Sienna St. James Series by Leslie J. Sherrod
She’s a sleuth. She’s a scorned wife. She’s a sista on a mission.
Sienna St. James is more than a sharp-witted social worker.
She’s a problem solver who keeps getting pulled into life-and-death
mysteries that only complicate her already complex life. With a
head-strong teenage son and a missing, estranged husband - who could be
anywhere on the globe - Sienna has to figure out what gets her focus
first: the questions she has about her own love and loss or the
dangerous quirks and dark confusion of her current clients... And then
there are the current eligible men around her who are jockeying for
position, waiting for her to make up her mind about it all.
Featured Books by Leslie J. Sherrod
* Losing Hope (Available Now)
* Without Faith (Coming Fall 2013)
* Sacrifices of Joy (Coming Spring 2014)
About Losing Hope:
Social worker Sienna St. James is a woman with a complicated past and an
alarming Tuesday morning. In one single day, every advance Sienna has
made in getting over her long lost globe-trotting husband unravels in
unexplainable fashion. From a mysterious package that hails from another
continent to a new teen client who claims to have a missing sister,
Sienna finds herself in the middle of a city-wide scandal, all while
sorting out the painful details of her personal life. At center are two
suspicious foster parents, a mega-church ministry leader, and Sienna's
own fragile emotions over a man who changed the direction of her life.
I
t's a test of
her professional and moral will as Sienna seeks closure from a love she
never understood and answers about whether a little girl named Hope ever
existed. And if she did, where is she now? In this first installment of
the suspenseful Sienna St. James Series, finding hope in the midst of
questions and chaos becomes essential when life takes an unexpected
turn.
About Without Faith:
She’s moved forward, but has she really moved ahead? Social worker
Sienna St. James is no stranger to setbacks. As far as she is concerned,
her estranged husband set her back and off course over a decade ago.
Now, she has reclaimed her sense of hope and purpose, set up a new
therapy practice, bought a new home, and has finally moved on. Maybe.
When a
wealthy, secretive new couple she’s counseling pulls her into their very
real life-and-death drama, and her long-lost husband’s whereabouts can
no longer be ignored, Sienna realizes the truth about what has kept her
emotionally frozen and fragile—it’s fear. Ready or not, she has
frightening challenges to overcome: a kidnapping, a teenage son who’s
gone AWOL, a tired-of-waiting potential new beau, and a journalist who’s
made it clear that he’s interested in getting more from her than the
breaking news the twists in her life are offering. Torn by professional
and personal struggles that have now become a full blown war, Sienna
must come face-to-face with her deepest fears—and survive them—before
it’s too late.
Excerpt from LOSING HOPE
“So Dayonna has been here a few days now. Tell me how things are going
for each of you.” I made certain to share eye contact with all three to
ensure nobody felt excluded from my invitation to talk. In doing so, I
did not miss the brief moments of silence that suddenly took over the
room. The Monroes looked at each other again, though I could not read
what emotion passed between them.
“Everything has been quite perfect, to be honest with you.” The gap in Mrs. Monroe’s upper teeth showed through her smile.
But her bottom lip was quivering.
“Yes, indeed.” Mr. Monroe’s voice sounded louder than necessary. “No problems here.”
I looked over at Dayonna, who stared back at me with a blank look on her
face. “Your thoughts on how things are going so far?” I inquired.
She said nothing, only continued to stare at me with that blank, unreadable look.
Teenagers were some of the most difficult people to navigate, even without a mental health diagnosis.
“Well . . . ?” I shuffled through some papers in my lap, trying to
figure out what words would break the apparent agreed-upon code of
silence suddenly permeating the living room. Despite all my training,
at times I still felt like a novice. “So . . . ,” I said, beginning
again, “everything is going well?”
“All is well.” Mr. Monroe gave a plastic grin.
Mrs. Monroe nodded her head in agreement, a crazed smile on her face.
“Perhaps I can talk to each of you individually.” I glanced over at
Dayonna, whose lips were pursed, as if she was about to finally speak.
“Ms. St. James, we appreciate you stopping by today, but as my husband
said, we need to start getting ready for Bible study. Perhaps we can
finish this visit another time?” Mrs. Monroe’s smile did not waver.
There was nothing else for me to say or do. I gathered my things and
casually headed for the door. “Okay. I’ll come back on Thursday, same
time, okay?”
“That’s perfect.” Mrs. Monroe clasped her hands together. “We’ll have more time to talk then.”
As I stepped out onto the porch, Dayonna was suddenly next to me,
walking down the steps with me. She walked so close to me that my
attaché was pinned between us.
“Wh-where are you going, little Miss Diamond?” Mr. Monroe called after us.
