Win a $50 GC: The Duty Duet by Sydney Jamesson

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. One randomly chosen winner via rafflecopter will win a $50 Amazon/BN.com gift card. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

What are your favorite TV shows?

I could list the shows I have enjoyed on one hand. I loved Game of Thrones: the shows were great and the characters just outrageous. We came to the series late and binge watched the first two series back to back in a week! Just stunning! Shame about the ending…

One of the more violent TV shows I have enjoyed was Gangs of London depicting the battle for control of the capital by rival gangs. It was brutal but compulsive viewing and similar in some ways to Peaky Blinders which was also a very entertaining series. More recently I enjoyed Prodigal Son with Tom Payne. Again, it was well plotted with some superb acting from the leading man and Michael Sheen. I’m looking forward to season two.

What is your favorite meal?

I would have to say that it would be a medium rare steak with a mixed salad and a handful of fries on the side. Throw in a couple of glasses of white wine—I don’t drink red— and I’ll think I have died and gone to culinary heaven. Then comes dessert…

If you were to write a series of novels, what would it be about?

Having completed THE DUTY BOUND DUET, featuring the disturbing subject of human trafficking, I think I might like to write something less emotionally challenging next. Maybe a series of novels about a small town torn apart by a crisis, or a woman finding her feet in the world after experiencing something traumatic. I like to put ordinary people in extraordinary situations and see how they fare…

Some of us read to escape our reality, some of us find solace between the pages, some of us just want to be entertained… As readers, part of the process is to wonder what we would do if we were confronted by something terrible happening to our loved ones; or something unexpected threatening our livelihood or even our lives…

That’s the beauty of reading; you can travel the world, see places and events through another person’s eyes; you can fall in love or wrestle with demons and moral dilemmas and still be able to turn out the lights at night, knowing none of it is real, unless, of course, you read THE DUTY BOUND DUET. The events are based on real events, only the characters have been changed to create a compelling story.

Is there a writer you idolize? If so who?

One of the writers I admire is Sylvain Reynard, the author of Gabriel’s Inferno. I was introduced to his writing at a time when Fifty Shades of Grey was popular and although both he and E.L James started out writing fanfic pieces for The Twilight Saga, they approached their stories differently. Compared to James, Reynard has a more literary style; the language is poetic and stylistically, a delight to read. Only after reading Gabriel’s Inferno did I feel there was a place for my first book series The Story of Us in the publishing world as a piece of literary romance, suspense.

Reynard’s romanticism and the lyrical style blew me away. Also, his stories are perfectly constructed and written with so much love and dedication. When I saw how readers loved it, I thought there might be room in their hearts for Ayden’s and Beth’s love story. I was right.

I was also aware of the popularity of stories that were more sexual than sensual and so added some mild erotica to the love story. Along with the heartbreak and suspense, I also out in some humourous dialogue and The Story of Us was born.

Since then, moving on to psychological suspense, I’ve come to admire Gillian Flynn. She focuses on the darker aspects of society; her character are abrasive and flawed physically and emotionally, as our mine. Essentially, she is a good storyteller; her novels have pace and have twists and turns to keep the reader on their toes. I like that and would hope she has influenced my writing and helped me to hone my craft.

How did you come up for the title of this book?

I like to come up with original titles, whenever possible or to choose a line taken from the book which encapsulates the story. The title DUTY OF CARE came from a piece of dialogue in the novel. Not only is it a formal assertion of responsibility, it’s a way a mature person accepts their accountability; in this book it’s shown through a guilt-ridden sister, Emily, believing she has failed her younger sister, Rita, and wanting to put things right. Likewise, it can reflect how Emily feels about, not only her sister’s suffering, but other young and beautiful girls who have been caught up in the Dark Web of lies and deceit.

The follow on book, THE CARETAKERS, is an obvious title reflecting how the characters introduced in the first book are willing to take care of ‘business’—you will have to read the duet to know what that dreadful business is…

On her death bed Emily Derbyshire’s mother made her promise to take good care of her little sister. Keeping her promise, twelve-year-old Emily did exactly that and became five-year-old Rita’s benefactor and bodyguard.

After eighteen years of sisterly devotion Emily receives some shocking news! Rita has committed suicide. When disturbing details start to surface, Emily puts her highflying career on hold to seek out those responsible. She hires an American private investigator Robert Blackmoor; a motorbike riding, no-frills, computer hacker who will use any means necessary to unearth the truth.

Not surprisingly, Robert uncovers secrets from Emily’s troubled childhood and chips away at the glossy veneer of deceit which masks the truth behind, not only Rita’s life, but Emily’s imperfect life too.

