| Knapsack Secrets! Wow!! You grabbed my attention before page 2. Billie it is wonderful. I think you've got a terrific heroine in Audrey and Clarinda is already beyond belief. Audrey has just gotten out of the hospital and spent the night in the dumpster with little Zip. I'm trying to ration myself on the story---it was so hard to put it down last night. No wonder you earned 5 Angels with it. You deserve it lady.
pc Pat McCain Willow Creek Winter Wings ePress May 2004 4 Angels Fallen Angel Reviews Time For Us Wings ePress July 2005 4 Cups Coffee Time Romance Reviews (It's A Keeper!) New Beginnings coming soon at Tree Press http://alex81520.tripod.com/ Winners make things happen. Losers let things happen. |
| Knapsack Secrets
Billie A. Williams PageFree Publishing www.pagefreepublishing.com ISBN: 1-58961-468-2 $17.95 Audrey and Jared Hroc seem to have it all. This “power couple” enjoys all the trappings of success; a beautiful home, expensive cars, and exciting jobs in advertising. Audrey even holds the coveted title of “Woman of the Year”, a nice feather in the cap of Parker & Pendergast, the agency that employed them both over 18 years ago, and still employs them today. P & P isn’t just a job to the Hroc’s—it’s their family. After months of preparation, Audrey watches in disbelief as another woman takes credit for the ad campaign she’s created for P & P’s biggest client. When she protests, Audrey is accused of stealing and is booted out of the agency. To add insult to injury, Jared not only doesn’t come to her defense, he makes an appearance at their home later that afternoon staying only long enough to tell Audrey he’s ending their 18-year-marriage. Gathering some personal items, he hurries out, straight into the arms of his new assistant, Clarinda Wade, the woman that caused Audrey to lose her job. Devastated, Audrey is desperate to clear her name and get herself together, but things escalate from bad to worse over the next few days when she discovers unpaid bills and missing bank accounts. Her credit cards are suspended and she has no cash, no food, no phone, and no computer. That evening, Audrey wakes up to find her house engulfed in flames and barely manages to escape with her life. The next time she wakes, it’s in the hospital and she’s unable to croak out a sentence, Audrey is visited at the hospital by Clarinda, who accuses her of aburning down the Hroc home, just to keep her and Jared from living there. Audrey is dumb-founded, and in hindsight, sees all the warning signs that her marriage was in trouble. When she’s discharged from the hospital, Audrey has nothing but the clothes on her back. It looks like no way out as she makes her way across town and searches for a safe place to sleep for the night and to wait until she’s able to meet with her attorney—whom she prays will take her case without a retainer. Meanwhile, Valentine “Val” Aziza, a homeless woman, is worried about her friend, Dana Lucas, a volunteer at the local soup kitchen. Max Lucas has lame excuses for his wife’s disappearance—and the longer Dana’s missing, the more Val suspects foul play—but there’s not much a sick and penniless woman can do—until Audrey Hroc arrives on the wrong side of the tracks with boy known only as “Zip”. Together with Jocelyn Oberlieux, an attorney with a personal vendetta against Jared’s lawyer, the motley crew is determined to seek justice for Audrey and discover the whereabouts of Dana Lucas. What began as a muddled introduction into the life of a career woman at the top of her game, turned into an engrossing read as I came to care about this “fallen woman”, Audrey Hroc. Williams depicts, in painstaking clarity, how easily any one of us could go from a comfortable existence to homelessness—and in the proverbial blink of an eye. Life on the streets seems as real as it gets with all its inherent problems; bullies, lack of housing, inclement weather, boredom, and scrounging for food. Hostililty from the working class is another daily encounter, as evidenced by a visit to the local thrift store. Williams creates some fascinating characters in Knapsack Secrets who will keep you turning the pages through any rough spots in the prose. Hang in there through the prickley beginning and you’ll be rewarded with the drama of Audrey’s day-to-day life as she crosses paths with a demented murderer and his sex kitten-with-a-heart-of-ice. The cold, hard slap of betrayal by a disinterested and disloyal spouse, being ostracized by her co-workers, living each day as if it might be her last—can life get any worse? Just when you’re certain there’s no hope, add to the mix an engaging street boy and a homeless woman who seeks justice for her friend and you’ll have the recipe for a tasty bowl of stone soup— à la Billie A. Williams. -Review by Ingrid Taylor |
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