TROUBLE DON'T LAST ALWAYS

Author: Francis Ray ISBN:0312321635 1/2004 CONTEMPORARY Publisher: ST. MARTIN'S PRESS

Desperate to escape her abusive marriage, Lilly Crawford files for divorce, then slips away from her small east Texas hometown with little more than the clothes on her back. She points her twelve-year-old car east, hoping to find a new beginning. When her car breaks down in Louisiana, Lilly finds unexpected employment as the caregiver for a wealthy neurosurgeon named Adam Wakefield, who lost his sight in a recent carjacking. At first, this handsome, brooding man reminds her too much of the angry husband she left behind and she reminds him of how far he has fallen from the self-assured man he once was. But as the two spend long days together, an unexpected bond develops---one that will be deeply tested. For Lilly must confront her violent husband before she can ever hope to move on and truly discover a second chance at life and love.

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

This is my second trip through a contemporary romance written by Francis Ray, and I have to say it was just as enjoyable, if not more so, than the first trip I had with her past release, SOMEONE TO LOVE ME.

In TROUBLE DON'T LAST ALWAYS, Lilly is a woman who has been abused, used, and mentally battered by her much older husband. Determined to break this abusive cycle, Lilly files for divorce and flees to another state in hopes of starting a new life. Almost to her destination, her car breaks down near the home of Adam Wakefield, a prominent neurosurgeon residing in Louisiana. Without a penny to her name and now a car that doesn't run, shy and hesitant Lilly approaches Adam's home for assistance.

Adam, who had recently lost his sight through a bad beating in a carjacking attempt, is in the stages of denial and selfpity when Lilly arrives. He's pushed everyone away—his mother, his friends, his sister, his girlfriend—and anyone who's even tried to offer him help. When Lilly arrives at the doorstep, Adam's mother sizes her up, then decides to hire the young woman as a temporary caretaker, with hopes of having her help coax Adam from his depression and despair.

I just love books with wounded characters. Even more so when those characters come together and help each other overcome what sometimes seem like insurmountable odds. Ms. Ray has woven an inspirational and moving story of two lost souls who find each other by chance or possibly divine intervention. Adam boosts Lilly's confidence and self-worth, guiding her towards self-dependency, while Lilly makes Adam see that he dwells too much on what his blindness keeps him fromr doing, rather than appreciating the things he does have in life and that there's nothing he can't do if he doesn't put his mind to it. It's no suprise then, that the two would fall in love while each tends to the other's wounded soul.

There's also a secondary romance in the storyline which revolves around Adam's widowed mother and her best friend of many years, and I found it to be just as interesting and inspirational as Adam's and Lilly's.

Overall, TROUBLE DON'T LAST ALWAYS is a wonderfully written story of determination, hope, and the true meaning of unconditional love.

Nancy Davis