Spotlight & Giveaway: Hell & Back by Julie Rowe

Posted September 18th, 2020 by in Blog, Spotlight / 43 comments

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Julie Rowe to HJ!
Spotlight&Giveaway

Hi Julie and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, Hell & Back!

 
I’m so excited to share Hell & Back with you!
 

Please summarize the book a la Twitter style for the readers here:

They’ll walk through hell and back to stop a traitor’s plans.
 

Please share the opening lines of this book:

“I feel like we’re playing a twisted version of that board game Clue,” Ruby Toth said to her family as she examined the list of names her father had just sent to her encrypted-up-thewazoo phone for the impossible job her parents wanted her to do.
Dinner eaten and pushed aside, her parents and her brother, Nate, all sat around the dining room table in the house she and Nate rented.
They were also looking at the same list with a variety of expressions on their faces.
Her mother’s mouth was pinched with irritation, while her father’s eyes had tightened in concern. Nate would have looked bored if his fingers weren’t tapping out a complicated
rhythm on the table.

 

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

Sooooo….this feels like a good time to mention that I wrote all the books in the Outbreak Task Force BEFORE Covid-19 happened. I’ve had more than one person wonder if I wrote Hell & Back after Covid-19 made itself known, but I’d already finished writing the book by Christmas 2019. Any similarities between my books and real life right now, are accidental.

 

What first attracts your Hero to the Heroine and vice versa?

What first attracts my hero (Henry) to the heroine (Ruby) is her courage and intelligence. She doesn’t assume things about people she takes the time to get to know them. She’s also cute and curvy, with a smile that he’s already addicted to seeing.

What first attracts Ruby to Henry is his intelligence and strength. He’s also very protective of her, which drives her just as crazy as it warms her heart. He’s gruff and growly, and hides his.
 

Using just 5 words, how would you describe Hero and Heroine’s love affair?

Passionate, dominant, explosive, loyal, and trusting.
 

The First Kiss…

Passionate, dominant, explosive, surprising, and sexy.
 

Without revealing too much, what is your favorite scene in the book?

My favorite scene is a moment where Ruby has to make a the best out of a bad decision and a worse decision.

She stood naked in front of the protective suit she had to put on.
Similar to a hazmat suit, it had a hose attached to the back pushing fresh air into the suit. The positive air pressure inside was enough to keep anything from getting in. The boots she stepped into and secured to the legs of her suit were too big, and the gloves were bulky.
How did anyone work with these things on?
She looked down at herself. White suit and boots with black gloves. “I look like a partially burned marshmallow.”
How much time had all this taken? There was a digital clock on the wall. Nearly twenty minutes.
She choked back a sob.
This wasn’t going to work. She was going to get caught.
Her brother was going to die.
“Stop sniveling and do it,” she said to herself. “If you don’t, they’ll kill Nate.”

 

If your book was optioned for a movie, what scene would be absolutely crucial to include?

The most crucial scene in the book is the one where Henry discovers how far Ruby will go to rescue her brother.

Arms crossed over his chest, Henry stood in the doorway, his face a mask of rage and disgust.
Rage and disgust aimed at her.
Ice froze her in place. She couldn’t move, couldn’t speak, couldn’t breathe.
Nausea rose in a hot, bitter wave and threatened to hijack her entire body. She fought it down with several convulsive swallows, her muscles so tense her bones threatened to break.
She was dead.
Her brother was dead.
Henry advanced—one step, two.
She backed up. Going around him was impossible—he took up too much space in the doorway. She had no doubt he’d squish her flat as a tank rolling over an ant hill.
Only after the door swung shut did he speak.
“What. The. Fuck.” The words came out of his mouth like bullets out of a gun. Each one physically rocked her back as pain blossomed across her chest.

 

Readers should read this book …

if they’re looking for a hot, growly, slightly battered hero who falls in love with a smart, curvy heroine while they fight to keep the most dangerous pathogens in CDC storage out of terrorist hands.

 

What are you currently working on? What other releases do you have planned?

My next release will be a self-published romantic suspense called Trapped with the Under Cover Prince. Look for it in December, 2020.

I’m also producing my Biological Response Team series into audiobooks. The first book, Deadly Strain, should be available in a couple of months. 🙂

 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

 

Giveaway: An ecopy of Viable Threat, the first book in the Outbreak Task Force series and a $10 egift card from Amazon!

