Sunday, October 2, 2011

ARROW THAT FLIES, by Sadie & Sophie Cuffe

Romantic Suspense/Suspense

As undercover agent, Jackie Duncan, ferrets out environmental activist, Rand Adams and his turbulent plans for the logging town of Stellar's Ford, she sees double when identical twin, Robbie, assumes Rand's identity. After getting nearly skewered by an arrow at a tree-spiking site, Jackie's list of suspects grows, and her rural childhood haven boils over with protests and arson. At every turn, Rand Adams (or is it Robbie?) is a step ahead of her.

When her investigative work won't turn the tables, Jackie stubbornly befriends this would-be enemy and discovers though they share the same face, Robbie is not his volatile brother. But who is he? And will their fragile love and common faith be enough to weather the arrival of brother, Rand, and his claims of being a kidnapped pawn in a cat-and-mouse game that's about to turn deadly for all of them?



Excerpt:

           Jackie's brain scrambled, wondering how to begin. With Robbie, she needed a logical and ordered approach, mostly a foreign concept to her random brain. She'd do her best to meet him on his perfectly-manicured and weed-free mental turf. "First of all, you can't love me. You don't trust me and, although you might disagree, I believe you have to have trust before you can truly love a person.

"Second...or is it secondly? Anyway," she continued on an indrawn breath. "I have no feelings for Rand Adams whatsoever. I only met him for the first time tonight, even though certain parties -- that would be you and Amanda and even Bill, and I don't know about Brad -- let me believe you were Rand when we first met."
"Brad can't tell the difference."
"Well, it's a relief to know I'm not the only clueless one around," Jackie said. "But that's beside the point. Thirdly, you don't even know me."
"I know enough."
"You don't," she argued. "I came here, not only as a state forester, but as an undercover environmental task force officer. I was...I am supposed to keep track of your brother to make sure he, or anyone else, for that matter, doesn't cross the line and do anything violent. We got a tip he was coming here to stop the land management exchange process no matter the cost.
"We're short staffed so we asked for help from the FBI, because they've been keeping tabs on Rand for awhile now, but they're convinced there's nothing here that would further their investigation of your brother. They're not interested in the life and death of a few people in a small town, so the commissioner decided to send me."
"Bill's 'secret weapon,'" Robbie stated. "So far you're not telling me anything I haven't already suspected."
"This is just what I was saying. You suspect me -- you don't trust me."
"I meant deduced. We're talking semantics here," he argued, but his gentle voice caressed her frayed nerves. "It has nothing to do with trust.
"It has everything to do with trust. Even if you did love me, and I'm not saying you do--"
"I'm saying I do."
"I'm saying it wouldn't work. I can't go for you now -- it'd be a flagrant conflict of interest because I'm investigating your brother. It would put you in the middle of an emotional tug-of-war, and that's not fair."
"I'm a big boy, I can handle it."
"Oh, sure, Mr. Cool now, is it? The list-making king is suddenly going to wing it? What happens when Rand asks you to back him up and you know I'm going to be out there on the opposite side?"
"We're on the same side," he persisted like old Sparky with a bone.
"And you think I'm stubborn? Just last night I said that same thing to you, and you came back with the famous Robbie Adams' 'We'll see,' ambiguity," Jackie replied.


 
Why Did Sadie and Sofie Write Arrow That Flies?
         We've always lived in rural areas in a blue collar world, and our writing reflects this background. Some of our manuscripts have been rejected by editors for being non-authentic in terms of small town culture and happenings. Our inspiration came from wanting to portray rural people as the smart, funny, hard working, strong individualists, and believers, they are -- true to themselves, regardless of the current fashions and fads of NYC or Paris. We also wanted to create a heroine who could be both feminine and rural-woods-smart. That inspiration came from generations of rural women across the country. We write what comes from our hearts. The story behind this book is the story of rural folk everywhere, living off the land, protecting their families, and dealing with the challenge of new ideas and change.
The story evolved very slowly. We knew what would happen in the plot, but at the first writing, we have to be honest, we hated the hero and heroine. Innumerable rewrites later, we feel it's evolved into something readers will enjoy.
Strangers often ask us if we're twins. We're not, but we've always thought it would be fun to have an identical twin. The premise of having someone who looks exactly like you isn't new, but we like to think we put a different spin on it by having one twin impersonate his abducted brother while searching for the kidnapper.
Author Bio:
The Cuffe sisters grew up in the 60s along side two brothers with perfect snowball aim (okay, so we were good targets!), neighborhood pick-up games, a small church in the pines with a scary outhouse, and a school by the lake where you jumped into first grade because there was no kindergarten.
As a team, we bring the strength of sisterhood to our writing, as well as the spice of differing perspectives on everything from Sophie’s Type-A need to EXACTLY follow the recipe (she soooo identifies with Robbie!), to Sadie’s backing up using mirrors (Jackie's got nothing on her!). SCARY.
In addition to freelance writing we run a small farm in Maine’s Unorganized Territory. We bring Jane-of-All-Trades life experience to our work, and believe God has given us this background to write squarely to the heart of real women who don’t always wear a size 2 and prefer boots to high heels. If you want to ‘talk shop’ about rural life, livestock, music, God, house construction, or girl stuff, we’re ready. We believe with God anything is possible and that some of the best stories aren’t hatched in creative writing classes, they’re composed on the seat of a tractor.
We're pleased to have our novel published with Desert Breeze Publishing and look forward to the April 2012 release of the second book in the series, entitled WARRIOR'S JOURNEY.
We'd also like you to know our historical inspirational fiction, FAITH IN THE SHADOWS will be out in November 2011.


Purchase Links:

Amazon (including Kindle). http://tinyurl.com/3nvfvt3

Barnes and Noble (including Nook). http://tinyurl.com/3tyb8jx

Desert Breeze Publishing. http://tinyurl.com/3evqplf

1 comment:

  1. This book sounds really interesting. I soooo identify with your biographies! I'd rather talk livestock, music, even construction before girl stuff! Best wishes on all the books!

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