Whether I'll Live or Die by Stacy Eaton: Spotlight & Interview

 

 

 

The newest Novel from International Best Selling Author, Stacy Eaton

This story is based on the emotional and physical pain of Domestic Violence. While this story is a fictional story, the truth of this book will hit close to home for many people who know someone or have been themselves a victim of this mostly hidden everyday crime.

You will read about Amanda as she falls into her first episode of domestic violence at the age of 19. You will follow through several years of her life as she gets pulled deeper and deeper into it. Will you feel her pain? Will you understand her emotions and conflicts?

Can she make it out before it is to late?

You will also travel along beside Nicole Nolan as she starts her new career as a police officer. Watch her grow and learn to deal with the issues that plague the township where she works. You will see how she has to deal with the emotional and physical issues of domestic violence from the point of the law.

This book is a very emotional and intense. It will make the reader think and wonder how they can protect themselves or help someone else that might be in that situation. It will touch your heart and bring chills to your soul as it brings to light the horrors so many people live through that others do not wish to know about.

Book Blurb: “It sounded so simple in theory; ready... aim... fire... but what actually transpired was so much more.”

Officer Nicole Nolan holds the gun steady in her hands, knowing that life will be forever altered once she pulls the trigger. Her position as a small town police officer is to protect those who cannot protect themselves. It is her job, her career and her life.

Amanda stands where protection does not exist. With several failed relationships behind her, Amanda turns a blind eye to the possessiveness Josh displays in order to sooth her desperate need to be loved. As the mental abuse turns violent, Amanda must deal with the denial and embarrassment of being a victim once again. With her emotional and physical health siting on the edge, she must fight to regain control of her life.

A gripping story with one final destination, but will it be life or death?

Reviewers are saying:

 

"A heartbreaking, compelling story about love, abuse and betrayal that has forever changed my perception of a subject I thought I understood. Definitely a five star read."~Amy

"Stacy Eaton's writing is riveting and electric. Her direct and fluid style does not flinch away from the tough stuff or gloss over anything. This novel will stay with you long after your finish it."  ~ Nancy

"Thank you Ms. Eaton for this excellent story of a very heartbreaking fact of life." ~ Pat

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Welcome back Stacy!  I'm so happy to get this chance to catch up with you and find out more about your newest book and what's going on with you currently.  I appreciate you taking some time out to answer a few of my questons.  :) What is the hardest part of writing your books?

For this in particular book it was writing the emotion. This book was very important to me and I needed to make sure that readers would be able to understand the pain, anxiety and helplessness that is associated with Domestic Violence.

There were times when I was writing this book that I would write a sentence or a paragraph and have to walk away. The words were strong, powerful and it would cause me to tense and be angry, so I would step away and do something else for a few minutes, then come back and write a bit more.

In the last two chapters, I still cannot read the ends of them without getting tears in my eyes. I think I was able to capture the intensity of the emotions very well and I am very proud of that. I know this story inside and out, so for me to read the words and still feel the emotions means a lot to me, and I hope others feel it too.

What do you think makes a good story?

I am all about twists.  I don’t want to know what is coming at the end of the book. I want to be surprised. Most romance novels all end the same… happily ever after… but if you look at life, seldom does it end that way. In my novels, I may end them happily ever after, but the twists that come in the story are surprising and most readers will not see them coming.

The My Blood Runs Blue series is a good example of that. In the first two books, I throw so many twists in them that people were amazed at the ending results. I know quite a few people who were not happy with the ending of My Blood Runs Blue, book 1 of the series. There were many people who told me that they wanted to other man to win, but I promised all those people that eventually he will get what he truly deserves. It will just be filled with some series twists before he gets there.

Whether I’ll Live or Die doesn’t have the kind of twists that I normally put to my stories, but this was a different journey. This one needed to explain the pain and frustration associated with abuse. 

 

Do you use a pen name? If so, how did you come up with it?

Yes I do. Because of the job that I do, and my need to constantly protect my family from everything, I use a pen name. Stacy Eaton is a form of my name, just not a form that anyone could associate with me. I can’t tell you more than that, but someday once I retire and my daughter is grown, I might release the true name – We’ll see.

What group did you hang out with in high school?

Oh good lord! Wow…. I moved around a lot when I was growing up. I actually went to 13 schools before I graduated from high school so every time I moved, I changed groups. It wasn’t until I was in my final stages of high school that I felt like I was where I should be.

