Teaser Tuesday #91 – Redemption by Jaye Frances @jayefrancesnews

Posted on February 14, 2017 by fundinmental

Welcome to Teaser Tuesday hosted by The Purple Booker, the weekly Meme that wants you to add books to your TBR, or just share what you are currently reading. It is very easy to play along:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers! Everyone loves Teaser Tuesday.

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HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY

Mr Wonderful is always on top of things…

Redemption, World Without Love series, Book III, by Jaye Frances is the final chapter of Jewel’s story.

This tale of human trafficking encompasses all the ugliness I expected to find…and more!

You can see my Review and the Giveaway HERE.

Redemption (World Without Love, # 3) Amazon / Goodreads

MY TEASE

Before we’d left the bathroom, I’d asked Mark to remove the shock-watch.

(56% on Kindle)

GOODREADS BLURB: In this final chapter of “World Without Love,” Jewel is rescued from Bangkok’s evil flesh markets by a covert government agency. Haunted by her last memories of Annie, Jewel vows to do whatever it takes to find her friend—hopefully in time to save her from Gregory’s sadistic and murderous intentions. In her new position as an embassy hostess, Jewel forms alliances with political attaches and power brokers, hoping one of them can help her find Annie—still alive.

Recognizing Jewel’s special assets, her supervisors offer her more responsibility, releasing her from the constant scrutiny of the all-seeing agency network. Jewel quickly realizes she’s been granted another advantage, one her superiors could not have anticipated: the chance to extract revenge on all those who attempted to destroy her life.

But again, the hand fate touches Jewel’s heart, forcing her to choose between the new man in her life and the one who helped her escape a dismal world of enslavement and cruel domination.

You can see my Giveaways HERE.
You can see my Reviews HERE.
If you like what you see, why don’t you follow me?
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Friday 56 #111 – The Big Bad Wolf by James Patterson @JP_Books

Posted on December 9, 2016 by fundinmental

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The Friday 56 is hosted by Freda’s Voice.The only rules are to grab a book (any book), turn to page 56 or 56% in your ereader and find any sentence or a few ( no spoilers) that grabs you and post it.

Please join Rose City Reader every Friday to share the first sentence or so of the book you are reading along with you initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires.

Please include the title of the book and the author’s name.

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I don’t think there is anyone that hasn’t heard of James Patterson, but have you read The Big Bad Wolf? Another great thriller, suspense novel.

This is the cover I have for my 1st edition hardcover published in 2003, but the colors are more vibrant.

Amazon / Goodreads

My 56

“I’m Alex Cross, with the FBI,” I said to Brigid, who seemed tremendously self-assured for her age, especially during this crisis. “I think that your father is expecting me.”

(Page 56 in hardcover, published in 1999)

Book Beginnings

The Phipps Plaza shopping mall in Atlanta was a showy montage of pink-granite floors, sweeping bronze-trimmed staircases, gilded Napoleonic design, lighting that sparkled like halgen spotlights. A man and a woman watched the target – “Mom”- as she left Niketown with sneakers and whatnot for her three daughters packed under one arm.

GOODREADS BLURB: Alex Cross, Patterson”s black lawman hero, has left the D.C. police force for the FBI. But Cross was a star cop, so when the Bureau becomes aware that attractive white women are disappearing at an unusually high rate in the nation”s capital, Cross, despite still being in training at Quantico, is brought onto the case and is personally mentored by the Bureau”s director, earning the ire of some Feds but the support of others. Behind the disappearances is a sexual slavery operation run as a sideline by one of the more believable and most compellingly evil villains in the Patterson universe, the Wolf, a mysterious former KGB man who”s now the world”s top mobster. The narrative throughout is swift and varied, as Patterson cuts among the diabolical schemes of a Russian magnate who may be the Wolf, the plight of several kidnap victims, the dogged pursuit by Cross and company of the Wolf, and the hideous designs of the members of an encrypted computer chat room who pay the Wolf fortunes to snatch women who fit their fantasies. And there”s domestic drama, too, as the mother of Cross”s young son, Alex, decides that she wants her boy back. Full of plot surprises and featuring a balanced mix of intrigue, hard action and angst, the novel, on which Patterson notably does not share cover credit, grips from start to finish. The Alex Cross series remains Patterson”s finest, and this is the finest Cross in years.

