TOR MADDOX
by Liz Coley
Before we get to the exclusive excerpt from TOR MADDOX 2: EMBEDDED, here’s a note from Liz:
Dear YA Readers,
I’m so excited to introduce you to Tor Maddox. I hope you’ll spend some quality time together!
On first acquaintance, she’s a typical teenager—dancing ballet, walking her dog, teasing her brother, hanging out with her besties, learning to drive. What makes her so special? She’s in touch with the world around her, curious, impulsive, and extraordinarily brave. She steps up when she sees injustice, hypocrisy, and threats not to only to her loved ones, but to strangers and the world. Adventure, trouble, shenanigans, and romance are sure to follow.
Tor Maddox is the teenager I wish I had been, and I wrote her for my sharp-witted, sharper-tongued, dancing, messy, creative, generous and much loved daughter.
You may sign up here for the series giveaway—personalized, signed copies of all three books in print: Unleashed, Embedded, and Mistaken (US shipping). For instant gratification or for my dear out-of-US readers, all three books plus the short story prequel can be yours as e-books for under $10. And of course, the Eurozone Amazons will ship. If you are a loyal library patron, you can ask a library to order the series for you.
Thank you! All the best, Liz
lizcoley.com
~ Liz Coley (TOR MADDOX series)
About the Books
TOR MADDOX: UNLEASHED (TOR MADDOX #1)
When sixteen-year old Torrance Olivia Maddox, self-confessed news junkie, figures out that the mysterious and deadly New Flu is being spread by dogs, she has one question—if the danger is that obvious to her, why hasn’t the government revealed the truth and taken action?
Her search for the answer will take her farther than she ever imagined. But then again, she never imagined that man’s best friend could become public enemy number one, that men in black might show up in her cozy suburban neighborhood, that she’d spend her sixteenth birthday as a teenaged runaway, and that her effort to save one dog would become a mission to save them all.
To learn more about this book and see our review, go HERE.
TOR MADDOX: EMBEDDED (TOR MADDOX #2)
Life has been way too quiet for Tor Maddox since her fifteen minutes of CNN fame. Then agent-in-training Rick Turner reappears with what sounds like a simple assignment—to embed herself as his eyes and ears in her own high school. When she agrees to keep tabs on high school state swim champ Hamilton Parker for the Feds, she is plunged into the deep end of a sinister plot. Knowing that freedom, justice, and lives are at stake again, Tor jumps in feet first, but has she gotten in over her head this time?
When observe and report becomes kiss and tell, Tor’s first mission may blow up in her face.
To learn more about this book and see our review, go HERE.
TOR MADDOX: MISTAKEN (TOR MADDOX #3)
Eight leotards and a ball gown—that’s what Tor Maddox packed for her summer ballet intensive in New York. Pity she never arrived. Kidnapped once by the good guys and once by the bad ones, Tor finds herself involved in a high seas adventure featuring princesses and pirates, a wedding ring, and the guy she thought she’d never be allowed to see again, junior man-in-black Rick Turner.
Grab a flotation device and come aboard for more shenanigans, villainy, and romance.
To learn more about this book and see our review, go HERE.
Are you ready to start reading?!
Now here’s a sample scene from early in book 2, Tor Maddox: EMBEDDED.
EMBEDDED EXCERPT
Rick pulled a ball point pen out of his pocket. “Okay. Take this along with you. Please?”
“Wow. A pen. How…thoughtful?” I twirled it in my fingers.
“It’s a camera,” he explained.
“Really? Coolio.” I couldn’t stop the grin. My first spy camera! “But I do have my phone, you know.”
“This one is a little special. GPS tracking, voice recorder, infrared, and sixty megapixel image. No matter where you shoot from, we’ll be able to blow up the smallest corner of the shot.”
Awesome. “So what am I supposed to be shooting?”
“Use your judgment. The restaurant, the beach, anyone Parker senior talks to. That kind of thing. There are a couple safety features as well—flashlight, screamer, taser, death ray.”
