Love Remembered
Author: Ann Bell
Publisher: Heartsong Presents/Barbour
ISBN: 9781577485407
Binding: Mass Market

Love Remembered was re-released as part of the Montana Collection:

Montana (Inspirational Romance Collections) (Paperback)
by Ann Bell (Author)
Paperback: 480 pages
Publisher: Barbour Publishing, Incorporated (August 1, 2000)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 157748794X
ISBN-13: 978-1577487944

Love Remembered dealt with a number of issues: teen pregnancy, abortion(nobody had an abortion, but the subject was mentioned numerous times throughout the story), and disabilities (spina bifida).

Dawn Harkness is an OB GYN nurse. When one of her teenaged patients is kicked out of her house because of her pregnancy, Dawn takes the young lady, Sarah, into her home. Sarah’s mother does not want her daughter in her home since she’s pregnant, and the baby will be disabled due to spina bifida. Sarah’s mother urges her daughter to get an abortion, but Sarah refuses.

As Sarah lives with Dawn, she discovers the meaning of true Christian love. When Sarah’s baby is born, Dawn takes a month off from work to help care for the baby. Conflict arises when they need to decide how to care for Charity’s (Sarah’s baby) needs. She needs special care, and Sarah will not be able to provide that for her baby and she doesn’t want to place her into an institution.

Meanwhile, Sarah’s mother comes back into the picture, embracing her daughter and her new granddaughter. She apologizes for demanding that Sarah get an abortion, and Dawn encourages their family to attend church.

When the father of Sarah’s baby turns out to be from a family that Dawn is acquainted with, things get even more complicated.

Meanwhile Dawn tries to live a normal life despite all that’s going on. She dates Mike Archer, a doctor at the hospital. However, she discovers that Mike is not the right man for her due to his views on abortion, and his opinions about Christianity. She breaks things off with him, stating that she can not date a non-believer.

Also, Ryan Reynolds, her brother’s childhood friend, is in love with her. She becomes reacquainted with Ryan when he appears at the doctor’s office (where she works) selling medical supplies. Ryan doesn’t know if a romance can blossom between them since he travels a lot selling medical supplies. When it appears he’s going to be moving into her town permanently, it turns out that things fall through because his company is being bought out, and Ryan loses his job. How can he support a wife and family without a job, and Dawn wonders how Ryan will be able to fit into her life? She’s taking care of an infant, and she’s not sure if Ryan would be willing to accept a ready-made family.

I thought this book would make a great teaching tool to give to young girls so that they can see the affects of teenaged pregnancy. I could see giving this book, along with Tilly by Frank Peretti, to teenaged women to teach them about abstinance, and the results of having unprotected sex.

Cecelia Dowdy
www.ceceliadowdy.com

RWA’s RITA is the highest award of distinction and is the most sought-after award in romance publishing today. The 1,100 romance novels entered in this year’s contest have been narrowed down to nearly 100 finalists in 12 categories. These finalists advance to the next stage of competition where they will be judged by very discriminating judges – their fellow published authors. The judges now have the difficult task of critiquing and ranking these finalists to determine the final 12 winners.

The winners of the 12 RITA Awards will be revealed on July 14, 2007 at RWA’s 27th Annual National Conference in Dallas, TX.

RWA congratulates the authors of the following distinguished books as finalists in the 2007 RITA contest. The following books reflect the diversity and the best romance fiction published in 2006.

2007 RITA for Best Inspirational Romance Finalists

Revealed by Tamera Alexander
Bethany House Publishers – (0764201093)
Karen Schurrer, editor

Rekindled by Tamera Alexander
Bethany House Publishers – (0764201085)
Karen Schurrer, editor

Be My Neat-Heart by Judy Baer
Harlequin Enterprises, Steeple Hill Love Inspired – (373873670)
Joan Marlowe Golan, editor

A Family Forever by Brenda Coulter
Harlequin Enterprises, Steeple Hill Love Inspired – (0373873581)
Krista Stroever, editor

The Measure of a Lady by Deeanne Gist
Bethany House Publishers – (0764200739)
David Long and Julie Klassen, editors

Ten Thousand Charms by Allison Pittman
Random House, Waterbrook Multnomah – (1590525752)
Rod Morris, editor

My So-Called Love Life by Allie Pleiter
Harlequin Enterprises, Steeple Hill Love Inspired – (9780373873852)
Krista Stroever, editor

Violette Between by Alison Strobel
Random House, Waterbrook Multnomah – (9781578567942)
Shannon Hill, editor

RWA’s Golden Heart contest honors the best unpublished manuscripts of the romance genre. The 2007 Golden Heart winners will be announced during a black-tie Award’s ceremony at RWA’s 27th Annual Conference held July 11-14, 2007 in Dallas, TX.

