TODAY IS THE DAY

It's January 15, 2010—release date for DÉJÀ VU by Samantha Gentry, available in ebook and print from the Crimson Rose line of romantic suspense mysteries at The Wild Rose Press.
http://www.thewildrosepress.com/

So, I guess it's logical for you to assume that I'll be blogging about DÉJÀ VU. And you'd be right. :)

BLURB: When Alexandra Caldwell is hired by a reclusive author to research the thirty-year-old disappearance of a big name newspaper tycoon and his wife, she wasn't sure what she would discover. As she embarks on this project, she finds herself in the middle of a series of frightening events and an unexpected attraction to Gable Talbot, the current owner of Skull Island where the disappearances occurred...a man with a magnetic sex appeal and a past as mysterious as the case she's researching. Will she be able to do the job she was hired for, or has she stumbled too close to the truth?

***

DÉJÀ VU is the story of strange and frightening psychic visions, a thirty year old mysterious disappearance, murder, characters who may or may not be who they claim to be, a man with many hidden secrets, and two people who have to learn to trust each other in a life threatening situation.

Two people who didn't want to fall in love…didn't want to even start a relationship. Well, that's not exactly true. It's not that they weren't extremely attracted to each other. It was mostly a matter of bad timing and unfortunate circumstances that dictated a hands off situation. Fortunately for them, all that good resolve didn't last very long. :)

Gable's reluctance to pursue a serious relationship is due to the personal agenda that has dominated everything in his life for almost twenty-five years…since the age of fourteen. Even though he is strongly attracted to her, he can't allow his personal desires to interfere with the plan he recently set into motion as the final step in achieving his long time goal. A goal that is the most important think in his life.

Lexi doesn't know what to make of Gable. She is definitely attracted to him, but her psychic abilities—something she acknowledges but can't control and doesn't understand—have given her strange visions revolving around Gable. Visions presenting danger. Visions unfolding scenes of death. She knows he isn't who he claims to be, but doesn't know his true identity. What is he hiding? Are the frightening visions trying to warn her that Gable is a dangerous man or that he is also in danger? Should she leave the island? Get as far away as possible as quickly as she can? Is her attraction to him greater than her fear of the unknown?

Can the two of them, working together, unravel the secrets of Skull Island and change the outcome of her visions?

***

Following is G-rated excerpt #1 (the opening scene) from DÉJÀ VU:

Alexandra Caldwell shivered, hunching her shoulders against the stiff ocean breeze as the boat pulled up to the dock at Skull Island. Even the name left her uneasy…Skull Island. It sounded like a sinister place inhabited by pirates, thugs, and other undesirables.

She glanced up at the angry storm clouds darkening the sky to the point where it seemed more like evening than eleven o’clock in the morning. Another tremor of apprehension washed through her body. Ever since she was a little girl, thunder and lightning had frightened her. But as much as she wanted to blame the approaching storm for her uneasiness, it wasn’t solely responsible.

She forced her attention to the tall man standing dockside as he grabbed the line thrown to him and secured the vessel. He extended his hand to help her out of the boat. The instant they made physical contact, a potent arc of energy raced through her body followed by a moment of panic. The hair on her arms stood on end. Her mouth went dry and her throat tried to close.

The vision exploded in her mind. Mud…a wall of mud sliding down an embankment toward her. A fleeting glance of an out-of-focus face that turned into a human skull. Then a skeleton. And a second skeleton. She jerked her hand from his grasp while trying to force a calm to her momentary panic.

She didn’t know how to control her psychic abilities and didn’t always understand what the strange images, feelings, and dreams meant. However, she did know when they tried to tell her something important and this was definitely one of those times.

The man cocked his head to one side. A slight frown wrinkled across his brow as he stared at her with a quizzical expression. “Is something wrong? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

She quickly recovered her composure, at least outwardly, and extended a businesslike smile. “No, nothing is wrong. Just a little spark of static electricity, I guess. It must have something to do with…” she glanced up at the threatening sky as a shiver of anxiety swept through her. “…uh, this approaching storm.”

She returned her attention to the man, her demeanor all business. “I’m Alexandra Caldwell. Mr. Talbot is expecting me.”

“I’m Gable Talbot.”

“You’re Gable Talbot?” She couldn’t hide her surprise. This man whose touch had sparked a disturbing sequence of frightening images was not at all what she had anticipated the owner of Skull Island would look like.

***

Visit my website for more excerpts from DÉJÀ VU and information about my other books. And while you're there, enter my current trivia contest. http://www.samanthagentry.com/