To Save a Life: Book Review

To Save a Life by Jim & Rachel Britts

I went to the library in search of about five different books. And I couldn't find any of them. So I came home with five or six different books, this being one of them. I didn't really know anything about them, and I was having trouble deciding which one to actually read. They all looked good. I had seen this one on the shelf before and had even taken it home, but just hadn't had the time to read it. I have the tendency to start a book, get bored a few chapters in, and drop it. So my mom told me that this time around whatever book I chose I would have to read it until the end.

As soon as I started this book, I considered putting it down. It starts with the main character Jake standing in the rain at a funeral. The first couple of chapters are just Jake going back through memories of the person who died--or rather killed themselves. I was bored and scared that the whole book would be like this. Who wants a book going through memories and the occasional thought of regret of a person who lost their childhood best friend? I wanted to see action, to see the person changed. And I was not disappointed. Once the book picked up, it really picked up.

I fell in love with the characters right away. Jake, his girlfriend, his parents, his youth pastor, and even his "enemies" are all very relatable because they are just like people now of days. They go through real life struggles of having to deal with the mistakes they've made or being accused for things unfairly. The characters came off the page and it was much more like a movie playing out in my head than black words on a white page.

Every inch of the story was inspiring, entertaining, and realistic. Over and over the question What is your life about? is asked. By the end of the book, I was sitting there sobbing (I  hardly ever cry over books) and wondering how in the world Jake's life would be pieced back together in the remaining twenty pages.

To Save a Life has many Christian aspects and carefully deals with things that are dealt with loosely in today's world. I would recommend this book to anyone who is already aware of these topics (it talks cleanly about teen pregnancy, partying, drugs, etc.) and who is looking for a good, inspiring read.

CAVE SECRETS OF THE PTERODACTYL: Welcome, Author Aidyl Ewoh

Today I am excited to host Aidyl Ewoh on Cave Secrets of the Pterodactyl blog tour! Take it from here, Aidyl

 

About the Book:

Cave Secrets of the Pterodactyl: Traveling with her parents brings Lydia, daughter of explorer and singer Buddy Davis, plenty of adventure and mystery - from hidden clues in bookstores to cave paintings deep underground. 

About the Author: Whether she’s building life-sized models of dinosaurs with her adopted family, trying her hand at cooking at a private retreat, or living in a barn, author Aidyl Ewoh (aka Lydia Howe) seems to have adventures follow her wherever she goes. Check out her book, Cave Secrets of the Pterodactyl and find out more about her at her Blog, Facebook, and Twitter. 

Answer to the True or False question from the last stop:  False! I do get bothered by the small, tight spaces, but as long as I don't focus on it I am fine. :)  

        My adopted parents and I, along with five of our friends and one of the guides, ended up in the very back of the line (there was one guide at the front, and one at the back). I really don’t have proof, of course, but I’m willing to guess that we had the most fun of anyone in the cave. It was a blast! (Thankfully, there wasn’t really a blast, because that would have been quite dangerous while underground...)

 

 

        There were quite a few of us doing this part of the adventure, but it actually didn’t feel like it because most of the time the passageways were so narrow that we got pretty spread out. There was hardly ever a time I could see, or hear, more than about 10 people. It was crazy to think that it was pretty late (about ten or so at night), yet we were so secluded in darkness that time didn’t mean anything to us.

        I didn’t see any bats (which was sort of a bummer), but I did get to see cave crickets - which looked more like spiders than any crickets I’ve ever seen.

        The first time I had to do a belly-crawl, I started into the crevice before the person in front of me was all the way through, and I almost freaked out because then I had to just wait there for a couple of seconds. Seconds felt like minutes while being surrounded by rock on four sides and a person's feet in front of me, and someone else standing behind me. When it was finally clear, I scrambled through there as fast as I could. But not having the leverage to lift myself made for some breathless moments as I wriggled through the opening.