2007 Golden Heart for Best Inspirational Romance Manuscript Finalists

The Heart Beckons by Carla Hughes
Trouble in Paradise by Tina Radcliffe
Accidental Truth by Ramona Thompson
One Day by Gina Welborn

Congrats to these wonderful ladies!

Cecelia Dowdy
www.ceceliadowdy.com

Video Book Review – Tilly

#Tilly #FrankPeretti #christianfiction #ceceliadowdy

Tilly
Paperback: 128 pages
Publisher: Crossway Books; New Ed edition (July 7, 2003) Original copyright 1988
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1581345607
ISBN-13: 978-1581345605

When I was cleaning my messy house, I found this book buried amid a pile of old books I had stashed away. I read this book years ago, but I recall how much I enjoyed it, so I figured I would blog about it today. Tilly is the story about Kathy Ross. When she sees a small headstone, with only one date, she’s intrigued. She continues to be haunted by a mistake she made around the same time that’s displayed on the dated headstone. The headstone has only one name, Tilly.

Her grief continues as she recalls that point in her life, and when she sleeps, God speaks to her in her dreams, letting her see the child to whom she would have given birth.

Tilly touches upon a deep and taboo subject in most Christian fiction, and that’s abortion. Tilly is also a story about accepting God’s grace for our sins and since God has forgiven us, then we need to forgive ourselves.

Cecelia Dowdy
www.ceceliadowdy.com

A Sounding Brass
Author: Shelley Bates
Paperback
ISBN: 0446694924
Pub. Date: June 2006

I really loved this book! I suppose part of the reason I liked it so much is because of the subject matter, the effects of cults. I’ve never read another Christian fiction book that dealt with cults, although I’m sure there are others out there. Claire Montoya’s ‘church’ the Elect, is despondent because one of their senior members has been accused of rape. The strict church is left leaderless, until handsome and charismatic Luke Fisher steps on the scene. Luke orchestrates changes in a fast-paced manner, and Claire and the rest of the Elect’s heads are spinning because of these abrupt changes. Luke is not a part of the Elect, however, even though he is an Outsider, one of the church leaders, Owen, allows Luke to help lead the church since the Elect’s Shepherd(Leader) has been convicted of rape.

Allowing an Outsider to speak at an Elect Gathering is unheard of, however, soon the congregation is placing all of their faith and trust into Luke Fisher. One of the biggest changes that takes place is that the women can now wear colors. Before their Shepherd was arrested, the Elect women could only wear black, and they had to wear their hair in a severe bun.

Since the trial of the Elect’s Shepherd makes headline news, Claire finds herself under scrutiny at the bank where she works. People have suspicious opinions about the Elect’s strict religion because of the rape trial, and bank customers start leaving, because of Claire’s association with the Elect. She’s asked to go against her religion and change her hair and clothing. Not used to going against the rules of the Elect, Claire refuses, causing her to get fired from her job.

However, she finds herself a job an hour later at a local Christian radio station. Luke Fisher is her new boss, and she’s drawn to his good looks and charismatic nature. However, a love triangle ensues when Ray Harper, an investigator for the rape case appears. He’s drawn to Claire, and he’s suspicious about Luke, so he has Luke investigated. Claire tells Ray that she can’t have a relationship with him because he is not a part of the Elect and because he doesn’t believe in God.

However, as the story unfolds, Claire is wrongly blamed for Luke’s crimes and she gets arrested. Together, she and Ray are able to find Luke and bring the whole matter to justice. Claire does finally admit that the Elect way is not the only way to salvation, and Ray does learn to trust and lean on God.

There were a lot of things about the Elect that I’ve noticed are similiar among some cults I’ve read about over the years. The cultish characteristics of the Elect were:

1. They believe that their way is the only way to Heaven. All other churches are worldly.
2. They place their entire interpretation of the scriptures into the hands of governing members of their organization. (I’ve even heard of cults that change their interpretation of scriptures, and their members are expected to embrace the new interpretation.)
3. They don’t call themselves a church. They call themselves the Elect.(Church is a wordly term.)
4. They don’t call their building a church. Their building is called a Mission Hall.(Again, calling their building a church is worldly.)
5. There are no accounting records available to them about the financial aspects of their group. Giving is totally secret, and how the congregation spends their money, and how much is taken in, is only known to a few select senior individuals.(I think the act of giving can be secret. I don’t have a problem with that. I just think that a church owes it to its members to let them know how much they collected and how those funds have been allocated. Some cults tend to not do this.)
5. Their meeting times were not called church services, they were called Gatherings. (Again, use of the word church is considered worldly.)
6. It is a requirement for them to meet several times a week.
7. It is a sin marry somebody outside of the Elect. You can only marry someone within your organization since all other churches are worldly.
8. If you openly go against their ‘rules’ then you are shunned, and nobody within the organization can talk to you.
9. Some cults don’t give to charities. I noticed in one part of the book, Claire was talking to Luke about how to distribute the funds that had been pouring into the radio station(this was before she knew that Luke was a con-artist and was sending money to fake charities). She had thought about the fact that giving was new to her, and the only ‘charity’ they did in the Elect was invite people to their Gathering.

