Carrie Stuart Parks: Portrait of Vengeance

By Kelly Bridgewater

An unsolved case. A tempest of memories. The future’s at stake—and time is running out . . .

Gwen Marcey has done a good job of keeping the pain of her past boxed up. But as she investigates the case of a missing child in Lapwai, Idaho, details keep surfacing that are eerily similar to her childhood traumas. She doesn’t believe in coincidences. So what’s going on here?

No one knows more about the impact of the past than the Nez Perce people of Lapwai. Gwen finds herself an unwelcome visitor to some, making her investigation even more difficult. The questions keep piling up, but answers are slow in coming—and the clock is ticking for a missing little girl. 

Meanwhile, her ex-husband back home is threatening to take sole custody of their daughter.

As Gwen’s past and present collide, she’s in a desperate race for the truth. Because only truth will ensure she still has a future.

From Barnes and Nobles

My Thoughts:

I became a fan of Carrie Stuart Parks writing when I read her first book A Cry from the Dust.As a debut author, she did a fantastic job drawing me into the lives and mysteries of Gwen Marcy. With each book after that, The Bones Will Speak and When Death Draws Near, Parks still captures my attention. When I found out that there would be more Gwen Marcy books than the typical three books, I was excited. With her latest addition to this series, Portrait of Vengeance, I really enjoyed this novel.

Like in her previous books, Parks uses her knowledge of forensic art to solve the crime put forth in the first chapter in the story. Her research flies off the page, allowing me to lose sleep as I fly through the pages. The writing is clear and concise. I had no problem visualizing the setting and followed along Gwen as she interviewed people and took a tour through the wilderness.

As for the continuing characterization of Gwen, Parks allows me to empathize with Gwen as she still struggles with her job, her ex-husband, and her daughter. This time the mystery centers around Gwen's past and made Gwen wonder if she was imaging the connection to the current crime she is working on. While this time, her daughter isn't a prominent struggle in her life; Gwen does receive a phone call from her ex-husband declaring he was taking full custody of their daughter. More internal and external struggles for Gwen.

As for the mystery, it was non-stop thrill ride. A thriller that kept me guessing. I figured out who the bad guy was sixty percent in, but I wanted Parks to prove me wrong or right, which is how I enjoy my stories. This novel keeps moving at a rapid pace and doesn't let up. I enjoy the connection between Gwen's past and the present mystery. Made it easier to stay engrossed in the story. I finished this book in less than one day. I couldn't put it down.

Portrait of Vengeance is an original novel with a reoccurring character that I have come to enjoy. Fans of Parks other works or Steven James' (my favorite thriller writer) should pick up this book. Highly recommended.

I received a complimentary copy of Portrait of Vengeance by Carrie Stuart Parks from Thomas Nelson Publishing, but the opinions stated are all my own.

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Since I really enjoy mysteries, I enjoy when the stories are more than the standard three book series. Steven James' Patrick Bowers series is currently ten books long. Love that! Do you like when a series is pretty long? Why or Why not?

Writing Books that Encourage Me

By Kelly Bridgewater

From February until November in 2016, I took a writing book and showed how the book has improved my writing. If you missed any of the actual post, click on the name of the book, and it will link you right back to that page.

      1.)   Story Trumps Structure by Steven James

James’ is a huge supporter of writing without an outline or a plan. Too many writers create a story with an outline, and they don’t allow the story to take them where it needs to go. They are controlled by the outline that they made before they started writing.

       2.) On Writing by Stephen King

The first half of the book is an autobiography of Stephen King’s life or his CV as he fondly calls it. It includes how he started writing and showed the many times he wanted to even quit, but he kept at it. Secondly, the second half of the book talks about his writing advice.

      3.) Scene and Structure by Jack M. Bickham

As a budding writer, I have a hard time understanding how a scene goes together. Why internal dialogue? Why do you need to know the other character’s facial and body expressions to understand the story? When reading, I understand it completely. But as the writer, I have a hard time including that in my writing. I create the emotions from the main character’s perspective for each scene, but the Stimulus-Internalization-Response sequence confuses me. I have a really hard time with Deep POV too. I have read and studied Jill Elizabeth Nelson’s book on the subject. But once I sit down to include it in my writing, it doesn’t happen.

