“I can’t get over it.” Chicago Prosecuting Attorney Traci Steele has convinced herself she’ll never recover from a teenage trauma, so she works tirelessly keeping rapists off the street to prevent other women from suffering the hell she’s endured. Even though she’s close to burnout, she resists her friends’ insistence that she take a two month R&R in their California Live Oak condo—until they persuade her to help their rancher friend as a private investigator.
Though he runs the stables at Live Oak, well-muscled mustached wrangler Scott McCord much prefers working with the race horses he trains at his ranch, and he can’t believe his old friends have sent a greenhorn female to help him with horse troubles.
The improbable dance between this mismatched pair barely fits in around the escalating suspense of whoever’s after Scott’s horses. Traci is as tenacious in her sleuthing as she is panicked about her inability to ever love a man, but Scott sets out to gentle her as skillfully as he does his horses.
Sometimes a novel comes straight from the heart, and it means so much more when a reviewer connects. Angi at Night Owl Romance gave Detour Ahead a Top Pick!!“This is a story about letting go of your past so you can move on to your future. It is a story about letting go of being the victim and becoming a survivor. ...Add into this touching story of recovery a mystery that will keep you guessing to the very end and you’ve got a story you won’t be able to put down. Traci and Scott must both face what has been keeping them from true happiness while trying to solve the mystery of who would want to ruin Scott’s reputation and livelihood and injure innocent animals. In the process of solving the mystery they discover not only the road to recovery but a deep and profound love, a love that helps heal them both.”
My wish for all who’ve suffered abuse and trauma is a healer as gentle as Scott - and the courage to reach out for help. Aphrodite Moustakis’ powerful 1996 book I Can’t Get Over It is still the benchmark for healing from trauma, and she followed it up in 2003 with The Rape Recovery Handbook. Healing doesn’t have to wait for the hero to show up.Detour Ahead - coming November 7 2008 to Awe-Struck!!
Amanda Burns
http://www.amandaburnsromance.com
4 comments:
Amanda,
What a wonderful blog. The story sounds amazing, but you've also listed a book to help anyone that suffered through a disastrous experience.
Thanks, Mary Ann. Writing this book was so imporant to me - Traci has to discover she has the power to heal herself; Scott is the key to opening her heart towards healing.
Amanda
Amanda,
I'm glad my review has meant so much to you.
And I've found that "hero's" don't heal you from sexual assault or abuse ... YOU heal you. It's just finding the courage to face the issues and deal with them that's the hardest part.
Angi
Thanks so much, Angi - and you are so right. The resources to heal lie within every person, and it does take deep courage and hard work to face it and find wholeness.
Amanda
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