Today we’re so pleased to welcome Jambrea Jo Jones on the tour for Vegas Sin, the author’s latest release with Pride Publishing. Enjoy Jambrea’s guest post, and then be sure to check out the Pride January Giveaway.

Good luck!

Men In Uniform

I love a man in uniform. Writing about them is fun. I get my love for them and action packed stories from my father. We would watch all of these shoot ‘em up movies and I enjoyed them immensely—watching the hero kick some serious butt. Most of my stories have guys who are in the military or are former military. (My dad is a former Marine so not only did he give me the love of action, but the love of the military man). If they are out of the military, I tend to put them on a police force somewhere. I still blame the movies.

There is just something about a man who has all this power, but he only uses it for good. He is dedicated to make sure the world is safe for everyone. And with that, I like to put them in situations where they have to defend or protect. It comes with writing romantic suspense.

Sometimes I like to keep the reader in the dark with the men as they are discovering what is happening in their world, or sometimes I like that character to be front and center so the reader can get a looking into the bad guy’s mind.

Bad guys. Men in uniform (or out—I do write romance). Guns. Murder. Kidnapping. Explosions. Intrigue. Romance. All of these elements go into writing that man in uniform overcoming great obstacles and falling in love at the same time. With action, sometimes it is hard to have that fine line between erotic and true to life. I mean—people get hurt. It happens in suspense stories. You need to find the balance so the guys can get a little busy despite the hurt. They are the big tough alpha men after all… it’s just a flesh wound.

So, to round it up a bit, I think there is something good and honorable about men in uniform. Be it a military uniform (I swoon at the dress blues of a Marine) the beat cop’s uniform, a fireman’s uniform, or heck, even a doctor’s uniform, I will read it or write it. You want a hint of good to go with any bad that might have to happen in your story. These guys have their background to fall back on and help them overcome just about anything. In fiction and in real life.

Jambrea~

About the Book: Sex, weddings and gambling hold a back seat to kidnapping and murder in the city of sin…

Owen Carpenter sets aside one night each month to relax at the Totally Five Star, but a case has just landed on his desk that has those nights disappearing for the foreseeable future. Someone is kidnapping women in Las Vegas and Owen needs to stop them before the women end up dead.

Harrison Boone is head of security at the Totally Five Star. He notices a man who comes in once a month and he wants to know more about him. When Owen introduces himself, there’s an instant attraction between Harrison and Owen, but they are interrupted by a kidnapping—at his hotel. After Harrison leaves the military, the hotel becomes his life, so Harrison will do anything to keep the hotel out of the news and protect its reputation.

Can Owen and Harrison find love in Sin City, or will the case of the disappearing women crush what might be the best bet the men have ever placed?

Get your copy of Vegas Sin today here.

Excerpt: Owen Carpenter strolled through the precinct like he hadn’t a care in the world. He whistled some song that was on the radio before he shut the car off. Now it would be stuck in his head all day. He might as well share it with others. What could he say, he was a giver.

It helped the façade he put on for others and it drove his partner nuts when he did it, which was a plus. He always had the outward appearance of being calm and that everything was right in the world. He had to or he’d go batshit crazy and he couldn’t have that. He was armed, after all, and it could be dangerous for a cop to go all mental. He needed to be focused, and if pushing his issues back helped, he’d do it all day. Owen tried to keep his private and work lives separate. That didn’t always happen, because his partner liked to give him a hard time, which was why Owen did his best to drive Jeff crazy. Of course they were more like brothers than partners. Most days that was a good thing, especially when Jeff’s wife sent in muffins for him. The best was when Sally came in and personally handed him some goody to make sure Owen got some. Jeff hated that and tried to steal his goodies, but Sally made sure Owen was taken care of.

This morning was one for the books, that was for sure. One of those days he wished he could do over. His sister and niece had been kicked out of their latest apartment the night before, so they were shacked up with him for the duration. He had to haul all their stuff to his place, and it was a mess. At least he had a garage to hold some of the stuff. Not that his sister was kicked out of her home every day, but Susan wasn’t the best with her money on a good day. He tried to help the best he could, but she didn’t always appreciate her big brother butting his nose into her business. At least Susan hadn’t gone back to the booze. That would add a whole other set of issues he really didn’t want to deal with. He’d helped get her dry once and hoped like hell it stuck because he didn’t know if he could go through that again.

His niece, Gabbi, was a sweetheart, and he’d do anything for her. She was only nine and cute as a button with her long blonde hair and big blue eyes. Yeah, he might be wrapped around her little finger, but he didn’t know if he’d ever do kids, so she might be all he ever had. He planned to spoil her as much as possible. When the time came, he’d make sure she was treated right by whoever she wanted to date. If he let her date. She was an old soul who acted more like Susan’s mom on most occasions, which made him want to pamper Gabbi even more.

His own mom had trouble dealing with two new people in her space—when she remembered it was her space. The Alzheimer’s was getting worse. It was hard enough most days when she didn’t remember him, but now she kept asking who the two hussies were and why they were in her house. Gabbi didn’t fully understand why her grandma couldn’t remember her and called her names.

His mom was in the process of being moved to a new home this week because taking care of her was just too much. He hated the fact that she had to go, but it was past time. A nurse came by to sit with her while he worked. The only problem with that was that they didn’t always send the same person and it got confusing for his mom. If she was in a home, she could get used to the same people. It would give her a bit of the stability she’d lost the last few years. At least with his sister at the house, he could get some help with their mom—not that Mother would remember either of them—but Susan needed to help out. Breakfast had been a disaster with his mom dumping her food on the floor and stomping out of the room like a cranky two year old. Poor Gabbi had had to do some clean up, because Susan had decided to sleep in, and he’d been running late for work. He made a note to take Gabbi to a movie or shopping for the weekend. If she really wanted to go, he’d take her, even if he hated going to the mall.

The Giveaway