To see all my Giveaways, go HERE.
To see all my reviews, go HERE.
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WHICH COVER WOULD YOU CHOOSE?

OMG – They took her – The Body Market @dvberkom with Guest Post & Giveaway

Posted on March 10, 2016 by fundinmental

First off, I would like to welcome DV Berkom and I will be sharing her novel, The Body Market. She has also written this fantastic guest post and will be awarding a paperback (US & CA) or ebook (International) to one lucky commenter…So…read on and be sure to leave a comment, whether it be about the guest post, the cover, or just to say hi.

I love Leine Basso, a kickass ex assassin and here is what DV has to say about:

Writing a Killer as Your Main Character by DV Berkom

I’ll admit it—I’m not, nor have I ever been, a paid killer. Shocking, I know. But the main character in my Leine Basso Crime Thriller series is. And she’s also a woman.

Why on earth would I want to create a female protagonist who killed people for a living? Aren’t authors supposed to write sympathetic characters? Aren’t we supposed to create someone to root for? To empathize with?

According to readers, I’ve achieved that with Leine. But it wasn’t easy. First, let me explain the why, and I’ll follow that up with the how.

When I initially dreamed up the idea for Serial Date, the first book in the series, the only characters that were fully fleshed out in my mind were the contestants and “bachelors” on the reality show Serial Date. In a parody of the long-running and popular reality show The Bachelor, beautiful women vie for a date with a so-called serial killer. The bachelors aren’t actually serial killers, of course, but it’s implied for the audience’s titillation: Are the contestants safe? Will the audience witness an attempted murder? Better yet, a real one? Of course, the show becomes a blockbuster hit, and we’re off and running. (And yes, there’s a healthy dose of satire and dark humor in the book. How could I resist?)

From there, I imagined the main antagonist; a serial killer who watched the show religiously. The killer becomes incensed at the ineptitude of the show’s alleged serial killers and decides to take things into his own hands. Soon, a contestant is found dismembered inside a prop closet, necessitating better security on set.

Enter former assassin, Leine Basso.

I needed a protagonist who would be a good match against a serial killer, and I love to write strong, kick-@ss women. Why not fight fire with fire? A killer versus a killer.

The latest in the series, A Killing Truth, takes place before events in Serial Date, when Leine worked as an assassin for a shadow agency tasked with eliminating terrorists and enemies of the US. I’d had several emails from readers requesting a prequel explaining events that I allude to in the other books. And, since readers rule, I complied. Writing A Killing Truth was a lot of fun and really challenging. Fun, because I got to write Leine’s story when she was at the zenith of her career as an assassin, and challenging because I’d set up events in the other books and had to figure out how to make the story work with what I’d written.

So that’s the why. How does a writer make a character sympathetic when their actions are anything but?

Give the main character a flaw (or ten or twelve).

Leine has baggage. A lot of baggage. In A Killing Truth, not only is her profession getting to her (she can’t sleep, can’t compartmentalize what she’s done), but during a routine job she barely escapes with her life, and is beginning to suspect that she can’t trust her boss. Add to that raising her 12-year-old daughter by herself and worrying about her lover, Carlos (another assassin), and you’ve got a wee bit of stress to throw her off her game.

I don’t know about you, but I can’t stand reading about a perfect heroine who can fight the bad guys without getting a scratch, and then comes home and whips up a gourmet meal, deals effectively with her ornery preteen daughter, and still looks amazing when her lover shows up at the door. Nope. Can’t empathize. I’m lucky if I keep up with the laundry, much less produce seven gourmet meals a week. Or even one J

Yeah, I probably wouldn’t relate very well to that character.

