BOOKS
How can I make the statement that cancer is one of the best things that ever happened to me? I can because trials can bring us closer to God. Every one of us suffers adversity at some point in our walk that can bring us to lost hope.Lost hope has four faces: sadness, fear, depression and despair. But the story does not have to end there. The path to recovery and overcoming is the path that can lead us into a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ. Pain can be the entry point where we run into His arms. You can choose to deepen your relationship with God. You can choose to overcome lost hope and replace it with joy. This book tells the story of four women who are overcomers and found peace and hope in the midst of trial by following God out of the valleys they faced.
HAVE YOU EVER searched for someone who wants to be found? It shouldn’t be that hard. They leave clues and hints. They will not hide and may even advertise on a sign or highway billboard.
God is that way. He gives us clear directions to find His love and waits patiently while we fumble around, looking for it in all the wrong places, in people, things and circumstances that we choose to use as distractions.
God seeks a deeper relationship with each of us. He puts up signs we can easily spot along our path of life: STOP. CAUTION. DO NOT ENTER. ONE WAY. WRONG WAY.
Some signs come in personal crisis when we can no longer cope.
Those times can be a great blessing for that is when the realization
dawns that we have NEED for God. There was a time when I wanted to end it all. I discovered the Bible and how much God loved me. That changed everything. The Bible saved my life.
No matter what you have done, no matter how far you have wandered, no matter what has happened, God’s open arms are
waiting to comfort you, restore you and to live out each day, abiding in His love. Today is the day to begin or deepen your hunt for God. Today is the day to embrace peace.
AnnaBelle Rourke was raised in Cape Cod and was gifted with a beautiful singing voice. After a tumultuous childhood at the hands of alcoholic parents, she sets out for San Francisco where she hopes to connect with the underground music scene. AnnaBelle waits tables as she works to eke out a living. She has moderate success in local bands and even has a fan base. Then life presents her with a surprise challenge. She is only 28 when she is diagnosed with what she sees as a death sentence. She travels north to Sonoma Valley and stays in a cabin on the Russian River in Guerneville with the intent to end her life. She meets one Dr. Micah Pressley who is living in a glass house next to the cabin. Dr. Pressley is a young psychiatrist with a flourishing practice in San Francisco but he has recently retired to his house on the Russian River due to anxiety over the missing person status of his wife and parents. AnnaBelle becomes entangled with Dr. Pressley and uncovers a mystery.
A married gay couple adopted nine special needs kids. In spite of challenging behaviors and diagnoses of the children, they flourished at home and in school. A decade passed when baseless sexual allegations against the fathers were lodged. The thriving family was dismantled. The fathers were arrested and treated as pariahs by the media, police and child protective services. The court case snaked through the justice system for four years leaving a wake of shattered lives. This is the incredible true story of the largest family trampling in U.S. history by a powerful government agency in collusion with therapists, social workers, police and media which brought innocent men to ruin.
Thomasina Cartalucci, a twenty-five year old Kindergarten teacher became known as Three Strikes Thomasina, a runaway bride. The last almost-wedding was her third attempt at marriage. Gowns and gifts were returned once again by a mother on the seventh level of furious. The music replayed while nervous guests were squirming in church pews, a foreboding of a no-show bride once again. In the church sacristy, Thomasina removed satin high heels to don deep-purple sneakers to facilitate a running escape out the back door. Driving from Connecticut to Boston in a stupor, she tries to assimilate what had just been discovered about the latest almost-groom. Parking the car, she walks down streets in her wedding gown to find a park bench on which to sit. Lionel Liebman, which may or may not be his real name, spots the girl sitting on the bench across the street from Marty’s Coffee Dive where he is a server. The story begins as Lionel approaches Thomasina in an attempt to assist a disoriented run-away bride. This is a love story of two complex and compelling characters on the swirling, winding road to happiness.
Henry Markovitch has recently lost his wife of forty years in a lackluster marriage. Henry is an easy-going, go with the flow, lonely gentleman. His life is a mundane rut. He lives in Connecticut, has beers at The Free Spirit once a week and visits his children and grandchildren regularly. He lives an unexamined, bachelor life of boredom. One day, at his usual Dunkin Donuts haunt, he encounters a glamourous woman wearing a turban and a cape. She is a Belgian beauty, Claudine Bontemp, and she is the epitome of mysterious. They meet and Henry falls into an obsession with a woman he barely knows. After a whirlwind affair, Claudine convinces Henry she loves him and they should go to Florida together to a place called Arbor Lakes, a gated 55+ community. Claudine has covered up her questionable past and Henry agrees to the Florida adventure. On the drive down, they both begin to wonder if they have made a mistake. Living together at Arbor Lakes, Henry’s obsession fades and Claudine comes face to face with the past from which she is running. Claudine goes missing and Henry is suspected of foul play. The ensuing life disruption is when Henry finally finds out who he is.
This book is a sequel to “Three Strikes Thomasina,” my most popular fiction novel. Tiffany and Reuben, secondary characters in that book have become the main characters in “The Dancing Whale.” The setting remains primarily in Oak Bluffs, Martha’s Vineyard. Tiffany, who has overcome a tortured past in “Three Strikes Thomasina,” now is tested again. Her sister, Thomasina (Cartalucci) Davis and her husband, John Davis are pivotal in this story as they attempt to help Tiffany. Reuben, John’s best friend and former business partner, enters the story. He has become an FBI agent and works in the Boston Bureau. In “The Dancing Whale,” a decade has passed and the family has expanded. Reuben has come to the island to assist Tiffany in a kidnapping case. Two lonely people interface in a dire situation.Tiffany and Reuben may be falling in love but will they prevail over the steep challenges they face?
This book is a sequel to “Three Strikes Thomasina,” my most popular fiction novel. Tiffany and Reuben, secondary characters in that book have become the main characters in “The Dancing Whale.” The setting remains primarily in Oak Bluffs, Martha’s Vineyard. Tiffany, who has overcome a tortured past in “Three Strikes Thomasina,” now is tested again. Her sister, Thomasina (Cartalucci) Davis and her husband, John Davis are pivotal in this story as they attempt to help Tiffany. Reuben, John’s best friend and former business partner, enters the story. He has become an FBI agent and works in the Boston Bureau. In “The Dancing Whale,” a decade has passed and the family has expanded. Reuben has come to the island to assist Tiffany in a kidnapping case. Two lonely people interface in a dire situation.Tiffany and Reuben may be falling in love but will they prevail over the steep challenges they face?