What's hiding in the kudzu?

Kudzu is rampant in the South. It's a lush green vine that covers other vegetation. In doing so, it creates a fantastical landscape, mimicking giraffes, elephants, water falls, etc. But under the kudzu, everything else is dead. It cuts the sun and water from what it overtakes. Killing it is practically impossible.

Kudzu Sculptures is a Main Street Mystery with Winged Publications. Dorie Hudson is a new journalist for the small town local newspaper Daelin Gazette. Her first assignment is to find out about why the kudzu has not been removed from an old stand of loblolly pine. Ross MacAvoy, the owner of a nursery, normally receives a contract to take care of the kudzu. This year the mayor will not allow it. What's hiding in the kudzu and why? Who is he protecting?


The people in Daelin, Georgia, are like the kudzu sculptures. All sweetness and light on the outside but dead bones underneath. Along the way, Ross and Dorie fall in love, but he can't stay in Daelin due to something he finds in his grandfather's truck that he's allowed the kudzu to overtake. Will it's discovery destroy his relationship with Dorie?

I didn't expect this book to be a murder mystery. It just turned into one! It's a crazy feeling when your book surprises you!

I just submitted my latest manuscript to Winged Publications! It's going to be part of a boxed set of billionaire romances. Though Eddie is an heir to an ancient lordship and its fortune, he'd rather work in the basement of the British Museum uncovering the past as an anthropologist/archeologist. Caroline is a Rhodes Scholar and middle school teacher who is in Oxford to complete a masters level project about the lore and legends of England. Along the way she meets the charming Eddie. Look for Oxford Fairy Tale, coming soon!

Mission Mesquite is available!

My latest novel!
While Kate Lawrence 's parents served in Cote d'Ivoire as career missionaries. Kate's education came in a French boarding school and American University in Paris and Georgetown.  Now a Foreign Service Officer for the US State Department, she wants nothing to do with the missionary lifestyle. When she finally agrees to visit their new mission post Mission Mesquite, the rodeo church at the Mesquite Arena in Dallas, Kate meets Tyler Hawkins, attractive All American Cowboy who has since been crippled by a bull trampling. They have an instant connection, but Kate doesn't know that Tyler has just completed seminary and mission training and is poised to take over Mission Mesquite once her parents retire. How can Kate resolve the conflict between her and God and her heart? Will Tyler's past as a free-wheeling cowboy cut short his ministry? Mission Mesquite is a contemporary Christian romance.

Get your copy of my new novel from me, Amazon, or CreateSpace! And because you read to the end of the blog, here's a $5 discount code when purchasing your copy on createspace: 7R3THBJT

Back Surgery Metaphors of the Christian Life

My journey toward reconstructive back surgery began years before 2016. Cortisone shots in my lower back reduced the pain and inflammation, but they were temporary measures, never fixing the big picture. After air travel alone in January and again in February, after slinging computer bags into the overhead bins and pulling bags from the baggage carousel, it was clear that something was wrong.

http://www.teachpe.com/anatomy/the_spine.php

As a fibromyalgia sufferer, it’s sometimes hard to know if pain is more than just a spike in ‘regular’ pain.  For a while I dismissed the pain in my hips, lower back, buttocks. My right quad would go numb when standing for too long. Tingles would cascade down my legs. When I woke on March 9 with a massive muscle spasm from my lower back to behind my knee, my husband said, “Now will you go to the doctor?”

So I did, finally. After yet another cortisone shot in my left lower back and an x-ray showing a ‘bone spur’ on the L4 vertebra in the lumbar region, the physician’s assistant requested an MRI from the insurance company. If you follow me on Blasting News, you’ve read that story.

How is all of this a metaphor for the Christian Life?

First, you can’t go about changing a problem until you realize you have a problem. As non-Christians, we all must come to the conclusion that something is wrong in our lives. All the Tylenol Extra Strength doses would never fix the cause of my pain. Once I knew that the pain had a specific cause, I knew I had to fix it. Sin in our lives, yes even Christians sin, can never be repaired without the Holy Physician’s help. Only He can remove our sin as far as the east is from the west. Until He excises my sin problem, my constant missteps without Him, I continue to stumble and fail to live a life focused on Him instead of dwelling on myself.

Terri Wangard's Friends and Enemies

Terri Wangard’s Friends and Enemies is about how ‘real’ people experienced WWII, including civilians in Germany. Her characters experience their own ‘teacup tragedies’ and triumphs in a world full of rationing, fear, love, and loss. A book in two parts, Wangard introduces a cast in Part 1, then follows them through their journey during the war in Part 2. The reader has no difficulty caring about these ordinary characters affected by a world on fire.

Friends and Enemies is an enjoyable read. As a member of Wangard’s ACFW (American Christian Fiction Writer) Scribes group, I have had the privilege to read and comment on her work. She never disappoints. Her stories are intriguing woven tapestries drawn together with historic detail and the ordinary within. Each of her characters and his/her situations add the pattern and color to the sweeping drama of history. In addition, the characters share their faith with those who struggle without it.

I was provided a final copy of this copy in exchange for a review; however, I had already experienced this story as a critiquer. It is my pleasure to recommend Friends and Enemies to both those who have an interest in WWII stories, but also to those who enjoy curling up with a good book.