Veiled Intentions Blog Tour! (+$10 Amazon GC Giveaway!)

Title: Veiled Intentions

Author: Eileen Carr

Series: N/A

Pages: 352

Date Published: January 1st 2014

Publisher: Pocket Star 

Format: eBook

Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Source:Goddess Fish Blog Tours

Synopsis:

When a Muslim high school student is accused of a crime she didn’t commit, her school counselor gets involved to clear her record in this ripped-from-the-headlines novel.

When Lily Simon finds cops in the lobby of the high school where she’s a guidance counselor, she’s not surprised: cops and adolescents go together like sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll. But when the cops take Jamila, a Muslim student, into custody for a crime she didn’t commit, Lily’s high school becomes a powder keg.

Police think Jamila is responsible for a hit and run, and since she’s not talking, they have no choice but to keep her as the main suspect. And since the victim—a young soldier recently returned from Afghanistan—is lying unconscious in the hospital, the whole town is taking sides on whether or not Jamila’s arrest is religious persecution. Determined to find the truth, Lily teams up with a reporter to uncover what really happened the night of the hit and run.

~Guest Post!~

I don’t think I would have ever been able to write Veiled Intentions without my book club. I realize that being in a book club isn’t unique, but our book club is special. A few years ago, we christened ourselves the Big Dumb Book Club or the BDBC. It was kind of a joke. We’d read One Hundred Years of Solitude and kind of didn’t get it. Since it was on pretty much everyone in the world’s list of Best Books Ever, we figured we were missing something and were too dumb to figure it out.

The reason we can laugh about being the Big Dumb Book Club is the whole irony thing. We are neither big nor dumb. Most of the members of the club are tiny little things (except me) who barely nibble on the snacks provided. Since I tend to cook as if I’m feeding teenage boys (there are habits that are hard to break!), they barely make a dent in the food when it’s my turn to host. They also aren’t dumb. We have a couple of lawyers, a therapist, a nurse, two authors, a school counselor, a wildlife biologist, a biotechnology expert, and more sharp smart women.

When I started toying with some of the ideas behind Veiled Intentions, I wondered about setting it in a school. I invited my book club school counselor friend for coffee and picked her brain. She gave me so much information and insight! It was her knowledge and experience that really started the book rolling. Then I decided to use a courtroom scene to frame a lot of the action. One of the book club lawyers came over for cookies and tea. Bam! My courtroom scenes came to life. The other book club author read an early draft and set me straight on a few things with a gentle but firm hand. I really don’t know how I would have written the book without them.

As an author, I never know what is going to spark an idea or become a detail in a book. I had no idea that joining this book club years ago would end up being such a driving force behind one of my more ambitious novels. I actually just wanted to sit around, drink wine, and talk about books once a month. I feel lucky that the BDBC has given me both those things. Thanks, guys! You’re the best!

~Try an Excerpt!~

Shelby went to her room, pulled the basket of old stuffed animals out of her closet, and dug down under the teddy bears and bunnies and puppy dogs until she found the bottle of vodka. She ran her hand up and down the cool, clear glass already starting to feel how it would calm her, steady her, heal her.

Maybe it didn’t have anything to do with her. Maybe it was all a coincidence. Maybe Miss Perfect Princess Jamila had really done something wrong and had to suffer the consequences like everyone else.

Yeah, right.

She got a juice glass from the cupboard, poured in a healthy slug of vodka and added orange juice. Then she drained the whole thing in one long gulp. She stashed the bottle of vodka, rinsed her glass and put it in the dishwasher, and started watching the episode of Survivor she’d DVRed. She floated on the couch, feeling warm and soft, like all the hard edges of the day had been somehow sanded off.

“Hey, sweetheart, how was school?” Her mom bustled in the front door, kicked off her shoes, and dumped her purse on the credenza by the front door.

Every day. How was school? Did you have a good day? What did you have for lunch? So many questions and none of them mattered. None of them meant anything.

“Fine.” Shelby didn’t look up from the TV.

“That’s it? Fine?” She stood there, hands on her hips, waiting.

“Yeah, Mom. Fine. That’s it.” Shelby felt her heart kick up a little. It always did that when she lied. She hated it. She pulled the blanket she was under up to her chin.

Her mother came over to the couch and sat down next to her. “You feeling okay, honey?”

Thank God, she’d popped that piece of chewing gum in her mouth five minutes before. No way would her mom smell the booze on her breath over the blast of watermelon and lime. “I’m fine, Mom. Just tired.”

Her mother brushed her forehead with her hand. “You look a little flushed. You sure you’re okay?”

Shelby rolled her eyes. “I’m fine, Mom.” If she only knew how far that was from the truth. Shelby was so far from fine, she wouldn’t be able to find it with a GPS.

~Meet Eileen!~ 

Eileen Carr was born in Dayton, Ohio. She moved when she was four and only remembers that she was born across the street from Baskin-Robbins. Eileen remembers anything that has to do with ice cream. Or chocolate. Or champagne.

Eileen’s alter ego, Eileen Rendahl, is the award-winning author of four Chick Lit novels and the Messenger series.

Eileen will be awarding a $10 Amazon/BN GC to five randomly drawn winners via rafflecopter during the tour!

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