Goodbye Hollywood Nobody by Lisa Samson

It is October 11th, and FIRST is doing a special tour to 'Say Goodbye to Hollywood Nobody'.

Today's feature author is:

LISA SAMSON

and her book:

Goodbye Hollywood Nobody

NavPress Publishing Group (September 15, 2008)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Lisa Samson is the author of twenty books, including the Christy Award-winning Songbird. Apples of Gold was her first novel for teens

These days, she's working on Quaker Summer, volunteering at Kentucky Refugee Ministries, raising children and trying to be supportive of a husband in seminary. (Trying . . . some days she's downright awful. It's a good thing he's such a fabulous cook!) She can tell you one thing, it's never dull around there.

Other Novels by Lisa:

Hollywood Nobody, Finding Hollywood Nobody, Romancing Hollywood Nobody, Straight Up, Club Sandwich, Songbird, Tiger Lillie, The Church Ladies, Women's Intuition: A Novel, Songbird, The Living End

Visit her at her website.

Product Details

List Price: $12.99
Paperback: 192 pages
Publisher: NavPress Publishing Group (September 15, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1600062229
ISBN-13: 978-1600062223

MY REVIEW:

When I first met Scotty in the book Hollywood Nobody, she was a 15-year-old loner, a pretty popular blogger and a child on the run with her hippie grandmother, Charley. Four books later I’ve reached the conclusion of this terrific series in Goodbye Hollywood Nobody, and Lisa Samson has crafted a story that is the perfect conclusion in every way for this eclectic teen and her very unusual family!

Scotty has remained a colorful character with a sharp mind and an even sharper wit throughout the series. However, by the time she appears in Goodbye Hollywood Nobody, her new faith is beginning to blossom into something really beautiful. God’s love has in fact transformed her life and her family into so much more than she ever dared to dream or imagine! Lisa Samson takes the reader through each tender step in this process that will make you laugh and cry along the way. Your heart and mind will stay engaged until the final page and then….. a very satisfying sigh!! Perfect! Please, go grab your own copy today!

Don’t miss this series! You can read my reviews of the other three books here, here and here. I think you will enjoy watching Scotty mature and change as the series progresses, and if you’re like me, you’re going to miss her! This is the perfect series for the teen girls in your life, so check it out! It totally rocks! I’m just sayin’!

AND NOW...THE FIRST CHAPTER:

Monday, July 11, 6:30 a.m.

I awaken to a tap on my shoulder and open my eye. My right eye. See, these days it could be one of four people: Charley, Dad, Grampie, or Grammie.

“’Morning, dear!”

Grammie.

Oh well, might as well go for broke. I open the other eye.

“Did you sleep well?”

I shake my head and reach for my cat glasses. “Nope. I kept dreaming about Charley in Scotland.” We sent her off with her new beau, the amazing Anthony Harris, two days ago. “I imagined a road full of sheep chasing her down.”

“That would be silly. They would have to know she hates lamb chops.” Grammie sits on my bed. Yes, my bed. In their fabulous house. In my own wonderful room, complete with reproductions of the Barcelona chair and a platform bed of gleaming sanded mahogany. I burrow further into my white down comforter. I sweat like a pig at night, but I don’t care. A real bed, a bona fide comforter, and four pillows. Feather pillows deep enough to sink the Titanic in.

She pats my shoulder, her bangled wrists emitting the music of wooden jewelry. “Up and at ’em, Scotty. Your dad wants to be on the road by seven thirty.”

“I need a shower.”

“Hop to it then.”

Several minutes later, I revel in the glories of a real shower. Not the crazy little stall we have in the TrailMama, which Dad gassed up last night for our trip to Maine. Our trip to find Babette, my mother. Is she dead or alive? That’s what we’re going to find out.

It’s complicated.

The warm water slides over me from the top of my head on down, and I’ve found the coolest shampoo. It smells like limeade. I kid you not. It’s the greatest stuff ever.

Over breakfast, Grampie sits down with us and goes over the map to make certain Dad knows the best route. My father sits patiently, nodding as words like turnpike, bypass, and scenic route roll like a convoy out of Grampie’s mouth.

Poor Grampie. Dad is just the best at navigation and knows everything about getting from point A to point B, but I think Grampie wants to be a part of it. He hinted at us all going in the Beaver Marquis, their Luxury-with-a-capital-L RV, but Dad pretended not to get it.

Later, Dad said to me, “It’s got to be just us, Scotty. I love my mother and father, but some things just aren’t complete-family affairs.”

“I know. I think you’re right. And if it’s bad . . .”

He nods. “I’d just as soon they not be there while we fall apart.”

Right.

So then, I hop up into our RV, affectionately known as the TrailMama, Dad’s black pickup already hitched behind. (Charley’s kitchen trailer is sitting on a lot in storage at a nearby RV dealership, and good riddance. I’m hoping Charley never needs to use that thing again.) “Want me to drive?”

