First Chapter Review: Pilgrimage of Promise by Cathy Bryant

I received the first chapter of Pilgrimage of Promise for review. This is the fourth book in Cathy Bryant's Miller's Creek series. I have the first book--Texas Roads--in my TBR pile waiting to be read.

BLURB:  Broken promises, enduring love... A dusty stack of unopened love letters forces Bo and Mona Beth Miller to revisit a part of their past they’d rather leave buried–especially in the face of death. Only as they retrace history will they learn the truth about the shattered promise that threatens to come between them. But can their relationship endure the deception and sabotage they unearth, or will the experience compel them to trust more fully in the promises that never fail?

COVER: I love everything about this cover: the subtle, warm colors, the woman walking through the field, the letters on the lower half that are in the foreground behind the title, and the font used for the title and author's name. Kudos to whoever designed this cover. It's stunning.

FIRST CHAPTER: Mona Beth and Bo receive disturbing news about Bo's condition. After the doctor leaves, they begin to talk and then reminisce about when they first met.

KEEP READING: It's rare a book can make me cry in the first chapter, but I came very close with this one. The seriousness of Bo's illness is revealed, and he and his wife are left alone to consider their next step. Talk eventually turns to the day they first met. The rest of the chapter reveals that story.

Based upon the synopsis and the style of the first chapter, it appears Pilgrimage of Promise will weave through past and present frequently. This is a style I love because I am fond of stories that display how the past impacts the future and ones that connect present day characters to family members or incidents in the past. Bryant's main characters appear to be mature Christians who know one another well and whose words and actions reveal a deep love for each other. This is definitely a story whose journey I want to follow.


Paperback: 304 pages
Publisher: WordVessel Press (March 23, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0984431160
ISBN-13: 978-0984431168

I received the first chapter of this book from the author. This review contains my honest opinions, for which I have not been compensated in any way.

Guest Blogger: Cathy Bryant, Author of The Way of Grace

In pursuit of justice, in need of grace . . . A justice-seeking perfectionist pursues her dream of a perfect life in her hometown of Miller's Creek, Texas. Sidetracked by her desire to be a prosecuting attorney, Grace Soldano launches into uncharted waters, making herself over to please her boss and mentor. Then a disheveled free spirit turns her perfectly ordered world upside down, challenging the concept of personal goodness. A fall from perfection leaves her teetering between vengeance and grace, caught in a deadly crossfire that leaves her dreams in a heap of ashes. Can she learn to joyfully accept the life God has given her--far from perfect--but one completely immersed in His grace?

ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE

By Cathy Bryant, ©2012

I start with such good intentions. I really do. I know that life is only improved when I choose to be grateful. But somehow during the course of each day, it becomes increasingly easy to focus on what I lack—funds, creativity, time, patience—the list could go on and on.

But I don’t want to spend my life that way. I really want to focus on what I have, to be mindful of the gift of life. I want that positive attitude of gratitude. So I’ve come up with a plan. Each day I take one minute as my day begins to write down at least one thing for which I’m thankful. So far the plan is working well, and I’ve discovered that when I try to think of only one thing, a host of other things crowd my mind, all elbowing and shoving to garner my attention, so many things that I don’t have time or space to write them all down.

Some of them seem so mundane and common—indoor plumbing, fresh water, a tooth brush. But where would I be without these things I so often take for granted?

Other items of gratitude center around the people in my life—the comfort of my husband’s presence, the way he makes me feel so treasured in the way he cares for me, my mom’s laugh, my siblings’ ability to make me smile when no one else can, seeing the world afresh through the eyes of my three-year-old grandson.

Most of my “grateful for” lists drive me to a place of thankfulness to the One who created me and sustains me and unfolds His plans for my life in miraculous ways.

The truth is that in spite of living in a world of change and troubles and turmoil, we are all incredibly blessed. We all have the gift of this moment, a moment where our hearts are beating. Each day brings touches of beauty capable of making us catch our breath in awe and wonder if we will but still ourselves to notice. Even the poorest among us have something for which to express thanks.

