Book
Name: When in Bloom
Series?
Southern Charm
If yes, what number? 4 Best read in order
Release
Date: February 20, 2015
Goodreads
Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24035962-when-in-bloom
Author
Name: Nicole Dennis
Publisher: Totally Bound
Cover
Artist: Emmy Ellis
Blurb:
Will the personal challenges of a former Army doctor and a brilliant florist
get in the way of a chance at life and love?
Fighting type one diabetes since childhood, Jude Sebastian runs to prove
he can live a normal life, until epileptic seizures begin to change his life.
Even with Dawson, his medical alert Golden Labrador, at his side, Jude finds
daily life difficult. He owns the floral shop Flowers in the Breeze, and
designs everything from simple bouquets to elaborate themes for weddings and
celebrations.
At the Shore Breeze Clinic, Jude comes across a man clearly suffering
with a PTSD episode. A new arrival in the small town, Doctor Elliott Sheffield,
a retired Army Ranger doctor, is looking for a second chance after what he saw
in the Middle Eastern deserts.
Wanting a normal relationship, Jude tries to deny his disorder, but
something is happening. He can’t regulate his sugars and his disorder worsens.
When he returns to the clinic, Dawson alerts Jude to an oncoming seizure.
Reader Advisory: This book contains scenes
referencing PTSD, seizures and diabetes.
Categories: Contemporary, M/M Romance
Sales Links: https://www.totallybound.com/when-in-bloom
Excerpt:
Cursing under
his breath as the sky turned orange with another incoming sandstorm, Dr.
Elliott Sheffield hated the situation. Though they’d tried to tie down the
damn tent, the ferocious wind tugged the straps, causing
openings everywhere to expose the critical care unit to the elements. Why
had he ever agreed to come to this desert hell in the Middle East?
After struggling
through several storms like this one, he knew the clouds could turn the sky
black for at least seven hours. Pushing out the noises of men calling out
in pain and fearing for their lives, he concentrated to save the man
on the operating table. His hands and forearms were covered in blood as he
searched for the damned bleeder in the man’s belly.
“Come on… Come
on… Where the fuck are you?”
As the winds
howled, Elliott felt the grit of the fine layer of sand digging underneath the
scrubs and within any openings of his uniform. Along with the sweat
dripping down his nape, the sand mixed with the moisture and aggravated
him. Damn stuff could get through any crack and crevice of tent, Humvee or
building. This place sucked when it came to performing delicate surgery,
but he didn’t have a choice. The soldiers were here. He needed to
be nearby to care for them.
“Shit… Got it,”
Elliott said and made the necessary stitches to close the nasty bleeder. He
scrambled to put the soldier’s innards back in place, flushed everything
with saline to cleanse, and stapled the exterior wound. “Cover him up
tight. We’ll come back and make it nicer.” He stepped back to let the
other physician and nurse finish. He peeled off and tossed the gloves.
Removing the sweat-soaked mask, he left the curtained-off operating theater and
went back to the main infirmary.
When the blasted
Taliban insurgents had overrun the garrison stationed at the American base,
Elliott had transferred with most of the surgical team to the
Canadian–British combat hospital at the Kandahar airfield.
It wasn’t any
better here.
Elliott shoved a
weary hand through his hair. He scratched at the heavy bearded growth. Since
his boots had hit the sand, he’d adapted to the crazy, never-ending
situations, difficult in the best of conditions, but aggravated in the
worse. He’d figured out ways to suture and clean some of the most
devastating wounds he’d ever seen in his career. He could never get around
the constant issue of infection from the damn sand.
“Fucking sand…”
The thump-thump-thump of
helicopter blades surrounded them. Everyone within the base knew the meaning
behind those blades. It was never good.
“We have
incoming patients,” someone called out.
“They’re not
friendlies! Take cover!” another soldier shouted as bullets flew through the
sand and darkness.
Crouching,
riveted as soldiers rushed around, Elliott thought about the patients. He knew
their lives were at the most risk, unable to defend themselves. When dark
figures invaded the tent, Elliott covered a nearby patient. Several
loud blasts blew through the base as bombs went off in rapid succession.
He called out when searing heat scored through his shoulder.
Blood and gore
rose in front of his mind. Within seconds, all the time it had taken to save
these patients was destroyed.
“Doctor…”
“Doctor…”
Elliott blinked.
He tasted the fine grit of the sand.
“Doctor…”
“Dr. Sheffield?
Are you okay?”
