Second Chance, Contemporary Romance

In my book, Moon Dust, readers first came across Judd Shipman, who was part of a youth gang determined to undermine the school where he attended, not because the kids had anything against education, but were brainwashed by a man who claimed to be a youth leader. After observing what was going on, he and his friend, Barry Kuntz began to see how wrong this all was and tried to turn things around. 

 

Second Chance is eight or so years later, Judd has gotten a second chance thanks to support of friends, especially the principal in that school, Dane; now he wants to offer that to others through the animal wildlife rescue center he has been putting together the hard way, after he got the education that again friends gave him. His friend, Barry is still will him but is fighting cancer. Life isn't easy for Judd as he worries about his sister who has had a drug and alcohol problem. Using the money he makes working as a truck driver, he helps his sister along with the animals that come to his center.

For me, as a writer, Judd makes a terrific hero. He has a tragic back story with being nearly murdered by his father, who killed his mother, but he has turned it around. Yes, he had help, but he still had to do that. His father is still in prison but could get out soon. His sister wants Judd to try to block that, but Judd believes in second chances. His sister goes to a psychologist to try to get her to convince Judd to block the parole, wants her to talk to Judd.

Well, again as a writer, who would make a good heroine? How about a woman also in Moon Dust, psychologist, Barrett Schaffer, who was also Susan's best friend. Judd's sister knows a secret about him that would make him possibly listen to a woman who has been only an unrealistic dream since he was a teen.

When they meet again, sparks are there, but there is an age gap, Barrett is now a divorcee raising a daughter. Judd encourages her to visit his wildlife rescue, but it's hard for him to believe this dream might become real.

What happens next between these two, with Barrett's difficult divorce, Judd's destructive father and an enemy determined to destroy his life, well, it doesn't get in the way of these two finding growing feelings, but first, can they overcome the obstacles, real and imagined, how will Barrett's daughter feel about a new man, not to mention, the fight back against their enemies, with the help of their friends from Moon Dust, still backing both of them. 

So, forbidden love or is it; age gap does it really matter; second chance or is it too late, and danger around the corner in many different ways.

If the book interests you, check out more about it in my website. In the contemporary series Romance with an Edge:

https://raintrueaxbooks.com/ 

 

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wildlife rescue

 Once in a while for me, characters just seem naturals for a second book. That happened in Moon Dust with two, rather unlikely protagonists and yet... were they? They became the heart of Second Chance, likely or not. 

Before I get into their story, this is the only book where I wrote myself and Ranch Boss into a book. Below is the clip where they appear, based on an experience we had with a wildlife rehab center, Chintimini, that we knew about in Corvallis, Oregon-- not the one in this book, but pretty much how it happens in such places where we brought an injured animal for help.

 I created the image above from a photo of our farm creek and the kinds of animals that often get rescued by sites like Chintimini and the fictional one in my book. All the animal photos were ours, which I cut out to make the image. Now, onward to the clip.

When the car drove in the driveway, he went out to meet the couple and direct them to the back. He'd created a temporary examining room out of a floor-less shed. It wasn't as good as what he'd had before the fire; but with a strong light overhead, it would serve.

The couple were older, excited about the bird they were carrying and concerned as to its chances. "Bring it on back," Judd instructed and asked Barrett to bring him a bottle of cortisone from the recently donated refrigerator.

Putting on his gloves, Judd didn't bother with the jacket. The owl that peered at him from the carrier had dilated pupils and seemed completely unaware of its surroundings. Even at that, the gloves were a precaution.

"Be careful. Their beaks and talons are sharp," he warned as the man set the carrier on the table. Barrett stood in the doorway as Judd reached into the carrier and carefully pulled the bird out.

The man gave a nervous laugh. "I got a good look at those talons when I picked him up."

"We were just lucky we saw him," his wife said. "Such a little bird, but he was tough. Stood there right in the road and somehow didn't get hit again."

