Rules For Survival and Recipe For Disaster

Rules for Survival came first out of these two. I always have 'pet' names I call my books before the title finally 'speaks' to me and I initially called this one 'Choices.' I wanted to delve into the concept of just how powerful and life altering even the smallest of choices can be in steering the entire direction of our lives. Paul, the hero of Rules is the unquestionable bad guy in Recipe. While he will eventually find love and joy in his future, there is only hatred and sorrow in his past - all because of the choices he has made. When I got Paul to the point where he must go back and face the woman from his past that he wronged so badly, I realized that I had no idea what had become of her! I had to stop writing Rules and then write Karly's story in Recipe for Disaster to find out. As readers will see in the acknowledgment page of Recipe, Karly's story touches on many true situations from my own life.

Rules For Survival Don’t talk to Claire Jenkins about how tough things can be. She’s had a front row seat experiencing the cruelties of life, literally from the moment of her birth. Just leave her alone, stay out of her way, and, don’t offer her any sympathy or charity. She may be living on the edge, but she can take care of herself thank you very much. But even the most seasoned survivor does have a breaking point…

Paul has a past that is as bleak as a burned out forest. And a skeleton in his closet that’s the size of Mount Rushmore. He knows that the only person to get him out of this mess is the same one that got him there in the first place: himself. For Claire, her rules of survival, accumulated through her very own blood, sweat, and tears are not working. What’s a desperate woman to do?

Perhaps, she may just have to throw out those old rules of survival and come up with a few new ones. Rules that are rooted in trust, love, and faith …

Recipe For Disaster Nothing could be worse than being a bride abandoned on her wedding day, right? Wrong. Try factoring in an unplanned pregnancy that shatters what is left of Karly Martin’s dreams to be a missionary.

But Karly is a survivor, stronger and braver than she ever thought possible. Giving up her son for adoption and accepting a missionary position with a Navajo mission school gives her the chance to build on the dreams she thought she had had to abandon. Slowly, she begins to heal.

Earl Nezbegay sees to all of his responsibilities: caring for his quadriplegic sister, and her eleven year old daughter, and helping out at the Navajo mission school. Keeping busy enough not to think, keeping numb enough not to feel, and keeping distant enough not to interact. It’s not exactly living, but it’s surviving.

Recipe for Disaster brings together two very broken people. Neither is looking for love, but then life isn’t always what we plan or expect, is it?