Book Tour, Giveaway, Excerpt, & Review: Expendable by Maggie Jaimeson

Expendable by Maggie Jaimeson
Publish Date: August 10, 2011
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press

Publisher's Description
After a bitter fight, Jenna Mosier's pregnant sister ran away. Now, ten years later, Tanya is dead—murdered. A bloody note clutched in her hand pleads for someone to rescue her baby—a child Jenna must find to make up for not saving her sister.

Former Marine Reed Adler thought he left danger behind when he retired from Special Ops command. But faced with a dead body and a terrified ten-year-old boy in his backyard—and a mesmerizing woman who’s tied to both—Reed finds himself pulled into his most complex mission yet.

Ensnared in a dangerous mystery involving biogenetics research and children with no identities, Jenna and Reed must rely on each other for survival. Yet the closer they get to danger, the more intense their feelings for each other become. The cost of saving her nephew may be their hearts…and their lives.

Book Excerpt

Reed woke to an ear piercing scream. He ran to David’s room, afraid of what he’d find.

“No! Stop hurting her.” David twisted in the covers, throwing them off his small flailing body. “I’ll go back with you. I promise I won’t run away again.” His fists beat against the pillow. “Stop it! Stop it! You’re hurting her.” He kicked the sheets off as if trying to escape. “No! You’re killing her!” His breathing accelerated like a bullet train picking up speed, faster and faster and faster, until Reed wasn’t sure if his small lungs might burst from the effort. Tears streamed down David’s cheeks, soaking the sheets beneath him.

Reed bent over and rubbed David’s back in light circles. His first instinct was to pull him onto his lap and just hold him, but he didn’t want to startle him awake or frighten him in to running away. He continued the slow circles, speaking softly. “It’s all right. I’m here.”

Though David had been having nightmares each night since he arrived, this was the first time he’d said anything intelligible during his dream; and he’d never cried out before. In fact, Reed hadn’t seen him cry once since his arrival.

He continued to brush slow circles across his back, breathing slowly, coaxing David to breathe with him, to ease out of his nightmare. If he was lucky, David wouldn’t remember the terror. Reed certainly wished he didn’t remember any of his own.

“It’s all right, David. I’m here. I’m protecting you.”

“Please don’t die, Mommy. Please don’t die.” His voice shook as if the storm of tears was drowning him.

A few minutes of silence and David finally caught his breath. His heart rate slowed and he turned over. His eyes peeked out below lashes, as if opening them would be painful. He groaned, and in one fluid motion, rolled into Reed’s lap, curling his legs into him as he leaned his head against his chest. Damp tears silently soaked through Reed’s T-shirt and into his heart.

“You yelled about your mother,” Reed said softly.

David clutched Reed’s shirt in his hands as if his life depended on it.

“Was that her body in the woods?”

David nodded and pressed his face hard into Reed’s chest. His clutched hand shook. Then his entire body tensed. Unsure whether David was trying to hold in the emotion or drawing up to spring from his lap, Reed loosely wrapped his arms around David and rocked from side to side. He wasn’t sure if this was the right thing to do with a ten-year-old boy, but he’d heard it worked with babies.

David’s arms clutched Reed’s chest; heaving, choking cries convulsed his small body. Sobbing interspersed with hiccups as David tried to catch his breath among the flow of tears.

The pain of David’s loss tore at Reed harder than any of the losses he’d faced with his unit. How could any kid be expected to handle this? Reed hugged David closer and rocked him as he struggled to keep his own tears in check. All he could do was keep repeating, “That’s okay. Let it all out.”

About an hour later, David quieted. Spent, he finally fell back to sleep and Reed carefully returned him to bed, pulling the cover up to drape loosely around David’s small shoulders. Reed stood and looked across the small lump in the bed to the clock on the nightstand. 4:12. Only two hours before dawn.

No sleep. Again.

Reed carefully moved to the ladder-backed chair in the corner of the room and slumped over with his head in his hands.

How can I help this boy? How can I make him whole again when I can’t even fix myself?

If the dead woman on the trail was his mother, who killed her? Maybe a jealous ex-husband? A wife-beater? Someone David had lived with, like a father or some other relative, and his mother had found him and taken him away? Reed was all too familiar with that scenario.

He raised his head and watched the shallow rise and fall of David’s blanket as he slept. Reed closed his eyes on memories of children in Afghanistan. Children he couldn’t help. Shit. What am I doing? I have no idea how to play father. If I screw this up, even hell won’t accept me.

Book: Expendable by Maggie Jaimeson
Publisher: Crimson Rose
Publish Date: July 20, 2011
Publisher’s Description
After a bitter fight, Jenna Mosier's pregnant sister ran away. Now, ten years later, Tanya is dead—murdered. A bloody note clutched in her hand pleads for someone to rescue her baby—a child Jenna must find to make up for not saving her sister. Former Marine Reed Adler thought he left danger behind when he retired from Special Ops command. But faced with a dead body and a terrified ten-year-old boy in his backyard—and a mesmerizing woman who’s tied to both—Reed finds himself pulled into his most complex mission yet. Ensnared in a dangerous mystery involving biogenetics research and children with no identities, Jenna and Reed must rely on each other for survival. Yet the closer they get to danger, the more intense their feelings for each other become. The cost of saving her nephew may be their hearts…and their lives.

Book Review
The description for Expendable reminded me of a Dean Koontz novel, which is why I picked it up. I knew it probably wouldn’t compare to Koontz’s writing, but I wanted to give it a shot anyway. I think I was right on the money with my assumption. The story had a good premise, but the author wasn’t able to pull off the far-fetched nature of the plot as well as other authors in this genre. Having said that, I didn’t think this book was a swing and a miss either. When the plot failed to fully capture my attention, the subplots surrounding the characters’ lives filled in. Each of them is imperfect and damaged in some way, so it’s easy to become entangled in their lives and forget about the subpar mystery going on in the background.

Overall, Expendable didn’t quite live up to my suspense standards. As for the actual writing, it was very fluid and readable. I never once had to reread a passage to understand what was happening, although I often thought the vocabulary was a little simplistic and a thesaurus could have been of much assistance. I wouldn’t necessarily pick up Expendable if I were looking for a really gripping suspense novel; it’s more like something I’d read on a plane or road trip. It’s worth the time, but you won’t be blown away.

Book Rating: 3/5
Reviewer: Brittany

Maggie Jaimeson Short Bio
During the week, Maggie’s days are spent assisting colleges and universities with technology, distance education, open source software, and open education resources. At night and on the weekends, she journeys into the world of her imagination and writes novels that reflect her passions and her belief that the good guys win in the end and that love will conquer all.

Maggie has published several short stories in romance and science fiction, but since 2004 she has focused on publishing novels. Expendable is her first romantic suspense novel and she promises there will be more. Also currently available is Eternity, an SF with romantic elements; and Undertones, a contemporary romance which is the first in a four book series about the women of the Sweetwater Canyon Band. All of her full length novels are made available in ebook and print by her publishers.

Connect with Maggie online at:
Website: http://maggiejaimeson.com
Twitter: @maggiejaimeson
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Maggie-Jaimeson/118916694787820
Behind the Book blog where she interviews other authors: http://author-secrets.blogspot.com
Buy Expendable at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

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