Suffice it to say, aside from killing bad guys for a living, Leine’s got a lot to deal with. Who hasn’t had a bad day? Admittedly, Leine’s bad days are pretty gnarly, but you know what I mean. I like to think of Leine as the kind of person folks would like to know and have on their side. Someone who rarely makes mistakes on her job because the repercussions could be fatal, but a person who has to deal with challenges and heartache, just like the rest of us.

What about you? What kinds of characters really speak to you? Do you need to be able to identify with them in some way, or do you enjoy characters that are totally different from you? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

***Special bonus: I’m giving away a signed paperback (US & Canada) or e-book (international) of The Body Market to one randomly selected commenter. Good luck!

Thanks so much for the wonderful post, DV. I know you do a lot of research and writing about a killer, not being one yourself, can’t be easy. LOL

This awesome cover for The Body Market by DV Berkom grabbed me and never let me go. It is a story of human trafficking, which unfortunately, is still very active in the 21st Century. I love a strong female protagonist and Leine Basso fits that bill very nicely as she battles them.

Add me to Goodreads now

MY REVIEW

The Body Market’s title, cover, tagline and DV Berkom’s name as the author, tells me this is a story I can hardly wait to read. The Body Market is one novel in the Leine Basso series, but all the books can stand alone. The characters are ongoing, growing and changing with each book, becoming more complex, with all their foibles exposed.

A rich couple, too busy for their teenage daughter, will learn the pain and anguish of discovering their child is missing, possibly in a foreign county. And, Elliza, the pretty, rich American teenager will pay the penalty for partying in Mexico. She is the ditzy blond you hear about.

I used to read a lot of Mafia books in their heyday and I love assassins, especially a strong female one, like Leine Basso.

Leine Basso is kicking cartel ass from the opening pages. She is stubborn and will rebel when threatened. She is learning to live a real life instead of always running off to her next assassination. I love that she kite surf’s with her main man, Santiago Jensen. Santiago is new to monogamy and attempts to romance Leine. Don’t you love a man who cooks for you? I am lucky to have one of those too. I love the dialogue between them, at times humorous and fun.

She works for SHEN – Stop Human Enslavement Now and he is an LAPD Robbery/Homicide detective. I lam in favor of her idea of hand grenades and flamethrowers for dealing with sex traffickers.

I was surprised Leine didn’t know about the bad guy…but I cannot say more.

If you are looking for action from the getgo and a story that will have your blood boiling and your emotions running AMOK, pick up The Body Market. Leine Basso will have you kicking ass and taking names as she makes the bad guys pay. Will she be in time to rescue Elize? You will have to find out for yourself.

I received a copy of The Body Market from DV Berkom in return for an honest review

5 STARS

BONUS: DV Berkom has shared a short story – Privilege. I knew where the story was going, but I loved every word of it anyway. Just shows you should be VERY careful what you wish for. You may get it, but it may haunt you for the rest of your life. 5 STARS

Be sure and comment to enter to win a paperback (US & CA) or ebook (International). The giveaway will run from 3/9/16 – 3/24/16 so spread the word!

Goodreads Blurb: A retired assassin is called in when a celebration south of the border turns into a nightmare.

Former assassin Leine Basso is hired by a wealthy Beverly Hills power couple to find their missing daughter, Elise, last seen partying with her boyfriend at a club in Tijuana. At first, police believe the two teenagers are the victims of a carjacking. But when Leine finds their missing vehicle with the boyfriend’s mutilated body inside, and the local cartel warns her away, she knows if Elise isn’t already dead, she will be soon, or worse.

In the lethal world of organized crime, there’s always a worse.

As Leine races to uncover the reason behind Elise Bennett’s disappearance, she must also battle the powerful interests fighting to keep her from the truth.

ABOUT DV BERKOM

DV Berkom is a slave to the voices in her head. As the author of two popular thriller series (Leine Basso and Kate Jones), her love of creating resilient, kick-*ss female characters stems from a lifelong addiction to reading spy novels, mysteries, and thrillers, and longing to find the female equivalent within those pages.

Raised in the Midwest, she received her BA in political science from the University of Minnesota and promptly moved to Mexico to live on a sailboat. Many, many cross-country moves (and several years) later, she now lives just outside of Seattle, Washington with the love of her life, Mark, an ex-chef-turned contractor, and writes every chance she gets.

