsh

By Jaime Walsh, star of With a Vengeance

Once upon a time … that’s usually how stories start, don’t they?  Well once upon a time there was a CIA Operative who managed to finally get some time off.  There was me.

Time off doesn’t come around very often.  Assignments, sometimes lasting weeks or months, often back up against each other with only a few days between to get some down time.  The bosses have the next job planned before we even get in the door.  It takes some prep time to get ready to go.  What part of the world will we be in next? Who is on the team? What is our objective? 

All important questions.  All, plus more, that have to be answered before we get on the plane.

But not today.  Today is my day.  A day I get to do with as I see fit without answering to anybody.

And the first thing I am going to do is sleep in.  I mean way in.  I pull the blinds tight, turn off my cell phone and cover my head with a pillow.  I wait for the time when my body says it has had enough sleep and not when an alarm goes off.  If someone knocks on the door, they get ignored.

This is just for me.

Staying in shape is important to me.  It means I will be up for the next obstacle that comes my way.  Even on the job I manage to get in a couple mile run a day.  I shoot for six days a week.  On my day off though, after I climb from that warm bed, I won’t be hitting the streets or a treadmill.  I will be lucky if I even get dressed.  Laying around in my pajamas signals my brain this is the day we’ve been waiting for.

Food is easy.  I live in New York City and have a drawer full of take out menus.  Finding someone to deliver is a simple matter of looking through the pile and deciding what it is I feel like today.

What to do to fill up the hours in between is the real challenge.  I’m not used to having nothing to do and doing nothing makes me uneasy sometimes.  I look for that closet that needs reorganizing or the letters that need to be written. I have to work at not working.  I could get lost in a good book, but there is not enough time to get through one of the titles I might like to read, something off the classics list.  A movie is always a good choice.  I can make myself some popcorn and turn on a Cary Grant comedy.  Maybe Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House or Bringing Up Baby.  Maybe both.  Probably both.

Yeah, that sounds like the perfect kind of day.  I won’t even look at the files in my briefcase until tomorrow. 

I love the idea of a CIA Operative lounging around at home, watching classic movies. Jaime Walsh certainly sounds like an interesting character. Here's the book blurb for With a Vengeance:

WITH A VENGEANCE

The more she wanted out, the more they dragged her back in!

Daughter to murdered CIA officers, niece to a deputy director, Jaime Walsh has never known life outside the world of espionage. Until a high-action case in Buenos Aires leaves her gutted. Physically, emotionally…and professionally.

She’d planned for her long-overdue vacation to be a time to rest and reassess. With her longtime partner Stephen not far behind, it’s a tropical paradise away from work. A paradise where boundaries will be tested.

From their training days, Stephen Reid has watched Jaime kick ass while performing what has become his second job—watching her back. But now his feelings have grown.

As best friends look at each other in a new light, they like what they see. And Jaime dreams of a new life outside “the company”.

Except someone from their past won’t be satisfied until Jaime and the man she loves are hunted to the brink of death. Now Jaime must find the strength to trust her heart and let go of her fear. Before she loses everything…

And now for the links: 

You can read an excerpt here.

Read the reviews here.

Find it at Samhain here.

Find it at Amazon here.

Find it at B&N here.

Find it at Powells Books here.

Thanks for being on the blog today, Jacqui! Er... I mean Jaime!