Grace Irwin Award finalist 2011
Emma Delaney’s past – what she remembers – is nothing to be proud of. A prostitute in the employ of the crime boss Lucas Fulbright, the last thing on her mind is fairy tales.Cale Kynsey is a man on a mission to find his long lost fiancée. Spinning a tale of betrayal and enduring love, he captures Emma’s imagination.
Together, they unravel a mysterious romance that transcends the bounds of space and time – and a love that has the power to weave a broken world back together . . . .if Emma can find the courage.
otherworld is a love story … a story of pain and heartache … a story of redemption and triumph … a story of sacrifice. It’s also a story of hope and promise.
I would encourage both Christian and non-Christian readers to give otherworld a chance. It’s just plain a good story.
He held my eyes for a moment, and I thought he might be the only one who really did understand.
“Are you happy, Emma?” he asked.
I hesitated, glancing out the window again. The rain had stopped.
“What’s happy?” I evaded. “You hear about these rich execs who have everything that’s supposed to make you happy and they’re not. I don’t know that happy is realistic.”
“I guess not,” he said with a chuckle. “Not in this world, anyway. Okay, then, let me rephrase the question. If you could change your life, would you?”
I took a bite of pie to fill the space before I answered. What was I supposed to say? Yeah, in a heartbeat. I mean, who would choose a life like mine? But I couldn’t tell him that every once in a while, a sort of window would open to my soul, letting in a stream of brilliant hope along with the sights, sounds, and smells of my own unreachable paradise.
“It’s complicated.” It was a cliche, but it was all I could say.
“Are you in trouble?” he asked, looking at me with genuine concern from under his brows.
“No, no, nothing like that. I’m pretty sure if I went to Lucas and told him I wanted out, he’d let me. He wouldn’t be happy, but he’d let me.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure,” Cale mused, almost to himself.
“Well, I can’t say I know. I’ve never asked. But he took me in, after all. Doesn’t that earn some kind of loyalty?” That was the only way I could explain. I couldn’t tell him about the Ambrosia, and how it bound me to Lucas more securely than iron chains. There were many different kinds of loyalty. My little window on paradise slammed shut, bringing back to mind my true surroundings.
Erin E. M. Hatton 