        About halfway through our journey we arrived in a large, open room. It was short; I couldn’t stand up in most of it, yet it still felt big after all the narrowness we had been through. We all sat around while the guides told us stories about people being lost, including one about a guy who had a fatal fall in the cave. Then we all turned our lights out. It was as dark as dark can be, and I was glad to know when we were able to turn the lights back on!

        When we left the large room, Cody, the guy who had traveled to the cave with us, decided to do the rest of the hike back with me and my adopted parents. He asked me if I got claustrophobic and I was like, “Oh my goodness! Don’t say that word to me right now!” Because I do, although not badly. But I do. And while he was asking, I was standing there, waiting for the people in front of me to go through another one of the belly-crawling parts. I seriously had my face two inches from the wall in front of me - while standing sideways. Not a good time to think of being claustrophobic! It was pretty amazing to me, how much I had to work on keeping the right mindset so I wouldn’t freak out. And I didn’t freak out, I had a total ball!

        There are more harrowing tales to tell (ok, not really harrowing, but it sounded like a cool word to use while talking about caving), but this story has already exceeded its original post and taken up the space of two - and I can’t really justify letting it use three. So right now I'll just leave you to wonder how I made it out alive...

For a chance to win a free copy of Cave Secrets of the Pterodactyl and read a character interview, check this blog out!  on Monday!

To see the schedule for the Blog Tour and to find out how you could win a book by just commenting, click here. 

 

 

 

Blog and Writing INSANITY

Hello! Sorry it's been awhile since I blogged. I have been waiting on myself to finish a book so I could review it, but it was taking longer than I expected. But on the notebooksisters.com they are doing a chain post I am quite interested in.... So....:) Here ya go!

1. How many books did you write this year?
This year I completed finished my YA novel TEN PROMISES. I also started FORGIVEN and SAVING RUTHIE.
2. Which was your favourite to write?
So far I think FORGIVEN has been my favorite to write. It's been a story that has been very close to my heart for around two years. It took me forever to figure out how to write it! I got the idea when I was at a beach. It was beginning to get dark and fireworks were about to go off, so I sat in the warm water, just thinking. Then I thought, "What if someone were to do something so bad that they didn't think they could ever move on and have friends and get married and just have a life?" So over the next year or two, I came up with the character Ariella Violet Burns. She actually had a lot of different names throughout her life. She started out as Emily Burns, then changed to Amelia "Lia" Burns, then Arielle Violet Burns. Finally she became Ariella Violet "Vi, Ari" Burns.
3. Which was the hardest to write?
FORGIVEN has also been the hardest for me to write, because it is such an intense story. It deals with city violence, forgiveness, death, rape, and dealing with regrets.
4. Tell us about you favourite Male Character you wrote this year!
My favorite male main character of this year was James O'Conner. He came about when I was rethinking TEN PROMISES plot. Originally he was my female main character's brother, but he changed to her best friend, a marine overseas. Throughout the book him and Chrissi write letters.
5. And how about your favourite Female Character?
I think Violet would have to be my favorite female character. I love her because she's very "tough" and "mean" on the outside, but she is really very sweet at heart. For example, when visiting her boyfriend's sister's grave, she sat there and cried, over the lost little girl that Jacob was hurting over.
6. Any romances in your writing? Which couple didn't go together as expected?
I have a few couples! In TEN PROMISES there is Samuel and McKenzie. In FORGIVEN, Jacob and Violet. In SAVING RUTHIE, Darren and Ember and Samuel and Anna. I think that my favorite couple out of them is Jacob and Violet. She claims that they aren't a couple...but anyone who has read anything from that book can see it. A couple that didn't go together as expected was Chrissi and Ross from TEN PROMISES. They ended up being friends, not lovers like I had expected!
7. Last word from your manuscript(s)! Go!
Since TEN PROMISES is my only finished WIP from the year, I will post the last word in that, then the last word I have wrote in the other two.
TEN PROMISES-it
FORGIVEN-happening
SAVING RUTHIE-Ember 
 9. First sentences from your manuscript(s)!
TEN PROMISES-Don't do it, Chrissandra.
FORGIVEN- Grandma Burns continued to read words out of the Bible: a book Violet had no interest in whatsoever.
SAVING RUTHIE- My sword clashed with my elder sister's, and I struggled to hold mine up, retaining the blow that I knew Ember would never deliver.
10. Anything big on the horizons for next year? Plans to query? Publish? Edit?
In 2014 I plan on querying TEN PROMISES. Well I plan on sending out the first round of query letters out by the end of the year.
 11. Tell us a bit about a book you're super excited to write in 2014!
I'm going to be writing a book set in winter where a girl gets trapped in her house during a snowstorm. A guy's car breaks down outside of her house. She is reluctant to let him in, but he'll die otherwise. So she divides the house in half and walks around with a steak knife, until she gets sick and has to accept his help.

