Title: Daisy’s Choice
Author: Mike Owens
Genre: Women’s Fiction
Book Blurb:
Nothing left to live for…that’s how eighteen-year-old Daisy Sugarbush feels after an explosion inflicts deep burns over seventy percent of her body, condemning her to six excruciating months in the hospital, where her pleas to stop treatment are ignored by her physicians and family.
Blind and horribly disfigured, she wishes only to end her wretched existence as soon as possible. Starvation should push her ruined body over the edge—the doctors told her as much—which becomes her game plan to end her life.
Then a new therapist, Arthur, enters her life with new ideas, that perhaps life is worth living after all. But can he succeed where so many others have failed?
Excerpt:
The dream still came, but less frequently than before. It had started in the hospital, and for a time there I didn’t know what was dream and what was reality; both were equally horrible. It comes less often now, maybe a couple of times a week. Will it ever go away for good? I doubt it. I can still see it, hear it, even smell it, but worst of all, I can still feel it. The pain is just as real now as it was in the hospital.
In my dream, I am being wheeled down to the hydrotherapy room, where the real pain awaits. Even blind, I can see everything. The attendants all wear hood hiding their faces. The corridor is almost dark, lit by candles stuck in the walls, casting wavering shadows as we pass. The walls are formed from cut stone, irregular, with gaps where cold, damp breezes seep through. It smells of rotten flesh. The floor is uneven, and the gurney bumps and lurches along, each bump sending shock waves of pain through my body.
Buy Links:
The Wild Rose Press: https://www.thewildrosepress.com/books/daisys-choice
What’s the first binge-worthy book you read and why was it a must-read?
This one is a blast from the past, but definitely binge-worthy: How Green Was My Valley by Richard Llewellyn, from 1939. Just reread for the fourth time.
I can’t remember being drawn so completely into a story, even set far away in time and place.
What makes this a binge-worthy book?
“A powerful book about love, life, faith and fate. I was hoping Daisy would be able to see but no. The fact she couldn't see again until she had finally moved on was beautiful. Life is going to go that way for all one day. A book that carries you down a very hard road but if you keep going you will see the sun again.” – N. N. Light’s Book Heaven
Giveaway:
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Open internationally
Runs August 1 – 31
Drawing will be held on September 1.
Author Biography:
A native Tar Heel, Mike Owens obtained his undergraduate and medical degrees from the Univ. of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, NC, and later an MFA in creative writing from Old Dominion Univ. in Norfolk, VA where he now resides. His topics in fiction range from science themes to end-of-life issues to erotica…go figure. He’s now working on a dark romantic comedy featuring two serial killers.
Social Media Links:
Website: www.mikeowens42.com