I hate to give the plot away, but . . .

FULL SYNOPSIS FOR LIVING IN A SHADOW

Why do agents/publishers want the full synopsis, including ending? Here goes:

SYNOPSIS FOR LIVING IN A SHADOW

Marcy Jennings, 32-year old, award-winning Foreign Correspondent for The New York Times has been all around the world. She loves her job and her nomad ways, even when some of her writing assignments put her in dangerous locations. She also loves her husband, parents, and the quiet refuge of her hometown, Herndon, Virginia.
When Marcy returns to Herndon to spend time with her family, accepting a permanent position for the local newspaper, her life is turned upside-down when her husband, Richard Crawford, abruptly moves out of the condo where they have lived for ten years. Marcy is left hurt and confused. Ultimately, she has to face the first shadow in her life that has been unresolved since college—a miscarriage which she told her fiancée, Rich, was an abortion. (Revealed much later in the novel and demonstrating how a little white lie can corrode a relationship and stop meaningful communication, even when love has found two soul-mates.)
Determined to face her problems head-on, Marcy moves forward with her life, even though she still feels in limbo. Through a human-interest story for the Style Section of The Herndon Chronicle, Marcy meets a younger man, Chuck Linsford, an established horse-breeder from Middleburg, Virginia, who inherited the horse farm from his Great Uncle. Marcy is impressed with Chuck as a true survivor and hero of the foster care system where he grew up. When they begin a consensual relationship, Marcy is swept up in the experience of steamy sex and the idyllic beauty of the Virginia countryside.
Little does she know that 22-year old Chuck is a skilled sociopath and a master at combining date-rape drugs into a sex-slave cocktail: Rohypnol (“The Forget Pill”), Ecstasy (a sexual enhancer), and Ketamine (a horse tranquilizer and hallucinogenic). Under the façade of an adoring lover, he makes her forget just completely enough—makes her sexual urges just strong enough—and tutors her in a paralyzed, altered state just long enough—for Marcy to become a sexual submissive, completely dominated and controlled, losing her grasp on reality, her self-worth, and self-esteem.
Other supporting characters in this erotic, romantic, psychological suspense are facing their own shadows, dealing with relationships in our fast-paced modern society, where secrets can be hidden and past transgressions are often misrepresented.
The cliché, “All’s well that ends well,” is not always the case. The neurological, physiological, and emotional side effects of date-rape drugs linger long after the drugs are out of the blood stream. Marcy must now face this second set of deep, dark shadows.
Marcy finds out her lover’s dirty secrets from Chuck’s elderly housekeeper. When she suffers a second miscarriage (Chuck’s baby), the physical and mental side effects of the drugs cause Marcy to almost bleed to death and suffer a complete mental breakdown.
Her husband reaches out to her from afar to prove that love and understanding can start the healing journey, physically and emotionally. The Epilogue reaches into the future as Marcy and Rich finally have the baby girl they have both wanted for so long, but were afraid to talk about. The shadows of sexual abuse still surface, but they face those nightmares together. There is hope!

LIVING IN A SHADOW

LIVING IN A SHADOW

LIVING IN A SHADOW is a fictional novel with an important message for all women, any man who has ever loved a woman, or anyone who has ever loved a victim. A dramatic, suspense romance delving into the machinations of date-rape drugs and the side effects that can make them lethal. Blackouts, disorientation, confusion are mixed with domination and control. Only love and understanding can help the victim accept and begin the healing process.

Enjoy Fiction With A Message!

I’m an author who writes in different genres, including the creative urge to combine genres to give the reader an enjoyable experience with accurate research and important information. I’m available on twitter, facebook (soon to be completed) and now WordPress to share editorial and inspirational ideas or answer questions. Authors need to help each other, and it’s so easy in this instant technological age. The communication of authors direct to readers with questions, comments, ideas, etc., will make each sequel in a series or each successive novel more custom-made for readers. Writers are fanatical readers themselves, and I love to paint word paintings and/or prosaic poetical prose (my own phrases) for descriptive passages that place the reader in the scene. Yet, it is just as important to keep the plot fast-paced and action-packed, whether it be romantic drama, contemporary women’s erotica, psychological thriller, mystery, paranormal investigative chronicle, or historical fiction saga. I have delved into all of these genres, and I’m always looking for creative, new variations on a theme. I would love to hear from kindred spirits, both readers and writers. I know as an avid reader myself, my most treasured books are the ones that I learn something from as well as having captivating, can’t-wait-to-turn-the-page plots.