What are you reading on Mondays is now being hosted bySheila at One Person's Journey - You can hook up with the Mr. Linky there with your own post - but be sure and let me know what you are reading too!
Forget Me Not by Vicki Hinze (Blog tour for Waterbrook Multnomah - there will be a giveaway!)
Their elusive enemies took everything. Now they want more.
Crossroads Crisis Center owner Benjamin Brandt was a content man - in his faith, his work, and his family. Then in a flash, everything he loved was snatched away. His wife and son were murdered, and grief-stricken Ben lost faith. Determination to find their killers keeps him going, but after three years of dead ends and torment, his hope is dying too. Why had he survived? He'd failed to protect his family.
Now, a mysterious woman appears at Crossroads seeking answers and help - a victim who eerily resembles Ben's deceased wife, Susan. A woman robbed of her identity, her life, of everything except her faith - and Susan's necklace.
The connections between the two women mount, exceeding coincidence, and to keep the truth hidden, someone is willing to kill. Finding out who and why turns Ben and the mystery woman's situation from dangerous to deadly. Their only hope for survival is to work together, trust each other, and face whatever they discover head on, no matter how painful. But will that be enough to save their lives and heal their tattered hearts? (back cover)
Just Let Me Lie Down Necessary Terms for the Half-Insane Working Mom by Kristin van Ogtroop (from Hachette for review and watch for a giveaway)
Kristin van Ogtrop has a nice career, a dependable husband, and three healthy kids who occasionally make their beds. You could say she is average, but lucky. You could also say that she is half-insane -- but just try to name one working mom who isn't. Like all of us, van Ogtrop needs a bit of guidance from time to time. Yet when she searched the bookshelves for something to help put a little order into her average/lucky/chaotic life, she came up short. And so she had an idea.
In Just Let Me Lie Down, van Ogtrop provides a new lexicon for the half-insane working mom. Using experiences and insights from her own life, she presents terms and concepts to illustrate the highs (children who know where their soccer cleats are, coworkers who never hit "Reply to All," dogs who helpfully eat whatever falls from the table) and lows (getting out of the house in the morning, getting along with everyone at work, getting dinner made before everyone starves, getting willful kids into bed) of trying to combine work and family in the same life.
Filled with essays, lists, poignant observations, and more than a few embarrassing stories, Just Let Me Lie Down shows that if you can't laugh at the nonsense that is daily life for the working mom, then you might need to reconsider your entire existence, or at least take a nap. (inside book jacket)
This Little Prayer of Mine by Anthony DeStefano illustrated by Mark Elliott (Blog tour for Waterbrook Multnomah - there will be a giveaway!)
Nothing Compares to Childlike Faith
I know you're up in heaven, God, and you can hear my voice from there. I'm just a little child. Will you answer my short prayer?
So begins this delightful book that affirms God's readiness to answer our prayers, no matter what our age.
With engaging rhymes and beautiful illustrations, This Little Prayer of Mine assures children that God is always near -- watching, listening, and eager to respond to their requests. They'll also learn that prayer isn't just about asking for things, but about sharing their feelings of sadness and uncertainty as well as of thanksgiving and joy.
Most important, This Little Prayer of Mine reminds children -- and those who love them -- that they can trust God to tenderly care for them, no matter what the future holds. (back cover)
The Threadbare Heart by Jennie Nash (for review and contest from Jennie Nash)
A photo of her sons. A doormat from Target. Twenty-three tubs of fabric. Somehow it comforts LIly to list the things she lost when a wildfire engulfed the Santa Barbara avocado ranch she shared with her husband, Tom. He didn't make it out either. His last act was to save her grandmother's lace from the flames -- an heirloom she has never been able to take scissors to, that she was saving for someday. . .
As she negotiates her way through her grief, mourning both the tangible and intangible, Lily wonders about her long marriage. Was it worth all the work, the self-denial? Did she stay with Tom just to avoid loneliness? Should she have been more like her mother, Eleanor - thrice-married and even now, approaching eighty, cavalier about men and, it seems, even about her daughter's emotions?
It is up to Lily to understand what she could still gain even when it seems that everything is lost. Someday has arrived. . . (back cover)
Read, Remember, Recommend Created by Rachelle Rogers Knight (for review from Sourcebooks)
A must-have for book lovers, Read, Remember, Recommend contains:
More than 2,500 cross-referenced award-winning and notable reading suggestions from every celebrated literary award and book list available, guaranteed to help you discover great literature and new authors.
Checklists to help you organize and keep track of books you want to read, books you've loaned or borrowed, books you've read, and books you want to recommend.
Journal pages to record your thoughts, ideas, and discussion points on books and authors.
A comprehensive list of literary blogs, book award lists, and literary terms.
Perfect for book clubs and anyone who loves a good book, Read, Remember, Recommend is the ultimate way to enhance your love of reading. (back cover)
The Swimming Pool by Holly LeCraw (for review from Doubleday via Shelf Awareness)
A heartbreaking affair, an unsolved murder, an explosive romance: Welcome to summer on the Cape in this powerful debut.
Seven summers ago, Marcella Atkinson fell in love with Cecil McClatchey, a married father of two. But on the same night their romance abruptly ended, Cecil's wife was found murdered. The case was never solved, and Cecil died soon after, an uncharged suspect.
