BOOK REVIEW: "This Road We Traveled"

From up the back cover: Tabitha Brown refuses to be left behind in Missouri when her son makes the decision to strike out for Oregon - even if she has to hire her own wagon to join the party.  After all, family ties are stronger than fear. Along with her reluctant daughter and her ever-hopeful granddaughter, the intrepid Tabitha has her misgivings.  The trials they face along the way will severely test her faith, courage, and ability to hope.  With her family’s survival on the line, she must make the ultimate sacrifice, plunging deeper into the wilderness to seek aid.  What she couldn’t know was how this frightening journey would impact how she understood her own life - and the greater part she had to play in history. 

This is the first book I’ve read by Jane Kirkpatrick but it didn’t disappoint.  Given the fact that it is based on a real person makes the history even more poignant. Tabitha Brown was 66 years old when she took her family on the Oregon Trail. She was a widow with three children and trying too make sense of her life.  She had been disabled and lame since she was a child and had grown up knowing both good times and bad.  She was both a woman, a wife and mother, a grandmother, and a storyteller.  She built an orphanage and then developed a school and university.  She financed her own wagon she shared with her brother-in-law, when their small party headed out west on the Oregon Trail.  This book is a wonderful story of who she was, what she became, and the history of the State of Oregon.

***** Stars

Publisher: Revell, a Division of Baker House Publishing Group

ISBN: 9780800722333

I was given a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

TARA Contest Finalist

I got some happy news a week ago!

This is my completed, revised, medieval novel set during the Third Crusade. So happy to have placed as it's the book of my heart!

SEEING JESUS WHERE WE DON'T EXPECT HIM

I have a confession to make. Yesterday, God put a young woman in my path - and I didn't handle it in the best way - and I can't stop thinking about her.

My husband and I were running errands and stopped at a coffee shop. I went in to use the ladies room, and noticed that in the handicapped stall there was someone sitting on the floor, listing a bit to one side. I went up to the door and noted she was breathing normally and didn't seem to be distressed although her eyes were closed.

She was beautiful. Long dark hair, dressed in a tangerine crop top with fringe and beige shorts. Her fingernails were gel nails, her sandals looked brand new. I decided to give it a moment and see what happened. 

When we both exited the stalls, she put a crack pipe and lighter on the counter beside her purse. I had a micro second to register it and wipe my reaction off my face. I know from my police officer days, drug paraphenalia usually is accompanied with a weapon(s). 

She said, "Don't judge me." I looked at her gorgeous brown eyes, the many scars on her wrists, and the tattoos she'd put on her arms to try and cover them. I said, "I'm not judging you honey, I just peeked in to make sure you're okay."

"My best friend OD'd, okay?" She rummaged around in her purse. "I was the one who found her, but hey, life goes on, right?" I stepped back unconsciously, my eyes on what was coming out of her purse. She held up two identical cheap necklaces from Walmart - enameled pink and blue butterflies. "She gave me these. She loved butterflies, I don't know why..."

I said, "Honour her by not letting someone find you on the floor OD'd. Butterflies are beautiful and so are you." My heart pounded. I knew we had a connection but I didn't know what to do with it. She was coherent. The crack pipe was clean; she hadn't been smoking when I came in. 

She nodded her head as she looked at herself in the mirror. "You have a good day lady..."

I opened the bathroom door and could only say, "You have a good day too, hon..." and I left. 

Later I thought, 'why didn't you offer to buy her lunch? or a coffee? or check to see if anyone outside was with her?' And it haunted me all day and all night. 

We prayed for this unknown girl but I also asked the Lord to forgive me for not recognizing him and doing what ever He'd wanted me to do. Was I Jesus to her? No, she was Jesus to me. And I missed it. My reflex was to think "danger"... my tongue was tied when she needed me to say the right thing. 

How many times a day, a week, a month, does God put someone in our path who needs His touch? His love? Like most people, I was concentrating on my own needs, things to get done, myself. But this girl stopped me in my tracks. Thank you, Lord. For showing me I need to be constantly tuned in to Your Spirit to do what You want me to do. In the moment, in a day, in a week. 

