“Hello, Sweetheart”

By: Heather Ashby

Congratulations to "Maureen C." the winner of Heather's giveaway. Thank you to all who participated!

“Hello, Sweetheart” 

A visit with Sky Crawford 

Shhhh. Heather’s asleep. She got so frustrated coming up with a topic for today’s blog, she finally gave up and took a nap. I figured I’d call in reinforcements and write the blog for her, since her newest book features, * drum roll * ME: “The Skylark, King of the Skies and the Bedroom.”

Hello, sweetheart, I’m Sky Crawford, a Navy Seahawk helicopter pilot. I was introduced in Heather Ashby’s first novel, Forgive & Forget, as the hero’s sidekick. Before Heather finished that book, I had taken on a life of my own, and jumped up and down on the aircraft carrier’s flight deck, waving my arms and shouting, “Write about me! Write about me!” And that’s how I got my own story, Forget Me Not. Heather thinks this book was a 2012 Golden Heart finalist because of the cool original title: Cat On A Hot Steel Flight Deck. But it was really because I sweet-talked the judges.

Women are my favorite thing in the whole world. And beer. What? I can only have one? Then it would be a woman with a beer. Okay, moving right along. Sorry, I have a little trouble with focus sometimes. My squadron mates say it’s ADHD and that’s how I got my pilot call sign, “Skylark.” To skylark in the Navy means to be distracted, not pay attention, or have one’s head up one’s you know what at the wrong time. I only lose focus when things get boring, but I’m never bored around lovely ladies such as yourselves. Or in my Romeo helicopter. You don’t believe there’s such a thing? I fly a Navy MH-60R Seahawk helicopter, commonly known as a “Romeo.” See, “R” in the military alphabet stands for Romeo, so that makes me a Romeo pilot. How’s that for branding?

I’m always focused as soon as I climb into the cockpit. And I stay on task through all missions: Search & Rescue, vertical replenishment—like helping victims of Hurricane Katrina and the earthquake in Haiti—Anti-Submarine Warfare, and Counter Narco-Terrorist interdiction. That last one is a mouthful, but it’s what my crew and I perform in Forget Me Not. Heather had to do a lot of research on the cocaine trade and spend hours talking to hot helo pilots about drug interdictions at sea. FYI, she did not find the latter to be hardship duty. One pilot even took her through the flight simulator and let her take down bad guys on her own!

But the big story in Book #2 of Heather’s “Love in the Fleet” series, is my pursuit of Dr. Daisy Schneider. Man, oh, man, does that woman spin my rotors. See, I rescued this Siamese cat and tried to impress my chick-du-jour by taking it to a vet and finding it a home. But, oops, I fell in love with the vet. So, of course, I’m keeping the cat. Surely I can come up with ailments every day that will require Dr. Daisy’s attention. Unfortunately, she is not falling for my BS, so I’m working extra hard to win her over. Apparently she’s got some kind of baggage where military pilots are concerned, so my cool Navy flight suit isn’t doing anything for her either. But that’s okay. I’m not giving up any time soon.

Besides, I’ve got issues of my own. Come on, doesn’t everybody? My best friend from Book #1 thinks I’ve got some PTSD problems and maybe I should talk with someone. But it’s not like I can’t handle a couple of bad dreams now and then. Besides, ever since the kitty moved into my life, she’s been waking me up before the dreams get out of hand. Siamese cats are like dogs, you know. They greet you at the door, talk to you, and apparently comfort you when you’re dealing with issues. Oh, geez, what’s wrong with this picture? I’m sleeping with a cat instead of Dr. Daisy? I need to get my hands on a copy of Forget Me Not and see how this all turns out.

Or maybe I’ll just wake Heather and ask her. Nah, she’s not going to be happy when she finds out I ghost wrote this blog post. And hit Send. She’s always telling me, “I can’t take you anywhere, Sky!” So, gotta run, darlin’s. Feel free to leave a comment below and I’ll select one lucky commenter for a giveaway of Forget Me Not. But right now I gotta go “kick the tires and light the fires,” as we Naval aviators say, before Heather wakes up and kicks my…um…tires.

XOXO, Sky J  

Giveaway:
Heather will be giving away a copy of Forget Me Not to one lucky person leaving a comment or email entry.

AUTHOR BIO: 

Heather Ashby is a Navy veteran who taught school and raised a family while accompanying her Navy husband around the United States, Japan, and the Middle East. In gratitude for her Army son’s safe return from Afghanistan and Iraq, she now writes military romance novels, donating half her royalties to causes that support wounded warriors and their families. Her debut novel, Forgive & Forget was voted “Best of 2013” by Suspense Magazine. She lives in Atlantic Beach, Florida with her husband and three rescue cats.

www.heatherashby.com

Twitter: www.@HAshbyAuthor

Facebook: Heather Ashby Author

Amazon: http://alturl.com/wb6ru

Giveaway ends 11:59pm EST Dec. 5th. Please supply your email in the post. You may use spaces or full text for security. (ex. jsmith at gmail dot com) If you do not wish to supply your email, or have trouble posting, please email maureen@JustContemporaryRomance.com with a subject title of JCR GIVEAWAY to be entered in the current giveaway.