Monday, March 2, 2015

Meet the characters of Help Me Move On

Help Me Move On
The Southern Ties Series 1 
by Angie Hemmings 
        a Contemporary Romance   
 
Author Guest Blog     


Hey...so my name is Angie Hemmings.  I’m the author of Help Me Move On and today I wanted to introduce you to one of the more darker characters in The Southern Ties Series.  Isaiah Atwood is one of 3 Atwood boys and each will get his own book because after I wrote Help Me Move On I couldn’t stop myself...I wanted more.  So today we’re taking a look at the man that started it all.
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Who is Isaiah Atwood?
 
When I started Help Me Move On I came up with the perfect cast in my head and these characters are more real to me than the actors I chose to portray them.  I knew that Isaiah was going to be this intense alpha male but he really became so much more than just that which is why in book 2 of The Southern Ties Series I decided to give Isaiah his story but here we get a glimpse of who Isaiah Atwood really is... 
Isaiah grew up a military brat, moving every six months was his norm but he learned at an early age how to blend, how to fit in no matter where he was.  He never had to try to be part of an in crowd because he was Isaiah Atwood.  He didn’t have to try because people were drawn to him, drawn to his indifference, his ability to never be bothered by anything.
            Isaiah went to military school at a young age and it prepared him for the army where Isaiah shined.  He is a perfectionist to the very core and excelling in the army drove him to push forward and become one of the elite.  Delta force was his proudest accomplishment in the army but he wasn’t alone.  Isaiah’s brother Henry and his best friend Eric were by his side along with a few other friends from his years spent in a small town in North Carolina.
            There’s a saying in the army, “once a Delta, always a Delta…”  That saying is something that sticks with Isaiah because Delta force is a brotherhood.  You rely on each other because the mission has to be completed...and there is no room for defeat.  The day Eric dies is a day that haunts Isaiah’s dreams.  A simple extraction gone wrong, everything planned to the smallest of details only they were betrayed by someone they trusted.  Watching his best friend throw himself on a grenade, fighting against his brother Henry when he pulled him from the building, it was a nightmare that had become a reality only Isaiah was no ordinary man.  He was smart and he was observant...to observant.
            Coming home he would receive a heros welcome, but standing at the door to that plane he felt like a fraud.  His arm in a sling and his eyes falling to the woman Eric had loved more than the very air he breathed.  She was breathtaking, her long brown curls blowing with the wind and her arms crossed as she stared up to where the casket was being carried from that plane.  Even from where he stood he could see the tears, the devastation written all over her face.  Isaiah had been there the last day they spoke and he had heard the fight.  She wanted their wedding to be perfect, a perfectionist just like Isaiah and a woman who managed to break through the thick wall surrounding Isaiah’s heart.
            But life after the army, after Delta force was nothing Isaiah thought it would be.  Too many questions were left unanswered..like why did they put an empty casket into the ground?
            Where was the body of his best friend?
            Isaiah made a promise to keep Ally safe and he made it a point to do exactly that but he also decided to use his training to start his security business.  ASInc...Atwood Security Incorporated gave Isaiah the access he needed, the connections and the power to uncover the truth while his relationship with Ally would foster the fuel that would begin a fire to smoke out the truth.  He started simple, training Ally every day in Krav Maga and ensuring that when he did what he knew he would have to do...she could protect herself.  When he wasn’t with Ally he was working, always working and planning for the day he would reveal the truth.
            Once a Delta, always a Delta after all...
            Isaiah is not a weak man, he is strong and calculating, but most of all he is a master manipulator.  Taking a woman once dependent on her fiancè for everything and molding her into the perfect weapon he plots, he plans, he waits...and the very day of his best friend's funeral he meets the man that he will use to flush out the snake that hides in the grass.  One look at Colton Walker, the way he lifts Ally from that grave so effortlessly, the way she fits in his arms, the way he calms her tears without so much as a hiccup, Isaiah knows what he will have to do.
            Sometimes in order to reveal the truth, in order to save the ones you love, you have to be the bad guy...you have to be able to put the woman you promised to protect in danger.
            Push her into the arms of another man…
            Put her very life in danger…
                                    And he will come back...

Book Description: 
Ally Dunn is a small town girl with big dreams planning a wedding that would never happen. Ally’s life revolved around being Eric’s wife…until she watched his best friend Isaiah step off that plane, his arm in a sling and Eric's casket behind him. Her grief consumed her, their last conversation not one filled with love but an argument over her favorite flower. He knew her favorite flower, he was just busy…fighting for his country. Isaiah made a promise to Eric, he would keep Ally safe even if that meant saving her from herself. Isaiah takes Ally away when her grief becomes too much but their return brings about something she never expected.  

When Ally meets Colton Walker she knows her life will never be the same. She never planned to move on from Eric, the mere idea of moving on would send her into a panic. How do you move on from the man you loved, the man who shared your dreams, who made your heart feel whole? But Colton doesn’t push her, he doesn’t pressure her, he gives her everything she ever needed and he does it effortlessly.

Falling in love with Colton was like taking her next breath; she didn’t have to think about because it came naturally…only a cloud hangs over Ally. Isaiah trains her in Krav Maga, Eric trained her in gunfire. Colton sees all of this, asking the one question she can’t answer, why? Why would a woman who lives in such a small town need to know such aggressive self-defense? Isaiah vows to keep her safe, going so far as to track her every move…but why?  
 
Surviving Eric’s death almost killed Ally, the hole in her heart never truly healed until Colton. Falling in love with Colton was easy, fighting for her life when everything she thought she knew was wrong…that was a completely different story.

Available at Amazon
 
Review by Pearls
This story is a great caution against co-dependency and obsessive relationships.  Without Eric, Ally isn't able to get out of bed.  But his best friend has promised to take care of her, and he does by forcing her into action, even encouraging her to date again. So different from Eric, who stifled her with his overprotectiveness.  Colton makes her feel safe and builds her sense of self. Both men teach her to be her own person.  The Ally at the end of the book is not the same girl Eric could control. Action and romance; The ending has a twist, but not a cliff hanger.  I was given an ARC to read, and there were some editing issues that I hope are fixed. 

About the Author:
Angie Hemmings is a self-proclaimed romance addict.  Her love for romance began at an early age but after years of reading romance novels she found herself wanting more which led to her first novel.  She's originally from Mount Airy, a small town in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains and she loves the art behind creating a new story.  Getting lost in the romance, the struggle between her characters is what makes Angie Hemmings continue her work and writing is what she loves. 

@angiehemmings04
https://www.facebook.com/pages/angiehemmingscom
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7398893.Angie_Leonard_Hemmings

 

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