RELEASE DATE 11/07/2021

WHITE CROW – Francis O’Keefe click to purchase from Amazon.

Beginnings

 Only the couple’s playful affection gave a clue as to the significance of the day. After their thirty years partnership, they had legally joined their union alone in a registry office. Not one family or friend member present, overseen by strangers as witnesses. They had not spent years saving or planning their marriage or vows. But to them, it did not signify their life starting together but could be the start of their life together ending and was tainted with this bitter-sweet cruelty. The only planning they had performed was to apply for the twenty-eight day+ notice period, for this had to be legal. Everything depended on that—everything else they completed in a whole clandestine manner.

Party Abridged

.Rose noticed how many tablets Victor was taking and gave him disapproving glances. Suddenly for no reason, Victor grabbed Rose’s arm. At first, she thought it was an attack of nerves; it had been a while since they had been together in such a crowded room. His grip tightened on her arm, and she winced in pain as she tried to hold him up, noticing that he was struggling to do so alone. He felt the room spin like he had in the bedroom at home; a different fear engulfed him as he made out snatches of the onlookers. He was gripped in terror as he watched the confused faces contort in horror and spin as his heart started racing faster and faster while a deep dark feeling of dread took hold. He felt pain tear across his chest and travel his jaw and arm. Rose caught the terrified look on his face as he gasped and held his chest, crying out for answers. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion for Rose but so fast that she couldn’t help him as he plunged through a glass table. The smash was silent to her. She never heard anything until she screamed. She fell to her knees, and she never forgot the way her tears sounded. The way she made him go to the party, the way her lifelong partner looked lying among the shards of glass.

Secrets and lies abridged

Ben pulled up after the short distance to her door. He placed his hand over hers as she attempted to leave the car. A wave of trepidation washed over her; what would he do to her?

“Rose.” She could hardly breathe as she choked with fear. “Rose, please don’t leave me the way you said you would earlier on the phone.” Breathless, she stayed frozen, terrified of his next act. Was this the real Ben? Did he do this to all women, emotionally and then physically abuse them? Ben sensed her fear and tensed up muscles. “I’m sorry, what I am trying to say is, please continue to see me. I have no one, and you make my life more tolerable.” She had gone from fear to pity in a sentence, but he couldn’t keep putting her through this.

“Ben, I cannot answer you; I don’t know what you want of me. Anytime soon, Victor will be home, and then my concentration and love will be devoted to him. What can you possibly gain from this arrangement?” He released the loose grip, which was the last of his contact, holding her into the car within his reach.

CLOSE MY EYES 25th February 2021 Adult Romance/Gothic/ Horror

Excerpt.

“THAT IS ENOUGH! I HAVE PUT UP WITH YOUR SNIDE PUT-DOWNS, YOUR CYANIDE-LACED REMARKS AND YOUR CONSTANT ATTEMPTS TO DEGRADE ME. I WILL NOT STAND HERE AND SUFFER ANYMORE NORMALLY IT IS FOR YOUR AUDIENCE, BUT WE ARE ALONE; WHO IS IT FOR NOW?” Tish trembled in fear as his grip tightened with every word, and he lifted her from the floor. She could feel her cheeks flushed with frustrated heat as she struggled to free herself. She pretended to choke so he would loosen his grip to hear an answer to his questions. “EH? WHERE IS YOUR FUCKING AUDIENCE? WHY CARRY ON THE CHARADE WHEN IT IS JUST THE US?”

She was beginning to look cyanosed around her parted lips, hungry for oxygen. He pushed her to the wall and watched as she slid down it. She ran her hands around her neck as she coughed, trying to breathe again and feel the damage he had done. “Okay, I made mistakes, and I lost you due to them, isn’t that punishment enough? Why do you feel the need to make me regret every living minute of my existence?” Tish couldn’t answer; she tried to back away on her hands and knees, still coughing with tears streaming from the exertion.

Robert felt disgusted at his behaviour and turned his back to her before taking a nearby table. “Wasn’t it enough to marry my best friend? I shouldn’t have stolen from you; I shouldn’t have lied to you, and I shouldn’t have ever loved you the way I do.” She crawled to the bottom of the stairs panting and still clutching her throat. Her eyes lit up at his confession of love, and she was aghast at his proclamation after his actions.

“Love? I don’t know what the hell your idea of love is but all the time I have known you, all that you have ever loved is yourself. You have used the term love to acquire what you desire from them, and once you have it, you toss them away. Used and broken. You have only used poor Emmet the same as you used me, luckily though, he is not the fool you take him for, and he is beginning to see sense with my support!”

Amazon paperback and ebook close my eyes.

Bind Your Heart – Francis O’Keefe

30th July 2020 Romance/Young Adult

Silence…. Silence was only broken by the sound of a lone cawing crow in the only place I now found solitude and sanctuary. It flew uncomfortably close to me before settling on the gravestone that had held my attention. Its feathers glistened as they were hit by the dwindling sun. They shone purple and green as its Bowie knife pecked at the lichen. As I breathed in a deep calming breath, a feeling of comfort washed over me. I knew that she was here with me but was grateful that her grave remained unmarked. She should remain alive in the trees and the birds, not rotting in the earth. I watched as the bird mocked my grief before flying back up to the tree branches that appeared sinister with their absent foliage. I watched as he tended to his nest made of the dry winter branches surrounding the churchyard floor. A chill wind blew around my bare neck and face making my nose slightly moist as it caressed me. I wrapped my wool cloak closer to my slight frame and shuddered; though I had no intent on leaving, I deserved this. I deserved to feel this pain and anguish both internally and externally. I should be in the ground, not her. At least I knew her body was in the trees whereas mine was in hell; that was my only conciliation.

A compelling coming of age tale of sexual ambiguity and awakening. When a shy new girl joins the local school, she is unaware of the dramatic effect and impact her presence causes. A story charged with romance and sexual taboo, longing and loss. We follow the exploits and journeys of the heroes as they take their chosen paths through adolescence, new freedoms, and desires.

Available from Amazon mybook.to/Bind2

“No heart? Really? You think? Of course, I am different now. You changed me; you broke me! Walked away from me making me question everything and everyone. I was a mess! So, I learned to fight back and disengage for my own protection and sanity.

Yes, I have changed I never want to feel that vulnerable again. So, excuse me if I do not placate you with pleasantries about some cheap noodles you found at the back of my cupboard. You destroyed my faith in humanity and then you waltz back into my world with the feeble excuse that you were confused!”

Ebook also available http://WWW.amazon.co,/dp/B08N2ZTQGD

thttps://wp.me/pbHvAA-t To Francis O’Keefe’s first novel. Your Children Will Be Next