Embedded Files
Portrait of an Unlikely Affair series was not something that was ever going to be shared but it became evident an adventure was in the works. These characters and series was 35 years in the making. It is a mix of romance, military secrets, action, adventure, and family. They are available on eBook, paperback, and hardcover at Amazon, barnesandnoble.com, and on your Apple Books app.
The adventure of a lifetime...
The adventure of a lifetime...
They were never supposed to meet. Never supposed to be friends. And they were definitely never supposed to fall in love.
Why should I read this book series?
It will be unlike anything you've read before. Amazon allows authors to give suggestions and recommendations and one of the options is say which book or author you are like. It puzzles me. I have not read another author who is "like" me, with my writing style, or even content. I cannot say, "read this book if you like....Whomever." Because I can't exactly say who. I write books I would enjoy reading myself. I can't compare myself to the likes of big named authors who have been around forever because I am a self-published author at this point. But I will say read this book if you like to watch TV shows that have a well developed plot with well loved characters that involve the military, secret military, a little love story, good guys vs. bad guys, and family ties. Read it if you like underdogs, impossible odds, and a fresh perception. Read this book if you want to read a series and if you want to have an adventure like you've not had before. Read this series because I wrote it for me and was never going to let the rest of you read it. Ever.
Random "Author Interview" Questions:
Q: Would you and your main characters of Portrait series get along?
Em: *laughs* That's a funny thought because I do often wonder if they are 'real' people sometimes. Perhaps not with these names, but who and what they are. I've always loved the idea that real life is stranger than fiction because fiction has to make sense, life does not. I'm envisioning a formal event, like a reception, where I have all of these characters invited for, say a book launch, and I'm having to mingle with them. (The thought is rather awe-inspiring because I know them so well. They are superstars to me.) We'd get along, I think. I have always said that knowing Brian Ridley in real life would be interesting simply based on everything he knows! It'd be like having your own personal encyclopedia of the world. He'd be very handy when writing and homeschooling! Also, he isn't big on social settings and people and neither am I so there couldn't really be much of a conversation outside of knowledge. Avonlea would be an interesting person to know as well but I'd have to know her for several years to be totally comfortable with her overall characters as a person. I'm not sure what I would even talk to her about. She'd likely be nice and personable and I'd hope that I'd be able to converse well and not blubber. Of course, seeing them as a couple, I think they'd be rather intimidating to have a conversation with. I'd be rather star-struck. I actually feel like the Ridley family themselves would be more of the people that I'd likely be more at ease with because they are all much more 'normal.'
Q: How did you come up with the title for this series?
Em: Titles were my nemesis up until I began publishing and then had to write the descriptions for the back covers of the books. Now that's my nemesis. Half the time I don't think I actually 'come up' with the titles but more that the titles 'come up' to me. As I had zero intentions of sharing this series or even it being a series, I often just referred to it as Brian's Story and even the Legend of CùSithGrim, which of course is the title of book 2 of this series. In all honesty, your title has to reflect the subject of your book. Portrait of an Unlikely Affair was the only title which made sense to me. It is a story that displays a very improbable event occurring. And it continues to be a story of improbable events throughout the whole series. Now fast forward to October 2025, and the word "affair' drives people from reading it because they don't like reading about "cheaters." This books has absolutely nothing to do with that, so I have changed the title of the first book to put the focus on Brian (249) because the series really is about him and his journey to becoming the man he ends up being.
Now on Audible!!!
Now on Audible!!!
Being the mother of two kids with dyslexia, I understand that even though the desire to read is there, sometimes reading a book is a huge tear-filled challenge. It is something that a person simply doesn't grow out of. And that is how we discovered audiobooks. My kids will devour series upon series of books thanks to Audible and they are the drive behind me wanting to get my books into the audiobook format for those adults among us who find it a challenge to sit down and read. Thanks to Amazon KDP with Virtual Voice, you can now hear my novels. As I have said many times, even though the AI Narrator is no Mike Rowe, I have worked in training the narrator to correctly pronounce the words in the way they should be said. All books will be priced at $9.99 a book or is included for free with your Audible Plus membership. One day, I shall produce a version with an actual human reading them, but for now, we're going with what's available for us.
There is always an adventure in an Em Brooks book -- Let's listen to one today!
The Leftover Son, book 1
The Leftover Son, book 1
(Previously published under the title of "Portrait of an Unlikely Affair" by Em Brooks)
It’s 1995 and an adventure of improbable events begins with movie royalty and a classified weapon arriving in Cable Glen on the same day -- Two worlds such as these were never meant to collide.
She captivates the public simply by being herself. Avonlea Stone is the sweetheart of film and television, living a fairy tale in the eyes of her fans, the public, and the media. Her life was an open book until she was attacked by a stalker, which shattered her faith in the world and sent her into hiding. Over a year later, she never expected her new boyfriend, Connor Jones, would be the key to finding the very thing she did not know she was missing. He asks her to go home to meet his parents who reside in a small mining town called Cable Glen in northwest Montana. Today’s the day Connor and Avonlea arrive to meet Connor’s mother Jan and her husband, Tom Ridley.
