Howdy!
I'm Mika Spears, Class of 94, and I've self-published a novel titled "Chasing Strays" via Kindle e-book and paperback on Amazon. I would love to post a photo of the cover but this is a new account I created to push the book and, as such, I haven't earned the right to post images yet.
Here's the summary off the back cover:
*****
IN A GAME OF RELATIVE MORALITY, ARE ALL TRUTHS WORTH SPEAKING?
Cari Berchell was always searching for something better. Coming from a family steeped in crippling dysfunction and poverty, she assumed she had hit life's lottery when she met ranching heir Ben Berchell and became pregnant with his child. She never imagined the price she would pay for her new lot in life, including suffering the effects of Ben's alcoholism and ensuing infidelity that came with it.
Amid those long-standing rumors of her father's youthful drunken exploits, Cari's adult daughter Abby submits her DNA for analysis and finds Sarah, a biological half-sibling that she long suspected was out there. Having lost both of her adoptive parents, Sarah is eager to bond with her newfound family; meanwhile, Abby feels the added pressure of introducing Sarah to their father Ben before he dies of his self-inflicted disease while also negotiating the new relationship with her controlling and protective mother.
After Ben's death, Cari wants nothing more to do with Sarah until a pivotal figure from both of their pasts reemerges. Cari begins to lose control of the narrative of her manufactured life when secrets about Sarah's birth mother threaten to expose her past.
At Abby's urging, Cari begins to piece together her relationship with Sarah, but their shared connection has his own dark secret that has already changed the trajectory of Sarah's life once. Can he keep another one to preserve Sarah's peace and Cari's dignity?
*****
To give you some context on the origin, this book came about from my time owning and operating a coffee trailer with my own mother who is obsessed with genealogy. During our downtime and travel time, we started pitching ideas for a book and I challenged myself to see if I could actually complete one. Three years later, here it is!
And before anyone asks, I did submit writing samples to several agents but these "aren't the stories they are currently looking for." Many are focused on voices and viewpoints that I am in no position to understand, much less write about. I'm just a middle-aged white lady from Texas with a fondness for Frieda McFadden, Mary Kubica, and Elin Hilderbrand.
I'd love to hear from you if you have any questions. Putting something out there has been a little more nerve-racking than I anticipated. When I was in the process of writing it, I couldn't wait to share it. When it was done, releasing it on social media felt akin to walking out into the middle of Kyle Field on a football Saturday wearing a string bikini.
