Titles
It's the summer. School's out. Parents are working. The kids are home alone. What are they doing?
Meet Trekela, aka "Trek," an 11-year old little girl playing big girl games. As her emotionally distant mother nurses a broken heart, Trek is left unprotected from the influences of her new environment run amok by other unsupervised teens and pre-teens.
Trek's fascination with the boundary-less liberty of her friends in South Park Village (Houston, Texas) takes her places she thought she would never go, and from whence she almost didn't escape.
Then she meets Ms. Denise, a 20-something year old seminary student who sees pieces of herself in Trek and throws her a lifeline we should all be so fortunate to receive - a transparent relationship rooted in unconditional love, no matter how often we fail.
In Alexus Rhone's debut novel, she recounts a racy but honest coming-of-age story about the power of influence and the ability of one positive, committed person to make a lasting difference.
Cover The Coo
Trek Baden is the first in her family to go to college, the prestigious University of Texas at Austin. Everyone gives her advice on how to be successful. Her mother says, "Get your education and you can write your own ticket!" Her crazy aunt says, "Find a rich man!" However, it was her grandmother who, while attending Trek's graduation party and watching all the single mothers and their children running around the house, leans over to her, pats her knee and whispers, "Cover the coo." In other words, don't have sex before marriage.
But Trek doesn't listen.
She maintains the relationship with her boyfriend Ferris from high school and also falls for one of the guys at UT. Unfortunately, she ends up pregnant and is unsure which guy is her baby's father (very "Jerry-Springer-meets-Maury-Povich"). To forsake the shame, she makes plans to terminate her pregnancy...or can she be convinced to keep her baby?
"Cover The Coo" is a page-turner where the tension of Trek's dilemma is felt by the reader who is left in suspense about what will she choose.
Backseats and Bleachers: A High School Love Story
Trek Baden is a 16-year-old stellar student at Willowridge High School and member of the Wings Drill Team whose mother has just approved her to go out on dates. There are two guys that are really into her - a 16-year-old minister/fellow student at Willowridge and a 19-year-old recently paroled felon from her dad's neighborhood. Unfortunately, she chooses to date the felon (Ferris) and begins the downward spiral from "little diva" to desperate/disposable. Although Ferris is genuinely in love with Trek, he has a problem controlling his temper, a reality that will mirror the situation her mother suffered at the hands of her father.
Can bad-patterns be broken? If so, how, and at whose expense? Does love have to hurt?
"Backseats and Bleachers: A High School Love Story" is the third installment of the Trek Baden coming-of-age series and explores the realities of teen-dating violence.
Secret Shame
Trek Baden is now 12-years-old and living in the suburbs of Houston where she believes she will encounter "a better crop of people." Unfortunately, her new best friend and neighbor is Rhodee, a 14-year-old girl who dates 20-year-old Big Mike. Rhodee regularly skips school and smokes weed. She is also carrying a secret: her dad's best friend is molesting her and paying her to keep quiet.
Trek tries to be a positive influence on Rhodee instead of being drawn into her chaos. However, Rhodee's chaos needs more than the love and commitment of her best friend. Her situation must be exposed. But will that do more harm than good?
"Secret Shame" is the second installment of a four-part series of the coming-of-age journey of Trek Baden.
Premature Pleasures
It's the summer. School's out. Parents are working. The kids are home alone. What are they doing?
Meet Trekela, aka "Trek," an 11-year old little girl playing big girl games. As her emotionally distant mother nurses a broken heart, Trek is left unprotected from the influences of her new environment run amok by other unsupervised teens and pre-teens.
Trek's fascination with the boundary-less liberty of her friends in South Park Village (Houston, Texas) takes her places she thought she would never go, and from whence she almost didn't escape.
Then she meets Ms. Denise, a 20-something year old seminary student who sees pieces of herself in Trek and throws her a lifeline we should all be so fortunate to receive - a transparent relationship rooted in unconditional love, no matter how often we fail.
In Alexus Rhone's debut novel, she recounts a racy but honest coming-of-age story about the power of influence and the ability of one positive, committed person to make a lasting difference.
