"A Dangerous Friendship" -- Robin Merle on Milford House Mysteries & Histories

"Once love is taken away from you, taken out of your hands, or beaten into a fearful thing, you lose the capacity to salvage yourself in the presence of another person."These words are one thread that leads into "A Dangerous Friendship," an intense, dark-humored, cynical, and at times perilous journey for two women. Author Robin Merle (pronounced Merrill) makes her fiction debut with a tale of two women, recovering from loss, and finding one another with answers that will likely not be the same.Tina is 29, suffering from a lost relationship. She leaves New York City for New Hampshire and a writing camp to hammer out a story in the hopes of finding some relief. Instead, amongst the strange collective, Tina bonds with the most unlikely character of all, a woman named Spike.Merle weaves a tale of relationships, old and new, which test both Tina and Spike. One seeks what most readers would recognize: connection, validation, perhaps love again, while the other spins tales of past activities, which lead one to wonder how much of this is real and how much is imagined.There are no real heroines or heroes in "A Dangerous Friendship," but there are characters with numerous layers of humanity that lead one to question what one truly wants out of life.Robin Merle is a New York native--an author and writer, a non-profit professional, and an executive coach who specializes in career transitions. Women in Development, New York, named Robin one of their 30+ Women of Achievement for her service to the fields of development and philanthropy. "A Dangerous Friendship is Robin's second work for She Writes Press; the first is the award-winning "Involuntary Exit: A Woman's Guide to Thriving After Being Fired." An alumna of the first class of women at Rutgers College, Robin also holds a Master's Degree from the Johns Hopkins Writing Seminars. She now lives in Maine. You can find out more about her at her website, TheProfessionalGuide.com.