The Debutante Queen Wears a Snowflake Tiara

Posted on by August 26, 2015
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Deb’s Dozen: Soft-hearted woman, waif in trouble, and a pageant to celebrate Montana’s statehood.

Calista Blythe, on an errand in downtown Helena, becomes tangled up (literally) with a young waif who begs for her help. She’s escaped from the brothel where her mother was indentured. Her mother died and the young girl is expected to pay off the indenture. Calista cannot stand the thought of the girl being whipped or the thought of what would happen to her in such a place. She takes Lea Murphy home in hope her parents will see the need to shelter her. When told the girl must be taken back, Calista’s heart nearly breaks. Lea, overhearing the conversation, runs and hides. Once she is found, Calista and Charles, her driver, hide the waif in the stable until Calista can find out how to get the indenture satisfied.

The next day, she finds the price of freedom for Lea from Chicago Joe is one hundred and two dollars–an enormous amount in 1889. In the meantime, we meet Albert Shanahan, a young businessman full of ideas of how to make Helena a tourist destination now that Montana has become a state. He dreams up the idea of a pageant where the young debutantes would compete for the title of Snowflake Queen. At first resistant to the idea, Calista eventually agrees to earn the money to pay back Chicago Joe for Lea.

How she manages to keep Lea hidden, the places she checks out to find Lea a place to live, the pageant, the romance, the plight of the youngsters dropped off at this, the last stop of the Orphan Trains–all these add up to a very delightful story. You’ll smile and shed a tear or two as you read The Debutante Queen in Snowflake Tiara. Four stars.

Angela Breidenbach has a winner in The Debutante Queen, which is paired in the same volume with More Than a Tiara, Valerie Comer’s story of the 2014 Snowflake Queen. Angela, who presently serves as the president of the Christian Author’s Network (CAN) also has a radio show, Grace Under Pressure, and has several other books in the works. GraceUnderPressureRadio.com is a podcast about women of courage, confidence, and candor–just the type of women she writes about.

Presently under contract with Barbour Publishing along with nine other authors for Bridal Whispers, Angela is delighted to be able to tell her grandparent’s love story. Bridal Whispers is about women who were married for one reason or another and then fell in love. Her grandparents were married for fifty-four years and had three children.

Angela told me that she loves to write stories that have families and are interconnected. Family is very important to her, so such stories resonate in her heart. She has been in Montana for twenty-three years after spending time with America West Airlines in Phoenix and some time in Spain. She and Mike have six children–two of her husband’s and four of Angie’s. Angie was born in Las Vegas and graduated from a high school in Denver. She laughingly said she then got “certifications for whatever the job required!”

Angie and MuseIf you follow Angela Breidenbach on Facebook, you’ll soon meet her “comedic fe-lion, #Muse.” #Muse is on her social media and her blog. And amusing #Muse is!(AngelaBreidenbach.com/categories/amusings)

Deb’s Dozen: Stress, Anxiety, Worrying—Not Any More! I’m Too Blessed to be Stressed!

Posted on by August 18, 2015
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Deb’s Dozen: Stress, Anxiety, Worrying—Not Any More! I’m Too Blessed to be Stressed!

Too Blessed to Be Stressed by Debora M. Coty is a delightful book written to teach us how to get the negatives of stress, anxiety, worry, etc., out of our lives. Short, winsome chapters all start with a Scripture quotation and end with a few questions to help us get our minds in order to put these ideas into practice. I’ll whet your appetite for getting de-stressed with a few tidbits from the book.

From “Gray: The New Blond”: “… there are far too many other things to worry about [than gray hair]. And I should know; I latch on to vexation like a gator on a goose. Over the years I have honed the art of worry into a science. I’ve systematically and diligently transformed molehills into mountains. I’ve whipped pesky irritants into frothy, acetic colon-coaters and fretted over annoying burdens until they invaded my dreams.” Can you relate?

From “The Back Forty: Years, Not Acres”: “Wrinkles form in the dead of the night. You know, if I listen closely, I can hear my flesh creasing and crinkling when I pad to the bathroom in the wee hours. (It must’ve been a woman who coined the phrase wee hours on a midnight potty run.) And “There must be a way to use gravity to our advantage. Maybe ditching our bras would pull the wrinkles out of our faces. But then we’d have to tuck our bosoms into our knee-highs to keep from tripping over them.”

“Humility Becomes You” gives us this instruction on humility: “My friend Rich, a teacher and father, has an infections attitude of humility. When teachers at the Christian school where he worked were told that budget cuts necessitated that staff assume janitorial duties, grumbling broke out among the ranks. During the protests and discussion that ensued, Rich quietly disappeared with the cleaning supplies. When discovered scrubbing toilets on his knees, Rich replied, ‘Kneeling at this throne is no different than kneeling at God’s throne—it’s all for His glory!’”

“Nurturing Girlfriends”—a very important de-stressor. [Talking about those runs in the wee hours] “Girls bond over such dribble, er, I mean drivel. Yes, girlfriends fill in the holes in our relationships with others … especially the sinkholes. Girlfriends make us laugh when we least expect it.” Aren’t you ever so grateful for yours?

And your last tidbit—you need to buy the book!—from “Dead Last.” “… our God is not a random God … For His specialty, His forte, His marvelous operational technique is to use inadequate, frightened people to serve as His hands and feet. Yahweh’s courage is more than enough … brilliant, really. Then there’s no doubt whom the real rescuer is.”

I laughed out loud, giggled endlessly, and had “doh!” moments reading Too Blessed To Be Stressed
. You will, too! You’ll also want to pick up the Too Blessed to be Stressed edition of The Bible Promise Book: Too Blessed to Be Stressed Edition Debra gives us in context promises to lean on while we’re de-stressing. Four stars to both books!

Deborah M CotyDebra and I giggled and yakked our way through our interview. Turning serious, Debra said that today stress is a front and center problem for many, many women. We have to take active steps to decompress ourselves. She writes women’s issues books that have sold more than 80,000 copies. As a matter of fact, Too Blessed to be Stressed has given birth to eleven offspring!

“What did you learn from writing this book, Debra?”
“Deb, I confirmed that there is no one way to become an expert in de-stressing. There are a variety of techniques and coping skills. I found you never really have a handle on it and have to be flexible and keep trying new things.”

Debra started writing at age forty-five. She said God told her, “Debra, it’s time.” Prior to starting to write, Debra was an occupational therapist specializing in hands for twenty-five years, The book that has most impacted her life other than the Bible was Christy by Catherine Marshall. She has been married to Chuck for thirty-six-plus years; they have two children in their 30s, Christy (named for Catherine Marshall’s heroine) and Matthew. Debra has had ten articles published in the last year and writes a column for the newspaper called “Grace Notes.”

Debra has an AA degree from the University of South Florida and a Bachelor of Health Sciences from the University of Florida. She has taken the Brandeis course for Christian writers and faithfully attends the Florida Christian Writer’s Conference. One of her de-stressors is playing tennis—she admits to being an addict. She always wears a hat and has them in every imaginable color. When I asked her why hats, she replied, “I never have a bad hair day and don’t even have to touch up my roots very often.” With a last giggle and a wave, she was off to brighten someone else’s day.

For Such a Time … The Salvation of Our People

Posted on by August 17, 2015
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Deb’s Dozen: For such a time as this, you will be our people’s salvation.

For Such a Time by Kate Breslin is a thought-provoking book, which made me pause and ponder several times. The heroine in the story, Stella Muller (Hadassah), is modeled on Esther. She, too, will be the salvation of her people. Set in Theresienstadt (Terezin), the story recounts Stella’s rescue from Dachau and her journey to health and determination as the Kommandant’s secretary. Aric Schmidt, the Kommandant of Theresienstadt, is a decorated war hero to the Nazis. After being wounded in a battle against the Russians, he is rewarded with this post following his recovery. Touring Dachau, he came upon Stella on a firing squad line still holding the hand of a little girl who had just been killed by the squad. Compelled to rescue her, he takes her to his home in Theresienstadt, allows her to recover, and then uses her as his secretary.

Providentially, her uncle, Morty, is imprisoned in the ghetto at Theresienstadt, and they are reunited. Aric does not know that Stella is really Hadassah Benjamin, but believes she is an Aryan who has been imprisoned through a mishap over her papers (which actually are false). Morty is the last of the Jewish Elders still alive there and has the gruesome task of picking the prisoners who are to go on the trains to Auschwitz. Joseph, a young Jewish boy whom the Kommandant has made his houseboy, is the go-between for Morty and Stella.

This was a very hard story to read. I didn’t want to remember the atrocities that the Nazis inflicted upon the Jews during WWII. I didn’t want to face the hardships that they lived with on a daily basis. Perhaps the most telling scene for me was when the Kommandant forced one of his officers to eat a bowl of the “potato soup” that was being served to the Jews. The officer ate it and immediately vomited. How awful it must have been to have had to eat rotten potato soup to survive!

After having said all that, I will still recommend that you read For Such a Time. The story, although ugly in the situation, is still a story of hope and redemption and love. You will fall in love with Stella and Joseph and Helen and ache for Morty and Leo and Yakov and the others in the ghetto. You will agonize with the Kommandant, Aric, as he tries to ascertain who he is and what he has become. For Such a Time will be that unforgettable book for you. Four stars. For Such a Time can be purchased by clicking this link.

Kate-breslin-photoKate Breslin is a Florida girl who migrated to the Pacific Northwest. She now lives in Seattle and has a son and a grandson. She spent fifteen years as a bookseller. She loves classical movies, the outdoors and gardening. Her favorite authors are Francine Rivers, Liz Curtis Higgs, Stephanie Landsem, and Julie Garwick. I love that her writing view in Seattle is much like mine here in Massachusetts!Kate Breslin Office-View-R

When I interviewed her she told me she chose this topic because of a parallel story she had read about a WWII Nazi concentration camp. She had been reading Esther and asked herself if she could bring Esther’s story to “modern” times. Each chapter starts with a relevant quote from the Book of Esther.

She has received much acclaim for For Such a Time. The book is up for a Christy and two Carol Awards as well as a Romance Writers of America award. She won Christian Retailing’s 2015 Best-Selling Award for First Time Author. Her next book, Not By Sight, has just released.

I asked Kate what she had learned about herself while writing For Such a Time. She told me she learned to finally hear her calling and have the courage to follow it. She feels she needs to stop writing for the general market and to do what God wants her to do. To hear from Kate, watch this video produced by Bethany House: Interview with Kate Breslin