Women’s Fiction
Date Published: August 22, 2020
Publisher: Heart Ally Books
When you lose everyone and everything you love, can you ever live again? Or love again?
An unimaginable trauma. A future that seems impossible. When your world shatters, how do you put it back together?
When Matt Nelson found Kathleen on the beach, she’d been hiding behind a scarf and sunglasses for three years. She couldn’t hide her loneliness, and he couldn’t turn away. But when her flashbacks start, they’re both unprepared for the repercussions and the depth of her emotional suffering.
Kathleen agrees to return to intensive trauma recovery at The Charlotte Center, where the sounds and the smells and the images from that terrible night await her, demanding she confront her demons.
The world of PTSD recovery is fraught with terror and pain for both Kathleen and Matt. Will their love prove strong enough to survive the agonizing and arduous journey? Can Kathleen move beyond her anger and learn to live again?
Catch up with the first book in the series
An unimaginable trauma. A future that seems impossible. When your world shatters, how do you put it back together?
For 950 days, Kathleen Conners has struggled with that choice. Behind a scarf and sunglasses, she hides from the world, from herself, from The Event, from any future with anyone.
After receiving a box of letters from his deceased mother, Matt Nelson is shoved from his predictable, controlled life to a secluded beach in North Carolina. While trying to understand his mother’s intent, he discovers Kathleen. Matt must choose whether to follow the path his mother orchestrated or rescue the woman who has captured his heart.
When the only person Kathleen blames more than herself reappears, can Matt be the strength Kathleen needs to create a new life, or will he be forced to walk away if she decides the climb is too great?
Interview with June Converse
For those interested in exploring the subject or theme of your book, where should they start?
Journey to Hope is the story of one woman’s fight to live a full like with PTSD. I suggest readers take a few minutes to consider the fears in their own lives that might be holding them back from something wonderful. It may not be full on PTSD but we all have trauma of one sort or another.
How did you become involved with the subject or theme of your book?
While I have, thankfully, not experienced the level of trauma my Kahtleen has, I have suffered with PTSD and had to step into a similar rehab environment where everyone is not an ally. I’ve also struggled to depend on others for the healing work I had to face alone.
What were your goals and intentions in this book, and how well do you feel you achieved them?
The goal was to show people the difficulties a trauma sufferer faces when she seeks to live again AND to show the difficulties for those who love her and can’t rescue her.
Anything you would like to say to your readers and fans?
When people are hurtuing, remember you might not know the whole story and sometimes all you can do is stand beside. We can’t always solve other’s problems.
What did you enjoy most about writing this book?
Getting to know Matt. He started off as the this overbearing guy who believed he was the end all be all. It was fun to watch him deal with his own crap. And, of course, I loved the ending.
Can you tell us a little bit about your next books or what you have planned for the future?
I am working on the third book in this series. In Secrets to Hope, Matt is in for quite a shock. He made decisions in his past with far reaching implications that he didn’t realize.
How long have you been writing?
When I came through a mental breakdown in 2012, I began to write. It was my main character, Matt, who started to tell me a story that became this series.
Can you tell us a little bit about the characters in Journey to Hope?
In Journey to Hope, Kathleen has suffered with PTSD for almost four years, refusing to face the event and recreate a life. Matt Nelson is ready for love and a life he wants. He wants desperately to “fix” Kathleen but only she can do that. All he can do is stand back, watch and hope.
If you could spend the day with one of the characters from Journey to Hope who would it be? Please tell us why you chose this particular character, where you would go and what you would do.
Mia Hall from Gregg Hurwitz’s Orphan X series. She’s not on the page often and she can never love Evan like she wants because of her moral code. I’d love to cozy up to the fire and have her tell the truth of her feelings and what it would take for her to cast off those moral issues and really “be” with Evan. I’d love to play the “what if” game with her.
About the Author
A trauma survivor who struggles with mental illness, June is continuously reaching for hope like the characters in her books. She openly discusses her personal struggles on her blog, JuneConverse.com
Decide to Hope is her first novel and relies a great deal on her own experience with trauma, choices, recovery and hope. If you'd like to discuss trauma, coping and recovery, contact her at JuneConverse.com or DecideToHope.com
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1 comments:
This book looks very interesting. Thanks for sharing!
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