Author Guest Post
A Day In My Writing Life
By: Mandy Baggot
*sound of a Harley Davidson* It’s 6.50am and it’s my iPhone alarm! *curses and turns over*.
As a mom of two school-age girls every day starts off with a mad scramble to get them fed, washed and dressed before school. We leave about 8.20am for the ten minute drive, I drop off and wave goodbye and I’m back at my desk by 8.50am.
The first thing I do is check my schedule for what’s going on that day. Believe me there is always something going on! I am a member of Loveahappyending Lifestyle – an on-line magazine run by a group of us authors. We write interesting posts on all sorts of topics – I am the trends/pop culture guru. We also support each other in our writing lives so I will schedule up some Facebook posts and some tweets for them as well as a few for me. Then when I visit Twitter later I can chat about food and wine instead of books!
After that I’ll answer emails or messages. There are usually at least fifty a day! I tell myself it’s good to be popular!
Finally, after messing about on Twitter and seeing what mad things other people are up to I will get down to writing about 11am. I then have three and a half hours to crack on before picking the girls up again. Three and a half hours sounds like a long time doesn’t it? If you factor in doing some exercise, eating some lunch and dipping back in to social media, it just flies by.
After picking up my girls, I might get a couple of hours of writing in short bursts of fifteen minutes or so. Sometimes I take a pen and paper (do you remember those?!) and write with the children around if it’s the only way to grind out some words. I will write anywhere!
That’s a normal writing day but most weeks I also have some meetings. I belong to a Wiltshire women’s networking group called Women on Wednesday and we meet up once a month. I was the guest speaker back in February.
As a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association I go up to London for their meetings and functions and I’m also quite an active member of the Wiltshire business community so I try and attend most functions I get invited to. I also speak at book groups, festivals and conferences which are mainly in the evenings or at weekends. No two weeks are the same!
I have to say I do love my writer life. I just wish there were a few more hours in the day!
About The Author
Mandy Baggot is a self-confessed Twitter addict who likes to sing on You Tube. She regularly guests on book blogs and is a featured author on the innovative website loveahappyending.com. She is also a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association.
Mandy lives near Salisbury, Wiltshire, UK with her husband and two daughters.
AUTHOR WEBSITE
GOODREADS
SAPPHIRE STAR PUBLISHING - AUTHOR PAGE
Security - Book Trailer
Book Review
Security by Mandy Baggot
Publisher: Sapphire Star Publishing
Publication Date: April 4, 2013
Format: Paperback - 354 pages / Kindle - 481 KB / Nook - 393 KB
ISBN: 1938404521
ASIN: B00C5QOWXS
Genre: Romantic Suspense
BUY THE BOOK: Security
Disclaimer: I received a copy of the book from the author / publisher in exchange for my honest review and participation in a virtual book tour event hosted by Reading Addiction Blog Tours.
Book Description:
Enter Nathan Regan, an ex-elite soldier who is assigned to protect her. He’s a good man doing bad things but what drives him? Passion? Madness? Or grief? Demons from his past are threatening to consume him. Can he win the fight alone or will he have to admit he needs help?
As the threat deepens, Autumn starts to find out who she really needs in her life. Is there still room for personal assistant Janey or rapper boyfriend Rockweiler? When everyone around her is feeding her lies, how does she work out the truth? Does her record producer know more than he’s letting on? What is her mother, the British Foreign Secretary’s involvement in the situation? And can Autumn put her faith in a forty-something Jamaican woman who handles an automatic weapon as expertly as she cooks?
Eluding kidnap and trying to stay alive, can Autumn find the strength to be the person she longs to be? And can two people, poles apart, forge something strong enough to survive anything?
Book Excerpt:
“Room service,” the voice called from outside in the hall.
“Please, tell me you didn’t order fucking room service,” Nathan hissed to her.
She was shaking, loitering by the bathroom door, not knowing what to do. She shook her head at him. His eyes were on her all the time. She’d not had the means to call room service even if she’d wanted to.
Nathan reached out and put his hand on the doorknob, preparing to open it. Autumn took a step back into the bathroom and squeezed her eyes tight shut. What should she do? She’d not been in a situation like this before. Should she pick up something to use as a weapon? There was a choice of a toilet brush or a razor she would have to unwrap from its plastic wrapping. She heard the door open, flipped her eyelids up and took a deep breath, waiting.
