Thursday 1 May 2014

Spotlight: Climbing Out of Hell by Liza O'Connor




Climbing Out of Hell
Book 4 of the series
A Long Road to Love
Romantic Comedy
Trent is in hell. How he got here, befuddles him. One moment he and Carrie are in love and life was nearly perfect. The next, he’s forced by Coco’s father to destroy his relationship with Carrie and marry Coco. Only he’d rather die than marry that she-devil. So he does just that, die.  But first he gives all his money away, to ensure it won’t go to Coco.
Upon faking his suicide, he gets a new face and identity, then follows his half-brother to Iowa where Sam has become the sheriff of a small town. Without the past standing between them, the two quickly become best of friends. Unfortunately, they still have the same tastes in women, and Trent falls in love with Sam’s girl.
Will Trent give in and take what he wants, or will he remain a man of integrity and lose his last chance for love?


Excerpt

Trent stood before the five-story apartment building. Taking a deep breath, he entered.
And climbed stairs

And more stairs.

God in Heaven, why doesn’t this building have an elevator? The workout could kill a person.

Out of breath and exhausted, he knocked on Jon’s door.

No answer.

He tried again.

Still no answer.

He pressed his ear to the wood and could hear rapid clicking inside. Certain Jon resided within, Trent pounded on the door.

Five seconds into his pounding, Jon glared at him in fury. “What the hell do you want?”
“I need to talk to you.”

“Not interested,” he snapped and tried to shut the door, but Trent slid his foot forward so it got crushed instead. He flinched from the pain, but resisted cursing. “Jon, we need to talk. I need to explain.”

“Save it. No explanation can justify your actions.”
“You’re right. What I did was beyond forgiveness. But I need to help you get beyond the damage I caused.”

“How? According to my sources, my boys are getting the shit kicked out of them at school when they object to the ‘who’s your daddy’ and ‘how much is your momma’ jokes, and Patty blames them for the whole mess.”

“Which is why I have to make amends. Let me in so we can think about how we might save your kids.”

After a long, angry glare, he stepped back and let Trent enter. “Let’s get this over with so I can get back to writing.” Jon stormed through an archway into a narrow galley. Trent followed and discovered what had to be the world’s tiniest kitchen. Upon a ding of the microwave, Jon extracted a mug, took a sip, and glared at him.

“First, I want to apologize for ruining your life and your sons’ lives while attempting to save mine.

“Apology unaccepted. You can leave now.”

“No. I don’t expect you to forgive me. I destroyed your life. You were my best friend who wanted to help me, and I screwed up everything.” Trent’s vision blurred. He walked to a small, dirty window and stared out, not wanting to cry in front of Jon. “If I could redo the last three months, I would.”

Jon huffed. “No. You’d do the same thing again because it’s all about you and what you want.”

Trent wanted to argue that it had been about his desire to protect Carrie, but he stopped. He could have let her go. He’d chosen to destroy everyone else’s life in a final attempt to keep her. So it had been all about him.

“You’re right. I should have declared defeat at once and sent Carrie packing, but I couldn’t. She was the first person who ever loved me.”

“So you destroyed my innocent boys’ lives and lost her anyway.”
He turned and faced his former friend. “If I could undo what I did, I would, but all I can do is try to lessen the damage from this point forward.”
“How do you plan to do that?”
“I spoke to Patty today.”
Jon’s face flushed crimson. “You’re still seeing my wife?”

“No, she hates me more than you do. I called to get your address. She blamed me for your boys being bullied and tormented at school.”

“Yeah, the article in Gossep didn’t play well in the burbs.”

“I think they’d be better off here in the city. They need you, Jon. You’re a fabulous father.”


Jon slammed his cup into the kitchen sink, causing it to shatter. “You should have thought about that before you destroyed my marriage.”
Links
Just Released May 1, 2014
Book Four of the series:
A Long Road to Love
Climbing out of Hell

Other books in the A Long Road to Love series
Book One
Worst Week Ever
“Love this book and couldn't stop laughing from beginning to end.” 5 stars – Alves - Amazon

Book Two
Oh Stupid Heart
“Be warned though, this book is completely different from The Worst Week Ever. Yes, there is still humor, dry wit, situations that you would think...NOT AGAIN but this one humanizes Trent more.” 5 stars - Brian’s Mom – Amazon

Book Three
Coming to Reason
Once again, Ms. O’Connor has written a brilliant book about the complexities of relationships, good and bad. Again, to me, the book is the best break up book EVER and it left my heart singing in the end. Best.Book.Ever…

Other Books by Liza O’Connor

Liza O’Connor
Author Bio:
Liza lives in Denville, NJ with her dog Jess. They hike in fabulous woods every day, rain or shine, sleet or snow. Having an adventurous nature, she learned to fly small Cessnas in NJ, hang-glide in New Zealand, kayak in Pennsylvania, ski in New York, scuba dive with great white sharks in Australia, dig up dinosaur bones in Montana, sky dive in Indiana, and raft a class four river in Tasmania. She’s an avid gardener, amateur photographer, and dabbler in watercolors and graphic arts. Yet through her entire life, her first love has and always will be writing novels. She loves to create interesting characters, set them loose, and scribe what happens.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT 
LIZA O'CONNOR & UPCOMING BOOKS:


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Worst Week Ever
Oh Stupid Heart
Coming to Reason
Ghost Lover



8 comments:

  1. Thanks for having me on your site today!

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  2. Wonderful excerpt! I wonder if Jon will kick the crap out of Trent!

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  3. No I don't believe people can change. Adapt maybe.

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  4. People can pretend that they changed, but I don't believe that they can actually change.

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  5. This was another totally different look inside the books.
    I really do want to read them all.

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