Now divorced and estranged from her only daughter, Marcella lives alone, mired in grief and guilt. Meanshile, Cecil's grown son, Jed, returns to the Cape with his sister for the first time in years. When he finds a woman's bathing suit buried in a closet -- a relic, unbeknownst to him, of his father's affair -- he decides to confront Marcella on a hunch.
When, to their deep surprise, they fall into an affair of their own, passion temporarily masks their shared pain. But as we are left to believe on the last stunning page, the betrayals of the past cannot be ignored and will have a ripple effect on these two families for years to come.
In this scintillating and intensely powerful debut, Holly LeCraw delivers a sensuous narrative of such force and depth that you won't be able to put it down. (back cover)
The Transformation of Bartholomew Fortuno by Ellen Bryson (for review from Henry Holt via Shelf Awareness)
Bartholomew Fortuno, the world's thinnest man, believes that his unusual body is a gift. Hired by none other than P.T. Barnum to work at his spectacular American Museum -- a modern marvel of macabre displays and live performances by Barnum's cast of freaks and oddities -- Fortuno has reached the pinnacle of his career. But after a decade of solid performance, he finds his contentment flagging. When a carriage pulls up outside the museum in the dead of night, bearing Barnum and a mysterious veiled woman -- rumored to be a new performer -- Fortuno's curiosity is piqued. And when Barnum asks Fortuno to follow her and report back on her whereabouts, his world is turned upside-down. Why is Barnum so obsessed with this woman? Who is she, really? and why has she taken such a hold of the hearts of those around her?
The Transformation of Bartholomew Fortuno is a moving novel about human appetites and longings. With pitch-perfect prose, Ellen Bryson explores what it means to be profoundly unique -- and the power of love to transcend even the greatest divisions. (back cover)
How Clarissa Burden Learned to Fly by Connie May Fowler (for review from Hachette)
Set amidst the lush pine forests and rich savannahs of Florida's Northern Panhandle, this is the story of one woman whose existence until now has seemed fairly normal: She is thirtysomething, married, and goes about her daily routine as a writer. But we soon learn that ghosts, an indifferent husband, and a seemingly terminal case of writer's block are burdening Clarissa's life. She awakes on the summer solstice and, prodded by her own discontent and one ghost's righteous need for truth, commences upon a twenty-four-hour journey of self-discovery. Her harrowing, funny, and startling adventures lead Clarissa to a momentous decision: She must find a way to do the unthinkable. Her life and the well-being of a remarkable family of blithe spirits hand in the balance.
In How Clarissa Burden Learned to Fly, Connie May Fowler once again demonstrates her keen abilities as a storyteller. A remarkably original and empowering novel about an unexpected midlife awakening, it will resonate and be discussed for years to come. (inside book jacket)
Too Close to Home by Lynette Eason (Blog tour for Baker Publishing)
The FBI has a secret weapon. But now the secret's out.
When missing teens begin turning up dead in a small Southern town, the FBI sends in Special Agent Samantha Cash to help crack the case. Her methods are invisible, and she never quits until the case is closed.
Homicide detective Connor Wolfe has his hands full. His relationship with his headstrong daughter is in a tailspin, and the string of unsolved murders has the town demanding answers. Connor is running out of ideas -- and time.
Samantha joins Connor in a race against the clock to save the next victim. And the killer starts to get personal.
Too Close to Home ratchets up the suspense with each page even as love blossoms in the face of danger. Read this one with the lights on! (back cover)
Violet Parry is living the quintessential life of luxury in the Hollywood Hills with David, her rock-and-roll manager husband, and her darling toddler, Dot. She has the perfect life--except that she's deeply unhappy. David expects the world of Violet but gives little of himself in return. When she meets Teddy, a roguish small-time bass player, Violet comes alive, and soon she's risking everything for the chance to find herself again. Also in the picture are David's hilariously high-strung sister, Sally, on the prowl for a successful husband, and Jeremy, the ESPN sportscaster savant who falls into her trap.
I hope you utilize this great reading group guide:
1. In many ways, this is a very “LA” story. To what extent do you think the characters’ attitudes and actions are shaped by Los Angeles? Could you see this story taking place anywhere else?
2. How does the title, “This One Is Mine,” interplay with the story? The poem at the beginning of the book opens with the image of a slave block. Are any of the characters in the book “enslaved” in a way?
3. In the first chapter, David is upset with Violet for what he perceives to be her lack of interest in maintaining the household. Is his anger justified?
4. What does Violet find sad about Los Angeles? Where do you think this sadness stems from?
5. What do you think about Sally’s friendship with Maryam? Why does Maryam put up with her?
6. Why do you think Violet is drawn to Teddy? What makes her risk “losing everything,” as David puts it?
7. Los Angeles could be said to be a city of ambition. How do the characters’ ambitions relate to one another’s? What fuels those ambitions, and when do they get out of control?
8. In some ways, Sally seems to want everything that Violet has: a successful husband, financial security, a nice house, and classy friends. Do you think Sally would be happy if she suddenly had everything she wanted? What similarities to you see in Sally and Violet?
