Secrets in the Woods is a gripping tale about Emilia Long- an Investigative Reporter and her quest to find out the circumstances surrounding her mother's death. Long's quest begins after reading documents left for her by her adopted mother revealing that she was abandoned as an infant at a Brooklyn hospital. The revelation led Emilia on a suspenseful journey to find her birth mother.
But finding her is not so easy. Her investigations reveal that her birth mother disappeared months before her birth and that the disappearance was linked to a murder. With the key suspect in her mother's disappearance locked away in jail on unrelated charges and the townspeople, including the Sheriff, unwilling to help her, Emilia finds herself at a dead end. In an unimaginable twist of fate, Emilia discovers more than she bargained for. Some Secrets are really better left untold.
In addition to her 9 to 5 attorney job, Smythe is also the co-founder of publishing company, Lady Esquire Group, LLC. The Attorney Author describes herself as a half analytic and half creative who was blessed to figure out how to join those halves together. Her other books include: Through Grandma's Eyes, Zora's First Day and a Few Good Friends. When asked about the motivation for writing her latest work, she explained: "I'm a lover of the Cozy Mystery genre but I found that there were not a lot of those books written by African American Authors with African American characters. I just wanted to put a whole new face on such a fun and exciting genre."
Smythe's adept writing style in Secrets in the Woods is enticing and captivates readers from the first page. The novel feature a cast of believable characters and numerous twists and turns that will have readers begging for more.
EXCERPT
Emilia turned around quickly only to be blinded by the headlights of what looked like a motorcycle. The engine roared louder and then the motorcycle started to come right towards Emilia at a high speed. Emilia took off running as fast as she could weaving through the trees and bushes, but the motorcycle kept coming. Emilia found a large rock and tried to hide behind it, but the motorcycle jumped right over, turned and started coming again. Emilia grabbed a large branch and waited for the motorcycle to get closer then she took a swing which caused the driver of the motorcycle to swerve on its side. Emilia didn’t wait around to see what happened to the driver she took off running again.
She found herself by the cliff overlooking the river. She slowed down from running to see where she was going. But she had dropped her flashlight and couldn’t see much. Before she could make a move, the motorcycle was back. This time coming much fast and Emilia was trapped between the cliff and the motorcycle. The motorcycle had her corner, and without thinking Emilia leaped over the cliff rolling down the cliff and landing on some bushes and rocks a few feet below. She turned her head in pain and looked up to see a hazy figure standing at the top of the cliff. Then the figure was gone and so was the sound of the motorcycle.
Emilia’s whole body was in severe pain, and she could feel something wet dripping from her head. Emilia knew she couldn’t stay where she was. She mustered up enough strength to pull herself back up to the top of the cliff, but she couldn’t go any further. She was just about to lose consciousness when she heard someone yelling her name. She recognized Sheriff Caleb’s voice, but she couldn’t yell back. All she could do was moan, “Help. Help me.”
About the author:
J.E. Smythe is an award winning author born in Liberia, West Africa, and raised in Providence, Rhode Island, and Gaithersburg, Maryland. J.E. is also an attorney who attended Allen University and received her Law Degree from Massachusetts School of Law. While working as an attorney, J.E. just could not let her passion to write die. She decided to take her legal writing skills and write her debut fiction novel “A Few Good Friends.” J.E. currently lives in Charlotte, North Carolina where she has Co-founded Lady Esquire Group, LLC management and publishing firm. She is a proud member of Zeta phi Beta Sorority, Inc.
No comments:
Post a Comment