How We End Up

How We End Up 

Awarded Finalist in the Literary Fiction category of the 2018 International Book Awards.

BEING RESCUED IS NOT THE SAME AS BEING SAVED.

Jackson Levee, an ambitious young college instructor and writer, saves nine-year-old twin girls, Hadley and Haley, from drowning in the Gulf of Mexico. He writes a poem titled "After the Rescue" based on the incident and receives critical acclaim and a wide readership as the result of an appearance on a popular national television talk show.The twins mature into beautiful but troubled young women. Jackson's success leads him to a professorship at an esteemed university in the Carolina mountains where meets LaVeda with whom he has a temporary happy marriage, but his ascendant star falls soon thereafter. Hadley marries a womanizer and discovers through a chance meeting that she is gay, loses the relationship, and sinks into alcohol and drug abuse. Haley suffers a depressive episode and afterwards begins an unfulfilling affair with her older supervisor, subsequently marrying an army reservist who is horribly wounded in the Iraq War and whose PTSD threatens everything.Through twenty-five years, Jackson's, Hadley's, and Haley's recklessness in sex, love, marriage, and life  produces wild and horrific results. They struggle to transcend their misfortunes and realize their destinies. 

Finalist Award for Literary Fiction in the 2018 International Book Awards

“Suspenseful…Nothing can prepare you for this tale as you find out how these characters ‘end up.’ Thought-provoking and intelligent.”

"I was swept along by this multi-shaded literary social drama...This book is not only well written, it is also pacey and extremely gripping drama. The characters all feel real to me..."

"This book pulled me in from the first chapter. It was easy flowing and the story is fast paced. I found it easy to get lost in and feel as if I was right there with the characters. The characters are both connectable and true to life. They took me on an emotional roller coaster ride that kept me reading until the end. This is the story of three people who met and went their separate ways for the past twenty-five years."

"This was my first book by this author and what a book it was."

"This story definitely touched on some emotional and touchy real life subjects and it made the book that much better for it.This book is a must read if you want to find out what happens after their lives are intertwined again. I highly recommend this book, it is so well written and you become invested in these characters and needing to know how their lives turnout. I will definitely be looking for more books by this author, I truly enjoyed his style of writing."

"This book has it all."