Thankful Author 2017- Charlotte O'Shay

Thank You Angela for allowing me to appear on your blog to share what I am most thankful for this season.

I’m thankful to enjoy the freedoms and embrace the responsibilities of my precious citizenship in this beautiful country. I’m grateful for my family and friends and the warmth and laughter we share everyday.

But this year I’m MOST thankful the sexual harassment/sexual assault issue has come to a head and is out in the open in this country.

I know this isn’t a typical thankfulness topic and if you stop reading here, I get it.

One of the biggest problems sexual assault victims face is the knowledge that if they speak out on the violation(s) they have endured— the predator often has the power to malign them in the press, drag them through the legal system, blackball them in their profession or just simply ignore them.

So speaking out is a risk many choose not to take.

I’m compelled to address the issue because in the perfect storm of circumstances, the sexual assault/harassment allegations in the media hit home for me in a big way.

(And not just because my second book, A Model Engagement deals with the issue.)

This month, after many years of willful ignorance and outright denial, the order of priests, one of whose members preyed upon my brother as a teenager, admitted the abuse and apologized.

They admitted the abuse to me as his legal and medical representative because of our family’s fear revisiting the assault would have no positive effect on his fragile mental health.

How did I feel on his behalf? At first, I was bitter and angry. My brother, who won a scholarship to an elite Jesuit high school, where he was a stellar athlete (soccer and baseball) and recipient of an appointment to the Air Force Academy, lost it all in a haze of alcohol and drugs in the aftermath of the abuse. A young man of great promise now struggles with the activities of daily living. But he is still our brother, my ‘irish twin’ and we love him.

I am thankful his story was heard. I am thankful I still believe in God.

I am thankful I was able to tell my mother the crime was finally acknowledged. Bless her, at this point mom has forgotten practically everything, including the rooms in her own house, but she’s never forgotten the assault on her son and the reports she made to the Catholic Church, all ignored.

I am thankful for those who’ve had the courage to speak out on their own behalf and on behalf of others. I am thankful some people are finally listening.

 Blurb

Lacey Reed jumps at the chance for independence with a career in the big city. But her naivety and ambition blind her to the lure of a blackmailer.

With her savings gone she has nowhere to turn when she literally runs into financier Connor Devlin.

Though dazzled by Lacey, Connor sees the desperation she tries to hide. He hires her as his fake fiancée. Now Lacey has a job and he has a bandage for a family crisis.

When the blackmailer ups the ante, Lacey resolves to face him down— no matter what the consequences.

Does that mean Lacey will lose the only man who’s ever seen who she truly is?

 A Model Engagement Excerpt

In that moment, she relived just why she needed a job so damn bad. In that moment, all she could remember were the targeted emails, the strategic telephone calls and the persuasive texts she’d received from Barry as he set out to reel her in like the very gullible fish she was.


It all came back like a rush of filthy sewage.


How he’d drawn her in. Discovered her desire to reap the most financial benefit from her career before retiring. Then, in a seemingly normal progression, he set up a meeting at his office. Designed for shoptalk so that they could discuss photographic details of her breakout exclusive ad campaign for Mon Secret.

His home office as it turned out, complete with multiple couches and a closet full of evening wear
and fur, props for the shoot. Lacey had developed a veneer of sophistication during her four plus
years in the business. Or so she’d thought. But Barry’s lavish living and working space wowed her.

She cringed as she remembered telling him how eager she was to start.

Lacey relived it all in that split second and Connor, who’d done nothing more than offer her his jacket and then a ride home was suddenly a stand in for the monster who had taken her piece of mind along with practically every red cent she possessed.

 Buy Links:

Amazon     Nook     The Wild Rose Press

Author Bio and Links: 

Charlotte O'Shay was born into a big family and married into another big family.

The drama! The noise! The inspiration!

Negotiating skills honed at the dinner table led her to a career in law. After four beautiful children joined the crowded family tree, Charlotte traded her legal career to write about happily ever afters. She lives on the far westside only 3 subway stops from where she grew up.

When Charlotte isn't reading or writing steamy contemporaries featuring heroines in crisis and swoony heroes with issues, she's on the hunt for that perfect pair of sunglasses. 

She LOVES to hear from readers.

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Web: charlotteoshayauthor.com 

Twitter (@charlotte_oshay) 

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Facebook (Authorcharlotteoshay)

Goodreads

The City of Dreams series are standalone books linked by the wedding in The Marriage Ultimatum.

Book 1, The Marriage Ultimatum ~ Sabrina & Vlad

Book 2, A Model Engagement ~ Lacey & Connor 

Book 3, An Short Term Affair ~ Honey & Jake

RWA & RWA-NYC