9. Conversely, do you see any similarities between David and Jeremy?
10. Teddy seems to have a set of problems that make Violet’s (and everyone else’s) pale in comparison. Do you think Violet is drawn to him because of or in spite of these traits?
11. What do you think of Sally and Jeremy’s relationship? Do you think there is a way that it could have worked out?
12. Why is Violet happy when Sally tells her that she never really liked her?
13. At the end of the book, Violet, Sally, and David all go to visit Teddy in the hospital. In what ways did Teddy’s entrance in their lives bring them all together? How would this story have turned out differently if Violet had never met him at the health fair?
14. In Leo Tolstoy’s classic, Anna Karenina, Anna is miserable in a loveless marriage and recklessly succumbs to her desire for the dashing Vronsky. What similarities do you see between Tolstoy’s novel and This One Is Mine?
15. What other books did this one remind you of? What was similar or different about them?
I have three copies of this paperback book to giveaway courtesy of Hachette Books. For your first entry (MUST DO THIS ONE FOR ANY OTHER ENTRIES TO COUNT) I found this to be an interesting cover - what did you think of when you saw it? Oh - and leave your email address.
For additional entries you can sign up to follow (old followers let me know), Twitter or post it on your blog. Each entry must have it's own comment. (Four entries total.)
This giveaway if for U.S./Canada only - no PO boxes and will end Apr 10!
It is time for a FIRST Wild Card Tour book review! If you wish to join the FIRST blog alliance, just click the button. We are a group of reviewers who tour Christian books. A Wild Card post includes a brief bio of the author and a full chapter from each book toured. The reason it is called a FIRST Wild Card Tour is that you never know if the book will be fiction, non~fiction, for young, or for old...or for somewhere in between! Enjoy your free peek into the book!
You never know when I might play a wild card on you!
***Special thanks to Audra Jennings, Senior Media Specialist, of The B&B Media Group for sending me a review copy.***
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Focusing on ancient women’s history, critically acclaimed author Ginger Garrett creates novels and nonfiction resources that explore the lives of historical women. In addition to her writing, Garrett is a frequent radio and television guest. A native Texan, she now resides in Georgia with her husband and three children.
List Price: $14.99 Paperback: 304 pages Publisher: David C. Cook; New edition (March 1, 2010) Language: English ISBN-10: 1434768015 ISBN-13: 978-1434768018
AND NOW...THE FIRST CHAPTER:
Prologue
Fourth Day of the Month of Av
Year 3414 after Creation
If you have opened this, you are the chosen one.
For this book has been sealed in the tomb of the ancients of Persia, never to be opened, I pray, until G-d1 has put His finger on a new woman of destiny, a woman who will rise up and change her nation. But we will not talk of your circumstances, and the many reasons this book may have fallen into your hands. There are no mistakes with prayer. You have indeed been called. If this sounds too strange, if you must look around your room and question whether G-d’s finger has perhaps slipped, if you are not a woman with the means to change a nation, then join me on a journey. You must return with me now to a place without hope, a nation that had lost sight of G-d, a girl with nothing to offer, and no one to give it to.
I must introduce myself first as I truly am: an exiled Jew, and an orphan. My given name was Hadassah, but the oppression of exile has stripped that too from me: I am now called Esther,2 so that I may blend in with my captors. My people, the Hebrew nation, had been sent out of our homeland after a bitter defeat in battle. We were allowed to settle in the kingdom of Persia, but we were not allowed to truly prosper there. We blended in, our lives preserved, but our heritage and customs were forced underground. Our hearts, once set only on returning to Jerusalem, were set out to wither in the heat
of the Arabian sun. My cousin Mordecai rescued me when I was orphaned and we lived in the capital city of Susa, under the reign of King Xerxes.3 Mordecai had a small flock of sheep that I helped tend, and we sold their fleece in the market. If times were good, we would sell a lamb for someone’s celebration. It was always for others to celebrate. We merely survived. But Mordecai was kind and good, and I was not forced into dishonor like the other orphans I had once known. This is how my story begins, and I give you these details not for sympathy, but so you will know that I am a girl well acquainted with bitter reality. I am not given to the freedom in flights of fantasy. But how can I explain to you the setting of my story? It is most certainly far removed from your experience. For I suspect that in the future, women will know freedom. And freedom is not an easy thing to forget, even if only to entertain an orphan’s story.
But you must forget now. I was born into a world, and into this story, where even the bravest women were faceless specters. Once married, they could venture out of their homes only with veils and escorts. No one yet had freed our souls. Passion and pleasure, like freedom, were the domain of men, and even young girls knew the wishes of their hearts would always be subject to a man’s desire for wealth. A man named Pericles summed up my time so well in his famed oration: “The greatest glory of a woman is to be least talked about by men, whether they are praising you or criticizing you.” Our role was clear: We were to be objects of passion, to receive a man’s attention mutely, and to respond only with children for the estate. Even the most powerful woman of our time, the beautiful Queen Vashti, was powerless. That was my future as a girl and I dared not lift my eyes above its horizon. That is how I enter this story. But give me your hand and let us walk back now, past the crumbling walls of history, to this world forgotten but a time yet remembered. Let me tell you the story of a girl unspared, plunged into heartache and chaos, who would save a nation. My name is Esther, and I will be queen.