For more information, please visit her website at www.dvberkom.com.
Facebook / Twitter / Blog / Pinterest / Amazon US / Amazon UK/ Newsletter
Author Pages: Amazon / Smashwords / Barnes & Noble / itunes / Kobo

I am reading my way through DV Berkom’s The Leine Basso Thrillers:

I am also reading my way through DV Berkom’s Kate Jones Thrillers:

To see all my Giveaways, go HERE.
If you like what you see, why don’t you follow me?
Look on the right sidebar and let’s talk.
Leave your link in the comments, I’ll drop by to see what’s shakin’.
Problem commenting, look for the twitter, facebook…buttons.
Thanks for visiting fundinmental!

Be sure and comment to enter to win a paperback (US & CA) or ebook (International). The giveaway will run from 3/9/16 – 3/24/16 so spread the word!

****AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER****

I am very excited to be able to share Leine’s story with you. I have been waiting on pins and needles to learn more about her!

A Killing Truth by DV Berkom

A deadly assassin. A perpetual target. A double-cross she never saw coming…

They say the truth will set you free, but what if it kills you first?

A Killing Truth is the prequel to the award-winning Leine Basso thriller series of crime novels. If you like no-nonsense heroines, page-turning plots, and twists you won’t see coming, then you’ll love D.V. Berkom’s tension-filled series.

Teaser Tuesday #61 – Betrayed by Jaye Frances

Posted on March 1, 2016 by fundinmental

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TeaserTuesdays-ADailyRhythm3 Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Booksandabeat.

Anyone can play along! Just do the following: Grab your current read. Open to a random page. Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page. BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!) Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

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I have read and reviewed Betrayed by Jaye Frances.

Betrayed (World Without Love, Book I) by Jaye Frances had me sitting, with my mouth hanging open, wanting to throw my kindle at…something. I wanted to scream and rage at the degradation and cruelty that was heaped on Jewel.

This is not for the faint of heart, includes explicit sex, describing the savagery and brutality of human trafficking. Betrayed

Add me to Goodreads now

MY TEASE

He ignored my promise of submission, taking pleasure in watching me labor over each tortured breath. Only when he was sure my convulsions were real and I was on the verge of passing out did he lessen the pressure on the gag, allowing me to inhale a few times before retightening the strap.

(12% on Kindle)

Giveaway for one ebook at the link below:

Evil Walks Among Us – Betrayed by Jaye Frances Guest Post, Giveaway & Review

GOODREADS BLURB

Jewel has everything going for her—a handsome husband, a promising future, and lots of time to explore an island paradise she now calls home.

But when a group of strangers accompanies her husband home for a friendly game of poker, her life quickly becomes a hellish nightmare of deceit and betrayal.

Now her very survival depends on entering a world where sex, domination, and money are inseparable, where women must obey all masters, and where every desire has its price.

“Betrayed” contains mature content and is intended for an 18 and over audience.

Giveaway for one ebook at the link below:

Evil Walks Among Us – Betrayed by Jaye Frances Guest Post, Giveaway & Review

To see all my Giveaways, go HERE.

If you like what you see, why don’t you follow me?

Look on the right sidebar and let’s talk.

Leave your link in the comments and I will drop by to see what’s shakin’.

Problem commenting, look for the twitter, facebook…buttons.

Thanks for visiting fundinmental!

Evil Walks Among Us – Betrayed by Jaye Frances Guest Post, Giveaway & Review

Posted on February 26, 2016 by fundinmental

Be sure to enter the giveaway at the end of the post.

I am so excited to have Jaye Frances here to share some hints about Betrayed, Book One in the World Without Love series.

Betrayed, Book One, World Without Love

A Suspense Thriller Series With an Erotic Edge

PROLOGUE

We’re all captives, in one way or another . . .

I’m awakened by the sounds of creaking wood and straining rope—constant protests to the unsteady pitch and roll of the darkness.

