Please join me in welcoming Jacquie Johnson, author of Dilemma to Celticlady's Review!
Why
Human TraffickingI was driving my daughters to Latin class a few
months ago when I saw a billboard with the words, “Protect your daughters. Stop
the trafficking.” I just about slammed on my brakes in surprise. Yes, I knew
human trafficking existed, but I didn’t expect to see a warning about it in my
own community. Indiana is not exactly the hotbed of crime in my mind. Those
words along with an increase in newspaper articles about trafficking spawned
the idea for Dilemma. As a mother of three teenage girls, issues
concerning sex, child prostitution, and kidnapping remain in the back of my
mind. When most people hear the term sex trafficking, they think of people being
forced into slavery. Sometimes the individuals are used as laborers or domestic
servants. Other times, they are used for organ harvesting. Here in the United
States, human trafficking—in large part—involves prostitution.
For example, on July 30, 2012, ABC News reported
that three Washington teens filed suit against Backpage.com, claiming that they
had been forced into prostitution and Backpage.com profited. According to the
teens, their pimps would post pictures of them on the website, and with the
simple click of a button, a customer could acquire the girl for a period of
time. The lawsuit’s underlying premise is that the online site was aware that
its classified ads were being used to enable the sale of sexual services but
did nothing to protect the alleged victims.
This story resonated with me. After all, my
daughters are around the same age as these girls, and I could not imagine how I
would feel if this had happened to them. Much to their dismay, these kinds of
stories make me want to lock them up in a house and never let them leave. Since
I cannot do that, I chose another route—bringing attention to this issue. What
better avenue than Dilemma? To assist in this effort, five percent of
the profits from Dilemma will be
donated to the Polaris Project to help stop trafficking and assist those who
have been victimized.
Thank you Jacquie!!Romantic
SuspenseDate
Published: 7/22/12
Romantic Suspense Date Published: 7/22/12
In Chicago, the name Jon Elliott garners attention. When the legal mastermind offers to mentor Alexis Winters, Bingham, Elliott and Bright’s newest associate, she jumps at the opportunity sure this will launch her career. But Jon has a dark side, one that demands unquestioning loyalty and a willingness to defy the spirit of the law, if not the letter. Thrust into Jon’s world and expected to play by his rulebook, Alexis grapples with her conscience. On several occasions, Jon’s orders are at odds with what she learned in law school, and she finds herself trapped between her profession’s ethical rules and her own values. When Jon’s biggest client appears to be engaging in questionable activities and he orders her to ignore the behavior, Alexis investigates on her own. Suddenly, she is not only a witness to a horrible crime but a victim in her own right. Going underground, she turns to the one person she can trust, investigative journalist Ryder Prescott, a childhood friend. Together, Ryder and Alexis work to solve a puzzle that crosses socioeconomic classes, political parties, and international borders. Embroiled in a global conspiracy that costs her the only family she has left, Alexis must decide how far she will go to defend truth and justice. Is she willing to sacrifice life, liberty and the possibility of love?
Author Bio:
Jacquie Johnson fell in love with books on her
mother’s knee. From Dr. Seuss to Carolyn Keene to L.M. Montgomery, she
continued her affair until her teenage years when she began reading authors
ranging from Tom Clancy to Nora Roberts to Johanna Lindsey. She’s still an avid
reader but now carries an e-reader instead of a paperback in her purse.
Mysteries and suspense are her favorite genres, but she enjoys romance,
historical fiction, and non-fiction as well.
She graduated from Harvard and Indiana
University School of Law. After ten years practicing labor and employment law,
she retired to homeschool her daughters. She lives in Northwest Indiana with
her husband, three daughters, and a spoiled cocker spaniel named Princess.
Contact Links:
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DILEMMA looks like a great read.
ReplyDeleteHuman trafficking is an immense problem worldwide.
marypres(AT)gmail(DOT)com
Thanks for hosting Dilemma on your blog and helping make people more aware of human trafficking.
ReplyDelete