Together they assemble the pieces of a sinister puzzle, revealing a cruel and corrupt world of exploitation and murder: a Dark Web into which Rita has become entangled.

As dark forces encircling Emily tighten their grip, and with everything to lose, she must make a life and death decision that she may live to regret.

Emily Parsons is a product of a difficult childhood: self-reliant, fiercely protective and willing to do whatever it takes to safeguard the wellbeing of those in her care. She has even slayed a monster, or two … or three in the name of poetic justice, and yet she is haunted by the image of a beautiful blond girl.

Sixteen-year-old Louise Travis has been abducted.

Louise’ fate rested in Emily’s hands, but she let her slip through her fingers like gold dust, only to be swept away by a malevolent band of brothers.

By once again enlisting the help of computer hacker, Robert Blackmoor, Emily must find Louise before she is lost forever in a Dark Web of heinous crimes, cruelty and corruption. The clock is ticking, and Emily’s investigation is drawing the wrong kind of attention, but she will not back down. She is duty bound to protect those she loves.

With skeletons from her past being unearthed, who can she turn to, and who can she trust with her own sinister secrets?

Enjoy an Excerpt

“The whole world can become the enemy when you lose what you love.” Kristina McMorrris.

I STOOD ALONE in the graveyard the day they buried my sister. There I was, Emily Parsons, the hapless figure lurking behind a gnarled oak tree—an unwelcome guest.

A savage January wind gnawed at my cheeks. It made my eyes sting; eyes already brimming with salty residue left over from a night spent sobbing into a pillow. Sapped of all strength, I leaned against the trunk, held it between my hands; gloved fingers tracing rough edges. I breathed in its wild, woody perfume; rotting branches, unclaimed timber—a steadfast pillar of support in a surreal tableau.

At our parents’ request, I didn’t show my face. Did they fear I’d cause a scene, throw myself onto the coffin?

Who knows?

Who cares?

With or without their blessing, I had to go. I had to be there to witness my little sister’s departure from this mortal coil and, if that meant enduring sniveling platitudes caught on the wind—so be it.

Our parents, family members and some of Rita’s friends circled the cavernous hole in the ground like ravens; a flock of silhouettes set against a snowy backdrop. My watery eyes lingered on the word Rita formed in purple violas on the wreath—a tiny name for someone with a big personality and an even bigger heart.

Having endured the lamentations of the priest marking the passing of a life ended much too soon, I absconded. I sprinted like a bandit between gravestones, my feet slipping on ankle deep snow that shrouded everything, creating a clean, sterile landscape. Nothing seemed out of place. Nothing except my sister’s charred body lying six foot under in a mahogany coffin fifty yards away.

I took refuge in my car and sat in silence, refusing to acknowledge the shifting congregation. Concealed behind windows veiled with condensation, I left unseen.

In those days leading up to Rita’s funeral, I cried nonstop. I would wake from dozing and the world would be as it was. I would smile through cracked lips, but then I would remember and my heart would ache and my body would shake and tears would cloud my eyes once more.

The myriad of memories we had made were my only lifeline: phone conversations, photographs and texts existing in a vacuum, authorless—a cruel kind of comfort. For the sake of my sanity, I tried to come to terms with her passing, I really did, but the realisation that the one person I loved more than any other had gone and left me behind did not make any sense to me.

We had made a pact when we were kids to never be separated.

Why had Rita broken it?

About the Author

Sydney Jamesson is a USA Today bestselling author by night and an English teacher by day. She is nocturnal by nature and loves nothing more than staying up late, listening to music and being inspired to write. She has always written creatively; in her home is one enormous wastepaper basket full of discarded phrases, opening lines and pieces of dialogue that have hit her like lightning in the middle of the night. Her USA Today bestselling trilogy, THE STORY OF US sold worldwide, and she has been thrilled to continue Ayden Stone's and Beth Parker's epic love story in The Story of Us Series: Into the Blue, featuring Blue Genes, Blue Hearts and Blue Moon.

More recently, Sydney has focused on psychological suspense. THE DARKEST CORNERS was her first venture into the new genre: a complex love story filled with lots of angst, emotional scenes and edge of your seat suspense as a single father and a troubled young woman confront their deepest, darkest fears together. The twists come think and fast and the ending is unforgettable!

In her latest novels, DUTY OF CARE and THE CARETAKERS - THE DUTY BOUND DUET -readers explore the seedier side of the Dark Web; witness abduction, human trafficking, and a devoted sister’s willingness to do whatever it takes to safeguard the wellbeing of those in her care. It’s a real page turner, filled with incidents which are heart-breaking and heart-stopping in equal measure!

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Buy DUTY OF CARE and THE CARETAKERS at Amazon.

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