“Room service, Mr. Martin. Two full English breakfasts,” the voice announced.
“You must have the wrong room. I didn’t order breakfast, and I’m here alone. The name’s Shepherd,” Nathan replied.
“Oh, I do apologize, sir. I’ll go check the order with the kitchen. Sorry for any inconvenience.”
“Not a problem.”
She heard the door close and Nathan practically ripped the bathroom door from its hinges as he came to find her.
“We’re leaving. Get everything you came with. Leave nothing,” he ordered.
He’d noticed the black transit van pull into the car park earlier. Two men had left it. One returned fifteen minutes later and had been sitting in it ever since. The man seemed to be reading a newspaper, but he also kept looking at his watch and checking his rear view mirror. It wasn’t normal behavior for a normal person. It was, however, normal behavior for someone in a similar line of work to his.
Autumn was counting aloud as she checked and re-checked the small room. She didn’t have anything apart from that bloody purse and the stupid fucking designer hat, but he had to ensure she was alert to everything he said. The next time he asked her to get her stuff together, it might be a life or death situation. For now, they only had time against them.
She muttered to herself, breathing like an exhausted greyhound, gripping the purse as if it could save her life just by being close to her chest. Suddenly, he felt sorry for her. Yes, she was an irritating spoiled bitch, but looking at her now, all he saw was a terrified young woman. A beautiful, terrified young woman.
“Now, you do exactly what I say, is that clear?” he barked at Autumn as they waited at the fire exit that led out toward the car park.
Her head was spinning, she felt sick, and she had a run in her stockings. She couldn’t stop looking at it as it seemed to be growing by the second.
“Autumn, you need to listen to me if you want to stay safe.” Nathan took hold of her wrist.
She raised her head to meet his eyes with hers, and she nodded like a programmed robot.
“Right. Now, when I open this door, I want you behind me, holding on to my belt, head down, making for the car, okay? Don’t look up, just walk quickly and keep hold of me,” he said.
“You think there’s someone outside, don’t you?” Autumn asked through chattering teeth. “That’s why you were looking out the window.”
“That’s my concern, not yours. Head down, make for the car, keep hold of me,” he said again.
He took her hands and pressed them to the leather belt at his waistband.
His shirt wasn’t quite tucked in properly, and her fingertips touched the skin at his back. She shut her eyes and bit her teeth together, preparing herself for everything and nothing, all at the same time.
She felt him push the bar on the door, then, all at once, he strode off. The speed of his movement surprised her. She clung to his belt and tried to keep up with his pace.
She kept her head down, looking at the ground as Nathan hurried them toward his car. Paving stones turned into gritty tarmac. Her fingers chafed on the leather belt she suspected wasn’t really leather, and her heart beat a fast flamenco in her chest.
She heard the car door open. Nathan turned to face her, took her hands off his waistband, and pushed her down into the car. She clutched her purse and blinked to refocus on the outside.
Suddenly, a flash went off in her face, and a camera appeared at her passenger window. She let out a scream of terror, her hand instinctively reaching for the lock on the door. She couldn’t breathe, and her heart was racing again, but she watched as Nathan tackled the photographer to the ground and drew his weapon.
The paparazzo looked terrified. His eyes bulged, and with Nathan’s left hand around his throat and his right directing a gun at his temple, it was hardly surprising. But Autumn looked again at the photographer, and this time recognized him. He was paparazzi. He’d photographed her many times, and he was one of the faces she saw in the crowd at all her personal appearances.
She unlocked the car door and tentatively stepped out. “He’s a photographer,” she stated to Nathan.
He had his knee in the middle of the poor man’s chest, probably cutting off his air and crushing his rib cage.
“Having a camera doesn’t make you a photographer. Get in the car, Autumn.”
“I’ve seen him before,” Autumn said as she leaned over him. “He’s paparazzi. He’ll have ID. If you get off him, he can show you.”
He attempted to nod his head despite the restrictions on his neck, but Nathan held firm.
“Let him go, for God’s sake, you’re hurting him,” Autumn said.
