From the Author
A few days ago I woke from a deep sleep to the smell of smoke. It was 5:22 am. Dark. Too early to get up unless there was a darn good reason.
There were no smoke alarms going off, no sounds at all that I could hear--I live in a small condo, so there usually are sounds from neighboring units at almost every hour of the day and night, but not this morning.
Took another whiff. Slightly chemical, acrid smell of something, somewhere burning. But faint. And definitely not coming from my place.
So....do I grab the cat and laptop (my basic evacuation plan in any emergency) and run for it? Do I get dressed, bang on doors, try to track it down? Do I call 911, let them wake and worry everyone as they investigate?
Do I roll over and go back to sleep, knowing that if it gets worse I'll wake up? Or do I wait and worry?
What would you do? Do you listen to your gut? Do you believe in instincts and intuition? Or do you wait for concrete proof?
That's the same dilemma facing the medical student, Amanda, in the second book in the Angels of Mercy series, WARNING SIGNS.
Amanda has a problem. Maybe. She's not too sure. Could be nothing.
Could be deadly.
She has these symptoms--intermittent, unpredictable, terribly vague. When she researches them, there are thousands of diseases they could be caused by.....or she could be imagining them.
Maybe just stress--she's a medical student, working over 80 hours a week, plus more hours studying.
Or maybe not.
Her gut has her worrying. Her brain tells her to forget it--she'd make a fool of herself asking one of the "real" doctors and all her research has turned up nothing concrete.
Which to believe: the "facts" or your "gut"? How do you decide? Especially when it's life or death.....
Read WARNING SIGNS to see which Amanda chooses.
Oh, and by the way, I went back to sleep and about ten minutes later the smell of cinnamon rolls baking came from next door--guess their oven pre-heating must have burnt something. Score one for intuition!
Thanks for reading!
CJ
There were no smoke alarms going off, no sounds at all that I could hear--I live in a small condo, so there usually are sounds from neighboring units at almost every hour of the day and night, but not this morning.
Took another whiff. Slightly chemical, acrid smell of something, somewhere burning. But faint. And definitely not coming from my place.
So....do I grab the cat and laptop (my basic evacuation plan in any emergency) and run for it? Do I get dressed, bang on doors, try to track it down? Do I call 911, let them wake and worry everyone as they investigate?
Do I roll over and go back to sleep, knowing that if it gets worse I'll wake up? Or do I wait and worry?
What would you do? Do you listen to your gut? Do you believe in instincts and intuition? Or do you wait for concrete proof?
That's the same dilemma facing the medical student, Amanda, in the second book in the Angels of Mercy series, WARNING SIGNS.
Amanda has a problem. Maybe. She's not too sure. Could be nothing.
Could be deadly.
She has these symptoms--intermittent, unpredictable, terribly vague. When she researches them, there are thousands of diseases they could be caused by.....or she could be imagining them.
Maybe just stress--she's a medical student, working over 80 hours a week, plus more hours studying.
Or maybe not.
Her gut has her worrying. Her brain tells her to forget it--she'd make a fool of herself asking one of the "real" doctors and all her research has turned up nothing concrete.
Which to believe: the "facts" or your "gut"? How do you decide? Especially when it's life or death.....
Read WARNING SIGNS to see which Amanda chooses.
Oh, and by the way, I went back to sleep and about ten minutes later the smell of cinnamon rolls baking came from next door--guess their oven pre-heating must have burnt something. Score one for intuition!
Thanks for reading!
CJ
About the Author
As a pediatric ER doctor, CJ Lyons has lived the life she writes about. In addition to being an award-winning medical suspense author, CJ is a nationally known presenter and keynote speaker.
Her first novel, LIFELINES (Berkley, March 2008), received praise as a "breathtakingly fast-paced medical thriller" from Publishers Weekly, was reviewed favorably by the Baltimore Sun and Newsday, named a Top Pick by Romantic Times Book Review Magazine, and became a National Bestseller. Her award-winning, critically acclaimed Angels of Mercy series (LIFELINES, WARNING SIGNS, URGENT CARE and CRITICAL CONDITION) is available now.
Her newest project is as co-author of a new suspense series with Erin Brockovich. To learn more about CJ and her work, go to cjlyons.net.
Her first novel, LIFELINES (Berkley, March 2008), received praise as a "breathtakingly fast-paced medical thriller" from Publishers Weekly, was reviewed favorably by the Baltimore Sun and Newsday, named a Top Pick by Romantic Times Book Review Magazine, and became a National Bestseller. Her award-winning, critically acclaimed Angels of Mercy series (LIFELINES, WARNING SIGNS, URGENT CARE and CRITICAL CONDITION) is available now.
Her newest project is as co-author of a new suspense series with Erin Brockovich. To learn more about CJ and her work, go to cjlyons.net.
Questions from Readers for 