      4.) Techniques of the Selling Writer by Dwight V. Swain

Swain also talks about a number of different areas that writers need help on. There is the “Beginning, Middle, and End”, “The People in Your Story”, and “Preparation, Planning, and Production.” Luckily, you don’t have to read Swain’s book straight from front to back. You can pick and choose what you want to read. If you don’t really want to sit down in a comfy chair and read for hours, you can pick up the book and read a chapter once a week or whatever makes you comfortable. It took me about a month to finish the book. Not that it wasn’t interesting, but I needed to read and digest what I had read to see how I could use it in my next book.

      5.) Forensic Speaks by Jennifer Dornbush

It is a great resource for any suspense writer who wants to make their stories ring true without having to actually go to an actual crime scene and figure out the answers to our questions. I don’t know about you, but approaching an EMT, firefighter, or police officer isn’t something I have done, but I really want people to believe what I have to write.

www.startuppremarketable.com

     6.) Plot and Structure by James Scott Bell

Plot and Structure uses tons of examples from many different contemporary pieces to draw the writer in. Bell will explain an idea to you like using Raw Emotion to start the novel, but then he will show you an example of raw emotion from The Quiet Game by Greg Iles. Even though I haven’t read the book or even heard of the author, it doesn’t stop me from understanding Bell’s example.

     7.) Stein on Writing by Sol Stein

From the first page in the first paragraph, Stein grips my attention. He says, “This is not a book of theory. It is a book of usable solutions—how to fix writing that is flawed, how to improve writing that is good, how to create interesting writing in the first place” (3). His book does exactly that. It teaches how to make the basic writer better and keep teaching those who have been published or who have been reading book after book for a while on how to be a better writer. The book doesn’t discriminate. There is something for everyone.

      8.) Writing for the Soul by Jerry B. Jenkins

Writing for the Soul is a quick read that you could sit down and read straight through for a couple of hours. It really doesn’t throw anything at you that would require you to do exercises upon exercises. It grips your attention and comforts you. At the end of each chapter, there is a Q and A section where Jenkins answers questions.

9     9.) Grammar for College Writing by Don and Jenny Killgallon

The Killgallons take simple grammatical words like appositives, gerunds, infinitive, and noun clauses and shows how to expand the sentences using these grammatical devices. She starts each section defining what each term means with at least three different examples from classic literature. Then the review section is usually pretty big. First, you will exchange sentences by switching up the infinitive or gerund with something closely grammatically related. Then you will practice expanding by adding an infinitive phrase or gerund phrase to the bold face section. There is matching. Multiple choices. More practice.

10.) From the Inside . . . Out by Susan MayWarren

             

Warren helps you with everything from writing the synopsis to defining the Dark             Moment in your character’s past. She explains it in an easy to understand format so that I    think she is sitting right next to me offering me advice to, hopefully, someday give me a    complete book that is ready for publication.

    

I really hoped you enjoy taking this journey with me. I truly enjoyed finding books that improve my writing. Is there any other books that you would add to this list? I'm always looking for other writing books to improve my craft. Thank you! God bless!

Welcome to 2016 (Part III)

By Kelly Bridgewater

If you have been following my blog for the past two weeks, I started the New Year with setting my year off right with focusing on God. Then I followed up with my writing goals for the new year. Now today, I will be showing how I set up by reading goals for the New Year. I try to read 200 books during a year. For me, it doesn’t seem like a lot, but as an avid reader who can complete a 400 page book in a twenty-four hour period while watching my boys and getting dinner on the table, I think my list should be longer.

Maybe this year.

Let’s me share my secret. First, I read all the time. My Kindle is in my purse. I find an extra fifteen minutes waiting to pick up the boys from school. Sitting in the doctor’s office waiting to go back and then watching the clock tick by in the examination room. I pull out my Kindle while standing in the line at the grocery store. I read while my husband is driving down the road to the store.  My nose is always in a book. My favorite moments are when my youngest, Obadiah, hands me a book, and he cuddles in my lap while we devour the book together. He is really into Franklin and Lego Batman right now, so we read a lot of those.

