Blurb:
When
lonely insurance broker, Bailey, gets himself a new hobby, he ends up
exchanging letters with a war zone. But he’s not expecting what happens next…
Bailey Hodgkiss is lonely and dissatisfied
with his boring life as an insurance broker. In an attempt to insert some
variety, he signs up to a website to write to serving soldiers. He’s put in
touch with Corporal Nick Rock, and over the course of a couple of letters, the
two of them strike up a friendship. They begin to divulge their secrets,
including their preference for men.
Nick encourages Bailey to add more
interests to his life. As a result, Bailey picks up his forgotten hobby,
photography, and quickly decides to team it up with his other preferred
interest, travel.
Booking a holiday to Rome is his biggest
gesture towards a more exciting existence, and he eagerly looks forward to the
trip. That is, until Nick says he’s coming home on leave, and it looks as
though their respective trips will prevent them from meeting in person. Is
there enough of a spark between them to push them to meet, or will their
relationship remain on paper only?
Add to your Goodreads shelves: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20722128-letters-to-a-war-zone
*****
Excerpt:
After clicking all the available links on
the website to find out more about it, Bailey decided to go ahead and sign up.
He’d never know what it was really like unless he gave it a go.
He’d read about the site in an article
somewhere, about how it linked people with serving soldiers, pilots, marines
and sailors in order to write to them. It had been proven that receiving
mail—even from someone they didn’t know—improved military morale. It sounded
like a damn good use of time to Bailey, and it would be interesting, too.
He began typing his details into the online
form. Of course, the chances were that he’d be paired up with a man, given the
ratio of males to females in the forces. It didn’t matter, though. He could
still exchange letters with a guy, become friends. It seemed like such an
old-school way to communicate with someone, given how technology had come on
over the years, but at least it was different. Perhaps it would give him
something in his life to look forward to, something other than getting up,
showering, going to work, coming home, eating, watching television and going to
bed. The watching television—and even the eating—were occasionally replaced by
nights out with friends or seeing family. Weekends were spent cleaning, washing
clothes, gardening and odd jobs. Dull stuff, in other words.
He had an utterly mundane life, and Bailey
knew it. It wasn’t even as if his job was exciting. Insurance broking was
hardly thrilling, game-changing, or going to save the world. He didn’t expect
having a pen pal to change his entire life, but it would certainly break the
monotony. Hopefully.
He went through the various steps to fill
in his details and create a profile, then continued right through to the
information on actually writing and sending the letters. It looked straightforward
enough.
His mind made up, Bailey immediately went
in search of a pen, some nice paper and an envelope. Armed with a print out of
exactly what to do when the letter was finished, he settled down at the kitchen
table. Instantly, his mind went blank. What the fuck was he meant to say? He
didn’t know any soldiers or other military personnel, didn’t know anything
about their lives, other than there was a great deal more to it than shooting
people and being shot at. His own existence was so fucking boring that he
didn’t want to write about it. Unless there were any insomniacs in
Afghanistan—telling them about his day would solve that particular condition
right away.
After chewing on his biro until it broke,
covering his lips and chin with ink, Bailey replaced it, resolving to try
harder. He’d tell his pen pal the bare essentials about himself, then ask lots
of questions about them and their work. That was bound to rustle up some
conversation.
That decided, he began to write,
absentmindedly swiping at his inky skin with a tissue. He’d have to scrub it
off when he was done with the note. His wrist and hand had begun to ache before
he was halfway down the page. He rolled his eyes. He sat on his arse at a desk
all day, using a computer. As a result, even writing something short by hand
was hard work! There was no way he was going to divulge that particular piece
of information to someone that was willing to lay down their life to protect
their country.
He just about managed to fill a single side
of the A5-sized paper. And that was only because he’d formed large letters and
spaced his words and lines out plenty. But he tried not to worry—at least he’d
finished it, his first letter to a war zone.
He read through it carefully, relieved to
find no mistakes. He’d forgotten how much more difficult—and messy—errors were
on the written page. Computers let you edit and rewrite to your heart’s
content. No correction fluid or crossings-out necessary.
Finally, he addressed the envelope. It felt
like the longest address ever. The area and country was bad enough, even
without including the soldier’s name and BFPO address. But it was done—Bailey
Hodgkiss had penned a missive to Corporal Nick Rock, currently stationed at
Camp Bastion, Helmand Province, Afghanistan.
Now he’d just have to post it and wait for
a reply. The website had said his missive would take between one and three
weeks to reach Corporal Rock. Then he had to allow for time for him to read it
and send a reply. It could be around six weeks before he heard anything. If he
heard anything at all.
*****
Author
Bio:
Lucy Felthouse is a very busy woman! She
writes erotica and erotic romance in a variety of subgenres and pairings, and
has over 100 publications to her name, with many more in the pipeline. These
include several editions of Best Bondage Erotica, Best Women's Erotica 2013 and
Best Erotic Romance 2014. Another string to her bow is editing, and she has
edited and co-edited a number of anthologies, and also edits for a small
publishing house. She owns Erotica For
All, and is book editor for Cliterati.
Find out more at http://www.lucyfelthouse.co.uk.
Join her on Facebook
and Twitter, and subscribe to her
newsletter at: http://eepurl.com/gMQb9
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