Praying God’s Word for Your Husband

June 25th, 2012

Praying God’s Word for

Your Husband

By Kathi Lipp

?

Women often offer up polite prayers to God without any real hope of seeing change in their marriage, their husbands, or themselves. Kathi Lipp, author of Praying God’s Word for Your Husband, directs women to Scripture and shows wives how to pray God’s Word boldly and in full confidence of seeing God-sized results.

With a light touch and an approachable style, Lipp shows women what a blessing it is to pray for their husbands, addressing specific concerns, like praying for his

  • parenting
  • career and finances
  • relationship with God and others
  • emotional health
  • future
  • and more

Lipp shows readers how to stop feeling helpless and start making a difference in their husbands’ lives through bold, expectant prayer, whether they are new believers or have been walking with God for years.

ISLAND BREEZES

Do you pray for your husband? Do you know how to pray for your husband?

I must admit that there are too many times my prayers for my husband have been too general.

This book has shown me how to direct my prayers so that they address specific concerns.

This is a book every wife needs. Engaged ladies should also find this book a helpful aid in their prayer lives.

***A special thank you to Donna Hausler for providing a review copy.*** 

Kathi Lipp is a busy conference and retreat speaker who reaches thousands of wives each year. She is the author of three books and has been a guest on several national radio programs, including Focus on the Family. She and her husband have four children and live in California.

Available June 2012 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

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The Baptism of Jesus

June 25th, 2012

Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened,

and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove.

And a voice came from Heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

Luke 3:21, 22

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Song of Simeon

June 17th, 2012

Simeon took him in his arms and blessed God, saying,

Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace, according to your word;

for my eyes have seen your salvation,

which you  have prepared in the presence of all peoples,

a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.”

And the child’s father and mother were amazed at what was being said about him. 

Then Simeon blessed them and said to his mother Mary,

“This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel,

and to be a sign that will be opposed

so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed – and a sword will pierce your own soul too.”

Luke 2:28-35

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The Blood Sugar Solution

June 13th, 2012

It is time for a FIRST Wild Card Tour book review! If you wish to join the FIRST blog alliance, just click the button. We are a group of reviewers who tour Christian books. A Wild Card post includes a brief bio of the author and a full chapter from each book toured. The reason it is called a FIRST Wild Card Tour is that you never know if the book will be fiction, non~fiction, for young, or for old…or for somewhere in between! Enjoy your free peek into the book!

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

Today’s Wild Card author is:

 

Mark Hyman, M.D.

 

and the book:

 

The Blood Sugar Solution: The UltraHealthy Program for Losing Weight, Preventing Disease, and Feeling Great Now!
Little, Brown and Company; 1 edition (February 28, 2012)
 
***Special thanks to Rick Roberson The B&B Media Group for sending me a review copy.***
 
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

An internationally respected physician, researcher, educator, activist, and five-time New York Times best-selling author, including The Blood Sugar Solution (also a PBS special), The UltraMind Solution (also a PBS special), The UltraSimple Diet, UltraMetabolism, and UltraPrevention (winner of the Books for a Better Life Award), Dr. Hyman has dedicated his life and career to ensuring optimal health – UltraWellness – for all individuals. His new book and PBS special, The Blood Sugar Solution, will be released March 2012 to address the global epidemic of obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular and other related diseases.

His revolutionary “secret” to achieving UltraWellness? Dr. Hyman is the world’s leading pioneer and practitioner of a ground-breaking and emerging approach to medicine that treats our system, not our symptoms. This new health paradigm is a systems-based, patient-centered method (called Functional Medicine) to preventing and treating disease and promoting health that works on two intertwined platforms: identifying and addressing the underlying causes of disease instead of just managing and masking symptoms and employing emerging trends in science and medicine, and integrative medicine.
Visit the author’s website.

SHORT BOOK DESCRIPTION:


In the new #1 New York Times bestseller, The Blood Sugar Solution(Little, Brown and Company February, 2012), Dr. Mark Hyman – Chairman of the Institute for Functional Medicine and founder and medical director of The UltraWellness Center – reveals the secret to losing weight and preventing diabesity. According to Dr. Hyman, a staggering one in two Americans suffers from diabesity, the condition of metabolic imbalance and disease that ranges from mild blood sugar imbalance to full-blown diabetes. Diabesity is one of the leading causes of chronic disease in the 21st century, including heart disease, stroke, dementia, and cancer, and the numbers of sick people keep growing. One in three children born today will have diabetes. We are now raising the first generation of Americans to live sicker and die younger than their parents.
 
Genre: Health & Fitness

 

Product Details:

List Price: $27.99

Hardcover: 448 pages

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company; 1 edition (February 28, 2012)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 031612737X

ISBN-13: 978-0316127370

ISLAND BREEZES

I haven’t finished this book yet.  I’ve looked through it all and am now in the process of really reading it.  This book is not like a novel you can knock off in a day or two.  Nevertheless, it’s enthralling.  It grabs you and holds on to you. 

I may be a nurse, but there’s so much in this book I didn’t know.  Thank God for the new knowledge that could start a health revolution.  It’s amazing how so much chronic illness is interconnected.

I’m tired of not being as healthy as I could be.  Dr. Mark has me convinced.  I am going to be part of this revolution. 

Get this book and join me for the health of you and your children.  Isn’t it sad to know today’s generation of children will neither be as healthy as their parents nor have the longevity as their parents.  Let’s do something about it.

 
AND NOW…THE FIRST CHAPTER: 
 

