Kay Phoenix: Author Carol Henry

Once again I find it hard to pin down my favorite vacation spot. As an international traveler and travel writer I find pros and cons of many of the places I’ve visited. Having lived in Germany for three years when my husband was in the Air Force, we traveled around Europe extensively and developed a penchant for exploring what was next door, down the street, around the corner, and across the ocean. We’re still looking for that elusive spot. I should mention that we don’t really look at it as a ‘real’ vacation. Instead, it’s the excitement of discovering what is beyond the touristy traps once we step foot on these exotic locations, and wanting to share that excitement with others. Thus, I became an international travel writer, which later led to writing my ‘Connection’ series for The Wild Rose Press. My second novel in the ‘Connection’ series Shanghai Connection, is a combination of the Chinese culture, myths, reading of tea leaves, tea gardens, and several connections to the Chinese Dragons along the Yangtze River. Not a paranormal, but a great suspense adventure with lots of romance.

Me and my husband standing behind a Chinese Moon Door

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TITLE: Shanghai Connection

GENRE: Romantic Suspense Adventure

PUBLISHER: The Wild Rose Press

DATE OF PUBLICATION: 2012

ISBN: print 978-1-61217-226-2

ISBN: digital 978-1-61217-227-9

#PAGE: 256

COVER ARTIST: Kim Mendoza

COVER:

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

After the tragic loss of her child and a messy divorce, Brooke Stevens jumps at the opportunity for a fresh start as a researcher in China. But when she witnesses a murder, she becomes the killer's next target--and only a handsome American stranger stands between her and deadly peril.

Ex-military commando Jackson Taylor isn't ready to settle down and take over the family tea business, but when he learns someone is using the plantation to smuggle Chinese antiquities into America, he vows to investigate. In Shanghai, Jackson stumbles across a murder and is pulled into the danger pursuing fascinating Brooke Stevens.

Together, they uncover an intricate smuggling ring and evade kidnappers, but their growing attraction is impossible to deny. Will myths, dragons, and mystical warnings keep them apart? Or can they make a Shanghai connection?

BUY LINKS:

The Wild Rose Press: https://catalog.thewildrosepress.com/572_carol-henry

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Carol-A.-Henry/e/B001KDYKQ6/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0

Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/shanghai-connection-carol-henry/1111106558?ean=2940014350556

EXCERPT:

A greasy, sweaty odor from her captor’s hand filled her nose. Her stomach clenched, and she swallowed back the bile. She kicked out and pummeled her assailant’s back, but it had no effect on him. He continued walking down the mountainside with quick, confident strides. He treated her as if she were no heavier than a feather-tic pillow.

Her abductor mumbled under his breath in Chinese. She might not understand every word he uttered, but she’d picked up a few cuss words during her stay and she was sure she heard several choice words now. He was sure-footed and agile for his bulky stature, not missing a step, or slowing down. The man was in a hurry to get to wherever they were going.

Not good.

Brooke pounded her fists on his back only to have him shake her legs and grip them tighter in an effort to make her stop. He cussed some more, she was sure. Her stomach churned. The blood rushed to her head. Tears sprang to her eyes. She had to remain clearheaded and think. Figure out how to escape this man’s hold—without Jackson’s help this time.

Her assignment with Wild and Wonderful had wrought nothing but disaster. So far, she’d

witnessed a murder, been caught on fire, hit her head on a temple bench, been involved in a car

chase, crashed over an embankment, stranded along the river, was thrown over the shoulders of some ugly thug who hadn’t washed in months, and was being kidnapped. She was on her own in the middle of China.

And only God knew where.

And, where was the man who had said he would keep her safe? Where? Snuggled up in that piece of tinsel he’d said would keep them warm all night long? Had he even missed her yet?

Oh, God. Had they captured him as well? Was he okay?

The sound of the rain hitting against the river grew louder, the pungent odor of wet earth and rotted plants filled her lungs. Did her captor plan to throw her in the Yangtze? Feed her to the Great Golden Dragon?

Hold her under until she drowned?

She wasn’t ready to die.

She screamed for him to put her down. He didn’t release her. His footsteps quickened instead.

“Let me down you big buffoon. Let go of me,” she yelled.

Something swiped against her soaked body and she swatted it away. When it hit her once more, she recognized it as the man’s long braid. She grabbed hold of it and yanked hard.

Again, the Chinese expletives.

The man lost his footing, but regained his equilibrium and kept going. The scent of churned dirty river water grew heavier. Oh, dear Lord. She was about to die in China’s

biggest dragon of all. The Yangtze!

Madam Choy was right.

Grandma Dee Dee was right.

Beware the dragon!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Carol is a #1 Amazon Best Selling Author, has won several top ten Reader’s Poll with Preditor and Editors, and lives with her husband in the beautiful New York State Finger Lakes area where they are surrounded by family and friends. World travelers, Carol writes about her visits to exotic locations for major cruise lines’ deluxe in-cabin books, and takes pleasure in sharing her adventures with her readers in her romantic suspense adventure novels. She writes Destination: Romance--Exotic Romantic Suspense Adventures for The Wild Rose Press where the heroine discovers more than the ‘wild and wonderful’ world around her—she finds her inner courage, and a once-in-a-life-time love (think Indiana Jones meets Joan Wilder in Romancing the Stone). A member of Romance Writers of America® since 1984, and a member and past president of Southern Tier Authors of Romance since 2001, Carol took an early retirement from Cornell University after 30+ years to pursue her travel and writing career. She is the Co-founder and Chairman for the Write Now Writers’ group, is a New York State Historian for her hometown, and has written several history books on the town and village, as well as her latest historic fiction novel: Ribbons of Steel. Visit Carol’s website to learn more about her travels, her romance books, and her writer’s life at http://www.carolhenry.org