Description
Samantha Crain begins life in the insular Rising Star Community, in upstate New York. At the age of twelve she stumbles upon a horrible truth about her father, the Community's doctor and spiritual leader. Samantha confides what she's learned to her brother Joe, but when her father is confronted he lies to the Community Board, and Joe is shunned and driven from the Community. Without Joe, Samantha is left to fend for herself, afraid of her father, an arranged marriage and struggling against the prejudices of the locals outside her Community. She escapes as often as she can to a local cave where her brother Joe and his friend, police officer Johnny Running Bear, have created a sanctuary for her. They secretly meet with her on a regular basis and a deep friendship and romance begins to bloom between Samantha and Johnny, who is teaching her self-defense. They concoct a hilarious solution to discourage that unwanted suitor once and for all. Joe is offered the opportunity of a lifetime six months before Samantha's eighteenth birthday, and leaves Samantha under Johnny's protection. Not long after, a senior from the local high school traps Samantha in the woods and puts her recently acquired self-defense skills to the test. Believing she has killed him and afraid to drag her brother and Johnny into the horrible mess, she escapes to Boston in a fugue state with almost no memory of the trip. Woefully unprepared for a life in the real world and separated from Johnny, Samantha’s naiveté combined with the people that cross her path, take her on an amazing journey she never could have imagined!
Samantha’s life demonstrates how the most challenging times and events can have a very positive effect on a person’s life and the people around them, although they may not immediately realize it, but if they persevere it will be worth it in the end. A fast-paced Romance/Adventure about true friendship and love, that deviates from the usual expectations of this genre.