I recently had the privilege of recommending several books for various authors. Here’s a few I’m recommending:
Wicked Disregard by Barbara Ann Derksen
About the book:
on a career to find missing children. Will she end her work as an investigator and run the company left to her by her dead Father?
Barbara writes intense suspense and will keep you on your toes (figuratively speaking!) Just my type of reading, and I’d love to encourage you to give her books a chance! Here’s my review:
My Review:
Wicked Disregard by Barbara A. Derksen
You like drama? Intense? Real life issues addressed in your novels? Then you’re going to love Wicked Disregard. Be prepared to adjust to the many characters and be sure to read the previous books. You won’t regret it and reading them will place you firmly in this novel.
Derksen has the talent to draw a reader into her books by creating characters that are real and human, meaning they face problems and situations the same as ordinary people. You won’t be able to ignore the serious issues Christine and Jeremy face, and in dealing with them, you’ll be sitting on the edge of your seat and turning the pages as quickly as you can.
A childhood victim of crime, Christine must delve deep behind the clues to find the perpetrators of this case of child kidnapping, and the problem is she’s looking in places that she shouldn’t have to: law offices and police stations. She can’t let it go. With the help of her friend, Jeremy, she’s determined to close the case and handle her own personal problems too.
Of course, a thread of romance between the two main characters lighten the tenseness in the book, and the ray of God’s inspirational help gives hope to the hopeless and help to those who call on him.
It’s not a book for the timid, for those who insist on hiding their head in the sand of life. But those who do read it will find their eyes opened to this tragedy for children. It will give hearts the encouragement needed to lift in prayer similar real issues of the same situations.
Recommended highly!
SECOND CHANCES by Cleo Lampos
About the Book:
Zoey Pappas grew up in a one-stoplight town. Now she’s landed her dream job as the fifth grade
teacher at the urban Diamond Projects School, but can she handle it?
- Her family laid odds that she won’t. Zoey knows her cows, but she’s never dealt with students from drug-infested, crime-ridden communities.
- Her Greek family wants her to work in the family restaurant and earn her M.R.S. degree. Zoey wants to prove herself, but she has met a muscled Irish cop who has been assigned to work with her as the Drug Awareness officer. He’s too efficient, to cocky, and too… handsome.
Ever since Officer Gavien Corrigan pulled Zoey’s car over on her first day of school for driving on a one way street in a neighborhood known for violence, he’s been captivated by her. Thoughts of the new teacher crowd in with the family responsibilities that overshadow his life. His bullet proof vest is lighter than the secret blame he carries on his shoulders. He believes that God is in control of lives, but sometimes wonders if God has forgotten him.
As the two are thrust together in the concrete jungle where everyone needs second chances, will Zoey and Gavin find their own second chances…together?
Zoey learns of unconditional love as she becomes friends with Carole Milner and her husband who is wheelchair bound with multiple sclerosis. As she watches the couple cope with MS, Zoey desires to fall in love like them. Multiple sclerosis does not define their relationship, love does.
A deaf student is mainstreamed into Zoey’s class, so she enters the world of the deaf and hard of hearing. It moves Zoey to deeper compassion for the parents and foster parents in her classroom.
Anyone who has been a teacher, or loves children will enjoy this romance that brings the country girl into the urban scene. A fresh look at chaplains working in jail ministry, drug rehab and foster care are included in this novel set in the inner city. The influence of Greek immigrant ideas are also explored.
Will Zoey make it in the big city?
Buy her book here:
What a mixup of wonderful (in a manner of speaking) topics to explore in this book! Draws a reader right in.
MY REVIEW:
Second Chances by Cleo Lampas
You want something above the normal reading? Something unique and interesting to boot that will entertain and yet jerk you upright with its attention-grabbing chapters? Then pick up a copy of Second Chances.
From the first page, Cleo hooked me. With no glamour in the telling, dealing with a wide-spread problem in the states, this book will make even the toughest readers sit up and take notice.
Predictions of dire happenings from her hometown friends and family ring in her mind, as a young, inexperienced, naiveté teacher, lost in the middle of drug streets of a big city is stopped by a policeman, Gavin Corrigan, who seems to find her dilemma amusing. Unprepared for what greets her on her first day of teaching in one of inner-city Chicago’s poorer schools, Zoey’s expectations of her students reactions, her dreamy ideas of how to approach these world-weary young kids are soon only torn strips of what she’d hoped for her first day.
But Zoey’s yearning heart to help her students overcome their home life and personal struggles is inspiring as she reaches out to those in need around her. Her work with the deaf students is touching and a vital part of the novel. Her caring heart is revealed when she helps a fellow-teacher whose husband has MS.
One of the most heart-rending plots in the story is Gavin’s heartache at his brother’s drug addiction. Many times a hopeless, never-ending situation, it leaves the loved one filled with worry, sadness and a weary hope for the addicted.
And, yes, there is romance and hope and trust in God. Touches that bring a ray of sunshine into a story that deals with pertinent and deep topics. Truly a novel that needs to be read. Well done, Cleo Lampos!
Buy her book here:
- The first because I’ve always wanted to see Ireland with my own eyes. I loved their beautiful country, the people’s strength and their history.
- The second reason was because of Cindy Thomson. She’s a sweet, talented friend whom I admire tremendously!
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