Chasing the Wind

Ever wonder if certain things that happen randomly can be considered as signs from God? On October 12, 1977 at 8:47a.m, three very different individuals will soon be brought together in a very unexpected way when they all see the same thing but see different reasons behind that encounter with a flash of light.

Bingham Murdock flew into town on a star one day. At exactly 8:47am he banked the silver Lockheed JetStar at such an angle that the rays of the sun glanced off the wing and shot a glint of silver through the city of New Orleans. He'd never felt such kindred spirit with a city before. This was a town with open pockets and attitude. He is the owner of Lone Star Incorporated who is looking for a new business venture to build a hotel in the French Quarter.

Amalise Catoir is a young lawyer with the firm of Mangen & Morris who has returned to her office on the sixteenth floor of the First Merchant Bank Building, after the recent death of her husband, Philip Sharp, who abused her during their marriage. As she stands at the window looking at the people below, it seems as if nothing had changed. It is only through the actions of her friend Jude, who she thinks she loves, that she has returned to work. As she took in the view, a quicksilver glint in the sky drew her attention. For a moment she tracked a small plane as it descended toward the Lakefront Airport, sunlight winking off a wing like a shooting star aimed straight for her. She wondered if she were the only person in the world who had just seen the momentary flash of light. In her office she shivered with the odd fancy that the flash somehow signified a fateful connection between the giver and the recipient of the light.

But someone else saw it, too. About a mile away, a small boy with delicate oriental features sat alone on the front porch of a sagging house in the Faubourg Marigny, watching the other children play. In the distance he saw a small plane shining in the sun. He watched it for an instant, shading his eyes with his hands squinting. Then a bright flash of light came at him like a burst of gunfire, and he flinched remembering.

Bingham Murdock, Amalise Catoir and a six-year-old Cambodian refugee in foster care are all brought together in what most would consider a random encounter much like the television series Touch shows how we are all connected through a string of random encounters that lead us to one another and impact our lives in profound ways. In the novel, Chasing the Wind, by Pamela Binnings Ewen, these three individuals will find out what God has in store for each of them and how that one encounter will change them in very different and similar spiritual ways through a flash of light.

I received Chasing the Wind compliments of B & H Publishing Group and Christian Fiction Blog Alliance for my honest review and found this story to have a profound impact on the so-called chance encounters we have with people we meet. Sometimes God places these people in our lives for reasons that may not seem clear to us at the time, but in looking back we can see how He uses them to bring about His purpose in our lives. I rate this novel a 5 out of 5 stars and look forward to many more novels from Pamela Billings Ewen in the future.

For more information on Chasing the Wind, Pamela Binnings Ewen and where to pick up a copy of this book today, please click on the links below:

Chasing the Wind by Pamela Binnings Ewen

You can also follow this book tour through Christian Fiction Blog Alliance by clicking here.

Dancing On Glass

Finding herself drawn to a collection of abstract paintings in a local gallery in town, Amalise finds herself connected to the women in the paintings. When the artist, Phillip, asks her for her honest opinion about them, she doesn't hold back which he finds refreshing. She finds herself not only haunted by the paintings themselves but also by Phillip as she sees him on campus at college where she is studying law, but also in her thoughts and dreams.

When Phillip shows up unexpectedly outside her job at the bar, she is both drawn to him and concerned by his appearance. At first he tells her that he was exiting a play at a theater that just closed but later learns that the theater wasn't even open that day by another local artist she refers to as Mouse!

What kind of power does Phillip hold over Amalise and just what is she willing to risk to have him in her life? It may just be that the power he holds will pose a danger that she didn't see coming!!

I received this book, Dancing on Glass compliments of Christian Fiction Blog Alliance for my honest review and was drawn by how much Amalise was willing to overlook her common sense for feelings of acceptance and love by Phillip. Too often many women find themselves in a similar situation but from this perspective, we can see how easy the lure is through Amalise's character in the novel. I would rate this book at 4.5 out of 5 stars! The beginning is a little slow but once you get through the first couple of chapters, it just takes off!

Here's even more great information about the book, the author and even a sneak peek into the first chapter below:

This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing Dancing on Glass B&H Books (August 1, 2011) by Pamela Ewen

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Until recently retiring to write full time, Pamela Binnings Ewen was a partner in the Houston office of the international law firm of BakerBotts, L.L.P., specializing in corporate finance. She now lives just outside New Orleans, Louisiana, with her husband, James Lott.

She has served on the Board of Directors of Inprint, Inc., a non-profit organization supporting the literary arts in Houston, Texas, as well as the Advisory Board for The New Orleans Pirate’s Alley Faulkner Society, and currently serves on the Board of Directors of The Tennessee Williams Festival in New Orleans; Pamela is a co-founder of the Northshore Literary Society in the Greater New Orleans area. She is also a member of the National League of American Pen Women.

Pamela’s first novel, Walk Back The Cat (Broadman & Holman. May, 2006) is the story of an embittered and powerful clergyman who learns an ancient secret, confronting him with truth and a choice that may destroy him.

She is also the best-selling author of the acclaimed non-fiction book Faith On Trial, published by Broadman & Holman in 1999, currently in its third printing.

Although it was written for non-lawyers, Faith On Trial was also chosen as a text for a course on law and religion at Yale Law School in the Spring of 2000, along with The Case For Christ by Lee Stroble. Continuing the apologetics begun in Faith On Trial, Pamela also appears with Gary Habermas, Josh McDowell, Darrell Bock, Lee Stroble, and others in the film Jesus: Fact or Fiction, a Campus Crusade for Christ production.

Pamela is the latest writer to emerge from a Louisiana family recognized for its statistically improbable number of successful authors. A cousin, James Lee Burke, who won the Edgar Award, wrote about the common ancestral grandfathers in his Civil War novel White Dove At Morning.

Among other writers in the family are Andre Dubus (Best Picture Oscar nomination for The Bedroom; his son, Andre Dubus III, author of The House of Sand and Fog, a Best Picture Oscar nomination and an Oprah pick; Elizabeth Nell Dubus (the Cajun trilogy); and Alafair Burke, just starting out with the well received Samantha Kincaid mystery series.

ABOUT THE BOOK

In the steamy city of New Orleans in 1974, Amalise Catoir sees Phillip Sharp as a charming, magnetic artist, unlike any man she has known. A young lawyer herself, raised in a small town and on the brink of a career with a large firm, she is strong and successful, yet sometimes too trusting and whimsical. Ama's rash decision to marry Phillip proves to be a mistake as he becomes overly possessive, drawing his wife away from family, friends, and her faith. His insidious, dangerous behavior becomes her dark, inescapable secret.

In this lawyer's unraveling world, can grace survive Ama's fatal choice? What would you do when prayers seem to go unanswered, faith has slipped away, evil stalks, and you feel yourself forever dancing on shattered glass?

If you would like to read the first chapter of Dancing on Glass, go HERE.