Good Monday morning everyone. Welcome back to the Meet My Character Monday Blog Hop. Today I would like to re-introduce you to the female main character in my supernatural romance, Shifter, Abigail Lynn Sinclair, Abby for short. Abby is nearly thirty years old, and was born and raised in modern day Alabama.
Abby is a recluse. She lives alone, works from home, and even shops online, something her younger sister insists, “is so not natural”. Abby is a loving person who lives for her sister, Carrie, and Carrie’s children. In the following excerpt, we see Abby’s love for her family through Dimitri’s eyes:
After the kids eat, I crawl up next to Abby on the mattress to wake her. She doesn’t open her eyes, just snuggles up into my arms and nuzzles my chest. “My parents are going to be here in an hour to take Carrie and the kids to the cabin. You want to wake up and see them off?”
“No.” She groans and laughs.
“Maddox, I think it’s time for Aunt Abby to wake up, don’t you,” Carrie says, setting the youngest of her three children down in the hallway. The look he gives his aunt tells me exactly what he is about to do. I quickly jerk out of her arms and off the mattress as the child comes barreling across the room. Abby turns in time for him to leap from the floor onto her.
With a humph, she jerks upward, wraps the kid in her arms, and begins tickling him. Wanting to join in on the fun, the other two run from the kitchen and dog pile on their aunt.
“In my house, Maddox is the first one awake,” Carrie tells me. “If he wants you up, you get up. He usually achieves this by throwing himself on top of you, successfully landing on your bladder.”
“He most definitely found mine,” Abby says as she pins one of the boys and begins blowing into his stomach making a noise kin to a person blowing a raspberry and causing the kid to laugh hysterically.
I can’t take my eyes off her. Her hair is everywhere. She looks tired. Still she gives the children every bit of attention they demand, doing her best to play with each one, showing no favoritism. The pain in my heart that knows I can’t give her this causes me to look away.
Carrie is standing on the other side of the mattress giving me a knowing look. The look isn’t happy in its knowing. Her look is sad. Sad for her sister, whom she believes is going to be hurt in the end.
“All right. Aunt Abby is done. Come on, get up. Go get dressed. I have to pee and shower,” Abby announces.
The kids grumble but do as she asks. Carrie follows them to Abby’s room.
When this novel begins, Abby is coming off a horrific relationship. Her ex was physically, emotionally, and verbally abusive. He would starve her when he thought she was too fat and shovel food down her throat if he thought she was too skinny. He beat her and burned her, and photographed all of this to further demean her. Only through shear dumb luck was she able to escape the relationship with her life and all the evidence of her abuse. Despite being out of the relationship, the abuse she suffered permanently damaged her. In the following scene between Abby and Devan, we see how little she thinks of herself.
“I’m plenty aware of how people react to me. I promise.” I look down at the ground suddenly feeling the need to not make eye contact with him.
“Let’s test your theory. Go out with me this afternoon. Take me on a tour of your town, and I’ll show you how much attention you get.”
My head jerks up painfully. I search his face to see if he is being serious. He looks serious, but he can’t possibly be serious.
“Going out with you would be the only reason I would get any attention,” I say, countering his point and ignoring the fact that he might have just asked me on a date.
“You don’t give yourself that much credit, do you?” His eyes grow a little sad.
“I know better. I’m not a stupid person.”
“You aren’t as smart as you think you are,” he says a little flirtatiously.
“Oh, I’m definitely as smart as I think I am.” Shit, am I flirting back? This isn’t good.
“All right, I agree. You are as smart as you are beautiful.”
His words are teasing, and I know I’m taking them the wrong way, but I can’t help it. “And the insults just keep on coming.”
“Damn it, woman, I can’t win for losing with you. Fine, don’t go out with me. I still say you should get out more often.”
Feeling as if the world will see her the way her ex-boyfriend did, she hides in her home with her work and her cats. Over time, she lets herself go and becomes overweight, which only further perpetuates her feelings of self-loathing. Her sister and the few friends she has try to get her out of the house, to date, to join the world, but it isn’t until she adopts a cat who acts more human than he does feline, has a run in with a crazy woman, and meets a gorgeous man who tells her she is beautiful, that she finally breaks out of her shell.
Feeling that she isn’t skinny enough or pretty enough for the new man in her life, she decides that she has to make some big changes in her life. She wants to learn to love herself, excerpt herself for who she is, and to love again. On this road of self-discovery she, Abby learns to love herself and find the love of her life. In this following excerpt, Abby tells the man she loves that she loves him for the first time.
The tears come back. He has told me repeatedly that he loves me, but I have never said it back. I do, of course, love him. I have almost from the first moment I saw him. Since I have told myself enough times that I didn’t believe in love at first sight, I didn’t believe in how I felt.
The pain in his voice as he says this makes me hate myself. I let myself cry even harder, pulling him tight into my arms. I kiss his lips, his chin, and his throat. All the time letting my tears flow and ease. I kiss the spot right below his ear then nibble his lobe, and whisper quietly in his ear, “I’m in love with you, Dimitri. I love you with every piece of my soul, and I will love you for all of eternity.”
To find out more about Abby and how she changes her life, read Shifter. This supernatural romance is on sale at most online retailers in either eBook and trade-paper form. To purchase a copy visit: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or Smashwords. To find out more about this novel visit the novel’s Facebook and Goodreads pages.
One last thing before you go: SHIFTER is starting out the New Year with an altered cover, new flyer, and a reduced price. If you love witches, curses, werewolves, shapeshifters, and angels, SHIFTER has them all along with a few burly alpha males, one timid, overweight heroine, some steamy sex scenes, and a happily ever after ending. Stop by your favorite online retailer and download your copy today. This 374-page, stand-alone eBook is only $3.99. SHIFTER has a 4.55 rating on Goodreads, a 4.6 rating on Amazon, and a 4.75 rating on Smashwords.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00M8HLU2U
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/462262
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/books/1120024902?ean=2940149636907