Dizzy and disoriented, I take a breath, trying to dispel the nausea. But the air is laced with the pungent smell of damp rot, and its raw bite forces me to shallow my breathing.

Staring into the darkness, I search for a shape, a silhouette—anything to give me a clue about my surroundings. But there is only a thick layered blackness, as endless as the grave.

I’m plagued by the sensation of motion, of being rocked up and down. A flash of impaired logic tells me to dismiss it as a specter, an artifact from the nearly depleted dose of Halcion.

A minute passes—or an hour. I can’t tell which.

I hear something—a garbled voice, remnants of disconnected conversation. And from much farther away, the plaintive cries of a bird. The sounds seem genuine, missing that phantom-like quality associated with suspects from a barbiturate daze.

I take it as a sign—the drugs are finally leaving my system.

A prickly thaw sweeps the surface of my skin, bringing with it the nagging sensation that something is pulling at my limbs, tugging at me from both ends.

It’s not an after-effect of the drugs, I’m sure of that. It’s too strong, too constant. I have the sense it’s been there all along, waiting to break through the chemical cloud that kept me unconscious.

It’s growing stronger, getting worse, becoming a piercing burn stretching from my shoulders to my hips, cutting me to the quick.

I try to turn, to get away from the waves of searing heat raking at my arms and legs.

I can’t move.

The realization is as damning as if I’d awakened in the sulfur pits of hell. I’m bound like an animal, my wrists tied above my head, my legs strapped at the ankles—my body a living bridge of straining joints and wrenched sinew.

Even as my muscles scream at the draw of the restraints, I feel the bite of riveted steel against my back, the harsh, unforgiving surface running the length of my spine.

I’m naked.

It’s no accident. Whoever did this intentionally stripped me, leaving me exposed and vulnerable, determined to violate my mind as well as my body.

The blackness rolls then plunges, releasing something new into the shifting darkness. Slithering against me, it touches my skin with a bitter cold that breaks through the unrelenting agony of the rope. I hear my own tortured wheeze catch in my throat as I feel it scoring my stomach, the freezing nip and sting quickly followed by the unmistakable seeping of liquid, collecting in the hollow of my belly, running down my sides.

A rush of useless adrenalin floods my bloodstream, my chest threatening to explode as my racing heart frantically pumps blood to an unseen wound.

Even through the suffocating surge of panic, a vision of what I cannot see crystalizes with vivid detail: My arms and legs are tortuously drawn on a makeshift rack . . . a pendulum of biting chill slices across my naked torso . . . tiny rivers of fluid trickle down my sides.

I barely hear it over my pounding heartbeat—the sound of sloshing liquid.

In seconds, it becomes as familiar as it is terrifying.

I’m lying in water.

I take a halted breath as I realize the truth. The fluid running down my sides is not blood, but ribbons of over-wash from the frigid pool that surrounds me.

Rope and water.

Pain and fear.

It’s deliberate . . . to break me.

Again, the darkness lurches and rolls, churning the water, splashing it over my breasts and thighs. And although the icy burn forces me to gasp for air, it also sparks a moment of fleeting recognition—a vague memory from my past, a connection to the rise and fall of everything around me.

I’ve felt it before.

But where? When?

Stray thoughts flood my mind—the gentle climb, the momentary sense of weightlessness, the sudden drop . . . the unique motion of the sea.

It isn’t much, but it gives me something to hold on to, a starting point in remembering what has happened to me.

Thanks so much for the enticing peek into Betrayed, Jaye.

The cover only hints at the horror contained within the pages of Betrayed!

Add me to Goodreads now

MY REVIEW

WARNING: Graphic and explicit sexual scenes…kidnapping, sexual slavery, human trafficking, rape, abuse… I hesitate to call it erotica, because I view erotica as sex for sex’s sake. The scenes in Betrayed are pivotal to the story to show the savagery and brutality of the human trafficking of women.

I have read a couple of books by Jaye Francis, The Beach (review link below), Love Travels Forever (review link below) and The Kure (review to come soon) and they were quite different (wonderful paranormal and supernatural stories). I was caught off guard by the direction she took in Betrayed, but her writing is so fantastic, I will read anything she pens.

