Book Title: Full Throttle
Author: T. C. Archer
Genre: Contemporary, Romance, Suspense
Publisher: Etopia Press
Ebook:
Words: 95,000
BOOK DESCRIPTION
Gail ‘Jimmy’ James is the first female NASCAR mechanic. As if competing in a man’s world isn’t tough enough, her bombshell looks belie her genius.
Rising star NASCAR driver Rex Henderson is stunned to discover his new mechanic is smokin’ hot. Rex intends to own his own crew, but he must end the season number one if he’s to save his family and his dream. No female is getting in his way—especially his gorgeous new mechanic.
Nothing Jimmy knew about Rex Henderson the driver prepared her for Rex Henderson the man. But Jimmy has no time to consider her feelings as Rex wins race after race, despite strange mechanical problems with his car. Whether sabotage or her inexperience, she must stay a step ahead of trouble if she’s to ensure future wins—and safeguard her heart against the handsome, Alabama racecar driver.
BUY LINKS
EXCERPT
“When do you expect the new mechanic?” he asked, eyes fixed on the photo. “I want to start testing the new Yates engine we bought for Daytona.”
“We’ve already started.”
Rex jerked his attention back to Duff. “You know I like to be around from day one. Emerson would have called.”
“Rex, you need to know Jimmy is—”
“I haven’t even met this guy and you’ve got him working on my car. Since when?”
“Since Wednesday. Look, there’s something—”
“Four days? I want to see what he’s done.” Rex tossed the photo onto Duff’s desk and turned.
“Rex—” Duff jumped to his feet and started around the desk. The phone rang and he cursed.
“Rex,” he called as he grabbed the phone. “Winston. Yeah, I got the pictures. In fact—”
Rex took a left out the office door and strode past Emerson’s office, then past the office of the new accountant, Gary Blackeagle. The last office belonged to Brent Douglas, the guy who’d had Rex’s job for six years before he got caught with his pants down and a barely legal aged girl jammed between him and his locker.
Rex pushed open the door to the garage and stepped onto freshly waxed concrete. Despite last year’s sting, his heart raced as it always did at the start of the season when he first laid eyes on the immaculate eight thousand square-foot garage.
A dozen red, five-foot-tall toolboxes stood guard beside the uncluttered workbenches that lined the cinderblock walls. No. 14 sat in the first assembly area on the right, awaiting paint and window netting. Rex slid his gaze along the trunk and over the top of the car. The new Chevy was his ticket to owning a crew next season.
He started forward, then halted when a shapely figure in powder blue coveralls shifted into view. She bent over the engine like a real mechanic. What idiot had left his girlfriend to roam the garage alone? Rex dropped his gaze from the red ponytail to the feminine undercarriage on her fine frame and angled his head to get a better look. He couldn’t see her face, but judging by her body, her boyfriend had taste.
She pressed against the fender and in closer to the engine, straddling the front tire like Daisy Duke at her finest. Ouch! The fabric of the coveralls stretched across the lovely curves of her buttocks, complete with bikini brief panty lines. Rex shook off an unexpected need to hook a finger under those panties.
He crept to the car with panther-like stealth. She hadn’t emerged from the open hood when he leaned a hip against the fender beside her and drawled, “What fool left you alone in my garage, darlin’?” She stilled, and he ran his gaze the length of her five foot four body, then back to her taut rear end. He laughed softly. “You better come out before you get dirty.” Rex shifted his attention to the sparkplug wire she gripped. He straightened in shocked anger. “What the hell are you doing to my car?”
He seized her arm as she started to straighten and yanked her from under the hood. Her head struck the hood with a thunk. She gasped and Rex released her.
“Ouch!” Her hand flew to the top of her head and vigorously massaged the spot. “Why did you do that?”
“No one screws with my—”
She jerked her head around and Rex’s mouth went dry when his gaze met gorgeous brown eyes tinged with fury.
“That hurt!” She shoved back a lock of hair that had fallen loose from her ponytail and glared at him.
Those were the eyes a cowboy found only in a dream—and in midnight encounters in front of a wood-burning fire.
