Shared Blood

Synopsis: As Ashley finishes her senior year of college, she makes a strange and disturbing revelation about her family. She devises a plan to investigate on her own, even though her uncle and guardian are top agents for the FBI. For some reason, she can’t yet explain, she feels she needs to do this on her own. She has always felt like something was missing in her life, and despite having a twin sister, she never felt as if she belonged with her uncle. But he took her and her sister in when they had nowhere else to turn at a young age. Moving to the East Coast to search for information, she uses the excuse of graduate school to convince her uncle and twin sister that she will be fine. Ashley finds herself telling more and more lies to the ones she is closest to while ironically trying to find out the truth about her family. On her own for the first time in her life, Ashley discovers who she is as an individual but also some things she wished she hadn’t ever learned. Join Ashley in her search for her own sense of identity, despite (or maybe because of) her shared blood.Autobiography: Born and raised in Minnesota, Brenda is a devoted snow and winter lover. She and her family recently relocated to Maryland, where she was able to rekindle her love of writing stories. She earned a Bachelor’s in English but strayed from her writing career to get married and raise a family. Her family grew through adoption, which veered her career path even more. She earned a Master’s in Social Work and became licensed for family therapy, working exclusively with adoptive families raising children with trauma histories. She continues this work and helps many families find success in their parenting paths. She works with crisis situations, trains seasoned parents, assists agencies with preserving placements, and helps parents learn new skills. Brenda uses writing as her own tool for processing difficult situations within her life and family. Now, she has been able to turn her writing focus back to storytelling and writing for others. She enjoys keeping her readers guessing about what’s coming next, as well as bringing happy endings to her characters’ stories.