Review, Guest Post & Giveaway: Negotiation Tactics by Lori Ryan

Negotiation Tactics

Book Title
Sutton Capital Series, Book 3
Lori Ryan

Genre: Contemporary Romance/Romantic Suspense


Date of Publication: September 6, 2013

Number of pages: 339

Available at the following retailers:
Amazon

Fans of the Sutton Capital Series have been waiting for Jennie and Chad’s story for a long time and they won’t be disappointed! And, new readers are sure to fall in love with the series.

After the crushing heartache of losing her husband at a harshly young age, Jennie Evans had finally found a place to call home. She had a job she loved and new friends to support her. With the exception of having to continuously fight off the feelings she had for Chad Thompson, she was happy again. As happy as she could be anyway. When Jennie’s well-meaning friends meddle in her life, they send her world into a tailspin once again. Soon, she’s on the run from some very dangerous people with the one man she doesn’t want to be with.

Chad Thompson has loved Jennie from afar for the last year, but he’s maintained control. Jennie’s made it clear she wants nothing to do with him and he won’t cross the line she’s drawn in the sand. Until she asks him to. And, when that happens, their world is turned upside down. Chad’s left scrambling to keep Jennie safe as he tries to right their world again. Unfortunately, Chad has to accept the fact that his heart is likely to be crushed in the process and nothing will ever be the same again.

Excerpt: 

Jack laughed at Chad’s frown. “Hey, get yourself a wife and you won’t miss us so much.”

“Funny.” Chad scowled as the men picked up their bags and started toward the exit.

Jack and Andrew got quiet and Chad groaned inside. He knew what was coming.

Can’t everyone drop the whole Jennie and Chad thing?

He had barely managed to get the image of Jennie in a T-shirt with no bra, out of his head for the last hour of the basketball game and now they had to put it front and center again without even mentioning her name. That sight had plagued him for two damn days and he wasn’t likely to get over it anytime soon.

“Chad, you really need to see where this thing with Jennie might go. Have you even been on a date with anyone else since you met her?” Jack asked.

They crossed the parking lot toward their cars, but it was clear Jack and Andrew were going to stay until he gave them an answer. Chad didn’t want to tell Jack the answer to that question and he didn’t want to have this conversation with Jack and Andrew again. As far as they knew, he didn’t want to date Jennie because he was her boss at Sutton Capital. And, that was part of it, but Chad hadn't told anyone the truth.

Guest Post: 

Lori has gone from being a lawyer to dog trainer to writer. I invited her to tell us a little bit about when she knew it was time to transition to the next phase of her life.

Here’s the thing. I’ve loved each phase of my life for different reasons, but my previous careers have involved a high level of stress.

When I went to law school, I felt like I had found my niche for the first time in life. To say I loved law school is the understatement of the year. I loved the classes, the people, the campus in Hartford, Connecticut – everything. When I graduated, I went to work for one of the best law firms in the state, working for the partner every associate in the firm wanted to work for doing intellectual property litigation. I had it made.

And, I was miserable. The love that I’d found in law school just never translated into the real world. And, I knew that if I had all those things going for me, it wasn’t just a matter of finding the right firm or the right field of law or the right person to work for. I was stressed out, miserable, and literally crying every night when I went home. It just wasn’t for me.

When I went into working with dogs, I found a field I loved. Dog behavior fascinated me – and still does. I loved being able to help people with their dogs and getting to work with animals I loved on a regular basis. The only problem was, there was a whole new type of stress to get used to. The “fix my dog” for me kind of stress. As a consultant who specialized in dog bites and dog aggression, a great deal of the cases I saw involved dogs and owners who were at the end of their rope. If I couldn’t fix their problems, the dog may have to be rehomed to a safer setting or euthanized. Not a stress you want on your shoulders.

When you add in the fact that some of the owners didn’t have the time, resources, or just plain skill level to deal with the dog they had, the burn out rate gets pretty high. Even though I was able to help 99% of the dogs who came to me, those 1% get to you after a while. Getting calls from people around the country who want to know if their dog is safe or how bad their dog’s bite level was, and what their options are for keeping their family safe but saving their dog from euthanasia just began to weigh too heavily.

Add in the fact that dog trainers work a lot of weekends and evenings and I have two kids under the age of four and the equation just wasn’t working for me and my family any longer. So, I began to pull back a bit and let others run my company. One day, I decided I wanted to try writing. My husband and friends and family supported me and voila, here we are!

