I’m delighted to welcome Sue Brown and her latest
book, Island Counselor, to my blog today. Below you’ll find all you
need to know about this book, an enticing excerpt, my review as well as a
giveaway, but we’ll start with a guest post. Enjoy!
Island Counselor by Sue Brown
Island Medics #2, part of the Isle
universe.
Release Date Jun 20, 2016
Words 61,503
Pages 200
ISBN-13 978-1-63477-336-2
File Formats epub, mobi, pdf
Buylinks:
Blog
Recently I was honoured to be invited
to author TJ Master’s birthday party. We all giggled at one of his presents, a
very large, blue gnome to go in his garden. For the first time, I have a gnome
theme in Island Counselor. Nick makes the mistake of buying his mother a gnome,
and the numbers escalate until they take over the garden. Even Logan receives
one as a present, albeit he is a reluctant recipient.
Before you ask, I don’t have any gnomes
of my own. I just have a huge statue of a Great Dane, called Alex. He stares
into the house from one corner of the patio, and has the reputation of freaking out all the dogs who come into the house. I have
listened to many a dog growl at Alex, before they realise he’s very well behaved
and isn’t going to attack them. Since the Blink episode on Doctor Who I’ve
always had a love-hate relationship with statues, gargoyles and grotesques, but
Alex is a good boy. He hasn’t threatened us or tried to send the Brown
household back in time.
Do you have any statues or gnomes in
your garden?
Blurb
Logan is there for everyone, but who is there when
he falls apart?
Counselor Logan Wilde has a successful therapy
practice in London, but when a traumatic incident there leaves him suffering
from PTSD, he takes refuge in his holiday cottage on the Isle of Wight, unable
to face going back to work. Not that he’s allowed to relax. Logan’s time is
taken up with helping Liam Owens, plus there’s Nick Brent, whom Logan discovers
collapsed on the beach. Nick and Logan spend their time bickering with each
other, but that doesn’t alter the attraction they feel.
Logan is forced to make some hard decisions about
his future, which entails facing up to recent events. Only he’s not alone—Nick
is with him. Unfortunately someone else makes a decision too, and now trouble
is on its way to the Isle of Wight.
The Isle Series Information
Island Medics
Excerpt
THE PAT-PAT of Logan Wilde’s feet
hitting the hard-packed sand echoed as he ran along the beach. He ignored the
splashes of sea and sand on his shins and calves, instead focusing on the white
building on the far side of the bay. The beach was mercifully free from
tourists at this hour, and the sounds of the island waking up to a new day
didn’t disturb his rhythm. His breathing was focused and even as he ran,
although the tightness in his abdomen told him he shouldn’t overdo it.
A dog came bounding down the beach to
the water’s edge and momentarily disturbed Logan’s pace. He dodged around the
golden retriever, which barked happily but thankfully ignored him after that,
more interested in the small waves rolling across the sand. Logan loved dogs,
but he preferred to like unknown dogs at a distance. As a jogger Logan had been
chased, jumped on, and even bitten by dogs. The owners were always apologetic,
but apologies didn’t do much to control their mutts.
As the sun rose over the horizon, he
ran on, enjoying the time to himself. Logan loved the Isle of Wight. He’d been
coming here since he was a teenager on a school trip. Now that he owned a
holiday cottage in Freshwater, he spent as much free time there as he could.
Unfortunately—or fortunately—as his therapy practice back in South London was
thriving, his free time had rapidly decreased. His time on the island was
precious and he guarded it jealously. Most of the time he didn’t even let his
friends on the island know he was here; he needed alone time to decompress.
Logan had nearly reached the end of the
bay and was contemplating turning around, when he spotted a man sitting on the
sand ahead of him. He wouldn’t have paid much attention except the man had
taken off his left trainer and his sock. As Logan watched, the man swore
loudly.
Logan jogged up to him. “Are you okay?”
“Do I look okay?” the man snapped. He
was young, maybe midtwenties, with dark hair and long dark lashes that framed
green eyes. He would have been handsome but for the sour look on his face.
Logan ignored the hostile words and
looked down at his ankle. “Can I take a look? I’m a doctor. At least I was,” he
amended honestly.
“Great,” the man muttered. “Like I
haven’t seen enough of you lot.”
“It’s up to you. I can leave you here
if you want,” Logan said cheerfully enough. “You’re going to have to move soon.
The tide’s coming in.”
Sure enough, the sea was creeping up
the sand and it wouldn’t take long for the beach to disappear.
The man scowled at him. “Just help me
off the beach.”
Logan offered his hand. The man ignored
it and tried to stand up by himself, only to crumple with a pained cry when he
tried to bear weight on his left foot.
“Look, stop being an arse and let me
help,” Logan said. He tucked the sock into the trainer, picked it up, and slung
his arm around the guy’s waist.
They managed to get to the promenade
without incident. Their progress was slow, and by the time they’d climbed the
stairs, the man was sweaty and pale beneath his tan.
Logan manhandled him onto a seat and
knelt at his feet. “I’m going to look at your ankle. You might need to get to
the hospital and get it x-rayed.”
“It’ll be fine,” the man said. “I had
an accident a few weeks ago. I shouldn’t have tried to run yet.”
Logan frowned as he gently examined the
ankle. He didn’t fail to notice the man’s muscled calves and thighs with their
dusting of dark hair. “I think you just twisted it.”
“That’s what I said.”
“So why do you look like you’re about
to pass out?” Logan asked.
“I’m fine. You’ve done your Good
Samaritan bit. Now you can go away.”
