Goodbye, Orchid
Rising from ashes is hard. Giving up the one you love is harder.
Thirty-two year-old Phoenix Walker is an entrepreneur who has built an agency with a heart almost as big as his own. To add to his good fortune, he’s falling for Orchid Paige, the beautiful half-Asian marketer who’s collaborated with him on a winning military campaign.
Until an accident changes him forever.
Now, he’s faced with the hardest decision of his life. Does he burden the woman whose traumatic childhood makes him feel protective of her? Or does true love mean leaving her without explaining why?
Midwest Book Review: Critique; A inherently compelling, impressively original, and deftly crafted novel showcasing author Carol Van Den Hende’s distinctive narrative driven storytelling style, “Goodbye, Orchid: To Love Her, He Had To Leave Her” is an especially and unreservedly recommended addition to community library Multicultural Romance Fiction collections. It should be noted for the personal reading lists that “Goodbye, Orchid: To Love Her, He Had To Leave Her” is also readily available in a paperback edition (9781646631889, $14.99) and in a digital book format (Kindle, $5.99).
Deciduous
It has been ten months since forest conservationist Sienna lost her daughter, Kira, in a tragic home accident when she was the only other person around. Her death transforms Sienna into an overprotective mother to Kira’s brother. But then Kai dies under similar circumstances. Desperate to keep from losing her mind, if only to preserve the memories of her children, Sienna climbs into the treehouse where Kai took his last breath.
While meditating to connect with him, terrifying images of a “mother tree,” a nurturing hub tree Sienna studied in an isolated meadow near their lake house, corrupt all memories of her kids. No longer a majestic, colorful sentinel, the tree menaces her with its limbs draped in leaves that morph into skeletal hands. As Sienna’s thoughts fester, convincing her that her children’s deaths were not simple accidents, those around her try to persuade her she must be guilty of harming Kira and Kai, even if she can’t remember. Anxious to unveil the terrible truth hiding in her psyche, Sienna instead finds herself in very physical danger as secrets come to light.
Midwest Book Review: Critique: Original, compelling, and an inherently fascinating read from first page to last, “Deciduous” reveals and showcases author Michael Devendorf’s impressive flair for the kind of narrative storytelling style that will keep the reader’s total and rapt attention from cover to cover. Certain to be especially appealing to fans of Psychological Thriller and Supernatural Mystery Fiction, “Deciduous” is especially recommended for community library collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists that “Deciduous” is also readily available in a paperback edition (9781646633395, $19.95) and in a digital book format (Kindle, $7.49).
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Gorilla in the Room and Other Stories
Ed Tracy was the perfect candidate for cancer. Intensely motivated and a tireless innovator, the non-stop pace led to high anxiety, erratic sleep patterns and a life-altering medical diagnosis unlike that of anybody else. Rule No.1: Nobody’s cancer journey is the same.
Growing impatient and irritable, he began to imagine an oncology ward on a Broadway stage with costumes and music and patients and hope. When he needed to check out of chemotherapy, he checked into imaginary rehearsals of a musical comedy.
Along the way, he realized the treatments made his memories sharp. He began to periodically track his cancer journey and encouraged friends to get cancer screenings. Soon he was delving into his past-growing up in farm country, acting in college theatre and remembrances of inspirational friends and mentors. Each scene found its place in an act of the musical, and the result is “Gorilla in the Room and Other Stories.”
These wide-ranging, homespun stories, mixed with family drama and the humor of a skilled storyteller, will appeal to lovers of nature, theater fans, and military enthusiasts and honors the courageous patients, family members and service providers facing life-threatening challenges, aging and a future where they are themselves becoming mentors for the next generation.
Midwest Book Review: Critique: An exceptional, extraordinary, entertaining, thought-provoking, and inherently memorable work of true-life storytelling, “Gorilla in the Room and Other Stories” is an especially and unreservedly recommended addition to community, college and university library memoir collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists that “Gorilla in the Room and Other Stories” is also readily available in a paperback edition (9781646633050, $19.95) and in a digital book format (Kindle, $4.99).
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