After over a year of lockdowns, restrictions, and heated mask debates, one of the few things we can probably all agree on is that we want choice and control back in our lives. The ability to have a say over our own destinies is an essential ingredient to happiness—it cuts to the very core of human nature.
That’s how I’m feeling, at least, and this need to grab back some control in part inspired me to write JUSTICE, a novel where the reader gets exactly that.
Choice.
The lead character in my novel, Justice Hayes, is a trained cat burglar and star athlete who must survive Navy SEAL training (BUD/S) in order to nab her dream job—to steal intelligence to stop terrorism. On her journey she locks horns with two rugged SEAL candidates and a cocky Navy pilot…but then two-thirds of the way into the story the plot takes an interesting turn.
The story ends on a nail-biting cliffhanger, and now it’s up to you, the reader, to choose which hunky hero will earn a happily ever after with Justice.
Choice and control!
Not to be confused with choose-an-adventure stories where you’re faced with periodic decision points along the way, or simple alternate-ending romances that some authors have tried, A Choose A Hero Romance™ consists of one main story that diverges into three possible endings.
I’ve carefully written the main part of the story (about 273 pages) with this ultimate choice in mind—developing specific character traits and dropping in seeds of attraction in a way that makes it possible for the heroine to realistically pick any of the three potential heroes to win the day.
Through this process, you can also fulfill another desire that sits at the core of human nature—to answer the question what-if? What if I’d taken the left fork instead of the right, said yes instead of no?
Fully immersed in a Choose A Hero Romance™, you get to live vicariously through the heroine, enjoying the ability to make several different life choices.
In the words of an ecstatic fan: It’s like being faced with choosing between a chocolate chip cookie, an ice cream sundae, or a slice of cheesecake… You can't go wrong!
The endings aren’t just simple denouements (Colonel Mustard committed the murder with a candlestick, and end scene). Each is about the size of a novella and follows a different character arc and romantic story. Fueled by those carefully planted seeds of potential passion, you’re taken on a completely unique journey depending on your choice—diverse missions and three distinct and satisfying happily ever afters.
Choose one hero to win the day, then head off on a different timeline and choose another…then another.
It’s all up to you. No one tells you what journey to take.
You have total choice and control.
Title: JUSTICE: A Choose A Hero Romance™
Author: Tracy Tappan
Genre: Military Romantic Suspense
Publisher: B. Reed Publishing
Book Blurb:
But an impossible condition stands between her and her dream job.
She has to survive the Navy’s most intensive and grueling SPECWAR training program: BUD/S.
Despite opposition, Justice soon finds herself wearing the rank of a Navy ensign and competing with some of America’s toughest men. Two of these SEAL candidates will come to test her mind and her heart, as much as her will to keep business and pleasure firmly separate. Temptations multiply when she crosses swords with the cocky helicopter pilot who commands her Special Missions flight crew.
Her vow to maintain a professional distance is finally shaken when an unorthodox training exercise goes terribly wrong. In the brutal aftermath, she needs a man who cares about her to help her fully heal.
But which hero will ultimately win her...?
The gentleman? The leader? The wild one?
YOU CHOOSE!
Excerpt:
When the day was secured, Justice stalked over to the enlisted barracks and planted herself at the flagpole outside, waiting with her temper on high boil.
A few minutes later, Ziegler and Sniper Kilgour strolled by.
Ziegler’s eyes rounded on her. “Whoa, Hayes. Your head looks like a plum.”
She compressed her lips into a flat seam. Yes, she’d seen it, thank you. Her temple was swollen into a healthy knot, the flesh of the wound staining into the kind of dark bruising that made it look like a squid had taken a dump on her head. “Could you tell Petty Officer Knight I’d like to speak with him, please?”
“Uh, okay.” Ziegler bolted inside, Kilgour following.
Ziegler must have warned Knight about her eat-shit-and-die expression. When he stepped outside his face was already set.
Well. Since he was braced for it… “Do you realize how close I came to a medical rollback today, and all because you couldn’t mind your own damned business?”
He crossed his arms and spoke with an edge. “I didn’t realize the welfare of my boat team wasn’t my business.”