Introduction
Diabesity: What You Don’t Know May Kill You
What’s in a name: insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, syndrome X, obesity, pre-diabetes, adult-onset diabetes, type 2 diabetes. These are all essentially one problem; some vary by severity but all can have deadly consequences. The diagnosis and treatment of the underlying causes that drive all these conditions are actually the same.
Diabesity is a more comprehensive term to describe the continuum from optimal blood sugar balance toward insulin resistance and full-blown diabetes. If you answered yes to any of the questions in the quiz on page xxi, you may already have diabesity.
Nearly all people who are overweight (over 70 percent of adult Americans) already have “pre-diabetes” and have significant risks of disease and death. They just don’t know it. Even worse, while the word “diabesity” is made up of the concepts of obesity and diabetes, even those who aren’t overweight can have this problem. These are the “skinny fat” people. They are “underlean” (not enough muscle) instead of “overweight” and have a little extra weight around the middle, or “belly fat.” Currently there are no national screening recommendations, no treatment guidelines, no approved medications, and no reimbursement to health care providers for diagnosing and treating anything other than full-blown diabetes. Think about that. Doctors are not expected, trained, or paid to diagnose and treat the single biggest chronic disease in America, which, along with smoking, causes nearly all the major health care burdens of the twenty-first century, including heart disease, stroke, dementia, and even cancer. But here is the good news–there is a scientifically proven solution that I have mapped out for you in this book.
Our current medical practice has not caught up with our knowledge. In 2008, the American College of Endocrinology and the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists gathered twenty-two experts and reviewed all the scientific data on pre-diabetes and diabetes. They heralded a wake-up clarion call for individuals, the health care community, and governments around the world.1 Their conclusions were as follows:
The diagnosis of pre-diabetes and diabetes is arbitrary. A fasting blood sugar over 100 mg/dl is considered pre-diabetes, and a blood sugar over 126 mg/dl is considered diabetes. However, they found these cutoffs don’t reflect the whole spectrum of risk– including heart disease, cancer, dementia, stroke, and even kidneyand nervedamage–whichstartsat much lower numbers, numbers most people consider normal.
The DECODE study of 22,000 people2 examined the continuum of risk measured not by fasting blood sugar, but by blood sugar after a big sugar drink (the best way to diagnose the problem). The study found that even starting at blood sugar levels that were perfectly normal (95 mg/dl), there was a steady and significant risk of heart disease and complications well below the accepted abnormal of less than 140 mg/dl for pre-diabetes and long before people reached the diabetic cutoff of 200 mg/dl.
Bottom line: Even if you have perfectly normal blood sugar, you may be sitting on a hidden time bomb of disease called diabesity, which prevents you from losing weight and living a long healthy life. Insulin resistance is the major cause of aging and death in the developed and most of the developing world. This book will help you identify and reverse this explosive situation for yourself. It also lays out a comprehensive action plan for greater collective action to solve this problem individually and collectively by getting healthy together.
Part I
Understanding The Modern Plague
For this we must make automatic and habitual, as early as possible, as many useful actions as we can, and guard against the growing into ways that are likely to be disadvantageous to us, as we should guard against the plague.
— William James,
“The Laws of Habit,” The Popular Science Monthly (February 1887)
It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.
— Mark Twain
1
a Hidden epidemic: The United States of Diabetes
Diabesity, the continuum of health problems ranging from mild insulin resistance and overweight to obesity and diabetes, is the single biggest global health epidemic of our time. It is one of the leading causes of heart disease, dementia, cancer, and premature death in the world and is almost entirely caused by environmental and lifestyle factors. This means that it is almost 100 percent preventable and curable.

 

Diabesity affects over 1.7 billion people worldwide. Scientists conservatively estimate it will affect 1 in 2 Americans by 2020, 90 percent of whom will not be diagnosed. I believe it already affects more than 1 in 2 Americans and up to 70-80 percent of some populations.

 

Obesity (almost always related to diabesity) is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States and around the world. Gaining just 11-16 pounds doubles the risk of type 2 diabetes, while gaining 17-24 pounds triples the risk. Despite this, there are no national recommendations from government or key organizations advising screening or treatment for pre-diabetes. We are becoming the United States of Diabetes.
The prevalence of type 2 diabetes in America has tripled since the 1980s. In 2010 there were 27 million Americans with diabetes (25 percent of whom were not diagnosed) and 67 million with pre-diabetes (90 percent of whom were not diagnosed). African-Americans, Latin Americans, and Asians have dramatically higher rates of diabesity than Caucasians do.1 By 2015, 2.3 billion people worldwide will be overweight and 700 million will be obese. The number of diabetics will increase from 1 in 10 Americans today to 1 in 3 by the middle of this century.
A Childhood Problem
Perhaps most disturbing, our children are increasingly affected by this epidemic. We are raising the first generation of Americans to live sicker and die younger than their parents. Life expectancy is actually declining for the first time in human history.
Here are some startling statistics:
One in three children is overweight in America.
Childhood obesity has tripled from 1980 to 2010.
There are now more than 2 million morbidly obese children above the 99th percentile in weight.
In New York City, 40 percent of the children are overweight or obese.
One in three children born today will have diabetes in their lifetime.
Childhood obesity will have more impact on the life expectancy of children than all childhood cancers combined.
A Global Problem
Diabetes is just as widespread in other parts of the world: In 2007, it was estimated that 240 million people worldwide had diabetes. It is projected to affect 380 million by the year 2030, about 10 times the number of people affected by HIV/AIDS.2 Sadly this is a gross underestimate. Estimates in 2011 put the worldwide total at 350 million. In China alone, rates of diabetes were almost zero 25 years ago. In 2007, there were 24 million diabetics in China, and scientists projected that by 2030 there would be 42 million diabetics in China. However, by 2010, there were 93 million diabetics and 148 million pre-diabetics in China,

 

Special Note: Childhood Obesity and Diabetes –The Blood Sugar Solution for Children
The biggest tragedy is the global spread of childhood obesity and “adult”onset or type 2 diabetes in little children. We are now seeing eight-year-old children with diabetes, fifteen-year-olds with strokes, and twenty-five-yearolds who need cardiac bypass. While The Blood Sugar Solution is a program mostly for adults, it is also powerful and effective for children. The whole family must be part of the solution, and we have to make our homes, communities, and schools safe for our children.

 

The Blood Sugar Solution includes many child-friendly recipes. And when it comes to supplements, there is something for everyone, even infants and children. In fact, any child over twelve years of age with diabesity can follow the basic Blood Sugar Solution plan. Children younger than twelve or those who qualify for the Advanced Plan should work with an experienced functional medicine practitioner. See www.bloodsugarsolution.com for how best to support your children’s health if they are overweight or have type 2 diabetes.

 

almost all of whom were previously undiagnosed. Imagine if we had 148 million new cases of AIDS overnight in one country.

 

Sixty percent of the world’s diabetics will eventually come from Asia because it is the world’s most populous region. The number of individuals with impaired glucose tolerance or pre-diabetes will increase substantially because of increased genetic susceptibility to the harmful effects of sugar and processed foods. Interestingly, people in this Asian population (who are uniquely susceptible to diabetes even though they may not be obese) are increasingly affected as they adopt a more Western diet. Weaker environmental laws and regulations also expose them to increasing levels of toxins, which, as we will see later, are a significant cause of diabesity.3

 

