Wake Me

 by Alexa Bourne

Happy June 8^th! Today is a special day because one of my friends is having a birthday. He is a fairly new friend, a fellow teacher I’ve only known this school year, but we’re close enough for me to call him my BMF (best male friend). He’s seen me at my worst and shared successes with me, too. We’ve talked for hours with co-workers and alone about tons of good and bad things. He’s been a great influence for me (and sometimes a not-so-great influence). Today, a few of us will be out celebrating and raising a glass to him.

  In many ways, the friendship between my BMF & me is much like the friendship between Sarah, the heroine in Wake Me, and her best friend Travis. Sarah and Travis have only known each other a few months, but they have become as close as family.       He has become like her older brother (although I’m the older one in my friendship with my BMF). They trust each other and will defend each other if needed. He’ll listen to her when she needs to cry. She’ll brainstorm with him when he needs another perspective. And he has no problem telling her when she’s being an ass.

Buy Links:

Amazon || All Romance Ebooks || Kobo || Coffee Time Romance || Bookstrand || Barnes & Noble

Here’s a peek at Travis & Sarah. She’s come to his office, through a thunderstorm, because she doesn’t know where else to go: 

  Footsteps echoed off the hallway walls. Sarah turned. Travis entered his office with a towel, some sweatpants, and a T-shirt. “Go change then come talk to me.” When she returned a few minutes later, he handed her a cup of coffee. “Now what’s going on?”

  “I’m…” in trouble. The other two words got stuck in her throat.

  “Hey.” He grabbed a tissue from the box on his desk, crumpled it into a ball, then pinged her in the head with it. “Talk to me.”

  “I’ve got a detective asking me questions about a murder because I hung out in the crowd by the water fountain on campus.” Damn. Sharing her secrets with Travis proved harder than she’d thought. Would he consider her “trouble”? Sever their friendship? Would he turn her over to Cordell? She shook her head. “Never mind,” she said, backing away. “I’m sorry.” Before she changed her mind, she rushed to the door.

  “Whoa.” Travis moved quicker. He reached the doorway before her, blocking her exit. “You’re not leaving here without telling me what’s going on.”

  How long had it been since anyone showed such concern for her? He offered comfort. She gave him suspicion. He offered an ear. She could share secrets. “I can tell you some of this, but some of it I can’t. I’m not ready to. Will you be okay with my decisions?”

  “Absolutely.”

Okay, I’m going back to celebrating my friend. (Happy Birthday, MSH! Where’s our next drink?) In the meantime, readers, why don’t you tell us about one of your friends? I’ll give away one Starbucks card to one person who comments between now and midnight Wednesday.

Alexa's Social Media:

Goodreads || Facebook || Twitter || Website || Blog || Email

A New Beginning to a Hidden Destiny

Available HERE

I can’t believe Wake Me, the first book in my new Hidden Destiny series, is here! I’m so excited to get the chance to share this with you. The series revolves around a group of friends who must come to terms with a paranormal ability. They are all drawn to one place in the city of Austin, Trinity Tavern, but that isn’t the only thing they share.

In Wake Me, Sarah McKinley must come to terms with her ability to have psychic dreams. They’ve made her life miserable with the eerie feelings they create, the helplessness she feels when she has one, and her lack of ability to control them. She’d much rather forget them, but her big mouth gets her in trouble, especially with a sexy detective grounded in reality, Jesse Cordell.

Also during Wake Me, we meet Travis Blake, a friend of Sarah’s who plays an important role throughout the series. I look forward to sharing the next books in the series with you hopefully next year! For now, I hope you enjoy Sarah and Jesse’s journey!

Wake Me blurb:

Her psychic dreams come true.

Sarah McKinley’s attempts to take her foreknowledge of crimes to the Seattle Police Department marked her as a troublemaker and were never taken seriously. Starting over in Austin, she plans never to reveal her gift, but shortly after she arrives, the dreams begin again, and the local police want to know why she has knowledge only the killer could possess.

Detective Jesse Cordell watched his mother con people with her “psychic ability” all through his childhood. He hones in on Sarah, who has means, motive, and opportunity to have murdered the victim in his current investigation. Instinct tells him she didn’t commit the crime, but she definitely knows more than she’s letting on.

