Roman Rescue

Maggie has always been a sassy, headstrong southern girl. But running off to Rome, Italy on summer break from college is the most impulsive thing she's ever done. Her brother is in trouble, and she's determined to rescue him- after all, he's the older, wiser, military officer who has never needed her help before. Paul is in a mess with an Italian ex-girlfriend who has cut ties with him...but is pregnant with his child.

Italy sounds like the perfect refuge since Maggie just broke up with her long-time boyfriend, and her estranged mother keeps hopelessly trying to reconnect with her. But when she meets Paul's best friend, Marine Sergeant, Luke Seager, he complicates things, persisting to play tour guide and asserting his way into her plans at every chance. Maggie prefers to become a hero on her own, but as she digs into the truth about Paul's problem, danger builds around them. While the tension and mystery grows, so do her feelings for Luke- a man with his own shrouded past.

Nothing is as it seems when Maggie gets more than she bargained until finding out the truth lands Maggie in more trouble than she can escape. Who will save the hero now?

ROMAN RESCUE REVIEW Are new Indie books bringing deeper characters and more true-to-life stories? For many years now there has been a formula to novel writing. Much like the five-paragraph essay in school, novels have had certain ways you tell a story and ways, you most definitely didn't. Even literary devices go in and out of fashion. But with the new rise of Indie publishing, we are seeing the rules broken, and are we loving it? There is no doubt the variety of talent of the Indie book revolution is all over the map, but there are some good ones to take note of. For example, many publishers refuse a book with too much going on because they can't market it. In other words, it doesn't fit into a box. I found Roman Rescue, by Michelle Gilliam to be a novel just like that. A nineteen-year-old girl would suggest it is a Young Adult or New Adult genre. The setting in Rome, suggests a travel story, especially with the unique descriptions of a poet, being transported, leaving you with the longing to touch it for yourself. There is also U.S. Marines suggesting a Military Romance. But with the Italian mafia and Russians, this little girl gets in way over her head. But although we find the young Maggie, naive, she is also strong. You sense she is fearless, but then find out it is fear that drives most of her decisions. In the end she must overcome Fear, the paranormal element to this story while she wrestles with the power of forgiveness that is the only way she will ever learn to love again. This story deals with the physical temptations of a wounded girl, the decision and intellect of a college girl, and the spiritual world she tries to stand all of them on, confronting her own ancestry, other's beliefs, and finally her own. This book is perhaps the beginning of new storytelling. A story of a whole person and not just their parts. I welcome more like it. -----------------David Abrams