Hope you enjoyed!

The Truth About Scars

When I was a preteen I spent most of my time swinging. After school? Right out to the backyard. Snowing? Raining? One hundred degrees? Who cares! I would take my pink iPod Nano and listen to music and swing for hours. Usually during that time I would plot my books, which is something that I always do easier to music.

Nothing weird had really happened before. There were a couple of times when a chain would break and I would fall to the ground. But I never got seriously hurt, and it never made me stop swinging.

So one day in the summer before seventh grade we had something going on that night, with a few friends. I had been looking forward to it ever since I found out about it, and finally it was the night. I couldn't be anymore excited. But we still weren't leaving for four hours and mom was in the shower....so guess what I did? I went out and swung, just like I had any other day. I swung on the one at the end which had always gone at a weird angle. You couldn't go as high on that one, but I think the chains that broken on the others and we were in the process of fixing them.

I turned on my music and begin doing what I always did. But the swing lurched weird. Not like it hasn't happened before, I thought. But this time it was different It lurched again, but this time  both chains snapped and I fell on the ground.

I didn't know what was happening. All I saw was splintered wood falling. There was intense pain in my right leg.

When everything stopped spinning I evaluated the situation. I was on the ground. And so was the two hundred pound block of wood that went across out swing set.

I tried to call for help, but no one heard me. My phone was nearly dead, but I had just enough battery to call my mother, who came out and helped me. At first when I stood everything was spinning and I nearly blacked out. But I started feeling better as we got into the house.

Within a day I realized that what had happened was a miracle. Both chains had snapped at the exact same time. There is absolutely no explanation for it. And I flew off forward, not backwards or straight down. If either of those factors had been changed I wouldn't be typing this right now. I'd either be dead or paralyzed from the neck down. The wood would've either smashed my head or neck if I would've landed any other way or if the chains hadn't broke.

My leg had gotten hit with the chain of the swing. Hard. It hardly bruised but it hurt really bad to walk. I wondered why God didn't just let me be okay and enjoy the night. Not that I was really hurt. But still. It seemed like a random, incomplete miracle.

It wasn't until a year later that it finally dawned on me why my leg had been hit. I had been looking at the small, faded scar one day, when I realized something. I couldn't wait to tell someone.

The next day I went to lunch with my grandmother and told her what had been on my mind.

"Do you remember how I hurt my leg last summer?" I asked.

She answered with a, "Yes."

"Well I was thinking. That scar will always be there, but it will never hurt again. People might ask about it, people might think that it's ugly, but it will never, ever, cause me pain again."

I had been struggling with so many things in my sixth grade year, that I was almost positive would affect me forever. What's even more amazing to me, is that as the psychical scar heals, the emotional ones do too. That summer I learned one truth that I will always cling to. God heals psychically, emotionally, and spiritually.

Twenty Questions With a Fictional Character: Introducing Chrissi

Chrissandra "Chrissi" Crawford is from my currently unpublished book Ten Promises.