 

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: In an effort to cope with the additional stress life keeps hurling, I’ve been actively searching out new authors to read. Some of my favorite new finds are: The Amaranthine Saga by Forthright, The Case Files of Henri Davenforth by Honor Raconteur, and the Demigods of San Francisco by K. F. Breene. What are you reading and loving right now?

 
a Rafflecopter giveaway

 
 

Excerpt from Hell & Back:

“About my brother—”
“I’m not just going to leave him hanging,” Henry interrupted. “We might have to go through with your intended plan of handing the sample over.” He glanced at the vial still sitting on the shelf inside the locker.
She hated the sight of it.
“Only,” he said after a moment, “you won’t be doing it alone.”
Alarm rang through her. Risking herself was one thing—risking Henry was something else entirely. “If they see you…”
“They’re not going to see me,” he said with an arrogance she’d never heard in him before. “You’re going to make the trade like they want, and I’ll kill them.”
He said it like someone would say they were going to the grocery store for bread and milk. A short, everyday chore. Just a little errand. Kill a few people and be home in time for pizza and a beer.
He was a veteran, but he’d left the army at least ten years ago. If he attacked the terrorists, there was a good chance they’d fight back, and more than the bad guys might die.
Her brother was already in danger. If Henry was, too…no. No, she couldn’t do it, couldn’t function if they were both in danger.
She stood, shaking like her bones were trying to break through her skin, and took a couple of steps away. “No.”
“No?” He stood, too. “What do you mean, no?”
“I mean you can’t do it. I’d be too afraid to think straight. I’d screw up and all of us would die. No.”
His eyes narrowed and he took a step toward her. “Why would you be too afraid to think?”
“Because you’d both be in danger. You and my brother.”
His eyebrows rose. “I rate on the same level as your twin brother?”
What? That’s not what she said. Ruby opened her mouth to explain, to refute his assumption, but not a sound came out of her mouth. That was what she’d said. Damn it. She snapped her big mouth shut.
Something hot flared in his eyes, and he leaned forward with a predatory smile curling his lips. “How did I get to be so important to you?”
Oh, you arrogant man.
She ignored the heat that rose in her thanks to that smile and sighed. “You’ve been nothing but kind to me. You’re an excellent mentor and friend.” That’s right, you’re hot, handsome, and squarely in my friend zone.
His gaze never left her face. “You’d be too afraid to function because your brother and a friend might be in danger of getting dead?”
When he put it that way, it made her sound like a dolt.
She was going to have to brazen her way out of this. She narrowed her eyes. “So what? You think that when things get hard, I should just dump all my problems into some schmuck’s lap?” She paused for a beat before continuing. “And yes, in this scenario, you’re the schmuck.”

Excerpts. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

Racing to lock down the CDC’s deadly virus samples from terrorists, ex-Special Forces medic Henry Lee partners with Ruby Toth on the Outbreak Task Force. But the terrorists always seem one step ahead. As they work side by side, Henry’s taken with how Ruby accepts and respects him, instead of pitying him for all he lost overseas, including his leg. Ruby’s hiding something, though, and Henry fears she’s been leaking sensitive information.

Terrorists have kidnapped her brother, and now microbiologist Ruby Toth faces a horrible choice. If she doesn’t give them a vial of Small Pox as ransom, her brother will die. She knows her prickly—yet very hot—boss, Henry, could provide the help she needs. But she joined the CDC to root out insiders plotting to unleash a bio-engineered pandemic, and she can’t trust anyone. Not even Henry.
Book Links: Amazon | B&N | iTunes | Goodreads |
 
 

Meet the Author:

Julie Rowe’s first career as a medical lab technologist in Canada took her to the North West Territories and northern, Alberta, where she still resides. She loves to include medical details in her romance novels, but admits she’ll never be able to write about all her medical experiences because, “Fiction has to be believable”. Julie writes romantic suspense and romantic thrillers. Her most recent titles include Hell & Back book #5 of the Outbreak Taskforce series and Trapped with the Secret Agent book #1 of the Trapped with Him series.
Website | Facebook | Twitter | | Instagram |

 
 
 

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43 Responses to “Spotlight & Giveaway: Hell & Back by Julie Rowe”

  1. Jeanna Massman

    I have been reading mysteries by J.A. Jance and Historical Romance by Mary Balogh.

  2. EC

    Nothing really feeling it right now. Maybe try some cozy mysteries.