The photographer was starting to splutter, and his face was turning an awful shade of mauve.
“Get in the car, Autumn. That’s an order,” Nathan spat, turning to face her.
“Please, tell me you didn’t order fucking room service,” Nathan hissed to her.
She was shaking, loitering by the bathroom door, not knowing what to do. She shook her head at him. His eyes were on her all the time. She’d not had the means to call room service even if she’d wanted to.
Nathan reached out and put his hand on the doorknob, preparing to open it. Autumn took a step back into the bathroom and squeezed her eyes tight shut. What should she do? She’d not been in a situation like this before. Should she pick up something to use as a weapon? There was a choice of a toilet brush or a razor she would have to unwrap from its plastic wrapping. She heard the door open, flipped her eyelids up and took a deep breath, waiting.
“Room service, Mr. Martin. Two full English breakfasts,” the voice announced.
“You must have the wrong room. I didn’t order breakfast, and I’m here alone. The name’s Shepherd,” Nathan replied.
“Oh, I do apologize, sir. I’ll go check the order with the kitchen. Sorry for any inconvenience.”
“Not a problem.”
She heard the door close and Nathan practically ripped the bathroom door from its hinges as he came to find her.
“We’re leaving. Get everything you came with. Leave nothing,” he ordered.
He’d noticed the black transit van pull into the car park earlier. Two men had left it. One returned fifteen minutes later and had been sitting in it ever since. The man seemed to be reading a newspaper, but he also kept looking at his watch and checking his rear view mirror. It wasn’t normal behavior for a normal person. It was, however, normal behavior for someone in a similar line of work to his.
Autumn was counting aloud as she checked and re-checked the small room. She didn’t have anything apart from that bloody purse and the stupid fucking designer hat, but he had to ensure she was alert to everything he said. The next time he asked her to get her stuff together, it might be a life or death situation. For now, they only had time against them.
She muttered to herself, breathing like an exhausted greyhound, gripping the purse as if it could save her life just by being close to her chest. Suddenly, he felt sorry for her. Yes, she was an irritating spoiled bitch, but looking at her now, all he saw was a terrified young woman. A beautiful, terrified young woman.
“Now, you do exactly what I say, is that clear?” he barked at Autumn as they waited at the fire exit that led out toward the car park.
Her head was spinning, she felt sick, and she had a run in her stockings. She couldn’t stop looking at it as it seemed to be growing by the second.
“Autumn, you need to listen to me if you want to stay safe.” Nathan took hold of her wrist.
She raised her head to meet his eyes with hers, and she nodded like a programmed robot.
“Right. Now, when I open this door, I want you behind me, holding on to my belt, head down, making for the car, okay? Don’t look up, just walk quickly and keep hold of me,” he said.
“You think there’s someone outside, don’t you?” Autumn asked through chattering teeth. “That’s why you were looking out the window.”
“That’s my concern, not yours. Head down, make for the car, keep hold of me,” he said again.
He took her hands and pressed them to the leather belt at his waistband.
His shirt wasn’t quite tucked in properly, and her fingertips touched the skin at his back. She shut her eyes and bit her teeth together, preparing herself for everything and nothing, all at the same time.
She felt him push the bar on the door, then, all at once, he strode off. The speed of his movement surprised her. She clung to his belt and tried to keep up with his pace.
She kept her head down, looking at the ground as Nathan hurried them toward his car. Paving stones turned into gritty tarmac. Her fingers chafed on the leather belt she suspected wasn’t really leather, and her heart beat a fast flamenco in her chest.
She heard the car door open. Nathan turned to face her, took her hands off his waistband, and pushed her down into the car. She clutched her purse and blinked to refocus on the outside.
Suddenly, a flash went off in her face, and a camera appeared at her passenger window. She let out a scream of terror, her hand instinctively reaching for the lock on the door. She couldn’t breathe, and her heart was racing again, but she watched as Nathan tackled the photographer to the ground and drew his weapon.
The paparazzo looked terrified. His eyes bulged, and with Nathan’s left hand around his throat and his right directing a gun at his temple, it was hardly surprising. But Autumn looked again at the photographer, and this time recognized him. He was paparazzi. He’d photographed her many times, and he was one of the faces she saw in the crowd at all her personal appearances.