1 Out of respect for God, Jews write the name of God without the vowels, believing that the name of God is too holy to be written out completely by a human. God is referred to as either “G-d” or “YHVH.”
2 The name Esther is related to the Persian name of Ishtar, a pagan goddess of the stars.
3 Esther refers to the king by his Persian name. In the Hebrew texts of antiquity, he is also referred to as Ahasuerus.
1
Eleventh Day of Shevat
Third Year of the Reign of Xerxes
Year 3394 after Creation
Was it today that I became fully awake, or have I only now begun to dream? Today Cyrus saw me in the marketplace haggling gently with my favorite shopkeeper, Shethana, over the price of a fleece. Shethana makes the loveliest rugs—I think they are even more lovely than the ones imported from the East—and her husband is known for his skill in crafting metals of all kinds. When I turned fifteen last year, he fashioned for me a necklace with several links in the center, painted various shades of blue. He says it is an art practiced in Egypt, this inlaying of colors into metal shapes. I feel so exotic with it on and wear it almost daily. I know it is as close to adventure as Mordecai will ever allow.
But as Shethana and I haggled over the fleece, both of us smiling because she knew I would as soon give it to her, Cyrus walked by eating a flatbread he had purchased from another vendor. He grimaced when he took a bite—I think he might have gotten a very strong taste of shallot—and I laughed. He laughed back, wiping his eyes with his jacket and fanning his mouth, and then, oh then, his gaze held my eyes for a moment. Everything in my body seemed to come alive suddenly and I felt afraid, for my legs couldn’t stand as straight and steady and I couldn’t get my mouth to work. Shethana noticed right away and didn’t conceal her grin as she glanced between Cyrus and me. I should have doubled the price of her fleece right then!
Cyrus turned to walk away, and I tried to focus again on my transaction. I could not meet Shethana’s eyes now—I didn’t want to be questioned about men and marriage, for everyone knows I have no dowry. To dream of winning Cyrus would be as foolish as to run my own heart straight through. I cannot dream, for it will surely crush me. And yet I can’t stop this warm flood that sweeps over me when he is near.
I haven’t told you the best part—when Shethana bought her fleece and left, I allowed myself to close my eyes for a moment in the heat of the day, and when I opened them again, there was a little stack of flatbread in my booth. I looked in every direction but could see no one. Taking a bite, I had to spit it out and started laughing. Cyrus was right—the vendor used many bitter shallots. The flatbread was a disaster.
Paddy Meehan is no stranger to murder--as a reporter she lives at crime scenes--but nothing has prepared her for this visit from the police. Her former boyfriend and fellow journalist Terry Patterson has been found hooded and shot through the head. Paddy knows she will be of little help--she had not seen Terry in more than six months. So she is bewildered to learn that in his will he has left her his house and several suitcases full of notes. Drawn into a maze of secrets and lies, Paddy begins making connections to Terry's murder that no one else has seen, and soon finds herself trapped in the most important--and dangerous--story of her career.
Here is the Reading Group Guide for Slip of the Knife -
1. Why do you think Denise Mina chooses to begin the novel from Terry’s point of view? Is his death so early in the novel a surprise?
2. Paddy’s family members play important roles in this novel. How have the Meehan family dynamics changed since the death of Paddy’s father? What is the importance of Mary Ann’s vocation to her mother? Discuss the alternative forms of “family” that the novel presents. How does Paddy’s own definition of family change in the course of the novel?
3. How does Paddy’s life as a single mother affect her relationship to her work? What does the novel suggest about the balance between personal and professional obligations for a character like Paddy?
4. Discuss the role Callum Ogilvy plays in the story. Does your opinion of him change from the novel’s beginning to end?
5. Discuss the ways in which religion limits different characters’ views of each other in the novel.
6. Much of Slip of the Knife is concerned with changes to the journalistic profession and the economic difficulties facing newspapers today. Describe some of these changes, and discuss the ways in which they affect the kinds of journalism that gets published.
7. Discuss the differences between Brian Donaldson and Martin McBree. Is either of them ever a sympathetic character? Why do you think Denise Mina chooses to narrate parts of the novel from Martin McBree’s perspective?
8. Explain why the Scottish police are protecting Martin McBree. How does this novel change your understanding of present day relations between Scotland and Ireland? Among Scotland, Ireland, and England?
9. What is Slip of the Knife saying about the usefulness of revenge? Does the novel carry a message about what makes a political cause just or unjust?
10. What do you think the future holds for Paddy and Dub as a couple?
Giveaway
I have five copies of this paperback book to giveaway courtesy of Hachette Books. For your first entry (MUST DO THIS ONE FOR ANY OTHER ENTRIES TO COUNT) give me a link to your blog - or if you don't have a blog - you're favorite blog! Oh - and leave your email address.
For additional entries you can sign up to follow (old followers let me know), Twitter or post it on your blog. Each entry must have it's own comment. (Four entries total.)
This giveaway if for U.S./Canada only - no PO boxes and will end Apr 9!
