Finding Amanda

By Robin Patchen

Description:

Chef and popular blogger Amanda Johnson hopes publishing her memoir will provide healing and justice.

Her estranged husband, contractor and veteran soldier Mark Johnson, tries to talk her out of it, fearing the psychiatrist who seduced her when she was a teen might return to silence her. But Amanda doesn’t need advice, certainly not from her judgmental soon-to-be ex-husband. Her overconfidence makes her vulnerable when she travels out of town and runs into the abuser from her past. A kind stranger comes to her rescue and offers her protection.

Now Mark must safeguard his wife both from the fiend who threatens her life and from the stranger who threatens their marriage.

Book Takeaway:

Only when we accept forgiveness can we be free of shame and guilt.

Why the author wrote this book:

I came up with the idea for this book while at the ACFW conference in St.Louis. It was those boxy chairs in the lobby. Being a big claustrophobic, I couldn't help but wonder what would happen if I were to sit in one, and somebody else were to sit on the coffee table in front of me. I'd be trapped. I'd love to tell you I had some deep, spiritual reason for running with that idea, but mostly, the story unfolded from there, and I wrote it because I'm a writer, and that's what we do. However, as the story unfolded, the theme unfolded with it. We are not defined by our past, neither our mistakes nor our moments of brilliance. We are who God says we are, no more, and no less.