We women are routinely underestimated and overlooked by both ourselves and the other half of the human species when it comes to our mental and physical capabilities. In our youth we strap on our resiliency and bravado to help us face down the prejudices. By the time we reach middle age, that resiliency and bravado has usually worn pretty thin.
And yet the power and strength of middle-aged women is growing and spreading everyday across the world. We women are adaptors. It is in our DNA. With age we manage to develop and increasingly rely on our internal fortitude and conviction to give us the strength to challenge ourselves and anyone else necessary to achieve the seemingly impossible.
But when it comes to physical challenges, we middle-aged women still feel too comfortable in settling for the status quo.
Of course there is always exceptions to every rule. Case in point, author and middle-aged heroine Suzie Ivy — a.k.a. BAD LUCK CADET.
Not willing to settle into overweight, middle-aged bored housewife obscurity at age 44, Suzie rediscovers a long forgotten dream, and after a broken hip complements of an unruly horse, uncovers her own well-spring of true grit to achieve it. With candor, humor, and unbelievable perseverance, she pursues (and entertainingly shares) her Herculean middle-aged task of surviving a grueling 15 week mental and physical boot camp at the police academy in order to claim the honor and the badge of becoming a police officer for her community in Smalltown, Arizona.
Author Ivy has an amazing gift for getting the reader to laugh, cry, sweat, swear and cringe right along with her own overwhelmingly physical experiences. So be ready for a workout as you root for a women willing to change herself and her life to make the law enforcement profession her own.
Bottom Line: BAD LUCK CADET will thoroughly entertain while it gives you a deep appreciation for the rigors of the police academy and the discipline required to be a law enforcement professional. But, best of all, woman or not, Suzie Ivy will shock, awe and inspire you into re-evaluate your own impossibilities.
(DISCLAIMER: While I’ve known Suzie Ivy for more than 30 years, the review is based on a life time of reading and many years as a reviewer. Bad Luck Cadet is posted here at Below The Salt as a series of stories. But it is now available as an e-book and trade paperback from Amazon.)
Go Suzie!!!
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Below The Salt News Archive 
You owed me this shock! I guess. If I haven’t told you what an incredible friend you have been all these years, I’m remiss. From the book shelving days, to the phone call tears during the worst events in my law enforcement career, to the introduction into the blogging world. You are force to be reckoned with and the most inspirational friend anyone could ever have. We met in our early twenties and just thinking of you takes me back. These later years will be our best though. I love you!
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It still shocks me to realize how young we were back then. In my minds eye we were just so incredibly mature and knowing – haha!! Funny to think how many seeds for the future were actually planted in those early years and where they have taken us. And if the best is yet to come, it needs to include some time for us to hang out together again. Love you back! Stay safe! And never stop amazing me!
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what a sweet tribute! i’ve just recently discovered Suzie (and now you too) and I love her writing about being a grandma cop! 🙂 ps: i am karenlynnn from blogher.
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Thanks for commenting, Karenlynn! Most communities wish they had a “grandma cop” like Suzie!!
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I read Bad Luck Cadet and loved it. Really and truly an inspiring story. I had no idea how grueling police academy is.
Suzie can bring so much to being a police detective because she has lived a full life prior to becoming a cop. I admire her greatly!
Can’t wait for the next book in the series.
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