In ninth grade I was a wanna be prep! Yep! I was – of course this was back in the 80’s with big hair and stir-up pants. Wait… aren’t those coming back into style? Anyway, I was a cheerleader back then, and to be honest I hated it. I couldn’t be the fake person you needed to be. The one where you were only friends with the popular people and you dated the football stars. Yeah – that wasn’t me.

In tenth grade I decided to lay low. I had some friends in the popular arena, but I was more comfortable with the band members even though I couldn’t play a tune on anything!

In eleventh grade I moved from Florida to Michigan.  I moved from group to group. Back then you could smoke on school property and I hung out with the “bad kids”. I was rebelling against my parents for moving me from sunny Florida to the freaking snow filled subs of Detroit!  I did have friends who were involved with sports but it wasn’t until I found my way into the theater that I started to find myself.

I got my high school letter in Theater! Yep I was a Thespian, but I never got on stage, I worked behind the scenes. Even now, I had attention and despise being in front of a group.

You just won a huge lottery what is the first thing you'll buy?

A beer! So I could sit back and figure out what the heck to do next!  Lol… Then I would pay off my parents bills – get rid of my own – take the family on a nice vacation – put money away for college for my daughter – buy a couple of new sports cars to go with my SUV and sit back and write some more! I would also make sure that some of my favorite charities were well taken care of. Giving is more important than receiving… I truly believe in that.

Do you play any sports?

Oh in my life I have done a lot. I am a very physical person and I love to be moving. Growing up I did gymnastics, soccer and swimming. I loved competitive swimming and butterfly was my favorite stroke. I thank all that training for my wide shoulders, lol….

When I got older, I danced – but not in classes – I just enjoyed dancing and I was pretty good. When I was 19 I started lifting weights and fell in love with them! I wanted to do body building and I was well on my way, until I got married and moved away and that was put on the back shelf.

In my mid-twenties I started taking Tang Soo Do. I loved that! Thrived on it – but walked away from it a year later when I broke up with my instructor. Oh… did I mention I was dating him? Yeah… got kind of weird when we broke up. Anyway…

I still lift weights when I can and now I am back into martial arts, Tae Kwon Do. Again – I love it. The focus, the energy that it requires is right up my alley. This time I’m married to a man who does not do martial arts, so there is no chance of losing my instructor! Lol…

What are you passionate about these days?

Life… Everything about it. Protecting it… enhancing it… enjoying it.  My husband and I are very involved in charities. I do a lot to help raise money for things we believe in and my husband does charity rides on his bicycle. He puts on thousands of miles to help raise money for police, animal and other charities.

One of the biggest things that I work for today is to help get the word out about domestic violence. It is the reason I wrote Whether I’ll Live or Die.  DV is a silent killer where victims are afraid to come forward.  There are so many reasons that they don’t, embarrassment, feeling like it is there fault, believing the person will change, not accepting that it could happen to them. My goal is to help people in these situations understand they are not alone and they can get help, that they can have a happy life away from abuse.

With each sale of my new novel, I will be donating a portion of the proceeds to Domestic Violence charities.

 

Tell us about your current release.

Whether I’ll Live or Die is a story about a young woman, Amanda, who will go from one relationship to another looking for love but finding abuse in different forms.  You will travel through many years of her life and see what she must deal with.

At the same time you will meet Officer Nicole Nolan who starts her career in the police department and has to learn how to deal with victims of abuse from the legal perspective.

The emotions are intense. The drama is real. For those who have never been abused, it will allow them to see how it feels, how hard it is to break away. For those who have lived through it and escaped it, it will remind them of why they fought and got control of their lives back. For those who are trapped in this world… it will hopefully show them that they can find a way out. There is a way out… and you just need to ask for help.

 

 

 

Stacy Eaton is a Police Officer by trade. While she does standard patrol duties, she is also the departments Crime Scene Investigator and spends a lot of her shifts working on investigations.

She uses her knowledge from her job to shape her stories. Give real life twists and turns to the fantasy fiction that she creates.

Stacy is also a photographer, avid reader and a business owner. She lives with her husband, her daughter and her two Shiloh Shepherds Garda and Callie in Southeaster PA.Visit her blog: http://stacyeatonauthor.blogspot.com/

 

 

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