Book excerpt: The Journey of a Broken Heart is the completed first novel of a two book series. A 63,480-word dramatic fiction / romance / suspense novel set in West Virginia and Eastern North Carolina, with the dialect of country people from the mountains. Sally is a young girl being torn from her family and Phillip, the man she loves. A controlling family member, Uncle Bear, uses fear of her fathers threat to control her into doing things against her faith and everything she knows to be right. Fear of being placed in a girls home convinces Sally to leave home and move to another state and live to do her uncles bidding. After being attacked by her grandpa a few years earlier, her self-esteem dwindled to practically nothing. Her faith and strong will is all she has to get through this mental and physical abuse. Will she survive the twists and turns of the journey? Will Phillips friend Joey, who confesses his love for Sally, convince her to come back home to him? Will the man she meets in a small coastal town, Paul, be her rescuing knight or only add to the pain? After several years of living with heartbreak, she finally meets Richard, who gives her the chance at a new life.