Dylan's Song Blog Tour!

Title: Dylan's Song
Author: P.M.Terrell
Series: Black Swamp Mysteries #4 
Pages: 244
Publisher: Drake Valley Press
Date Published: February 4th, 2013
Format: eBook
Genre: Mystery
Source: Goddess Fish Blog Tour

Synopsis:
Dylan Maguire returns to his native Ireland with psychic spy Vicki Boyd. Their mission: to locate and extract a CIA Agent who disappeared in Dublin while on the trail of a known terrorist. But when Dylan receives word that his grandmother is dying, he is plunged into a past he thought he’d left behind forever. His mission and the dark secrets he’d sought to keep hidden begin to merge into an underworld that could cost him his life. He must now confront his past demons and the real reason he left Ireland—while Vicki harbors a secret of her own.

~~~Recipe for a Hero~~~

Heroes come in many forms, and in the Black Swamp Mysteries series, I have several main characters that move to the forefront in different ways. Each brings something unique to the role of hero or heroine:

Vicki Boyd is a CIA psychic spy. In many ways, she doesn’t conjure up the typical image of a heroine: she has lived her missions in her mind’s eye but hasn’t truly been outside the CIA’s protective reach in her personal or professional life. But her story is the transformation from an average young woman to a person who must find the strength, determination, courage and fortitude to transform into a heroine who must save her own life.

The transformation from an anti-hero to someone extraordinary happens in stages. The inner transformation occurs in someone who questions herself and her own abilities to someone who trusts her instincts and finds the guts to stand up for what she believes. In Vicki’s Key, it means putting her insecurities aside when she must get rid of a body—by feeding it to the alligators. And it also means trusting in herself when she realizes the only person she’d truly trusted isn’t who she thinks he is.

It also means transforming physically. In Secrets of a Dangerous Woman, Dylan asks her street-savvy sister Brenda to watch over Vicki and keep her from harm. But when Brenda is attacked and rendered unconscious, it’s Vicki who must remember the self-defensive techniques Dylan taught her to escape an assailant and save Brenda.

Vicki is the reluctant hero; never one to crave adventure, she would have been perfectly content to let others protect her. It’s only through adverse circumstances that render the others incapable of protecting her that she must rise to her own potential.

Dylan Maguire is a very different type of hero who grew up in a rough-and-tumble, rural area of Ireland. A son of absentee parents, he has always been physical. His frustration, anger, sadness or disappointment often gains an outlet through his fists—or his feet. A champion kickboxer, he is accustomed to taking charge and taking care of himself.

Dylan’s transformation is not through the rise to hero status but in connecting with a softer side to his humanity. He is a natural protector—and must often rise to protecting Vicki, himself or others through his role as a CIA operative. But it is in the softer moments when he falls in love with Vicki, when he allows himself to feel the connectedness, the intimacy, and the romance that he becomes whole.

He often doesn’t take the time to consider his own self-preservation. In Secrets of a Dangerous Woman, his CIA boss, Sam Mazoli, tells him to leave without him when Sam is injured. But as enemies swarm the building and Dylan sees his escape route is clear, he instead returns to Sam, picks him up, and carries him to safety—even though the risk could have killed them both.

In Dylan’s Song, his mission is clear: find and extract a CIA operative from imprisonment in a partially collapsed dungeon hidden in the Irish bogs. He goes in with two other operatives. When one is killed and the other injured, Dylan could have fulfilled his mission by ensuring the safety of the man he came to rescue. Instead, he goes back for the injured operative and with the enemies on their backs, he saves two men.These two are opposite extremes of what a hero can be. They not only make their roles work for the CIA, but they also find love and acceptance in each other’s arms.

~~~Try an Excerpt!~~~

When Dylan reached the water’s edge, he set Vicki on the ground long enough to strip her of the blanket, which he tossed on the ground. Then despite her growing protestations, he scooped her into his arms again and waded into the pond. As she felt the water against her backside, she squealed and buried her face against his neck. “Don’t drop me in here!” she begged.

He threw his head back and laughed. “I’m goin’ to do a lot more than that,” he said as he waded in above his waist.

As they neared the middle of the pond, she pleaded, “Please don’t drop me. It’s freezing!”

He stopped and looked at her, a broad smile across his face.

“What are you doing?” she asked. “Are you insane?”

He raised one brow. “Perhaps I am, at that. But it’s high time you learned to live life to its fullest.”

He shifted his arms so she was half-floating in the water. “It’s warmer under the surface than it is above,” he whispered. His voice had grown husky. “In the deepest part o’ this pond, it’s under five feet. So when we go under, your feet can still be touchin’ the ground.”

“Don’t put me down,” she warned, her voice growing serious. “Don’t—”

Before she could continue, he dunked them both under the water’s surface. Seconds later, she re-emerged to find him grinning from ear to ear.

“I didn’t lie to you, now did I?” he said. He let her slip from his arms. As her feet found the bottom, he continued, “It’s warmer now, isn’t it?”

“I ought to brain you,” she said in mock anger. She leaned back, allowing the water to soak her long hair. As she pulled her head above the water once more, she finger-combed it away from her face.

He stepped toward her as a lock of water-soaked hair fell across his forehead. His eyes had turned to vivid green in the light of the moon. With the initial shock wearing off and her body warming under the surface of the water, she pressed herself against his chest. As his arms wrapped around her gently, she tilted her head back and draped her arms around his neck.

His lips were full and soft as they brushed against hers. He looked into her eyes and smiled, causing his laugh lines to crinkle and his irises to sparkle. He had an uncanny ability to live in the moment, she thought as she parted her lips. This gift was infectious, and as his lips found hers once more, she felt her heart grow lighter. She felt weightless as he held her, his strong hands rubbing against her back and through her hair while his chest pressed against hers. She didn’t ever want this moment to end.

~~~Meet P.M!~~~

P.M.terrell is the award-winning, internationally acclaimed author of more than 16 books. Vicki's Key, one of the first books in the Black Swamp Mysteries series, was one of five finalists in the 2012 International Book Awards (Mystery/Suspense) and 2012 USA Best Book Awards (Mystery/Suspense.) River Passage, an historical work based on her ancestor's migration to Fort Nashborough in 1779-1780, won the 2010 Best Fiction & Drama Award. The Nashville (TN) Metropolitan Government Archives determined it to be so historically accurate that they entered the original manuscript into their Archives for future researchers and historians. Prior to becoming a full-time author in 2002, terrell founded and operated two computer companies in the Washington, DC area. Her clients included the United States Secret Service, CIA, Department of Defense and federal and local law enforcement. Her specialty is in the areas of computer crime and computer intelligence. Her experience in these areas have greatly influenced her books' plots. She is the co-founder of The Book 'Em Foundation, whose slogan is "Buy a Book and Stop a Crook" and whose mission is to raise awareness of the link between high crime rates and high illiteracy rates. She founded Book 'Em North Carolina Writers Conference and Book Fair, an annual event to raise money to increase literacy and reduce crime.

P.M will be giving one lucky commenter during the tour a gorgeous silver Celtic Claddagh necklace. The jewelry is beautiful and you can have your chance to win by asking P.M. a question!