Lindsay McKenna | Character Bio on Lia Cassidy
July 22, 2015
I’m Lia Cassidy and I was born and raised in Ontario, Oregon, the heart
of sugar
beet country. My Dad is a farmer and I feel lucky I grew up with my feet in
the dirt, wriggling my toes in that warm, sandy soil. I didn’t really have
much computer time because I loved being outdoors. I came from a large
family
and often dreamed of having one myself. When I rode my palomino horse,
Goldy,
bareback, I would throw my arms out at my sides, riding that rocking chair
rhythm aboard my best friend. I never gave a thought that my life would
turn
out so horribly different and difficult. I look back on my wonderful
growing
up years, a loving set of parents, happy being in Nature, and shake my head.
That’s all gone, now.
Maybe it started because I loved adventure. I joined the Army after
graduating
from high school. I was really great at mechanics and the Army didn’t waste
my
talents. I ended up being a mechanic in a motor pool at Bagram,
Afghanistan.
I was one of the very few women and worked mostly with men in that building.
But I loved fixing things and I was very good at it. Two years into my
enlistment, I was attacked by two men who worked with me. I had the duty
that
night and was alone in the huge building.
My father had taught me an Israeli fighting technique known as Krav maga.
When
they pushed me into a corner, wielding knives, threatening to kill me if I
didn’t let them rape me, my terror turned to rage. I wasn’t going to lay
down
and let it happen,so I fought back. They weren’t expecting it. I still
remember that terror-filled night like it was yesterday. Once they realized
I
wouldn’t capitulate? They tried to kill me because they knew if I escaped,
I’d
turn them in. Worse? To this day, my body bears the scars of their knives.
My world was turned inside out. I try to hide the scars from others by the
kind of clothes I wear, but I can’t conceal all of them. Men look at me,
see
the scars and turn away. I never knew what loneliness was until this life-
changing incident happened.
I survived the assault, but barely. I left the Army and went to work for
Delos, a global charity. I wanted to hide and try to heal. I was assigned
to
La Fortuna, Costa Rica, and became the manager for a Home School Foundation
charity. The jungle beauty of this country, the kindness of the people, the
loving children who didn’t care about my scars, were exactly what I needed
to
continue to heal.
But even here, where I hid and was happy, evil stalked me again. Dante
Medina,
the local drug lord who lived outside the village, attacked our small school
and murdered the two teachers. His soldiers came after me, to kill me, but
I
escaped, running for the jungle. Tears ran down my face over the trauma of
losing my two teacher friends. If I survived Medina’s soldiers tracking me
down, what was left of my twenty-five year old life? Once, as a child I had
dreamed of the man I would marry and how happy we would be. Children would
be
just another form of love between us. And since the attack? I no longer
dream
those dreams. And now, this demented monster who is going to hunt me down.
Was there nowhere to hide?
GIVEAWAY
How do you think you would handle being badly scarred by violence? Leave
a
comment below to be entered to win an e-book of NOWHERE TO
HIDE. International
entries also accepted! One winner will be chosen and notified. Good luck!
The "Top Gun of Women's Military Fiction," Linsday has had 115 books
published
under the McKenna name since 1981, most dealing with military or mercenary
subjects, for several publishers: Simon and Schuster, Warner, Avon and
Berkely,
Harlequin/Silhouette. She is the originator of the Military Romance genre,
with
"Captive of Fate," Silhouette Special Edition, 1983. She has sold 23 million
books worldwide and in 22 foreign languages. She proudly served in the US
Navy
and was a meteorologist.
Website | Twitter | Blog
Welcome to my new series, Delos! Book 1, NOWHERE TO
HIDE, introduces this romantic suspense series. It features Lia Cassidy
and ex-SEAL, Cav Jordan. There is a FREE prologue, LAST
CHANCE by Lindsay McKenna, so be sure to grab an ebook copy of it now!
This free novella is available on the five major ebook platforms:
Amazon
KOBO
Google Play
BN.com
iTunes/iBooks/Apple
International Readers
No eBook Reader? Visit lindsaymckenna.selz.com. Choose "PDF" version and it
will download
on
any electronic device you have! Don’t own an ereader but would like the ebook novella? Come directly to my
website, www.lindsaymckenna.com, and
receive a free copy of it via the Selz software we have installed. At the
the end of
the
steps, you’ll receive a FREE copy of LAST CHANCE on your desktop of any device you
want it on.