"It's a barn owl," Judd told them as he pulled the bird's wings out, examining each one for breaks. Everything looked to be intact, which meant concussion and shock were its most likely problems. “It’s a female.” He smiled. “That’s good. They’re tougher in most species. We'll give her this to reduce the swelling and shock." He loaded a syringe with cortisone.

"What do you think her odds are?" the man asked, helping Judd hold the bird.

"I'll know better tomorrow." He picked up the bird and put it in a small cage. "I'll keep her in the house for tonight. If she’s still alive in the morning, I have an arrangement with a veterinarian. We'll see what she thinks."

The couple smiled with relief, left their phone number, and asked to be kept informed as to the bird's condition. When they had gone, Judd picked up the caged bird and carried it back into the house. 

I planned to write about the book, but more on our experience with the injured owl seemed better. Next week for the book.

We had driven from the farm to a nearby town for groceries, when we saw the owl just standing alongside the road. That didn't seem natural but when we returned we looked to see it still there. Getting out of the car, Ranch Boss wrapped it in  heavy blanket.

As soon as we had gotten home, stowed it safely into one of our cat carriers, we called the animal rescue facility, Chintimini in a town about 25 miles from here, where we knew they worked with wild creatures. They said bring it right in to assess its chances. An hour later, they were giving it treatment for shock and had said they felt it would survive, but it had a concussion. Fortunately its wings were unhurt.

After a few weeks, they had called to tell us we could come get it and release it back to where we found it, which we did, being blessed to watch the beautiful bird, as it flew into the night toward harboring trees.

https://chintiminiwildlife.org/ has grown a lot since then with expanded programs, worth checking it out. 

Evening Star

 

My contemporary novels are not as linked together as have been my historical novels. When I wrote them, that was only off and on in my mind. Some characters know each other, but my priority was the issues that interested me as is the case with this one. When I made the decision to bring these books out as an independent writer, I looked at whether I could change any of that. I felt not without losing credibility for these characters.

One example of where I did know is the hero of Evening Star, Randy O'Brian, I knew his ancestors had come up from Arizona and were related to Cordell O'Brian, the marshal in my earlier historical series. 

I think for writers, it's good to have people the readers will enjoy following from hero/heroine to secondary characters. Readers like that. I like it, but you have to think ahead to make that work. Considering the first of these contemporaries were written in the 1990s, when the plots came to me, to have a couple of them related is fortunate.

In terms of timing for when these contemporaries took place, Moon Dust and Evening Star are closest though the people don't know each other. Well, in Portland, Oregon, it's a big city with a lot of people, who live there, who we will never know unless we come together via jobs.

Back to the story at hand and why it interested me. First issue that came up
for me, as a writer, was I generally have a point of view of the hero and heroine. I like to write that way, but I didn't do it this time. There are two points of view but none for the hero. I wanted others to see him through others eyes, given what he was doing. 

Would the reader wonder also what was up with him, who was he really, who knows? Other than novellas, I like writing what the hero is thinking (always have the heroine), but this book, a full length novel, I preferred to see it all through her eyes-- other than that one other point of view, who was not Randy's. I have thought of rewriting this book in first person, and tried out a chapter or two, but don't know that it would improve the story. It would be easy to do despite I have never written one that way.

Marla Jamison thinks she has her life as she wants it. She's experienced tragic losses and wants nothing like that to happen again. She has a successful career, a boyfriend to date but not care too much where it came to either of them. Convenient describes it.

Except meeting a man, determined to teach her another way, puts all her plans at risk. The heart knows what it wants and maybe that's what is best. Difficult though it might be to get there.

Just for fun, this is the first paragraph in the book, if I did change it to first person: 

Hearing my heels click as I made my way across the terrazzo flooring, I barely made it to the elevator before the doors closed. To be polite, I smiled for the quick thinking young man who had held them for me. Unfortunately, that led to a protracted view of his week. I managed another smile as I thought—whose week isn’t overloaded. Before we reached his floor, I politely fended off an invitation to dinner. I held onto my smile.

 Below is the link to the book in third person. Currently all contemporaries are only at Amazon. That could change since they are finding no readers, but not sure it'd be better if they were wide like the historicals.

Evening Star