Hooray - today's an Ella Jade day! Here she is telling us about her new novel from Beachwalk Press, Crossfire of Love and why it was...
A Long Time Coming…
My new release Crossfire of Love was a real labor of love for me. It was a long
time in the making. Like 22 years in the making. Now, of course I didn't know
when I was 16, I'd eventually be an author. I'd always wanted to write, but I
could never have dreamed back then that there would be something called the
Internet and people would be able to read books on-line. If I had, I'd be in a
whole other profession.
What am I talking about? Oh, yes, my
new release. Let me go back to the beginning. I've always been intrigued by mob
movies, books and real life history. I grew up in South Philadelphia in the
early eighties. It was a tight-knit Italian community with lots of mafia
activity. Naturally, being the curious girl that I was, I researched as much as
I could on the topic. It wasn't as easy as it is today. Again, no Internet, and
when a 16 year old girl walked into a library and asked for reference books on
organized crime, a few eyebrows were raised. Hey, it was all in the name of
research. The writer was born.
I lived for movies like The
Godfather, GoodFellas and Once Upon a Time in America, to name a few. To this
day, I'll watch anything Robert DeNiro is in. He was probably the first crush I
had on a bad boy. And, Martin Scorsese is a genius. Just sayin'.
Here it is, 22 years later and I'm
penning my first mafia themed story. There was a reason I was doing all
that research, even if I didn't know why back then. Crossfire of
Love is ultimately a love story, but it has a mob flair. The story
begins when Gabriella is forced into an arranged marriage to Lorenzo, the son
of a big NYC crime lord. It seems her father Ace has gotten himself into a
bit of trouble with the Don and owes some big money. The head of the family
offers him a way out. He'll forgive the debt if Ace's daughter agrees to marry
his son. Hmm... I wonder how that will turn out?
I'll leave you with the blurb and
excerpt…
Can an arranged marriage lead to love?
Recent college graduate Gabriella has
finally married the man of her dreams, the older, charismatic attorney Lorenzo
Martinez. She's had a crush on him for as long as she can remember and always
imagined they'd one day find their happily ever after. Unfortunately, they
enter into a union arranged by their fathers.
Lorenzo is charming, protective, and
loyal to his crime lord father Carlo. When Carlo asks Lorenzo to marry
Gabriella he jumps at the opportunity. He's been drawn to her for many years
and knows by marrying her he's helping to protect her father.
Gabby is resentful and won't be
Lorenzo's charity case. But sparks fly and the couple soon gives into their
desire, realizing they were meant to be together.
What happens when Carlo's enemies
threaten their future? Will someone get caught in the crossfire?
Excerpt
Lorenzo walked up the porch steps,
turning to stare at her. "Are you coming, Gabriella?" No one but
Lorenzo and his father called her by her full name. She liked when Lorenzo said
it. He'd always made it sound so formal and sexy.
These were the first words he had spoken
to her since they left the courthouse. They were married in the chambers of the
prestigious Judge John Cartwright. He'd been a family friend of the Martinezes
for many years. He was their go-to man whenever they needed something done fast
and legally. Well, legal in her new father-in-law's eyes anyway.
She hurried up the steps and followed
Lorenzo inside their new home. It was built within a matter of months after
she'd agreed to marry him. Carlo wanted them to have their privacy, but he also
wanted to keep them close. He didn't trust she'd hold up her end of the
bargain, and keeping her on the property was the best way to ensure she
wouldn't run.
It was silly, really. How could she run
from a family like this? They had ties all over the world. There wasn't any
place she could escape to that they wouldn't know about. She was a woman of her
word. She said she would marry Lorenzo and she did. She'd find a way to cope.
She always had.
Lorenzo pulled his jacket off, poured
himself a scotch, and then loosened his tie. "Would you like a
drink?"
"No, thank you," she said.
Most brides would be dancing the night
away and drinking champagne by this point in their wedding night. She didn't
think that was part of Lorenzo's plan.
"I didn't think you'd go through
with it." He sipped the amber colored liquid as he looked her over.
"I said I would."
"I know, but when push actually
came to shove, I thought you'd run."
"You don't know me that well,"
she said. "I don't run."
"Good." He smirked as he put
the glass to his lips.
Gabby couldn't take her eyes away from
those lips. She'd never had the pleasure of having them on her own. Judge
Cartwright hadn't asked him to kiss his bride. She hated herself for thinking
about him that way.
"You could've stopped this. Why
didn't you?" she asked.
As they stood in front of the judge, she
kept hoping he'd put an end to the charade and stop the wedding. It didn't make
sense to her why he had agreed to marry her. She didn't have a choice. Her
father's gambling debts made sure of that. But she didn't understand why he'd
allowed things to get as far as they had.
"I was just as trapped as you
were." He downed the rest of his scotch.
She didn't believe that. She knew he
respected his dad, but she didn't get why he wouldn't have put his foot down
and said no to such a life-altering decision.
"You could've told your father no
from the beginning. Why would you agree to marry someone if you didn't have
to?"
"Look." He shook his head.
"It's done now. We're going to have to make the best of it."
"Make the best of it?" She
plopped down on the leather sofa. "I'm twenty-two years old. I just
graduated from college, and you want me to make the best of it?"
"I know this isn't what you might
have wanted, but it is what it is. You agreed, and now it's done. You can't go
back on it now. My father won't forgive that."
Ella