    Or what about Chanel Cleeton?

  3. Mary Preston

    I am racing through the thrilling books of Jeffery Deaver. SO GOOD!!!

  5. Natalija

    Sadly, I’m currently in a reading slump. Haven’t read anything in a few weeks.

  6. Jennifer Shiflett

    I’m back and forth between single parent, taboo, and friends to lovers.

  7. courtney kinder

    The X-Ops series by Paige Tyler and the Hot Cakes series by Erin Nicholas.

  10. Pamela Conway

    I’ve discovered Christina Hovland, Kate Meader, Kelly Jamieson, Melanie Harlow, Jami Albright & Helena Hunting this year. Just love all of them!

  11. Juli Huber Hall

    Some of my favorite authors are Tia Louise, Aleatha Romig, Leddy Harper and Pepper Winters. They are my go to authors and read everything they write.

  13. laurieg72

    I’ve recently discovered Maggie Wells, Kate Meader, Jennifer Gracen, Stacy Finz, Stephanie Tyler, Tessa Bailey and Kat Martin.

  14. Kathleen O

    I just finished an ARC of A Little Country Christmas for review… Then I am getting into Breakfast at the Honey Creek Cafe by Jodi Thomas.

  16. Karina Angeles

    The Mile High Matched series by Christina Hovland. Love these books and can’t wait to read what she writes next.

  17. Glenda M

    I’ve been loving the entire Knitting in the City series and Winston Brothers series by Penny Reid as well as the spin off series/worlds published by Smartypants Romance. In addition I’ve been reading Tawna Fenske’s latest series, a lot of Grace Burrowes, Tessa Dare, Sarah, MacLean, . . .

  18. Pammie R.

    I have been reading everything I can get my hands on, particularly rom coms. Right now I am reading Marrying my Billionaire Hookup by Nadia Lee.

  22. Nina Lewis

    I’ve been reading a lot of MM Romance. Loved the Polished P&P series by Lila Rose. Also, a couple of anthologies. Those are great for finding new authors to read. I recommend the Dark Fairy Tales & Naughty Brits anthologies. 🙂

  23. Nicole (Nicky) Ortiz

    A couple series I have read and loved has been The GHOST Series by PJ Fiala, The Royal Elite Series by Rina Kent, The Kings of Bighton Series by Megyn Ward, Second Chance Chicago Series by Gina Azzi, Rosewood High Series by Tracy Lorraine

    Thanks for the chance!

  24. Audrey Stewart

    ‎Fredrik Backman is the author who I have been reading. A Man Called Ove and My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry. He is wonderful.

  25. Marisela Zuniga

    i’m reading playing with fire by lj shen. i love all her books

  26. BookLady

    Dark Illusion by Christine Feehan and Peace Talks (Dresden Files) by Jim Butcher

  27. erinf1

    I’ve actually been doing the opposite and been rereading. Ilona Andrews, Dawn Ryder, Megan Crane 🙂 But I’ve also been crazy busy at work (I work in healthcare) and so not as much time for reading. thanks for sharing!

  28. Jana Leah

    I’m loving catching up on the backlist of author Jayne Ann Krentz/Amanda Quick/Jayne Castle.

  30. Patricia B.

    I just finished BEACHSIDE BEGINNINGS by Sheila Roberts. It was a departure for me and not my usual read, women’s fiction rather than romance. It was good following major changes in the lives of 3 very different women, the challenges they faced, and the internal strength they had.

  33. Shannon Capelle

    I am reading the In Death series by JD Robb in a row from book 1 until the ones I havent read!!

  34. Anita H.

    I’m loving Sarah Morgan’s From Manhattan With Love series right now and trying to catch up on Jennifer Dawson’s Something New series and Gena Showalter’s Lords of The Underworlds

  35. Cheryl Hastings

    I, all about the hockey books right now. I reread the Kate Meader Chicago Rebels series to get ready for Man Down in the Rookie Rebels spin-off. Also love Mira Lyn Kelly

  39. Janie McGaugh

    I’m reading Promise of Darkness, the first book in Bec McMaster’s Dark Court Rising series.

  42. Terrill R.

    I buddy reading the complete Pennyroyal Green HR series by Julie Anne Long. I also started the Maiden Lane series by Elizabeth Hoyt. I’m a little behind on my HRs since I read more contemporary romance than historical. Until lately.