The sprinkling of pale freckles across her cheeks scrunched up when she wrinkled her nose. Her eyes narrowed. “Here, hot-shot.” She shoved the sparkplug wire into his chest. “You put the plug wires on. You know the firing order of your Chevy V-8?”
Rex raised a brow. “As a matter of fact—”
“Let me get you started,” she snapped as she gave her head another vigorous rub, “one, five, two, eight…”
“Look,” Rex retorted, “no one touches—” A hand clamped down on his shoulder and he whirled to find Duff standing behind him.
“I see you’ve met Jimmy James, our new mechanic,” Duff said.
Rex stared at the buxom figure, then faced Duff. “Mechanic? What the hell were you thinking? Even in those coveralls she doesn’t look like a mechanic. She looks like a…like a…hell, like she belongs on Sex in the City.”
“Hey!” she exclaimed.
“Her qualifications are top notch,” Duff interrupted.
“Why didn’t you just paint her on the hood hugging the damn Cozy fabric softener rabbit?” Rex shot back. “That’d get Cozy to renew their sponsorship for the next ten years.” He pictured her, sheet thrown across breasts and hips, one leg sprawled over the rabbit’s belly. “We’ll get nothing done with her around,” he added tightly.
“Winston doesn’t concur.” Duff turned Rex to face Jimmy. “Jimmy, this is your driver, Rex Henderson.”
“I know who he is.” The lock of hair had fallen across her eye again. She jammed it behind an ear. “You ought to keep him in his cage.”
Duff chuckled. Rex gave him a thin-lipped scowl, then leaned against the car and crossed his arms over his chest. Jimmy flicked him a withering glare. His groin pulsed.
He ran his gaze down her body before meeting her fiery brown eyes again. “Only if you’ll be my cage-mate.”
She drew a sharp breath and a camera flash lit the garage behind Rex. He whirled in time to catch a second flash in the eyes. Spots raced across his vision, but he made out the figure straightening from a crouch behind a workbench near the side door. The man lifted the camera to his eye and Rex jammed his eyes shut an instant before the flash penetrated his eyelids.
Rex snapped open his eyes and started for the paparazzo. “I’m going to kick your ass!”
The man pivoted toward the side door.
Rex accelerated to a sprint with Duff close behind.
The photographer bolted through the door. “Sex in the City!” He laughed, adding before the door banged shut behind him, “Cage-mates.”
Rex slammed into the door a second later and flung it open as the photographer dove into the passenger seat of a beat up blue Subaru. Rex hit the asphalt at a sprint as the car leaped into gear, passenger door ajar. Rex picked up speed. The Subaru slowed at the end of the building and Rex thought he had him, but the car rounded the corner and accelerated toward the open gate at the entrance.
Dammit. During the off-season, no guard manned the front gate. Rex cursed again and picked up speed. The paparazzo had probably followed him onto the property. He should have closed the security gate after he entered.
The car leaped over the parking lot speed bump and hit the street, tires squealing as it hung a right and zoomed away. Rex slowed and stopped at the curb. The blue compact had reached the end of the block and took a hard left toward the freeway. Damn. He didn’t get the license number.
Duff halted next to him, breathing hard.
Rex glared at him. “What do you say now, Duff?”
Duff’s gaze locked on the direction the car had taken. “I say all of Dallas will know what Howard Motors has up its sleeve by tomorrow morning, the rest of the world by supper time.”
Inside the garage, an engine starter whined. Rex turned toward the garage and stared as the engine caught, followed by the roar of exhaust when Jimmy pumped the accelerator in short, quick stabs.
INTERVIEW
- What inspired you to write Full Throttle?
- Evan came up with the title Full Throttle. Must be a guy thing.
- When or at what age did you know you wanted to be a writer?
- Evan: I wanted to be a writer since junior high. I wrote my first short story, compete with illustrations.
- Shawn: I didn’t really get the bug to write until I was in my mid-thirties. I didn’t give in to the compulsion until I was nearly forty.
- What is the earliest age you remember reading your first book?