Ponder this: From 1983 to 2008, the number of people in the world with diabetes increased sevenfold, from 35 to 240 million. In just three years, from 2008 to 2011, we added another 110 million diabetics to our global population. Shouldn’t the main question we ask be why is this happening? instead of what new drug can we find to treat it? Our approach must be novel, innovative, and widely applicable at low cost across all borders. Billions and billions have been wasted trying to find the “drug cure,” while the solution lies right under our nose. This is a lifestyle and environmental disease and won’t be cured by a medication.
Diabesity: The major cause of chronic disease and decreased life expectancy.
Diabesity is one of the leading causes of chronic disease in the twenty-first century, including heart disease, stroke, dementia, and cancer.4
Consider the following:
One-third of all diabetics have documented heart disease.5
It is estimated that nearly everyone else with type 2 diabetes has undiagnosed cardiovascular disease.
People with diabetes are four times more likely to die from heart disease, and the rate of stroke is three to four times higher in this population.
Those with pre-diabetes are also four times more likely to die of heart disease.6 So having pre-diabetes isn’t really “pre” anything in terms of risk.
There is a fourfold increased risk for dementia in diabetics.7 And pre-diabetes is a leading cause of “pre-dementia,” also known as mild cognitive impairment.
The link between obesity and cancer is well documented and is driven by insulin resistance.8
Diabesity is the leading cause of high blood pressure in our society. Seventy-five percent of those with diabetes have high blood pressure.
Diabesity is also the leading cause of liver failure from NASH (nonalcoholic steatohepatitis), also known as fatty liver. It affects 30 percent of our general population (about 90 million) and 70-90 percent of those who have diabesity. Those with fatty liver are at much greater risk of heart attack and death.9
Diabesity is an important cause of depression and mood disorders. Women with diabetes are 29 percent more likely to develop depression, and women who took insulin are 53 percent more likely to develop depression.10
Nervous system damage affects 60-70 percent of people with diabetes, leading to a loss of sensation in the hands and feet, slow digestion, carpal tunnel syndrome, sexual dysfunction, and other problems. Almost 30 percent of people age forty or older with diabetes have impaired sensation in their feet, and this frequently leads to amputations.
Diabesity is also the leading cause of blindness among people ages twenty to seventy-four.
Diabesity is the leading cause of kidney failure –accounting for 44 percent of new cases each year.
People with poorly controlled diabetes are three times more likely to have periodontal or severe gum disease.
A recent remarkable study published in the New England Journal of Medicine examining 123,205 deaths in 820,900 people found that diabetics died an average of six years earlier than nondiabetics and 40 percent of those did not die from heart disease or the usual diabetes-related causes.11 They died from other complications not obviously related to diabetes, complications most wouldn’t necessarily correlate with the disease. Yet it makes perfect sense given that diabesity is the underlying cause that drives most chronic illnesses.
Diabesity: A major global threat to economic development.
Direct health care costs in the United States over the next decade attributable to diabetes and pre-diabetes will be $3.4 trillion, or one in every ten health care dollars spent. Obese citizens cost the U.S. health care system 40 percent more than normal-weight citizens. In a sample of 10 million commercial health plan members, those without diabetes cost $4,000 a year compared to $11,700 for those with diabetes, and $20,700 for those with complications from diabetes.

 

Diabesity places a large economic burden on our society. The direct and indirect costs of diabetes in America in 2007 amounted to $174 billion. The cost of obesity is also significant, and amounts to $113 billion every year. From 2000 to 2010, these two conditions have already cost us a total of $3 trillion. That’s three times the estimated cost of fixing our entire health care system!12
Are we getting our money’s worth? Is our current approach winning the battle against these completely preventable and curable diseases? Clearly the answer is no!
The Impact of Diabesity on Developing Nations
Diabetes is not just a problem for rich countries with too much food; it is also a disease of poverty13 that is increasing in developing countries as well.14 In India, diabetes carries a greater risk of death than infectious disease. In the Middle East, nearly 20-25 percent of the population is diabetic. When I helped in Haiti (the poorest country in the Western hemisphere) after the earthquake in 2010, I asked the director of Haiti’s main public hospital what the major medical problems were prior to the earthquake. His answer surprised me: heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes–all caused by diabesity.
By 2020, there will be fewer than 20 million deaths worldwide from infectious disease, but more than 50 million deaths from chronic preventable lifestyle diseases–heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. These are all fueled by the same preventable risk factors: high blood pressure, overweight, physical inactivity, high blood sugar, high cholesterol, and smoking. But strikingly, 95 percent of private and public efforts and funding focus almost exclusively on combating communicable or infectious disease.15
The Solution: Take Back Our Health
There is a solution available, one that is accessible and scalable, one that is available to everyone and prevents, treats, and reverses diabesity at a fraction of the cost. This book provides that solution for individuals, communities, and nations. It will require significant change at all levels, but each of us has the power to transform this problem.

 

In addition to curing diabesity on an individual level, we need a movement. I call it Take Back Our Health, and in Part V, I explain how we can all join this movement so we can get healthy together. It starts with the individual, but moves into families, communities, workplaces, schools, and faith-based organizations and filters through us to government and corporations.

 

In the next chapter, we will look at the true causes of diabesity, and why current treatments aren’t working.

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Waiting for Sunrise

June 12th, 2012

Waiting for Sunrise

By Eva Marie Everson

A rising voice in Southern fiction, award-winning author Eva Marie Everson writes with a large helping of Florida charm. Waiting for Sunrise is a touching story of family, young love and the need for forgiveness. Everson expertly draws out the bittersweet moments of life, weaving them into a tale that envelops the soul.

Life sometimes gets the best of us. For some it’s the daily pressures, for others it’s the shadows of the past. For Patsy Milstrap, it’s both. When she travels to beautiful Cedar Key on Florida’s Gulf Coast in search of healing, she never dreams her past will be waiting for her there.

ISLAND BREEZES

You have to be entirely heartless not to need an entire box of tissues by the time you finish this book.

Patsy’s story is filled with love and pain. And love that goes beyond the pain. It’s a story that’s split back and forth between two families until finally they collide.

In the beginning of this book, it felt as if I’d already read it. Actually, it was a teaser at the end of Chasing Sunsets.

Eva Marie Everson clearly speaks to my heart. I’m eagerly awaiting another story from Cedar Key. In the meantime , I think I’m going to have to hop into my little silver Honda and drive up there.

***A special thank you to Donna Hausler for providing a review copy.***

Eva Marie Everson is sponsoring a contest for a Kindle Fire.  Go here to enter.

Eva Marie Everson?is a successful speaker and the award-winning author of?Things Left Unspoken,?This Fine Life and?Chasing Sunsets. She is coauthor of the Potluck Club books and the Potluck Catering Club series. She lives in Florida

Available June 2012 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

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Zechariah’s Song

June 10th, 2012

“And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,

to give knowledge of salvation to his people by the forgiveness of their sins.

By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us,

to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

Luke1:76-79

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Real Virtue

June 6th, 2012

It is time for a FIRST Wild Card Tour book review! If you wish to join the FIRST blog alliance, just click the button. We are a group of reviewers who tour Christian books. A Wild Card post includes a brief bio of the author and a full chapter from each book toured. The reason it is called a FIRST Wild Card Tour is that you never know if the book will be fiction, non~fiction, for young, or for old…or for somewhere in between! Enjoy your free peek into the book!

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

Today’s Wild Card author is:

 

Katy Lee

 

and the book:

 

Real Virtue
Soul Mate Publishing (April 4, 2012)
***Special thanks to Katy Lee for sending me a review copy.***

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Katy Lee is an inspirational author, speaker, home-schooling mom, and children’s ministry director. She has dedicated her life to sharing tales of love, from the greatest love story ever told to those sweet romantic stories of falling in love. Her fresh and unique voice brings a fast-paced and modern feel to her Christian romances that are sure to resonate with readers long after the last page. Her debut novel Real Virtue is a finalist in many writing contests, and took second place in the 2011 Georgia Maggie Award of Excellence. Katy lives in New England with her husband and three children.
Visit the author’s website.

