This week I am reading a book that has been slowly climbing to the top of my reading list, a story of ghosts and romance and I cannot wait to get started!

Book Description

Jag Peters has one goal in his quiet comfortable life—to keep his karma slate wiped clean. A near-miss crash with a candy apple red Harley threatens to upend his safe world. He tracks down the rider to apologize properly. Slipping into a seedy biker bar, he discovers the rider isn’t a “he”, it’s a “she”, a dark-haired beauty.

Rena Jett is a troubled soul, who lives in a rough world. She wants no part of Jag’s apology, but even while she pushes him away, she is attracted to him. When he claims to see a ghost—her brother—can she trust him? And could her brother’s final gift, a magical rune stone with the symbol for “happily ever after” have the power to heal her wounds and allow opposites to find common ground—perhaps even love?

About the Author ~ Jan Sikes

I’ve been an avid reader all my life. I can still remember the excitement that surged through me the first time I realized I could decipher words. Many summers, I won the highest award possible from the Hobbs, NM Public Library for reading the most books.

There’s nothing I love more than losing myself in a story.

Oddly enough, I never had any ambition to be a writer. But I wound up in mid-life with a story that begged to be told. Not just any story, but a true story that rivalled any fiction creation. Through fictitious characters, the tale came to life in an intricately woven tale that encompasses four books. Not satisfied to stop with the books, I released music CDs of original music to match the time period of each story segment.

In conclusion, to bring the story full circle, I published a book of poetry and art. I was done.

Wrong!

The story ideas keep coming, and I don’t intend to turn off the creative fountain.

I am a member of the Author’s Marketing Guild, The Writer’s League of Texas, Romance Writers of America, and the Paranormal Writer’s Guild. I am an avid fan of Texas music and grandmother of five beautiful souls. I reside in North Texas.

Connect through Jan’s website: http://www.jansikes.com

Follow Jan on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AuthorJanSikesBooks

Follow Jan on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/JanSikes3

Follow Jan’s Blog: http://www.jansikesblog.com

Excerpt

Rena leaned back against the faded red leather covering the worn booth and stared at the stranger seated across from her. Her sharp instincts honed from years of practice told her this man was different. She guessed him to be in his mid-twenties, maybe a year or two older than her. Something in her gut said he was sincere, that he didn’t have an ulterior motive. The waitress set their coffees on the table and Rena reached for hers. “I’m not a big fan of karma,” she admitted. “I’ve never seen the bad guys get what they have coming to them.”

Jag set his cup down. “That’s because the timing for karma isn’t determined by us. We can do things to help it along, like me coming to find you and apologize for spacing out and nearly running you down.”

She interrupted him with a harrumph. “You can save your breath if you’re about to tell me there is a God up there somewhere in the ethers who gives a shit about people getting what they deserve.”

She twirled a silver band on her right finger. “I’ve seen too much to ever believe that.” “That wasn’t what I was going to say. It’s much more basic than that, but we can talk about something else. All I know is that I made a commitment to myself years ago to try and keep my karma slate clean. I can’t speak for anyone else.”

Silence grew thick between them.

Jag’s cell phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled it out and gave it a quick glance. “Let me guess.” Sarcasm dripped off Rena’s tongue. “It’s your girlfriend wondering where you are.”

She might have known a handsome man like him would have a girlfriend. All the good ones did. He expertly hit the delete button for the second time in less than thirty minutes.

“No. Actually, it’s my boss.” “A hard drive has crashed and they need you pronto to get things running again so they don’t lose precious dollars?” “How do you know I’m a computer geek?” Jag met her stare. “What if I’m a schoolteacher or librarian?”

She laughed. “I told you, I live by instincts, and they’re never wrong. You’re a computer guy. It’s written all over you. Besides, you have the Granite Technology logo on your shirt pocket.”

“Very observant.” Jag reached for his coffee. “So, the next thing you’re going to tell me is that you have to go. Don’t worry, I’m not keeping you.”

She sized him up from hooded eyelids. With his slightly wavy brown hair, six-foot frame, and bluish-gray eyes that sparkled when he smiled, he could have been a model out of a classy men’s magazine, except for his lack of self-confidence.

He cleared his throat. “I have a few more minutes, but then I will have to go.”

Worry is a terrible thing, it steals the quality of life from right under your nose, reducing your world into a place of doom and gloom. We have been sitting on a massive worry these past six months and have refused to start the new year until we had good news.

I have desperately tried to keep everything normal, finish my WIP and keep the website going, but have to admit it was a poor imitation of the real thing, and I apologise for that.

I have not been sharing much of this with our friends and followers and this may seem strange after all your incredible support when Anita had that massive heart attack in 2020. Your love and good wishes pulled us through that terrible time, but when disaster struck again last year, it seemed far more serious, and we really felt that talking about it might make it worse.

Anita’s heart is still severely damaged, and despite having two stents and a pacemaker fitted, it only barely functions. When a series of lumps started to appear around her neck last year, the alarm bells started ringing again.

Because of the raging virus and all the hospital delays, it took months to have the lumps investigated. The consultant mentioned cancer and after deliberation, they finally decided to remove part of her thyroid. Surgery was a problem as they didn’t think her heart was strong enough, but they said that delaying it was not an option.

A nightmare time for all the family, especially Anita for she can’t abide hospitals at the best of times. My sister has never been ill and to be struck down by two life threatening illnesses almost at the same time seems very unfair. She made it through the surgery without incident, but we had to wait two agonising weeks to get the results of the tests.

By this time, we were all terrified and sick with worry, dreading the news.

The day of the appointment, I felt sick to my stomach but somehow kept a smile on my face. I think I held my breath when she was called into the consultants office, but five minutes later the door opened and she rushed out of the room, a massive smile on her face. We watched in amazement as she ran out of the ENT department to a standing ovation from the nurses.

By this time, we knew the news must be good, but I wanted to know how good. Just before we all reached the lifts, I caught her arm and made her stop walking. ‘Well,’, I said and waited.

She stood there and laughed at me, and I didn’t think she was going to say anything.

‘THERE IS NO CANCER,’ she shouted.

All the way home in the car, she kept saying those words, and her relief was wonderful to see. Despite the odds, her poor old ticker had survived the surgery and she was cancer free.

But four days later, we had to rush back to the hospital, as Anita was having trouble breathing. She is now back home, but it seems that worrying isn’t going anywhere after all.

She is looking better, although still very weak and breathless much of the time. The list of her medications grows ever longer, but … and you may have noticed this, none of what happened has stopped her writing her poetry.

Now all I have to do, is get my own head back together!