No Place Too Far by Kay Bratt is the second book in
the new By the Sea series. In this story, readers return to beautiful Maui as
Quinn’s friend, Maggie Dalton, begins to renew her life with her son, Charlie,
on the island after her stalker was sentenced to prison. Maggie begins a new
job at a local vet clinic with the handsome Dr. Joe Starr and meets the
eccentric staff including Juniper, the no nonsense receptionist with brightly
colored hair and a nose ring. As she begins to live again and find new friends,
her worst fears come to life as her stalker may have been able to find her
again despite being in prison. Just as Maggie is learning to deal with this
possibility, Quinn is adjusting to reuniting with her family as well as her new
relationship with Liam. When a reporter threatens Quinn’s new life on the
island, her only solution is to run. Has Maggie’s stalker truly found her on
Maui? Will he attempt to come to the island? Will Quinn run or will she stay
and fight for her new family and home?
No Place too Far is an awesome sequel to True to
Me and I enjoyed following up with Quinn and her story as well as learning
more about her long-time friend, Maggie. Maggie’s story with a stalker is
creepy and eerie and I can only imagine the paralyzing fear that she and
victims of stalking must deal with during the stalking and in the aftermath. In
this digital world of email, social media and more and more of life existing
through online connections, it is easy for someone to find another person and
it makes it extremely hard for someone to truly hide. I enjoyed all the new
characters especially Joe and Juniper. I look forward to see them along with
Quinn and Maggie in book 3 and beyond in the By the Sea series. Overall, No
Place Too Far is about standing firm and fighting for yourself, your loved
ones, and your freedom. I highly recommend No Place Too Far!
No Place Too Far
will be available
September 1, 2020
in paperback, eBook
and audiobook
If you have not yet
read True To Me, I highly recommend it.
True to Me is
available in paperback, eBook and audiobook
The First Time I Said Goodbye by Claire Allan is a
story of loss, renewal, and forgiveness. The story opens as Annabel Jackson
says goodbye to her beloved father after a long battle with cancer. She is
devasted as her mother, Stella, is stoic. Stella asks Annabel to join to on a
trip to her hometown of Derry, Ireland, a place she has not been to in forty
years. Reluctantly, Annabel agrees, wondering why her mother wants to return to
Ireland after so many years. Once there, she learns her mother has an ulterior
motive for coming to Ireland and the unfinished business she must deal with now.
Annabel quickly learns more about her mother than she ever knew before. As she
learns about her mother as a young woman, Annabel begins questioning her own life
including her relationship with her long-time boyfriend, Craig. Will she be
able to see Stella as the woman she is and not just as her mother? Will she
finally listen to her heart and follow the desires she has long put aside?
The First Time I Said Goodbye is a story of a mother
and daughter, who in their own loss, find a way to connect in ways they never
connected before. With the storyline switching between the summer of 2010 and the
years of 1959-1962, we see Stella as a young woman in love who makes a fateful
decision which brought her Ireland again. It was not what I expected when I
picked up the book. I have read reunion stories before and thought it would be
more a romance than a mother-daughter story. I enjoyed it as many children
never truly see their parents as the individuals they were before children,
with hopes and dreams and dealing with decisions of the past. One of my
favorite moments in the story is when Stella’s mother Kathleen tells her “When
Life says give up, Hope whispers ‘Try it one more time.’” This is essentially
the theme of the story: to try one more time. One factor I did not like is that
the story slowly builds up to a lover’s reunion only to be rushed at the end and
it felt unsatisfying. However, I do recommend The First Time I Said Goodbye
for its beautiful setting and the characters’ personal journeys.
The Rolling Stones is among rock n roll royalty. They have
been performing since 1962 with Mick Jagger and Keith Richards at the helm.
While they are not my favorite rock n roll band, I do have a few favorites. One
of my favorites is “Paint it Black” from their 1966 album, Aftermath.
The song was released on May 7, 1966 and quickly became one of their popular
songs. It was number 1 on Billboard Hot 100 and UK Singles Chart. It would The
Rolling Stones third #1 hit in the US and the sixth in the UK. “Paint it Black”
is listed as #176 on Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. It has
been covered numerous times by artists like U2, Dee Snider of Twisted Sister
and Glenn Tipton of Judas Priest.
The lyrics meant to describe depression with color-based
metaphors. The opening lines are clear, “I see a red door and I want it painted
black/No colors anymore, I want them to turn black.” Color is the main imagery
in this song. Black, of course, is the color of depression and darkness. The
narrator wants the world to be as dark as he feels. “I wanna see it painted,
painted black/Black as night, black as coal/I wanna see the sun, blotted out
from the sky/I wanna see it painted, painted, painted, painted black.” The
narrator talks about seeing girls in summer clothes and needed to look away.
