Black Monday

I googled "how to heal a broken heart."

A list of a hundred and one ways appeared on the screen of my silver laptop. One of its suggestions was to hug a tree. I was willing to try anything and went into the nearest forest to select a large pine. I touched it first with my palms and looked up to where the branches splayed out and the tip touched the sky. The scent of its bark was of sap and fresh dirt as I laid my cheek against it. My arms slid around its solid trunk and tears spilled into all the little creases. I don't know how long I stayed. At one point I felt the temperature pass through me and drop. I smelled the air change from light moss to dense earth. Eventually I had to unwrap my arms from its mighty base, open my eyes and go home.

Carmen doesn't know if she will ever heal after Eli walks out of her life again. But there is never a shortage of men, and once she resurrects her heart, she finds it colder and more careless than ever.

Readers will fly through the pages of Black Monday, the debut novel by Carmen St. Andrews, as she unfolds this dangerous tale of passion and betrayal.