2 0 2 3 TO P N O TA B L E I N D I E S NOTABLE
N O TA B L E
EXTREME VETTING: A THRILLER by Roxana Arama
EMOTIONALLY BROKEN by Isabel Wells
Seattle, Washington, 2019. Immigration attorney and single mom Laura Holban is an immigrant herself. Her newest undocumented client is Emilio Ramirez, who was arrested in front of his sons at their high school and scheduled for deportation. What Laura doesn't know is that Emilio's birth family was murdered in his home country many years ago.
The protagonist of Emotionally Broken is Katelyn —a young blue-collar steel mill worker in Detroit. She lives with her mother and has two beautiful daughters. Katelyn keeps to herself socially, not making any time for going out on the town or dating. During the company’s continuous improvement efforts, they send Jonathan to the facility from corporate office, a successful senior manager from Chicago. Jonathan is handsome, charming, and turns Katelyn’s world upside down. She daydreams romantically about him all day, every day. Katelyn catches Jonathan distantly admiring her but she doubts his interest; someone of his stature is unquestionably out of her league. Yet, Jonathan shows interest, and they start dating.
When Laura files for Emilio's asylum, false criminal charges prevent his release. Someone is following his family, and an ICE prosecutor threatens to revoke Laura's US citizenship. None of it makes any sense—until Laura uncovers an international conspiracy involving stolen data and human trafficking. Which puts her teenage daughter and Emilio's sons in serious danger. Now the killers from the past come looking for the man who got away and the lawyer who's helping him. Can Laura and Emilio find a way to survive—and keep their children safe? 2023 NYC Big Book Award Winner: New Fiction (First-time Published) & Legal Thriller. Seal of Excellence: Awesome Indies Book Awards. Buy this page-turner today! 98
WINTER 2024
Being a timid and quiet woman, Katelyn lets her lack of confidence cause her to accept and overlook all of the red flags. Because of Jonathan's attention, lavish presents, devotion, and assurance of a fantastic future together, Katelyn is carried away with the delusion that she has met her prince charming. She is blinded by love meanwhile there is a toxic relationship that is lingering in the shadows with a person who is mentally affected by narcissistic personality disorder. Their six months of courtship approaches like a speeding bullet and they become engaged. The relationship is dysfunctional, emotional roller-coaster and feelings of walking on eggshells around him becomes her norm. Katelyn finds her fairy-tale marriage ends with shattered vows of control, criticism, and emotional abuse but she will not confine herself to her circumstances, and leaves her marriage with her girls and her dignity in order to begin over.
