www.TaraQuan.com/Owl
Tara Quan’s Operation Owl Tour of the Capital – Navy Memorial Plaza
I owe Krista Ames a huge thank
you for hosting me today. I’m trying something new, which is to chat up my book
prior to getting a firm release date. Because of my impending move to Rome, I
may soon experience a prolonged Internet blackout and have prescheduled my
stops. To the best of my knowledge, my latest multicultural romance from Decadent Publishing comes out some
time in July 2014 (so, depending on when you stumble upon this blog, it might
be available now). For updates as well as a chance to win a $25 gift card, drop
by my website: TaraQuan.com/Owl
In honor of the place I consider
home (what the government terms the National Capital Area), I’m dedicating the
posts on this tour to Washington, D.C. and its surrounding suburbs. The
romantic comedy I’m very blatantly promoting is set entirely in the US capital.
A Beyond Fairytales adaptation of The Owl by Brothers Grimm, Operation Owl features a geeky hacker
hero and his bookish best friend. They team up to expose a cyber conspiracy at
the heart of the US government and end up indulging in some other equally
exciting activities.
Waypoint: Navy Memorial Plaza
Since Krista’s most recent
release, Second Nature, features a Navy
man, I thought it appropriate to highlight the (not very well-known) US Navy
Memorial, which is an outdoor Plaza featuring a “Granite Sea” map of the world.
Conveniently located opposite the National Archives (and, more importantly, its
gift shop), it’s worth a quick glance as you mosey down Pennsylvania Avenue
toward the National Gallery of Art, or if you’re catching a show at the
Shakespeare Theater company.
It also happens to be near Paul
(yes, I’m recommending a chain restaurant), a bakery and café that serves
delicious Quiche Lorraine (by D.C. standards). It’s a great place for a casual breakfast
or lunch, and is a reasonably priced alternative to grabbing a hotdog from a
food truck. This café is also located near the Hoover Building/FBI headquarters,
where I’ve set a very special scene in Operation
Owl.
And thus concludes my Capital
Area tip for the day. Follow along at TaraQuan.com/Owl
as I continue my tour at the blogs of some awesome romance authors.
* * * * * *
Operation Owl
Five years ago, Maya Jain kissed
her best friend only to have him run out of her dorm room and leave the state.
When he shows up in Washington, D.C., a wanted fugitive sought after by every
branch of the US government, she can’t bring herself to ignore his plight. As
their physical relationship picks up where it left off, she decides it’s time
to make him see her as more than the bespectacled, bookish girl he once called
“Owl.”
After being accused of espionage
and treason, Zack Strong needs a forensic accountant to help clear his name.
Not knowing who he can trust, this white-hat hacker has no choice but to ask
his former best friend and math tutor for help. Together they unravel a cyber
conspiracy at the Barn, an NSA facility tasked to intercept electronic
communications. But as they traverse the nation’s capital to avoid capture,
Maya insists on letting their simmering sexual tension take its natural course.
Even though he’s never been able to shake the memory of their one kiss, he refuses
to let her give up her life for a man with no future.
Genre: Contemporary Romantic Comedy, Multicultural
About Tara Quan
Learn more at www.taraquan.com
Short Blurb
Inspired by a Grimm’s fairy tale, Operation Owl is a multicultural romantic comedy featuring a pair
of best friends—a geek hero and bookish heroine—who work together to expose
cyber conspiracy at the heart of the US government.
Excerpt
Hesitating at the threshold of
stalker-like activity, the logical part of his brain made one last-ditch
attempt to stall his fingers. This wasn’t acceptable behavior, not by any
stretch of the imagination. He should wait and see what happened. If push came
to shove, he could always abandon his post and knock on her door.
But he’d been sitting there for
ages, an abnormal amount of time for anyone to spend in the bathroom. She could
have passed out in there, and then where would they be? His brain’s paranoid
frontal lobe ended up winning the battle. He needed a quick peek, a brief
glance to confirm her location. If the trick gave him a glimpse of her in the
shower, the curtain would obscure his view. If he saw even a hint of skin, he’d
shut the damn feed off. No harm could come of this.
He accessed her webcam and
turned it on. As luck would have it, the computer was angled at the open
bathroom door, the only part of her apartment he couldn’t see into from the
street. With the wall-to-wall mirror completely visible on screen, it wouldn’t
be hard to ascertain her presence. A few keystrokes allowed him to enhance the
high definition feed and zoom in. A light coating of condensation blurred the
reflection by a fraction, but the open doors allowed most of it to dissipate.
The reflected image was clear enough to make out shapes and colors.
The footage presented a profile
view of Maya lying in a bathtub. Since he could only make out her face, neck,
and left arm, he didn’t see an immediate need to cease and desist. Her head
rested against the tub’s lip, cushioned by her long, dark hair. With her eyes closed
and lips parted, he couldn’t tell if she was conscious. What if she had slipped
in the shower and hit her head?
He cranked up the microphone’s
sensitivity. The great thing about modern-day computers was their much-improved
capability to process audio and video. As soon as she made a sound or moved,
he’d stop watching.
A soft, throaty moan crackled
over the speakers. Her left hand lifted in the air before clenching over the
side of the tub. Her back and neck arched.
“Shit.”
Slapping down his laptop screen,
Zack leaned back against the leather headrest and massaged his temples.
Struggling not to draw any conclusions, he muttered, “Don’t go there, man. Just
don’t go there.”
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Thanks for having me over, Krista!
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