Cover Reveal: Fallen Angel Salvage by Linda Brendle

He ruined her life once; will he do it again?

The rest of the story, from the author of Tatia’s Tattoo.

Tatia and Jesse have a perfect life in Chicago. Her testimony put Eric in prison in Texas twenty years ago. How could anything go wrong?

A mysterious envelope invades their home with news of a trafficker’s parole, and a handwritten note asks the ominous question: Is Joy as brave as her mother?

An old black van. A missing child. Tatia and Jesse race through the city streets with a band of bikers while Johnny and Jade dig through the dark web and Detectives Nelson and Martin pound on doors.

Will it be enough? Or will Joy become another statistic?

A heart-pounding crime thriller unlike any Christian novel you’ve read.

Projected Release Date: July 16, 2019

Cover Design by Brianna Snyder, Spyder Design, http://www.thespyderdesign.com

Blessings,

Linda

Tatia’s Tattoo is available in paperback on Amazon. Due to technical difficulties, the ebook is not currently available but will be back soon.

Priorities | by Linda Brendle

Published in the Rains County Leader on June 25, 2019:

As a writer, I have a tendency to live inside my own head, thinking about my next column, laying out the plot of a new book, or working on a tricky scene or bit of dialogue. It’s not that I’m disengaged from what’s going on around me. But even during the most interesting discussion, the most challenging chore, or the most entertaining activity, a part of my mind is always searching for an idea to be stored on my mental hard drive and retrieved later to see where it might fit into a work in progress.

This isn’t always true when we’re watching TV. While David is surfing YouTube, Amazon Prime, and other streaming sites for interesting videos on sailing, RVing, metal detecting, bloopers, and other topics that interest him, I’m usually, writing, cooking, reading, working crossword and Sudoku puzzles, or playing with my phone. Once in a while, though, something catches my attention, and that happened this week when he was watching a video on auto detailing.

Marked for Life | by Linda Brendle

Published in the Rains County Leader on June 18, 2019:

I’m home with all bones intact but with a heart that has more marks than I can count. Let me back up a step or two in case you didn’t read my last column. I went to Royal Family Kids Camp last week, a very special place where kids in foster care can spend five days and four nights just being kids and having fun in a safe environment. In 2013 I served as a counselor and came home with a broken ankle and a broken heart. This time I was the camp scribe. I wasn’t as actively involved in the organized games and other strenuous activities – and David was home praying that he would get his wife back in one piece – so I came home physically undamaged. But as I watched and listened with the eyes and ears of a writer, I saw and heard the struggles, heartaches, and triumphs of more children and counselors than before when I was focused on the two campers that were my responsibility. There are more stories than I can write, but here are a few.

“Jane” was so afraid of the water that she brought her own life jacket and continuously questioned her counselor about the lifeguard’s ability to save her if she got into trouble. All campers are required to pass a swim test in order to venture into the deeper end of the pool or to go over to the pond. She wanted to take the test, but she was afraid, so she practiced long and hard. By Wednesday, she was ready to try. Everyone in the pool area had seen her struggle, and they all stopped to watch. When she passed, the cheers and applause were deafening. The wrist band she earned became her pink badge of courage, and she showed it to anyone who would look the rest of the week.

Off to Camp | by Linda Brendle

Published in the Rains County Leader on June 11, 2019:

It’s been a long time since I went to summer camp, but maybe not as long as you think. David and I were counselors at Royal Family Kids Camp in 2013. As you might guess from the name, this camp is a very special camp for some very special kids.

All the children who attend RFKC are in the foster care system, most have been abused in some way, and all of them are at risk. I saw a lot of statistics in my pre-camp training, and although I don’t remember all of them, two stick out in my mind – 50% of girls in foster care will be pregnant by age 19, and 74% of people in prison have been in the foster system at some point in their lives. Our Father’s Children, the parent organization of RFKC, sponsors camps all over the country with the goal of providing a safe, fun place where they can create life-changing moments for these campers.

Pets and Their Rituals | by Linda Brendle

Published in the Rains County Leader on June 4, 2019:

Kitty came to live with us four years ago this month. If you’ve followed my column for any length of time, you know that her assimilation into our family has not always been smooth. However, through the months and years, we’ve worked out routines that work for all of us. Some of them have even become rituals.

Kitty makes no secret of the fact that David is her favorite, but since I’m the first one up after a long, lonely night, she’s usually glad to see me. When I come into the kitchen, she stands by her feeding station and looks at me pitifully. While I scoop kibble into her bowl, she runs around the island counter clockwise, stops in front of her bowl, and looks up again. This time she has a more demanding look, asking without words why I’m not petting her.