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Walls That Divide
Sparks fly at first sight when Darrin Smith meets Luis Garcia, an IT consultant hired by Darrin’s father to install new computer equipment and software. Unfortunately, Melissa, a rebuffed and embittered office manager, sees Darrin as her ticket to a comfortable future and finds his interest in Luis a threat. Though she sets out to sabotage their chance for a relationship, their love is stronger than the obstacles she throws their way.
Life is looking up for Darrin and Luis until Melissa’s manipulating gets Luis arrested and deported to Costa Rica. But there’s one major flaw in her Luis was born in California, has never set foot on Costa Rican soil, and doesn’t even speak Spanish.
For their love to survive, Darrin must move heaven and earth to follow and find Luis before it’s too late.
A Bittersweet Dreams It's an unfortunate love doesn't always conquer all. Regardless of its strength, sometimes fate intervenes, tragedy strikes, or forces conspire against it. These stories of romance do not offer a traditional happy ending, but the strong and enduring love will still touch your heart and maybe move you to tears.
Life is looking up for Darrin and Luis until Melissa’s manipulating gets Luis arrested and deported to Costa Rica. But there’s one major flaw in her Luis was born in California, has never set foot on Costa Rican soil, and doesn’t even speak Spanish.
For their love to survive, Darrin must move heaven and earth to follow and find Luis before it’s too late.
A Bittersweet Dreams It's an unfortunate love doesn't always conquer all. Regardless of its strength, sometimes fate intervenes, tragedy strikes, or forces conspire against it. These stories of romance do not offer a traditional happy ending, but the strong and enduring love will still touch your heart and maybe move you to tears.
230 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 6, 2014
31 people want to read
About the author
Michael Murphy
25 books126 followersWho am I? One of these days I need to decided what I want to be when I grow up.
I am a middle-aged man, born in the far reaches of upstate New York - parts that give the word "rural" meaning. Now I live in Washington, DC.
When one of those milestone birthdays hit me and scared the crap out of me, I realized there were more years behind me than there were in front of me. My mortality hit me like someone dropping a load of bricks on me.
With that realization, I constructed a bucket list of things I absolutely had to do in the years (hopefully many) that I have left. Writing a book was one of them and was near the top.
My biggest influences when growing up were my two grandmothers. Both were ferociously strong women who were widowed way too young and had to pick up the shattered pieces of their lives and try to put them back together again. And they did! They were incredible women and I adored them both.
These women loved to read and to tell stories, so it just always seemed a natural thing for me to want to do the same. One Christmas when I had a break from work for a few days I had an idea - just a simple single flash of an idea. I sat down at my computer and typed out the one sentence idea. And then I thought for a moment. And then I started typing again - and like magic this story started to pour out of me. I was amazed, in awe, floored by what was happening.
It was like the characters were coming to life and telling their story and I was just tagging along for the ride. I typed as fast as my fingers would fly across the keys (one of the 17 jobs I had while I was going to college was typist, so I'm a pretty fast typist). I couldn't wait to see what happened next. It was the most amazing experience I think I've ever had. Okay, maybe not THE most amazing, but it ranks right up there near the top.
My boyfriend finally came to me a couple of days into this,sat down, looked so serious, and asked, "Are you mad at me?" I assured him that no, I was not mad; I had just been kidnapped by my two characters who refused to let me go. He sort of believed me. When I handed him a printout of the entire book he really believed me, although he wasn't all that thrilled about the book. What can I say, he is a biomedical scientist who primarily reads non-fiction. The fact that I got him to read any fiction was a huge step.
I sent my finished book to Dreamspinner Press. Much to my shock and surprise they accepted it. Out of the hundreds of unsolicited manuscripts that they receive every year they only accept a tiny fraction from new, unknown authors - and I was part of that tiny fraction.
When I got the news I was riding on the subway to work one morning. I screamed and hugged the man sitting next to me - I don't have a clue who he was and I'm sure I scared the crap out of him, even though I tried to explain why I was so happy. When I got to work, a co-worker joined me in doing a happy dance.
Once I started writing the spirit of my departed grandmothers started taking over and story after story started to come out. Dreamspinner and Harmony Ink Press have published a total of eight books so far, with the next one due out in a few weeks. Three additional books are under contract, scheduled to appear in the months ahead.
When I'm not writing, I'm editing and proofing, proofing and editing. When not doing that I work for a small organization in downtown DC located a few hundred yards from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. My work is primarily IT project management which can be thrilling and at other times drive me to distraction.
All in all, I'd rather be writing. If people keep buying my books in the same way they have I might actually be able to consider that as an option. Oh, please! Oh, please! Oh, please!
I am a middle-aged man, born in the far reaches of upstate New York - parts that give the word "rural" meaning. Now I live in Washington, DC.
