Games We Played

When Rachel Goldberg shares her personal views on a local radio show, she becomes a target for online harassment. Things go too far when someone paints a hate symbol on her front door, not only terrifying her but also dredging up some painful childhood memories. Rachel escapes to her hometown of Carlsbad. To avoid upsetting her parents, she tells them she’s there to visit her grandmother, even though that’s the last thing she wants to do. But trouble may have followed her.

Stephen Drescher is home from Iraq, but his dishonorable discharge contaminates his transition back to civilian life. His old friends, the ones who urged him to enlist so he could learn to make better bombs, have disappeared, and he can’t even afford to adopt a dog. Thinking to reconnect with his childhood friend, he googles Rachel’s name and is stunned to see the comments on her Facebook page. He summons the courage to contact her.

Rachel and Stephen, who have vastly different feelings about the games they played and what might come of their reunion, must come to terms with their pasts before they can work toward their futures.

©2020 Shawne Steiger (P)2022 Shawne Steiger

Rollercoaster of emotions

Triggering and therapeutic! For personal relatable reasons, it took me quite some time to finish it, but I always wanted to come back for more. I felt like I really got to know the characters and was there with them in the story most of the way through. These were definitely not just words on a page, it felt like a lived experience. I'm looking forward to more from Shawne Steiger. kdf.