1.) Hello, Chrissi! Thanks for stopping by. To start this off, can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

Hey, Natalie, thank you for having me on your blog. And as for your question, my name is Chrissandra Crawford, but I go by Chrissi or Chrissi Mae. I am seventeen years old and live in Florida. I spend most of my time walking the beach or hanging with my friends.

2.) Tell us about your family. What're they like?

I live with my dad, step mom, and four younger siblings Deanna (14), Eli (9), ZuZu (7), and Joab (3). I will admit that it can be a little bit hectic, but I love it. Although occasionally I wake up with a lizard on my arm or a certain brother licking my face. *coughsJoabcoughs*

3.) What's your favorite memory that has happened in the last six months?

Probably swimming in the ocean with my best friend. I actually went underwater which is a HUGE feat for me. Or there's that time that we went to the pizza place and the waiter dropped a pizza on De.... That was pretty great too. I spent thirty minutes trying to wash the pizza out of her white shorts.

4.) If you had to spend three weeks straight with one person and no one else who would you choose?

Does it count if the person is dead? I would choose Desiree. Just because I haven't seen her for so many years! Well there's my mother too....

5.) Would you rather be out with friends or at home alone?

I love being with my friends. But I also like to read! So this question isn't fair.

6.) Describe the place that you live.

I live in Rose Hill, Florida. Rose Hill is in Southern Florida, and is very close to beaches. You can walk to one from almost any house. In the middle of the town there's a hill filled with rose bushes(where we got our name. ;D ). A man planted one every month after his wife had died. And I guess the tradition stuck.

7.) If you could live anywhere, where would you choose?

Australia maybe? It's something about their accents that makes me think that I might fall in love there.

8.) What do you think of school?

School.  It's okay. I'm weird though. I'd rather go for the academics than the people. Besides Ross and McKenzie I can't really say that I met anyone I'm all that fond of.

9.) What is your favorite subject?

My favorite subject is probably English. Well more specifically literature. Chemistry is pretty cool too.

10.) If you had to describe yourself in three words, what would they be?

Conceited. Selfish. Perfectionist. Hello, this is Chrissi's sister Deanna. I'm stealing the keyboard for a couple of seconds. Awesome. Fun. Amazing. Okay, Chrissi, you can have it back now.
11.) What do you do for fun?

Well, I already said that I like to read a lot. Watch TV. Hang out with family and friends.

12.) What do you want to be when you grow up?

Ha! What am I, five? Okay, I have absolutely no idea.

13.) If you could change one thing from your past what would you do?

I would make it so Desiree hadn't died.

14.) Do you want to get married one day? If so do you want kids? How many?

I do! And I want two kids, one girl and one boy. And I'm going to name them McKenna and Isaac.

15.) What are your religious views?

I believe in and serve the one living God who has saved me and can save anyone else.

16.) What is your favorite color?

Favorite color....orange? Pink? All of them?

17.) What is your favorite food?

I like fruit and French fries. Which I know is an odd combination.

18.) What person do you care most about?

Yeah. Not even answering one.

19.) What is the strangest thing you have ever done?

Strangest? Probably when Elia and I  tried planking at a McDonald's in England. We're so lame.

20.) What do you think of your author?

Nat, are you just looking for someone to brag about you or what? ;) She's okay. She's been nice to me compared to some other characters.....

A Message For All Woman

Tonight I'd like to share will you something that every single woman needs to hear. It changed my self image. It helped me realize one of life's biggest truths for a Christian girl: I am a princess. I am loved so much that my Father died a HORRIBLE death for me. I mean, I already knew this. But when stated this way it's so powerful.
 
So ladies, watch it. Enjoy it. There also is a guys' one available upon request.
 
 
A Message for All Woman: Click here 
 
 
I would love to hear responses on this. Does it change your point of view like it did mine?

