VORTEX

by

Kimberly Packard

Genre: Women’s Fiction / Psychological

Publisher: Abalos Publishing

Publication Date: January 31, 2019

Number of Pages: 308 pages

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Constant spinning, round and round and round, temperatures rise and fall from stifling heat to chilling cold, emotions run high in anticipation of what will happen next… there’s a fine line between surviving a tornado and falling in love.

A close encounter with a tornado, during the final months of her doctoral studies, jogs a lost memory to the surface. Desperate to relive the vision and find answers, storm chaser Elaina Adams continually puts her safety at risk by placing herself in the path of dangerous storms.

When betrayal strikes, Elaina is forced to pair up with Robert Tucker. “Tuck” owns a storm chasing tour group and only cares about two things: chasing tornadoes and making his next buck.

Seth Maddux was climbing his way to the top as the star meteorologist for the Forecast channel, but an embarrassing outburst on camera sent his career on a downward spiral. Hoping to reignite his career with a promising field assignment, he meets Elaina and a different kind of flame sparks.

Family secrets surface and passions explode in this twister of a tale.

Vortex is a story of family, love, identity, and determination set against the thrilling backdrop of Tornado Alley.

Praise

“Set in the heart of America’s Tornado Alley, Kimberly Packard’s latest psychological fiction swirls with discovery and betrayal. VORTEX may make you question who among those closest to you are really your friends.” — Addison Brae, author of Becker Circle

“Vortex is a fast-paced story with a strong woman at its center. Readers will be in for a wild ride full of secrets, the labyrinth of memory, and the spark of romance. Definitely one to add to your reading list.” — Christine Brodersen, author of Lip Gloss, Shame and Murdered Tomatoes 

“Kimberly Packard is an accomplished author who writes strong women characters. She blew me away with her Phoenix series (three books you don’t want to miss) and now in Vortex, we meet Elaina Adams, who, like all of us, struggles with her past, her career, and her family secrets. Action, and emotion-packed, this page-turner is a different kind of love story.” — Vanessa Foster, author of More than Everything 

Why it was deleted:

Quite frankly, I wasn’t really sure where this was going other than a chance for Elaina and Seth to catch up after they had a little spat. As authors, we have to examine every scene to see how it moves the story forward, and while this does give us a good glimpse into their relationship, I had to make a hard decision. But looking back at it, I do love this scene and wish I could have found a way to squeeze it in.

SBR – I have to agree with Kimberly – this is a great scene and wish it would have made its way into the book!

= = =

To some people, punishment should fit the crime. To others, one size fits all. Dr. Pierce was in a unique camp in that he believed the best form of punishment was what the recipient deemed to be pure hell.

And, for Elaina, that hell was standing in front of three hundred freshmen who signed up for Meteorology 101 simply to satisfy a science credit.

“Okay, so who can tell me the type of clouds that you’ll see prior to a frontal boundary moving in?”

She gazed out the darkened auditorium. Only the faces of the few late students stuck with a front row seat stared back at her, the rest were unmoving darkened heads.

This could be someone’s worst nightmare.

Elaina turned her back to the room of collegiate zombies to write the answer on the dry-erase board. The ink zigged on the board, a result of her still-shaking hands from the near collision with a flying Buick. In two days the shaking subsided to fits and starts, but an electrical pulse of fear would flood her bloodstream with no warning. She slammed the pen down on the ledge and turned back to the class. “Come on guys, this is easy stuff. You should have learned that just from watching TV.”

A couple of faces illuminated in white-blue light confirmed what she already knew. She lost them.

How does Pierce not commit freshmancide?

Elaina crossed her arms over her chest and paced the front of the room. She had fifteen minutes until she was free. Fifteen more minutes of hell. She could capitulate and let them leave early. Send them on their way to torment their next professor. Or, she could escalate.

Elaina sat on the edge of the beige metal desk and a Mona Lisa smile crawled across her face and she narrowed her eyes.

“Did I mention that I’m the one who writes y’alls’ final exam?” She kicked her boots like a bored child. Students in the front row sat up straighter causing a ripple that radiated to the back of the auditorium. “So, you have ten minutes to ask me what’s going to be on the test.”

She kicked a few more times before the silhouette of a hand rose up in the back of the room.

“Yes?”

“Will there be anything on the test about tornadogenesis?” a male voice asked his Southern accent dancing across the room.

“Yes, you’ll need to understand the distinctive features that lead to a tornado, both from the ground and on the radar. What else?”

More silence stared at her and then his hand came up again.

“What about hurricane prediction and impact, especially along the U.S. Coastal region?” The voice felt familiar the second time she heard it.