Title: Building a Bridge Author: JoAnn Early Macken Publisher: Pebble Plus/Capstone Press
About the book:How are bridges made? Put on your hard hat and discover the people, tools, and machines that help drivers get where they need to go.
Title: Demolition Author: JoAnn Early Macken Publisher: Pebble Plus/Capstone Press
About the book:Kaboom! Watch as old buildings crumble before your eyes and discover the people, tools, and machines needed for demolition.
My thoughts: This is a great series of books for preschoolers - either those needing to be read to or early readers. There are not a lot of words on each page and very "in the moment" pictures of buildings blowing up - cranes working - men pouring cement, etc. Each book has a nice glossary at the end of some of the words that would be great for those beginner readers. There is also an Internet site - www.facthound.com - where you can search by grade level - either by subject or by book ISBN number. I put in the ISBN for Building a Bridge and it brought up related sights such as - how to build a paper bridge. Lots of fun for those curious little ones who stumble across something they want to know more about - this can get them started!
It is time for a FIRST Wild Card Tour book review! If you wish to join the FIRST blog alliance, just click the button. We are a group of reviewers who tour Christian books. A Wild Card post includes a brief bio of the author and a full chapter from each book toured. The reason it is called a FIRST Wild Card Tour is that you never know if the book will be fiction, non~fiction, for young, or for old...or for somewhere in between! Enjoy your free peek into the book!
You never know when I might play a wild card on you!
***Special thanks to Cat Hoort, Trade Marketing Manager, of Kregel Publications for sending me a review copy.***
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Harmony Dust founded and leads Treasures, a nonprofit organization based in Los Angeles that helps women in the sex industry to make healthy life choices. She and her husband John have a young daughter.
List Price: $12.99 Paperback: 252 pages Publisher: Monarch (December 18, 2009) Language: English ISBN-10: 0825463092 ISBN-13: 978-0825463099
AND NOW...THE FIRST CHAPTER:
The haze of dusk was a soft blanket over my green Honda Civic as I drove the familiar route to the Los Angeles Airport. How many times had I taken this freeway? This exit? On autopilot, I changed lanes smoothly and rounded the bend towards Century Boulevard. I was going in the same direction I had always gone, but I might as well have been in a parallel universe to the one I lived in six years before.
I glanced at the clock in my car: 5:45 pm… Always early.
My husband’s plane wouldn’t land for another 15 minutes. I decided to wait in the Taco Bell parking lot down the street.
I missed him. For the first year of our marriage I went on tour with him. We traveled from city to city in dusty rental cars, eating lunch at truck stops and fast-food chains. I sold his Pigeon John T-shirts and CDs at the product table, while he rocked the stage for a steadily growing fan base of nerds and ex-nerds, hip-hop heads and youth groups. I was happy to do so. It was a lifestyle that appealed to the bohemian Venice girl in me.
‘I want your dreams to come true, too,’ he said to me on the night of our honeymoon.
My dreams. What were my dreams? Driving through Nebraskan corn fields and the dim streets of Baltimore on our way to shows, I found myself pondering this question. One moment I was exploring the possibilities; the next I was filling out an application to join the program for the Master’s in Social Welfare at the University of California at Los Angeles. My new role as a full-time graduate-school student meant leaving behind the life on the road with my husband.
He had only been gone for a few days, but I couldn’t wait to kiss his handsome, caramel face.
Driving down Century, I saw the sign in the distance. The words ‘Live Live Nude Nudes’ hung in muted, orange and red 1970s-style lettering. You’d think with all the razzle-dazzle strip clubs popping up everywhere, this one would wither and die and go back to being something more functional, as it was when it was a bowling alley. But it’s still there. And so are the girls.
I wondered about my old co-workers. Had they moved on to other clubs, or other lives, or were they still there?
I remembered that life: the suffocating feeling of being trapped, with no end in sight; wanting the money, needing it, but wishing there were some other legal way to get it. The constant pressure to smile, and pretend you want nothing more than to fulfill every wish and fantasy of a stranger, when all you really want to do is lie around your apartment in sweat pants, watching mafia movies like Goodfellas and Casino – imagining you could live some other life.
I remembered, and all I could do was pray: that the women behind those very walls, feeling as I once did, would have a real and true encounter with the loving, gracious, God of freedom and wonder that I have come to know. That they would discover the beauty that lies within them that is more precious than the rarest gem. That they would realize that the dreams of their youth and the passions of their hearts are important, and within reach.
The driver in front of me gently pressed his brakes, snapping me out of the trance I was in. I glanced in my rear view mirror, and saw that I had passed the Taco Bell parking lot I was planning to pull in to. Instead, I parked in a lot directly across the street from the club, turned my car off, and sat staring. There are girls in there right now, I thought.
What are you going to do? A voice whispered to my heart. What could I do? I felt as though I was outside a prison that had once held me captive. I was free, while there were still women feeling trapped inside. There was a stand-off: I was still, waiting for something to happen. For the other guy, for some other person, to come up with something: a solution; an idea; anything.
What are you going to do? What can I do? It’s not like I can waltz up there and tell the bouncer I want to talk to the girls. Even if he did let me in, what on earth would I say?
What do you want to say?
