Guest Jody Vitek Shares Halloween Memories

Jody Vitek

I would like to thank Laura and all the Roses here at The Roses of Prose blog for hosting me today. And of all days, Halloween. Are you superstitious? Do you attend any costume parties? Do you go out with your child(ren), stay home to hand out candy or avoid the entire night of events?

Like most children, I lived for Halloween and the hordes of candy I would collect. I loved dressing up in costumes my mother would create. The one costume I seemed to wear more often than not was a witch’s costume. My mother would rat my long blonde hair to give me the scraggly appearance we all imagined witches had. (I’ve grown up and have a different opinion about witches.) I hated coming home at the end of the evening to brush out the tangled mess on top of my head. Many tears were shed as the brush worked its way through my hair.

My father would take us out trick-or-treating while my mother stayed home to pass the candy out in her Native American maiden costume that she made. If memory serves me correctly, my father would drive us most of the time because there would be snow on the ground. And lots of it! Nowadays, my Halloweens are spent going out with my own children around the neighborhood, but minus the car and snow. Sure, we’ve had snow a few times, but nothing like when I was a kid.

And of course there’s always the scary movies to watch. Do you like a thriller, like the well-known Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho? Do you like suspense, like Jaws? Or are you a horror fan, like The Exorcist. To me they all go into one category – scare the pants off me. I have a love hate relationship with movies of this nature.

You won’t find the holiday of Halloween in my book Florida Heat, but you will find just a touch of suspense. The hero and heroine can’t have the perfect relationship now, can they? In my current work in progress there is no scare factor, but I take my hero and heroine on a rollercoaster ride of emotions.

Do you have a favorite childhood costume or story about Halloween? What are your plans for the evening? Leave a comment and you’ll be entered to win a small gift.

 

Maggie Carlisle thought she left her ex-husband’s drug life behind in Texas. Left with a physical scar, she struggles to shed the emotional pain and falls in love with Trent Randall. But, Kevin Shaw, a man from her past, looks for revenge through Maggie. Emotional blackmail forces her to choose between true love with Trent or a life based on lies and deception with Kevin.

Trent Randall, a boarding and breeding ranch owner and offshore powerboat driver, loses focus of his racing when Maggie enters his life. Trent contemplates whether Maggie’s worth the danger after he is involved in a racing accident. Trent can’t help but let his heart lead the way when he finds out Maggie’s in trouble.

 

EXCERPT: Austin General Hospital would be short a nurse today. Maggie Nash went to bed last night with more than a fever, thanks to her best friend Chloe Atwood who had been kind enough to share her flu germs. She opened one eye then the other. Red glowing numbers pierced the darkness like a black cat’s eyes in a dark back alley.

Heavy lined drapes over a room darkening shade covered the windows, keeping any light from streaming in. Her eyes adjusted, and she strained to see the clock—two-seventeen in the afternoon. Her husband Mike would be working at the hospital pharmacy for another three hours. She wondered how he was holding up since she disturbed his sleep on and off all night. He had asked if he could do anything for her. But when you’re sick with the flu, there’s not much anyone can do that would help.

Legs stretched and bent, along with her arms, as though she were Frankenstein coming to life. Her stomach ached, and her side muscles strained when she sat upright. On the edge of the bed, she slid her feet into slippers, put on her robe and walked out of the room into the peace and quiet of her home.

A thick arm grabbed her around the waist. She screamed and wiggled in the crushing embrace. A leather-gloved hand cupped tightly over her mouth. Her screams silenced. She continued to twist in the intruder’s arms. A hand spread from the bottom of her breast to the top of her hip.

Her captor’s cupped hand on her face forced her back into his chest. A thick blunt object pushed in at the middle of her back. She gasped and her back arched. A gun?

 

Born and raised in Minnesota, Jody has remained close to home living with her husband of twenty plus years, three children and a cat named Holly. Growing up, she enjoyed reading V.C. Andrews' the Dollanganger series, starting with Flowers in the Attic, S.E. Hinton, and Stephen King to name a few.

She has traveled throughout the United States, to the Bahamas and Cancun, Mexico. Between watching soccer games, scrapbooking and being the COO of the Vitek household, she writes contemporary romances.