When one of those milestone birthdays hit me and scared the crap out of me, I realized there were more years behind me than there were in front of me. My mortality hit me like someone dropping a load of bricks on me.
With that realization, I constructed a bucket list of things I absolutely had to do in the years (hopefully many) that I have left. Writing a book was one of them and was near the top.
My biggest influences when growing up were my two grandmothers. Both were ferociously strong women who were widowed way too young and had to pick up the shattered pieces of their lives and try to put them back together again. And they did! They were incredible women and I adored them both.
These women loved to read and to tell stories, so it just always seemed a natural thing for me to want to do the same. One Christmas when I had a break from work for a few days I had an idea - just a simple single flash of an idea. I sat down at my computer and typed out the one sentence idea. And then I thought for a moment. And then I started typing again - and like magic this story started to pour out of me. I was amazed, in awe, floored by what was happening.
It was like the characters were coming to life and telling their story and I was just tagging along for the ride. I typed as fast as my fingers would fly across the keys (one of the 17 jobs I had while I was going to college was typist, so I'm a pretty fast typist). I couldn't wait to see what happened next. It was the most amazing experience I think I've ever had. Okay, maybe not THE most amazing, but it ranks right up there near the top.
My boyfriend finally came to me a couple of days into this,sat down, looked so serious, and asked, "Are you mad at me?" I assured him that no, I was not mad; I had just been kidnapped by my two characters who refused to let me go. He sort of believed me. When I handed him a printout of the entire book he really believed me, although he wasn't all that thrilled about the book. What can I say, he is a biomedical scientist who primarily reads non-fiction. The fact that I got him to read any fiction was a huge step.
I sent my finished book to Dreamspinner Press. Much to my shock and surprise they accepted it. Out of the hundreds of unsolicited manuscripts that they receive every year they only accept a tiny fraction from new, unknown authors - and I was part of that tiny fraction.
When I got the news I was riding on the subway to work one morning. I screamed and hugged the man sitting next to me - I don't have a clue who he was and I'm sure I scared the crap out of him, even though I tried to explain why I was so happy. When I got to work, a co-worker joined me in doing a happy dance.
Once I started writing the spirit of my departed grandmothers started taking over and story after story started to come out. Dreamspinner and Harmony Ink Press have published a total of eight books so far, with the next one due out in a few weeks. Three additional books are under contract, scheduled to appear in the months ahead.
When I'm not writing, I'm editing and proofing, proofing and editing. When not doing that I work for a small organization in downtown DC located a few hundred yards from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. My work is primarily IT project management which can be thrilling and at other times drive me to distraction.
All in all, I'd rather be writing. If people keep buying my books in the same way they have I might actually be able to consider that as an option. Oh, please! Oh, please! Oh, please!
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
April 16, 2014
I normally look forward with great anticipation Mr. Murphy's books. But I can say, without reservation, that this story is the most ill-researched piece of crap that I have ever read concerning the legal system ever! Mr. Murphy, his editor, his researcher, and anyone else affiliated with this book should be ashamed of their work.
Let me give a little background on the story, and why this book is pitifully bad --
New computers are being installed in Darrin's family business. Darrin draws the short straw and has to stay during the night when the computers are being replaced. Well, the computer guy is named Luis and he turns Darrin's head.
During the computer installation, Darrin retreats to his office where he falls into a sleep dreaming of Luis. When he is awaken, it is as though he and Luis have been long time partners. He gives Luis a wake-up kiss which is returned by Luis, and thus the love affair begins. (Up to this point, the book is pretty average fare for a romance novel.).
There is, of course, a fly In the ointment with a bitchy office manager who believes that she is the one true live of Darrin, and she tries to make Luis' life miserable. (Additionally, Darrin's father -- who is also his boss -- is just an annoying character whose conduct would have gotten the business sued for sexual harassment, but I will leave that for another day.) I do not understand why an allegedly smart character like Darrin did not realize that he had a terrific potential hostile work environment lawsuit! Oh . . . But then again, I do realize why . . . There was absolutely no energy put into researching this damn book!
Very short fast forward . . . Six police come to arrest Luis. An anonymous source (who it turns out is the office manager, Melissa) called INS and falsely reported that Luis is a dangerous criminal from Costa Rica. (Now, I am going to get on my soapbox.) I am a government attorney. Under no circumstances would the highly overworked INS pickup someone and deport them in the blink of an eye without confirming that they were not American citizens. The filing system and the hearings/appeals process can easily take a year on even the most routine of deportation cases. Short of enemy combatant status (which clearly not applicable to the character of Luis), there are no secret tribunals or proceedings.
Everything takes place with hearings, and attorneys, and judges, and appeals - just like every other type of lawsuit.
And . . . By the way author, you do not get deported because you can't remember your social security number.