I nearly dropped the pen. “Nice. How do I activate the death ray?”
A dimple appeared in his left cheek.
Spit. “You were kidding, right?”
His lips twisted in a smile. He flicked a moth from its perch on his sleeve. “Only half. This is last year’s model. No death ray.”
I punched him in the arm. “Sure. Whatever. Instructions?”
He passed me a small piece of paper from his other pocket. “When you’ve memorized this, please destroy it.”
I stuffed it in my pocket. “I’m terrible at manuals and on-line tutorials. Can you just show me?”
“Of course,” he said. “Though I find it hard to believe you’re terrible at anything.”
I held the pen up to my eye. All I saw was pen. “All I see is a pen. Now what?”
Rick spun me to face the street lamp, stepped up behind me, and reached around my shoulders to steady the pen. “That’s upside down,” he said. “Not that it really matters.”
I spun the pen point down. “I knew that.”
His hands closed over mine. “Site through the O in the brand name. See if you can center it on the light.”
Pulling the pen close enough to squint through it brought Rick’s thumbs right up against my cheek. I did my best to ignore the way I felt pressed, enfolded, snuggled even, between his warm chest behind me and his forearms resting on mine.
“See it now?” he asked. “I don’t think you’re aiming high enough.” He rested his chin on my left shoulder and tilted the pen. His eyelashes tickled my left cheek.
I forgot to breathe until he did it for me, the warm air blowing down my neck, more of a shuddery sigh than a normal exhalation. I melted and froze solid all in one moment. I knew if I turned my head about one inch to the left, I could create a whole lot of trouble for both of us. For just a millisecond, I calculated whether it was worth it.
A blinding light stabbed me in the right eye as the pen shifted into perfect position. “Ow. Got it,” I said raggedly.
“Then press here,” Rick said. He tapped what looked like the retractor on the top end.
“That’s it.”
“That’s it,” I echoed.
“Just remember what that feels like.” His voice was soft in my ear. He stepped back, leaving me shivering in his absence.
“Okey doke.” As if I could forget. Did he mean what I thought he meant?
About the Author
Liz Coley’s internationally best-selling psychological thriller Pretty Girl-13 has been published in 12 languages on 5 continents and been recognized by the American Library Association on two select lists for 2014 including Best Fiction for Young Adults.
Liz’s other publications include alternate history/time travel/romance Out of Xibalba and teen thrillers in the new Tor Maddox series. Her short fiction has appeared in Cosmos Magazine and numerous anthologies.
Liz lives in Ohio, where she is surrounded by a fantastic community of writers, beaten regularly by better tennis players, uplifted by her choir, supported by her husband, teased by her teenaged daughter, cheered from afar by her two older sons, and adorned with hair by her cats Tiger, Pippin, and Merry.
Liz invites you to explore her website at LizColey.com.
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Giveaway Details
One winner will receive a signed and personalized set of all three TOR MADDOX books.
Entering is simple, just fill out the entry form below. Winners will be announced on this site and in our monthly newsletter (sign up now!) within 30 days after the giveaway ends.
During each giveaway, we ask entrants a question pertaining to the book. Here is the question they’ll be answering in the comments below for extra entries:
What does Tor Maddox’s ID badge promise?
Hint: The answer can be found on the Amazon buy page or the NOVELS/TOR MADDOX page on lizcoley.com.
Click the Rafflecopter link below to enter the giveaway:
Thru August 14, Book 1 is free on Kindle! http://amzn.to/1Eo8dQD
Tor’s employee ID badge promises, “Your Fantasy Starts Here.”
Tor Maddox’s ID promises: “You’re Fantasy Starts Here.”
Oops, I mean’t “Your” not “You’re”. 🙂
Your Fantasy Starts Here.
“Your Fantasy Starts Here.”
Your Fantasy Starts Here 🙂
“Your Fantasy Starts Here”
Your Fantasy Starts Here