I love the cover and it screamed EVIL to me and I was soooooo right, BUT…I never anticipated just how EVIL it would be.

I find the review for Betrayed by Jaye Francis very difficult to write. I rarely read erotica, unless it is by an author I cannot resist, of which Jaye is one. I was talking to my sister about the book and how I could best describe it to get my point across. Human trafficking…one of the ugliest sides of “humanity”. The men who do this deserve the worst punishment possible…death! They are not fit to walk the face of the earth and you will meet some of them…especially her husband, Carl.

Jewel is shy and lacks self confidence. She marries Carl and his sense of adventure take them to exotic locales. I loved the thought of no nine to five, just going where their whims take them. Until…

I find it hard to believe she would let Carl do what he did, but I think her naivety and the inability to believe someone she trusted, should have been able to trust, allowed it to happen. After all, this is going on today, to intelligent women who end up in the wrong place at the wrong time. It makes me wonder…it is a desire in women to believe the best of everyone, to trust too much? I struggle to put into words what I am thinking and feeling. It’s one of those things…this could never happen to me. But, could it? Could it happen to you?

She would pay dearly for her mistake!

She would have to “learn to play the game” to survive. Does the Stockholm Syndrome play a part, or is it go along or die?

So many characters to hate and I wish I could climb through my kindle to make them pay. They should not be able to walk among us, living and breathing.

Betrayed by Jaye Frances is jam packed with action. I felt my emotions taking me into the depths of hell and she took me to a place I have never been before. I can only hope Jaye Frances will make them pay, in the worst possible way!

The storm descriptions were vivid and terrorizing, but I felt something good would come of it. I had a feeling I knew where Jaye was going and who Jewel would end up with to continue the story, but how that will play out…

The cliffhanger ending has me literally hanging on the edge…waiting to see where we will go next and I can hardly wait to get there. And I hope to see Carl again…soon.

I received a copy of Betrayed by Jaye Frances in return for an honest review. As I said earlier, I love her writing and will go wherever she wants to take me.

5 STARS

Goodreads Blurb: Jewel has everything going for her—a handsome husband, a promising future, and lots of time to explore an island paradise she now calls home.

But when a group of strangers accompanies her husband home for a friendly game of poker, her life quickly becomes a hellish nightmare of deceit and betrayal.

Now her very survival depends on entering a world where sex, domination, and money are inseparable, where women must obey all masters, and where every desire has its price.

“Betrayed” contains mature content and is intended for an 18 and over audience.

ABOUT JAYE FRANCES

Jaye Frances, author of Betrayed

Jaye Frances is the author of “World Without Love,” a suspense thriller series with an erotic edge, including “Betrayed,” “Reunion,” and “Redemption.” Her other books include “The Beach,” a sci-fi supernatural tale about the possibilities—and horror—of wishful thinking, “The Kure,” a paranormal-occult romance novel, “The Possibilities of Amy,” a coming-of-age story of first love, and “Love Travels Forever,” a collection of poignant short stories. When not absorbed with her writing, she enjoys cooking, traveling, and taking pictures-lots of them. Jaye lives on the gulf coast of Florida, sharing her home with one husband, six computers, and several hundred pairs of shoes.

For more information visit Jaye’s website at www.jayefrances.com
her Facebook page at www.facebook.com/jayefrancesauthor
and her Amazon Author Page: www.amazon.com/author/www.jayefrances…

GIVEAWAY

Jaye Frances has offered 1 (one) ebook of Betrayed, Book One of the World Without Love series, for the giveaway. Entry is easy peasy. Just answer the question and leave your email so I may contact you if you win.

“Have you ever been Betrayed by someone you loved and trusted?”

Giveaway runs 2/26 – 3/11/16.

I have read a couple of her books and Betrayed is quite different, but her writing is top notch, so I will grab anything she pens. If Betrayed sounds a bit much for you, check out The Beach, see my review link below, The Kure or The Possibilities of Amy.

MY REVIEWS OF THE BEACH AND LOVE TRAVELS FOREVER