I glanced to my left and discovered a stack of postcards from a recent women’s conference I had attended. The woman pictured was facing away from the camera, looking confidently ahead. Her back was draped with strands of pearls. Tattooed across the warm brown skin of her shoulder blades were the words, ‘Her value… far above rubies and pearls.’
That is what I wanted to say. That is exactly what I wanted the women in that club to hear. Hands shaking, I grabbed the stack of postcards and began writing on the back of each one:
‘I was just driving by and wanted to tell you that you are loved…’
What else?
‘If you are ever interested in going to church, I know of a great one: www.oasisla.org.
You are welcome there!
Love, Harmony
PS: I used to work here too.’
When I first started dancing, even if I wanted to go to church, it would never have occurred to me that a church would have me. Still sitting in the car, my legs were heavy and stiff as I held the postcards in my hands. I wondered if I was doing the right thing. Would people think I was crazy for going back there?
I called my mother-in-law. If I am insane, she’ll tell me so, I thought. Her voice was deep and soothing like a mama bear; her words steady and careful, as she encouraged and prayed with me. It was settled; I wasn’t crazy.
I approached the parking lot and there, scattered between orange cones, were the dancers’ cars. ‘My’ spot was among them. Each night, when the security saw my car pulling into the lot, he removed the orange cone and motioned me into the space nearest the dancers’ entrance. Someone else was parked there now. As I approached the first car, a large man wearing a dark blue security jacket stepped out of the porn shop adjoining the club. Security: I hadn’t thought of that. I wasn’t sure he would let me go through with it.
The words Go in confidence radiated from within me. Before the security guard could even open his mouth, I briskly approached him and stuck out my hand.
‘Hi. My name is Harmony. I used to work here. I just wanted to leave these little notes for the girls.’ I whipped out the postcards and presented them to him. He looked at them and back at me. Tilting his head, he seemed caught off guard by the whole thing.
‘All right; go ahead,’ he said, as he waved me along and went back into the porn shop.
Quickly, before he changed his mind, I placed each postcard on the windshields of the dancers’ cars. I wondered what they would think when they found the postcards at the end of the night. What would I have thought?
As I headed to the airport terminal to pick up my husband, I imagined myself walking to my car after a long night of work: feet aching, head throbbing from six hours of pounding music. How would I feel if I entered the buzzing silence of my car and saw that little postcard sitting beneath my windshield wiper?
‘You are loved… You are welcome here.’ Aren’t those the words I had always longed to hear? That is all I ever wanted… to be loved and welcomed. Isn’t that what we all want?
When I pulled up to the airport terminal, I saw my husband standing there, leaning on his luggage. Always dapper, his vintage-looking Kangol hat was tipped slightly to one side. I hopped out of the car and threw my arms around him, nuzzling my face into his warm neck.
‘Missed you.’
‘Missed you, too.’
We got in the car and headed home.
‘John, you are never going to believe what I just did…’
I recounted the story, and he listened encouragingly.
‘That’s cool, babe. That’s really cool,’ he said, while affectionately squeezing my fingers one by one.
‘Yeah. I mean the whole thing has me thinking… maybe I can do that every time I come to pick you up at the airport. Or every time I pass by a strip club. Do you think other girls would want to do this too? This could be the start of something,’ I rattled on.
We had no idea that within a year a group of volunteers would be going to over 150 strip clubs annually. That we would be walking alongside women, encouraging them to live the healthy, flourishing lives they were created to live. That within two years we would be an official non-profit organization. That four years later we would be training other outreach groups throughout the nation.
The idea I had that night sitting in the parking lot has expanded and become more than I ever dreamed possible. No matter how much it has grown and changed, the message is still the same…
‘You are loved. You are welcome here.’ In our churches, in our lives.
This very message was first breathed like oxygen into my heart during a time when I needed it most in my own life. My passion to share it was born out of my own broken past. This is my story.
Laura and Charlie Rider have been married for twelve years. They share their nursery business in rural Wisconsin, their love for their animals, and their zeal for storytelling. Although Charlie's enthusiasm in the bedroom has worn Laura out, although she no longer sleeps with him, they are happy enough going along in their routine.
Jenna Faroli is the host of a popular radio show, and in Laura's mind is "the single most famous person in the Town of Dover." When Jenna happens to cross Charlie's path one day, and they begin an e-mail correspondence, Laura cannot resist using Charlie to try out her new writing skills. Together, Laura and Charlie craft florid, strangely intimate messages that entice Jenna in an unexpected way. The "project" quickly spins out of control. The lines between Laura's words and Charlie's feelings are blurred and complicated, Jenna is transformed in ways that deeply disturb her, and Laura is transformed in her mind's eye into an artist. The transformations are hilarious and poignant, and for Laura Rider, beyond her wildest expectations.
Here is a Reader's Guide to use also!
1. Laura muses that “she could only be her ultimate self when she was alone.” She isn’t the only one who has a clear “real” self and a constructed self. In what ways do the characters create new personas? Are these personalities convincing? Are they necessary?
2. Does Laura have the talent to be a writer? Are there rules that writers must follow, as she believes? Is Jenna correct when she suggests that it’s impossible to write without a historical knowledge of what has come before you?
