Wrong Side of Forty by Jana Deleon

Wrong Side of Forty by Jana Deleon

It was a day like any other day for Marina Trahan...until she caught her husband in bed with another woman. Before that eye-opening wake-up call, Marina would have described her life as average or uneventful, maybe even boring. But now, chaos and confusion reign supreme. She'd expected to slide through midlife with her unwanted extra pounds, chin hair, and hot flashes and move somewhat gracefully into elastic waist pants and having no verbal filter. But with a wayward husband, a high-maintenance daughter, a lackluster career, and a crazy mother all weighing her down, Marina is ready to wave the white flag of surrender.

Then an intriguing stranger named Alexios shows up out of nowhere and insists she is descended from a goddess and is the only person who can save the world from certain destruction. She has roughly a week to do it. Solving a centuries-old mystery seems like a more interesting proposition than the other situations Marina is facing, so she accepts his challenge. But her search for a magical item of power reveals far more about Marina than she ever knew. Maybe enough to save the world. And even herself.

Jana DeLeon, a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, grew up in southwest Louisiana, surrounded by bayous and gators. Carlyss is her hometown, although you won't locate it on a map. Her family had a camp on a bayou just off the coast of the Gulf of Mexico that could only be reached by boat. The rope hammock, which hung in the shade on a large terrace that stretched out over the sea and where Jana spent many hours reading novels, was the most significant element. Jana and her brother spent countless hours in a flat-bottom aluminum boat scouring the bayous, researching the natural habitat of various birds, nutria, and alligators.

She would like you to know that no animals were harmed in the course of these research, but they did keep peroxide manufacturers in business. Jana has never encountered a mystery or a ghost like her heroines, but she remains optimistic. She now lives in Dallas, Texas, with the world's most spoilt Sheltie.