This process has led to discovery. When I choose to focus a grateful heart on the abundance in my life, what I think I lack seems to lessen in significance and pale in comparison. Gratitude builds on itself, until life becomes one prayer of thanksgiving after another. “Thank You for the brilliant colors of fall. And the blue sky. And the wind that rustles the leaves and scatters them to the ground. And the gift of sight and hearing…”

As I draw this post to a conclusion, I am reminded of a post I recently saw circling around on Facebook. I think it bears repeating because it creates a gratitude barometer which forces us to be mindful of all that we have to be grateful for.

“What if what we were given tomorrow depended on us being grateful for it today?”

BIO: Cathy’s desire is to write heart-stirring stories about God’s life-changing grace. Her first novel, Texas Roads, was a 2009 American Christian Fiction Writers’ Genesis finalist. Her second novel, A Path Less Traveled, was published in 2010. The Way of Grace, the third book in the Miller’s Creek novels was released in 2012. She is currently at work on book four in the series, Pilgrimage of Promise. A native Texan, Cathy currently resides in the beautiful Ozark mountains of northwest Arkansas with her husband of thirty years, and near the world’s cutest grandson. You can find out more about Cathy and her books at http://www.CatBryant.com.

PURCHASE LINKS FOR THE WAY OF GRACE:

Amazon (print)

Amazon (Kindle)

Barnes & Noble (print)

Barnes & Noble (Nook)

Other eBook editions

CONNECT WITH CATHY ON:

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First Chapter Review: The Way of Grace by Cathy Bryant

The first chapter of The Way of Grace, a contemporary Christian romantic suspense novel with a touch of mystery, was submitted by author Cathy Bryant. This appears to be the third book in her Miller's Creek series, but they are stand-alone novels featuring different characters, though some seem to be recurring.

BLURB: In pursuit of justice, in need of grace . . . A justice-seeking perfectionist pursues her dream of a perfect life in her hometown of Miller's Creek, Texas. Sidetracked by her desire to be a prosecuting attorney, Grace Soldano launches into uncharted waters, making herself over to please her boss and mentor. Then a disheveled free spirit turns her perfectly ordered world upside down, challenging the concept of personal goodness. A fall from perfection leaves her teetering between vengeance and grace, caught in a deadly crossfire that leaves her dreams in a heap of ashes. Can she learn to joyfully accept the life God has given her--far from perfect--but one completely immersed in His grace?

COVER: Soft. comforting, beautiful. I love this cover. It's not necessarily the picture I made in my mind of Miller's Creek based upon the first chapter's setting, but the soothing color scheme and the lovely woman definitely catch your attention.

FIRST CHAPTER: Grace awakens to a nightmare that has plagued her since her mother's death. Perhaps it has something to do with being back in Miller's Creek. Now a full-fledged attorney, she is eager, yet anxious, about her first day at Tyler, Dent, and Snodgrass.

Papa isn't afraid to express his displeasure of her career choice, but Grace is determined to stick to her life plan. She unexpectedly runs into a man from her past, a man who knows her so well it bothers her. But Matt is not part of her life plan, so he's off-limits.

KEEP READING:  Definitely. There is a lot of conflict moving this story forward in the first chapter. Grace's recurring nightmare, Papa's disapproval of her becoming an attorney, and her mysterious past with Matt, all blend together to ramp up the tension. You're eager to see how all this conflict unfolds.

What Bryant also did well is to place her novel squarely in its genre: Christian fiction. Without being preachy, you quickly learn that Grace's faith is an important part of her life.

I mentioned the setting in the cover section, but I also want to make note of it here. The reader's first glimpse of Miller's Creek in this novel is filled with restored century old buildings and a historical town square decorated for the holidays. Part of me wishes that was on the cover of this book, but I am a sucker for holiday novels (bought one today just because I liked the cover art), so I'm reserving final judgement to see how the image on the cover plays into the plot of the novel.

If the rest of the book is as strong as the first chapter, I'm sure I'll enjoy it.

Paperback: 318 pages
Publisher: WordVessel Press (September 25, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0984431144
ISBN-13: 978-0984431144
SRP: $12.99

I received the first chapter of this novel from the author. This review contains my honest opinions, for which I have not been compensated in any way.