Glad to see you again!

Today Angie is going to share her review of my book with you and her story of behind the writing of her own book. After that we have a few other blogs for you to check out.

Angie’s review of By Paths Unknown

*happy sigh*

So, in case you didn’t know, I’m a huge fan of Rebekah’s work. (Ever since I discovered her…last year? But in case you question my sincerity, please compute that time frame against her sizable backlist and the fact that I’ve read every single one of them. Yeah, now you get the picture.) But even with a favorite author, there are good books and then there are GOOD BOOKS. And By Paths Unknown falls squarely in the latter category. In fact, it probably ranks among my very top favorites from Rebekah. Like the ones I want to assign more than five stars to. Yep, it’s that good!

The best part of the book for me? Austin–hands down!!! From the opening sentences, he grabbed hold of my heart in such a powerful way! I absolutely adore sweet older-brother characters, and kids who have had to take on the job of caring for their family for any reason get me every time… But favorite types aside, my love for Austin went so much deeper than just my love for his role. He was so sweet, so compassionate, trying so hard to be strong for everyone else–just everything you could ask for. Those characters that melt your heart into a puddle? Austin does it to me every time. <3<3<3

But Austin is not anywhere close to the only great character in this book. Although we don’t see him nearly as often, Connor stole my heart almost as much. The way he understood and supported Austin even when he couldn’t express what was wrong was just so perfect and beautiful. And Jenny ran him a close second. <3 Austin’s siblings were all realistic and well-differentiated, and although LeaLea was my favorite, I really did love them all–yes, even the difficult ones. 🙂 I especially liked the way the twins’ different personalities and struggles were portrayed. Oh, and Drew was a doll. 🙂 And the plethora of aunts, uncles, cousins, and neighbors were great in their own way without ever feeling copied or stuck in for no reason. Aunt Mimmie was particularly fun, and I loved both her name and its explanation–so funny and yet totally true to life! XD

Oh, and can we talk about the setting for a minute? What is it about horses and boots and cowboy hats that makes me just want to settle in and stay forever? <3 I loved the feel of the ranch so much, and I loved the way that we were given just enough detail to picture things without being overwhelmed with too many particulars. It’s a bit hard to explain, but I felt like the level of detail was just about perfect, and I don’t say that often. 😉

As far as the plot went, I absolutely adored it! There’s a fine line sometimes between writing normal, realistic, day-to-day living and working and healing and writing a story that feels like it’s just meandering without a point, and Rebekah absolutely nails it! I love the fact that not every conflict or issue has to come to a major crisis in order to be worked through and resolved. And yet nothing feels like it was left hanging or forgotten. And I love the fact that even though the “why” questions aren’t totally answered, we get to see bits of how God works good even from the hardest situations. And seeing how the characters have grown from the beginning of the story to the end–it’s just so incredible!

Final reaction: adore, adore, adore! Go read it if you haven’t! 😀

*I wrote the summary for this book and received a free copy from the author. A positive review was not required. All opinions are my own.*

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Behind the writing of A Brother is Born

I always love looking back at the little bits and pieces that God works through to give me new stories!  Sometimes I don’t even remember them clearly, but other times they’re very memorable. “A Brother is Born” is one of those times.  It started its life as a conversation, a movie, and a dream.

It all began one Friday night at my parents’ house when several of us were discussing the talent one of my brothers has for making anything sound like a fact. He speaks so confidently and rattles off such legitimate-sounding statistics that it’s hard to catch him at it unless you actually go and look things up—or he eventually cracks and lets you know he’s been bluffing the whole time.  Anyway, after a lengthy discussion, my family introduced me to about the middle third—they’d started it before I got there, and I fell asleep partway in—of a movie about five teenage friends. And early the next morning, I woke up in the middle of a dream.

For once, the dream was not so bizarre that it had to be tamed down, rearranged, and shaped until it made sense. It involved a group of five teenagers—all best friends—including one who was the epitome of what we had styled my brother, another who tended to fall for whatever nonsense was offered, and a third who could only groan and shake her head.  The spectrum joke from chapter twenty-one—yep, that was basically my dream, with very few changes. 🙂

As I let my mind wander over that scene, trying to figure out who and why and how, and what it would all lead to anyway, I latched onto the idea of a joke gone bad, leading to a would-be rescue and a real accident.  And this is what changed it from a story about friendship to a story about family.

Confused?  Let me explain.  In a word, logistics.  In more words, I couldn’t figure out how to get five teenagers from separate families far enough away from any adult to land them in the mess I had created.  Some of them were responsible enough to get help if it was available, and the thought of five sets of parents leaving a group of kids without explicit enough instructions to stop them from getting into this kind of trouble was hard to swallow.

I mean, one set of parents might overlook something—or accidentally leave enough of a loophole to squeeze through.  But five? And I don’t know about you, but if I’m responsible for someone else’s kids, I’m going to be a lot more vigilant than if they’re all my own…  And yes, that was the exact and entire reason behind the whole complicated family mix. 😀

See, the funny thing is, I didn’t start out to write a story about a girl who was insecure in her brother’s love and still a bit lonely for her parents.  In fact, although some of the themes have stayed constant, some of them didn’t show up until much later. (And I mean years later; the majority of this story was written long before anything else I’ve published to date!)  But when things finally came together, it turned out that all those little logistics-only decisions—like how to cram five teens of similar ages into a single house—were an important part of the story I was supposed to tell.  It still amazes me how God does that!

Bonus note—my brother’s personality was not the only idea I *ahem* borrowed from my family.  If you’re ever invited on a road trip with us…well, you’ve been warned! 😉

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Thursday

 

And if you missed the posts from the other days . . .

Have you ever gotten ideas for stories from dreams? Does it make you want to read Angie’s book even more? Have you told your friends to pick up their 99¢ copies of these books yet?