SHORT BOOK DESCRIPTION:

In a virtual reality game where she can fly, someone’s aiming to take her down.

Mel Mesini is a New York City restaurateur and an avid, virtual reality world traveler. But her successful life—both online and in reality—takes a swerve the night her father is seriously injured in a hit-and-run. To make matters worse, Officer Jeremy Stiles, the man who had once cut her deep with his harsh, rejecting words, is heading the investigation.

When Jeremy realizes Mel is the actual target, his plan is to protect her—whether she wants him to or not. What he wants is answers, especially about this online game she plays. Is it a harmless pastime as she says? Or is she using it to cover something up? As a faceless predator destroys the things that matter to her, Jeremy knows he’s running out of time before she loses the one thing that matters most—her real life.


Product Details:

List Price: $4.99

File Size: 2383 KB

Print Length: 289 pages

Publisher: Soul Mate Publishing (April 4, 2012)

Sold by: Amazon Digital Services

Language: English

ASIN: B007SHM5AQ

ISLAND BREEZES

Too many people are playing games. Which ones are losing touch with reality?

How sad it must be to get your self confidence in a game world – so much so that Mel created identical restaurants in both her virtual world and in her real world.

Now she’s back in the real world of her home town. The world she ran from and fought not to return.

Someone is after her and he’s trying to destroy both her worlds. Someone wants her dead.

There’s a love story in there, too. It’s just that sometimes you have to fight through the adrenalin to get to it. Don’t plan to read this book in several settings. You’ll feel compelled to read it straight through.

You’re going to need some of those tissues, too.

 
AND NOW…THE FIRST CHAPTER:

Prologue
In just a moment, and with one little push, the game would begin. Every domino piece strategically set up would come crashing down, one after the other. A line of crafted maneuvers coiling around and around like a winding snake until the last piece lay flat.
Game over.
White-knuckled hands tightened around the steering wheel preparing for that little push; anxious to get started—so the voices would finally stop. Cruel, taunting voices from cruel, taunting people.
These old, rejecting voices bounced back and forth against cranium walls, playing skull ping-pong to the point of near insanity. If only people weren’t so mean. But they were. They are, and enough was enough. After all, there was only so much cruelty a person could take before they gave some of it back.
A pinpoint of light bounced through the sheer, black forest.
The first domino had arrived.
With each step the old man took, the light from his flashlight grew brighter; his bull’s eye bigger. He strode out onto the paved road fifty feet away, oblivious to the game plan.
High beams clicked on, flooding the old man with their blinding light. He raised one hand to shield his eyes from the glare; a rifle filled his other. Too bad he wouldn’t get a chance to use it. The engine roared as the gas pedal hit the floor. It would be over for him in less than a second.
As for the game, it was just getting started.