“Summer clothes” paints an image of bright yellows and other colors that might
“blind” a man darkened by grief. Almost like walking outside after leaving a
darkened room, it pains him to look at it. Another line “No more will my green
sea go turn a deeper blue” gives no real indication what the narrator means.
Possibly its how he describes her eyes and his green eyes will no longer see
her deep blue ones.
The lyrics describe a fictional girl’s funeral with “a line
of cars” with “with flowers and my love, both never to come back” and the
extreme grief suffered by the narrator. The line, “I could not foresee this
thing happening to you,” shows the unexpectedness of this young girl’s death.
The narrator, so deep in his depression, has lost all hope, “I look inside
myself and see my heart is black.” The line, “I turn my head until my darkness
goes” claimed to be inspired by James Joyce’s Ulysses (1922) referring
to a theme of desperation and desolation (Visconti, 2014). The narrator talks
about fading away so “not have to face the facts” that his love is gone and describes
the difficulty in accepting her death, “It's not easy facing up, when your
whole world is black.” In the traditional grief cycle, after the initial shock
or disbelief, people generally go through five general stages: denial, anger
and bargaining, depression, and acceptance. The narrator talks about looking “hard
enough into the setting sun” that maybe his love “will laugh with me before the
morning comes” as he may join her in heaven.
The song describes the everyday occurrence of death and the
indifference to those outside the funeral procession. “I see people turn their
heads and quickly look away/Like a new born baby, it just happens every day.”
To everyone else, it just another death, like birth happens every day, so does
death, but the narrator is devastated by his loss. That line always gets me plays
in my head if I happened to be stopped by a funeral procession. I remind myself
that loved ones are grieving, and I often say a prayer for the family and
friends. A prayer of comfort and peace in their loss. Even acknowledging that
death happens everyday and will affect us all at multiple times in our lives,
it is still difficult to deal with. In his book, The Time Keeper, Mitch
Albom writes, “Man alone measures time. Man alone chimes the hour. And, because
of this, man alone suffers a paralyzing fear that no other creature endures. A
fear of time running out.” Despite acknowledge that death comes to us all,
despite planning for its inevitability, there is never enough time with our loved
ones. We always want, and wish for, more time.
In conclusion, “Paint it Black” is a song of grief and
depression. A man has lost his love and he does not want to see a world filled
with color when his heart and mood is dark. With the use of colors, The Rolling
Stones paints imagery of pain, depression, and loss. Grief is often a lonely
process as one looks on as life goes on and he or she has no desire to continue
with it. Death is always around us in many forms. While we know this, some
embrace it and others do all they can to avoid it, it is still a time of grief
for those left behind. “Paint it Black” depicts that pain very well. For that
reason, it is one of my favorite Rolling Stones song.
References
Visconti, Tony (2014). 1,001 Songs You Must Hear Before You
Die (4th ed.). New York, NY: Universe Publishing. p. 175 ISBN 9780789320896.
Hope Lies Ahead:Encouragement for Parents of
Prodigals from a Family That's Been There is the follow up to James Banks’ Prayers
for Prodigals. In Hope Lies Ahead, Mr. Banks writes about his
journey as a parent with his prodigal son, Geoff. Geoff also contributes to the
book as he writes about his side of events as well as his thoughts and feelings
as he descended into drug use, his struggle to recovery and the transformation
his life has taken now. Each chapter is a conversation with James providing the
parental perspective and Geoff providing the prodigal perspective. Their goal
for the book is to show all their faults, struggles and successes to encourage
parents and prodigals who deal with the same faults, struggles and look forward
to their own successes. It is also their goal to encourage churches to open
their doors and arms, to become a place that people can truly be honest about
their struggles, without judgement, for prayers, love, and support.
From the very beginning, Hope Lies Ahead is brutally
honest. Misters Banks open their hearts and laying everything on the table to
show what they went through and how they battled to achieve the recovery that
live today. Not just Geoff’s recovery from drug abuse but their own
relationship as father and son recovered to be in a better place than it had
ever before. Geoff at one point said, “My father was so concerned with getting
me to God that he forgot to maintain our relationship.” Hope Lies Ahead
is a great heartfelt look into one family’s battle with addiction. One side are
the parents, desperate to help their child and on the other side is the child
whose addiction takes him to the very depths. Only through prayer, faith, and
determination is that child alive and well today. I highly recommend Hope
Lies Ahead!