When fingers
touched his wounded shoulder, Elliott screamed and pushed back until he hit
something hard then plopped his ass on the ground. The intensity knocked
Elliott out of the intrusive flashback from his five years spent
in Kandahar. He was home in the States. Having left Afghanistan and his ten
year military career, he had now lived and worked in Florida for the last
nine months.
He lowered
himself until his scrub-covered ass hit the floor. He pressed his hands flat on
the cool tile of the emergency room to ground himself in reality. He
looked around, goggled as other staff fought to save a patient with a vicious
belly wound. Two others moved toward him. He held up a hand and hyper
focused on the blood-covered blue latex.
“Are you with
us, Elliott? Can you rise?” another doctor said in a calming tone.
“Yeah. Yeah, I’m
here.”
“Where were
you?”
“Kandahar.”
“Do you know
what set you off?”
“Insurgents
overran the base and hit the clinic and caused so much destruction among the
patients and created more. It was the appearance of the wound. I took care
of so many of them. Most were ruined by the fucking sand.” Elliott knocked
his head against the wall.
“Easy. Can you
stand? I’ll get you back to the lounge.”
“I’m okay,
Harry, take care of the patient.” Elliott pushed himself to his feet and
stripped the gloves from his hand. He wobbled out of the room and down the
hall.
“Dr. Sheffield?”
a nurse called.
He held up a
hand. “Taking ten.”
“But…”
Something
toppled with a harsh clatter. The broken glass caused Elliott to crouch again
in a protective corner and cover his head.
“Dr. Sheffield!”
Lost again in
the sand, heat and blood, Elliott stayed put in his cover position. What the
hell was he doing here in civilian life? He couldn’t avoid the truth of
how he suffered from PTSD.
“Dr. Sheffield…
Major…”
He lifted his
head at the sound of his Army title. Another doctor crouched in front of him.
Through the haze of blood and sand within his memory, he almost didn’t
recognize the fellow soldier. James was a friend, a psychiatrist
and military officer with the Air Force.
“Major, are you
with us?”
“Not an attack…”
Elliott knew his gaze would be dead and haunted since he saw it so many times
in the mirror after one of the dreams woke him.
“No, Major, a
tray filled with containers crashed,” James said. “Major, I need you to stand
and come with me. We’ll have a chat.”
“Yeah, guess I
need to do that,” Elliott said as he looked beyond James. “I kinda lost it
there.”
“Wouldn’t be the
first time a soldier covered his ass,” James said as he rose.
Elliott followed James, who chose
to find someplace quiet and separated from the chaos of the ER.
Pages or Words: 52,000 words
Author
Bio:
Ever the quiet
one growing up, Nicole Dennis often slid away from reality and curled up with a
book to slip into the worlds of her favorite authors. Over the years, she’s
created a personal library full of novels filled with dragons, fairies,
vampires, shapeshifters of all kinds and romance. Always she returned to
romance. Still, there were these characters in her head, worlds wanting to be
built on paper, and stories wanting to be told and she began writing them down
whether during or after class. She continues to this day. Only recently has it
begun to become fruitful, spreading out to let others read and enter her
worlds, meet her characters, and see what she sees. No matter what she writes,
her stories of romance with their twists of paranormal, fantasy and erotica
will always have their Happily Ever Afters.
She currently
works in a quiet office in Central Florida, where she also makes her home, and
enjoys the down time to slip into her characters and worlds to escape reality
from time to time. At home, she becomes human slave to a semi-demonic tortie
calico.
Where
to find the author:
Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/nicoledennisauthor
Q & A with author Nicole Dennis:
Q
– What’s your favorite color?
Nicole Dennis - Shades of
blue/green mixtures. Can't wait to have my own place to paint.
Q
– Favorite of your books?
ND - The Southern Charm series are holding a special spot.
Q
– Favorite of your characters?
ND - Skylar
Deering from Skylar's Salvation (old book but going to be revamped into a
longer novel). I threw so much at my poor Sky and he remains optimistic and
hopeful.
Q - 57
– Eat out or dine in?
ND - Dine in.
Q
– What is the best gift you’ve ever received?
ND - Gift cards for B&N
Tour
Dates: February 20, 2015
Tour
Stops:
Parker Williams, Inked Rainbow Reads, Amanda C. Stone, Divine Magazine, BFD
Book Blog, MM Good Book Reviews, Molly Lolly, Bayou Book Junkie, Rainbow Gold Reviews, Havan Fellows, Lee Brazil, Fallen Angel Reviews, Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words, Elisa - My Reviews and Ramblings, Andrew Q. Gordon, Wicked Faerie's Tales and Reviews, Hearts on Fire, The Hat Party
Rafflecopter
Prize: ‘E-copy of When In Bloom’
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