One
With one nudge of her gaming controller, Mel concealed her avatar behind an immense African baobab tree. Its wide, silvery-barked trunk perfectly shielded her videogame character from her competitor’s eyes. Legend had it that the gods grew tired of listening to the baobab complain about not being slender like the palm and not bearing fruit like the fig, so they pulled the tree up by its roots, replanting it upside down to keep it quiet.
Now, from its gnarled, root-like branches, a green and gold snake slithered down this distorted tree of life. Mel’s lips twitched as the slender, virtual arm on her flat-screen monitor extended with a fluidity an experienced ballerina would envy. Her avatar invited the computer-graphic snake to coil around her hand and then slither down her side. Mel delighted in the fact her avatar’s ruby red smile never wavered. Not a trace of fear glimmered in the dazzling blue eyes of Mel’s virtual self.
She felt bad for the baobab, silenced because it wished for a better life. Mel didn’t see anything wrong with modifying your appearance if it made you a stronger being. She was living proof of how a makeover could help you stand a little straighter, and there would be no one shutting her up because of it.
Not in her new life anyway.
The baobab blurred around the edges as another tree from her past invaded her mind. A lone oak tree with a lone girl beneath it. Well, not totally alone. One person sat beside her. One person who didn’t laugh at the town’s outcast. At least, not until that last night.
Then the joke was really on her.
Mel squeezed her eyes to shove the image back behind its wall. Back to where it couldn’t hurt her. Not in her new life, and definitely not on this website where she’d earned the name Tough-as-Nails.
Nails. That’s what she called her steely-natured avatar. A name she lived up to by nailing every level in the online interactive game of Better Life Virtual World. And tonight she would reach the highest level possible.
As long as she stayed focused.
“Then stop digging up your dead-and-buried past and get focusing,” she scolded herself aloud.
A red flashing dot popped up in the corner of her screen. Her radar alerted her that her competitor closed in. He was here to beat her to the finish line. She could actually lose tonight. The idea of it made her grit her teeth. Her eyes narrowed. She would win. Tonight she would earn her rightful place in the kingdom. All she needed was the key to open the gates.
Mel scanned the side of the tree for the secret door that hid her prize. An opening, a handle, hinges—anything that might resemble a door.
Nothing. Not even an outline of one. She’d completed all of the tasks for it to be revealed to her. It should have been here. She bit her lower lip. Had she slipped up? Missed a step somewhere along the way? Perhaps back in the forest?
No. Nails didn’t slip up. Nails was perfect.
But even Nails’ perfection wouldn’t stop the clock from ticking away, taking Mel’s victory right along with it. Any second now, it wouldn’t matter how perfect Nails was if she didn’t find that key. Mel yanked her hair back in a death grip. “Where is it?” she demanded of her empty office.
The radar alarm blared through her headphones. If her competitor found the key first, the game would be over—and shewould be the loser. Again.
“No!” She sat up straight in her swivel chair, which creaked beneath her. Determination empowered her to find that compartment. “Not again! Never again!”
The gaming rulebook stated that the key could be found on the side of the tree where the afternoon sun shined upon it. Mel looked up and down the illuminated side of the trunk while Nails stood motionless beside it. Sunlight shined from behind Nails’ long, chestnut-colored hair, casting a warm glow on her, too. So Mel knew she had to be searching in the correct location. She brought Nails to a crouching position for a different view.
“Eureka!” Mel said on a rush of air. There was a contour, just a shade darker than the rest of the tree. In a crevice of one of the monstrous tree roots she found the hidden door. A missed opportunity to the untrained eye, but not to an avid gamer like herself. She moved her controller to bring Nails’ hand over the door.
Click. A shiny golden key beckoned for its new master. Mel touched the screen. If only she could reach in and grab it with her own flesh-and-blood hands.
Beep … beep, beep, beep. The radar sped up. The game’s version of life support alerted her to the peril of her chances of winning.
“Time to zap out of here,” she said and typed the code that would teleport Nails out of the jungle and directly to the palace.
But the scene remained the same. Nails still crouched beside the tree, holding her key and waiting for Mel’s next move. Instant transport should have occurred. Nails should have been standing in front of the magnificent golden gates, taking her place with the “best of the best.”
“That’s weird,” Mel mumbled, and clicked the code again.
Still no change.
She went bug-eyed on a sharp intake of breath. “This can’t be happening.” Her voice shook. She couldn’t teleport. She couldn’t escape. And the radar showed he was here! She banged on the keys repeatedly, but to no avail.
“Well, hello, Nails.” His slick voice came through Mel’s headset, and her shoulders sagged in defeat. A leopard avatar with black spots and a shiny golden coat of fur stepped out from behind the tree. “What, are you going soft?” His beady amber eyes targeted her key. “That was almost too easy.” He chuckled. Two long saber teeth glistened on the screen.
“Something’s wrong with the game.” She rubbed her forehead furiously. Think. Think. She dared not take her eyes off him. At any moment she expected him to pounce. She moved Nails a step away before he took the opportunity.
The sleek cat closed the gap. “Yeah, right, you just don’t want to admit you’re losing your touch.”
“No, I’m serious.” She tensed, and the controller cracked in her hand. “I lost my teleportation powers.”
“I guess that means the game’s over for you. You might as well give up the key.” His sharp-clawed paw shot out for the key at the same moment Mel backed up Nails another space.
The phone intercom on her spotless desktop buzzed into the room. The feminine singsong voice of her business partner spoke through it. “Mel, you’ve got a phone call.”
Mel kept her eyes on the screen while she fumbled to find the intercom button. She hit it. “Not right now, Chris.”
“It sounds important.”
“Not as important as this.” She shut the intercom off to stop further interruptions.
She had to get away from the leopard. But without teleporting, her only other mode of transportation meant taking Nails to the skies. Nails had earned her ability to fly back at an earlier level, but Mel couldn’t be sure if leopard boy had. She doubted it, though. He tended to just show up and take what he wanted, rather than earn it.
“The game’s not over yet.” Mel broke Nails into a run before swooping her up to soar toward the puffy white clouds above. The leopard shrank as she left him behind. She’d been correct. They didn’t share the same skill in flying.
“If I were you, I’d watch your back!” he yelled. “This can be a cruel world, Nails.”
“But oh, so rewarding!” She waved her key in his direction as her flying skills put rapid distance between them. Nails gained altitude and speed, and Mel triumphantly pumped her fist, loving the feel of victory. “Maybe I’ll send you some chocolates from the palace, or not.”
Mel giggled out loud. If she still ate chocolate, she would have indulged in a piece herself. Besides, she didn’t need chocolate when victory was sweet enough. On the screen, Nails soared onward like an angel, floating through the air. Any thoughts of sweets vanished. Years of practice and control showed through each of her movements.
“The only things you’re missing are the wings,” Mel reflected, imagining an iridescent pair fluttering on Nails’ back. With the threat dispersed, Mel relaxed back into her chair. “I should create a pair for you. I’d say you’ve earned them more than any other celestial being out there. If they’re out there.”
Nails flew out of the jungle and over a shimmering body of water. Ahead, a city skyline of various buildings reached to the darkening sky, luring Mel to her online club and the number one destination in better Life—ClubCreare.
Blue and purple lights shined into the night, leading her, and all the other virtual world travelers, to its doors. They were a beautiful group of beings, people, animals, even a black snake coming up behind Nails, each living out their fantasy in a world of their own making.
People came to socialize, to network, to fall in love. Many were here to make it big, to find their fame in the online world. All they needed was the right person to like their artwork or music and they could carry that fame into the real world. And, being that she was the co-owner of a real-life restaurant and in charge of the entertainment, she just happened to be that right person.
Mel hit the down controls to swoop Nails in, but chaos in the streets below caught her attention. Avatars ran in every direction. She pulled Nails up short to hover over the group. “What’s going on?” she called out.
“Someone’s giving away great stuff,” a buxom blonde with a sparkling diamond necklace in her fist answered. Mel’s eyes narrowed. Was that one of her necklaces?
“Where did you get that?” There wasn’t another one like it. Mel had created it herself.
“It’s free stuff. Get down here quick before it’s all gone.”
She brought Nails in for a quick landing and immediately recognized more and more of her virtual belongings scattered about for the taking. One by one, her clothes were taken away; her jewelry hung from body parts; someone even drove off with her car!
Mel sprang out of her chair, sending it flying back. It clanged loudly against her metal filing cabinet, but her mind screamed louder. Her hands reached for the screen again. “These are all my things! Put them back!” Yelling, her only recourse.
“How do we know you’re telling the truth?”
Mel tore her gaze from her disappearing property to look at a man with bleached-blond hair tied back in a queue and blue-tinted glasses perched on a wide nose.
“I’m serious,” she pleaded. “These are my things! How did they get out here? I didn’t give anything away. How did this happen?”
Mel waited for the man to come to her aid. To help retrieve her belongings. Instead, a laugh burst from his lips. A great big belly-of-a-laugh that had him bent over at the waist, then flinging his head back in abandon.
The hair on the back of her neck rose. Her lips curled in revulsion, and trembled. He was laughing at her, like so many other people before him. This wasn’t supposed to be happening. Not in this world. Not in her new life.
Pain seared her palms, and she had to unclench her fists to stop her nails from further slicing through her skin. The laughter coming through her headphones echoed in her head, sending her back in time to when being the butt of jokes was an everyday occurrence.
No! She yanked back from the memories, refusing to go there.
“Dude,” he said, his laughing ceased. She focused on his voice. It sounded muffled and distant as her memories still fought for her attention. “Looks like you’ve been hacked.”
“What?” Mel retracted from the screen. Was that possible? Had she heard him correctly? “You mean someone broke into my account and stole my possessions?” Reality sank in. “And then,” —she swallowed—“just dropped them all out here for the taking?”
“Looks that way to me. You got any cyber-enemies out there?”
“No, I don’t think—” Her mouth gaped open. Did the leopard have the ability to take her possessions away? But if that were the case, wouldn’t he have taken the key, too? It couldn’t have been him.
“Well, someone’s having fun with you.” The avatar turned to walk away. “But hey,”—he stopped—“it could’ve been worse. They could’ve killed you … virtually, anyway.”
Her throat tightened at the truth of his statement. This hacker could have deleted her whole account. Essentially “killing” her with the click of a button.
Dazed and numb, she stood frozen in her spot. Her skin crawled; she felt violated. These may have been virtual possessions, but she had worked hard for them. It would have been no different if someone had broken into her apartment and robbed her blind. “Why?” she squeaked.
“Why do any hackers hack? Because they can. It’s all in the joy of proving no wall is impenetrable.” He walked away, his chuckle rumbling through her headphones.
Nails stood motionless, her owner too stunned to move her. Her few rejected possessions littered the computer-graphic blacktop. Cars whizzed by, and Nails still didn’t move. Mel didn’t know what to do. What direction to move Nails in. What direction to move herself in. She stared at the screen and realized the laugh was on her. Again.