I'll never know her name, but she's on my prayer list from now on.

BOOK REVIEWS ARE BACK...AND SO AM I

For so long I felt I didn't have any writing news to share but I'm happy to say I've got two book projects in the works, and I recently finaled in the Inspirational Category of the prestigious TARA Contest, put on by the Tampa Bay and Area Romance Writers of America. Now the wait is on to see where I place but most of all, I hope this book will see the light of day! For all of the contest finalists you can follow this link here: TARA Contest Finalists 2016 And congratulations to all my fellow finalists and good luck!

And in other news, monthly book reviews of Inspirational and other great fiction books are back as well. This month, I was pleased to review "WITHOUT WARNING" by Lynette Eason. And here it is:

From the Back Cover:

Intensity. Skill. Tenacity.
The bodyguards of Elite Guardians Agency have it all.

Katie Singleton, a partner with the Elite Guardians Protection Agency, stumbles upon her next assignment quite by accident. Spotting blue lights at a familiar restaurant, she stops to investigate, only to discover that owner Daniel Matthews has become the target of someone who will go to any lengths to put him out of business.

Daniel might be concerned, but he's not convinced that a bodyguard--and a female one at that--is necessary. A new attack and his niece's urgings are enough to make him reconsider. He and Katie must figure out who's behind the intimidation and threats--before a would-be killer strikes again.

I’m a big fan of Lynette Eason and thrilled with her series “Elite Guardians”, about a group of female ex-law enforcement agents who form a private protection/security company. The premise of such a series has already been done in secular fiction and I’m so happy the Christian market can now enjoy a similar series that’s female-centric with strong heroines who also struggle with deep past issues. 

“Without Warning” is the second book in the series. Lynette is skilled at keeping her tension taut and the threads of past characters and new characters within her main story clear and untangled. The couple from the first book, Olivia and Wade, figure lightly in this story but Lynette introduces her next book’s couple, Quinn and Maddy, in an organic way that rings true and adds depth to Katie and Daniel’s story as they race to find the killer/arsonist who’s targeted Daniel and his niece.

I loved Katie Singleton as a heroine. She’s suffering from PTSD due to a workplace event that shattered her family. During the story she must deal with her symptoms, guilt, and trying to reunite with her nuclear family. She’s a tough character while keeping her femininity intact.

Daniel’s ex-Marine with deep anger issues as well as PTSD. His obvious wealth isn’t explained in the book and if he appeared in the first book “Always Watching” and it was talked about there, the author didn’t carry it over. This was my only “question mark” about him. He owns a private plane and lives in a private air park, as well as owning three restaurants. As a reader, I would’ve just liked a brief explanation of his wealth. However, Daniel is highly intelligent and Katie is equally intelligent and a great foil for him. They both struggle together to understand the other’s pain and their romance develops at a natural pace.  

Lynette is particularly strong in bringing out subtle truths about God through her stories and this book is no exception. We can be angry at God but know He still loves for us. It’s human to grieve our losses and the death of loved ones. Lynette deals with both adult and teenage grief here in a Christian way. This book is a strong one to give to teen-aged daughters as it portrays strong Christian women and girls dealing with family estrangements, death, as well as grappling with teenage love.

You don’t have to read the books in order as they stand-alone but again, I’m thrilled to see this series of strong heroines in the Christian market: women who aren’t afraid of facing danger in their work, are intelligent, and care and nurture the people in their lives at the same time.

If you’re looking for great suspense as well as a clean romance, you’ll thoroughly enjoy “Without Warning”.

The next book, “Moving Target”, will be out January 31, 2017. I hope there’s some continuation of Katie and Daniel’s story over-lapping in it, as Lynette did such an excellent job of introducing Maddy and Quinn in this book.

I received a complimentary paperback copy from publisher Revell – a part of the Baker Publishing Group - in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

Thanks for stopping by!