Jenn Nixon’s New Release, Lucky’s Charm
Finally seeing The Dark Knight Rises got me thinking. I’ve always loved Batman as a character. From the 60’s Adam West version to the cartoon versions, yes, I even didn’t mind George Clooney’s nipple Batman. Whatever incarnation he’s in, I love him. He’s flawed. He’s un-super. He’s human.
While watching the new movie, I realized that Lucky is very similar to Batman. They each lost both parents, became a type of vigilante…whereas Batman never killed anyone, Lucky has, which takes a heavy toll on the psyche.
So how do you take a character like that and give them a romance and a possible happy ending? Pair them up with someone similar. Kenji showed up way too early in the novel but he turned out to be a very important character in the following books. This is how it all began:
About Lucky’s Charm
To protect her family and find a killer, Felicia “Lucky” Fascino assumed her adoptive father’s identity and joined the network, an organization of moral assassins to finish the job he began. Eliminating the man responsible for murdering her mother has consumed her for the last five years. While keeping her Uncle Stephen and cousin Elizabeth at arm’s length, Lucky begins to feel the weight of her career choice and reclusive lifestyle. Then a chance encounter with an enigmatic hit man, during one of her jobs, turns into a provocative and dangerous affair. Distracted by the secret trysts with Kenji Zinn and mounting tension within her family, Lucky makes reckless mistakes that threaten her livelihood and almost claim her life.
Excerpt
By midnight, she was wandering the half-deserted, glacial streets of Manhattan, looking for a place to drink.
Lucky found a decent bar with a large front window. She drank a gin and tonic, loathing the creatures of the night living their lives. At one time, long ago, she’d been just like them, enjoying her youth. Now, she just sneered at their happiness and tried to numb the jealousy.
After her second drink, she tapped Shoukan’s number into her cell phone and then erased it. If she did that, he’d have access to her.
Lucky ordered a third drink.
Her eyesight blurred from the mix of her fourth drink and adrenaline. It was a destructive combination. That’s what she got for being a lightweight and drinking right after a job. Thinking the cold air might help, she paid her tab and took to the streets. When she got to the end of the block, Lucky retrieved her cell phone. She tapped in the number from memory and stared at the screen. Shoving it in her pocket, she trudged to the end of the next block and paused at the light. Everything remained hazy. She felt completely wired and drunk.
Lucky crossed street after street, attempting to sober up and not to think of him. Those eyes, the way they stared at her, into her. She stopped to admire a large, red sculpture and pulled the phone out again. Opening it, the screen lit up with his number.
Her thumb hit send. She cursed under her breath, lifting the phone to her ear. It rang once. The line stopped ringing before she hung up. If he was there, he didn’t say anything. Had he given her his handler’s number? Or a fake one? Was she that gullible? She heard him breathing and leaned against a building.
Lucky shuddered. “I’ve been drinking.”
“I have been thinking…of you,” he said softly through the phone as if he was miffed she hadn’t contacted him earlier.
“I shouldn’t have called.”
“Yet you did.”
One drink…it can’t hurt, right? She shut her eyes. “Are you still in the city?”
“Yes,” he said instantly. “I wish to see you.” His voice sparked another shiver down her spine.
“Why?”
“For the same reasons you called me.”
“I’m drunk, I have an excuse.”
“No, you drank to create one.”
Lucky drew a painful, jagged breath. She bit her bottom lip, gripped the phone, and opened her eyes. “I just want to take you up on that offer for a drink.”
“That is not what you want.”
Her hand trembled. It was true. Right now, she wanted him. He tore through four years of solitude and read her like an open book after thirty minutes of contact. That intrigued her. It was also hazardous.
“What do you want?” she eventually asked in a hushed tone.
“You, Lucky.”
Oh shit. The way he said her name started a fire. This one was too strong to put out alone. The logical side of her brain shut off. “Where are you staying?”
“The Wolcott on Thirty-First.” It may have been her imagination, but he seemed to be breathing faster too.
“What room?” She began walking in the opposite direction.
“Three ten.”
“I have my knife with me.”
“You will not need it,” he murmured.
“I’ll be there in fifteen.” She needed and deserved this; it was about time she cashed in. Lucky clicked the phone off and silenced it. She shoved it in her coat pocket and went straight to the hotel.
About Jenn Nixon
Jenn’s love of writing started the year she received her first diary and Nancy Drew novel. Throughout her teenage years, she kept a diary of her personal thoughts and feelings but graduated from Nancy Drew to other mystery suspense novels.
Jenn often adds a thriller and suspense element to anything she writes be it Romance, Science Fiction, or Fantasy. When not writing, she spends her time reading, observing pop culture, playing with her two dogs, and working on various charitable projects in her home state of New Jersey.
Thanks so much for having me!