In 2014 at the Indiana ACFW meeting in December, our speaker, Bob Hostetler, challenged us to be intentional with our reading. He suggested know ahead of time of at least fifty books you want to read in the New Year, and then read accordingly.

www.fanpop.com

In the past, I have been purely a reader who read a book because of I’m a devoted fan of an author who I buy everything of, or I read the synopsis on the back of the book, and I’m interested.  I have a lot of books around my house that need to be read, so I plan to be intentional with the books I NEED to finish by the end of 2016. Not that there won’t be more added as new books come out. There are a lot of books coming out in 2016 that I want to devour. I have been reading every suspense and romantic suspense, so I can study and improve my writing, so now I can venture out of my genre. Lately, I have been obsessed with World War II fiction.

We all know I will be reading the Bible every day, so that won’t be listed.

Let’s begin:

2 authors:

·         Alexandre Dumas’ The Three Musketeers (all four of the books in the series) andCamille (which I found at a yard sale this summer) 

·         C.S. Lewis who I have an entire bookshelf devoted to his writings and writings about him, but I haven’t gotten around to reading all of them.

6 contemporary romantic suspense books (Including Love Inspired Suspense)Let’s be honest, I’ll probably be reading a lot more of these:

·         Burning Proof by Janice Cantore

·         Thin Ice by Irene Hannon

·         Dressed for Death by Julianna Deering

·         Desperate Measures by Lynette Eason

·        A Fool and His Monet by Sandra Orchard

·         Silence in the Dark by Patricia Bradley

4 World War II or historical fiction books (absolute minimum):

·          Dawn at Emberwilde by Sarah E. Ladd

·          Anchors in the Storm by Sarah Sundin

·         The Bachelor's Guide to Murder by Rachel McMillian

·         The Ringmaster's Wife by Kristy Cambron

3 suspense/ thriller books:

·         Curse by Steven James

       Annabell Lee by Mike Nappa

       Cold Shot by Dani Pettrey

www.codepancake.com

4 favorite fiction authors:

·         You're the One that I Want by Susan May Warren

·         Steven James

·         Dani Pettrey

·         Sarah Sundin

2 new fiction authors: 

·         James Rubart

·         James Rollins

5 Young adult books:

·          The Beautiful Pretender, A Spy's Devotion, and The Little Mermaid story (untitled) by Melanie Dickerson 

4 writing craft books:

·         Writing with Emotion, Tension, and Conflict by Cheryl St. John

·         Stein on Writing by Sol Stein

·         The Fire in Fiction  and Writing the Breakout Novel  by Donald Maass

2-3 Christmas books:

·         Where Treetops Glisten by Tricia Goyer, Cara Putnam, and Sarah Sundin ( I read this book this past Christmas, and it became a classic that I will want to read every Christmas)

·         The Christmas Candle by Max Lucado

·         The Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (Never read the actual book! Shame, I know)

Non-fiction books: 

I have a couple on my bookshelf from C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien I need to read.

1 daily devotional:

·         A Year with C. S. Lewis: Daily Readings from His Classic Works

This is just a summary of the type of books I plan to read this year. Plus, if anything new comes up, then this list has the right to change by adding or deleting a certain book. Some of these books aren’t even going to come out until the end of the summer, so I probably will have included some new books by then.

How do you decide what books to read for the New Year? Share. I have a journal next to my favorite chair where I list every book that I read during the month and under the heading of what I have actually read during the year. It helps me keep track of what I already have read. Plus, it is cool when someone asks what type of books I read. Like they couldn’t tell by looking at my overflowing bookshelves.

Let’s meet back here for a recap in December and talk about our books that we read during 2016.

