Breaking Point

by Tracey Clark

Sometimes, the perfect couples are not as perfect as they seem. KELSEY CUNNINGHAM fell in love with her husband JAMES when they were thirteen years old. For fifteen years, he loved her, protected her, worshiped her. And then everything changed. James is the hero of the Australian country town of Gracemere. The son of the town’s longest service police officer, and now the officer in charge himself, the pressure has always been on for him to shine. The entire town is watching his perfect life with his perfect school teacher wife. What they don’t see are the bruises that pepper Kelsey’s body. Behind closed doors, James has become increasingly violent as he struggles to deal with the pressure of his job. Although she’s desperate to make the abuse stop, Kelsey knows that James has the power of his reputation behind him, and she fears that, even if she does speak out, no one will believe her. Trapped, and knowing that James will do anything to protect his violent secret, Kelsey falls into the arms of their close friend, LIAM HORNE, who begs her to run away with him, promising to keep her safe and away from her violent husband. Temporarily swept away by the feeling of safety in Liam’s arms, Kelsey makes a mistake that she soon regrets, when a pregnancy test taken four weeks later comes back positive. Kelsey finds herself caught between the man she thinks she might be in love with, and the husband she’s afraid will kill her if she leaves. Can she save herself and her unborn baby before it’s too late?

300 pages, Paperback

Published March 1, 2020

About the author

I am a country-twang gal from the bluegrass state. Kentucky is a hot bed of horses, cave systems, and whiskey. And I love all three. With my pugs and bossy kitty cat, I spend my days writing and working social media. I write with the help of the voices pushing me to create worlds for them to live in. Fantasy Romance, Contemporary Romance, and eventually some cowboys (because cowboys live in a group all there own, yummmm) are the genres that I love best.

In 2005, a serious case of Multiple Sclerosis ended my higher education as I strived to finish my mathematics degree, wiping away all my beautiful numbers and a large portion of artistic talents that I had taken for granted most of my life. After a few years, my beautiful words started to come back to me. Filling my days and nights with imagined worlds helped me to cope with my newfound reality. I am currently working with Mary (my publisher) at http://gonewritingpublishing.blogspot... Each day I find that getting sick has helped me to find my passion.

Fun fact: My granny had enough Irish to embody the term ‘fiery’ and my papaw had enough Cherokee to suggest they move their family to a reservation … This did not turn out well for him, not when gran apposed the idea, butttt that is a story for another time. So palest of pale, and red all year round … what did I get from that genetic pool??? Ha. I turned out to be pale skinned, but I don’t burn in the sun the way granny would have. And no matter how much color I seem to gain during the day, I wake the next morning back at square one, whereas my papaw had wonderfully tanned skin even in the midst of the darkest winters. boo… lol… now at 34, I don’t even try. (not to mention that my MS detests being out in the sun)

What I did get from these wonderful people??? A love and a need to create. She could design a quilt, bake up wonders, paint and draw with ease, and surround the home in masterpiece gardens. Okay, my thumb is more black than green, but have enjoyed accomplishing all the rest. Though my favorite lies in oil paints. As for papaw, he loved to sing, filled notebook after notebook with his poetry, and had a tendency to create personalized rhymes for strangers and friends alike (sometimes against their will, while others asked for the right). My entire life, he called me his songbird. And would asked me (shy little me) to preform. Poetry is fun, and something that my mother taught me how to do early on, but I truly believe that a piece of my soul would die without my voice to sing the melodies in my heart. (just please let me do it at home and not in front of strangers :P)