Reality In Your Fiction?
How much reality do like in your fiction? A hint? A lot? Total fantasy? While I’ve written about ghosts, werewolves, werepossums, and time-traveling pirates, my latest release, Col
Imagine the United States suffered a massive drug shortage. Medications you relied upon every day were suddenly in short supply. And what if doctors had to decide which patient received what little remained available, and who had to wait?
In this time of desperation, unscrupulous businesses take full advantage. No, not the black market, but the gray market. What? You’ve never heard of the gray market?
Gray market buyers purchase shortage drugs for the sole purpose of reselling at a vast profit, to other wholesalers, or facilities such as hospitals and pharmacies. Their actions are not illegal as of this writing.
Through the gray market, counterfeit drugs often enter the supply chain, prompting pharmacy buyers to shy away from a desperately needed drug for fear of harming patients. Some gray market goods are found to have no active ingredient, or even ingredients that cause harm.
And those who conduct business with the gray market do so at their peril. A vial of product sold by a manufacturer might cost seven dollars. After entering the gray market, the markup in some cases exceeds six hundred dollars, costing patients, insurance companies, and government programs, such as Medicaid, millions.
The above passages sound like a great setup to the fiction novel, don’t they? And yet…they’re true. While my upcoming release, Collusion, is a work of fiction, sadly, the drug shortagein the US and gray market are not, and as of this writing, are both still going strong.
Bo and Lucky are back, and right in the middle of the crisis.
Imagine the United States suffered a massive drug shortage. Medications you relied upon every day were suddenly in short supply. And what if doctors had to decide which patient received what little remained available, and who had to wait?
In this time of desperation, unscrupulous businesses take full advantage. No, not the black market, but the gray market. What? You’ve never heard of the gray market?
Gray market buyers purchase shortage drugs for the sole purpose of reselling at a vast profit, to other wholesalers, or facilities such as hospitals and pharmacies. Their actions are not illegal as of this writing.
Through the gray market, counterfeit drugs often enter the supply chain, prompting pharmacy buyers to shy away from a desperately needed drug for fear of harming patients. Some gray market goods are found to have no active ingredient, or even ingredients that cause harm.
And those who conduct business with the gray market do so at their peril. A vial of product sold by a manufacturer might cost seven dollars. After entering the gray market, the markup in some cases exceeds six hundred dollars, costing patients, insurance companies, and government programs, such as Medicaid, millions.
The above passages sound like a great setup to the fiction novel, don’t they? And yet…they’re true. While my upcoming release, Collusion, is a work of fiction, sadly, the drug shortagein the US and gray market are not, and as of this writing, are both still going strong.
Bo and Lucky are back, and right in the middle of the crisis.
Former drug trafficker Richmond “Lucky” Lucklighter “died” in the line of duty while working off a ten-year sentence in service to the Southeastern Narcotics Bureau, only to be reborn as Simon “Lucky” Harrison. The newbie he trained, former Marine Bo Schollenberger, is now his partner on (and maybe off) the job. It’s hard to tell when Lucky doesn’t understand relationships or have a clue what any sane human is doing in his bed. Bo’s nice to have around, sure, but there’s none of that picking-out-china-together crap for Lucky.
While fighting PTSD, memories of a horrid childhood, and a prescription drug addiction, Bo is paying for his mistakes. Using his pharmacy license for the good guys provides the sort of education he never got in school. Undercover with his hard-headed partner, Bo learns that not everything is as it seems in the world of pharmaceuticals.
When a prescription drug shortage jeopardizes the patients at Rosario Children’s Cancer Center, it not only pits Bo and Lucky against predatory opportunists, but also each other. How can they tell who the villains are? The bad guys don’t wear black hats, but they might wear white coats.
While fighting PTSD, memories of a horrid childhood, and a prescription drug addiction, Bo is paying for his mistakes. Using his pharmacy license for the good guys provides the sort of education he never got in school. Undercover with his hard-headed partner, Bo learns that not everything is as it seems in the world of pharmaceuticals.
When a prescription drug shortage jeopardizes the patients at Rosario Children’s Cancer Center, it not only pits Bo and Lucky against predatory opportunists, but also each other. How can they tell who the villains are? The bad guys don’t wear black hats, but they might wear white coats.
Although Collusion is a sequel, it was written so that readers wouldn’t need to read the first book in the series, Diversion, to follow the story. However, Diversion is currently available at Amber Allure, an imprint of Amber Quill Press. http://www.amberquill.com/AmberAllure/Diversion.html
Collusion, now available, from Amber Allure.
The next volume in the series, Corruption, is currently in the drafting phase.
MY IMPRESSIONS OF THE BOOK:
The tug-of-war romance between undercover co-workers Lucky and Bo continues in this action-packed thrill ride with some super steamy sexual interludes thrown in to amp up the emotional tension that permeates the story. Collusion nicely balances the struggling relationship between two very complicated men both in and out of the bedroom as a new case adds even more conflict into an already uncertain coupling.
Lucky's used to living his life on the wrong side of the tracks until given the chance to be one of the good guys. He likes this feeling of being a hero and takes pride in it, but still sees himself as unworthy. This constant self-doubt has him questioning the strengthening connection between him and Bo and wondering if he'll ever be worthy of his love. After everything he's done to put his past behind him it is heartbreaking to see these self-doubts hurt what is a perfect relationship of two halves equaling a whole.
Bo too has been through a lot and has even more emotional baggage weighing him down than Lucky but hasn't let it turn him cold. He always puts his heart on the line and isn't afraid to show how he feels. Showing too much heart though almost drags him completely back into the abyss if it weren't for Lucky grabbing onto him with both hands.
These two hurt souls couldn't be more opposite in how they act and do their job but when it comes to their hearts they both finally come to an agreement, cemented by a near-death experience that helps them realize how lonely they'd be without each other. The sexual interludes are super hot and go from sweet to frantic depending on how badly their case is going. As Bo goes further into the abyss there's a sense of desperation. Their final encounter is almost freeing and has them going in the right direction towards a HEA. The case is an exciting addition to the story and adds an extra layer of conflict to their relationship. It provides heartpounding action and ended up being a nifty little mystery.
This is an intensely emotional story with two very complicated and realistic characters dealing with realistic issues. The action in and out of the bedroom allows for the reader to see these characters at their best and worst and shows Ms. Winters talent at creating fully fleshed-out characters that you can't help but be drawn to. Fans of the m/m genre will find much to admire about this emotionally complicated story.
My rating for this is an A.
*I received this book from the author in exchange for my honest opinion.
Our heroine sits quietly in her cube, just one of many, typing, filing, and breaking the occasional nail, hiding her true identity beneath her clever disguise of nerdy glasses and business suits (with sensible shoes!) Frantic eyes watch the clock as she waits impatiently for the ruse to end and her true calling to begin.
With eager anticipation she drives her average car to her average home, and eats her average (vegetarian and completely healthy!) meal alone. The minutes tick by, and when the sun finally sets she leaps tall sofas in a single bound, shedding her disguise to take on her true super heroine persona! Is she in such a rush to save the world? Save the city? Save the neighbor’s kitten from a tree? No! She liberates her laptop from the evil clutches of arch villain, Hall Closet, and flings it open to free the worlds hiding within its depths. There are lonely werewolves searching desperately for mates, spoiled rich boys just waiting for her gentle caress of the keyboard to create someone who’ll truly understand them, and futuristic soldiers, gunning across the universe to save the men they love… No scenario is too bizarre! A time traveling pirate? No problem! Violin playing specter haunting a Scottish castle? You betcha!
When she’d not busily creating happy-ever-afters for fictional hotties, our heroine enjoys music, the great outdoors, and cruising down the highway on the back of a Harley Davidson. Eden can be found at: www.edenwinters.com
**********GIVEAWAY**********
Would you like to a chance to win a copy of Collusion? Follow this link to a post on my blog and enter your name and contact information. On March 5th I’ll draw three names—two winners will receive ebooks copies of Collusion, and one lucky winner will receive signed print copies of both Diversion and Collusion, once Collusion becomes available in print next month.
http://www.edenwinters.com/
Hi Eden,
ReplyDeleteboth books sounds like keeper. Can't wait to read them.
They sound very interesting!
ReplyDeleteKassandra
sionedkla@gmail.com
Please count me in too. Have Diversion on my Kindle to be read. Thanks!
ReplyDeletestrive4bst(At) yahoo(Dot) com
This blurb and the cover made me cry. If there was a shortage of insulin, I'd be low on the list of recipients, and dead with a week. So sad and scary! Thanks for writing on such a serious subject!
ReplyDeletebrendurbanist at gmail dot com
I like a happy medium. I don't want the boring part of reality, because we all know police officers or doctors who tell us the vast majority of their work is filling in forms or other boring stuff. Who wants to read that? But in a straight contemporary, it has to reflect the reality of the setting. You can embellish some of course to make it more interesting, but if I'm going "yeah right", not good. Of course once you get into paranormals, anything goes. :-)
ReplyDelete