This is the book that started it all for me, with enormous help from three lovely ladies, Julianne MacLean, Laura Leone, and Kristie Jenner. Most authors will tell you their first "baby" is special. It's the one you do before deadlines and critiques, while you are still innocent and naive. The book of your heart. I'd just said goodbye to 15 years of counseling in the prison system. So many of my clients were young men who'd been severely abused as children. Some had grown hard and cold,others still clung to hopes and dreams, still longed for love and acceptance, and struggled to do their best day after day. They made me reflect on the beauty and resilience of the human spirit. But they were damaged in ways so deep one sometimes despaired there was any way forward to a happy life. My daughter gave me a leather bound book with an inscription that dared me to follow my dreams.BROKEN WING was my way of giving the happy ending that eluded so many, and though it was Gabriel’s story, it could not have happened without Sarah’s unconditional love and acceptance, and her ability to see past his defenses to the beautiful spirit within. It's a difficult subject to tackle, and I hope I did it justice. For anyone interested, here is THE BLURB
Abandoned as a child and raised in a brothel, Gabriel St. Croix has never known tenderness, friendship or affection. Although fluent in sex, he knows nothing of love. Lost and alone inside a nightmare world, all he’s ever wanted was companionship and a place to belong. Hiding physical and emotional scars behind an icy façade, his only relationship is with a young boy he has spent the last five years protecting from the brutal reality of their environment. But all that is about to change. The boy’s family has found him, and they are coming to take him home.
Sarah Munroe blames herself for her brother’s disappearance. When he’s located, safe and unharmed despite where he as been living. Sarah vows to help the man who rescued and protected him in any way she can. With loving patience she helps Gabriel face his demons and teaches him to trust in friendship and love. But when the past catches up with him, Gabriel must face it on his own.
Becoming a mercenary, pirate and a professional gambler, Gabriel travels to London, France, and the Barbary Coast in a desperate attempt to find Sarah again and all he knows of love. On the way, however, he will discover the most dangerous journey, and the greatest gamble of all, is within the darkest reaches of his own heart.