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Knowing: A Series of Gifts

June 4th, 2012

It is time for a FIRST Wild Card Tour book review! If you wish to join the FIRST blog alliance, just click the button. We are a group of reviewers who tour Christian books. A Wild Card post includes a brief bio of the author and a full chapter from each book toured. The reason it is called a FIRST Wild Card Tour is that you never know if the book will be fiction, non~fiction, for young, or for old…or for somewhere in between! Enjoy your free peek into the book!

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

Today’s Wild Card author is:

 

Tammy Hill

 

and the book:

 

Knowing: A Series of Gifts
Creation House; First edition (June 5, 2012)
***Special thanks to Tammy Hill for sending me a review copy.***

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

 

Tammy Hill is a homeschool mom with a love for reading, photography, and writing. She grew up in the South, but married an Army pilot and traveled throughout the U.S., China, and Europe. A few years ago, they decided to trade an ordinary, comfortable life for a full life in Christ. This book is just one of the many exciting results of that decision. They now live with the three youngest of their six children and two poodles in the South of France.

Knowing: A Series of Gifts releases on June 5th. Tammy plans to give away a Kindle! Visit her blog to learn more!

Visit the author’s book website.

Visit the author’s blog.

SHORT BOOK DESCRIPTION:

Sixteen-year-old Ember Matthews is tired of being the person everyone else wants her to be. Although she is nervous about moving to a small town and leaving behind the comforts of her old life, Ember welcomes the opportunity to escape the mistakes and pain of her past.

Ember truly wants to change, but when faced with temptation and peer pressure from some new friends, she finds herself slipping into the same old patterns. As she reconnects with God, Ember begins to realize that she is no ordinary teenager. She sees things that no one else sees, and knows things she has no business knowing. Will Ember learn to use her God-given gift, or will the burden of her calling be too much for her to carry?

Knowing Book Trailer from aseriesofgifts on GodTube.

Product Details:

List Price: $13.99

Paperback: 208 pages

Publisher: Creation House; First edition (June 5, 2012)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 1616389265

ISBN-13: 978-1616389260

ISLAND BREEZES

It’s scary and a bit creepy. Ember doesn’t want to know these things. And she certainly doesn’t want anyone else to know that she knows.

Maybe now that she and her mother have moved to a new town things will change. Maybe she can change.

But change isn’t always so easy. Not even when Ember finally let’s God back into her life. It’s only when she runs into Granny that she begins to understand the knowing.

I’d like to know what her life is like a few years down the road.
AND NOW…THE FIRST CHAPTER:

A spiritual gift is given to each

of us so we can help each other.

—1 Corinthians 12:7

Prologue

My dream haunts me, and not only when I am

asleep. It also scratches the back of my wakened

mind, as elusive as a forgotten lyric or name and yet,

it leaves me in a state of perpetual hunger; searching for some?

thing I know is close but just out of my reach.

This recurring nightmare never deviates for a moment. As

always, I lay on my stomach across my bed in my old bedroom,

engrossed in the book that lies open in front of me. Sheltered in

the pastel pink of my room, I am always oblivious in the begin?

ning. My bare feet move lazily from the bed and back heaven?

ward as I bend my legs with each turn of the page, humming a

tuneless melody. Although there is nothing alarming; no sound

or movement other than my own; a sense of unease washes over

me. My heart begins to thud loudly in my chest and my veins

turn to ice as I slowly move to a sitting position in my bed.

Then, my walls crumble to the floor in one swift movement as

silently as a curtain dropping after the final act. I jump up and

stare in disbelief at what I see around me. No longer protected

by the false security of my walls, I see a wasteland of charred

earth and darkness. A whimper escapes me and tears spring to

my eyes. I turn in a circle looking for a place to hide, but every?

thing from my past life is gone now; only destruction and ruin

remain. Just beyond the darkness, I can barely make out the

shadows of horrific creatures. I can’t help but to close my eyes

to them. Then, the screams begin. I hear hundreds of voices, all

screaming in pain and pleading for help. As I cower in the place

that was once my safe haven, I have a strong feeling of urgency

to do something. Even in my fear, I know the answer is close.

I fall to the ground, kneeling over with my arms bent over my

head. I rock back and forth like this, pleading to someone for

the answer all the while knowing I should get up and help these

lost souls.

I know.

Then, as quickly as the revelation began, it’s over. I wake up

with my heart pounding, gasping for air, knowing inherently

things aren’t what they seem. I wake up knowing that I have a

purpose to fulfill. Soon though, the dream fades, along with the

feeling of urgency. Although the desire for answers never leaves

me, my everyday life begins to take precedence over the fervor

of my dream.

Once again, I’m lulled into believing that I’m just an average,

powerless teenager.

Chapter One

I reclined on the beach towel and grabbed another to

throw over my face. I had only just taken a few steps out of

the ocean, but the drops of water were already baking off

my sun?darkened skin. I blindly groped for the small, red cooler

positioned between my cousin and me. I should have gotten out

a bottle of water before I covered my face; dilemmas like this

were the extent of my problems nowadays. I found the bottle

and pulled it out, ignoring the mumbling of my fifteen?year?old

cousin, whom I had evidently splashed with ice water. As the

older by a year, I had been looking out for her this summer; she

could consider this my aiding her against heatstroke.

I leaned up on my elbows to take a sip. The towel fell from

my face, so I glanced around at the carefree families playing in

the surf and then took a minute to check out the guys as they

checked out the girls. I had been staying with my grandparents

at their house on the beach for four weeks now; it had become

a familiar scene. I tunneled my toes further down to find the

damp coolness in the white sand as the DJ on our small por?

table stereo talked about the record?breaking heat. In the dis?

tance, I could hear a gang of squawking seagulls demanding

more food from the unfortunate tourist who made the mis?

take of tossing up the first crumb. Further off, there was the

occasional crack of a firecracker, leftovers from last weekend’s

Fourth of July celebration.

I looked over for my bag so I could toss the now empty bottle,

but didn’t see it. Instead, I caught a glance of my grandfather

waving to me from the boardwalk. It was not just a friendly

wave. Instead, it yelled, I need you for something! My cell phone

was securely zipped up in plastic and tucked away in our beach

bag, wherever that was. I nudged Priscilla, who must have been

in a sun coma, because she didn’t budge. I reached in the cooler

and doused her again, which snapped her right out of it. She

didn’t think it was funny, to say the least, and was a little too

smug for my liking when she told me the bag, along with my

cell phone, was in the house. Now it was my turn to grumble as

I threw my swimsuit cover over my head. Then, I realized my

flip?flops were also in the absent bag. I would have to attempt

to jog up to the beach house without burning my feet on the

white?hot sand. I skeptically judged the distance. I told you I

had problems.

“Hi, Gramps, what’s up?” I asked from the wooden steps just

outside the screened back porch where he stood. I reached over

and twisted on the short water faucet. It let out a squeak in reply.