She unlocked the car door and tentatively stepped out. “He’s a photographer,” she stated to Nathan.
He had his knee in the middle of the poor man’s chest, probably cutting off his air and crushing his rib cage.
“Having a camera doesn’t make you a photographer. Get in the car, Autumn.”
“I’ve seen him before,” Autumn said as she leaned over him. “He’s paparazzi. He’ll have ID. If you get off him, he can show you.”
He attempted to nod his head despite the restrictions on his neck, but Nathan held firm.
“Let him go, for God’s sake, you’re hurting him,” Autumn said.
The photographer was starting to splutter, and his face was turning an awful shade of mauve.
“Get in the car, Autumn. That’s an order,” Nathan spat, turning to face her.
My Book Review:
Autumn Raine is an international singing superstar, the ultimate media darling and diva. When Autumn's safety is threatened by death threats and kidnapping attempts, ex-special forces agent, Nathan Regan is hired as Autumn's personal bodyguard. With the threats mounting and her life unraveling, Nathan takes Autumn away to a safe haven. Autumn and Nathan are total opposites who are thrown together, each has their flaws and are haunted by past demons, but a mutual attraction and sizzling chemistry can't be denied as the sparks begin to fly. Is Nathan's experience enough to protect Autumn? Can they forge a bond that will help them survive? What will become of their mutual attraction?
Security is an intriguing romantic suspense story filled with enough drama, action and romance with a touch of humor that keeps the reader turning the pages. Author Mandy Baggot weaves an entertaining tale written in the third person narrative that follows the suspenseful adventures of Autumn Raine and Nathan Regan as they try to outwit the kidnapping plots as they fight to survive.
This fast paced story has enough suspense and intensity with unexpected twists and turns that keeps the reader engaged, while the sizzling chemistry and romance that develops between Autumn and Nathan will make your heart race. I loved that both Autumn and Nathan were realistic characters who had flaws and past demons that haunted them, I found them to be intriguing and really enjoyed the opposites attract scenario. I really enjoyed the multi-layered storyline, you can't help but become captivated and immersed in the intricacies of Autumn and Nathan's lives. Author Mandy Baggot provides the reader with an entertaining storyline that has it all: action, drama, intrigue, suspense, betrayal, comedy, heartbreak and romance ... what more could a reader ask for?!
With an interesting cast of characters who are realistic and flawed; witty dialogue and engaging interactions; and an intriguing storyline that keeps you on the edge until the surprising conclusion; Security is an exciting romantic suspense story that will leave you completely satisfied.
RATING: 5 STARS *****
Virtual Book Tour Schedule
April 7 - Tiffany Talks Books - Review
April 8 - Taking it One Page at a Time - Review/Guest Post
April 10 - T's Bookish Moments - Review
April 11 - Looks, Cooks, and Books - Review
April 12 - The Serial Reader - Review
April 14 - Gothic Angel Book Reviews - Review/Guest Post
April 15 - My Cozie Corner - Review
April 16 - Turners Antics - Review/Guest Post
April 17 - Bean Counting Mommy - Review/Guest Post
April 19 - Musings of a Blodger - Review/Interview
April 20 - Jersey Girl Book Reviews - Review/Guest Post
April 22 - Author Ever Leigh - Review
April 24 - Flirting With Romance - Review
April 25 - My Reading Addiction - Review
April 26 - Lets Get Booked - Review
April 29 -Queen of All She Reads - Review/Guest Post
April 30 - Army Wife's Reviews - Review
May 1 - Busy Mom Book Reviews - Review
May 2 - RABT Reviews - Review
Thank you so much for that amazing review and for having me on your blog today!
ReplyDeleteMandy :)
Hi Mandy! I really enjoyed reading Security, but then again I love all of your books! Thank you for your kind comment and the opportunity to host your virtual book tour event. :)
DeleteAnd worth every single star and more. I loved this book! Mandy you are a totally talented star. Can you write the sequel now please? :) xx
ReplyDeleteHi Sheryl! Thank you for stopping by and visiting with Mandy. I agree that the book is worth every star! :)
Delete