Category Archives: Harper Collins

Offended? Cast Of Characters For Sins Of The Father

I think I may have offended one of my blog readers with my review for Angela Benson’s novel, Sins Of The Father.

Anonymous made the following comment on my blog:
Bastard? Interesting word to use. I didn’t know anyone still used that word. I wonder if God sees them as bastards. I’m guessing no. You might want to consider seeing them as God seems them.

When I used the word bastard, I was thinking of the way I used to see it used in old-time TV shows, plus, Angela Benson (the author) used the word herself in the novel at least a few times? I recall the wife of Abraham – Saralyn – used the word, and it was obviously in a distasteful manner. I was comparing the novel to TV, and that’s a word that I used to see crop up on TV drama shows.

The first time I heard the word bastard was when I was about ten or eleven. It was summer time, and you’ll recall on my soap opera post that I was bored out of my mind during those hot summer months. When I was ten/eleven, I wasn’t reading romance novels or watching soap operas yet, but I did watch a great deal of television. I was watching old black and white reruns of The Big Valley. Remember, these were re-reruns. I believe when The Big Valley first came on the air, I wasn’t even born yet. Anyway, it’s about this family living on a ranch or someplace like that, and the show had a western theme. Heath (A character played by Lee Majors. I really remember Lee Majors as the Six Million Dollar Man – that show DID air during my time – I remember it well in the seventies.) shows up at the ranch, and another character, can’t recall his name, demands to know who Heath is. Heath’s response is, “I’m your daddy’s bastard son.” Then they break out in a fight (kind of like Angela had Isaac and Michael doing in the boardroom at Abraham’s company – see, I told you this book was just like a TV show!) Anyway, I turned to my mom, and asked, “Mom, what’s a bastard?”

She told me it’s a child who’s born to parents who are not married. But she went on to say, “It’s not a nice word, and I don’t want to ever hear you say that word.”

Suffice it to say, I never used that word, until yesterday’s blog post, so, if I offended anybody, I didn’t mean to…honest! Nowadays, there is no stigma to being born out of wedlock. I don’t even know if there’s a term used for children born to unmarried parents? Single unmarried mothers are common nowadays and I believe bastard was a word used more back in the eighteen and early to mid nineteen hundreds, perhaps? I know tons of people born to unmarried parents, and I know a lot of children born to unmarried parents and I don’t think of them as bastards…honest! When I read Angela’s book, that was the first time I’d seen the word bastard in ages.

Now, on to another subject! Wendy commented and asked:
Cecelia said:
I think the entire book should be placed on TV. Seriously. I felt like I was reading a script for a movie and I was ready to cast the actors for the parts.

Wendy’s question:
>>who would you cast as characters for the parts?


Who would I cast?


Abraham would be either Harry Belafonte or James Earl Jones.

Saralyn would be Diahann Carroll.

Issac and Michael? Well, remember in this soap opera post I talked about twins (or a variation of twins) being used in the soaps? Well, Issac and Michael would be played by the same person! Although they are not twins, they look an awful lot alike! I’d cast Shemar Moore to play both roles!
Deborah? Hmm. I’m not sure! Anybody have any suggestions on who should be cast as Deborah? I don’t know who I’d cast for the lawyer, the man that Deborah has a crush on, the man that’s old enough to be her daddy! I also don’t know who I’d cast to play Deborah’s and Michael’s mom! Anybody have suggestions for that?
Okay, I usually don’t blog about a book for more than a day! The few comments that came in sparked me to blog about the book again. If you enjoy soap operas and drama and TV, then I think you should check out Angela’s novel.

~Cecelia Dowdy~

Sins Of The Father

I mentioned this novel the day before yesterday. So, as promised, I’m posting my review. This novel reminded me of a soap opera because it had a lot of drama and real-life issues. Abraham is a successful businessman, but, he’s in the same boat as a lot of men (and women, nowadays) – he fathered a child before he got married. However, he was seeing two women at the same time and he married the one with the most wealth. Saralyn, his wife, hates that her husband has now turned soft-hearted and wants to unite with the children he had out of wedlock. I think the entire book should be placed on TV. Seriously. I felt like I was reading a script for a movie and I was ready to cast the actors for the parts. The drama between Abraham’s son, his wife, and his illegitimate children gets murky when Abraham’s in a serious accident, and is in a coma. Running his company is no picnic, but the characters need to learn that they need to forgive one another for all that’s happened in the past.