I’d be interested in reading more books by this author.

Cecelia Dowdy
www.ceceliadowdy.com

Re-release information:
Mass Market Paperback: 368 pages
Publisher: Steeple Hill (February 1, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0373786115
ISBN-13: 978-0373786114

Original release information:
Paperback: 336 pages
Publisher: Steeple Hill (November 1, 2004)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0373785291
ISBN-13: 978-0373785292

When young Honor McCall’s beloved Aunt Harriet dies, she is left to the unmerciful clutches of her abusive Uncle Lucas. When Honor runs away from home to escape her abusive Uncle Lucas, her life takes some drastic turns. She finds a little bit of solace in a church, where she runs for temporary shelter. While in the house of God, she commits a petty crime since she has no money. The guilt from this crime follows her throughout the story. She escapes from her hometown by purchasing a stagecoach ticket. Jeth Peters, a handsome minister from a local town who presided over her aunt’s funeral, happens to be a passenger on the same stage coach. When the stage coach is robbed, Honor is injured and widowed Jeth Peters brings her to his home: a boarding house run by his mother. While Jeth and his mother nurse Honor back to health, they teach her about faith and God.

Honor falls for the handsome Pastor Jeth Peters, and Jeth is smitten with Honor. However, he cannot actively pursue her until she accepts Christ as her Lord and Savior.

Meanwhile, Uncle Lucas makes a spiritual journey on his own and as the story unwinds, the reader discovers that Uncle Lucas is connected to Jeth Peters in a most unusual way.

This is the first book I’ve ever read by Molly Noble Bull and I loved it! Her writing style was fresh and the words just flowed from the page, making the reader eager to finish the story. There was also a sprinkling of intrigue in the story as Honor and Uncle Lucas make their physical and spiritual journeys. I highly recommend this book as a nice, well-written, and emotional read.

Cecelia Dowdy
www.ceceliadowdy.com

***NOTE THAT THE DAKOTA DUSK, DAKOTA DREAM, AND DAKOTA DAWN COVERS ARE FROM THE THORNDIKE LARGE PRINT EDITIONS.
Title: Dakota by Lauraine Snelling
Paperback: 480 pages
Publisher: Barbour Publishing, Incorporated (October 1, 1998)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1577483553
ISBN-13: 978-1577483557

I’m reposting some entries from my old blog on diaryland.com. Just disregard the next few posts if you’ve already read them!

Have you ever started reading a book and then discovered that you’ve already read it? Well, that’s what happened to me recently. I had an old Lauraine Snelling Anthology published by Barbour Books. The Anthology is called Dakota, and it’s been on my shelf for years.

Anyway, I started reading the first story, Dakota Dawn, and realized I’d already read it. So I didn’t finish that story. I HARDLY EVER read fiction books more than once. I just don’t do it. Reason being, I have so many books that I want to read and it seems like by to-be-read pile just gets higher and higher and I can’t put a dent in it.

I believe I had read the first story when Barbour released it as a single novel. That’s why I didn’t read it when it was released in the anthology.

I read Dakota Dream and Dakota Dusk and I enjoyed both of these stories. They’re nice historical Christian romance stories that you’ll want to read on a rainy afternoon, curled up by a warm fire. I loved the way she showed how the character, Jude, got saved and changed. Ms. Snelling shows that all of us can accept His grace and change for the better, no matter what kind of wrongs we’ve done in the past.

When I started reading the last story, Dakota Destiny, I realized I’d already read it when Barbour released it as a stand-alone novel.

Now, on to my writers group. I meet once a month in Bowie Maryland with a group of Christian writers. Some of us write articles, some write short stories, and some are working on non-fiction books. I’m the only one in the small group who is doing fiction. I enjoy fellowshiping with these women (we have one male member who comes sometimes). We also have timed writings where we have a topic and we have fifteen minutes to write about it. Sometimes you can think up story ideas when you have a free-writing exercise.

That’s all I have to say for now.

Stay blessed,

Cecelia Dowdy
www.ceceliadowdy.com
www.blackchristianfiction.com