SPOILER ALERT!

Here’s a summary, and my opinions about my vacation reading:

I recently finished a thousand tomorrows by Karen Kingsbury. I have another question about this title, similar to my questions about Ted DEKkER. Anybody know why the title of this novel was in lower case?

Karen Kingsbury is a very well-known Christian novelist. However, this is the first book I’ve read by her. I thought the book was good, and well-written, however, I wanted to place more thoughts and references to God into her story. Cody, a bull rider, is bitter and angry at his father for abandoning him, his mother, and his Down-syndrome stricken younger brother Carl Joseph. He releases his anger by riding bulls, becoming a top-notch bull rider in the process.

Ali Daniels is a successful horsewoman on the rodeo circuit. Ali and Cody cross paths over the years at rodeo shows. However, they never acknowledge one another. Ali has a secret: she suffers from cystic fibrosis. Finally, after years of silence between them, Cody and Ali do begin a relationship, they fall in love, and eventually, Ali convinces Cody to forgive his father, who, during the course of the story, returns to Cody’s mother and remarries her.

I could see the message of Christianity interwoven throughout this story. However, I still felt that the characters could have made more references to God, and to Christianity. Cody does forgive his parents, which is the Christian thing to do. However, I felt that he should have mentioned how the Lord worked through him, making him see that the right thing to do would be to forgive his parents.

An example of where I think God should have been mentioned was when Cody was alone with Ali, far from her house, and she has an asthma attack. He yells for her to “breathe, make her breathe.” I felt that he should have called directly upon God to help Ali with her asthma attack.

It was sad when Ali did die in the end, after Cody, and Ali’s father, both donated a lung to her so that she could gain a few more years of life.

This book was published under Warner’s/Hatchette Book Group’s Center Street imprint, NOT the Faith Words imprint. My research indicates that the Center Street imprint is NOT an inspirational imprint, per se, but it was “designed to build around the values and sensibilities of heartland America.” And “the titles ‘are’ written from a values-based perspective that is not necessarily a religious one.” – according to Publisher’s Weekly. This explanation may explain why this Kingsbury novel wasn’t very religious.

I also read A Morning Like This by Deborah Bedford. The premise of this novel reminded me of Truth Be Told by Victoria Christopher Murray. In Deborah’s novel David Treasure has a loving wife, Abby, a wonderful home life and a son named Braden. His mistress from several years ago, Susan, comes to town unexpectedly, practically forcing David to meet with her.

David discovers Susan has a daughter (named Samantha/Sam) that is his, who is around the same age as Braden. Sam is sick with leukemia, and she needs a bone marrow transplant. Susan wants David tested to see if he’s a match. When it’s discovered that he isn’t a match, Susan begs David to let Braden be tested since siblings are the most likely bone marrow transplant donors to be a match.

Her request forces David to tell Abby about his affair. Abby is floored, and their marriage goes through many trials and tribulations throughout the story. After he is tested, it is discovered that Braden is not a match, either.

Sam is not aware of the contact her mother has with her father. When Sam accidentally finds out where her father (David) lives, she runs away to meet him. She stays with David, Abby, and Braden for a week, and during that time, she grows close to her brother, but is bothered by Abby’s cold attitude towards her. Sam feels better when she discovers that Abby is upset about David’s affair, not about her presence in her home.

Sam and Braden surprisingly go to the altar and ask the church to be tested to see if they have a matching donor among the crowd. A perfect match is found and Sam is healed from her disease.

Abby discovers that David’s affair, which occurs during her pregnancy and for a short time after their son is born, was partially her fault. She realizes that she shut David out of her life, and she apologizes for the part she played in his indiscretion.

The reason why this book reminds me of Truth Be Told is because a life-threatening illness forces a former mistress to come forward with the husband’s illegitimate child, forcing the husband to tell his wife about his indiscretion. Murray’s novel had the former mistress to have AIDS, which prompts her to contact the father of her son so that he could raise him since she was going to die soon.

I thought both books, A Thousand Tomorrows and A Morning Like This were very good.

Right now, I’m reading Thr3e by Ted DEKkER. I’ll post about that one as time permits.

Stay blessed,
Cecelia Dowdy
www.ceceliadowdy.com