Saving London by Taylor Dawn
Published by: Booktrope Publishing
Publication date: June 9th 2015
Genres: Adult, Urban Fantasy
Synopsis:
The List. That Signified Finality.
The Journey. That Would Span The Globe.
The Sacrifice. That Would Decide The Outcome.
The Choice. That Could Unleash Evil On Earth.
The End Is Only The Beginning…
“You have terminal cancer.”
London Patterson, a seemingly healthy young woman, had her entire life ahead of her. That was until four little words brought everything to a screeching halt. As the shock and grief begin to fade, London decides to map out her last year and embark on an epic journey to complete a bucket list. She wants to do the things she’s been afraid to do in her life, step out of her self-contained box, and see the world. What she didn’t expect was for a mysterious stranger named Adam to breeze into her life like a breath of fresh air.
Adam offers to help London complete her list on one condition…that she sees it through to the end. Agreeing on those terms, the two set out on an adventure of a lifetime. But London soon realizes that Adam isn’t quite…human. Along their journey odd occurrences happen that cause London to question who or what Adam is and why he’s helping her.
Follow London as she checks off her bucket list in this inspiring new Urban Fantasy novel from Taylor Dawn.
Prologue of Saving London
I’d come to believe
that we are privy to an overabundance of petrifying sounds in our lives. Noises
that breeze through our ears
enter our brain and cause chills to run down our spine. We attempt to
shake off the feelings that these sounds illicit, but the sheer terror of them
do nothing but brand our skin with gooseflesh and nervousness. I thought I’d
heard most of them already. That I’d taken in the echoes that strike fear
through most individuals. However, I was mistaken. I undoubtedly found
myself absorbing the most chilling of them all. It was unexpected and I still
have trouble convincing myself that what’d happened was tangible. No, it
wasn’t the shrill scream of someone in grave danger. Or the fictitious screech
of a science fiction creature with hefty teeth and an appetite for human flesh
and blood. The one thing that I heard was something that stopped me dead in my
tracks. It put my life at a stand-still, in only a fraction of a second.
I developed tunnel vision when I grasped onto the spine-chilling noise, my
entire body seized up as if I’d been taken over by another life form. The
ability to control what I was thinking was gone, out the window it flew like a
winged creature that’d been set free. What was it? It was the
sound of fear in my own voice. There was an unstable quake when I’d open
my lips to speak and nothing came out. The Words I’d tried to construct
wouldn’t form themselves and I felt as if I’d lost the capacity to communicate.
I’d never had a reason to be afraid of it…until now.
“That can’t be
right. Maybe you need to check it again.” The wavering of my speech told me I
was somewhere between disbelief and denial. Neither of which was welcome near
me.
“We went over the
results with a fine tooth comb, Miss. Patterson. Science doesn’t lie in this
case.” The expression on the doctor’s face was dripping with subtle bleakness.
“Well, there must be
some other explanation. Maybe you mixed the results up somewhere along
the line.” I felt a tinge of hope color my weak words.
“Listen, I know this is
hard. But I assure you, there is absolutely nothing wrong with the tests.” The
salt and pepper haired man sat down behind his desk.
“Okay, fine. I’m
assuming there’s some sort of treatment I should start soon?”
I didn’t much care for
the grim look that fell over his face like a mask of doom. “I wish I could say
yes. But unfortunately there isn’t anything we can do. The surgery is too
risky. You could undergo Chemotherapy and Radiation treatment, but if I’m being
honest, I don’t feel as though either would do much good.”
“So I don’t have any options. This is just…it?”
He slowly nodded. “At
best, in a case such as this, I would say you have a year.”
“A year to do what
exactly? Sit in my house and rot?” I felt my anger bubbling to the surface like
an over baked pan of lasagna.
“I understand your
indignation, I really do. I think maybe if there’re some things you’ve
wanted to do, it’s time to start doing them.”
How could such few
words have a blatant finality to them? How could I come down with a common cold
and then find out my life had been reduced to a handful of months?
“I can prescribe some
medication to get you through the general symptoms, but above that…” He trailed
off. He was being somewhat compassionate I suppose. I wouldn’t want to tell
someone they were dying either, what a crap job.
I’d thought medical
professionals were supposed to heal you? They would diagnose the issue and bam
you were handed a bottle of antibiotics and better within a week. But unless he
had a freaking miracle stashed beneath that prescription pad, I was toast.
“If you’d like someone
to talk to, I can recommend someone.” He began to extend some sort of business
card across the desk toward me.
I abruptly raised
myself from the chair that felt as if it were squeezing the life from me.
“Thanks, but no thanks. I’d rather not waste the time I have left lying
on a sofa and spilling my problems to a stranger.”
It was difficult
holding my anger at bay. Counting to ten while I exited the medical facility
helped but the urge to hit something was a fierce impulse to fight off. Did I
cry? For some reason, I didn’t at that moment. I can’t say why either. I
wanted to, but the tears wouldn’t come. They stayed hidden in their little duct
homes while I walked around seeing red.
Cancer of the Liver is
what they called it. Yeah, he’d given me some mumbo jumbo scientific name for
it, but all I heard was the ‘C’ word. The word that no one wants to hear in
their lives. The word that rips hope away from the person being diagnosed, and
replaces it with desperation and depression. With a disease like that, you’d
think I was a raging alcoholic who did nothing but fill her days by holding
down a bar stool while finding the bottom of a bottle. But I wasn’t. I
didn’t touch the stuff. So how was it I became strapped with a terminal disease
such as that? Why was this happening to me of all people?
