1 : desire to cause pain, injury, or distress to another // 2 : intent to commit an unlawful act or cause harm without legal justification or excuse //ruined her reputation and did it with malice
Everyone is capable of malice and no one is immune to its outcome.
A Hint of Malice – When her last living relative commits suicide after having her identity and assets stolen, a grieving niece longs for justice.
Burned – When the masterminds behind a major drug operation get off with a slap on the wrists, a frustrated police detective warns them their wealth cannot shield them from everything.
The Marshall Sisters – After seeing her sister mistreated by far too many men, Leslie Marshall is proud of Paula for standing up for herself and accompanies her on a cold winter’s night to confront her boyfriend, but even Leslie isn’t ready for the new, assertive Paula.
The Watcher – Shamed into exile by his family because of his sexual fetish and hanging on to the shreds of his sanity, a man plots the ultimate date night with his new neighbor.
What’s done in the dark always comes to the light.
Millionaire hair and skincare mogul Morgan Carter has everything in her life except deep connections with those who aren’t of her bloodline. She’s spent the past ten years of her life devoted to making her brand a household name in the African American community. A year before her thirty-fifth birthday, Morgan realizes it’s time for her to focus on gaining friends and starting her family. Her initial plan involved a sperm donor so she wouldn’t have to waste time getting to know a new man, but that changes when her sister convinces Morgan to give herself one last chance at love.
When Amaru Mitchell’s chance to make it to the NBA was shattered, he picked up an addictive spirit that sent him spiraling out of control. It took a few years, but Amaru eventually sought the help he needed to get back on the right track. Now, he’s the founder of a world-renowned street basketball league that allows him and men like him to do what they love and make money while doing it. Amaru has everything he’s ever wanted in life except a family to come home to. That changes when he loses a bet with his younger brother and is forced to meet with a matchmaker.
Out of all the women Amaru could have been matched with, he never expected it to be Morgan Carter – the one who got away. Well… more like tossed him to the side. Morgan and Amaru’s shaky past makes them enemies when they first see each other in Giselle’s office, but those concrete walls around their hearts quickly begin to fall the longer they stay in each other’s presence.
Will Morgan and Amaru realize they were right for each other all along and get what they want from one another, or will this be even more proof that they belong apart because they are detrimental to each other’s hearts?
In the throes of a mid-life crisis, Joe Finnegan surprises his wife, Rita, with a new house: a dilapidated farmhouse with acres upon acres of vines.
Not one to walk away from a challenge, the couple pack up and head to wine country—in Cornwall. Hard work follows and their savings—and sanity—are tested, if not completely drained. Still, their dream to restore the estate to its former glory grows ever closer.
Until Mother Nature steps in to scupper their plans. Big style.
The worst drought in decades threatens their vines and pretty soon even their survival is in doubt. Seasoned farmers appear to abandon hope, Joe succumbs to depression and, not knowing what to do, Rita attends a meeting to “Survive Summer” at the Village Hall.
One woman, Mrs. Murdle, suggests they summon The Crying Gulls, and Rita, as the newcomer, should make their plea.
To save the family vineyard, she is willing to try anything, but a white feather headdress, a bonfire and a speech to a flock of birds seem beyond crazy.
What was once her husband Joe’s dream is fast becoming a nightmare as the vines dry up as quickly as their savings.
Charged with saving the whole village, she prepares for the weird rituals and sacrifices. But why does she feel she hasn’t heard the whole story about these legendary Gulls?
When you’re young, there’s always that one kid who doesn’t fit in:
too fat, too poor, too quiet, too annoying… the list goes on and on.
The thing is, that had been me. I’d been that kid.
I hadn’t fit gracefully into life’s jigsaw puzzle; I’d been that piece in the wrong box. Cocooned in the wrong life, I’d been like a butterfly waiting to emerge, waiting to take flight, and at eighteen, that’s what I’d done.
Hope had soared as I’d unfolded my wings. I’d been free to start a future of self-discovery. It had been time—time to finally find the right box and complete my journey.
I’d never imagined myself where I am today or who I am today.
This is that story of how I found an unconventional love, one I choose for eternity.
Authors note:
I truly believe that all readers should go into this story blind to gain the full impact of the journey. Unconventional Love should only be read by a reader over the age of 18 and one who has an open mind.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Janice Hart lives in the North West of England. She enjoys reading contemporary romance and sharing all about the great books she may have read on her blog and on other social platforms.
Janice is a wife to her husband Robert and has been for over 27 years (yes, that’s a long time!). She has two children, Yvonne and James, and two Grandchildren, Jaxon and Thomas. Janice also has a bossy little Shihpoo called Maisey.
Following the death of her Dad on the 16th May 2020 and during the Covid-19 lock-down Janice embarked on a new journey and wrote her first book.
I wanted to create something different. During an enforced period of immobility following an accident, I started writing about the adventures of a female agent. I decided my heroine would be clean-cut, athletic, skilled in martial arts, possess advanced driving skills and would be a crack shot.
It occurred to me these skills are not exactly easy to acquire. How does one go about becoming someone with such an unusual range of talents? What turns an ordinary young woman into someone extraordinary? This was the starting point for my first novel Miss Smith Commits the Perfect Crime?
