Harriet Kirk is certain that becoming Ladreville’s schoolteacher is just what she needs–a chance to put the past behind her and give her younger siblings a brighter tomorrow. What she didn’t count on was the presence of handsome former Texas Ranger Lawrence Wood–or the way he slowly but surely claims her fragile heart. But can Harriet and Lawrence ever truly put the past behind them in order to find happiness? My Review: I’ve enjoyed every single one of Amanda Cabot’s books in this Texas Dreams series. (See my review of book one, Paper Roses, here.) The tale of Harriet and Lawrence is no exception. I fell in love with Lawrence...
Book Review: Put Your Dream to the Test
Most people John Maxwell encounters have a dream. In fact, he’s asked thousands about their greatest aspirations. Some describe their dream with great enthusiasm and detail. Others are reluctant, almost embarrassed, to talk about it. Regardless of their zeal or fear, the same question drives every person with a dream: Can I achieve it? Sadly, most people have no idea how viable their dream is. They hope to achieve it, yet hope is not a strategy. What people need is a way to test their dream.
Story Behind the Story: Dorothy Love
I published 14 pre teen and YA novels at Random House, Holiday House, and Simon and Schuster, but a novel for adult readers, the story of Ada Wentworth, a young Bostonian hatmaker transplanted to southern Appalachia, kept swirling in my head. I first envisioned the story as The Sunday Hat Society, centering on the friendship of a group of women in the country church in Hickory Ridge, but the more I delved into it, the more I realized it was really about Ada’s struggle to forgive the two men in her life who had wronged her, and trust God with her future and her heart. As I worked on this book, the voices of two supporting characters, Carrie Daly and Sophie, a mixed race...
Going back to the beginning
Thanks to a spring cleaning kick I’ve been on the past month, I’ve done some digging, prioritizing, rearranging… and then some. When I stumbled upon my stack of old writing notebooks, I couldn’t help but smile. Just look at that handwriting? Bear in mind, I was in the 9th grade at this time. This got me thinking: What was it that drove me to fill notebooks upon notebooks with blue or black ink? What drove me to spend my free time in another world and then force my dear friends to read it? Because I needed to. And I loved it. In these busy days, it is easy to forget...
Are you living a good story?
While writing a script based on his memoir, Blue Like Jazz, author Donald Miller took a good hard look at his life and the story he was living. If only we all had moments like this to make us look at our lives the same way. Fortunately, Miller wrote “A Million Miles in a Thousand Years” and shares his experiences and forces you to consider: What story are you living? Are you living a good story? A boring story? “If the point of life is the same as the point of a story, the point of life is character transformation.” – Donald Miller It isn’t hard to see change in...