3. How does the first interaction between Charlie and Jenna at the side of the road set the tone for their relationship? What changes and what remains the same once Laura is involved?
4. It is made clear during her interview with Jenna and again at the writers’ conference that Laura is not terribly knowledgeable about books and writing. Was she also naïve to involve her husband with another woman? What other characters display inexperience or ignorance?
5. Charlie and Laura are similar to Jenna and Frank in that both couples’ passion for one another has cooled after years of marriage. In what other ways are the couples similar? How are they different?
6. How has e-mail affected correspondence? How has it affected writing in general? What opinions would Charlie, Laura, and Jenna each have on the topic?
7. When Charlie thinks back to his childhood and his life with Laura, he recognizes that Prairie Wind Farm “had never been his goal, in part because he’d never had any particular goals.” If not his job, what else drives Charlie? What other examples are there of the gap between desire and reality?
8. Is a “conscious romance” possible? What kind of relationship would that be like?
9. Is it possible that Laura did, in fact, mean to paste Jenna’s e-mail, whether Laura realizes it consciously or not? Why would she have done it intentionally? Why is her reaction to the e-mail being sent out so different from Charlie’s and Jenna’s reactions?
10. Laura Rider starts a list of what women want. What would be on your list?
11. Who, in the end, has the upper hand in the Jenna Faroli Radio Show interview with Laura Rider? Or do neither or both have the upper hand?
12. Is any character responsible for Jenna and Charlie’s affair? Who or what would be the cause according to Laura? Jenna? Charlie?
13. What is the attraction, either romantic or not, between Charlie, Laura, and Jenna? What does each of them provide to each of the others?
14. In this satire, are all the characters skewered equally?
15. What does Hamilton seem to be saying about the writing life? Are writers necessarily ruthless?
Giveaway
I have three copies of this paperback book to giveaway courtesy of Hachette Books. For your first entry (MUST DO THIS ONE FOR ANY OTHER ENTRIES TO COUNT) tell us if you have ever wanted to be a writer! Oh - and leave your email address.
For additional entries you can sign up to follow (old followers let me know), Twitter or post it on your blog. Each entry must have it's own comment. (Four entries total.)
This giveaway if for U.S./Canada only - no PO boxes and will end Apr 8!
Worst Case by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge read by Bobby Canavale, John Glover, Orlagh Cassidy
One by one, children of New York's wealthiest are taken hostage. But the criminal doesn't crave money or power--he only wants to ask the elite if they know the price others pay for their luxurious lifestyles. And, if they don't, he corrects their ignorance--by killing them.
To Detective Michael Bennett, it becomes clear that these murders are linked and must be part of a greater, more public demonstration. With the city thrown into chaos, he is forced to team up with FBI agent Emily Parker, and the two set out to capture the killer before he begins his most public lesson yet--a deadly message for the entire city to witness.
From the bestselling author who brought you the Alex Cross novels comes James Patterson's most action-packed series yet. With the heart-pounding suspense that only Patterson delivers, WORST CASE will leave you gasping for breath until the very end.
I have three copies of this audiobook giveaway courtesy of Hachette Books. For your first entry (MUST DO THIS ONE FOR ANY OTHER ENTRIES TO COUNT) who is your favorite literary detective (policeman/woman, amateur sleuth, etc). Oh - and leave your email address.
For additional entries you can sign up to follow (old followers let me know), Twitter or post it on your blog. Each entry must have it's own comment. (Four entries total.)
This giveaway if for U.S./Canada only - no PO boxes and will end Apr 7!
Black Hills by Dan Simmons read by Erik Davies and Michael McConnohie
Paha Sapa, a young Sioux warrior, first encounters General George Armstrong Custer as Custer lies dying on the battlefield at Little Bighorn. He believes--as do the holy men of his tribe--that the legendary general's ghost entered him at that moment and will remain with him until Sapa convinces him to leave.
In BLACK HILLS, Dan Simmons weaves the stories of Paha Sapa and Custer together seamlessly, depicting a violent and tumultuous time in the history of Native Americans and the United States Army. Haunted by the voice of the general his people called "Long Hair," Paha Sapa lives a long life, driven by a dramatic vision he experiences in the Black Hills that are his tribe's homeland. As an explosives worker on the massive Mount Rushmore project, he may finally be rid of his ghosts--on the very day FDR comes to South Dakota to dedicate the Jefferson face.
I have three copies of this audiobook giveaway courtesy of Hachette Books. For your first entry (MUST DO THIS ONE FOR ANY OTHER ENTRIES TO COUNT) just leave a comment. Oh - and leave your email address.
For additional entries you can sign up to follow (old followers let me know), Twitter or post it on your blog. Each entry must have it's own comment. (Four entries total.)
This giveaway if for U.S./Canada only - no PO boxes and will end Apr 7!
Title: Scars and Stilettos: The Transformation of an Exotic Dancer Author: Harmony Dust Publisher: Monarch
About the book: Nineteen-year-old Harmony Dust is trapped. Thousands of dollars in debt, struggling to get by, dominated by her boyfriend: things can't get worse. . .until someone tells her how much money she can make as an exotic dancer. For the next three years, Harmony lives a double life as Monique, a dancer in a fully-nude strip club.