I used the attached green hose to spray off my legs and feet; a

ritual my grandmother expected us to perform each time we

made the short walk from the beach.

“Ember, I hate to tell you this, but it looks like we’re going to

have to cut your stay with us a little short.”

I hope it will only be by a few days, I thought, as I opened the

screen door. I had been having a great time. When I asked him

how short was short, he ran a hand through his thinning hair.

“Well, I just talked to your mom. She wants you back

tomorrow.”

There was about a five second moment of shocked silence,

then I exploded, “Tomorrow, but that’s ridiculous!” I began

shuffling around sofa pillows, looking for the lost cell phone bag

with urgency, already concocting arguments with Mom in my

mind. I found the missing beach bag lying on the floor behind a

chair. I pulled out the baggie and held it up, grinning from my

victory; until I noticed Granddad didn’t share my excitement.

He had taken a seat on the porch swing and was just looking

down at his tented fingers.

“Granddad,” I asked with a sense of unease. “Is everything

OK?” He just smiled and patted the empty spot beside him.

“Honey, everything is fine. Everyone is healthy.” I let out a

deep breath in relief because he had answered the question I

was afraid to ask. My grandfather smiled again to reassure me.

As I remember it now, I realize his eyes didn’t match his

smile’s optimism, but I was—to make a grand understatement—

a lot less “in tune” back then.

“I didn’t want to be the one to tell you this . . . ,” he hesi?

tated, looking over at the back door. My gaze followed his to

my grandmother, who was watching us through the window.

Realizing she had been discovered, she quickly wiped her hands

on her apron and came out, taking a seat in the rocking chair.

“ . . . but, your mom wanted you to know now and not over the

telephone.”

Grandma broke in. “Just say it, George, you’re scaring her.”

“Grace, if you think you could do better . . . ”

“Please, you two, what’s wrong?” I pleaded.

Grandma shot him a scathing look and filled me in on what

would be yet another life changing transition for me. “Your

mother has divorced Bill, honey. It looks like they decided to end

it the last time you were here, during spring break. The papers

were finalized last week.” She paused and glanced nervously at

me then continued, more brightly, “It sounds like Kim’s found a

cute little place for you two, just a few miles outside of the city.

She needs our help to get some of your things moved in and, of

course, we’re happy to help. I’ve already talked to your uncles.

They’re willing to take off the next couple of days and go with

us. They’ll just have to work the weekend to make it up, but

their boss is always real understanding about family matters . . . ”

She was just rambling now, graciously giving me time to

wrap my head around the unexpected news. My mother had

left my stepfather. Four years ago, almost to the day, they were

getting married on this beach; now it was over. Grandma

used the words, “cute and little” when she described the house.

Knowing Mom, she had refused to take much financial help

from Bill, if any at all, even though he was loaded. I took a

deep, shaky breath. So, the life of popularity and wealth was

over, just like that. I tasted the salty tears before I sensed I

was crying. Grandma must have realized it at the same time

because she stopped chattering. She and Grandpa both jumped

up and sandwiched me into a fierce hug.

“I’m so sorry, sweetheart. I can’t believe they did this to you.

It’s going to be all right. We’ll help you through this . . . ”

On and on it went, these words of encouragement she and

Granddad cooed at me through my tears. What they didn’t

know—couldn’t understand—was their pity fell on deaf ears.

I was crying tears of relief.

The movement of the swing lulled me into numbness as I sat

on the screened back porch of my new house. The rain mim?

icked my mood and took the place of the tears I no longer had

in me to shed. Only yesterday, I was enjoying the summer at

my grandparents’ beach house in Florida. We had planned for

me to stay until mid?August, but it was cut a month short by

Mom’s insistence to get out of my stepfather’s house. I mean ex?

stepfather. Instead of an address in the wealthy area of Atlanta,

we now resided on the outskirts in Smalltown, USA, popula?

tion 15,000. I know he was helping her financially because she

was able to get a day job in a pediatric clinic instead of the

many shifts she used to work before Dr. Bill. He wasn’t exactly

throwing money at her feet, though, considering we were the

proud owners of a 1950s brick ranch house, roughly only a little

larger than a mobile home.

After the long drive, my grandparents, uncles, and I stayed

in a rundown hotel by the interstate. My grandmother and I

slept in the same room, though only one of us actually got any

sleep. I spent the night with a pillow over my head in a futile

attempt to drown out the sounds of my grandmother’s snores

and the neighbor’s television that blared all night through the

paper?thin walls. We had an early morning rendezvous in the

lobby for breakfast. Soon, we were on the road to my new house

and life. I wasn’t ready, but cold cereal from a plastic dispenser

in a room the size of closet didn’t exactly inspire anyone to hang

out. Besides, they were all here to work. After a surprisingly

quick reunion with Mom and an even faster tour of the house,

everyone went to work unloading the moving van. Thankfully,

the carport kept us from getting too soaked and we managed

to unload all of the boxes and put the furniture in place. My

family left to get an early dinner and to help Mom return the

rental truck before heading back to Florida. I said my goodbyes

and stayed at the house to sulk. I just wanted to be alone for a

while and process everything. I had spent my time staring at

nothing, lost in the past. When I came out of it I noticed, for

the first time, a dead plant in the corner of the porch. The pre?

vious owners must have left it behind. I couldn’t blame them. It

obviously hadn’t seen water for days; no way it was coming back

to life. In spite of my better judgment, I picked it up and put it

outside in the rain. We all deserve another chance.

Just as I got comfortable again, the sliding glass door opened.

I turned to see Mom standing there, shaking her head.

“Daydreaming again, Ember? What’s the fantasy about this

time?” she joked.

“That I have my life back,” I retorted and felt instantly sorry,

but pride kept me quiet.

Mom’s face fell. She looked as if she wanted to say more, but

we were interrupted by a guy who looked about my age carrying

one of our boxes of stuff.

“Where would you like this?”

Mom asked him to set it on the table for a minute. “Ember,

this is Cade. He rode by, saw me unloading this box we missed,

and insisted on helping.”

Cade walked over to me and stuck out his hand. “Hi, I’m

Cade,” then rolled his eyes at his mistake.

“Yeah, I heard. And as you heard, I’m Ember,” I said, still

grumpy from being disturbed. I saw the appalled look on Mom’s

face and took the hint. I reached out and gave his hand a quick

squeeze.

“With an E?” he asked, seemingly unfazed by my rudeness.

“Yeah, my parents had a weird sense of humor.”

He laughed at my misfortune and then grinned, not taking

his eyes off of me. I surprised myself by smiling back. I couldn’t

seem to help myself. The guy practically radiated crush vibes.

Plus, he was cute with sun?lightened, thick blond hair cut in

uneven layers, blue eyes, and a 100?watt, mischievous smile.

Mom cleared her throat, and I dragged my eyes away to check

the box.

“That goes to my room. Come on, I’ll show you.”