He laughs.

Yep. I still don’t have my license.

Man. But it’s been such a great month or so at the beach. So, okay, I don’t tan much really, but I do have a nice peachy glow.

I’ll take it.

And Grampie grilled a lot, and Grammie helped me sew a couple of vintage-looking skirts, and I’ve learned the basics of my harp.

I jump into the passenger’s seat, buckle in, and look over at my dad. “You really ready for this?” My heart speeds up. This is the final leg of a very long journey, and what’s at the end of the path will determine the rest of our lives.

He looks into my eyes. “Are you?”

“I don’t know,” I whisper. “But we don’t really have a choice, do we?”

“I can go alone.”

I shake my head. “No, Dad. Whatever we do, whatever happens from here on out, we do it together.”

“Deal.”

On Tour with My God Box by Margaret Iuculano

A MESSAGE FROM THE AUTHOR:

I want to thank our Blog Host for taking the time to read My God Box a memoir about an abusive childhood but more importantly on how a mustard seed of faith in God turned around the life of a child. I feel blessed that you are willing to share the book on the Blog Tour Name. You are helping to create awareness about a topic that desperately needs to be addressed and has reached epidemic proportions - 500,000 children in the Foster Care System within the US.

Our country is in a crisis with an overloaded Foster Care System and children falling through the cracks daily and being put into homes to provide safety only to be left neglected again. How can we expect these children to become productive adults growing up in this environment? How can we teach these children how to have faith in God and then themselves to correct the wrongs being committed in their lives? How can we help Foster Parents to recognize the difference they can make in a life of a child and the importance of their role? And most importantly, how can we teach to break the Cycle of Abuse so we can shrink the numbers of children going into foster care in the future?

There's a truth I came to realize that changed my life and can change the lives of others. Have Faith in God - put your troubles into his hands and allow him to use you for the purpose you were born for. Once I started to follow this truth in my life I came out of despair to complete happiness and peace. I recognized my ability to help others and the importance of viewing each other as Gods children, people who possess a lot of value and have a mission just like I do for God.

When I began to see that God had a mission for my life, I started to embrace my challenges and learn from them without looking back. I was able to rid myself of the victim mentality and succeed where I was told I never would.

My prayer is that you see the message in My God Box and that it will inspire you to learn to overcome a traumatic experience and more importantly help someone else. I pray that you will agree that all it takes is a mustard seed of faith to realize your God Given potential.

God Bless You,
Margaret Iuculano

My God Box contains a victorious testimony of God’s grace and mercy shed abroad in the heart of one of the most abused, mistreated, misunderstood children I’ve ever read about! Margaret Iuculano’s childhood was truly lived in hellish circumstances year after year. Yet God brought her through all of that to a place of forgiveness, repentance, and wholeness that would be unbelievable except for the fact that her own testimony gives all glory and honor to God alone for delivering her out of a life that many never even survive.

MY REVIEW:

I will be honest and say that even though Margaret prefaces the entire book by stating that its purpose is to give honor and glory to God for what He alone has done in her life, it was still a very difficult, dark story to read. I think it is still really hard for me to comprehend that children can and are so badly abused and mistreated by their own parents! That horrifies me in a way I barely know how to express. Yet the Lord brought Margaret step by step to a place of wholeness and success using a variety of people along the way. She has now reached a place that allows her to actively work as an advocate for other abused children. Truly, her life is a miracle of God alone.

This book has a specific purpose – to enlighten people about a dire and specific need in the lives of children who have been lost in the labyrinth of foster care and abusive relationships. As heartbreaking as it is to recognize this as a need in our great country, it is a need that truly exists. Please visit Margaret’s website to learn more about her work and recent book, My God Box. I believe your heart and mind will be challenged and your spirit urged to make an eternal difference in the life of the children around you.

A VIEW FROM THE AUTHOR'S WINDOW:

How many kids in the U.S. are in foster care?

On any given day the statistics show over 500,000 children in the US in the foster care system. The number has reached an epidemic level which has burdened a system not built or equipped to handle the issues facing these children.

How long do they stay in foster care (on average)?

2.5 years is the average across the US - the federal government has asked the individual states to try and reach a permanency solution for these children within 9 months but unfortunately the system is not equipped to meet this goal.

Do they live with the same foster parents the entire time?

If they are lucky! I personally experienced over 15 different living environments and see the same movement between homes and shelters happening today.

You grew up in foster care - what was your experience like?

My experience was most of the foster parents were not equipped to handle a troubled child who needed help. I was in poverty struck homes as well as abusive homes within the foster care system and these are the homes I advocate against. Children removed from their abusive home environments should not be put into a system that is not providing them a better environment than the home they were removed from.

There are many wonderful foster parents who want to help children. But there are people who take in foster kids for the money - how can that be changed?

