Romance, Corruption, and Self-Discovery in the Jungles of Honduras
Feisty, determined, impatient, and a born organizer, thirty-year-old Chelsea Phillips, is on temporary assignment to The Tierra Mar Home For Abandoned Children located in a remote part of Honduras. Her drive to succeed with her mission takes her on a journey of self-discovery. The home is held together by the efforts of Señor Santiago and operates under harsh conditions. The children are abandoned, malnourished, and without medical care, and the home is supported only by meager donations. Yet the children quickly win Chelsea's heart. She meets Michael, a sergeant in the U.S. Army, who is stationed in Honduras. His Army career helps him mask personal insecurities arising from his traumatic experiences as an orphan and his killing of an innocent woman during the war.
This fast-paced, intriguing story chronicles Chelsea's encounters with government corruption and bureaucracy, drug traffickers, deforestation, and the black market. She is championed by Ricardo Morales, a rich entrepreneur with political influence who suggests she can get her expired visa renewed by an overnight stay in Guatemala. She goes with him, even though she suspects that his motives aren't honorable.
Juana, age eighteen, raised in the orphanage, plans to get a business degree so that she can return and help Santiago as his financial advisor. She befriends Chelsea, who finds herself enmeshed in conflicts involving the Home, the lives of the people, the government officials, and Michael. The Minister of Education sends Chelsea to a distant Indian village. The trip is a harrowing eight-hour journey, and on arrival her life is threatened. Meanwhile, Michael is severely wounded in a fierce battle against drug traffickers and is taken to his base and then to Walter Reed Army Hospital in the United States. Chelsea returns extremely ill and is rushed to the local hospital for treatment. Because he has stayed away, she thinks Michael is no longer interested in her. Chelsea and Michael return to the Home six weeks later following a hurricane, and are faced with the long, painful task of rebuilding both their relationship and the Tierra Mar Home For Abandoned Children. Both of them have changed, too. Chelsea must now make the ultimate decision that will affect the rest of their lives.
Elaine Shevin is a short story writer, novelist, screenwriter, and playwright. Her play Take Me For An Angel won Honorable Mention in the 2002 Writers Digest three-act play competition. She has won numerous other awards for her work. Her first book, Soul Mate was published as an e-book in 2002. Green Passions is her second book. She has just completed her third novel, Winds of Time, and is currently working on her fourth book, Romancing The Cyclops. Elaine takes as her motto: "Practicing patience, passion, and perseverance."
Hard cover; 6 x 9, ISBN 1-931741-27-1; $21.95 plus $3.50 S&H.
