Sienna St. James

From the acclaimed author of Like Sheep Gone Astray and Secret Place comes a riveting new series with twists and turns to the end. Social worker Sienna St. James is a woman with a complicated past and a confusing Tuesday morning. In one single day, every advance Sienna has made in getting over her long lost globe-trotting husband unravels in unexplainable fashion. From a mysterious package that hails from another continent to a new teen client who claims to have a missing sister, Sienna finds herself in the middle of a city-wide scandal, all while sorting out the painful details of her personal life. At the center are two suspicious foster parents, a mega-church ministry leader, and Sienna's own fragile emotions over a man who changed the direction of her life. It's a race against time as Sienna seeks closure from a love she never understood and answers about whether a little girl named Hope ever existed. And if she did, where is she now? In this first installment of the suspenseful Sienna St. James Series, finding hope in the midst of questions and chaos becomes essential when life takes an unexpected turn.

She's moved forward, but has she really moved ahead? Social worker Sienna St. James is no stranger to setbacks. As far as she is concerned, her estranged husband set her back and off course over a decade ago. Now, she has reclaimed her sense of hope and purpose, set up a new therapy practice, bought a new home, and has finally moved on. Maybe. When a wealthy, secretive new couple she's counseling pulls her into their very real life-and-death drama, and her long-lost husbands whereabouts can no longer be ignored, Sienna realizes the truth about what has kept her emotionally frozen and fragile-its fear. Ready or not, she has frightening challenges to overcome: a kidnapping, a teenage son who's gone AWOL, a tired-of-waiting potential new beau, and a journalist who's made it clear that he's interested in getting more from her than the breaking news the twists in her life are offering. Torn by professional and personal struggles that have now become a full blown war, Sienna must come face-to-face with her deepest fears-and survive them-before it's too late.

In her most chilling challenge yet, Sienna St. James believes she has come face to face with the terrorist responsible for the carnage in her hometown. Taking him on as a client in her therapy practice may be the only way to prove to herself and authorities that her time-tested instincts are right. Complicating matters are her damaged dreams and broken heart and the need to finally confront the one person whose absence from her life changed everything. The time of reckoning has come, and for Sienna, finding healing and happiness-and the savvy needed to stay alive-hang in the balance. Leslie J. Sherrod, the recipient of the SORMAG Readers Choice Award for Christian Author of the Year (2012), has a master's degree in social work and has worked as a therapist, just like her current protagonist, Sienna St. James. Her novels, Losing Hope, Secret Place, and Like Sheep Gone Astray have been featured in Baltimore's Enoch Pratt Free Library Writer's LIVE! Series, as well as local CBS and NBC affiliates, and on AOL's Black Voices. She has received a starred review from Booklist and is a contributor to the bestselling A Cup of Comfort devotional series. A graduate of the University of Maryland, Leslie lives in Baltimore, Maryland with her husband and three children.

"Flowers can't tell lies. If you keep the sun off of them, dry up their waterbeds, and throw in weeds to choke 'em out, ain't no way or reason for them to bloom. If a rose is in full bloom when you know it's only been kept in darkness, and the ground it's planted in is cracked and cold, don't stop to smell that rose. There's a trap somewhere in those tempting, dark red petals. There's deceit. Maybe even death. Run from that flowerbed. You don't want to get buried in that soil." It's a few weeks before her fortieth birthday, and Sienna finally has the life she's dreamed of: a husband who loves her, a private practice that's flourishing, and an extended family that has finally put its skeletons to rest. However, when a homeless woman named Sweet Violet comes under Sienna's care with nothing on her but broken memories and a pocket watch stopped at 5:11, Sienna knows the peaceful life she's been enjoying will come to a screeching halt. Despite her best attempts not to get too involved, Sienna quickly discovers the dangerous past of Sweet Violet, and decades-old secrets and shadows come creeping into the present with violent results. Further complicating matters is a shocking midlife surprise for Sienna, and an unwelcomed guest her son Roman brings home. Life and death, love and loss, remain on the line as Sienna seeks answers, ducks bullets, and tries to be a good wife.