If the guy hadn’t been looking like
death warmed over, Logan might have done just that. He had better things to do
with his morning than deal with Mr. Bitchy, but something was wrong and Logan
wasn’t going to leave the man here alone. He’d probably pass out and smack his
head on the concrete.
The man tried to pull his leg away, but
Logan kept him where he was. Logan sat back on his heels. “When you look like
you can stand without passing out, I’ll go. Let’s start again. Hi, my name’s
Logan Wilde.” He held out his hand.
The man stared at him as if he were
mad, and then he gave a short laugh and shook Logan’s hand. “Nick Brent.”
“Pleased to meet you, Nick.” Logan gave
him a direct look. “You twisted your ankle because…?” When Nick pursed his lips
stubbornly, Logan sighed. “Jesus, Nick. I don’t need to be a doctor to tell
you’re in pain.”
“It’s my left hip,” Nick said
eventually. Logan nodded at him, trying to encourage him to continue. “I’m a
fisherman—or I was up until a month ago. I slipped on the boat and smacked my
hip. It’s taking a while to heal.”
“You can’t work until it is?” Logan
guessed.
Nick shook his head. “I’m stuck on land
until it does.”
“So what were you trying to do today?”
“I went for a jog.” Nick caught sight
of the expression on Logan’s face. “I just thought if I could jog, then I could
work.”
“So you overdid it even though your hip
hurts like hell, then your leg crumpled, and you fell?”
“Something like that,” Nick said
sourly. Then he sighed. “Yeah, yeah, I know I was stupid, but I’m desperate,
Logan. If I can’t work, I’m not earning any money. I can’t even pay the
mortgage on my flat, so I’ve rented it out to get some money in. I’ve moved
back in with my mum.”
Logan didn’t need to be a mind reader
to see how unimpressed Nick was with the situation. “I understand, but you have
to give yourself time to heal. You’re just going to end up doing more damage if
you try to force it.”
Nick huffed and refused to meet Logan’s
eyes. “I need to get home.”
“Where do you live?”
“About five minutes from here. I’ll be
fine.”
“You still look pale and sweaty. I’m
going to get my car and drive you home. And before you argue, I’m going to put
your sock and trainer on too.” He waited, but Nick didn’t say a word. “What? No
arguments?”
“It hurts too fucking much to bend
over,” Nick admitted.
“Hallelujah. Sense at last.” Logan
carefully rolled on Nick’s sock and helped him with his trainer. “Stay there.”
Nick leaned back in the seat, scowling
at Logan, who ignored it and got to his feet. Logan stretched, groaning a
little at his cramped muscles. As he relaxed, he noticed Nick eyeing him up and
down. When Nick caught Logan’s gaze, he looked away, still scowling, but his
cheeks had gone bright red.
Well, then!
My Review
Wonderful!
There! That’s it, review done. What else do you
need to know?
Okay then, if you insist I’ll expand on what made Island
Counselor such a fabulous reading experience. First and foremost it was
due to Logan and Nick and the way their relationship developed. From the moment
they meet the attraction between them is obvious, both to Logan and Nick and to
the reader. The fact that Logan is not interested in a one-night-stand doesn’t
put Nick off at all, and they more or less stumble into something resembling a
relationship over the next few days without discussing it or the lack of
definition being an issue.
While Nick is frustrated because he can’t do the
job he loves because of a bad hip due to an accident, Logan struggles with far
deeper issues, even if he’s reluctant to admit so both to himself and to
others. And that’s where the story really came into its own for me. Logan’s
issues are clear to see, and yet we’re not hammered over the head with them.
While the attack he has survived is never far from his mind, he’s not
constantly belly-aching about it. Having said that, he hasn’t really been
dealing with the attack or the resulting PTSD either and it is the growing
connection between him and Nick that makes him realise he has to come to grips
with what has happened and to start thinking about what he wants to do with the
rest of his life.
Nick is exactly what Logan needs. While Nick is
understanding and supportive, he doesn’t allow Logan to get away with hiding
from the issues any longer. And because Logan is really starting to fall for
Nick, he is prepared to do what he has been avoiding so far.
I loved that the tension in this story didn’t come
from a ‘will they – won’t they’ scenario, or lack of communication or some
stupid misunderstanding. The threat, when they face it, is real, dangerous and
also external. I can’t begin to say how refreshing it is to read a romance in
which the two characters behave like grownups. Of course there are
misunderstandings and moments that are far from perfect, but they happen and
are resolved. For someone who dislikes protracted drama as much as I do, this
was just about perfect. The at times touchingly sweet moments, only made the
story better. The scene, early on in the book, when Logan catches Nick touching
the spot on his cheek where Logan has just planted a soft kiss, put a huge and
very happy smile on my face.
It was fun catching up with the characters from the
previous books. I enjoy watching their stories continue, and their
relationships grow. Seeing how issues those characters faced continue to be
resolved gives these books a level of realism all too often missing from
romantic fiction.
And finally there’s Sue Brown’s writing style,
which I love. She never fails to draw me straight into her story, the images
she paints with her words are clear and her characters are vivid and real. I
always end up wanting to meet her characters and inhabit their world, because
by the time I finish the story I have a hard time reminding myself it has all
been fictional.
I’m not sure how clear my ramblings above have been
and I hope they convey clearly how very much I loved Island Counselor. Part of
me still thinks I should have just left it at ‘Wonderful’ J
Giveaway
Win a £20 giftcard from Amazon or ARe.
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