Valley Publishing | August 8, 2014 | Romance
Broken...but Mending, book 1
★★★★1/2
SOURCE: BARCLAY PUBLICITY
A journey of exploration...
A journey of healing…
A journey of love…
Two people are forced by circumstances into a therapy class to help them deal with their problems. They are strangers. Forced to be partners. Naturally opposites.
Kane is dealing with anger of betrayal at the deepest level, needing to find his way back to forgiveness. Tania is a previous rape victim hoping to deal with her fear of intimacy so she can have a loving relationship.
Tania's medium of expression - her camera.
Her subject – the human body – Kane's physical body.
Looking through the lens of a camera, she learns to find beauty and compassion...and the strength to find wholeness...with him.
Valley Publishing | April 29, 2014 | Romance
Broken...but Mending, book 2
★★★★★
SOURCE: BARCLAY PUBLICITY
Some scars are visible…
Some scars are hidden…
The worst scars are buried deep inside…
Robin and Sean are existing in their private worlds. Hiding in plain sight, not really living, definitely not thriving. They both need to move forward… if they can.
Yet the price of success is pain as they confront issues that have plagued them for years. They’re so different, with such opposite problems. Yet they complement each other - or at least they will, if they can work through their issues and find each other.
This is a story of pain and sorrow, joy and success… and… love.
Valley Publishing | October 12, 2015 | Romance
Broken...but Mending, book 3
★★★★★
SOURCE: BARCLAY PUBLICITY
She thinks she escaped Justice.
He is still waiting for Justice to happen.
She’s afraid her day of reckoning is near.
He’s afraid his day of reckoning will never arrive.
Will love balance the scales of Justice?
Can be read as a standalone.
{ about dale mayer } .
Dale Mayer is a USA Today bestselling author best known for her Psychic Visions and Family Blood Ties series. Her contemporary romances are raw and full of passion and emotion (Second Chances, SKIN), her thrillers will keep you guessing (By Death series), and her romantic comedies will keep you giggling (It's a Dog's Life and Charmin Marvin Romantic Comedy series).
She honors the stories that come to her - and some of them are crazy, break all the rules and cross multiple genres!
{ excerpt } .
He really wanted this report to get published. In a way, he needed the credits. They could be damn hard to get. He wanted to move forward into his field and help people. He understood he might not be ready, but no one said he had to go full bore into this. A little at a time – at a rate he could handle. That worked.
So what if he lost a little skin scraping close to his issues or gained another scar or two? He had loads of those. But then, so did Paris, and even he could feel the open wound he'd caused.
"So apologize," he said out loud. "That's the place to start."
Glancing down at his watch, he realized he had a little time before the afternoon lecture started. Good. He could get a start and write down his impressions. The things he'd picked up already. And there were a lot.
He walked into the seminar room and found his seat. In the empty room, he opened his laptop and checked the report he'd set up but hadn't done much with yet. Now he let his mind go and let his finger fly on the keyboard as he wrote down a description of Paris. She's the one that interested him.
Confused, valiant, emotional. Damaged. She's been hurt, but is tired of hurting. She's strong, but has never been strong enough to deal with the core hurt. She's alive, but a part of her is dead.
He stopped and read what he'd written. Wow. So much for analytical. This was literally emotional, the impressions from his gut. He had no idea if he was right or wrong, but his mind and heart said he was on track. She was an eager beaver desperate to get over something and get on with the next stage of her life, and that concept both terrified and excited her. Failure was not an option, yet he suspected it was quite likely the outcome.
So what if he lost a little skin scraping close to his issues or gained another scar or two? He had loads of those. But then, so did Paris, and even he could feel the open wound he'd caused.
"So apologize," he said out loud. "That's the place to start."
Glancing down at his watch, he realized he had a little time before the afternoon lecture started. Good. He could get a start and write down his impressions. The things he'd picked up already. And there were a lot.
He walked into the seminar room and found his seat. In the empty room, he opened his laptop and checked the report he'd set up but hadn't done much with yet. Now he let his mind go and let his finger fly on the keyboard as he wrote down a description of Paris. She's the one that interested him.
Confused, valiant, emotional. Damaged. She's been hurt, but is tired of hurting. She's strong, but has never been strong enough to deal with the core hurt. She's alive, but a part of her is dead.
He stopped and read what he'd written. Wow. So much for analytical. This was literally emotional, the impressions from his gut. He had no idea if he was right or wrong, but his mind and heart said he was on track. She was an eager beaver desperate to get over something and get on with the next stage of her life, and that concept both terrified and excited her. Failure was not an option, yet he suspected it was quite likely the outcome.
{ review } .
Skin
In this first book, we're introduced to a new therapy style -- their instructor takes a group of people and gives them assignments. Easy peasy, right? Then, though, she gives you a week-long assignment, pairing you up with someone...
Tania was hopeful to be paired up with scarred-on-the-outside friend Robin. Tania's issues are internal. She's terrified of men, so she's hopeful to be paired up with the woman she's grown close to -- not the giant of a man who sits near her.
Kane can easily sense Tania's discomfort with him -- regardless of her avoiding him at all costs. When their paired together, we get our first sense of the protective person Kane can be -- he advocates for Tania, saying that she may be better off with someone else. He sees she's terrified of him, and with his anger issues, he fears he's the worst possible partner for her --
,,,but watching these two grow comfortable with one another, watching Kane help Tania through her struggles and in turn, working through his own... My goodness, I loved them.
These books take place over one-week's time. That said, the emotional growth was a big quick in my mind, but thankfully, Dale doesn't put a ring on it one week later, so I certainly appreciated that, allowing for further growth of the couples post therapy week.
Scars
This particular addition to the series takes place at the same time as book one. While Tania is paired with Kane, Robin, Tania's friend, is paired with Sean. Sean didn't really want to be here, but when he got in and his sister didn't, he promised Paris he'd go and bring knowledge back for her.
Robin and Sean's journey was pretty similar to Tania and Kane's -- I felt that the last chapters were nearly the same -- together, wake up alone, turn in assignment.
But what made this particular book a 5-star, and the other's 4.5 for this reader, was that the end scene, the turning in of the assignment? My goodness, Sean makes me cry every. single. time. I read it. And I read it at least 3 times.
Scales
Finally, Paris was accepted into the program -- and I fully believe that Jenna had a full method to her madness. Paris wouldn't have worked well in the group Sean was in. Jenna pairs Paris up with Weaver -- a man Jenna was helping outside of this session but challenged him to join the week-long retreat.
Weaver was so different from Sean and Kane. He has a younger vibe to him, where Kane and Sean were extremely serious. I liked Weaver's attitude -- it wasn't done so young that he seemed immature, but rather a guy who had the ability to be happy-go-lucky... if he just let down his walls.
I truly enjoyed learning more about Paris -- her story was definitely heartbreaking, but Weaver was such a great compliment to her character.
I truly enjoyed learning more about Paris -- her story was definitely heartbreaking, but Weaver was such a great compliment to her character.
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