Hope Lies Ahead:
Encouragement for
Parents of Prodigals from a Family That's Been There
The River Girl’s Song by Angela Castillo is the first
book in the Texas Women of Spirit series. It is the story of Zillia Bright, a
young girl on a Texas farm with her mother and stepfather. When her mother dies
from childbirth and her abusive stepfather leaves, Zillia is left to run the
farm and take care of her newborn brother. With the support and help from her
neighbors, Zillia quickly adjusts to her new life. As she runs the farm and
takes care of her brother, she fears her stepfather’s return as his family
lives in town and suspicious of his “sudden” disappearance. Adding to her
worries is the growing attention from two different men. And the possibility of
her family back East coming for her. Will she be able to keep her new life
afloat? Will her stepfather return? Will she choose one man or the other?
The River Girl’s Song is a typical prairie struggle
story. A young girl who needs to grow up fast or the wildness of the West will
tear her down. The love triangle that forms as she gains the attention of a
local farmer and a man in town. It was a fast read. The drama was common. The
romance was familiar and sweet. And while enjoyable, I do not see myself
reading the other books in this series. If you like Old West romance dramas,
you may enjoy The River Girl’s Song
The Second Home by Christina Clancy is a story of a
family and how one summer’s events tore everything apart. The story opens with
Ann Gordon, a young woman at her family’s vacation home in Cape Cod. It is 2016
and Ann’s parents have died in a car accident six months ago and she has
decided to sell the house. There were too many bad memories that overshadowed
the good times. Part 1 takes the reader to the summer of 2000, the Gordon
family: Ed, Connie and their daughters, Ann, 16, and Poppy, 15, and their adopted
son, Michael, 16, arrive for their yearly vacation in Cape Cod. The Gordon
family took in Michael after his mother died suddenly and left him with nowhere
to go. This is the summer which changed everything. Ann began babysitting for
the very wealthy Maureen and Anthony Shaw. Poppy fell in with the surfing crowd
and Michael begins a landscaping job. After the summer ends and Ann reveals a
shocking secret, the family is torn apart as Michael leaves with no clue where
he is going. Part 2 brings the reader forward to 2015 as Ann is dealing with
the aftermath of her parents’ death, Poppy is traveling the world and there is
still no word from Michael. Soon word gets out that the Gordon family house is
for sale and Michael comes forward. As they fight over the house, will they
confront the events of that summer and its aftermath? Will the truth be
revealed? Will they be able to heal from years of secrets and lies?
The Second Home is the debut novel for Ms. Clancy and
began strong. The first part was the summer everything changed as Ann, Poopy and
Michael grow up beyond their years when confronted with very real world
problems. The second part is where things got confusing. New characters are
introduced with no real explanation as to their relationship or connection to
established characters. The timeline gets wonky as narrators changes with each
chapter. It was hard to understand what was the present or the past. The
characters were hard to like especially Ann. In the beginning, she was the one
who spoke without a filter, often hurting others as a result. Her father gave
her the nickname, “Ann with a Plan,” as she acts and gets things done. And
usually that would be a good quality, but in part 2 as she is dealing with the
house, Michael’s reappearance, she becomes a bitch. As the action and tension
builds and builds, the end was anticlimactic. I loved the story. I loved Ms.
Clancy’s descriptions of Cape Cod and its residents. However, the characters
were hard to get invested in. The ending was just there with an epilogue that
quickly wraps it up. Overall, I enjoyed the story, but the characters fell
short for me. It’s a strong start for Ms. Clancy and I would look forward to
ready her future novels.
Prayers for Prodigals by James Banks is a 90-day
prayer guide for parents to pray for their child. A prodigal is a child who has
turned his back on his parents, taken from The Story of the Prodigal Son in
Luke 115:11-32. Prodigals can teach parents the need for patience, forgiveness,
and continual dependence on God in prayer. Mr. Banks has personal experience
with dealing a prodigal child as both his children had a prodigal period in
their lives. He designed each week with a theme, for instance one week is
entitled “God’s Timing.”Each week opens
with a brief meditation and a personal story how Mr. Banks and his wife
experienced the prayers for that coming week. Within each week is a day of a
Scripture based prayer for your child. Covering the emotional and practical
challenges faced by parents of prodigals, James Banks offers a guide for
parents to learn to lean on God and allow His movements in their child’s life.
Prayers for Prodigals is a great tool for parents who
are dealing with children who may be wandering and rejecting their parents’
help, advice, and guidance. One of my favorite weeks is Week 9 entitled
“Waiting for an Answer” in which Mr. Banks reminds Christian parents that God
always answers prayers with a yes, no or wait. Wait answers are often confused
with no answers and parents must wait on God when we pray. He may answer yes
but we may not see the result right away or even in our lifetimes. He provides
examples of parents’ prayers being answers years after the parents’ have
passed. I also liked that in the book as well as at the end, Mr. Banks wishes
to hear from parents who have been affected by his book. Overall, Prayers
for Prodigals is a great tool for parents of prodigals and even parents in
general to pray for their children as they grow up to be more independent and
go out in the world on their own. I highly recommend Prayers for Prodigals.
