About the Book

Book: Visible

Author: Darlene Corbett

Genre: Romantic Women’s Fiction

Release date: May 15, 2024

Therapist Rachel Karem is accustomed to helping emotionally wounded individuals navigate the murky waters of dealing with complicated family dynamics, relationship issues, and life transitions. When individual therapy hits a brick wall for five successful professionals, she persuades them to engage in a ten-week group therapy program. But working through these sessions with her clients reveals Rachel’s own brokenness.

Widowed, childless, and estranged from her family, Rachel wonders if she will ever have a second chance at love. She is amazed when her own therapist advocates for her to “get back in the game.” To her surprise, Rachel enrolls in dance classes where she learns the Tango. Romantic, passionate, intense, sensual, dramatic, the Tango embodies everything that is missing in Rachel’s life. As she grows more confident in her dance steps, her life becomes more entwined with her handsome dance partner, Michael. But past betrayals haunt Rachel’s emotions, and current rivals for Michael’s affections feed past rejections.

Even as her clients in the therapy group learn to support each other in their quest for personal wholeness, Rachel yearns for a deeper connection within herself to propel her into the next stage of her life. But will it be with or without Michael?

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About the Author

Darlene Corbett views herself as a lifelong learner, a pursuer of excellence, a work-in-progress, and a truth seeker.

Serving others as a licensed psychotherapist has been her primary professional position for over thirty years.

Now, she includes Author/Writer and Speaker.

Her wealth of experience in human behavior prompted Darlene to write her ideas on paper, which set the stage for her book, “Stop Depriving the World of You,” published by Sound Wisdom in 2018.

Darlene wrote her first novel, Visible, a women’s fiction about second chances, published by WordCrafts Press in the spring of 2024, and plans on writing two more books in this series.

And right now?

Also, she’s finishing a contemporary romance, the first in another series.

Besides being an avid reader, Darlene loves animals, especially dogs, which you’ll see in her novel. Also, she treasures learning another language, yoga, fitness, traveling, and connecting with her inner circle.

She belongs to many organizations, including the ACFW, FHL-CW, and AWSA.

She makes her home in Central Massachusetts with her beloved Shih Tzu and remains excited about the next chapter of her life.

More from Darlene

I created the protagonist, Rachel, with a Jordanian background. I’m half Syrian/Lebanese, so I thought I’d share an easy but delicious recipe given to me by my mother:

Hushwee:

1 lb. of ground lamb or lean beef

1 stick of butter

2 cups of white rice

5 cups of water and 5 chicken bouillons

1 tablespoon of cinnamon

1 table spoon of allspice

A handful or 2 of pinenuts

On medium heat, stir-fry the beef with the butter.

Once it’s browned, mix in the dry rice, cinnamon, allspice, and pinenuts

Put aside

Boil 5 cups of water with the bouillons.

Once water has boiled, spoon in the mixture, bring the heat to low or one above, and cover.

20-25 minutes and should be done.

You may adjust according to your preference and stovetop.

This can be a side dish or the main mean with a nice Syrian salad such as Tabouli or Fattoush.

Bon Appetit

Review

This book was an interesting read. I enjoyed getting to know Rachel’s patients. They all had such fun personalities and I wanted to see them overcome their past traumas. I love how the book showed the working through the with each other. The group sessions felt very natural and definitely showed the benefits of including others on your journeys. Their interactions really drive home the “no man is an island” saying. I really liked Jason’s and Yardley’s characters. Jason was so nice to the other members of the group therapy and Yardley was so sweet and had such great input for the other members. I was really invested in their journeys and I couldn’t wait to see how far they would come in their progress. I just had to keep reading to find out if they would be able to overcome their pasts.

On the other hand, I wasn’t a fan of Rachel’s part of the story. I felt bad for her after what she went through, but I didn’t really understand her motives. For example, she wants to feel “sensual” again and focuses on the physical feelings that her interest inspires in her. It seemed like someone in her position would be yearning for an emotional connection but scared to do so. I just felt it was odd for her to be so focused on that aspect at the beginning.

CONTENT WARNING: This book mentions a lot about past intimacies and “passionate” encounters. The characters who speak of them regret that they happened with those people but do not seem to view intimacy outside of marriage as a bad thing. I thought these aspects could have been focused on less, but that is my opinion. This book also touches on sensitive subjects, such as the loss of loved ones, sexual abuse, and eating disorders. I thought they were delicately handled, but I wanted to make sure people are aware in case these subjects are difficult for anyone.

Overall, I was really invested in the group therapy members’ stories and wanted things to work out for them. I loved each one of them, and I really wanted to see them heal from their wounds.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Celebrate Lit, this in no way influenced my review. All opinions are my own.