Extraordinarily BAD WORK by the author. Oh my goodness, could the author have done a drop if research on the deportation system and INS before writing this book (or how about just picking up the phone and calling any immigration attorney in the telephone book before writing a book about the deportation process!)
I previously respected this author's work, but now it has become apparent that he can not write anything of substance -- he can write good meaningless dialogue and a good sex scene, and that is it. I don't know who to be more angry with, the author, the editor, the researcher, the fact checker, or all four! This book is atrociously bad.
I will give it one star and that is only because the author has written some very good things previously. If I were rating this book on its own merits, it would get zero stars from me.
Let me give a little background on the story, and why this book is pitifully bad --
New computers are being installed in Darrin's family business. Darrin draws the short straw and has to stay during the night when the computers are being replaced. Well, the computer guy is named Luis and he turns Darrin's head.
During the computer installation, Darrin retreats to his office where he falls into a sleep dreaming of Luis. When he is awaken, it is as though he and Luis have been long time partners. He gives Luis a wake-up kiss which is returned by Luis, and thus the love affair begins. (Up to this point, the book is pretty average fare for a romance novel.).
There is, of course, a fly In the ointment with a bitchy office manager who believes that she is the one true live of Darrin, and she tries to make Luis' life miserable. (Additionally, Darrin's father -- who is also his boss -- is just an annoying character whose conduct would have gotten the business sued for sexual harassment, but I will leave that for another day.) I do not understand why an allegedly smart character like Darrin did not realize that he had a terrific potential hostile work environment lawsuit! Oh . . . But then again, I do realize why . . . There was absolutely no energy put into researching this damn book!
Very short fast forward . . . Six police come to arrest Luis. An anonymous source (who it turns out is the office manager, Melissa) called INS and falsely reported that Luis is a dangerous criminal from Costa Rica. (Now, I am going to get on my soapbox.) I am a government attorney. Under no circumstances would the highly overworked INS pickup someone and deport them in the blink of an eye without confirming that they were not American citizens. The filing system and the hearings/appeals process can easily take a year on even the most routine of deportation cases. Short of enemy combatant status (which clearly not applicable to the character of Luis), there are no secret tribunals or proceedings.
Everything takes place with hearings, and attorneys, and judges, and appeals - just like every other type of lawsuit.
And . . . By the way author, you do not get deported because you can't remember your social security number.
Extraordinarily BAD WORK by the author. Oh my goodness, could the author have done a drop if research on the deportation system and INS before writing this book (or how about just picking up the phone and calling any immigration attorney in the telephone book before writing a book about the deportation process!)
I previously respected this author's work, but now it has become apparent that he can not write anything of substance -- he can write good meaningless dialogue and a good sex scene, and that is it. I don't know who to be more angry with, the author, the editor, the researcher, the fact checker, or all four! This book is atrociously bad.
I will give it one star and that is only because the author has written some very good things previously. If I were rating this book on its own merits, it would get zero stars from me.
November 29, 2014
STory of love and angst between are two young MC.The two young men in this story can't be more different, we meet Darrin Smith hardworking and sadly not having time for rest, relaxation, and romance who works at his father's financial company. Darrin would rather do something else, he doesn't know what, but though he's good at his job, he's just going through the motions. In walks handsome and confident Luis Garcia.Luis is a computer programmer whose is charged with programming all the compters in Darrin's father company. Darrin practically drools in front of the man...he loves the man looks and especially that beautiful smile. Darrin is gay, a fact he told his parents which they choose to ignore. Darrin and Luis share a passionate kiss and discover they are attracted to each other. They like each other and are comfortable with each other and the only party that stands in their way is Darrin's unhinged and mentally disturbed coworker Melissa. Melissa wants to get her claws into Darrin and his father's fortune through marriage. Darrin made the unfortunate mistake of dating this shrew and had a horrible and failed sexual experience. I won't say more .THis is a book that makes you truly believe in these two young men and want them to triumph and prevail over the obstacles thrown in their path.IT is truly a good read!
November 25, 2015
Well damn Luis!! I applaud the characters for their strength and determination. The author really bought a whole new perspective of unorganized and unaware the US government is. There was so many illegal shit they did to Luis. And for Darrin to go for broke and damn near poverty for love... Now that's a real damn tearjerker!! If it were not for Jaime, Luis would be dead and its not uncommon in real life for prostitutes gay or straight to die or become sex traffick workers. All in all I was touched by this story and the future wellbeing of the characters.
July 1, 2015
I liked the beginning of the book. I found most of the supporting characters not real. The 'return' section was way too long. The 'resolve' section didn't really resolve for me. At the last page, I said, "that's it?". I love the authors other works, I am just not a fan of this one. 2.5 stars.
February 2, 2016
This story was heartbreaking at the same time inspirational.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews