This book far surpassed my expectations.
I have so much I want to share with you on this tour, I hope you will take the time to scroll through the entire post.
Obsession
Sharon Buchbinder
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Page Count: 288
Word Count: 71392
ISBN : 978-1-61217-867-7
Amazon
BOOK BLURB:
A year after a barbaric childbirth, complete with a near-death experience and an encounter with her guardian angel, Angie Edmonds is just happy she and her son, Jake, are alive. She’s finally in a good place: clean, sober, and employed as a defense attorney. But at the end of a long work day, she finds herself in a parent’s worst nightmare: Jake has been kidnapped and taken across the Mexican border by a cult leader who believes the child is the “Chosen One.”
Stymied by the US and Mexican legal systems, Angie is forced to ask the head of a Mexican crime syndicate for help. Much to her chagrin, she must work with Alejandro Torres, a dangerously attractive criminal and the drug lord’s right-hand man. Little does she know Alejandro is an undercover federal agent, equally terrified of blowing his cover—and falling in love with her.
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EXCERPT
“Who are you? Who is that giant? What did you say to him?”
The pony-tailed man flashed a grin, the smile reaching his sky-blue colored eyes, giving him an appealing boyish look. “The big guy’s name is Tio. I told Tio to truss Raul up like the pig he is and to bring him to Isabel Ramirez. She’ll know exactly what to do with him.”
“Who are you?”
The movie-star-handsome man stopped, bent down until he was eye-to-eye with Angie.
“I found your passport tossed onto Raul’s desk, Angela Edmonds from the U.S. of A. I like that name. You look like an angel.”
She shook her head and the street twirled. “I’m no angel.” She steadied herself on his well muscled, naked arm. Rather than creeping her out, the skin on skin contact with her rescuer reassured her that he was a real human and not an angel conjured up in fevered religious delusion and desperation. “You sound like an American. You haven’t answered my question. What’s your name?”
“Torres.” Still holding her ID, he strode to the driver’s side of the car, hopped in and flashed a dazzling grin. “You could call me your hero because I’m taking you to see the woman who can help you find your son. My name is Alejandro Espinosa Santoyo Torres. But most people just call me Alejandro.”
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Near Death Experiences (NDEs), Guardian Angels, and Romance
Thank you for having me here today. I thought you and your readers might enjoy a chat about NDEs.
When I first started writing Obsession, I wanted to accurately describe my heroine’s near death experience (NDE) during childbirth. In college, I was fascinated (some say obsessed) with NDEs. I read Raymond A. Moody, Jr’s books on the topic, as well as Kenneth Ring’s research and the Tibetan Book of the Dead.
As I reached out to others in the romance community about this topic, I made the acquaintance of a wonderful woman, Julia Barrett. We corresponded and became friends. Over time, I realized my fascination with NDEs was because I had had an NDE, too. However, I had never labeled it an NDE because I didn’t see a light or an angel. In communicating with Julia, I realized that NDEs have some core characteristics in common. However, each one is different. Julia met an angel, or as she called him, a companion. I never met anyone—except the police officer who brought me back to life.
I was fifteen. I was in our basement and reached behind the clothes dryer to pull something up—and completed a short circuit. Numb, unable to speak, seizing violently, the world became a black tunnel, then a sucking vortex that swept me away. No one leading me to the light. No companions. No angelic chorus. Just blackness. And a great sense of peace. Pain-free, I was okay with wherever I was. That didn’t last long.
I came to with a police officer, for whom I was supposed to babysit that evening, pounding on my chest, giving me CPR, dragging me back to this world, my entire body shaking, a stinging burn on my arm from the electricity (I still have the scar). Worst of all, my mother was going to be really, really angry at me. I remember telling the police officer I was ready to babysit for him. I was that anxious to get away from my mother’s wrath. He kept shaking his head, in disbelief, saying, “No, you’re not. You’re going to the hospital.”
In Obsession, the heroine, Angie, struggles with believing she had a near death experience, as I did. Her intellect tells her there is no such thing as dying and coming back, no dark tunnels, no angels, and that the hormones of pregnancy and childbirth created a neurochemical stew that scrambled her brain. No plot spoilers here, however, I do have a question for readers? Do you believe in NDEs? If yes, have you had one? What occurred to convince you that it was real?
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
SHARON BUCHBINDER
After working in health care delivery for years, Sharon Buchbinder became an association executive, a health care researcher, and an academic in higher education. She had it all–a terrific, supportive husband, an amazing son and a wonderful job. But that itch to write (some call it an obsession) kept beckoning her to “come on back” to writing fiction. Thanks to the kindness of family, friends, critique partners, Romance Writers of America, and Maryland Romance Writers, she is now an award-winning author published in contemporary, erotic, paranormal and romantic suspense. When not attempting to make students, colleagues, and babies laugh, she can be found herding cats, waiting on a large gray dog, fishing, dining with good friends, or writing. You can find her at www.sharonbuchbinder.com
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Sharon Buchbinder’s links to keep updated on what’s happening:
Website / Facebook / Twitter / Goodreads / Amazon
Facebook page for Obsession
The Wild Rose Press Buy Link for Print Version
My Obsession Review
Angie’s father didn’t care if she lived or died, only that the Chosen One should be born. Her labor was difficult and she thought she would die from it, or her father would butcher her to save the child.
She was ready to go with the angel, but the angel turned away and she was sucked back into her body.
Angie’s father had been imprisoned after he was arrested for kidnapping her newborn son, Jake. No one could have foreseen that he would escape from prison and kidnap her son again. This time, he moved the cult to the Sierra Madre Mountains in Mexico, far away from any form of civilization.
She was frantic. She must get her son away from her father and the cult. She had always known that she was on her own and she was not going to let anything stand in the way of getting her child back.
The FBI could do nothing. They were so busy with the Mexican drug wars, they had no time for the kidnapping of a child.
She called in every favor she was owed. She would be working with the top drug kingpin in Mexico, who sent Alejandro Torres to meet her.
Would he be her savior or her downfall?
5 STARS – Would Buy It For Them (lol)
I thought this would be a great book just from the book blurb, but it far surpassed my expectations very early in the book. I thought a child being kidnapped, the Mexican cartel, a cult along the lines of Jimmy Jones and a sexy undercover operative – Awesome. Then she adds some other elements I didn’t see coming and WOW. It blew me away.
Her writing is excellent and the story has so many layers that it kept my mind racing as I tried to figure out what would happen. I have this insatiable need to try and figure out the ending before I get there. LOL
Good and evil. The age old story. Angie’s father believed he was Satan in human form, she was Jezebel and her child was the Messiah.. Her father wanted to raise Jake to rule the world.
I was pissed off from the getgo. A scenario such as this is why I believe in the death penalty. Some people are so evil, I believe they shouldn’t be walking the earth and breathing the air.
Some fantastic quotes:
“Tried to keep her eyes off his crotch.” “
“She pretended he had a giant python in his pants.”
“Please put on some freaking clothes and cover up that snake.”
“Womb with no view.”
“The man was without a doubt a humongous danger to anyone with a vagina.”
Priceless. Amongst all the badness a laugh emerges.
I received this book for an honest and unbiased review in conjunction with the tour.
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4 Stars
After working in health care delivery for years, Sharon Buchbinder became an association executive, a health care researcher, and an academic in higher education. She had it all–a terrific, supportive husband, an amazing son and a wonderful job. But that itch to write (some call it an obsession) kept beckoning her to “come on back” to writing fiction. Thanks to the kindness of family, friends, critique partners, and beta readers, she is published in non-fiction, as well as contemporary, erotic, paranormal ,and romantic suspense. When not attempting to make students, colleagues, and babies laugh, she can be found herding cats, waiting on a large gray dog, fishing, dining with good friends, or writing. 
