Life Is More Than Lollipops and Sour Grapes

This is a story about love, strength, and the importance of family. Emily, the wife, travels solo on a pilgrimage to Israel, fulfilling one of her lifetime dreams. Due to health reasons, her husband, Peter, could not join her. Along her journey, Emily shares her trip with her husband. A few days before her Israel tour comes to an end, Emily’s husband dies, leaving his widow in a foreign country alone and shaken.

Through her travels, Emily learns she is never alone. God steps in providing comfort, support, protection, and companionship in Peter’s absence. Although the uncharted waters of widowhood are unpredictable, the reader is given insight from a fellow widow on overcoming grief and finding renewed purpose, confirming God has a plan for your life.

When an unexpected event such as death descends, the horizon grows intensely dark. But through time and chance, the dust settles, the horizon clears, the air purifies, and we learn we have what it takes to survive and succeed.

The book is an easy read and should provide needed comfort, especially to members of a very large and ever-growing group; fellow widow and widowers and many others facing life alone.

House Ravenin - The Folded Path

The world is always changing, each step uncertain as the old ways and the new collide in a struggle for supremacy. Yet even the most well-paced paths sometimes turn in odd directions, the rumble of discontent along the western border leading to bloody clashes against the advancing world slowly encroaching upon the once open wilds.

As Crissone lies in flames and the tenuous peace between elven and human people threatens to collapse, the slaves taken in from the attack and sold to the estates are not what they seem to be.

It is here beneath the roof of House Ravenin that the lives of all hang in the balance, the arcing destinies of singular lives quietly merging together to decide the fate of an unsuspecting people. Each has their own part to play out, the Folded Path watchful upon all who grace its stones.

As poisonous secrets are revealed and true natures rise to the surface, careful hands begin to unravel a deadly mystery in hopes of staving off a greater, more sinister threat.

Her Name Is Blue

Florencia-Blue is an introverted dreamer, a believer in the power of love yet skeptically guarded against its reality. She’s crafted a life comfortably hidden beneath the veil of her beloved books and manuscripts, convinced that true happiness dwells only within their pages. Enter James Murray: sweet, albeit grumpily so, with a heart encased in metaphorical stone, having long forsaken the notion of love. Until, that is, a shy New Yorker with a captivating dimpled chin gently unravels his defenses, weaving the concept of love into a tangible tapestry they both begin to cherish. Their bond forms from the roots of friendship, slowly unfurling into something profound, stirring emotions neither was prepared to confront. Yet, as time marches on, they find themselves inevitably drawn into the embrace of something they once dared not acknowledge. She is Jamie’s Sassenach, and he, Florencia’s long-anticipated Ginger lad, a testament to the unexpected paths love carves, leading them towards a shared destiny they never anticipated but ultimately cannot deny.

Happenstance

Happenstance follows the ins and outs of young adults who make decisions that determine the fates of their hearts, at that moment in time.  
Lori returns home after one year of college, certain that age no longer presents an obstacle to pursuing Branson, the older gentleman she met the previous summer. Unexpected circumstances and moral roadblocks taint the possibilities and expose Lori's own immaturity, both spiritually and emotionally. Unable to find her definition of the perfect man, Lori moves her focus from guys to her career before entering into another relationship, complicated by its own set of challenges.
All seems lost until a chance encounter introduces her to the girl that holds the key to her happiness.

El Club de los Suicidas

La vida nunca es fácil. Es una lección que varios jóvenes aprenden al decidir e intentar tomarse su vida. Por medio de un acto insólito, estos jóvenes logran ver que la vida trae consigo muchas cosas, tal como personas que no solo se encuentran en su misma situación o similar, sino que también les abre los ojos y los ayuda a ver lo hermosa y variada que es la vida.

Earlier Fires

Earlier Fires chronicles the personal evolution of Adrian, a promising student, over 20 years as he leaves his prestigious New Jersey prep school to make his name in the competitive legal world of NYC’s corporate law firms. As a disillusioned 17-year-old, Adrian recognizes the entrapment of perpetuating his privileged socioeconomic status.

He excels academically but struggles to envision a purposeful future, feeling fate-bound to graduate high school and college before climbing the well-worn ladder of material success. Adrian grapples with whether meaningful relationships can endure in a culture consumed by globalized commercialization.

In his quest for purpose, he connects with Dominic, a like-minded rebel, and rekindles a childhood friendship with Delilah when she serendipitously re-enters his life.

Will Adrian break free from expectations to chart his own definition of achievement? Can these kindred spirits sustain bonds despite diverging destinies? Or will the cycle of reproducing class status subsume Adrian as its unwitting heir?

Dildo-Gate II

The Jenga puzzle continues. The story of our traveler, Andrea, her deep sense of place intertwined with thematic adventures and political tensions set in the backdrop of Eastern Europe.

Her cell phone begins to chime as soon as she returns to the mainland, and she texts back.

She agrees to a new trip. Nina wants her return and close friends Misty and Lori will join. Resuming her primping routine, she readies her look. Her and Nina plan out all the trip details.

