Avery Daniels graduated from
college with a degree in business administration and has worked in Fortune 500
companies and the Department of Defense her entire life. She lives in Colorado
with two brother black cats as her spirited companions, volunteers at a cat
shelter, enjoys scrapbooking and card making, photography, and painting in
watercolor and acrylic. She inherited a love for reading from her mother and
grandmother and grew up talking about books at the dinner table. Learn more
about Avery and her books at her website.
Frustrations Galore
Hello, I’m Julienne
LaMere. I make my debut in Iced by
Avery Daniels. The beginning briefly shows how good my life started. I opted
out of college because I was fortunate to get accepted in a management-training
program at a five-star resort. I am receiving on-the-job training on how to run
luxury resorts. How amazing is that! I think I am doubly blessed to start my
career at the foot of a majestic mountain with a resort that exemplifies
European elegance and glamour. Not that I am biased in the least.
As part of the training, I
rotate jobs to learn each area. Currently I am doing event planning. One local
Influential Leaders Networking Luncheon finds a celebrity mega-church pastor
getting a bit grabby with me. I knee him where it counts and leave. Next time I
see him, he has the pointy nose of the swordfish ice sculpture through his
chest. Gulp.
Because of my incident
with the good pastor I become the prime suspect. Frustration Number One and
granted, the biggest concern. But oh, it is only the beginning of my trials and
tribulations.
The incredibly popular and
nationally known pastor haunts me from his grave, as if in retaliation for my
knee to his sensitive bits, in the form of his devoted fans and church members
calling to have me fired. If it weren’t for my dad hiring a lawyer, I might
have lost my job before I could take a breath.
Oh, then there is my dad. Family
is always a challenge… am I right? Come on, be honest now. Frustration Number Two,
my father pours on the pressure to stop pursuing a career and marry, preferably
with a financially set man, and start giving him the grandchildren he wants. Arggggggg!
My boyfriend, who is a
long-term best friend of my cousin and nearly a member of the family because of
it, decides to pop the question. Sure, most women would be over the moon,
right? I was blown away, especially when he reveals how he sees my ambition to
manage resorts around the world as silly little fantasies that I should have
left in the dust with my Barbies. Frustration Number Three.
As if all this weren’t
enough to make a hummingbird exhausted or a Tasmanian Devil lose his cool, I
have a new neighbor who the senior women simply call “the hot new guy.” I call
him Bond Jr. because he is suave, a photographer of celebrities, and a
professional level gambler. Somehow I have sparked his interest, not that I did
anything for that honor. To be honest, the man scares the pudding out of me, he
is just too….sexy. Now, you may not think that is a frustration, ladies, but
when you are attempting to work through problems with your boyfriend and his
detailed plans for our future that trample my dreams – it is yet another
complication in life I could do without at the moment. Really.
I don’t want to reveal all
my frustrations, but suffice it to say I had to put my foot down in several
instances…and take control of this situation before the police make a terrible
mistake. I’m part French, and the last thing you want is this little French gal
mad as a hornet. So I’m putting together a list for the police of other more
worthy suspects they should be looking at, which involves my going undercover
at one point. Some of what I discover about the dearly departed pastor is more
than blush worthy, too.
If you would like to
commiserate with me, read about all the frustrations and revelations I dig up,
let alone the danger I come far too close to, check out the account of my
adventure in Iced by Avery Daniels.
Iced
Julienne has her ideal job
as an event planner at a prestigious resort. During a luncheon event she
coordinated, a renowned celebrity pastor is killed next to the buffet. All eyes
turn to her as the suspect. If she wants to stay out of jail or even keep her
job, Julienne needs all the help she can get to solve the crime.
She has her work cut out
for her with a vengeful high school rival now reporter, the public demanding
she be fired, plus family who knows what's best for her, and a boyfriend who
doesn't understand her. She turns to friends and a new ally to uncover who
wanted to put the pastor on ice.
Julienne goes undercover
and investigates a local swingers group as she follows the trail of clues
before they go cold. Can she gather enough suspects and motives to convince the
police to widen their investigation? Can she do it before the killer sets his
murderous sights on her? Will her personal life ever be as simple as unveiling
a murderer?
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Thank you for inviting me to join you this Thanksgiving Eve (in the US anyway).
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed visiting and hope everyone enjoyed getting a peek into Julienne's frustrations.
Avery Daniels