Politics Is a Dirty Game–Can Clean Politics Win?

Posted on by January 25, 2019
Reply
If you purchase The Peace Maker by clicking the picture or one of the links, as an Amazon Associate, I may receive a small amount of the revenue from your purchase.

Deb’s Dozen: Politics Is A Dirty Game. Can Running a Clean Campaign Win Election?

The Peace Maker by Michele Chynoweth shows the dirtier side of politics. Eventually, you realize, because she updates the story of Saul and David, some things never change.

A horse farmer from Kentucky, Leif Mitchell, selected to run for governor of Kentucky, wins against all odds. Later, because of his marketability and clean-cut image, the party selects him to run as the Republican candidate for President of the US.

Darren Richards, the Democratic senator from New York, opposes Mitchell. Ruthless and without conscience, Darren will go to any end to win the race, and therefore runs a smear campaign against his opponent, who leads in the polls. Angered by Richards’s politics and tactics, Leif reconsiders the high road, but after much soul-searching, decides to stay above the fray.

Darren’s wife, Chessa, know her husband to be an abusive alcoholic. She regrets the day she married him but had been blinded by his charm and position. She too has a decision to make—does she keep quiet about the senator’s evil ways and shoddy politics, or does she go to Leif to stop him from descending to Darren’s level. If Darren were to find out, her very life could be in danger.

Michele writes the machinations of politics well. The character of Leif Mitchell draws you in and, therefore, you like and sympathize with him. Darren Richards seduces the reader as he seduces Chessa. We find out when she does about his abusive attributes. Chessa plays an important role in the book. Therefore, I rooted for her to get out of her marriage and to become truly Chessa, instead of a pawn Darren uses.

The Peace Maker has politics, romance, intrigue, and relevance. You will recognize much of today in this story as well as the story of David and Saul. Four stars.

Michelle Chynoweth has won awards for her modern-day Bible stories. She aims to write contemporary novels which update Bible stories. Her purpose is to help readers better relate to God’s messages. She and her husband have a blended family of five children and live in North East, Maryland.

Streaming Consciousness Tells the Story

Posted on by January 21, 2019
Reply
If you purchase The Secret Life of Sarah Hollenbeck by clicking the cover or one of the links, I may receive a small amount of the revenue from your purchase as I’m an Amazon Associate.

Deb’s Dozen: Writer Writes Trashy Novels. Becomes a Success. Becomes a Christian. Now What?

Sarah Hollenbeck’s husband divorced her for another woman. Now what can she do? All she knew involved being a wife and hostess. Quilting takes too much time and energy. Traveling meant alone and lonely. Sarah decides to join a book club—and to be a writer—of poetry. Having narrowed her work down to one club, she sets off to share her poetry—dreadful poetry. To try and atone, she brings brownies the next week and realizes the ladies in the group pity her. Embarrassed, she rushes out of the room, but one of the women, Piper, who becomes her good friend, follows her. After telling all her woes to Piper over coffee, Sarah rushes home to write what she knows. What she knows, the book tells us in streaming consciousness fashion, is adult romance.

At the book club the next week, Sarah accidentally dumps her tote bag and out fall the pages of Stollen Desire—the ladies help her pick up the pages. They read them, enthralled by the smutty romance. They want to feel guilty but can’t stop reading. Embarrassed again, Sarah says a friend wrote the book. Pushed for a name, she comes up with Raine de Bourgh. And she takes off on a path she never dreamed of traveling. Her streaming consciousness romances become wildly successful, make Sarah a ton of money. Her ex is about to be married again, so she decides to go public—on the Tonight Show, no less!

Piper, her friend, disapproves of the smut, and over coffee tells Sarah why—and leads her to Jesus. Then the fun starts. Sarah realizes that Christians aren’t supposed to write this stuff, but all she knows seems to be this—and beside, she has commitments to keep—with her publisher. She goes to church with Piper one Sunday, bumps into a man in the hall and feels instant chemistry. Smiling secretly to herself, Sarah goes to sit with Piper only to discover the man is their new pastor. All this is told in her streaming consciousness fashion.

As you can tell from what I’ve written, the book rambles on and on. I kept waiting for the point of the story, but Bethany Turner has written a rambling, streaming consciousness-type book that follows Sarah’s thoughts and feelings as she stumbles through this new lifestyle. She could be somebody we know and she’s very funny. We see her naked thoughts and are in turn amused and embarrassed by them. However, the book turns out to be a cozy romance, so you can guess the ending almost from the beginning. The situations along the way make you keep reading to see what Sarah can do to embarrass herself next. Not my kind of book, nevertheless, I finished it because I couldn’t believe what I was reading. I’d rate the book three and a half stars, but I bet most will rate higher because of the unusual style.

Bethany Turner, a new-to-me author, works as the director of administration for Rock Springs Church. She’s a three-time cancer survivor and was formerly VP/operations for a commercial bank—all before she turned thirty-five. However, God directed her to write; therefore, she chose to follow the call. Bethany, her husband, and two sons live in Colorado.

Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group, gave me The Secret Life of Sarah Hollenbeck, but I was in no way obligated to write a review.

Wedding Planning Gone Awry

Posted on by January 20, 2019
Reply
If you purchase On Love’s Gentle Shore by clicking the book cover or one of the links, I may receive a small amount of the revenue from your purchase as I’m an Amazon Associate.

Deb’s Dozen: Frustrated bride-to-be must complete all wedding arrangements without her groom-to-be’s promised help.

I love a good love story. On Love’s Gentle Shore, part of the Prince Edward Island Dreams series, gave me a warm, cozy feeling as I read each page. I felt the bride’s frustrations as her fiancé left her on her own to make all their wedding arrangements. How would their romance progress if he absented himself? Natalie O’Ryan had left Prince Edward Island with no intentions of ever returning. Then her fiancé booked their wedding at the Red Door Inn in her hometown. The product of a dysfunctional family, Natalie felt everyone on the island, with rare exceptions, looks down on her. And now, arranging all the details for her wedding falls to her when her fiancé returns to Nashville to handle some business problems.

Justin Kane, her best friend from childhood, still lives there. He had never forgotten his feelings for Natalie and had never understood why she abandoned him with no word of why she left. Now he runs a successful dairy farm and makes the best of the life that differs greatly from what he had planned. Romance does not enter his mind.

Natalie had remade herself into a new person while in Nashville. But the island people remind her of her upbringing. She manages to stay basically in hiding until the venue for her wedding reception falls through. One of the island residents spitefully holds a grudge against her. Now Natalie must search for a new place to hold her reception. The only place large enough for the affair happens to be an abandoned building on the Kane farm.

Cozy RomanceLiz Johnson, a new-to-me author, creates wonderful characters put in impossible situations. I loved watching the interaction between Justin and Natalie. I also loved the insights into their romance Liz lays out for us as the story progresses toward the wedding. You will love the book too. Four stars!

Liz Johnson works as a director in marketing when she not writing. The author of more than a dozen novels, she plots them out with care. She also plots out her next trip to Prince Edward Island. Liz lives in Tucson, Arizona.

Revell, a division of the Baker Publishing Group, gave me a copy of On Love’s Gentle Shore, but I was in no way obligated to write a review.