{"id":505,"date":"2018-09-18T14:13:18","date_gmt":"2018-09-18T17:13:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.twobooksinashelf.com\/?p=505"},"modified":"2018-09-18T14:13:18","modified_gmt":"2018-09-18T17:13:18","slug":"excerpt-five-years-gone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.twobooksinashelf.com\/index.php\/excerpt-five-years-gone\/","title":{"rendered":"Excerpt – Five Years Gone"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Hoje temos um trechinho do pr\u00f3ximo livro da autora Marie Force, FIVE YEARS GONE. A data prevista de lan\u00e7amento \u00e9 dia 09\/10 e voc\u00ea encontra os links de compra abaixo.<\/h3>\n<\/td>\n

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Today we are sharing an excerpt from FIVE YEARS GONE, a romantic standalone title by Marie Force. Five Years Gone<\/em> will be releasing on October 9th! Pre-order links can be found below.<\/h3>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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\"\"<\/p>\n

FIVE YEARS GONE by Marie Force<\/b><\/h1>\n

Coming October 9<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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ABOUT THE BOOK:<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The most brazen terrorist attack in history. A country bent on revenge. A love affair cut short. A heart that never truly heals.<\/strong><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n
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I knew on the day of the attack that our lives were changed forever. What I didn\u2019t know then was that I\u2019d never see John again after he deployed. One day he was living with me, sleeping next to me, making plans with me. The next day he was gone.<\/p>\n

That was five years ago. The world has moved on from that awful day, but I\u2019m stuck in my own personal hell, waiting for a man who may be dead for all I know. At my sister\u2019s wedding, I meet Eric, the brother of the groom, and my heart comes alive once again.<\/p>\n

The world is riveted by the capture of the terrorist mastermind, brought down by U.S. Special Forces in a daring raid. Now I am trapped between hoping I\u2019ll hear from John and fearing what\u2019ll become of my new life with Eric if I do.<\/p>\n

From a New York Times<\/em> bestselling author, Five Years Gone<\/em>, a standalone contemporary, is an epic story of love, honor, duty, unbearable choices and impossible dilemmas.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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PRE-ORDER IT NOW!<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Kindle US<\/a> | iBooks<\/a> | Nook<\/a> | Kobo<\/a> | Google<\/a><\/h2>\n

Amazon UK<\/a> | Amazon CA<\/a> | Amazon AU<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

PURCHASE IN PRINT: Marie’s Store<\/a> | Amazon<\/a> | Barnes & Noble<\/a> | Chapters Indigo<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

IndieBound<\/a> | Booktopia AU<\/a> | Books-a-Million<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

PURCHASE IN AUDIO: Amazon<\/a> | Audible US<\/a> | Audible UK<\/a> | Audible AU<\/a> <\/strong><\/p>\n

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Read this excerpt from Five Years Gone.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Prologue<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ava<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

We met in a bar, of all places, a dingy hole-in-the-wall favored by military members from the nearby Navy base in San Diego. I went with a friend from school who was interested in one of the military guys. Before that night, I\u2019d never been there, and I\u2019ve never been back. John was celebrating the promotion of one of his buddies. He crashed into me as I left the ladies\u2019 room and kept me from falling by grabbing my arms to steady me.<\/p>\n

Just like in the movies, our eyes met, and my spine tingled with the kind of instantaneous awareness I\u2019d only read about but never experienced personally.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m so sorry,\u201d he said, gorgeous and fierce in his fatigues.<\/p>\n

I noticed gold on his collar, a hint of late-day scruff on his jaw and the name WEST in bold black letters on his chest. Intense electric-blue eyes made it impossible for me to look away, even when I was safely back on my feet.<\/p>\n

\u201cAre you all right?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n

Realizing I\u2019d been staring at him, I blinked and reluctantly broke the connection. \u201cI\u2026 Yes, I\u2019m fine. Thank you for the save.\u201d<\/p>\n

And then he smiled, and the tingling began anew.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m John.\u201d<\/p>\n

I shook his outstretched hand. \u201cAva.\u201d<\/p>\n

Keeping his hold on my hand, he tipped his head. \u201cYou come here often?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNever,\u201d I said, laughing. \u201cI\u2019m a first-timer.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat do you think so far?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t impressed until about thirty seconds ago.\u201d<\/p>\n

As if he had all the time in the world to give me, he leaned against the wall. \u201cIs that right? What happened thirty seconds ago?\u201d<\/p>\n

I thought about taking back my hand but didn\u2019t. \u201cI was saved from certain disaster by a man in uniform.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe guy in the uniform is the reason you needed saving in the first place, because he wasn\u2019t watching where he was going. Least he can do is buy you a drink.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI wouldn\u2019t say no to that.\u201d I was proud of my witty responses and got the feeling he could more than hold his own in the wittiness department. Across the crowded room, I noticed my friend talking to the guy she\u2019d come to see, and her brows lifted in interest when she saw me with John. He guided me to the bar, placing a proprietary hand on my lower back, and told one of the guys to give me his stool.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, sir.\u201d The younger man bowed gallantly to me as he took his beer and moved along.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo people always do what you say?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they know what\u2019s good for them.\u201d His teasing grin kept the comment from being overly cocky. \u201cWhat can I get you?\u201d<\/p>\n

