GARDEN VALLEY – Author Carol Tillotson’s first novel, “The Legend of Round Valley,” is a thriller about three couples on a romantic vacation that takes a dark twist, leaving the couples in a struggle for their very survival.

Little did Tillotson know that she’d be in her own struggle for survival, fighting for her life as she completed the book.

After Carol Tillotson’s passing, her husband Don continues to fight to keep her memory, dreams and talent for writing alive by fulfilling her final wish – to share her romantic thriller, “The Legend of Round Valley,” with the world.

The book opens with three couples leaving their worlds of hectic work and family life behind for a romantic getaway, setting out to explore unfamiliar terrain.

Far from civilization, their guided horse tour leads them into contact with drug traffickers and Indian tribes. Soon their idyllic vacation turns into a nightmare. Lost and on the run, they realize they must work together to fight their attackers in order to make it through their vacation alive.

Through themes of love, hate, trust, and betrayal, the close friends experience the darker side of human nature.

“The Legend of Round Valley” examines the deepest components of friendship and forces readers to reflect on their own relationships and experiences. The novel keeps readers anxious and on-edge, anticipating the final fate of the couples.

Perhaps with an intuitive feeling about her own mortality, Tillotson’s novel stresses how precious life is – and how it can be taken away at a moment’s notice.

“I want to honor my wife and her memory,” Don Tillotson says. “She was so proud of her book, and I want the world to share in the exciting story she spent her final days crafting.”

Carol Tillotson was raised in Antioch, where she attended the University of California at Berkeley. Tillotson’s joy in life was working with quarter horses in the Yolla Bolly Wilderness of Northern California.