Welcome to 2016 (Part II)

By Kelly Bridgewater

As a writer, I set personal goals during each month. Right now, there in the back page of 2015’s planner, which need to be transferred to my new planner. My yearly planner is a 400 page planner that I customize with handmade calendars then two pages for each day. I am the most productive that way. Plus, it costs an arm and a leg to buy planners that are daily and monthly. I don’t like the weekly monthly ones. There is never enough time for me to write in. My husband keeps joking that there is an app for that on my Note 3, but something about writing it down every day. Must be the writer in me. J

www.angisullins.com

Back to my writing goals. During the month of November 2015, I finally sat down and crunched out 71,000 words for my first novel in my World War II spy novel series. During December, I finished it, completing at 98,000 words. Also, during December, I worked on plotting the second book in the series. No title yet.

During January, I have started another writing marathon working on the second book. I hope to finish the whole book in January, but I think it will leak over in February too.

During February, I will finish the second book and plot out the third one. Now these aren’t full on sketches. I use the cork board method in Scrivener and write little ideas for each chapter. I love being able to drag and move the chapters around.

During March, with Seekerville, who offers prizes and advice to encourage writers, I plan to compose the third book in the series.

April, I plan to catch up on my reading and just relax (even though I have to read and submit reviews for books and work on my blog postings all year long) after completing 300,000 words over a span of five months.

May, I will start revising the first book.

June. Revise.

July. Revise.

August. Revise.

September, Prepare one sheets and my pitch for the annual ACFW conference. This year, I plan to actually pitch to editors and agents. I have never done that before. I have never thought my writing was good enough.

October. Read and relax. Hopefully, preparing my book to send to an agent or editor who I sparked their interest.

November. Write another book. I don’t know what yet.

December. Spend time with family while finishing the book I started in November and plotting my next book.

A lot of writing goals for one year, but we’ll see how the year actually goes. Stayed tune for my next post next Friday on January 16th where I will share my reading goals. It won’t be month by month like my writing goals. It will be something more interesting. So come back. I need tons of feedback on both of these posts.

Do you set writing goals in the beginning of the year? How do you do it? If you don’t, should you?

I would love to hear your comments on what you do to set the year off in the right foot when it comes to writing.

Welcome to 2016 (Part I)

By Kelly Bridgewater

2016! Wow!

Every year in January for the first twenty-days of the year, our church does a fast. Not for fame or to have everyone pitting you because you can’t eat certain food, but to place our priorities in the right place as we begin this New Year. Our church follows the Daniel Fast. No red meat. No candy. No coffee. No caffeine. No dairy products. Just lots of fruits and veggies, grains, and fish.

For the twenty-one days, we read our Bibles and spend a lot of time in prayer, asking God for what he wants to accomplish in the New Year. It is hard when your stomach is growling, but you drink some juice and open the Bible. The first year our family participated, which was five years ago, it was really hard. I wanted to eat, but as I learned how to do this, my stomach still growls, but I feed it by eating some fruit and flipping open the Bible for some inspiration.

www.7culturalmountains.org

I designate certain days to pray for each of my boys: Elijah, Isaiah, and Obadiah. I pray for Michael and his leadership in our family. I pray for my church. I pray for our country. I pray for mother, father, brother, sister, aunt, mother-in-law, father-in-law, our neighbors.

Finally, I pray for God to guide my steps during the year. To be a better mother who treasures the moments with her children. To be a better wife who loves her husband like God loves the church. To improve my writing. I pray to be a better daughter of God who seeks after him with my whole heart. To spend more time in worshipping him. Worship isn’t just for church. I pray for a job that will meet our financial needs and my spiritual desire to write and create for God.

I set Bible reading goals to keep searching and discovering something new in the Bible every day. I know, personally, how hard it is to keep reading the same book day after day and skimming over the parts that I have read and heard my entire life. I ask God to give me the eyes of someone who has never heard that part of the Bible before. I want to hang on to something new and fresh from the Bible every day.

What do you do to set your heart in the right place at the beginning of the New Year? Have you ever fasted and given the New Year over to God to see what he wants to accomplish during 2015?

Come back next week, when I will discuss my writing goals for 2016. On January 22^th, I will show you my reading plan for 2016. Return and you’ll see how I read around 200 books a year.

******This exact blog appeared in January 2015, but my prayer and reading the Bible goals really don't change year to year, so I decided to use it again.**************