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| My writing model for Ethan *sigh* |
Ethan Roberts was the
deluxe edition—his dark blond hair a little too long to be fashionable, his
deep-set, gray-blue eyes examining me with what seemed like X-ray vision, his
strong jaw skimmed by the barest shading of beard, highlighting the cleft in his
chin. He was a gypsy, a pirate, a
swashbuckling hero in a loose sweater and tight-fitting jeans. Ethan Roberts was the one Mama warned you
about.
—Asia Burdette
describing the hero of Unchained Memory
From that description it should be easy to
see why the heroine of my science fiction suspense novel Unchained Memory would be attracted to the psychiatrist who becomes
her therapist, her ally, her protector and, finally, her lover. But Dr. Ethan Roberts is more than just a
pretty boy, and he and Asia have a lot more between them than mere sexual
attraction, as problematic as that is.
When Asia meets Ethan for the first time, she
is suffering from a life-altering tragedy that has dropped her into a
self-destructive downward spiral. But
her healer has wounds of his own, both physical and emotional, lingering from
the accident that killed his wife and critically injured him two years before.
He carries a burden of guilt from that accident, just as Asia carries the
weight of responsibility for the night she lost her family. He feels an instant
kinship with her because of it, even though that bond is at an unconscious
level.
Much more obvious and troublesome is his
physical attraction to Asia, just as immediate and just as strong as hers is to
him. Ethan is an ethical man; he knows this is completely outside the bounds of
proper medical practice. But Asia’s
problem—her nightmares of a place that cannot possibly exist, her insistence
that the three hours of time she lost on the night of the tragedy are not
explainable—is just as compelling as the woman herself. She has been unable to
find help anywhere else; Ethan is her last resort. He feels he has a duty to help her. So he vows never to act on his feelings and
continues to work with her.
If Asia had been any other woman and her case
any other case, Ethan might have had a chance of keeping his vow. As it
happens, though, what is revealed in his sessions with Asia reshapes Ethan’s perception
of reality completely. Not only is Asia not delusional, but many of the things everyone believes about the world are
simply not true. And given what Asia has been through, she is much stronger
than she first appears to be.
Ethan terminates therapy with Asia, but doesn’t
give up on the central mystery of what happened to her. He has an idea of how to solve that mystery,
a solution that involves data from past clients with similar stories. But just as he becomes an ally in Asia’s
search for answers, he must become her protector. Agents of an unknown black ops organization
want Asia for their own purposes, and the two of them are soon on the run from
the violent kidnappers.
But not before Asia breaks down the first,
and strongest, of Ethan’s walls. She wants him, she knows he wants her, and now
that she is not his patient, she is no longer willing to wait. She calls his
bluff, and Ethan is unable to keep his professional distance. His resistance crumbles, along with the
protections around his heart.
As Asia and Ethan form their bond and face
the challenges of the last half of Unchained
Memory, Ethan heals those wounds he’s carried for so long and uses his
strength to help his heroine win the day. So what kind of man does that make
Ethan Roberts?
Warm, caring, intelligent, protective,
determined. And what you don’t know yet—a
driver inordinately attached to his ancient BMW, Baby; a doctor content to live
and work out of a modest bungalow in Nashville, though he could probably afford
better; the son of a college professor father and a mother from a family of
means who “married beneath herself”; a man who likes to box for exercise,
despite the gimpy leg from his accident; a good friend; a man who likes kids
and both dogs and cats, but has none.
Ethan Roberts is, in fact, a hero. Just like Asia says.
Unchained Memory is available for pre-order now on Amazon.com!
PING PONG
Congrats to Pippa, on her win in the 2014 Judge a Book By Its Cover contest! Check out the details in Pippa's Wednesday post. This girl is on fire!
Cheers, Donna