Cable Glen is a complicated small town with its truth hidden in plain sight and it takes a lot to keep it that way. The town’s patriarch is Judge Thomas Ridley but being a judge is just optics. Tom is a general in a very classified military unit that makes its home in Cable Glen. Today the deadliest soldier in the world is arriving to Cable Glen and Tom is hopeful. Known as 249, this soldier has long been designated as a weapon, not a human, and is the only surviving soul of the feared unit known as Oscar Company. 249 holds answers in his mind, solutions to the massacre of his Company, as well as specialized training that died with the very people who created him. 249 also has a rare terminal disease and time is ticking. Tom knows that the loss of 249 will be a devastating personal blow to him as he knows 249 by another name – Brian, Tom’s middle son. Wracked with guilt, Tom is bringing 249 to Cable Glen so he can oversee whatever time his son has left.
And today Tom has forgotten that he is meeting his stepson Connor and Connor’s new girlfriend at the airport.
Today a series of unlikely events is about to occur.
This is just the beginning of a six-book adventure that entangles the reader in life, love, and honor.
The Legend of CùSithGrim, book 2
The Legend of CùSithGrim, book 2
The adventure continues….
In May 1996, the popular actress Avonlea Stone appeared in the media headlines when her boyfriend was killed in a tragic accident. While the media and public wanted to know everything about the circumstances, the very private celebrity dropped from sight after she was witnessed running out of a press conference in tears.
Thomas Ridley is on the brink of change but it’s nowhere he hadn’t been before. His son, Brian Ridley, had challenged him from the very beginning. Now Brian is entangled in a life or death situation, Tom rallies his team to come to Brian’s aid. The mysterious circumstances of Brian’s attack weigh heavily on Tom’s mind as a sudden change in world events makes Brian’s survival all the more important.
As the Firm begins its investigation and makes plans, Brian’s status remains uncertain. He is taken home to Sentinel Ridge, Texas, so that his family can assist in his care just as they had in his childhood. It is in this moment that Brian’s past has very important clues to his present, and the future of the world. He is also up against the one thing he was never trained for — The possibility of having a life. Because of a note handwritten by Brian to Avonlea and because of a unique status her grandparents held, Avonlea is given a rare choice to make: Live a normal life without Brian or live a life she would never be able to share with the world.
The Ghost of Oscar, book 3
The Ghost of Oscar, book 3
It was a world he never was meant for, a life he never expected to lead, and yet, Brian Ridley finds himself tossed into the deep end. He is sent off on the most difficult, and unlikely, assignment he has ever faced – To enter and blend into Avonlea Stone’s world. just to complete his mission. Immersed in the Stone Family, Brian begins to learn what a "normal" existence entails as he encounters a new level of psychological warfare with Avonlea's past. Learning to have faith in one another and their love, Brian and Avonlea soon realize that success in this assignment will lead to a new reality, one that Avonlea fears could mean losing Brian and the future they were hoping to build.
Embers to Ashes, book 4
Embers to Ashes, book 4
Eighteen years have passed since Major Brian Ridley found redemption in completing his last mission as a Hell Hound. Since then, he has brought Oscar Company back to life with a new purpose and a new mission. On the home front, Avonlea Stone has thrived in the most important roles of her life as mother and wife, while still taking on small roles at StoneHouse Entertainment. Their middle child, Matthew, was a star quarterback in high school, with a bright future, until a sudden ending of a relationship at sixteen sent Matt's life into a spiral. With his future now back on track, he is focused and determined to reach his goals when his past makes an unexpected re-entry into his life, causing his world to collide with his parents’ worlds.
As the many changes of modern life and a new generation roll into the Liberty Creek Law Firm, Brian and Oscar Company begin to learn who their new enemy is and how they are unlike anything Oscar Company has met on the battlefield before. No one can stop what is coming, but Brian and Oscar Company aren’t the kind of men who give up easily.
Project Broken Glass, book 5
Project Broken Glass, book 5
The past has a way of coming back full circle, causing the world to either fall apart, or fall into place. Nothing makes that more obvious than the Ridley's next set of challenges.
Having been injured by experimental weaponry, Major General Brian Ridley awakes in the hospital, with his family by his side and more questions about his past. Avonlea Stone tries to put into motion a plan that will make her public life easier as rumors begin to fly, linking her to a long-rumored romance. Out of the blue, a woman from Brian's past emerges with information on a plot against StoneHouse Entertainment and possible answers to the mysteries of his past. What happens next puts Brian and Avonlea in a place that none could have ever foreseen.
The Disruption of Forever, book 6
The Disruption of Forever, book 6
Never draw the attention of a Hell Hound
In the aftermath of the attempted hostile takeover of StoneHouse Entertainment, Avonlea Stone is left a victim of her captor’s horrific plans as her public tabloid life is running her mind and her memory. The unthinkable turn of events has erased her private life — including her husband, Brian Ridley, and their family — from her, leaving her no desire to relearn them. Her affections instead have turned to a long-time admirer as she begins to live a life without Brian and their children.
With his family rallying to support each other, Brian focuses on what was done to his wife. He begins to learn his elusive new enemy while he searches for answers to bring Avonlea’s memories back to her before she is lost to her new ‘alternate’ life and reality. As the Hell Hound of Oscar Company is unleashed to hunt those who have ripped his family apart, the only certainty now is there is no place on Earth, in Heaven, or in Hell they can hide.
Can a relationship that was never meant to be survive the journey to forever?
Want More about the series?
Want More about the series?
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