Merle tells us her tale of love, longing, and desperation. As she struggles with the guilt over her husband's suicide, Merle's gut-wrenching quest for redemption takes her on a downward spiral into a hell of her own making. Resigned to a life of self-mutilation, abuse, and despair, will she find hope in a mysterious stranger, or will she die, entangled in a sadistic relationship with her husband's best friend. A story of death and renewal, of love lost, and of salvation found in the most unlikely of places, The Kissing Room ...
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Merle tells us her tale of love, longing, and desperation. As she struggles with the guilt over her husband's suicide, Merle's gut-wrenching quest for redemption takes her on a downward spiral into a hell of her own making. Resigned to a life of self-mutilation, abuse, and despair, will she find hope in a mysterious stranger, or will she die, entangled in a sadistic relationship with her husband's best friend. A story of death and renewal, of love lost, and of salvation found in the most unlikely of places, The Kissing Room is the story of two hearts united in cruelty and pain who have only to look to each other for hope.
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Add this copy of The Kissing Room to cart. $7.23, new condition, Sold by Ingram Customer Returns Center rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from NV, USA, published 2008 by Twisted Knickers Publications.
Add this copy of The Kissing Room to cart. $25.68, good condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Newport Coast, CA, UNITED STATES, published 2008 by Twisted Knickers Publications.
Cheryl Anne Gardner's passionate first novella, The Kissing Room, is a vivid and compelling tale of love, loss, and renewal. In 56 short pages, Gardner immerses the reader in hopelessness, destroys all sense of security, then delivers the reader into the comfort of redemption and release. There is an incredible amount of impact in this thin wisp of a book.
Gardner's protagonist Merle has been fortunate enough to experience the bliss of true love, to coexist with a soul lover, to feel that depth of emotion in her husband, Jon. When it's all ripped away from her, she falls into the escape of self mutilation. Her dirty little secret is that she allows herself to be payment for the debt her late husband owed. She resigns herself to a life of abuse and despair. She's not expecting it, but her savior is on the horizon in the form of a vagabond that wanders into the pub she has made a home. Is she ready to realize all that she deserves or is Jon's debt eternal?
Set primarily in an Irish pub, what is most intriguing about The Kissing Room is the lack of physical description of the setting, but the clarity with which the reader is able to absorb the surroundings. The setting is created through exploration of the camaraderie and fellowship felt in those that frequent the pub scene. It is interrupted with the darker side effects of alcohol and gambling.
I have the most difficult time reviewing Cheryl Anne Gardner's work because she's just too damned good. Her stories have the ability to move me to tears. Her words are penned so eloquently, that by the time I close the book, any attempt I make of writing something of my own reads like a child's book report. I flounder, procrastinate, type and delete because nothing I can come up with does justice to Gardner's writing. Her works demand an emotional response, causing the reader to observe the human condition honestly and in its rawest sense. An author that can create this much impact is a rarity, but Gardner has the ability to evoke such intense compassion that readers are left craving for more. One taste will create a lifelong fan of Cheryl Anne Gardner's work.