Scars and Stilettos is Harmony's stark, honest, and ultimately hopeful story of how God found her in that dark, noisy place and led her back out. She has since married, completed an MA in Social Welfare, and now leads Treasures, an organization helping women in the sex trade discover their true worth.
My thoughts: You start to learn about Harmony at the young age of 13. She is living with her mom and sometimes one of her mom's boyfriends. She pretty much takes care of herself. A friend, Derrick, eventually moves in - he is one of her mom's rescue cases. She tends to take in strays of all kinds to try to help them out - even though she needs a lot of help herself. Derrick eventually becomes Harmony's boyfriend - and by boyfriend I mean that Harmony supports him, does everything she can to make him want to stay with her, but he sleeps around and eventually gets another girl pregnant - and she finds herself supporting this girl and the baby also! It could only be because of God that she was able to pull herself out of this situation and start over.
I flew through this book in about a day - I just wanted to keep reading and see how God was able to change Harmony's situation - and He does, tremendously. To me, this was a very positive read - I think it would be a great one to recommend to someone you feel is searching for something to fill a need. It isn't real preachy, but more down to earth - and shows how God loves everyone - regardless of how they appear, or how they feel about themselves!
Visit the Treasures website to learn more about this wonderful ministry reaching out to women in the sex trade.
Scars and Stilettos Publisher/Publication Date: Monarch, Dec 2009 ISBN: 978-0-8254-6309-9 252 pages
~Special thanks to Cat Hoort, Trade Marketing Manager, of Kregel Publications for sending me a review copy.~
Title: Cole. . .I Love You to the Moon and Back Author: Aaron Dean Ruotsala Publisher: Xulon Press
About the book:Aaron Dean Ruotsala, 24-year-old husband, father, business owner, and pilot shares a true story about a heart-wrenching experience he calls the best and worst experience of a lifetime. This story will provoke you to laughter, tears, and cause you to examine yourself and your role as a human on this temporal journey. His prayer is that all who read this amazing story will learn from the experience in which they had no choice, to realize that when life brings you to the darkest, deepest, loneliest point imaginable, you will recognize what really matters in life. So, please laugh, cry, share, examine, and mostly enjoy this book that is certain to make you ask the question: "What if this happened to me?" The reality is that it could.
My thoughts: The strength and faith of this family is amazing. I am not sure that I would have such grace under these circumstances. They set up a Caring Bridge site and through it received much comfort and strength, but I believe at the same time they also gave as much as they received. Much of the book is the journal entries that were Aaron posted at Caring Bridge as well as many of the entries that guests left. This little boy had over 600,000 hits on his website within 2 months. He touched so many people, many of whom shared their stories of renewed marriages, renewed faith, new faith, due to Cole and his illness - with the majority of these people having never met him or his family. This book makes you take a look at what is important in your life - and realize that these people may not be there tomorrow - so make the most of them and your relationships with them today! I highly recommend reading this book.
The family has set up a foundation at www.colesfoundation.com which provides support to families in crisis, especially those who have children fighting cancer. Everyone, whether they read this book or not, should visit this site. You can also read more about Cole's story at his Caring Bridge page.
As an aside, I had started reading this book before we left to go skiing last week - and finished the book at Big Powderhorn Mountain - in Ironwood, Michigan - where the Ruotsala's are from - if that isn't a strange coincidence, I don't know what is!
Cole. . .I Love You to the Moon and Back Publisher/Publication Date: Xulon Press, May 2009 ISBN: 978-1-60791-444-0 220 pages
~I received this book free for review from Side Door Communications.~
For the Giveaway!
Side Door Communications has provided an audio version of Cole. . .I Love You to the Moon and Back for one of my readers!
To enter the giveaway - just leave a comment here. You can get an additional entry if you follow or subscribe, etc and another one for tweeting! Please leave each entry in a separate comment and leave an email address so that I can reach you!
The giveaway is restricted to US/Canada and will end on April 7th. Good luck!
TEASER TUESDAYS asks you to: Grab your current read. Let the book fall open to a random page. Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12. You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you have given! Please avoid spoilers!
From the brown paper gift bag from Ofie, Chloe pulled out a set of black Converse sneakers Ofie had decorated using a bleach pen. One shoe had a neat series of dots and dashes, but the other was smeared beyond recognition. (p160, Waking Up in the Land of Glitter by Kathy Cano-Murillo)
by Paul Doiron - Reading this as part of the Barnes and Noble First Look - It is a terrific book!
by Max Hardberger - Reading as part of Barnes and Noble Sneak Peak.
by Ann Shorey - Reading in preparation for Blog Tour of Book 2 - The Promise of Morning.
by Liz Curtis Higgs - Reading for this week's blog tour with Waterbrook Multnomah.
by Laura Childs - Just finished Eggs in Purgatory and can't wait to start this one!
by Andrew Klavan - Book 1 in The Homelanders series - and I have Book 2 - The Long Way Home waiting in the wings!
by Stephanie Meyer
by Lauren Oliver
by Nicholas Sparks
by Dawn Del Russo
by Lisa McMann
by Laura Childs
by Ginger Garret
by Kathy Cano-Murillo