My “new” room had obviously been decorated for a little boy.

It was powder blue from the ceiling down to the shag carpet

and was about the size of a box. In fact, the entire house could

almost fit into my closet. The closet that used to be mine, that

is; in the life I lived for four years beginning when I was twelve.

In here, there was a double closet with a sliding door just to the

left of the doorway. Straight ahead was a large picture window

that took up most of the wall. Underneath it was my twin bed.

A full?sized bed wouldn’t have fit in here. On the right, by the

door, was my mirrored dresser. Further over on the far wall was

my memory collector, a white shelving system that took up a

full wall. It was comprised of dozens of different?sized cubbies.

My grandfather had assembled it for me that morning. I had

hoped to put off organizing my things until another day but it

looked like fate had a different idea.

“Keep the door open!” Mom instructed loudly from the

kitchen.

I rolled my eyes at the reprimand. “That is so not like her,” I

informed Cade. Maybe it was the extra stress. I let it go and

stepped out of his way. “Just lay it over by the shelves.”

“Wow, what are you going to put in here?” he asked, as he

placed the box on the floor and took his place by it.

I knelt in front of the box and, once again, found myself

smiling, “You have no idea.”

When I leaned over the box to open it, a few curls escaped

from behind my ear, which is usual for me. It’s thick, wavy, and

falls a few inches below my shoulders. My hair was normally

brown, but the summer sun (and an Atlanta hair colorist) made

it lighter with blond highlights. Sunlight, both real and artifi?

cial, also darkened my usual porcelain?colored skin, which my

mom said made my green eyes “pop,” whatever that means. I

pulled a hair tie from my wrist and tied my hair back in a knot.

I looked up to find Cade staring at me. He quickly looked away.

I continued working on the box. I tore it open and brushed away

Styrofoam popcorn to reveal my treasure.

“What is all of this?” Cade asked reaching inside.

“Memories,” I responded with pride and pulled out a Statue

of Liberty snow globe. “My bio?dad brought me this after one

of his trips.”

“Bio?dad?”

“Yeah, my biological father, Jackson Matthews. He and my

mother dated in high school. He was tall, dark, and handsome

and wanted to see the world right after graduation. She was

underage and smitten, but knew her parents would never approve,

so they eloped. That summer, they made it from Florida to

Atlanta before they found out Mom was pregnant with me. He

left the summer after I was born to ‘explore their next options’

and finally only came back to give her divorce papers.”

“That bites. So, you don’t see him often?”

I shook my head and placed the globe on a shelf. “He has four

different kids from four different wives. That and his wanderlust

keep him busy, and absent. That’s why the few things I do have

from him are special. He’s never been there to give me any other

kind of memories.”

“And this?” Cade asked as he held a little, white Bible.

I took it and thumbed through it, smiling. “I received that as

a gift from my old church when I got water baptized. That was

right before Mom got remarried to Bill. I was twelve. I don’t

think I’ve ever felt happier than I did that night,” I whispered,

lost in the memory.

“So, you’re a Christian?”

“Yes. I mean a lot has happened since then, but that doesn’t

matter, right?” I asked, chewing my lip.

Cade shrugged. “Don’t ask me. I don’t get into that stuff.” I

guess he noticed my concern at his abrupt behavior because he

added, “Look, I totally understand your need for religion, espe?

cially when you were young and weak. I just don’t need that

right now in my life. Everything is going great for me.”

“How so?” I prodded.

“I’m going to be a junior this year. That means only two more

years of this place, then I’m outta here.”

“I’m going to be in eleventh grade, too,” I offered. Our eyes

locked for a second then he reached around his neck and

unclasped his necklace. It was a black leather strip with some

kind of gem as the pendant. He slid the pendant off, stood up

and laid it on the top shelf.

“What are you doing?”

“This is definitely a good memory kind of day,” he said with

a wink. I’d better get going. If you want to talk church with

someone you should meet Mouse.”

“Mouse?” I questioned.

“Yeah, I think you two will really hit it off. You want me to

introduce you to her and show you around some tomorrow?”

“I would like that,” I said happily, as I stood up.

Cade asked for my cell number and dialed it to send me his

number. On the way out, he paused at my doorway and said, “I

know this must be rough on you, moving and all, so you’ll just

have to forgive me.”

“For what?” I asked, puzzled.

“For taking pleasure in your pain. I’ll call you later tonight,

new girl” he said with a smile and left me alone with the butter?

flies in my stomach. I blinked as a glare bounced off my mirror.

I turned around to face the window.

“So there you are,” I said to the setting sun with a grin.

Copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by

permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois, 60188.

All rights reserved.

Names appearing in this text have been changed to preserve the anonymity

of the individuals. Any similarity to actual persons is coincidental and

unintended by the publisher.

Design Director: Bill Johnson

Cover design by Nancy Panaccione

Copyright © 2012 by Tammy Hill

All rights reserved

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Mary’s Song

June 3rd, 2012

“My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,

for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.

Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;

for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and only is his name.

His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.

He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.

He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly’

he has filled the hungry with good things; and sent the rich away empty.

He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy,

according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”

Luke 1:47-55

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the best friend

June 1st, 2012

The Best Friend

By Melody Carlson

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With her signature insight into the lives of teen girls, bestselling author Melody Carlson explores the treacherous world of friendship, loyalty and choices girls face in high school in The Best Friend, a Life at Kingston High novel.

Lishia Vance is flummoxed. One day she has friends. The next day everyone has turned against her. No explanation. Just complete social isolation. Even her best friend Janelle isn’t giving her the time of day. When she makes a connection with Riley Atkins, a popular cheerleader, things start looking up. But is Riley really as good a friend as she seems? Or is Lishia better off without her?

ISLAND BREEZES

How low will she go to make a new best friend and grab a spot on the cheerleading team? Lishia’s friends seem to be treating her like an outsider and she doesn’t know why.

Scheming and manipulation by and with one of the cheerleaders got Lishia what she thought she wanted. So why doesn’t she feel good about her life?

There’s some old saying about how it’s always darkest before the dawn. Well, this girl is trudging through some serious darkness.

I’m enjoying Life at Kingston High. I hope Melody Carlson keeps going with this series. After all, we’re only half way through junior year here. I’m sure there’s more action waiting to happen.

***A special thank you to Donna Hausler for providing a review copy.*** 

Melody Carlson?is the award-winning author of over two hundred books with sales of more than five million. She is the author of several Christmas books from Revell, including the bestselling?The Christmas Bus,?The Christmas Dog, and?Christmas at Harrington’s, which is being considered for a TV movie. She is also the author of many teen books, including?Just Another Girl,?Anything but Normal,?Double Take,?The Jerk Magnet, and the Diary of a Teenage Girl series. Melody was selected for a?Romantic Times?Career Achievement Award in the inspirational market for her books in 2010 and 2011. She and her husband live in central Oregon. For more information about Melody visit her website at www.melodycarlson.com.

Available June 2012 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group

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