Characters Revealed: Noah Clark

CONTEST IS CLOSED AND WINNERS HAVE BEEN NOTIFIED. THANK YOU! 

Have I ever mentioned how much I love and appreciate you all? In celebration of After Midnight doing so well on Barnes and Noble and Amazon right now, I'm going to do a reader giveaway. But first, I want to give you all a look at Noah Clark: hero of After Midnight. 

NOTE: this is a re-post, but with so many talking about Noah, I thought I would bring it back for you all. Enjoy!

Dear Reader,

Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Noah Clark, the lead singer/songwriter for the rock band Black Phoenix. Perhaps you’ve heard of us. About ten years ago we topped the Billboard charts—a multi-platinum band whose last album was the most successful of its century. But that was before everything went to shit. Back before the sex, alcohol, and rock and roll took away my best friend and drummer, Danny Treybourne. Afterwards, I gave up the lifestyle, the world tours, hell, I gave up the band. I headed back home to London and committed myself to leading a normal life, one without music as its driving force.

For ten years, I was miserable.

So I’m back to making music. I crossed the pond, settled in a place called Auburn, California and began the preparations to reunite Black Phoenix. We hired a new drummer, set up a meeting with the record company, and I went in search of a private, reputable studio to record a demo. I found one in Long Island City, just up the road from a pub named Izzy’s Bar. Where one night, after midnight, I wandered in and set eyes on its namesake.

Damn…Isabeau Montgomery, child prodigy pianist, hiding behind a lie of her own making. She has the most pale, haunted eyes I’ve ever seen, and dark, golden skin. The first time she set those eyes on me and smiled, I was lost. I’m a songwriter, but the way she affected me, I haven’t words.

A detail about me you should know, I was born with a one track mind. I want something; I go out and get it. From the moment I first laid eyes on Isa I wanted her. I wanted to show her what she was missing, ignoring her music the way she did. I wanted to share with her everything I spent all those years figuring out: Denying who you are is nothing but a waste of time, time a person can never get back. Problem is my one track mind got me in trouble. I became so focused on saving her from herself, I didn’t see the whole picture. I pushed her too hard. And in the end, I pushed her away.

Hopefully, one day she’ll forgive me for being such an ass, because Isabeau…Isa completes me.

In a way even my music never could.

All you have to do is comment to be in the running.  What's up for grabs? Five random commentors will win an eCopy of AFTER MIDNIGHT.  If you've already read it, go ahead and let me know - I'll award a couple of copies of my Re-edited, revised and soon to be re-released romantic suspense, Not Without Risk. 

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Characters Revealed: Isabeau Montgomery

My Dear Reader-

My name is Isabeau Montgomery. You may know me as the owner of Izzy’s Bar in Long Island City, New York, but thirteen years ago...

I’m sorry. The past is difficult for me to talk about. You see, when I was four I turned the music world on its ear by sitting down at a piano and playing Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 in D Minor perfectly, after hearing it only once. I’m what they call a piano phenom, a child with an ear for music; a prodigy. Instantly, I became an international sensation. The media went crazy, people flocked from all over the world to watch me play. I didn’t understand any of it. I was just a little girl doing what I loved. Until what I loved was turned against me.

I survived the accident that took my mother’s life. I recovered the use of my left hand, but never played the piano again. I grew up, inherited the bar after my biological father passed away, and settled into life as a business owner. A life without music was a struggle at first, but I was doing fine. I was happy…until one night, after midnight, Noah Clark walked through my door.

He came to town to record a demo, secure a record contract that will help him reclaim his past and put Black Phoenix back on the charts. I recognized him the moment I saw him, not as the famous rock singer, but as the man who was going to change my life—whether I wanted him to or not.

Noah has this way of looking at me, of seeing me, the real me, not the mask I wear. I feel connected to him, felt it the moment he entered my world. He calls to me, on a level much deeper than simple sexual attraction. When I’m with him I’m not as lost or alone. When I’m with Noah…I hear music where for years there was nothing but silence.

Which is why I push him away. I can’t allow him to get too close to me or he’ll discover my secret, uncover the lie I’ve been hiding behind. Noah might understand me on a level no one before him ever has, but what he doesn’t understand—what he can’t possibly understand—is sometimes the past is better left alone.

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