Not all but too many foster parents see their role as a job not wanting to get too attached to the child as it is a temporary situation thus making the child feel like a 2nd class citizen. The daily stipend a foster parent receives is not a lot of money but if you take in a few children it can be more than a welfare check.

Do you think there’s enough training for foster parents?

There is not an easy answer to this problem with continual budget cuts within the foster care system but there really can't ever be enough training to learn how to cope with a child who needs help. You can become a foster parent in many states with only a few days of training and a criminal background check. Foster parents need so much more to make them successful.

Is abuse a common problem in foster care?

It is too common and this is due to lack of resources and money to create a system that rewards foster parents based on outcomes versus number of children per day you take in. Local Department of Children and Families needs to be monitoring these children more effectively to eliminate the abuse taking place in these homes. It is not okay to have 1 child abused within the system and this issue needs to be addressed as a priority.

What compelled you to write My God Box?

I feel I was blessed to have found God amid all the pain and misery I endured during my growing years. However, I also feel it’s time to give thanks and give back. I struggled for over two years with doubts and mixed feelings about setting my life in print, but whenever I took a step back, I was energized and encouraged by the awe-inspiring certainty that God wanted me to tell my story—for self-healing, but more importantly to open the minds and hearts of other suffering individuals to the mercy and goodness of God. God is hope. Without God there is no hope. Without hope there is no life.

Who is your target audience?

My God Box is addressed to anyone struggling to overcome the traumas and challenges of a dysfunctional or broken life. It is also for anyone associated with someone living in pain and misery. Furthermore, it is for anyone who wants to live a serene life in harmony with the wishes of their Creator. In other words it is for everyone who seeks happiness and fulfillment for themselves and/or others.

What are some of the stark realities surrounding Foster Care Programs?

The truth is that children are not ‘OK’ just because they have been removed from an abusive home and entrusted to a foster family. Although there are kind, nurturing people enrolled as foster parents, on the flip side there are individuals interested only in the monetary aspects of the program; individuals often just as, if not more dysfunctional, emotionally unstable and abusive than the child’s biological parents. This is one of the reasons why I wrote My God Box—to bring awareness to the plight of foster children—and to hopefully fix the shattered parts of a system in desperate need of repair.

What are your long range goals?

My goal is to promote awareness of childhood abuse by using My God Box as a vehicle to become and advocate for children’s rights. I want to inform and encourage others to join with me to make a difference in the life of an innocent vulnerable child who needs to be protected and defended from society’s evils. I am planning speaking engagements/seminars which will help motivate people to start thinking about making changes in their lives and in the lives of others.

For Young Men Only by Jeff Feldhahn & Eric Rice - GIVE AWAY!!

Shaunti Feldhahn is well-known for her “Only” series: For Men Only, For Women Only, For Parents Only, For Young Women Only. These books explore the inner workings of the thought processes taking place on the opposite side of a given perspective. This series has had a profound effect on people trying to better understand those with whom they share relationship. The final book in the series For Young Men Only has finally arrived, and are you in for a treat! This is only the second book from this series I’ve ever read, and the information it contains is both insightful and accurate. I am so thankful that the Feldhahn’s and Rice’s care enough to provide godly insight into the mysterious world of male/female relationship!

For Young Men Only is authored by Jeff Feldhahn and Eric Rice – the spouses of the women who co-authored For Parents Only and For Young Women Only. These two men talk candidly and openly to young men (older teens) about many aspects of building relationship with the opposite sex. Whether you are Abercrombie Boy, Average Joe or Bad-Dude Black Knight, the way to a girl’s heart includes confidence, fun, an adventuresome spirit, decisiveness and an outgoing personality! Sound like too much for any girl to expect? Well, it’s not as impossible or overwhelming as you think! Feldhahn and Rice cover everything from “Feelings are Reasons too” to “The truth about girls, guys and sex.” After you better understand the elements of relationship, you might stand a better chance of winning the girl!

All in all, I wish this were required reading for all teen-aged boys! Based on real responses from a broad range of teenage girls, this book contains accurate and realistic data interpreted from a Christian worldview. At the end of the book, there is an awesome set of questions for each chapter that would provide fertile teaching ground for adults and teens. This truly is an amazing little book, packed with useful information. I highly recommend parents and youth leaders to check out this entire series and introduce it to the young people in your life! Please stop by the website For Young Men Only, and learn more about this terrific book! You can also purchase a copy here today! If you leave a message on this post with your contact information, your name will be entered to win a FREE copy of this great book!

ABOUT THE AUTHORS:

Jeff Feldhahn is an attorney and the owner of the tech company, World2One. With his wife, Shaunti, he wrote the best selling FOR MEN ONLY.

Eric Rice is the owner/director/producer of 44 Films. Eric lives in Atlanta area with his wife, Lisa, and their four teenage children.

Shaunti Feldhahn is a nationally syndicated newspaper columnist, public speaker, and best-selling author. Please visit her website to learn more about her work!

Hometown Favorite by Bill Barton and Henry O. Arnold

This week, the
Christian Fiction Blog Alliance
is introducing
Hometown Favorite
Revell (September 1, 2008)
by
Bill Barton and Henry O. Arnold


ABOUT THE AUTHORS:



Bill Barton is a business partner with Compass Technologies. An active member and volunteer at his church, Hendersonville Chapel, Barton is a regular speaker at services and other events. He lives in Hendersonville, Tennessee, with his family.



Henry O. Arnold has been a professional actor, writer, and director in theatre, film, and television. He co-wrote and produced the film The Second Chance starring Michael W. Smith and wrote the screenplay for the first authorized film documentary on evangelist Billy Graham, God's Ambassador. Arnold lives in Portland, Tennessee.


ABOUT THE BOOK

Talented, handsome, and personable, Dewayne Jobe rose from humble beginnings in rural Mississippi to play college football in Southern California and beyond. One of the best wide receivers in college ball, Dewayne is assured a promising career in professional football as one of those rare athletes whose exceptional abilities place him in a league of his own.

He easily finds success both on and off the field. Dewayne's got a beautiful, intelligent wife running his lucrative endorsement business and carrying his child and the pristine white picket fence to boot. The only thing lacking is a road sign confirming his address on Easy Street.

But catastrophe looms right around the corner and ultimately strikes with a crushing vengeance. Will Dewayne's faith and character stand the test of such tragedy? Or will he lose everything--including the love of his life?

This modern retelling of the story of Job will capture readers with the age-old question of why bad things happen to good people--and how good people can survive.

Combining realistic sports action and a deadly serious challenge to faith, Hometown Favorite is a story that won't let you up off the turf until the game clock hits zero.

MY REVIEW:

“Jesse, a man is not defined by one event in his life.” (p. 96)

Coach Jake Hopper’s words, spoken to one of his former high school football stars, became almost prophetic in my mind by the time I reached the final pages of Hometown Favorite. Truly, Bill Barton and Henry O. Arnold understand that life indeed has many defining moments, and whether we lose a ballgame, lose a family member or lose a friend, we each must choose whether or not we will cling to God’s strength to see us through or whether we will cling to our own bitterness and become broken. Hometown Favorite is a story ripe with unconditional love, raw with human emotion and seasoned with sorrow and suffering that adds the depth needed to draw this story to a satisfying and thought-provoking conclusion. Your heart will never view life as anything less than a precious gift from God once you have read this story!

Hometown Favorite takes the reader on a journey through the life of Dewayne Jobe. Beginning in a small Mississippi town and reaching out as far as Los Angeles and Houston, this story is filled with richly textured, believable characters that range from Cheri Jobe, factory worker and sports mom, to Rosella Caldwell, daughter of wealthy L.A. parents and the love of Dewayne’s life. Jesse and Sly are Dewayne’s closest friends, and Coach Hopper is the man that loves each of the three men as his own sons. The story unfolds as easy-going and steady as Dewayne’s rock-solid faith and intensifies to a point that almost squeezes the reader’s heart in two. The changes that come to Dewayne Jobe take his faith beyond its breaking point to a place only God can reach.

Hometown Favorite is much more than just a football hero’s tale. This is a story about God’s grace and mercy – about His sovereignty in every detail of our lives. The details in this book may be fictional, but all readers will recognize many scenarios from their own life experiences. We will all recognize the fact that even when life is filled with unbearable pain and times of suffering that the thread of hope binds us to the heart of our Heavenly Father. It is this hope that brings us through our suffering and into a renewed place of joy and life.

Hometown Favorite is a book I highly recommend! It is a story you will remember for a very long time! Purchase your own copy today!

If you'd like to read the first chapter of Hometown Favorite, go HERE

"An amazing story of betrayal, forgiveness, redemption and hope. The characters are vibrant and alive. Barton and Arnold have a rare and keen understanding of human nature, making the spiritual truths of this story both profound and compelling."

~Michael W. Smith, recording artist

"Like a close game and a score that just won’t turn around, Dewayne’s true fans and Hometown Favorite readers will appreciate the daunting odds fate doles out and this story’s hard-won outcome."

~Darnell Arnoult, author of Sufficient Grace

A View from Siri Mitchell's Window

Siri Mitchell's work is new to me, but I can tell you now that I sincerely hope to be reading her historical romances for a long time to come! Her latest novel, A Constant Heart, is set amid Queen Elizabeth's court. Please, join me now as Siri Mitchell shares a bit of her own heart with her readers. I think you will find this as fascinating as I did! Welcome, Siri Mitchell to my Window!

A Constant Heart is a book very different in type from those preceding it. Where did the inspiration for this story come from?

I’ve always been interested in history and fashion. And it’s always struck me that if women (myself included) could learn how to be okay with who they are, we would be able to avoid so many pitfalls, both spiritually and physically. As I looked at fashion through history, it appalled me how many times women tried to alter themselves in dangerous ways and how many times frivolous fads created dangerous situations for those trying to wear and supply them. A Constant Heart was born from that observation and the thought that women need to learn the lessons of the past or we’re bound to repeat them.

How did you so accurately capture the practices of the courtier and their wives? How did you make their emotions so realistic? The scenes between Lord Lytham and Marget were so tense with passion and distrust!! Tell us a little about that.

In preparation for writing, I did a lot of research into the time period. I read broadly about the era and more specifically several biographies of women of the time. I was also able to find a treasure-trove of primary documents on the internet that gave me insight into the thinking of the times. Because Queen Elizabeth was (obviously) a woman, gender politics were reversed during her reign. I was fascinated by the idea of men acting in ways that we think are female. i.e. dressing and primping to impress, practicing the arts of charm and flirtation, purposely trying to catch the eye of a person in power. Once I realized that love was not the answer in Elizabethan England, the structure of the story fell into place. Because Queen Elizabeth was so vain and jealous and because Lytham, as courtier, had to please her, Lytham and Marget’s marriage feels much more like an affair. I suspect that the tempestuous emotions they experience are so tense because they were trying so hard to hide their relationship.

The scene with the radishes!! Explain the meaning of the salad ingredients…where on earth did you discover that and how common was that in practice? I never dreamed a radish could be so breathtaking and romantic!! Were they really that superstitious about everything? Did everything have meaning like that?

The inspiration for the salad scene came from a passage in Elizabeth’s London by Liza Picard. In a section about food and drink (p. 157-158), she quotes a book from the period (The Englishe Scholemaister by Jacques Bellot, an English language textbook for French speakers). In that passage, Bellot identifies the meanings of the ingredients of a ‘salatte of love’:

Borage = You make me glad

Bugloss = I am pleased with you

Scallion = I love you not

Cabbage lettuce = Your love feedeth me

Bitter lettuce = I love you not

Olives = Your love annoyeth me

Rosemary flowers = I accept your love

Winter savory = I offer you my love

Radish = Pardon me

Later, in that section, Picard states that strawberries meant “I am altogether yours” and “lilies of the valley…meant ‘kiss me.’”

In my historical, I try to set up challenges for myself. My challenge in this book was to write a scene in which the relationship between Marget and Lytham reached a turning point, but in which no words were exchanged. I think the ‘love salad’ accomplished it quite nicely!

The Elizbethan world encompassed both medieval barbarity and modern civility. Many things in nature were still imbued with meaning and superstition abounded. Shakespeare referred to the language of flowers in his plays (in Hamlet for instance he references herbs and flowers throughout) without necessarily explaining their significance, so I think we can assume that these symbolic meanings were widely known. I’m sure not every dish was eaten as carefully as Marget and Lytham’s love salad, but the opportunity to communicate a message through food was entirely possible.

Lady de Winter certainly had an agenda as does the Queen herself. Were all of the women during that period so mean and jealous? So deadly in their power? I assume this existed only within the wealthy class?

I’d say most of the women in the upper class who lived at court were bent on scheming and conniving. If you were at court, the only reason you were there was to consolidate your power or try to gain more. And most often, a gain in power came at the expense of someone else. The Queen showed her favor by bestowing gifts and one of her favorite things to do was re-gift (I’ll just take this estate from you and give it to him!). I think of the whole system as a precursor to Project Runway: One day you’re in, the next you’re out! The lower classes didn’t have nearly as much to lose in terms of wealth and power and there was very little mobility between the classes so the women of the lower classes had much more relative freedom than their upper class counterparts.

The face-painting, hair coloring, brow plucking certainly was a deadly exercise during that century!! I’ve noticed we still practice a lot of the same things today albeit with safer products! Did women really steal babies? What was the percentage of deaths due to the make-up? Was that solely the result of mimicking the Queen??

I’m sure they compensated the families from which they took them, but yes, that was a practice of the time. Especially male babies. There are many instances where promising young boys were ‘adopted’ by some wealthy patron. Often they were nephews or cousins (blood relations), but sometimes they were not. Remember that the poor often had more babies than they could care for, so it would not have been quite the terrible crime that it is today. Another way for the Elizabethans to come by an heir was to legitimize an illegitimate son.

I could not find any statistics for deaths due specifically to lead-based make-up, but in reading through period texts and descriptions of people and their mannerisms, the symptoms of lead poisoning are easily seen. The use of lead make-up may have been in effect before Queen Elizabeth, but it reached a zenith during her reign. Her skin had always been noted for being pale and the upper class women tried to imitate it, but the Queen herself began using the paints after her bout with small pox in 1562. She used it to hide her scars. And because she used it, the court women began using it as well. It’s interesting to note that its use fell from favor after the Queen died.

What is next on the horizon for your writing? Any more historicals? Can you share a sneak peek?

I do have more historicals on the horizon, thanks for asking! My second, Love’s Pursuit, is set in Puritan New England and investigates the amazing lengths to which God will go in order to pursue us. A classic love story, it also includes a fashion element: Puritan America’s dress codes. I hope to start on my third historical for Bethany House in October. The third book will be set in 1890s New York City. It was an era when tight-laced corseting was still practiced and high-society women lived their lives in the fishbowl of celebrity culture the same way those in Hollywood do today.

What exciting things is God doing in your life right now? Any words of encouragement you’d like to share with your readers?

I’ve been learning to trust in God’s thoughts and rely on his timing. I’ve found out that there’s really nothing I can do better than God can. And in a strange way, that’s been very encouraging!

Runaway by Dandi Daley Mackall

It is time to play a Wild Card! Every now and then, a book that I have chosen to read is going to pop up as a FIRST Wild Card Tour. Get dealt into the game! (Just click the button!) Wild Card Tours feature an author and his/her book's FIRST chapter!

You never know when I might play a wild card on you!

Today's Wild Card author is:

Dandi Daley Mackall

and the book:

Runaway (Book #1 in the Starlight Animal Rescue Series)

Tyndale Kids (August 4, 2008)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Dandi Daley Mackall has published more than 400 books for children and adults, with more than 3 million combined copies sold. She is the author of WaterBrook’s two other delightful Dandilion Rhymes books, A Gaggle of Geese & A Clutter of Cats and The Blanket Show. A popular keynote speaker at conferences and Young Author events, Mackall lives in rural Ohio with her husband, three children, and a menagerie of horses, dogs, and cats.

Visit the author's website.

Product Details:

List Price: $5.99
Reading level: Ages 9-12
Mass Market Paperback: 224 pages
Publisher: Tyndale Kids (August 4, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1414312687
ISBN-13: 978-1414312682

MY REVIEW:

There is something special about a girl’s love for a horse. I grew up on a farm, but my love for horses was never satisfied with a real animal – only daydreams. Dandi Mackall’s book, Runaway is just the kind of book I used as a teen to fill that desperate love of horses. She has truly captured that magical human/animal relationship, and her main character, Dakota, is just the kind of broken, injured soul that needs the special touch that only a horse can give.

Runaway is a book that tells the story of a wounded foster child who has spent her short life running away from the people trying to care for her. It isn’t until she reaches the Starlight Animal Rescue farm in Nice, Illinois that she is introduced to a family who love each other and the foster children in their care with a love that Dakota has never encountered. Annie and Chester treat the children in their home with respect, gentleness and trust that fosters a reciprocal feeling of trust in the children they welcome into their lives. Dakota doesn’t recognize this love for what it truly is in her life until she is confronted once again with what she knows best – running away.

This is a great young adult read that will capture the imagination and heart of every young person that feels misunderstood and mistrusted. So come along to the Starlight Animal Rescue and meet a great group of folks! Find out what Dakota learns during her stay in Nice, Illinois, and then come back for the other books in the series!

AND NOW...THE FIRST CHAPTER:

Wherever we’re going, I won’t be staying. That much I can promise. I’ve run away seven times—never once to anything, just away from. Maybe that’s why they call me a “runaway” and not a “run-to.”

The way I figure it, these “ideal placements” by Chicago’s social services never add up to much. And anyway, so far, my life has been subtraction. Two parents and a brother and me. Take away one brother, and that leaves two parents and me. Take away one parent, and that leaves one parent and me. Take away another parent, and that leaves me, Dakota Brown, age almost 16, trying not to wonder what it will be like when I’m the one taken away.

Bouncing in the backseat of the social worker’s car—the front seat has too many papers and folders about me to fit the real me in it—I decide it’s time for a list. I love lists. You can take a mess like Ms. Social Worker has going for her in the front seat and, in a few minutes, turn it into a list that fits on a single sheet of paper. Lists bring things under control. My control.

I take my list-book out of my backpack and turn to a clean page. Glancing in the rearview mirror, I catch the frown of concentration on the social worker’s face. She’s too busy trying to get us out of Chicago traffic to worry about what I’m doing in the backseat.

I know her name is Ms. Bean, but in my head I keep thinking of her as “the social worker” because things are easier that way. She’s not a bad person, and I’m not trying to get her into trouble or anything. But because I’m so good at what I do—running away—I’m bound to make her look pretty lousy at what she does. She thinks she’s driving me to my new foster family, where I’ll live happily ever after and forever be a pleasant anecdote for her to share with friends and family and future fosters everywhere.

Poor Ms. Social Worker. She is doomed to fail. The State of Illinois has not invented a foster family from which I, Dakota Brown, cannot escape.

In my list-book, I form an action plan.

The Plan:

A. Pay attention to the route leading to my new location. It is also my route out.

B. Control reaction to new setting. It’s important that the social worker believes I like my new digs.

C. Headache. This will be my medical weapon of choice, the only complaint I’ll voice, my one excuse to get out of whatever needs getting out of.

D. Observe. Knowledge is power.

E. Never cry. At least, never let them see you cry.

F. Never get angry. (Yeah, right.) Don’t let them see the anger.

G. Never “confide,” as the social worker likes to call it.

H. Be friendly, but do not make friends.

“Dakota, what are you writing?” Ms. Bean asks.

“Sorry.” I close my list-book and flash a smile to the rearview mirror.

“Don’t be sorry,” she says, smiling back at the mirror. This action makes her come up too fast on the little sports car in front of us.

“Ms. Bean!” I shout.

She slams on the brakes, forcing the car behind us do the same. Horns honk. “I hate traffic,” she admits.

I wonder how she ended up in Chicago when she hates traffic so much. But I don’t ask. My mind reaffixes the Ms. Social Worker label, and I stare out the window.

Ms. Bean is not the clichéd social worker. She’s a stylish, 24-year-old college graduate with light red hair, funky earrings, and clothes I wouldn’t mind wearing myself. I know she’s engaged. But other than the fact that she’s a lousy driver, I don’t know much else about her. That’s the way I like it.

I lean back and close my eyes, hoping she’ll drop the subject of my writing notebook, her driving, and everything else. After a minute, I open my eyes and stare out the window again. Cars whiz by all around us. Every car window is closed. Heat rises from the pavement between the lanes. Even with the air-conditioning blasting, I can smell Chicago, a mixture of tar, exhaust fumes, and metal.

The social worker slams on her brakes again, but I can’t see any reason for it this time.

“Sorry about that,” she mutters. Maybe to me. Maybe to the guy behind her, who rolls down his window long enough to scream at her.

“Don’t stop writing on my account, Dakota,” she says. “Unless it makes you carsick. It always makes me carsick.”

I’m thinking that if I get carsick, it will have more to do with her driving style than it does with my writing style. But Rule #11 on my “How to Handle Social Workers” list is “Don’t criticize. It puts them on the defensive.”

I say, “You’re right, Ms. Bean. I really shouldn’t write while I’m in the car.”

“My sister is a journalist,” Ms. Bean tells me.

It’s more information than I care to know. I don’t want to picture her as a person, with a newspaper-writing sister.

“Charlotte has a mini recorder she carries with her everywhere,” the social worker continues. “Instead of writing notes, she talks into that recorder, even when she’s driving. My dad keeps telling her not to record and drive, but she won’t listen.”

She hits her horn when someone changes lanes right in front of her without signaling.

“How far out of Chicago is this place?” I ask.

“Nice?”

I know this is the name of the town they’re dragging me to, but it takes a second to register. “Yeah. Nice,” I say. “Only are you sure they don’t pronounce it ‘Niece,’ like that city in France?” Both cities are spelled the same, but I’m guessing the similarities end there.

“That would make sense,” she admits. “But no. You’ll be living in Nice, Illinois.” She giggles. “And going to Nice High. And I’m sure you’ll be a nice resident of Nice.”

I manage to smile, although I can only imagine how old this play on names must get. I’m already feeling not so nice about it. “So, are we getting close?”

“It’s still a good ways,” Ms. Bean answers. “The board thought a rural home might be a nice change for you.” She smiles, then lets the “nice” thing fade without comment.

Neither of us says anything, so her last words bang around in my head. The board thought a rural home would be a nice change? The board doesn’t know me well enough to know how ridiculous it is to think a rural home would be just the ticket for Dakota Brown. The “ticket” for me is a one-way ticket out of there.

“Are you writing a book?” Ms. Bean asks.

“No,” I answer, hoping she’ll leave it alone.

“No? A letter, maybe?”

Those files scattered all over the front seat have enough information on me that she should know there’s nobody in the world I’d write a letter to. “It’s just lists,” I say to get her off my case.

“Like a shopping list?”

“Just a list,” I answer, trying not to let her see that this conversation is getting to me.

“Like what, for example?” Ms. Bean can turn into a little kid sometimes. She reminds me of this girl, Melody, who was in a foster home in Cicero with me for two months. Melody would grab on to a question and not let it go until she shook an answer out of you.

“Read me one, will you, Dakota?” she begs.

I’m pretty sure Ms. Bean will keep asking me about lists until I either read her one or get so angry I won’t be able to keep up my cheerful act. That, I don’t want.

I open my list-book and flip through dozens of lists until I come to a social worker–friendly list. “Okay . . . here’s a list of five cities I want to visit one day.” This is a real list I’ve made, but I have a hundred cities on it. Not five.

“That’s awesome!” she exclaims. “Which cities, Dakota?”

“Paris, Vienna, Rome, Moscow, and Fargo.” I stop and close the notebook before she can peek in the rearview mirror at the next list, because it looks like this:

Top 8 Cities I Never Want to See Again

1. Elgin, IL

2. Evanston, IL

3. Aurora, IL

4. Glen Ellyn, IL

5. Kankakee, IL

6. Cicero, IL

7. Chicago, IL

8.

Ms. Bean was my social worker in only the last two cities, but she’s got files on me from the other five. So she’d pick up on this list right away and make a big deal of it if she saw it.

I wait until she’s totally confused and trying to study her map while avoiding crashing into trucks. Then I open my list-book and fill in that blank by #8 of the cities I never want to see again.

When I’m sure she’s not looking, I write in big letters:

Nice, IL

Copyright © 2008 by Dandi Daley Mackall. All rights reserved.

A Constant Heart by Siri Mitchell

This week, the
Christian Fiction Blog Alliance
is introducing
A Constant Heart
(Bethany House October 1, 2008)
by
Siri Mitchell


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Siri Mitchell graduated from the University of Washington with a business degree and worked in various levels of government. As a military spouse, she has lived all over the world, including in Paris and Tokyo. Siri enjoys observing and learning from different cultures. She is fluent in French and loves sushi.

But she is also a member of a strange breed of people called novelists. When they’re listening to a sermon and taking notes, chances are, they’ve just had a great idea for a plot or a dialogue. If they nod in response to a really profound statement, they’re probably thinking, “Yes. Right. That’s exactly what my character needs to hear.” When they edit their manuscripts, they laugh at the funny parts. And cry at the sad parts. Sometimes they even talk to their characters.

Siri wrote 4 books and accumulated 153 rejections before signing with a publisher. In the process, she saw the bottoms of more pints of Ben & Jerry’s than she cares to admit. At various times she has vowed never to write another word again. Ever. She has gone on writing strikes and even stooped to threatening her manuscripts with the shredder.

A Constant Heart is her sixth novel. Two of her novels, Chateau of Echoes and The Cubicle Next Door were Christy Award finalists. She has been called one of the clearest, most original voices in the CBA.



ABOUT THE BOOK

In a world of wealth, power, and privilege...love is the only forbidden luxury.

“Trust was a valuable commodity at court. Traded by everyone, but possessed by no one. Its rarity was surpassed only by love. Love implied commitment and how could any of us commit ourselves to any but the Queen? Love implied singularity and how could any of us benefit another if our affections were bound to one in exclusivity? Love was never looked for and rarely found. When it was, it always ended badly.”

In Queen Elizabeth’s court where men and women willingly trade virtue for power, is it possible for Marget to obtain her heart’s desire or is the promise of love only an illusion?

A riveting glimpse into Queen Elizabeth's Court...

Born with the face of an angel, Marget Barnardsen is blessed. Her father is a knight, and now she is to be married to the Earl of Lytham. Her destiny is guaranteed ... at least, it would seem so. But when her introduction to court goes awry and Queen Elizabeth despises her, Marget fears she's lost her husband forever. Desperate to win him back, she'll do whatever it takes to discover how she failed and capture again the love of a man bound to the queen.

If you would like to read the first chapter of A Constant Heart, go HERE

MY REVIEW:

The late 1500’s finds us in the courts of Queen Elizabeth – a knight’s daughter betrothed to an earl with a broken heart and a decimated first marriage. These two lives begin a very deliberate dance as courtier to the Queen and the woman who must aide him in his success. Each step must be plotted out as surely as a battle plan must be laid before a great war. Indeed, the planning is so crucial, there is no room for the tenderness of love, the joy of trusted friendship or the faithfulness of a constant heart.

Siri Mitchell’s novel, A Constant Heart, fully captures the vain duplicity of Queen Elizabeth’s court. I was so intrigued by the practices of painting faces, dying hair and starching ruffs that I was spurred to do some research of my own. Truly, there is nothing more deadly than self-love and pride! I was astounded by the things that took place in the lives of a Queen’s courtier! A more depraved, enslaved group of people ever before existed!

A Constant Heart is the most riveting, heart-wrenching tale of true love I’ve read in a long time. My heart ached for both Marget and Lord Lytham. I utterly despised both the Queen and Lady de Winter, and I found myself cheering for Joan and Nicholas to keep speaking truth to their disillusioned masters! I learned a great deal about life in Queen Elizabeth’s court, and I am very thankful that I do not have to reside amid such duplicitous wealth!

You have earned a standing ovation from this reader, Siri Mitchell! Bravo!! Encore!! Please, purchase your copy today!