~Cecelia Dowdy~

Sins Of The Father by Angela Benson

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:

and the book:

Sins of the Father

Avon A (August 25, 2009)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Angela Benson’s numerous novels include the Christy Award-nominated Awakening Mercy, the Essence-bestselling The Amen Sisters, and Up Pops The Devil. Currently an associate professor at the University of Alabama, she lives in Northport, AL. www.angelabenson.com

Visit the author’s website.

Product Details:

List Price: $13.99
Paperback: 368 pages
Publisher: Avon A (August 25, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0061468525
ISBN-13: 978-0061468520

AND NOW…THE FIRST CHAPTER:

Prologue

Sonny,

I know you hate it when I call you that, but if you’re reading this letter, I guess it’s okay since I’ve gone on to glory. I picked up the pen to write this letter right after you left my apartment, the one you bought for me, on Tuesday, November 15, 2006. I had to write it because I couldn’t tell you all the things I wanted to say. Somewhere along the line I became one of the people in your life who received money but very little else from you. I don’t know when it happened, but today I realized that in the process I had stopped being your mother and had become your dependent.

You’ve done a lot for me, Sonny, and I appreciate it more than you ever know, but I don’t think I’ve been a good mother to you. It was much easier when you were a boy and we had so very little when it came to material things. My job then was to keep you off the streets and out of trouble, to make sure that you went to school everyday and that you got your homework done each night. I cheered you on when your team won and encouraged you when they lost. I went without so that you might have the little extras that most kids took for granted – a new pair of off-brand sneakers or a new CD. I celebrated your every accomplishment and always told you that the world was yours if only you worked hard.

And you made me so proud. When I sat in that auditorium at that fancy Ivy League school and watched you walk across the stage, I knew I had done my job and done it well. A single uneducated mother with only her faith in God for support had reared a son who had not become a statistic – dead or in-jail before twenty. I thanked God because I had done my job so well. I even took a bit of pride in what I had done. My pride increased with each of your accomplishments. That’s my boy, I would tell folks, and watch their eyes widen in surprise, as though they couldn’t believe it.

You went beyond what I’d prayed when you started keeping the promises you’d made to me. One of these days, ma, you’re going to have a big house in one of those fancy neighborhoods. Ma, you’re gonna have one of those foreign cars. I’ll make sure you get a new one every year. Once I make it big, ma, you’ll never have to worry about money or work again because I’m gonna take care of you. You’re gonna visit the places in those travel books, ma, just you wait and see. Every promise you made to me you more than fulfilled.

So why am I writing this letter? Because today I realized that I had failed you. Somewhere along the line I forgot to warn you to take care of your heart. Sonny, I fear you’ve lost it in your quest to make money, to fulfill the promises you made to me and yourself. I worry that money and power have become your gods.

I tried to tell you some of this today, but you didn’t hear me. I realized that it’s been a long time since you’ve heard me. I’ve become another check that you write each month. Oh, how I wanted more for us than that! But it’s too late for us. I realized that today.

But it’s not too late for you. While in many ways, you’ve been a wonderful son, you’ve also been a disappointment. I blame myself for not providing you with a male role model who could show you what it meant to be a man. I tried to show you, but I failed. All you learned from me was that a man provided for his family. You didn’t learn that a man also cherished his family. Maybe you mistook providing for cherishing. But they’re not the same. Not by a long shot.

You’ve got some housekeeping to do, Sonny, and it has to start with Leah and those kids. Yes, I know about them, have known for years, but I never said anything. I kept waiting for you to say something and you never did. I have two grandchildren that I never got to know because I was too intimated by you to challenge you on your decisions. A good mother would have challenged you and made you do the right thing. A good mother would have welcomed her grandchildren even if her wayward son didn’t. God help me, but I haven’t been a good mother in a long time.

I love you, Sonny. No mother could love a son more. But I want more for you and expect more from you than you’ve shown. I want you to know love, that sacrificing kind of love that a poor single mother shows her only son. With all your money and all you’ve achieved, I don’t think you know that kind of love. How can you? Everything and everybody in your life have been second to your work and your goals.

I hope to be a better mother now than I was when we were together. Know that I’m watching from heaven and looking for you to become a better man than you are. You know where to start. Take that first step. God will lead you the rest of the way.

Your always loving mother.

