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For the last few years, I have been working steadily towards making my dream come true - to become a published author. My very first completed fictional novel, a literary love story, will soon be published and available for your reading pleasure. Check back for updates!

 Saving Toby

 Story summary: 
Loving someone through their hard fall from grace takes a lot of grit.

When pious widow, Julia Faye is re-diagnosed with Lymphoma, ambitious, 20 year-old Claudia Chiametti is hired to assist her around the house through her convalescence. But in their small Long Island town, the Faye family is known for its tragic history. Due to her care-taking role with his mother, Claudia is inevitably forced into close proximity with Mrs. Faye’s youngest son, Toby. With rumors of fights, drugs and shady friends, Claudia is surprised to find that underneath a head-turning handsome face is a guy who is amusing and rather sweet.

 21 year-old Toby Faye returns home with a sense of obligation. He will once again have to take care of his mother, something he’s done most of his life. But things are sure to be different this time — the smart, pretty girl who used to rule his young teenage dreams, is now working at his house. Using this unexpected access to his benefit, Toby tries to give Claudia a taste of what he has to offer. But the delights he proposes are unfamiliar to such a focused, self-disciplined girl. He will have to be patient, go slow and rein in his natural impulses.

Harrowing stories from Toby’s childhood has Claudia pledging to do whatever she can to bring about change, to both mother and son. But tension with friends from the past set off a cascade of events — threats involving a racially provoked attack, police involvement and even death — impel the effects of a dark upbringing to the surface. A deep-seated anger and profound insecurity are unveiled. The dark flaws devastate the tender bond that briefly unites the two.
 
Despite the ruins he has left her in, Claudia has a difficult time turning her back on the only guy who ever held her heart. Does she have the grit to love Toby through his fall?

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