Deciding to live dangerously for once, I asked for a cosmopolitan.<\/p>\n

\u201cGo big or go home,\u201d he said with admiration.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s my motto.\u201d I was so full of shit. I wondered if he could tell I was all talk or what he\u2019d think of me if he knew I usually err much closer to the side of caution than the wild side. I wondered if he could tell I was just barely old enough to drink. I\u2019d turned twenty-one only six months earlier.<\/p>\n

When my cosmo and his Budweiser had been delivered, he offered a toast. \u201cTo new friends.\u201d<\/p>\n

I touched my glass to his bottle. \u201cTo new friends.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, where\u2019re you from, Ava?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNew York.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought I heard New Yawk in your voice.\u201d<\/p>\n

I batted my eyelashes at him. \u201cSo four years at the University of California San Diego didn\u2019t scrub the New York out of me?\u201d<\/p>\n

Laughing, he said, \u201cHardly. I know some guys from New York. One of them is from Staten Island, which is about as New York as it gets. I know New York when I hear it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m from Purchase, upstate from the city. What about you?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m from all over. My old man is a retired general. You name it, I\u2019ve lived there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere\u2019s home?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRight here.\u201d He turned that intense gaze on me, and I went stupid in the head. I couldn\u2019t see anything but him. We might as well have been alone in the crowded bar for all I knew. Unlike my friend, who loved men in uniform, I was never turned on by the uniform. Until then. Until John. \u201cYou want to get out of here?\u201d<\/p>\n

I swallowed hard. It wasn\u2019t like me to leave a bar with a man I\u2019d just met. \u201cAnd go where?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSomewhere we can talk.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat do you want to talk about?\u201d<\/p>\n

He leaned in so his lips were close to my ear. \u201cEverything. I want to know every single thing there is to know about you.\u201d<\/p>\n

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That\u2019s how we started. We were intense from the first second we met until the last time I saw him five years ago today. I can\u2019t believe it\u2019s been five years since I looked into those incredible blue eyes or woke to him on the pillow next to me or heard his voice in my ear, whispering words that\u2019re permanently carved into my heart as he made love to me.<\/p>\n

The worst part is I have no idea where he is. I don\u2019t know if he\u2019s alive or dead, being held captive or if he\u2019s living his life somewhere else with someone else. I don\u2019t know, and the not knowing is the hardest thing I\u2019ve ever dealt with.<\/p>\n

I love him as much today as I ever did. No amount of time could ever change that simple fact of my life. We had two beautiful, magnificent years together, caught up in our own little bubble. He never met my family. I never met his. We didn\u2019t make couple friends. We didn\u2019t talk about the future. We didn\u2019t need to. Our future was decided that first night, and it would take care of itself in due time. I honestly and na\u00efvely believed that.<\/p>\n

Now, with hindsight, I realize the bubble was strategic on his part. He gave me everything he had to give, including no promise of tomorrow.<\/p>\n

Five years ago today, we watched the horror unfold on live television. A US-based cruise ship blown up by suicide bombers. Four thousand lives extinguished in a heartbeat. Our world permanently changed once again, our country declaring yet another war on terrorists. After 9\/11 we thought we\u2019d seen everything. We were wrong.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have to go,\u201d he said, grabbing the duffel that stood ready in the front hall closet. He called it his \u201cgo bag.\u201d I\u2019d thought nothing of it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere\u2019re you going?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen will you be back?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know that either.\u201d He held my face in his hands and gazed at me, seemingly trying to memorize my every feature. \u201cI love you. I\u2019ll always love you.\u201d Then he kissed me as passionately as he ever had and was gone, out the door in a flash of camouflage.<\/p>\n

I never saw him again.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not his wife or even his fianc\u00e9e, so no one notified me of his whereabouts. And three months after he left, when I found a way onto the base in a desperate quest for information, no one there could tell me anything either. I tried to locate his parents and other people he mentioned, but it was like they didn\u2019t exist. I could find no record of a retired general named West in the Marine Corps, Army or Air Force.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, an exhaustive search for information on the John West I had known led nowhere. No high school, no college, no military service, no nothing.<\/p>\n

Sometimes I wonder if I dreamed the two years we spent together, doing mundane things like grocery shopping, cooking, watching TV and sleeping together after long days at work. But then I\u2019d remember the blissful passion, the scorching pleasure, the desire that ruled us from the beginning, and I\u2019d know I didn\u2019t dream him. I didn\u2019t dream us. We were real, and he was everything to me.<\/p>\n