Paperback lovers, sorry, there is no paperback available on this free
novella prologue.
But you can still download a copy from my website without any problem. Try
it! It’s
easy and quick!
Visit my website for all things Delos. Family history, information on present
and coming
characters, their books, publishing dates, and so much more. Just go to the
Delos tab
in
the toolbar. Download quote books on the Family and Delos charity. Peek
into the
lives
of the children you will read about! This is a global, multi-national
family who has
a
vision to help those who have less than they do.
Meet each of the siblings of General Robert Culver, USAF, and his
Turkish/Greek wife,
Dilara Badem-Culver. Talia is first born. Dilara then has twins: Matt and
Alexa.
Even
though their family is worth billions because the Turkish-American-Greek
family owns
the
largest fleet of container ships in the world, these three siblings learn
early on that
service to one’s country and being patriotic, is expected of them.
Follow their stories after the two above introductory ones. TANGLED
PURSUIT is
Tal and Wyatt’s book, 11.11.2015. FORGED IN FIRE is Matt and Dara’s
book,
12.3.2015. BROKEN DREAMS is Alexa and Gage’s book, 1.2.2016.
Paperback/ebook.
Sign up for my quarterly newsletter that brings you ongoing information
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Comments
21 comments posted.
Re: Lindsay McKenna | Character Bio on Lia Cassidy
Hopefully I would not fall apart. (Marissa Yip-Young 5:34am July 22, 2015)
love reading your books (Lorelei Frank 6:47am July 22, 2015)
Your books are great to read on a relaxing afternoon or evening. (Jayne Cameron 10:42am July 22, 2015)
I think it would take some time, but I would pull through... especially having support from my family. (Colleen Conklin 5:16pm July 22, 2015)
I don't think I would handle it well at all. I would turn in on myself and hide away from the world. (Lesley Walsh 5:30pm July 22, 2015)
Hopefully with family support I would make it through. (Jean Benedict 6:57pm July 22, 2015)
I would probably spend a lot of time at home, making sure that everything was secure. (Rachel Kerrinski 8:12pm July 22, 2015)
With violence, you tend to always keep a wall up around yourself, because you're always afraid of being hurt again. You stay in defense mode, so to speak, both mentally and physically, so there's no way for you to really be who you really want to be. Even if you let someone intimately into your life, you never let your guard down completely, because you've been hurt so badly. Sometimes it takes a long time to get into an intimate relationship, if at all. This depends on the circumstances of the violence - if it was mental or physical. Both can be debilitating to a degree. They also destroy a feeling of self-worth. I'm looking forward to reading your latest book, and as always, I'm sure it's going to be a winner!! Congratulations!! (Peggy Roberson 9:55am July 23, 2015)
Unfortunately, I don't think I would handle it well. I would probably become a hermit. (Cheryl Castings 10:11am July 23, 2015)
love the cover. so sexy (Emily Stemp 11:26am July 23, 2015)
I would hope that prayer and friends and family would see me though. (Mary Hay 10:33am July 24, 2015)
I don't know. I would hope that I would try to use that in a way to get some kind of justice. Of course I have no way of knowing for sure. (Nancy Luebke 7:51pm July 24, 2015)
With the help of family, friends, and a good therapist and a lot of prayer to the Lord above. (Linda Harrison 8:34pm July 24, 2015)
i have survived a lot! takes time to heal though (Debbi Shaw 9:27pm July 24, 2015)
I'm not very brave. I have a feeling I would blank it all out and deny that anything happened for as long as possible. (Marcia Berbeza 1:05am July 25, 2015)
Hopefully I would be brave enough to leave the house and go on living. (Joanne Balinski 1:04pm July 25, 2015)
Thankfully, I have never had to face this situation. I'm not sure how I would handle it, but I hope I would eventually learn to accept the change in my life. Only after acceptance do I feel like I would be able to live my life as it was meant to be. (Anna Speed 1:36pm July 25, 2015)
With the help of family i would call my brother (Emily Stemp 2:36pm July 25, 2015)
Not very well I am afraid. I would become more of a recluse than I am now. (Denise Austin 3:29pm July 25, 2015)
Would like to read some of her books! (Amanda Johnson 6:33pm July 25, 2015)
Love military stories (Barbara Semeraro 9:01pm July 25, 2015)
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