Ripples

by Laney Smith

Finally! Now, everything will be better. At least that is what Rachel Tucker is hoping for. After seven rocky years of marriage to her controlling, mentally abusive husband, Shane, Rachel has hope for a new beginning. That hope comes when Shane lands a new job and the family moves from Seattle to a beautiful, new lake house in a small town in Mississippi.

It’s just what Shane has always wanted! He finally has his wife and kids to himself - away from the watchful eyes of protective family and friends. With fantasies of a “new beginning” in her head, Rachel is excited for this new road in life. However, her fantasies are smashed when reality sinks in. New job, new town, new house, new friends, new environment.

Same old Shane.

With her new friends rallied behind her, Rachel begins to see how frightening, cruel, and selfish Shane truly is. The mental abuse Shane dishes out begins to manifest in physical ways, and Rachel begins to fear for the lives of herself and her children. Hell-bent on breaking away, Rachel finds obscure ways to bank small sums of money in an effort to fund their escape. However, after a freakishly strange series of events leads to Shane Tucker’s “fated” demise, one has to wonder how much of it was truly driven by “fate.” Everything in life is a ripple effect. The question is, what will Rachel do when a new set of Ripples forces her to choose between right and wrong? In this bizarre tale, what is right? And what is wrong? If you were in Rachel’s shoes, what would you do?

271 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 15, 2017

About the author

Laney Smith, the mother of two sons, is an American author who was born in Little Rock, Arkansas and raised in Texas. In her teen years, she and her family (including two younger brothers) moved to Colorado. Laney has also lived in Mississippi and currently resides in Southern California. Since a writing career seemed to persistently tug on her shirt tails, Laney eventually decided to try her hand at the art, writing news articles for a local newspaper. After numerous front page features, a new passion was born and the storyteller decided to try her hand at fiction. Her debut work, Lock Creek: One Year’s Time is still one of her most popular, frequently read works, proving that she managed to escape the “first is the worst” curse. In fact, Smith’s Lock Creek series won a “books-to-screen” contest and is currently being adapted for a television series, with other potential “books-to-screen” projects looming on the horizon. At the time of this publication, Laney currently has eight novels to her credit, as well as short stories in two anthology projects (no longer in print). She also released one novel under another pen name. Looking back, Smith’s only regret is that she did not start writing, sooner. When she is not submerging herself in her fictitious worlds, conjuring up riveting stories, Laney enjoys spending time with her family. Whether she is in the mountains, hanging out at tide pools, watching a sporting event, or enjoying some form of art, the writer’s mind is always dreaming up the next page-turning tale. Having accomplished so much in such a short time (Lock Creek: One Year’s Time, her first work, was published July 2014), Laney Smith has found her passion and her calling. The author, with her feet firmly planted, guarantees her readers that she is here to stay.

For all the latest updates, questions, or comments, you can reach Laney Smith at:

Website:
www.authorlaneysmith.com

Facebook:
www.facebook.com/ONEYEARSTIME

Twitter:
@OYTLaneySmith

Instagram:
author.laney.smith

Amazon:
www.amazon.com/Laney-Smith/e/B00LOZDHLO

Email:
LaneySmith@authorlaneysmith.com

Laney Smith is also on Pinterest, MeWe, Book Bub, Author Wall, and LinkedIn

Reviews

[Anna Salamatin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rachel Tucker married the man of her dreams, her bet friend. Shane was kind and patient. He was fun and adventurous. He never disrespected her.
That was just seven years before.
Rachel now feels trapped. Her husband turned out to be a vicious, verbally abusive drunk. He moved them and their two young boys far away from her family. She has to ask him for every little thing she or the boys need. He didn’t want kids anyway, wanted her to get “rid” of it...He keeps a tight hold on the money. She’s a stay at home mom, not allowed to work. He’s admitted that he’s been cheating on her way before she caught him, twice.... what Shane did not count on when he moved his family to Mississippi was good old southern hospitality and neighbors that are like family. Rachel was immediately accepted by the close knit group and became best friends with one of the wives that along with everyone else over time could see what a horrible person Shane was and they told her to leave him, they would help her. But Rachel was afraid because of his threats, he promised her that he would take the boys away.
Shane is becoming more and more aggressive and threatened to kill her before she’d see one dime of child support or alimony...
Then he started being rough with the boys while drunk..... the signs are there. It’s just a matter of time before he kills her maybe the children too.
Then a collapsed rubber raft and Shane are found floating in the lake. The reports later confirmed he was drunk, tore the raft and drowned... case closed.... or is it?
This is a story of survival. Of healing. Of learning to live, trust and love again.
Domestic Abuse is a serious issue. Kudos to this Author who is so spot on as to how women in situations like this can and often do feel trapped, isolated and alone. Abuse doesn’t have to be physical. In fact, mental, verbal abuse can be so much worse. ...I am a domestic abuse survivor and I recommend this to anyone who’s created Ripples for themselves or someone else.

[Sharon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is somewhat dark but there is also light and hope in it. Due to the topic of domestic abuse there are some possible triggers for some readers. It’s my first time reading anything from this author, and I think she has done a wonderful job with this book. I was completely mesmerized by the plot and liked the depth and dialogue given to the characters. This is a must read for lovers of dark emotional suspense filled books.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Christina Gruber · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great book that kept me totally engrossed from beginning to end. The story is about a mentally abusive husband and how the wife finds help from friends to turn her life around. For the topic being such a dark, scary, emotionally distressing situation the author does a fabulous job with showing there is hope and there can be a happy ending if you let people in and let them help you.

[Jeanne Richardson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the 4th book I've read written by Laney Smith; she has done a great job at writing a good book; I can’t wait to read more of her books.

The story line caught my attention at the very beginning and kept me interested throughout the entire book.

I loved the characters.

I received a free copy of this book via booksprout and I’m voluntarily leaving a review.

[marilyn moore langley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Could you do the wrong thing for the right reasons?

Laney is really good at building drama to a cresendo!! This makes you think, and then it made me smile.

[Nicole · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like it. The synopsis seemed so promising, but failed to deliver. Or maybe I was expecting too much ... or a different outcome. It was okay.