12/18/2025
Sign up now to get an ARC copy of Stray: Breaking Free, Falling Hard, and Growing Stronger, by Shannon O'Brien. Applications close December 20, 2025. For more details, visit:
https://www.indiearcdirectory.com/courses/stray%3A-breaking-free%2C-falling-hard%2C-growing-stronger
Book Description:
What happens when the path you choose leads far from everything you thought you knew?
Shannon O’Brien leaves behind a life of routine to chase adventure across South America and Asia. With only a backpack and a restless heart, she dives into landscapes as beautiful as they are unpredictable. But what begins as a journey to explore the world soon becomes a deeper quest to explore herself.
She finds herself lost and dehydrated in Peru’s Colca Canyon, nursing an injured spider monkey in the Bolivian jungle, and inside a high-altitude jail. A crude hospital in Cambodia tests her limits, while encounters with a shaman in Vietnam and a dangerous brush with Moroccon drug lords challenge everything she thought she knew about trust and survival.
When a relationship turns violent and threats close in from unexpected places, the stakes are no longer just about where she’s going—but whether she can make it through.
In a world that constantly shifts beneath her feet, Shannon’s greatest challenge isn’t just survival—it’s learning how to keep moving forward without losing herself.
Expected publication date: January 12, 2026