Having lived in Yorkshire during the dreadful events leading up to the capture of the Yorkshire Ripper, I well remember the awful atmosphere of fear hanging over the entire community. As a man, it is almost impossible to conceive how appalling the effects of rape would be on a woman. However, I could well imagine, in the aftermath, apart from the physical trauma, a victim would be mentally affected.
This was my starting point. My heroine, Sam Smith, is gradually recovering from a savage attack, and as the police are impotent in bringing the rapist to justice, she is motivated to take the law into her own hands and exact savage retribution.
It was most difficult for me to get the opening of the book right. After various attempts, I was forced to abandon the chapters describing the rape and the subsequent ongoing effects. It’s not that kind of book. Even though the plot is motivated by Sam’s awful experience, it’s largely a light-hearted adventure romp. Starting with such a gruesome opening gave it completely the wrong feel.
I decided to follow the lead of PG Wodehouse: the great man often based his plots around Lord Emsworth’s prize pig. Following in the footsteps of the master, I came up with Reggie, the most valuable pig in the world. Below is a brief extract.
EXCERPT
Consequently, she was again out in the middle of the night, crawling on her hands and knees through the foul field to where Reggie’s pen was located.
On reaching the pen, she removed the exterior plastic label, 1052, and swapped it with the label from the adjacent pen. Now for the tricky bit. She crawled into Reggie’s pen. Her hand descended into something warm and smelly. Yuk. The stench made her want to gag. He grunted softly as if happy to see her. Slowly, so as not to startle the great beast, Sam approached, and on Wilf’s advice, began gently rubbing the pig’s neck with one hand to keep him calm. In her other hand, she held a small pair of wire cutters, and carefully snipped the plastic tag to remove the numbered label from his ear, before repeating the action in the recently renumbered adjacent pen. This contained the special pig that she’d requested from Wilf. Despite, to her eyes, looking identical to Reggie, this poor pig had no breeding value whatever, and sadly, was expendable: her sacrificial pig. The animal looked at her sadly. Sadly? She could have sworn it was as if he knew.
‘Sorry mate,’ Sam apologized.
From her backpack, she removed a small tool and tagged this pig’s ear with Reggie’s label. She then returned to Reggie’s pen and gave him his neighbour’s ear tag. The trap was set. If the villains believed they had taken the wrong semen, they would have to make another attempt. With the high-security measures now in place, they could never get their hands on the right semen. Their only alternative was to steal the Super-Pig itself; hence, the lookalike had been created: the sacrificial pig.
~~~
SYNOPSIS
Recovering from a brutal attack where she was savagely raped, university student Sam Smith attempts to rebuild her life and overcome the ongoing effects of her ordeal. Her ultimate goal is to bring her assailant to justice, but before she can do so her life and loves take a series of intriguing turns as she continues her sometimes unconventional education.
Eventually she is able to identify her attacker and decides to exact retribution in her own particular style, but during her preparations Sam becomes aware that her every move is being tracked by a mysterious organisation. To avoid detection by the police and also her hidden watchers, Sam Smith attempts to commit the perfect crime. However, in the aftermath of her vigilante action events change rapidly to bring about a most unexpected outcome.
Miss Smith Commits the Perfect Crime? is the first book in the Sam Smith Adventure Series and can be read as a standalone.
Guy Caplin worked in television broadcasting for over 40 years and is one of the few people to have achieved success in both the technical and artistic branches of the medium. He has worked with many celebrities including, the Beatles, Ella Fitzgerald, Bob Hope and Maria Callas.
He moved to ITV’s Yorkshire Television in 1969 as a Producer and Director of Sport, Outside Broadcasts and special events. Among the many programmes he devised was the quiz programme Winner Takes All fronted by Jimmy Tarbuck and Geoffrey Wheeler, which under his tenure was regularly amongst the Top Ten TV programmes and twice reached the coveted Number One Spot.
When the final series of the hit American programme Dallas ran into technical problems in Hollywood in 1989, Guy left YTV and joined a UK broadcast engineering company to try to come up with a solution. The solution proposed resulted in the creation of the DEFT process, which although too late to be used on Dallas, was used initially on The Simpsons and subsequently on Friends, Frasier, Superman, and many others America series. DEFT was awarded an Emmy for outstanding technical achievement.
Back in the UK Guy owned and ran a company creating video productions for both broadcast and industry, was a freelance trainer at the BBC and a visiting tutor at the National School of Film and Television
For the past thirteen years Guy has also been regular lecturer for P&O cruises and Cunard and has effectively travelled twice around the world.
Now, having closed his video company, he spends his time writing under the name of Guy Rolands and has now completed four novels in the Sam Smith Adventure series. Having worked all over the world and encountered hundreds of remarkable characters, his experiences provide colour and intrigue to his work.
This blog serves the purpose of helping all of those who likes to write to get technical information as well as, having a safe harbor to discuss ideas.
I wanted to create something different. During an enforced period of immobility following an accident, I started writing about the adventures of a female agent. I decided my heroine would be clean-cut, athletic, skilled in martial arts, possess advanced driving skills and would be a crack shot.
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