Rhonda Patterson was sidelined seven days before her wedding to NFL All-Pro cornerback Antonio Cromartie while expecting his child.

In her book Love Intercepted: A Tale of Football, Falling and Failing in Love, the Roanoke Rapids native tells her story, not as a celebrity tell all, but as a cautionary tale to young women so they can avoid the pain and heartbreak she went through.

Patterson is an attorney in Charlotte.

Patterson, an attorney in Charlotte, is home this week and will be signing copies of her book at two places Saturday, a women’s conference at The Centre at Halifax Community College at 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. at Becker Village Mall.

While Cromartie is not mentioned by name in the self-published book, family and close friends know her story.

The book is selling well, Patterson said in an interview today. “I didn’t write it with the intention of it becoming a bestseller. It started as therapy.”

Interest in the book among sports bloggers has been intense, Patterson said. She has fielded calls from sports radio shows although she has not received any calls from ESPN yet.

She began writing in the fall of 2008 by the time her daughter, London, was born. “I took that opportunity to start writing. I would write what God put in my heart to write.”

She calls the book a cautionary tale and hopes it will help women and men see warning signs in relationships.

When she was dumped by Cromartie she felt she was alone. “I felt alone through the process. I didn’t see any other professionals out there who were alone. It’s a collection of small things to show you are not alone.”

Cromartie from Jets website.

Cromartie was just her type, a person with an athletic build, and the relationship seemed perfect. It didn’t end up that way. “it was a relationship clouded with dishonesty and infidelity. He called our wedding off seven days before the wedding. He had gotten two other women pregnant.”

The reaction to the book has been mixed, she said. “Some people get what I’m saying. Some say it’s a trashy tell all. This book is for those who get it.”

Patterson, a 1999 graduate of Roanoke Rapids High School and a University of North Carolina undergraduate and law school graduate, said she always wanted to be a lawyer. “I always thought it was such a noble profession and I could use my love of communication and writing to help people.”

Her parents, Larry and Deborah Robinson, helped her and she credits the Roanoke Rapids Graded School District for helping her, especially her fourth grade teacher Juliette Pair and her marketing teacher, Jan Tugwell. “They were the main ones who believed in me. They instilled in me I could succeed.”

While she was good at expressing herself, her college English grades started with Bs and Cs. She went to the campus writing center to learn the structure.

The book is self-published through the Samuel Holmes Robinson Publishing Company, which is named in honor of her late grandfather, which she hopes will be a catalyst for family and friends to write.

Patterson is working on her second book, one for teen girls on how to deal with issues from relationships to weight loss.

Love Intercepted was cathartic, she said. “At it’s core, love is love,” she said, explaining why the book should be read by men and women. “Men are taught not to show hurt but love makes us all feel some kind of hurt and pain.”

She sent Cromartie’s marketers a copy of the book. “If he reads it through a father’s eyes, I think he will realize I didn’t write it to bash him but to help him.”