- Evan: I don’t remember reading my first book. It seems like I’ve been reading forever.
- Shawn: My mother swears I started reading at 4. I was a total bookworm/geek. She could be right. My first memory was five, and I read something that went like ‘see spot run.’
- What genre of books do you enjoy reading?
- Evan: I like reading scifi and the classics, mostly.
- Shawn: I really enjoy all genres, though a lot of what I read has suspense elements to it.
- What is your favorite book?
- Evan: That’s a tough one. The Lord of the Rings, I suppose.
- Shawn: A Tale of Two Cities
- You know I think we all have a favorite author. Who is your favorite author and why?
- Evan: Philip Roth. I love the way he writes.
- Shawn: Charles Dickens, with Stephen King as my favorite modern author. They are bother master story-tellers and really know characterization.
- If you could travel back in time here on earth to any place or time. Where would you go and why?
- Evan: I’d go to 1776 and hang out with Franklin, Jefferson, Adams, and Washington.
- Shawn: First century. The world hasn’t been the same since that time. I’d like to see how it really happened.
- When writing a book do you find that writing comes easy for you or is it a difficult task?
- Evan: Writing poorly is easy. Good prose is hard.
- Shawn: ROFL. The idea is easy. Writing isn’t.
- Do you have any little fuzzy friends? Like a dog or a cat? Or any pets?
- Evan: I have two dogs: an Australian shepherd named Rex and his pug, Gus.
- Shawn: Not currently. We lost our kitty and best friend some years ago.
- What is your "to die for", favorite food/foods to eat?
- Evan: Ice cream. I wish I could only eat that.
- Shawn: HA! I love hard boiled eggs. How weird is that? But I adore pecan pie. I just seldom eat it. All those pesky calories.
- Do you have any advice for anyone that would like to be an author?
- Write, write, write, read, write, read, get critiqued, then read and write until it’s coming out your ears.
MY REVIEW
The following review is my opinion and not a paid review. I received a copy of Full Throttle from the author via Full Moon Bites Book Tours for review.
All NASCAR driver Rex Henderson wanted was to own and drive his own car. To own his own car was going to cost him a lot of money. He knew from all the mistakes that occurred last season he was going to have to win all the races and stay away from all the pretty girls. Rex never dreamed that his new head mechanic (Gail "Jimmy" James) would turn out to be a girl.
Not only does Jimmy have a hard time being accepted by Rex but her pit crew has a hard time accepting her as a mechanic. When things start happening to car #14 everyone thinks that it is all just a rookie mistake. Jimmy knows she is being blamed because she is a female. But when Jimmy gets a threatening note they begin thinking that maybe it is not a rookie mistake that it may be sabotage. Someone is trying to get Rex out of NASCAR for good or they just want Jimmy gone. NASCAR and a woman in the crew pit doesn't mix, racing is a man's game. Jimmy is determined to find out who is sabotaging car #14 to save her job and Rex.
I have to say that I have never been much of sports fan. I do on occasion watch sports on tv. But I do have a NASCAR driver though and was very excited to read Full Throttle. I honestly didn't think that I would like it very well. But guess what I loved it. I liked the suspense, the romance but what I really liked about it was the mechanical parts. I liked reading and learning about the restrictor plates and Jimmy taking the drive shaft out and putting it back in during a pit stop. I also loved finding out that they could read the temperature of the tires during the race. I don't know very much at all about working on cars but I do know a little bit. I know how and can use a ratchet.
Full Throttle was a better read than I could have ever imaged. It was extremely well written, explaining everything in detail. If you don't know much about NASCAR and want to learn then you need to read Full Throttle.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
T. C. Archer is comprised of award winning authors Evan Trevane and Shawn M. Casey. They live in the Northeast.
Evan puts his Ph.D. to good use by writing about alternate realities, and Shawn channels the mythology and philosophy she studied during her wasted youth into writing about exotic places and times.
FIND THE AUTHOR
Website
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LINK TO FULL TOUR SCHEDULE
This tour was put together by FMB Blog Tours
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