Chapter 1

Four months later

You can’t buy me,” Deborah Thomas told the distinguished grey-haired man seated across from her in Justin’s, P. Diddy’s trendy Atlanta restaurant. The previously tasty salmon she’d been eating settled on her stomach with a thud. She met her lunch companion’s eyes. “Or my love,” she finished as she put down her fork. She picked up her white linen napkin and blotted her lips, fighting ball the bile that threatened to spill out. “Neither is for sale.”

She put down her napkin and was about to push back her chair when his hand grasped hers. She looked down at his hand and then back up at him, making sure her displeasure was evident in her glare. The mirth she saw in the eyes that met hers only added to her rising ire.

“I’m glad you find this humorous,” she said. She attempted to pull her hand away but he only held it tighter.

The mirth still in his eyes, he said, “You remind me so much of my mother. What you see is not humor, but joy. You have no idea what it does to me to see my mother’s face in your face, to know that her spirit lives on in you. She would have loved you so.”

Deborah snatched her hand away, remembering the contradicting emotions of joy and pain she’d felt the day he’d shown her pictures of his now-deceased mother. “And whose fault is it that she never had the chance? Whose fault is it that I never knew my own grandmother?”

He sobered then and released her hand along with a deep sigh. “I’ll go to my grave regretting the mistakes of the past.”

Good, she thought, but she didn’t voice the words. The sincerity and pain in his voice stopped her from taking any pleasure in his regrets. A part of her was glad he felt remorse because it meant that he cared a little, maybe. For so long she’d never dared to hope for his caring, couldn’t even dream that he loved her. His absence from her life all these years had been too much evidence for a young girl’s wishes to overcome. He didn’t love her. He never had.

“I’m not trying to buy you or your love,” he said, his gaze holding hers. “But there was a time when that would have been my strategy.”

Deborah didn’t respond.

“Look,” he said, leaning towards her. “I made you the offer because I think you’re right for the job. If nothing else, I’m a business man. I don’t take the future of any of my company lightly. Even though Walk Worthy was a steal and brings needed diversity to my existing publishing holdings, I admit that I had you in mind when I bought it.”

Lord help her, her heart beat faster at his words. She felt like the little girl she’d once been, the one who longed for a daddy to make her hurts go away. “I have a job that I love,” she said, overstating the truth a bit. “Why should I even consider your offer?”

That sparkle returned to his eye. “You might love your job, but I’m offering you your own imprint. Will Prisom Publishing do that for you? Though you’ve been in and around the publishing world since you were in college, you’re young yet, only twenty-eight. You’ll have to wait years to get your own imprint there and you know it.” He reached for her hand again, squeezing it lightly. “It’s a great offer, Deborah. Think about it. Walk Worthy is established enough that it has name recognition in the marketplace so you wouldn’t have to start at ground zero, yet it’s new enough for you to make your own mark both on it and with it.” He gave her hand a quick squeeze, released it, and sat back in his chair. The twinkle in his eyes was gone.

Deborah tried to stare him down, but his eyes had turned to that innocent pleading that reminded her so much of her older brother when he wanted her to agree to one of his schemes. She looked away, toward the piano where a balding man strummed the keys to a jazz oldie.

“I’m not trying to buy you or your love, Deborah,” he said, causing her to turn back him. “I’ve enjoyed getting to know you these last few months. I know it’s too late for me to play daddy to you but I hoped we could at least become friends.”

Friends, she thought. I have enough friends. I could still use a father, she admitted to herself. How she hated that weakness! “So you want me to work for you so that we can become friends?”

“I want you to work with me so that we can continue to get to know each other. I’d also like to think that you can learn a few things from an old fossil like me.”

Deborah couldn’t help but smile at that comment. Abraham Martin had been described in a lot of ways — an entrepreneurial genius and a publishing trendsetter are two that came to mind –but never had anyone referred to him as an old fossil.

“That’s better,” he said. “I love it when you smile.”

Deborah could feel herself being swept back under the spell he’d begun weaving around her since the first day they’d had lunch together four months ago. “We can’t go back, Abraham,” she said. “It’s too late.”

He shook his head. “It’s not too late. Not as long as you have breathe in your body and I have breath in mine. We’ve lost a lot of years, all my doing,” he said. “But we don’t have to lose another day. You’re my daughter and my business is your business. I’m not offering you a job, Deborah. I’m offering you your rightful place as my daughter.”

==
My thoughts? I haven’t finished this novel yet. Just started it. When I’m done, I’ll be posting a full review. So far, I’m enjoying the book, and I usually enjoy all of Angela Benson’s novels. So far, it’s a good read, and you should give it a try!

~Cecelia Dowdy~