“Just walking Ms. St. James to her car,” she shouted back. I stayed
quiet, feeling like I needed to let things go wherever they were heading
without my interruption. I could see Mrs. Monroe struggling to get out
of her house slippers and put on her shoes. She wanted to come outside
with us.
But I was already at my car.
“Is everything really okay, Dayonna?” I gave her my warmest smile. She
was quiet as I opened the driver’s side door and threw my attaché over
to the passenger seat. She shrugged her shoulders and turned as if to
leave but then was suddenly next to my ear.
“You gotta get me out of here.” Dayonna’s voice was a sharp whisper.
“Why? What’s wrong?” I was pleased to finally be getting somewhere.
Dayonna frowned and looked me straight in my eyes. “They’re going to kill me.”
( Continues... )
© 2012 All rights reserved. Book excerpt reprinted by permission of the
author Leslie J. Sherrod. This excerpt is used for promotional purposes
only. Do not reproduce, copy or use without the publisher's written
permission. Copyright infringement is a serious offense. Share a link to
this page or the author's website if you really like this promotional
excerpt.
Order Books by Leslie J. Sherrod: https://www.amazon.com/author/lesliejsherrod
Excerpt from WITHOUT
FAITH
“Make a U-turn. Now turn left at the light.”
His face was hidden from me, but his voice served as a menacing GPS,
weaving me in and out of the suburbs and finally into the narrow side
streets of East Baltimore. Any lessons I’d had about self-defense,
whether to scream, whether to fight back or keep still, had gone out of
the window the minute I’d felt that cold metal on my neck.
“Make this turn here. Okay, right.” His voice sounded youthful, but the gun told me he was not playing games.
After almost an hour had gone by, I found courage to speak.
“I’m going to run out of gas.”
“Shut up and turn left at the stop sign.”
We drove for ten minutes more as I wondered if these were my last
moments. I looked at the people, buildings, homes, and cars around me
anew, trying to savor small details that I probably would not have even
noticed any other time. I counted trees that grew out of small patches
of dirt in the concrete; noticed the handwritten store signs on some
corner stores; listened to the loud laugh of a woman with a short,
scruffy ponytail sitting on a stoop with a group of giggling toddlers;
imagined Roman never knowing what ever happened to either his mother or
his father; Leon never knowing that my heart wanted to love him; Laz
wondering what ever happened to his beautiful silver BMW.
“Right here. Stop. The third house down,” the man’s voice interrupted. “Get out. Go straight to the door.”
We’d stopped in front of a narrow row house near East Biddle Street, I
think. My mind had gone numb and my memory evaded me. All I could see
were crumbling brick steps, a dingy front door, and a single potted
plant on the cement porch. He used a key to open the door and used the
gun to beckon me inside. My eyes adjusted to the dark interior of a
living room in shambles.
“David? Is that you?” A large woman in a wheelchair sat in the darkness,
an oxygen tube running from her nose, her hair done in two sloppy,
graying cornrows, her eyes staring off into space. She appeared to be
blind. “You picked up my medicine?”
“Yes, Grandma. I’ll get your water in just a minute.” He walked behind
me, pushing me forward, the tip of the gun now at the center of my
spine. His breaths were as labored as mine.
Both of us were scared.
He seemed to be pushing me toward the kitchen, toward a closed door that sat right beyond a large pantry.
“David,” the woman’s shrill voice called out again, “someone with you?”
“It’s okay, Grandma. I’m getting your water.”
He reached from behind me and opened the door, and I saw that his hands
looked massive, powerful. “Go down there,” he whispered, nudging me down
unfinished wooden steps. I took the first one and the door clicked
closed behind me. I heard him lock it.
“I’m sorry I had to do it like this.” A voice from the crawl space
behind the stairs whipped my head around. There in the shadows of the
stairwell sat....
( Continues... )
© 2013 All rights reserved. Book excerpt reprinted by permission of the
author Leslie J. Sherrod. This excerpt is used for promotional purposes
only. Do not reproduce, copy or use without the publisher's written
permission. Copyright infringement is a serious offense. Share a link to
this page or the author's website if you really like this promotional
excerpt.
About the Author
Leslie J. Sherrod is a
social worker and the author of several novels, including Losing Hope
and Without Faith, the first two books of the praised “Sienna St. James
Series;” Secret Place, which was featured on CBS and NBC affiliates; and
Like Sheep Gone Astray, which received a starred review from Booklist. A
short story, “The Jericho Band” is available exclusively on Amazon
Kindle. Leslie was recognized with the SORMAG Readers Choice Award as
Christian Author of the Year (2012).
Website: www.LeslieJSherrod.com
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