And, I’m finding I’m very happy with this line of work. There are some stresses in meeting deadlines, but the work is creative and I get to communicate with my readers every day when they email me. I love it! I can also always try new genres and find new ways to stretch myself as a writer. There are just so many options. I plan to keep writing for a very long time and don’t see an end to this career anytime soon.

Review: 

This is the third book in the Sutton Capital Series by Lori Ryan. I discovered this series doing book tours and have been lucky enough to have been involved in a tour for each of the books as they have been released. Each book has built on characters introduced in previous books, and this one is no exception. This is the story of Jennie and Chad, first introduced in Book 1, Legal Ease. We have watched them dance around each other for two books, and this book is the big release after all that building tension.

The story opens with Chad waking from a nightmare. He still suffers them from his time spent in the military. It becomes obvious that Chad has some survivor's guilt over making it out alive. He answers his phone to Jennie needing a ride. She was stranded at a park with no shoes and no way home. Chad is immediately worried that someone has hurt her or worse, but she quickly assures him that she is fine. Just tired and sore from running in bare feet. When Chad gets to Jennie, he demands to know how she got in this predicament. Jennie had gone for her normal run, ending in the unauthorized swim in the pool of a frequent traveler. She never used his pool if he was home, but apparently he figured out that someone was poaching and got a guard dog.  This caused Jennie to have to make a run for it, and when she grabbed up her things, she left her shoes behind. This is typical Jennie, and when she told Jill and Kelly, her best friends, they laughed about it. Chad on the other had, was not amused.

It is shortly after this incident between the two, that Jack, head of Sutton Capital, Kelly's husband and Chad's cousin, gets a request from an old friend about checking into a potential investment property, a tropical honeymoon destination.  The plot is hatched to send Chad and Jennie undercover to investigate the property for 2 weeks as honeymooners. The hope is that by forcing them together, maybe they will finally admit their attraction to each other. Except, things are not always as they appear at the resort and soon Chad is taking Jennie into hiding for the sake of her very life.

Let me first start by saying, that it is a darn good thing that I read this on my day off. I had a nice chunk of time set aside to be devoted to this book, and I needed every bit of it. Because I wasn't going anywhere once I got into this book. Between the emotional roller-coaster that Ms. Ryan had me on and the box of tissues I went through from the emotional wringer I went through, I wouldn't have been able to get anything else done. Typically, I don't like to read books that I know I am going to cry in. But I just couldn't put this one down. I was so emotionally invested in Chad and Jennie's journey, I just had to keep reading. If Ms. Ryan keeps amping up the emotional power of each book, the next one just might kill me! This was a 5 star read.  Just remember to have the time and tissues to invest in this book before you start it.


Giveaway: 

Lori will be awarding a $50 gift certificate to Amazon to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour.

So follow the tour and comment; the more you comment, the better your chances of winning.

Book Tour Info: 
Don't forget to check out the other stops on the Book Tour:

October 18:
Unabridged Andra

October 25:
Regina May Ross's Blog

November 1:
Susana's Morning Room

November 8:
Beyond My Writing Space - review only

November 15:
Straight from the Library

November 22:
Musings and Ramblings

Novmeber 29:
The Reading Addict
Musings From An Addicted Reader - review only

December 6:
Reading In Twilight

December 13:
Crazy Four Books

December 20:
Book 'Em North Carolina

January 3:
Harlie's Books

January 10:
Simply Ali

January 17:
Booklover Sue

January 24:
Brooke Blogs
Storm Goddess Book Reviews and More

January 31:
Sharing Links and Wisdom

Author Bio:

Lori is an award winning author and stay-at-home mom. Her second book, Penalty Clause, won first place in the romance category in Lcuky Cinda Publishing’s Annual Global Writer’s Contest in 2013.

Lori has had a number of careers before embarking on her newest adventure of writing novels. After graduating from the University of Connecticut School of Law, she practiced law for three years, working primarily in the areas of utilities law and intellectual property litigation.

More recently, Lori owned and operated a dog training business in Austin, Texas, where she specialized in aggression and became an expert in the field of dog bite analysis. Lori sold her dog training business in 2013 and is now a full time writer and mother of two.

Lori still lives in Austin with her husband -- who is endlessly supportive of her changing career paths -- and her two children, one cat, and three dogs.

Want to be a part of my online street team? Email me at Loriryanauthor@gmail.com and put the words ‘street team’ in the subject line. I’ll email you back with directions for joining my team.

To join my email list to receive updates and news, including sneak peeks and free giveaways or contest news, visit http://www.loriryanromance.com/#!join-my-mailing-list/cdpp.

To connect with the author online:

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