I know life
isn’t some kind of tranquil state that we float through without a care in the
world. I would be utterly stupefied if I honestly believed that. No, life is a
series of unfortunate circumstances that lead us to make decisions we don’t
really want to make. What to have for breakfast, what to wear, and even what to
say to the person occupying the seat next to us on the city bus. We don’t
really put much thought into it all, but what are we really doing here?
Why were we put on this planet for only a miniscule amount of time? Is there
some grand plan that we aren’t seeing, like a big picture that has our entire
life mapped out already?
Up until the dreaded
news, I’d thought life was something to take for granted. That I could wake up
every day and be guaranteed tomorrow. It’s hard to believe that everything can
be changed in the course of a few ounces of blood and a doctor’s visit. I
continued to shake my head wondering what really happened, was I dreaming of
all of this? I wish I was. Things would be easier that way. But such as
life, nothing is easy. We’re screwed no matter which way we go, and end
up paying the consequences for it every day of our lives.
I made a decision. I
wasn’t going to sit around and watch myself waste away like a banana rotting
slowly on a counter. Nope, I was going to live my life like I just didn’t give
a crap anymore…well, not in a negative way. I was going to throw caution to the
wind, balls to the wall, take no prisoners and do the things I’ve always wanted
to do. You could call it my bucket list, or my death list, whatever you feel
comfortable with is alright by me.
My life is timed; I have
an expiration date stamped on my rear like a yogurt container in the dairy
section. After my time is up, that’s it. I don’t get a free pass. I’m okay with
it now. I have to be. If I weren’t, I’d be that banana…I am not a banana.
But in the end I’ll get
to laugh and smile at the things I’ve accomplished with my time on this earth.
I can’t wish my fate away, I can’t find a genie in a bottle on a desolate
stretch of beach to grant me more time. I’m accepting it like you’d accept a second
place trophy in a one-legged man’s butt kicking contest.
At least I was given a year.
To some it might seem like a small amount of time, and truly it is. But when
you’re given only that long to live, it
can in a way, seem like an eternity. I’ll do the things I’ve wanted to do
because in the end…no one can save
London Patterson.
Add the book to Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24894496-saving-london?ac=1
GIVEAWAY TIME
Courtesy of the author and Xpresso Book Tours, I’m hosting 1 ebook copy of Saving London. Open internationally. The winner will receive their copy after 6 July.
How to enter? Leave your name in the comments below, saying you want to win (before 30 June) and I will do a random draw to pick the winner (If you prefer a Rafflecopter widget, let me know and I’ll set it up).
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Interview with Taylor Dawn
What motivated you to start writing?
The main motivation that pushed me to write was my bucket list. The top item on it was to write a book. I wrote one and couldn’t stop writing. I honestly never thought that I’d have the opportunity to present my work to a larger audience than close friends and family. But I am blessed every single day because I get to do what I love and get paid for it.
Where does your character inspiration come from?
The majority of my characters are based on some aspect of my own personality. I try to make myself vulnerable enough that I can dig deep inside and pull out a character that anyone can relate to. Sometimes it works, others it doesn’t. But either way, all of my characters are like me somehow.
What do you like to do when you’re not writing?
When I’m not writing, I’m most likely thinking about writing. I’m a dreamer. I’m always trying to think up new characters, plots and scenarios for future books.
What advice would you give to someone who wants to write?
For someone who wants to write I say this…Start writing. Shut off all fear, and just do it. Don’t write to please others, write what makes you happy. Throw yourself onto the pages and people will feel that when they read your work.
What’s something personal that you’ve went through that has impacted your writing?
In my opinion everything an author writes was impacted by something that happened in their personal life. For me it would have to be my back injury. Having constant pain causes you to look for an escape in life. Writing did that for me. I was able to forget about my pain and focus my energy on something positive, writing. I chose not to surrender to my injury, I picked myself up and transferred my strength into the pages of my books.
How do you react to negative reviews of your books?
When I was self-published I literally went off the rails when negative reviews came in. It hurt me that someone would attack me like that. But I soon realized that they weren’t attacking me personally. It was just business. Not every reader will love what you put out. Some love it and some hate it. Now, I take it in stride. I use the negative reviews to better myself. I pull myself up and think ‘how can I improve?’ If you don’t think positively about it, those reviews will eat you alive and you’ll find yourself in despair while questioning if you should be doing this at all.
What types of books do you enjoy reading?
My favorite genre would have to be romance. In the harsh world we live in, the escape to somewhere with an overabundance of love is always welcome.
If you could meet any person (living or deceased) who would it be and why?
This might sound crazy, but I think I’d want to step out of my body and meet myself. I want to see what others see when they look at me.
About the Author:
C.D. Taylor/Taylor Dawn began writing as an item to check off her bucket list. She resides in the southernmost part of Illinois, right on the mighty Mississippi river. She enjoys the quiet country life with her husband, son and the many farm animals that make up the rest of the family. She decided that farm life was just a little too mundane, so she started writing erotica and fantasy to liven things up, so far so good. C.D./Taylor entered cosmetology school right out of High School and practiced the art of hair styling for 12 years. When she isn't writing, she can usually be found sitting around a table making people laugh. She has always wanted to be a standup comic. She loves pulling practical jokes, dresses up in a costume every Halloween and believes that dancing is the key to a happy life (even if you aren't a good dancer). She believes that life shouldn't be taken too seriously, we will never get out alive anyway. More than anything, she is a kid at heart, she doesn't believe in bedtimes, eating everything on her plate, or having ice cream only for dessert. Her favorite quote is by Dr. Seuss..."Why fit in, when you were born to stand out."
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