Serials and Scenarios - Amy Wallace's Healing Promises

Amy Wallace visited the Dregs last spring. Read her entertaining interview here (scroll down). If you want a sneak peek at Healing Promises, click here to read the first chapter.

And without further ado...my review:

Amy Wallace once again tackles tough subject matter with skill and grace.

I'd heard mixed feedback before opening the cover of Healing Promises and I was concerned that I might not love it. One friend mentioned feeling a little like an emotional punching bag during her time with Clint and Sara.

I see where she was coming from -- the themes of cancer and child predators are grueling at best. Wallace fills her novel with clinical details and law enforcement procedure and the effects of the truth in those details applied to the lives of her characters. At times I needed to take a break from the emotion. Anyone dealing with close instances of child abuse or critical health issues might want to read the first chapter to get a feel for where Wallace takes the reader.

But the reader's emotional involvement in the lives of the characters and the angst over the drama shows Wallace's skill with storytelling. Her characters feel like real people and compassion comes into play. With several points of view the reader is able to get a sense of the major players as the story progresses -- a front row seat to the struggles and triumphs and the failings and sorrows.

Healing Promises continues the tale of Steven and Gracie so readers of Ransomed Dreams should feel at home, but Healing Promises can stand alone. Fans of Karen Kingsbury might want to check into Amy Wallace. I need to add a sensitivity warning. Some scenes are brutal. The novel is full of suffering and details that might make a reader squirm.

Serials and Scenarios - Kelly on the Hot Seat... Part Two?

Xta has my phone number. She also has my NUMBER and she has re-challenged me to get a move on with answering my own darn questions. And since I'm not finished with the CFBA book of the week so I can actually review it today, I'm going to take Xta up on her challenge. And then I'm going to do some reading.

Below are the answers to two dregs questions...one of which requires creativity. Oy.

Comment away, friends. Guess what I described. Two possible answers. Go for it.

What crayon in the box describes you on a good day? Bad day? Which one do you aspire to be?

On a good day red. I consider it snappy and spicy, and I have tendency to want to spark things up. The second choice would be purple. I'm not sure why, I just like it and I think it's a solid listener type of crayon.

On a bad day pewter, if there is such a thing as a pewter crayon. If not I'll make it up or call it blue-gray. I don't often tumble into full-blown melancholy, but when I do I manage to eventually miss laughter enough that I crawl out. But melancholy and I are stormy at best. At worst, we produce golf ball sized hail if not swirling 50 mph winds.

What I aspire to be...Yellow = sunshine and light. One of my favorite T-shirt slogan sreads. "Be the moon. Reflect the Son." I want to be a full yellow moon.


Creative moments with Kelly -- Describe something without naming it.

Essence of coconut rides the salty air from half a beach away. Not my favorite scent, but wafting on the breeze, I'm all for it, especially since there is no sand along for the trip.

I reposition on my towel and sigh as the sand shifts and embraces me. Warmth radiates from below and the air currents caress from above and soon my eyelids become so heavy that they refuse to open.

If I could only remember the annoying question that seems to keep me half-conscious--oh well, can it be that important?

Scribble and Scrambles - Facebook Nation

Three laptops, three females, a couch and a loveseat in a space of 49 sq ft or so.

And what are we doing? Blogging and facebooking. What time is it?

Eleven p.m.

Time to go act like a mother.

I think I'll send a "Go to bed." instant message to my daughters.

If you are reading this after eleven p.m. you should go to bed, too.

You're welcome.

Serials and Scenarios - Sincerely Mayla - Virginia Smith

My review of Sincerely, Mayla.

Sincerely, Mayla is a sweet novel about inevitable collisions when comfortable, rutted paths intersect with God's roads.

Mayla, a wild child from a previous novel (Just as I am) which I haven't read, has hit her spiritual stride as a spruced-up, redeemed version of herself. But God isn't done with her yet.

Newly relieved of her job, Mayla sets out to fix controllable issues like her love life, and she finds herself detouring to mend some fences that keep her apart from her grandmother in Florida, and then veering into potholes left by friends in crisis. Mayla has the time for an extended trip, but her emotions are a different story and her mini-vacation proves to be quite a trip when all the dust finally settles.

Mayla is a cute escapist read that ends up convicting those readers who have gotten a little too comfortable, or who think they've figured God out and don't really need His hand to be involved in life's microscopic details. Smith tells a fun tale with an engaging voice and equally engaging characters. She manages to cover a whole lot of heavy issues like homosexuality and abortion in this easily navigated novel. A great summer fluff with substance read. You won't need to read Just as I am to appreciate the story, but it may be fun to see just how far Mayla's come.

Click for Virginia Smith 's Dregs interview, click here to visit her website, and on the book cover to visit Amazon.

Scribble and Scrambles - Reality of the Value of a Dollar

This will possibly border on crass. It will definitely be a strange post. Oh wait, I guess most of them are.

When shopping at Target today I discovered something.

A majority of our hard-earned money goes toward things that make waste more aesthetically pleasing. Don't get me wrong, chances are really good that I won't make any major changes in my spending habits, but, well, it's something to ponder at nearly 10 p.m. on a Monday evening.

I spent $30ish at Target. A pair a clearance Capri's cost under $7.00. A bag of cat litter $2.40, chips $4.00, and a large industrial sized package of toilet paper cost $13.00.

What's wrong with this picture? How about $15.00+ for waste management, that's what.

Like I said, there won't be a lot of big changes on the horizon, but life is just like that, eh?

Scribble and Scrambles - Saturday Sugar and Spice

In honor of Mother's Day. I have to share this. It's a PG-13 (violence and off-color comments) but oh, so ha, ha, ha.




And just pure sweet.

Scribble and Scrambles - Freaky - Deaky Friday-Fest

The critters and I want to greet you with a hearty. "Happy Friday." But, the critters generally use non-verbal greetings such as a power jump with paws planted on your chest followed by everyone's favorite wherein eager snouts visit places where the sun doesn't shine and the wind doesn't blow, followed by a juicy kiss upside your do.

Those friendly little furballs would be Lily and Lola, the extroverts. (You can watch just a fraction of what they do when excited by clicking on the box. I will get better footage one day so you can see them in all their glory.)

Now Feral -- the wild one, and Stealth Cat -- aka The Screamer, will either hiss and disappear, stalk your ankles or have a wicked ugly cat fight that will curl your do.

Maybe I should be the only one who wishes you a hearty "Happy Friday."
It should probably be a freestyle poem of the lameish period.

Ode to Friday

Friday, Friday. You of short hours and lightning speed minutes.

Though the sky be drear and gray,
The sun of hope and expectations
Rises in the breast of all who work in cubicles.

I've heard it said that Friday
Just doesn't do it for weekend workers...
But should I care?
Melancholy, tortured artiste that I am?

Shall I abuse Friday,
Mayhap name a restaurant after it,
A disco, or a song?
Scoff.

Fri, fri, fri, what does fri mean?
Is that where fish on Fryday originated?
Fri, fri, free...freeday?
Yes, that must be the origin of this beautiful word.
Wallace didn't yell freedom.
No, he was calling for Freeday. It's on film.

May the sun shine upon you on the morrow, but only after you've gotten your beauty slumber.
May Saturday drag slowly, seeming endless, unless you have an awful list of chores.
May Monday delay.
Enjoy Friday.