It's the Little Things that Count

I guess this would go under "Somewhat Profound Thoughts". But honestly? That's what at least half of my posts will be. I think a lot. Actually, I spend most of my time thinking. Yes, half of the time it is about writing or books. But the other half of it is what I really find interesting and compelling. What do you guys really want to hear about though? My books? Writing advice? Book reviews? My thoughts? I have some pretty cool testimonies too. God has worked miracles in my life, two times (I know many, many more, but these are the two He's let me see) and both times I could've ended up dead if one circumstance was changed. *is officially sidetracked*

Anyways. Onto the post.

---------------------------------------------------------------

He was dead. The news had gotten passed throughout the whole entire town and now each person was haunted with one fact: they could've stopped him.
He had killed himself. And why? He had walked through town. Spent hours walking throughout the stores and streets and told himself that if one person smiled at him, he wouldn't do it.  But no one did. This man had an ugly face, and scarred arms, telling of an unbearable past and a stigma that drew people away from him. He wanted one friend. One act of kindness would even work. But after twelve hours no one offered him the simple kindness. So he went home and pulled the trigger.

Sad thing is, I heard of a story that was similar to this. People weren't able to even offer this man a smile, which led him to think that he was worthless. And it leads me to think this: How am I affecting people? Am I showing people that there is hope?

Hope is what we're craving that will never change. (Crave, For King and Country)

Could the simple act of me looking up at someone in the store and smiling save a life? Could it make me a new friend? There's a lot of questions like this that can be asked, but I think that the most important one is: Am I showing the lost world the Love of my Savior?

Matthew 5:16

      Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your father which is in heaven.

I know this is short, but it's something that I've been thinking about, so I thought that I would share. After all, it is the little things that count.

Your Not So Average "Hello My Name is..." Post

When I was younger I would have my parents write down the words that I would say, do some stick figure drawings, and those would be my books. Even at a young age I loved to write, but I grew up with listening to people moaning and saying, “Aww, I have to write!” So why should I like it? At five years old I had my mind set on one thing. I was going to be a singer.

“I don’t think I’m as shy as I used to be,” I said to my mom one day as she was working in the kitchen at our old house. The kitchen was so small that it was like stepping into fire every time that the stove was on. I could tell that my mom was listening, so I continued. “I think that I want to start singing for people.”

I had a church girl’s voice, soft and pretty, and if I would’ve decided to stick to singing in church (which I never did have enough guts to actually do) I might have been able to keep that voice.

But I took my soft voice and tried to change it to a voice that I never would be able to master. A voice that the world would want to listen to, not just a church congregation.

In fifth grade I slowly began to change. Some things were good. I learned that I loved to write. In other ways it was bad. I had no security of salvation whatsoever, and I was heading down the long path. I didn’t understand salvation. I didn’t understand why every time that I prayed a meaningless, desperate prayer nothing changed.

 By the time that fifth grade was over I had tried to write a couple of books, and I was slowly settling into the life of insecurity I was living. Maybe that’s just how things would work. And…if that’s how it was going to be, what could I do to change it?

So I lived my life. I wrote, I read, I played volleyball, and I continued to pray desperate, meaningless prayers.

Wouldn’t you think that the big change happened in my life when I switched from public school to a private Baptist school? Well no. It was three years after that, this year to be exact. Things kept on coming up where I had to think about my life. “Natalie, would you like to get baptized?” I wasn’t sure if I was a Christian. “Natalie, could you please write out your testimony?” Well…if I can figure out if I’m saved or not….

                Somewhere amidst all of the confusion, a thought hit me right in the face, and I realized why my prayers were meaningless and why they hadn’t saved me. Because they were WORDS. It was all about my heart, kneeling before my Savior and Lord, and asking him to save me from everything that I deserve.

            And now I have assurance of salvation. I have security in the fact that Jesus will never leave me nor forsake me.

            And guess what? Now I have the ability to be happy, because I’m myself, and because Jesus is my God and my heart I have a meaning.

            Will trials still come? Of course.

            But with God by my side, I have nothing to fear.