Elaina chewed on the inside of her cheek. This was definitely deeper than Pierce had planned on going this semester. And, judging from the wide eyes and slouched figures, he probably spent a lot of time explaining why clouds are white and the sky was blue. How did this one sharp pencil end up in a package of blunt instruments?

“Well,” she started, letting the word drag out a little too long. “Yes, there will be some questions on hurricanes, prediction, impact, etc. But what you’re asking is really something that would be covered in the next level. What else? Three minutes.”

The distinctive shuffling of papers floated through the air like falling leaves. Three minutes and they would all be free. Unless …

The hand in the back shot up one more time. A collective groan rumbled through the air. Elaina might have been part of it.

“Sorry, last question.” This time something was different. The tone of the voice was the same, but gone was the Southern syrup. In its place was a straight and narrow non-accent accent. Exactly the type of accent one would use on national television. “Which is cooler, hurricanes or tornadoes?”

A laugh erupted from her chest before she could catch it. “Tornadoes. Okay, you guys get out of here.” She pushed herself off the desk and walked around to gather her own papers. “Except you in the back. I need to see you down front, please.”

Seth fought against the tide of escaping students, getting jostled by some, gawked at by others and downright ignored by most. When he finally made his way down to the front of the room, they avoided each other’s eyes until the room was empty.

“For the record, you’d fail my class,” she said, finally looking up from her backpack after the door closed behind the last student.

Seth looked up from his phone. His crystal blue eyes were filled with embarrassment and remorse and one side of his mouth twitched up into a sheepish half-smile.

“Like I failed our first date?”

An icy shudder course down her spine. Storming off the dance floor and out of the club made her feel more like a petulant freshman than the near doctor she was. She could feel her neck and cheeks warm as the rising tide of embarrassment.

“I think I might be the one to have flunked that one, remember? I just kinda quit.”

Seth shrugged and perched on the desk beside her.

While I am not an official reviewer on this tour, I was lucky enough to snag a free copy from Amazon a few weeks ago on a special promotion and I am thankful to the author for offering the book during those few days.

Storm chasing – those words will either instill fear or exhilaration in the hearts of a human.  I’m not 100% sure where I would fall in those camps but nature is a wondrous thing with what comes from colliding temperatures and all that other scientific jargon that I don’t understand but Kimberly Packard wraps up the terminology in easy to understand bits and weaves a tale of love, loss, memories, and hope.

This book enthralled me and it was hard to put down.  I would find myself reading “just one more chapter” before getting reading for work or before turning out the light at night.  The characters were raw yet real and could be someone we know in our own lives.  Elaina wasn’t the only character that had baggage they were holding on to for too long.  Seth threw away a promising career thanks to a coworker, Tuck is a brilliant storm chaser but has a gambling problem, and Connie (Elaina’s mother) just want to protect her daughter and is afraid to tell her the truth about her life before being adopted.  There were so many great elements that will pull you into the story in different ways.  The way the author describes the storms was genius and caused me to think about storms in a whole new way.

I did figure out a part of the story tied to Elaina’s past.  It was pure luck as not much in the story pulls you in this direction, but the pieces seemed to fit for me.  I am not going to say more only because I don’t want to give anything away because the story really builds to this piece of Elaina’s past.

One of my favorite lines from the book is actually what was on one of Elaina’s t-shirts – “I’m more confused than a chameleon in a bag of skittles.”

Some of my other favorite lines:

“Ever since that tornado, her grip on her identity felt loosened, like holding onto a weather balloon only to have it pulled out of her fingers and float away.”

“What if the sign ahead was a green light, telling him the road would likely be bumpy and curvy, but it was the route he was supposed to take?  What if saying yes changed everything?”

Why should you read this book?  You should only read it if you want it to sweep you up, twirl you around, and then blow you away just like a tornado.

This is why we are giving it 5 paws up!

Kimberly Packard is an award-winning author of edgy women’s fiction. She began visiting her spot on the shelves at libraries and bookstores at a young age, gazing between the Os and the Qs.

When she isn’t writing, she can be found running, doing a poor imitation of yoga or curled up with a book. She resides in Texas with her husband Colby, a clever cat named Oliver and a yellow lab named Charlie.

Her debut novel, Phoenix, was awarded as Best General Fiction of 2013 by the Texas Association of Authors. She is also the author of a Christmas novella, The Crazy Yates, and the sequels to Phoenix, Pardon Falls and Prospera Pass.

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GIVEAWAY!  GIVEAWAY!  GIVEAWAY!

FIRST PRIZE: Signed Copy  +  $5 Amazon gift card + Bookmark

SECOND PRIZE: Signed Copy + Bookmark

TWO WINNERS: eBook copies

FEBRUARY 19-28, 2019

(USA only)

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