Did you know there is a new Big Uneasy book coming out tomorrow? Perhaps the fact that Pauline Baird Jones is visiting today is a clue. Or maybe the beautiful big cover.
A big welcome to Pauline who is here to tell us about her new release!
I’d like to thank, Riley for letting me stop by her blog and share a little about my new release!
The good times are rolling in New Orleans right now as Mardi Gras celebrations heat up. The fun began on January 6 — twelfth night — and will build until Feb 25th.
While my essential hermit-ness kept me from attending the parades in person, it was amazing to watch them on television. There is nothing quite like the sea of people with the floats rising out of those masses.
Photo Credit: jovannig from DepositPhotos
My husband and I have been gone from New Orleans almost as long as we lived there, but no one ever really leaves New Orleans. We still order a turducken for our Christmas dinner because we and our kids need to fill the house with the spicy smell of New Orleans.
And I still have to “visit” New Orleans once a year with a new Big Uneasy installment. The Baker family is hanging in there, but there are still siblings who need to find their happy ever after.
This installment focuses on Nell’s (from RELATIVELY RISKY) best friend, Sarah, and a Baker we haven’t met yet: Calvin. Like the others, he has “protect and serve” imprinted on his DNA, but he takes it a bit farther. He belongs to a SWAT team. When he indicated to me that he was Sarah’s perfect match, I was a little dubious.
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He kicks down doors, and she serves hors d’oeuvres. And the Big Uneasy delivers them both a huge helping of high-stakes danger—and a chance at romance.
A happy-ending skeptic and caterer, Sarah Burland, has a high-profile gig at a fundraiser. It’s a coup for her catering company until murder kills the party spirit and triggers a hostage situation.
SWAT Team Member Calvin Baker’s job cost him his marriage. He’s done with romance—even if he does find himself taking an interest in a family friend, Sarah, from time to time. He’s sure his feelings are platonic until he finds out she’s caught in a hostage situation.
Cal’s team affects a rescue, but Sarah’s troubles aren’t over. The victim’s friends—and enemies—keep trouble cooking, and the deeper they dig, the more confusing things get—and the more their attraction to each other grows.
Can the cook and the cop survive long enough to work out their differences? Take a ride into another installment in the engaging Big Uneasy series and find out!
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Here’s an exclusive excerpt, just for this blog:
“It’s nice,” Sarah murmured.
“What is?”
“That you are all honest. I mean, this is New Orleans. My parents were…well, they had what I’d call situational honesty. As far as I know, they never broke the law but…” she stopped.
Cal glanced at her, but her lashes were lowered behind her sunglasses. Her hands were clenched in her lap, though.
“Their friends never assume I’m honest. I’ve always wondered if that’s why” —she hesitated, then finished in a voice wiped clean of warmth— “that’s why Dimitri’s uncle first approached me to cater for him. I wondered if…”
Instinctively, Cal covered her clenched hands with one of his, his arm going around her back. “Don’t. Don’t wonder. It won’t change anything, and you’ll never know for sure.”
She’d stiffened, but he felt her slowly relax against him.
“You’re right. Of course you’re right.” He felt her deep inhale, then exhale, then her face turned up to his. Her glasses still hid her expression and her smile was tense, but it was a smile. “Thank you. I should get it stamped on a tee shirt or something.”
That last remark held real humor, if a bit on the wry side.
“Is that what girls do these days?” he asked, hoping to get the humor going. “Helen was always stitching things on pillows and stuff and putting them in our rooms. She had a lot of hope.”
Sarah’s smile widened into something that dang near stole the air from his lungs. “My mom had people for that.”
Now Cal laughed too, and somehow, in the laughing, his arm got further around her. It didn’t even scare him because it felt so right. Only thing that would have been better was his mouth against hers. He looked at her mouth, grateful for his sunglasses that hid from her what he wanted, what he wanted so much it might have been a need.
It was only the unexpected sound of a car pulling to a stop behind the Hummer that stopped him from turning thought into action. He half turned to look, but the profile of the Hummer was too high. He felt his spidey sense tingling, and turned, the weapon he always carried appearing in the hand no longer cupped around Sarah’s waist.
Doors opened. There was the crunch of footsteps and then a man came into view. He heard Sarah’s sharply indrawn breath and he might have echoed it.
The intruder was a younger version of Dimitri Afoniki.
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I hope you enjoyed the excerpt and will check out the series! Thanks again for having me here, Riley! You can buy FAIS DO DO DIE at
Amazon Apple Kobo Nook GooglePlay
or find out more on Pauline’s website or on Goodreads.
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About the Author
USA Today Bestselling author Pauline Baird Jones never liked reality, so she writes books. She likes to wander among the genres, rampaging like Godzilla, because she does love peril mixed in her romance. Loves chocolate, bacon, flamingoes, and mid-century modern anything. You can find her on the following social media:
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