New Release! The FLOCK, Mattie Saunders Series Book 5.

Family – the source of our greatest joy and our deepest pain.

Mattie thinks she needs one. Which will it be for her?

FREE! First 2 books in the series,

The Rocker and the Bird Girl and Cold-Blooded ‘til March 5. Available now at https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B003DS6LEU

“Compelling read with a complicated heroine and a rich, diverse narrative

 “…a powerful, exciting, well executed drama… I was thoroughly captivated by the interweaving of the various subplots, the interesting and well-developed characters introduced, and the diversity of both personalities and backgrounds that gave the story a depth I found unusual and appealing. A wonderful read I highly recommend.”

– Lorraine Devon Wilke, award-winning author of The Alchemy of Noise   

Rewilding her Blue and Gold Macaw, her companion for twenty years has left Mattie with a big hole in her life. She’s filling it with anger and cynicism and further alienating the few people she’s close to including her partner, Simon.

Being brought up in foster care, Mattie’s never had a family and isn’t even convinced it’s good or necessary, but there have been moments when she’d felt its power–and her need. Birds band together for safety, socialization–for a better chance of survival. It’s called a flock. Mattie wants to bring people together for the same reasons.

She’s getting little help from Simon, an Indigenous person and First Nations leader who is committed to justice and equality for his people and is on the other side of the country leading a protest that has made him a target for alt-right fanatics.

At the same time, she receives a call from the wife of Simon’s cousin who has died of an overdose. Can Mattie take care of their three-year-old son, Howie, while his mother tries to get herself straight? Knowing the alternative is the child goes into the system, Mattie rescues the toddler from the slum apartment.

Mattie knows nothing about looking after children and assumes she’ll play the role of caregiver until another more suitable family member steps up. No one does and despite herself, she falls in love with the little boy and with the help of her transgender housekeeper, Dana, they create a safe and happy environment.

Mattie’s role as a parent abruptly ends when she intervenes in stopping a hate crime by taking a baseball bat to a punk who is assaulting Dana.

She’s arrested, charged and social services take custody of the child. To get Howie back Mattie is faced with personal, legal and political challenges she’ll never overcome alone.

It’s going to take compromise and sacrifice, neither being Mattie’s strong suits, but she’s determined. She won’t have Howie endure what she did growing up.

Using whatever resources at hand, from humility to blackmail, she recruits the support she needs to have the courts grant her custody of the child. On the way, she gathers her flock, while learning that family is like everything else–the more you work at it, the better it gets.

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