Every Waking Moment

June 6, 2005
Novak's personal experience with juvenile diabetes puts a poignant spin on this tale of a mother's daily struggle to care for her diabetic son while on the run from her wealthy, abusive boyfriend, Manuel. Emma Wright is armed with a new identity, a teaching degree and a couple of thousand in cash when she leaves Manuel's California mansion with her five-year-old son, Max. Unfortunately, Manuel is hot on her heels, and he has the help of powerful and shady connections. After Emma's car is stolen while she's picking up supplies at a Nevada Wal-Mart, Emma throws herself on the mercy of Preston Holman, a man she'd met briefly at a motel where she and Max were staying. Preston wants nothing to do with the pair; he's still hurting from his divorce as well as the sudden illness and subsequent death of his own young son. Inevitably, Novak's reluctant hero comes to Emma's rescue—and becomes emotionally entangled in the process. Anyone who has seen the movies Sleeping with the Enemy
or Enough
will anticipate every plot twist, but Novak (A Home of Her Own
, etc.) knows how to relate a suspenseful tale. When Emma isn't reeling from a near brush with Manuel, she's frantically trying to keep her son's blood sugar levels stable, and her almost palpable fear fuels this gripping tale.

April 15, 2005
In a desperate effort to be free of her controlling, abusive lover, Vanessa Beacon takes her young diabetic son and flees San Diego in search of a new life. But Manuel Rodriguez and his henchmen are hot on her trail. When she is forced to abandon her car in a small Nevada town and ends up hitching a ride with a stranger on a deadly mission, her life becomes at once more dangerous and far more romantic. A brave but very human heroine and a grieving hero obsessed with vengeance manage to find both healing and love as they deal with the past -and the violent present -in this fast-paced romantic thriller. Exceptionally vivid descriptions and realistic but not overwhelming details of the day-to-day aspects of raising a child with diabetes add depth to a story more complex than most. Novak ("Stranger in Town") writes both contemporary romance and romantic suspense and lives in the Sacramento, CA, area. Note: Novak is hosting a silent auction on her web site www.brendanovak. com, to benefit the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

Copyright 2005 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 15, 2005
Emma Wright carefully put together a plan that allowed her and her young son, Max, to escape Manuel Rodriguez, Max's father and the man Emma once thought loved her, but Manuel has tracked her down in Fallon, Nevada. Stranded without a car and with very little money, Emma turns to Preston Holman, a complete stranger, for help. Preston had dedicated the last two years of his life to finding the man responsible for the death of Dallas, his young son, and the last thing he needs is Emma and her diabetic son, who reminds him of Dallas, distracting him from his plans for revenge. Preston reluctantly agrees to take Emma and Max with him when he leaves town, never expecting that by helping them escape their past, he would also be creating a new future for himself. Strongly defined characters, sizzling sexual tension, and a tautly constructed plot steeped in danger blend brilliantly together in Novak's exceptionally intense, powerfully emotional novel of romantic suspense.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2005, American Library Association.)