There was enough sarcasm in his tone to make her want to rip it out of his larynx. She gave him an acid glare. “You need to learn to pay attention when I say I’m good.”
A muscle jumped in his jaw. “A flap of your skin was hanging down.”
“I don’t give a damn!” she yelled.
“I do!” he thundered back. “It would’ve been grossly negligent of me not to send you to medical.”
She clenched her teeth, nausea bubbling at the back of her throat. The length of her esophagus felt like it was covered in road-rash. How awesome would it be if she puked, then fainted in the middle of this argument?
Keith shook his head. “Look at you, Justice. You’re gray.”
She thrust a tautly knuckled fist against her lips. Get through this…get through this… “Before I lose my mind,” and consciousness, “I need to make sure you understand something. On my completely hosed journey to BUD/S, I almost didn’t make it out of PTRR. If I’m rolled back there a second time for an injury, I might not ever escape. So I need you to stop being an overprotective jerk and treat me like a regular candidate—like we agreed—and I need you to do it right now—like I told you yesterday.”
He regarded her flatly. “No.”
“No?” Her head pounded so hard, she saw double for a second. She was getting really sick of this man acting like her basic human rights were optional. “You can’t say no. I’m not asking you to pass the fruit salad. I’m telling how I want to be treated as a human being.”
“If I see you wavering, I’m not walking by. If I see you on the ground, I can’t just step over you. That’s not the man I am. So the thing that needs to happen right now is for you to chill out.”
She dragged air through her teeth. The pigheaded dick wasn’t even making a pretense of caring about her needs. She stood in place, bile in her brain and anger in her throat—or something like that. “Now I really need you to pay attention. Are you, Knight? Listening? Carefully?”
He gave her a burning look.
“If you end up sabotaging my career out of some misguided notion that your chauvinistic pampering is actually leadership, then I will hack into all your accounts and destroy your life. Do you understand that?”
“We’re done here.”
Are we? My, how the wrangler did enjoy bossing her around. “If you say so. You’re the boat team leader.” She cut around him, circumnavigating a bush. Her legs were trembling. This fight with Keith was definitely a fight-fight. There wasn’t a single sexual underpinning to how she felt right now—like she wanted to smash his face and bash his head and feed him his own balls.
“By the way,” she threw back at him, “pudding is for girls. Be a man and eat a candy bar for once, you pussy.” Storming across the grounds to the officers’ barracks, she thundered into her bedroom and slammed the door.
Buy Links (including Goodreads and BookBub):
JUSTICE:
Amazon UK: http://tracytappan.link/justice-amazon-uk
Barnes and Noble: http://tracytappan.link/justice-barnes
Apple Books: http://tracytappan.link/justice-apple
Google Play Books: http://tracytappan.link/justice-google
Goodreads: http://tracy.link/justice-goodreads
Author Biography:
Tracy Tappan is a bestselling and award-winning author and the creator of the Choose A Hero Romance™ reading experience, a brand-new concept in storytelling where the reader controls the ending. You can find out more about this exciting new trend at www.chooseahero.com.
Tracy’s books in paranormal and military romance have earned both bronze and gold medals in the Readers’ Favorite contests, have finaled for the USA Book News and Kindle Book Awards, and won both the HOLT Medallion and the Independent Publishers Book Award (IPPY) bronze medal for romance.
Tracy holds a master’s degree in Marriage, Family, Child Counseling (MFCC), loves to play tennis, enjoys a great glass of wine, and talks to her Labrador like he’s a human (admittedly, the wine drinking and the dog talking probably go together).
A native of San Diego, Tracy is married to a former Navy helicopter pilot, who retired after thirty years of service and joined the diplomatic corps. He and Tracy currently live in Rome, Italy.
Visit her website and join the gang on her monthly newsletter for giveaways, publication updates, and other fun and sexy news. www.tracytappan.com
Social Media Links
Twitter—@TracyTappan
Instagram—Tracy Tappan Author
BookBub Follow: Tracy Tappan, author
Goodreads:
Amazon Author Page:
Website:
Choose A Hero website: