First Chapter is a must read.Click here. VisitMary. Click on the bookcover to read more.
Mary has visited the Dregs...clickhereto read more.
About the book:
The abrupt disappearance of young Daisy Chance from a small Texas town in 1973 spins three lives out of control—Jed, whose guilt over not protecting his friend Daisy strangles him; Emory Chance, who blames her own choices for her daughter’s demise; and Ouisie Pepper, who is plagued by headaches while pierced by the shattered pieces of a family in crisis.
In this first book in the Defiance, Texas Trilogy, fourteen-year-old Jed Pepper has a sickening secret: He’s convinced it’s his fault his best friend Daisy went missing. Jed’s pain sends him on a quest for answers to mysteries woven through the fabric of his own life and the lives of the families of Defiance, Texas. When he finally confronts the terrible truths he’s been denying all his life, Jed must choose between rebellion and love, anger and freedom.
Daisy Chain is an achingly beautiful southern coming-of-age story crafted by a bright new literary talent. It offers a haunting yet hopeful backdrop for human depravity and beauty, for terrible secrets and God’s surprising redemption.
My Review:
Mary DeMuth's Daisy Chain transported me to Defiance,Texas, dropped me into the mid '70's and immersed me in the home of a wounded family. Jed is fourteen and has just lost his best friend and future wife. It's his fault, because he's weak and selfish and he wouldn't walk the little spitfire home because if he did, his daddy would be upset. And when daddy is upset bad things happen. Daddy is a preacher. Jed can't quite bring himself to stand up to daddy to protect his precious sister and his sickly, broken mom -- a mom who writes messages of love, encouragement, and sorrow on flower petals and leaves them by Jed's bed.
Jed's whole world is inside out and upside down. The town is holding its breath because Daisy is missing. And heaven is brass because God isn't listening to Jed, and apparently doesn't care to.
If this little sliver of drama turns you inside out and upside down you may not want to read this book. But if you are one who claims To Kill a Mockingbird or Peace Like a River as one of your favorite novels, you really owe it to yourself to look further into Daisy Chain. Tom Morrisey, Lisa Samson, Claudia Mair Burney, Charles Martin and W.Dale Cramer fans need to look in Mary DeMuth's direction as well.
This is a novel that will haunt me for weeks and months, probably landing on my 2009 favorite list. The characters are deep and rich, complex and challenging. The story is gut wrenching and awful, and beautiful and full of the power of love and faith and Jesus. I can't imagine anyone not being horrified and then blessed as this novel opens and blooms, bleeds, withers and fades. Technically, the only complaint I had was just a few moments of transition between the adult Jed and the younger versions of Jed, and a brief incident where a scene's timing didn't quite jive in my mind. And those issues are only because I read so many books for review and can't just get lost in pages and not look for flaws that might impede a reader's experience.
I so appreciated the depth of truth and faith in this novel. Daisy Chain could be a very tough book for some readers. Child endangerment, abuse, anger, bigotry, religious bullying, drinking and hints of sexual scandal are not buried under a layer of pristine Sunday-best white gloves. I do recommend Daisy Chain to anyone who hungers for honest fiction that doesn't leave one weeping over the hopelessness of a story without redemption and grace.
Daniel's Den By Brandt Dodson Published by Harvest House Publishers ISBN# 978-0-7369-2477-1
Go here to read another review and to read the first chapter of Daniel's Den.
Back Cover:
Daniel Borden and Laura Traynor live two different lives…Daniel is a successful stock analyst in New Orleans.
Laura operates a bed and breakfast in Shenandoah Valley.
He is wealthy, enjoys racquetball and lives with Elvis, a black lab.
She is a struggling single mother, works two jobs and lives with her young son, Andy.
But, when unseen forces send hit men after each of them, a twist of fate drives them together as they are forced to flee their common enemy.
In high stakes game of cat-and-mouse, they learn just how big the cat can be.
And that it's no game.
My Review:
Daniel's Den is a tense, terse read. Told in multiple almost narrative voice the story unfolds in New Orleans and the Shenandoah Valley. Daniel lives in a controlled environment, from the truth of the numbers he deals with as a stockbroker to the regimented life he's created for himself, everything is defined and in place. Until he is given the files of a dead co-worker and stumbles onto a big mess.
Laura is hanging on to a dying dream and has run out of hope and faith. When a bizarre and frightening man begins to hound her to sell her property fear and despair take hold.
Daniel and Laura unite in the worst of situations and end up running for their lives. Andy and Elvis, a young boy and a dog complicate matters.
I read the advanced copy and hope that several typos were taken care of in the final edit. One secondary plot thread threw me a bit but only briefly. The story is the driving force in this novel, so the characters, though rich enough, took a back seat to the action and plot.
If you like page turners, or Dodson, you need to look further into Daniel's Den.
You may bristle at this video females. But it hits a little to close to home. Let me tell the truth about one particular female driver...moi.
I crimpled the side of my van while turning around a large cement slab wall in a parking garage.
I scraped a yellow racing stripe down the side of my green pick-up truck when I stopped to get gas and forgot about the yellow poles keeping the gas tanks safe from drivers like me.
My brother still laughs at another gas station stupid human trick, which I have blocked from my memory, so I can't share it. Apparently it was hilarious.
Because my driving scared my Mom, I pulled over to hand the wheel over to her. Unfortunately, I pulled directly into the ditch.
I blew past a state trooper's car going thirty over the speed limit. I don't know who was more surprised...the state troopers who shined their flashlights over every inch of my pick-up bed, likely looking for beer cans, before discovering a teen girl and two little boys, or me that I actually got a ticket. Sobbing does help. Or maybe it's the eruptions of slick wetness that flew during the sobs. Who knows.
Ghost Town is one of the more charming/clever movies I've seen in awhile. Due to an unfortunate glitch during a routine colonoscopy a crotchety, nasty dentist (Gervais) suffers from ghost harassment. One slick ghost (Kinnear) makes a deal with the dentist. If said dentist will mess up the Kinnear's widow's romance with a new man, Kinnear will keep the other ghosts at bay.
In the process lives are changed, non-lives are changed and the laughs come often. There are definitely moments that are not child appropriate. A few F-bombs, an affair, an oft mentioned male body part joke, and some double entendres/outright sexual comments make it mature viewing only.
Despite the few negatives as mentioned above, Ghost Town has a deep message and is charming and almost old-fashioned in the romance department. The colonoscopy prep and hospital check-in alone are almost worth the price of a rental. Then you have the quirk of Tea Leoni's laugh and two pretty hilarious prat falls. If you are into sarcasm, quirky romance where making a woman laugh is high on the list of romantic qualities, physical humor, ghosts or the idea of ghosts, or just fun character pieces, I recommend Ghost Town. It's on my to buy list. I will watch this one again.
Unsupervised in-house behavior. Oh, not good at all. Unsatisfactory.
Unsupervised outside behavior. Ha. Ask the UPS guy. And the neighborhood squirrels.
Digestion and food habits. Rug -- chewed, swallowed, deposited in back yard. Peanut Butter. Good. Will do anything for peanut butter -- humans best friend (and they say dog is). Dog food. Science Diet and Iams weren't expensive enough. We have now moved on to organic allergy free. Lily developed an allergy to her food (interesting since she has eaten things that would kill a lesser being). How do we know? The ears swelled and turned red and her sister licked them until she developed little scabs. Surely she had ear mites. Nope, the vet said it was a food allergy. The new food has been an adventure. The lamb and potato or maybe the venison and barley blend leaves an after odor. Like some folks have garlic scent that oozes from sweat glands and pores... Lily and Lola smell a little like a down-and-out drunk man in an alley. So, in an attempt to deal with this unpleasant side effect, Doggy Mama purchased the vegetarian flavor. Guess what that does? Think fiber and bubbles...very, very bad bubbles. Cuteness. Life saving A+ Tardies. Never late for dinner. Enthusiasm. Over the top.
When I'm struggling spiritually, my hope, my Pollyannaish rosy outlook tends to shrink and dwindle into hopelessness. My courage during spiritual testing becomes anemic and wobbly-kneed in my darkest moments of faithshaking.
Even when I realized that discouragement is a lie. It has to be. How can it be anything else? If, as a believer in Christ, I am to be an encourager and an encouragee in the body of Christ, then I am far, far away from encouragement if I am discouraged. If God talks about taking courage, standing strong, and being all the strength I need, then discouragement steals from courage.
How can I, a vessel of the Holy Spirit -- the very heart of Jesus, Himself, how can I be hopeless when I possess all I need to hope?
