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Where the Road Bends
By David Rawlings
Christian Fiction
Hardcover, Audiobook & ebook, 304 Pages
June 2, 2020 by Thomas Nelson
Fifteen years after college graduation, four friends reconnect to keep a long-ago promise and go on a trip of a lifetime in the Australian Outback.
Eliza needs to disconnect from her high-powered fashion job to consider the CEO position she’s just been offered. Lincoln hopes to rekindle a past relationship and escape from another one. Bree looks forward to a fun getaway from home and her deeply buried disappointments. Andy wants to disappear from the mess he’s made of his life—possibly forever.
Dropped at a campsite in the middle of nowhere, the friends quickly discover they aren’t the same people they once were, and they begin to confront hard truths about one another—and themselves. Then a bizarre storm sweeps across their camp, scattering them across the desert. Wondering if they are part of some strange escape game, each of the friends meets a guide to help them find exactly what they need: purpose, healing, courage, and redemption.
But they’ve already traveled far down the road of life and course-correcting to become the people they were meant to be won’t be easy.
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Excerpt…
In the middle of the path a long, black snake coiled back on itself. It appeared to be gathering energy to strike. At her.
Bree flushed cold in the heat as she froze. “Eddie?” Three more long syllables.
The snake eyed her from the path, the sun rippling from its dark-brown scales. Its head eased back into its body.
The foliage parted. “Don’t. Move.” Eddie stepped off the path and inched around the snake, his eyes not deviating from the threat. The snake sensed his movement and jerked back.
Eddie stepped in front of Bree and placed an arm across her, his voice flat. “I want you to take a step back. Slowly. He doesn’t like sudden movements.”
Bree’s heart pounded as she fought to rein in the numbing panic. Behind the added protection of Eddie’s arm, she backed away, then collapsed against a gum tree.
The foliage parted again, and Lincoln stormed onto the path.
Eddie raised his arms, his voice like flint. “Stay there.”
Lincoln dropped his gaze to the snake and inched back as he proffered the shovel. “Here, you’ll need this.”
Eddie waved him away. “Stay where you are. Dangerous fella, this one, and we’re going to let him go on his way.”
Lincoln took a step forward as he gripped the shovel tight. “Why wouldn’t you kill him?”
“Once we’ve gone and moved on with our lives, we’ll leave him to move on with his.”
Bree watched the snake as it watched Eddie and Eddie watched it. Despite its deadly danger, this reptile conveyed a quiet majesty, a slow purpose to its movements. Bree’s breath returned as the snake uncoiled, relaxing, its head shifting left and right, eyeing an exit.
Eddie put up his hands and took a slow step toward it. “Careful now. Careful.” His toes tapped slowly on the path, mesmerizing the snake as it continued to uncoil. “Careful now. Careful.”
The snake slithered off the path and slunk into the bush, taking an age for its body to disappear into the scrub.
Eddie padded forward and inspected its exit point before he gestured to them. “He’s gone. We can go now.”
Bree’s heart resumed its frantic rhythm as they crept past, her eyes fixed on the low grass, sure the snake was waiting for the others to pass before it lunged at her. But the grass was still.
Once she was clear, her jog graduated into a sprint, and her heart still pounded as she rushed into Eliza’s arms, the sobs coming as the terror leaked away.
From Where the Road Bends by David Rawlings. Used with the permission of the publisher, Thomas Nelson. Copyright © 2020 by David Rawlings. Learn more at TNZ Fiction.
About the Author…
David Rawlings is an Australian author, and a sports-mad father of three who loves humor and a clever turn of phrase. Over a 25-year career he has put words on the page to put food on the table, developing from sports journalism and copywriting to corporate communication. Now in fiction, he entices readers to look deeper into life with stories that combine the everyday with a sense of the speculative, addressing the fundamental questions we all face.
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Tour Giveaway…
One winner will receive a print copy of The Camera Never Lies by David Rawlings (US only)
Ends June 24, 2020
Sounds very good. Would like to read it.
Good luck, Beth!
Sounds like a wonderful book. Look forward to read it one day.
Good luck, Heather!
It sounds good. I like the part about meeting a guide to help them with what they need.
I agree. It’d be nice to have that guide, for sure.
Good luck, Lynn, and thanks for stopping by my blog.