title: This Never Happened: A Novel
author: Elly Summers
description: Their sister Claire has just killed her abusive husband, and Max Hayes is explaining to his older brother Richard why he has to be the one to tell Claire's lawyer all about their parents--the rigid Jack and the passive Bev. "I could barely swallow," narrator Richard thinks. "I hated this kind of pressure. I'd had enough pressure when I was a kid to last me a lifetime. In high school we'd had to formulate a life's goal for careers class, and mine had been to never feel crushed in a no-win situation again. The way to do that was to take control of my life. Why couldn't Max understand that you can't control your past? Why rake it up? What was the point? Why not remember the good?" What makes this first thriller by E. W. Summers, a Maryland English teacher, so extraordinary is the way she instantly lets us see how badly damaged Richard has been by his childhood and how well he has survived in spite of that damage. Now, to save his sister's life, Richard has to strip away all his carefully constructed layers of protection and view his father for what he really is: an absolutely believable and totally frightening monster.
zlib_text:  
   
  Summer Surrender
  A Phases Story
  By Bronwyn Green
   
  Resplendence Publishing, LLC
  http://www.resplendencepublishing.com
  
   
  Resplendence Publishing, LLC
  2665 S Atlantic Avenue, #349
  Daytona Beach, FL 32118
  Summer Surrender (Phases Series, Book Six)
  Copyright © 2011 Bronwyn Green
  Edited by Michele Paulin and Juli Simonson
  Cover art by Les Byerley, www.les3photo8.com
  Electronic format ISBN: 978-1-60735-324-9
  Warning: All rights reserved. The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this
  copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement
  without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in
  federal prison and a fine of $250,000.
  Electronic Release: May 2011
  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and occurrences are a product
  of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, places
  or occurrences, is purely coincidental.
  
   
   
  To Marianne Nicoletto Strnad for coining the phra