Searching for Home: Plot

Searching for Home, releasing on October 29, 2024–which happens to be my mom’s birthday–is a bit genre-defying. Placed on the shelves of a bookstore, it would be in the paranormal romance section. That’s accurate, as far as it goes. But oh, there is so much more.

My two-fold goal in developing the story line was:
1. Personalize the homeless
2. Show the depths to which God will go to redeem us

Selah is a successful nurse practitioner who gives medical care to the homeless both through her job and on the streets with her friend, Pastor Will. They are an unlikely duo, one atheist, one believer. Their personal moral compasses are quite different, but that doesn’t stop the attraction.

But when Selah begins to fall, her lifetime of independence and Will’s love are not enough to pull her out of trouble. Which begs the question: Is there redemption at the intersection of brutal reality and saving grace?

When you see the words “brutal reality,” know that entering these pages will put you in touch with what is real to the homeless: Rape, child abuse, drug use, foul language, prostitution. It is graphic. It is not gratuitous. For the story to be realistic fiction requires that it be, well, realistic. You have been warned.

Story set up:
Selah gets through life using lies, sex, and faux concern as a veneer to forget the past and to achieve personal gain. She barely tolerates her job bringing medicine to the streets. Will is the only man who has refused her body. She resents that his God stands between them.

Will pastors the homeless no matter who or where they are. He conceals a past that is anything but pure. His biggest temptation is his love for Selah. But he refuses to compromise his faith.

When Selah’s deceased husband appears to her—more dangerous in death than in life—the careful control she has used to cope slips away. Evil takes over as she falls far from the life she had carefully planned. And then farther still.

Selah must make a radical choice as an epic spiritual battle rages. Because she has finally found a love worth protecting at all costs.


Next time we will explore the characters in more depth. Just be aware that as different as you may feel from the homeless person you pass on the street, any of us–but for the grace of God–could be there someday too.