What2527s your name?
Shannon McDowell but I go by Shay
What2527s your goal in this story?
What conflicts are you facing?
What skill do you have that you2527re proud of?
What is your family like?
What is the best piece of advice you ever received?
Do you see morality as black-and-white, or with shades of gray?
What2527s your quirkiest habit?
If you could go back in time, what one thing would you change in your life?
Why do you think your author chose to write about you?
What other character from your book do you think your author should write a book about? Care to tell us why?
Blurb
Shay McDowell has rebuilt her life after her divorce. She juggles volunteer EMT duties and her job, while dreaming of becoming a chef. She finds her way to Rock House Grill and back into the life of the man she helped save.
Can love be the ingredient needed to survive the many obstacles they face?
Excerpt
“Can hardly m-move.” His voice slurred. “C-can2527t see anything.”
“You2527ve been in an accident. I2527m an EMT with the ambulance squad,” the velvety voice calmly explained. “Hold still, okay?”
“2527K.” A small light flickered at the edge of his vision. It shone into a bag next to him. Penlight.
“You2527re restrained to a board. It2527s to keep your head from moving, and you injure yourself further.” She continued to talk to him.
The voice reached down somewhere inside him, calming and peaceful, so he focused on it. A glow from spotlights on the outside lit whatever covered them. The shadow gave the woman the appearance of a halo-like an angel.
“It2527s dark because we2527re covered while we extricate you. The noise is from the rescue crew cutting the car away.”
Even in his pain, Aden winced at the thought of his baby being chopped up. The voice was busy shuffling something around. While she worked in the dark, he tried piecing together what happened. He grabbed at her hand when she began to place something over his face.
“Stop. It2527s just an oxygen mask. It won2527t hurt.” The steady order was backed up by compassion in the tone.
His angel meant business.
“Hold on, Shannon. We2527re going to pop the lid.” A man2527s voice called from outside their inky cocoon.
“Told him not to call me that,” she muttered under her breath.
Shannon, my angel’s name is Shannon. A loud pop came from the front end, and then scree. Some metal-eating monster was taking a big bite out of his baby. The car jostled, sending a flame of pain shooting up his legs. He moaned.
“Shh, I2527m sorry. There2527s no way to make this not hurt.”
His car screamed again, and the steering wheel pinning him began to pull free of his legs. Even in the dark, there were spots of light before his eyes. Bile burned in the back of his throat. Everything started to fade away, as he recognized her taking his blood pressure.
“Aden?”
He felt muddy. Then tapping at his face.
“Aden!” The tap came harder. “That2527s his name, right?”
“Yeah, it2527s who the plates are registered to,” a male voice answered.
“Aden, come on, open your eyes. You need to stay with me.”
He forced his eyes open but could barely make out any features behind the helmet2527s shield. He latched onto the woman2527s voice like a lifeline.
“We2527re almost ready to move you, Aden. I don2527t want you to fight us or try and help. Let us do all the work.”
After a few more minutes of torturous screeching, the tarp covering him pulled up and away. Glass tinkled to the ground and crunched under boots. The air was thick with the smell of diesel.
He couldn2527t lift his head. Right, they2527d strapped it to a board. His gaze skittered around, taking in red, yellow, and blue flashing lights. At first, he was grateful when they uncovered him. But when they began to remove him from the remains of the car, the pain grew unbearable. He groaned.
There were moments of clarity as he slipped in and out of consciousness. The noise and the flashing lights gave a dreamlike quality to the scene. The world slithered by in slow motion. Flat on his back, he floated through the air as they carefully carried the stretcher toward the flashing red-and-blue lights of an ambulance.
“Angel?” He2527d lost her.
“I2527m here.”
She grasped his flailing hand.
The warmth of her hand and sound of her voice cut through everything else, calming and encouraging him. Things he could lock onto. Her face now visible, free from the protective shield, held his gaze. Worry creased the space between her eyes.
“Aden, right?
“Yeah.” He licked his split lip and could taste the metallic tang of blood. A man2527s shout cut through the increasing buzz in his ears.
“He2527s crashing!”
“Hold on, Aden.”
For the first time since he initially heard her voice, she sounded unsure—shaky.
I2527m dying. Visions of what this would do to Olivia filled him with regret.
When they loaded him into the ambulance, the pain in his legs overwhelmed all other thoughts. Darkness seeped back into the edge of his vision. The last thing he heard was his angel curse.
Author Bio
Hi, my name is D. V. Stone. I am a multi-genre author of two independently published books. Felice, Shield-Mates of Dar is a fantasy romance. Agent Sam Carter and the Mystery at Branch Lake is a mid-grade paranormal. Recently, Rock House Grill, a contemporary romance has been signed with Wild Rose Press. I also host Welcome to the Campfire, a weekly blog.
Born in Brooklyn, D.V. Stone has moved around a bit and even lived for a time on a dairy farm in Minnesota before moving back east. Throughout her wandering, she always considered herself a Jersey Girl. She met and married the love of her life, Pete—a lifelong Jersey Man and moved this time to Sussex County. They adopted Hali, a mixed breed from the local shelter, who is still working things out with their cat Baby.
D.V.2527s career path varied from working with the disabled to become a volunteer EMT, which in turn led to working in hospital emergency rooms and then in a women’s state prison. After a few years, she took a break from medicine and became the owner of Heavenly Brew, a specialty coffee shop in Sparta NJ, and small restaurant in Lafayette. Life handed some setbacks, and she ended up back in the medical field, but this time in a veterinary emergency hospital.
During the poor economy, she was laid–off from a long-time position she cared about. Devastated, D.V. wondered what to do with her life. Finding comfort in her love of reading, she realized it was now time to follow her dream of writing. It’s been a long road but worth every minute of it. Now a published author, she also works in a people medical office again.
“Thank you for taking the time to read about me. Each time you open the pages to one of my books, I hope you’ll be swept away by the story and find encouragement in your own life, never to give up on hope.”
D.V. Stone