Emboldened from her last visit, she packs new gifts. And Ahmed has softened his anger; she places her claddagh ring back on her hand.

Her plans go sideways as she is pressed for money, jealousies collide and the unwelcome Irina returns.

Deadly Assumption

When a young man witnesses the rescue of a woman’s body from the ocean, he is shocked to recognize the tattoo on her shoulder as belonging to his prospective fiancé, Sarah. Traumatized, he flees the scene, unaware of the ensuing homicide investigation into the suspicious drowning and its findings.

Having arranged his business schedule hoping for a reconciliation following their disagreement in England, he had planned on proposing to Sarah during her visit to Vancouver Island. Devastated by her loss, he relocates to Germany, committing to a life without his soulmate. Struggling with grief, he is persistently tormented by the circumstances of her death and how her body came to be floating off Vancouver, more than 100 miles from her intended destination. Homesickness eventually drives him back to England, where he learns the shocking truth about the homicide investigation and the twist of fate that forever changes his chosen path.

As the story unfolds, it reveals the dramatic impact the deceased woman had on those whose lives she touched, particularly the man suspected of murdering her. The characters are tightly intertwined in this generational, multicultural saga of suspected homicide, enduring love, emotional trauma, and the fight to recapture those closest to the heart. With its roots set in England, Deadly Assumption is a tale rich in history, encompassing Canada, Germany, and France, and spanning the period from the years prior to World War II into the 1980s.

Daler: A Novel

Daler is a coming-of-age story that follows a young man navigating life and relationships from his teenage years into early adulthood. Over the course of the nonlinear narrative, Daler experiences friendship and heartbreak, lust and love, wisdom and betrayal. He tries to make sense of a confusing world as he grows into his own. Though introspective and reserved, Daler has a kind heart and forms meaningful connections. The story provides a window into universal questions around purpose, integrity, and human nature. With vivid scenes and contemplative passages, Daler attempts to reconcile his ideals with reality.

Cherry Blossom Blues

Delve into a lyrical love story shared between two Afro-American men living in the District of Columbia during the ethos of the roaring 1920s and the Harlem Renaissance. In spite of their class differences, their clandestine affairs thrive among their respective travels, marriages, careers, and time itself. Experience exhilaration as the main characters intertwine with real-life figures: Al Capone, Marcus Garvey, Herbert Hoover, Stephanie St. Clair and Albert Khan in Harlem, Macon, Georgia and Paris, France. Get goosebumps observing the living commune with the dead during ritualistic and mysterious séances. Observe how history often repeats itself by encountering the ramifications of the Spanish Influenza, World War I, Prohibition, and the threat of rising fascism foreshadowing the Jewish Holocaust. Most importantly, glean the profundity of our interconnections with everything in the universe in order to achieve authentic bliss.

Catherine, Child of the Night

Fourteen-year-old Lady Catherine Thibeault leads a privileged and charmed life. She is heir in her own right to the title and demesne of Dove Castle. Whether picking daisies for the May Day festivities with her best friend Master Robert de Valiens and her beloved cat, Frere, or racing through the countryside on her Arabian stallion, Chimere, Cat’s life is perfect. Little does she know that her peaceful happy existence is about to come to an end with the unexpected arrival of her betrothed, knight extraordinaire Sir Geoffrey de Valiens. Catherine has never bowed to convention and has never given her betrothal much thought. Life at Dove Castle with her father and her companion, Mistress Drucilla, is idyllic and she has no wish to change it.

Sir Geoffrey not only reminds her of the dreaded realities of marriage and the eventual necessity of leaving Dove Castle but he also introduces the quagmire of politics that is the reality of the first decade of the Fourteenth Century during the reign of King Edward II of England. With war raging in Scotland and discontent rampant between England and France, evil elements emerge who will threaten the lives of not only Catherine but of everyone whom she loves.

The deadliest of Catherine’s enemies is her own cousin, Giles Thibeault, who upon learning that Dove Castle is no longer entailed swears vengeance on not only Catherine but on her family as well. If he cannot inherit Dove Castle then no one will.

Are You Free?

The Morettis are a Sarasota family of Cafeteria Catholics, (rejecting some Vatican doctrines—mainly pelvic issue ones). Widower Dante goes to his first Confession in decades. He confesses gossip: telling his two daughters of his brother Nick’s fling with the caterer for his wedding vow renewal with Nick’s then-wife Rosemary. An unusual Penance surprises Dante. Tantrums of Nick’s ex-wife Rosemary impact events. Dante wants another good woman to love, but dating yields only stories that amuse his girls.

Dante’s gossip is repeated, changing with each teller. Floridians talk about freedom (yet yearn to mate). An undreamt-of source for finding love and fulfilling Dante’s Penance offers challenge and hope. Her name is Abigail.

Soon they’re doing everything in a pandemic. How could anything go right?

Are You Free? offers a witty rumination on family, religion, and the search for love in many forms – grief, longing, regret, surprise.