Can he put aside his doubts and join forces with her, against everything he believes in, to find the real killer? Or will he do his job and put her behind bars? After all, there’s no such thing as the “psychic ability.” Or is there?

Excerpt:

The buzz around her head grew louder as more students joined the crowd. Yellow tape secured the crime scene several yards away, but limbs still stuck over the cement edge of the water fountain.

A guy in plain clothes ducked under the tape and ventured toward them. A gold shield hung from his belt. “Can anybody tell me what happened?”

“She can!” a male voice from behind called out.

Hoping to take attention off herself, Sarah joined the other students in whirling around to see who the guy meant. Several voices rushed toward the man, accosting him with different versions of the crime. Sarah floated through the sea of people, away from the crowd.

For the nine months, she’d lived in Austin, she’d never mentioned a word about her so-called psychic gift. Almost a full year had passed. She’d started to think she would be normal again.

But a brand-new dream reminded her she would always be different.

Heading toward the street, she picked up her steps. Don’t look back. You’ve done enough damage.

“Miss! Hey, wait up!”

“Damn.” She slowed her feet. No point in trying to run. She’d look guilty of something then the cops would have a reason to haul her off the school campus in cuffs.

Turning, she came face-to-face with the striking plain-clothes cop. “I’m Detective Cordell with Austin Police.” He stood at least six inches taller than she, his jet-black hair sheared in a standard cut for police. The bulk of his chest stretched the material of his short-sleeved dress shirt. With dark eyes and sexy confidence, he was all sorts of captivating. If he hadn’t been such a threat to her freedom, she might even have called him handsome. “Do you have a minute? I’d like to ask you some questions.”

There died his charm. 

Happy Book Birthday!

Available HERE

Yesterday my 1^st romantic suspense with paranormal elements arrived on the virtual bookshelves. I’m both a little excited and nervous. I’m excited because it’s the beginning of a new series for me. And I finally get to share a story that’s been wavering in my head for over a decade. Plus, of course, I love sharing my stories with readers.

I’m a little nervous, too, though for a very different reason. I’ve had connected stories before, but they didn’t have to be read in order. Plus, the only things they had in common were the people and places. Wake Me is my 1^st venture into a connected series where the stories need to be read in order in order to “get it” all. In the Hidden Destiny series, each book will have a character with a special ability and they will be interacting with others like them within the community introduced in Wake Me . There are some other connected details about the series, but I’m not telling!

I look forward to the challenges the new series will bring me and I’m excited to see what the characters and I can create. I hope you enjoy Wake Me and I hope you’ll be excited to read the rest of the series when they come out!

Blurb:

Her psychic dreams come true.

Sarah McKinley’s attempts to take her foreknowledge of crimes to the Seattle Police Department marked her as a troublemaker and were never taken seriously. Starting over in Austin, she plans never to reveal her gift, but shortly after she arrives, the dreams begin again, and the local police want to know why she has knowledge only the killer could possess.

Detective Jesse Cordell watched his mother con people with her “psychic ability” all through his childhood. He hones in on Sarah, who has means, motive, and opportunity to have murdered the victim in his current investigation. Instinct tells him she didn’t commit the crime, but she definitely knows more than she’s letting on.

Can he put aside his doubts and join forces with her, against everything he believes in, to find the real killer? Or will he do his job and put her behind bars? After all, there’s no such thing as the “psychic ability.” Or is there? 

Bio:

Alexa Bourne is a teacher by day and a romance writer by nights, weekends, and all school holidays. She also teaches online classes for writers throughout the year. She writes romantic suspense and contemporary romance and is thrilled to have the chance to share her stories with readers everywhere.

When she’s not concocting sinister plots and steamy love scenes or traveling and exploring new cultures, Alexa spends her time reading, watching brainless TV, and thinking about exercising. Okay, she also spends way too much time interacting with readers and writers on social media sites. But don’t tell her editors! Find out more about her and her books on her website, www.alexabourne.com.

Social Media:

Goodreads ||  Facebook || Twitter ||Website || Blog || Email