Barley A Love Story

Young and naive, Lori falls in with a covert group of animal liberationists on a cross-country mission to rescue some very special animals from a mysterious lab in America's heartland. After the rescue, her budding romance with a fellow team member is cut short when her comrades abandon her without warning. She's left to grapple with the heartbreak of separation and figure out what's next for one of the freed animals accidently left behind with her, who has a few surprises of his own. The group's action triggers an FBI hunt, and for the agent tasked with tracking them down, it's like old times during the "Green Scare" decades before, as she reconnects with a billionaire industrialist long targeted by animal rights activists and closes in on her old nemesis, with whom she's on a collision course. Focused on each other, neither prey nor predator recognize the powerful forces gathering around them, unleashing death and destruction that foreshadows certain chaos ahead. In spite of the growing storm, love persists, as Lori's midnight getaway becomes a journey of self-discovery, and she finds her own way home. Barley challenges how we value relationships, love, and life, as they come at us in all shapes and sizes, in gardens, barns, and along desolate stretches of highway. Highly readable, Barley is a fast-paced page-turner that hops across genres, where sci-fi meets romance for a suspenseful adventure.