Today I’d like to welcome Julieanne Reeves to Murder She Writes! She has a fabulous new romantic suspense novel available right now! Read on! You do not want to miss this incredible story of a real life hero!

The Thanksgiving holiday has finally ended. We’ve stuffed ourselves fuller than the turkeys we ate, fought with—and annoyed—the beloved family we seldom see and watched lots of sports. We’ve braved the craziness of Black Friday, and spent Saturday decorating for Christmas, then Sunday trying to recover.  While many are simply glad the holiday is over, today I have something to truly be thankful for.

A family friend is a law enforcement officer. In fact a great many of them are, as I’m a former police/fire/911 dispatcher. This one, however, is special—not in the romantic sense—but we’ve become good friends. His sister and her children are visiting, and they were over at my house last night—we’d spent the day baking and frosting cookies—when he left for work. In a moment of seriousness—which is rare for him when not on duty—he thanked me for being there to help out since he’d had to work all weekend. Then he gave me his patented mischievous smile, stuffed a stolen cookie in his mouth and walked out the door to begin his shift.

A couple hours into his shift a traffic stop got dicey. A guy with a warrant didn’t want to go back to jail. No one was injured, and truthfully it wasn’t even newsworthy; just another day on patrol, but it could have gone so horribly wrong. It certainly set the mood for the rest of his night. When he finally returned to patrol, he went about his job with his typical professionalism, but any affability was history.  Traffic stops were sterile, conversation perfunctory; his spidey senses on high alert. I’m sure to those he stopped he seemed like the stereo-typical unapproachable officer. They had no idea how very close he’d come to losing his life earlier in the night, and how that had affected him.

They simply saw him as the uniform who’d pulled them over, and they were in a hurry to get back to the life they’d been rushing through in the first place. They had no interest in knowing the man behind the badge; the one who takes care of aging grandparents, a sister and her kids, and still finds time to befriend the crazy author lady and her children, and the little old couple next door. They won’t ever know the man who loves playing practical jokes, or steals freshly made cookies when he thinks no one is looking, or heck, even when they’re glaring right at him in warning. They don’t know how he mows his neighbor’s lawns, runs errands or fixes the little things that need fixing around their houses.  They’ll never know he loves college baseball, spicy Mexican food, or fly-fishing.

To them, he was the impersonal cop who wrote a ticket, and short of grumbling as they have to spend a day in traffic school, they’ll never think of him again. But to us he’s a hero. Not because he straps on a bullet resistant vest and firearm and risks his life every time he goes to work. Well, not just because he does that. He’s our hero because of who he is when the uniform comes off: the grandson, the brother, the uncle, the friend. Those drivers will never know how many lives were nearly destroyed by one tragic moment in time. And that’s okay. But I hope they remember that there’s a man under that uniform; one that we are truly thankful to have with us today.

I hope that as we transition from a time of Thanksgiving into the spirit of Christmas, you’ll keep this story close, and give that officer you interact with the benefit of the doubt. Not all will deserve it, but most will. And I hope you take the opportunity to thank someone’s hero for the risks they take and the sacrifices they make by choosing to be one of the too few men and women who walk the thin blue line.

Today I’ve shared a little about what defines a real-life hero, to me.  Now it’s your turn; what are some of the traits you feel define a hero?   Leave a message below.  I’m giving away two prizes: One US winner will receive an e-copy of Razing Kayne and a custom made ribbon bookmark, and a second winner (open to worldwide entries) will receive an e-book copy of Razing Kayne.

 

Razing Kayne:  For two years, State Trooper Kayne Dobrescu has wanted only one thing: to understand why his wife inexplicably killed their children and then herself. Memories haunt his days and lay siege to his nights, leaving him questioning his reasons for living.

Jessica Hallstatt became a widow and single mother the night her firefighter husband died in a fiery explosion at an accident scene. While her husband may have died a hero, he left Jessica with deep emotional scars that haven’t begun to heal.

When Kayne accepted a transfer to the mountain town of Payson, Arizona, he never expected to meet anyone like Jessica. From the moment he pulled her over for speeding, he was drawn in by her whiskey-colored eyes and sassy dimple. He knows she and her children are a forever type package, and he’s vowed never to give anyone the power to destroy him again. Yet fate has other ideas, throwing Kayne and Jessica together in a fight against an unknown enemy to save the life of a child—and hopefully one another.

 

About the author:

Julieanne Reeves is a third generation Arizonan with a background in Police-Fire-911 Communications. When she’s not spending time spoiling her two wonderful children, she enjoys reading and writing steamy romantic suspense. Having had the privilege of working with some of the finest Law Enforcement Officers in the nation, it’s little wonder her heroes carry a firearm and badge. Julieanne currently lives in the Phoenix-Metro area, but hopes to one day return to the mountain town that inspired her Walking a Thin Blue Line police series.

Her debut novel, Razing Kayne, is on-sale through all major e-book distributors (paperback coming soon) and has received some incredible reviews through Amazon.com and Goodreads.com.

Julieanne can be found on twitter at: @AuthorJReeves or on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/julieanne.reeves