Sitting on the floor in our apartment, surrounded by boxes, I take a few minutes before the movers arrive to memorize every detail of the place where we lived together. I\u2019ve packed his things along with mine, and I\u2019m moving home to New York. Today was my deadline. I gave it five years, and I simply can\u2019t do it anymore. I can\u2019t sit in our home among our things, waiting for something that\u2019s never going to happen.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s over. It\u2019s time for me to move on. It\u2019s probably long past time, if I\u2019m being honest with myself. And though I know it\u2019s the right move at the right time, that doesn\u2019t mean my heart isn\u2019t shattering all over again as I dismantle the place where we were us.<\/p>\n

My sister is getting married next month. I promised her I\u2019d be home in time to hold her hand through the festivities. Other than occasional trips home for holidays and other occasions, I\u2019ve been gone more than ten years. I bear no resemblance whatsoever to the girl who left home at eighteen seeking independence from her overbearing family at a faraway college out West.<\/p>\n

I accomplished all my goals, finishing college, landing a decent job and falling in love with the man of my dreams. I found out what happens when dreams come true and how painful it is when they blow up in your face.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s time now to set new goals, to start over, to begin a life that doesn\u2019t have John at the center of it the way it did here. It\u2019ll be nice to be back with people who love me and care about me, even if they tend toward smothering at times. That\u2019s looking rather good to me after years of loneliness and grief.<\/p>\n

The intercom sounds to let me know the movers are here. I pick myself up off the floor and steel my heart for the day ahead. I can do this. I\u2019ve been through worse, and I\u2019ll survive this the same way I\u2019ve survived everything else. Despite my resolve, my eyes fill with tears as I press the button that opens the door downstairs to the movers.<\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t take them long to pack my belongings into their truck. I keep with me the things that can\u2019t be replaced\u2014precious photos, gifts he gave me, the clothing he left behind. After taking a final look around the apartment, I pack those boxes into my car, turn my apartment keys into the leasing office and head east, feeling as if I\u2019m leaving behind everything that ever mattered to me.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s like I\u2019m losing him all over again. I cry all the way through the desert of Southern California and well into Arizona. I relive every minute I can remember, every conversation, every special moment. I think about what it was like to make love with him and wonder how I\u2019ll ever to do that with anyone but him. Maybe I won\u2019t. Maybe that part of my life ended with him, and even though I\u2019m only twenty-eight now, I\u2019m okay with that possibility. Once you\u2019ve experienced perfection, it\u2019s hard to imagine settling for anything less.<\/p>\n

The tears finally dry up somewhere in northern Arizona, but the ache inside\u2026 I take that with me all the way to New York, where I will try my very best to pick up the pieces of my shattered life and put them back together into some new version of myself.<\/p>\n

After all, what choice do I have?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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ADD FIVE YEARS GONE TO GOODREADS<\/a><\/strong><\/h2>\n

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AUTHOR INFORMATION:<\/strong><\/h2>\n

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Marie Force<\/b> is the New York Times<\/i> bestselling author of contemporary romance, including the indie-published Gansett Island Series and the Fatal Series from Harlequin Books. In addition, she is the author of the Butler, Vermont Series, the Green Mountain Series and the erotic romance Quantum Series. In 2019, her new historical Gilded series from Kensington Books will debut with Duchess By Deception<\/i>. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

All together, her books have sold 6.5 million copies worldwide, have been translated into more than a dozen languages and have appeared on the New York Times<\/i> bestseller list many times. She is also a USA Today<\/i> and Wall Street Journal<\/i> bestseller, a <\/span>Speigel<\/span> bestseller in Germany, a frequent speaker and publishing workshop presenter as well as a publisher through her Jack\u2019s House Publishing romance imprint. She is a two-time nominee for the Romance Writers of America\u2019s RITA\u00ae award for romance fiction. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Her goals in life are simple\u2014to finish raising two happy, healthy, productive young adults, to keep writing books for as long as she possibly can and to never be on a flight that makes the news. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Join Marie’s mailing list<\/span><\/a> for news about new books and upcoming appearances in your area. Follow her on Facebook<\/span><\/a>, Twitter @marieforce<\/span><\/a> and on Instagram<\/span><\/a>.<\/span> Join one of Marie’s many reader groups<\/span><\/a>. Contact Marie at marie@marieforce.com<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

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AUTHOR LINKS:<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Website<\/a> | Facebook<\/a> | Twitter<\/a> | Instagram<\/a> | Newsletter<\/a> | Goodreads<\/a><\/h3>\n

Join Marie’s Reader Groups<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

\"InkSlinger<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hoje temos um trechinho do pr\u00f3ximo livro da autora Marie Force, FIVE YEARS GONE. A data prevista de lan\u00e7amento \u00e9 dia 09\/10 e voc\u00ea encontra os links de compra abaixo. Today we are sharing an excerpt from FIVE YEARS GONE, a romantic standalone title by Marie Force. Five Years Gone will be releasing on October…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.twobooksinashelf.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.twobooksinashelf.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.twobooksinashelf.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.twobooksinashelf.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.twobooksinashelf.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=505"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.twobooksinashelf.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":506,"href":"https:\/\/www.twobooksinashelf.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505\/revisions\/506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.twobooksinashelf.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.twobooksinashelf.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.twobooksinashelf.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}