ML Tyndale's Forsaken Dreams Book Review by Elva

Book Review by Elva Cobb Martin www.elvamartin.com 3/30/13


Forsaken Dreams – author MaryLu Tyndale

MaryLu has done it again! If you’ve read any of her other series like Legacy of the King’s Pirates, Charles Towne Belles, or the Surrender to Destiny series you will know exactly what I mean. Forsaken Dreams is Book 1 of another exciting series, Escape to Paradise.

The heart-tugging story of Widow Eliza Crawford and decorated, war weary southern Colonel Blake Wallace begins somewhere in the Caribbean in May, 1866, just after the Union won the Civil War. We find Eliza on Blake’s ship, the New Hope, along with a cast of interesting characters, colonists-to-be, all preferring a new life in Brazil versus life in Charleston under the Yankee yoke.

Eliza and Blake are attracted to one another from the start. But both harbor secrets and painful pasts they want to forget and which threaten any dreams of a new beginning.

Eliza has been rejected by her southern family because she married a Yankee officer and by his family because she was southern. The only peace she found was serving as a nurse on the bloody field of battle. Since the war, and the death of her husband, she has suffered great distress and ostracism. She dreams of a new life in Brazil where no one will know her sad past. But one person on board remembers who she is and who she married.

Blake suffers from war nightmares and the loss of his entire family to Union soldiers’ cruelty, something he will never forget or forgive. Wanted by the Union for supposed war crimes, he organized the expedition to Brazil, and longs for a new life far from the horrors of war.

The two seem to be finding new love until a foolish, drunken young woman reveals to the shipmates Eliza’s marriage to a Union soldier. Then hatred like Eliza has seldom experienced breaks upon her, even Blake’s attitude toward her changes immediately.

The emotional wars Eliza and Blake both battle are further complicated by many troubles, hardships and even demonic attacks at sea. Will they survive and be able to forgive and love again? You are kept on the edge of your seat as wave after wave of challenges, interspersed with tender romantic interludes, separate them again and again.

In addition to the central story of Eliza and Blake, the other colorful characters have their own stories the reader wants to hear more about. This is a crew with a medley of their own problems to solve, not so different from human troubles in any age. I look forward to MORE in this Escape to Paradise series.

Besides an engrossing read, MaryLu’s creative writing gifts are so evident in Forsaken Dreams. Once again she proves her skills with deep point of view, endearing characters, emotional description, and movie-scene plotting that keeps you glued to the pages.

And like icing on the cake, by the end of Forsaken Dreams, you’re left with the warmth of the powerful spiritual messages of forgiveness and how active love and servant hood wins out over the hardest hearts. These two are woven throughout the story and renew your faith in God and man. And it may even prod you to pursue again your own Forsaken Dreams. Get the book! You’ll be glad you did.

We will sell if we keep at it!

Copied--
Zane Grey couldn't sell a single story his first five years as a writer. George Gershwin composed almost one hundred melodies before he sold his first one--for $5. Somerset Maugham earned only $500 in his first ten years as a writer. S.N. Behrman, an American playwright, wrote plays for eleven years before he sold one.

So keep at it! Never, never, give up. Keep studying your craft. Keep pursuing.
Elva Cobb Martin

Reject the Rejection

(copied)
There is no failure except in no longer trying. The Bible says: "Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful." (Heb. 10:23)
    In 1902, an aspiring young writer received a rejection letter from the poetry editor of The Atlantic Monthly. Enclosed with a sheaf of poems the 28-year-old poet had sent was this curt note: "Our magazine has no room for your vigorous verse." He rejected the rejection, however, and went on to see his work published. His name was Robert Frost.
   In 1905, the University of Bern turned down a Ph.D dissertation as being fanciful and irrelevant. The young physics student who wrote it rejected the rejection and went on to develop some of his fanciful ideas into widely accepted theories. His name--Albert Einstein.
   In 1894, a sixteen-year-old found this note from his rhetoric teacher in Harrow, England, attached to his report card: "A conspicuous lack of success."  The young man rejected the rejection and went on to become one of the most famous speakers of the 20th century.  Winston Churchill.
  Two thousand years ago a man and his pregnant young wife were rejected by a hotel manager... but you've got that story from the gospel of Luke, Chapter 2.
 Reject the rejection you may receive today, and go on to real achievement.

Vote Pro-Life, Pro-Godly Marriage

Please vote Pro-life, pro-godly marriage on Nov. 6 and help us get God's blessing and wisdom again for America. Vote Republican.

Loving God and America,
Elva Cobb Martin

Resubmitting my novel after changes

This week I finally finished making suggested changes by an agent and resubmitted my inspirational romance to her. She asked for the One Sheet, the Proposal and the full mss to be hardmailed.  Wow! I printed out 307 pages, thumbed through them again and still made changes, which meant reprinting changed pages.
But now I've sent that baby off with my blessing for $13.50 at the US Post office. It's a relief and that's why I now have time to blog! And get on with my Book 2 idea of a prequel.  Yes, I polished up a One Sheet on the prequel and also enclosed it as the last sheet in the agent's package. That night I woke up almost in a sweat. WHAT IF she says she wants the second book and how soon can I get it ready?  Can I do a second book when it took me 30 years to write this first one?  Yes, I did say 30. Kinda. I wrote the first draft of this novel 30 years ago. But the Lord called me into the ministry and I stuck the whole big box of research and the first draft which was typed on a Selectric typewriter up in my attic. When I  retired from full-time pastoring, I pulled the box down and have been rewriting ever since. But NOW that child (teenager/young adult?) is on its way to a New York agent. NEVER GIVE UP on YOUR novel dream.

A great quote heard at a homeschooler's high school graduation service this week which was so spiritual and blessed I had to fight tears several times: Here's the quote:

"If you've been called to be a missionary, don't stoop to be a king."

    And one touching sentence of a father's blessing to his graduating daughter as her video shots rolled by:
"Lord, whatever you don't protect her from, perfect her through."

Graduation the way it was meant to be with God and parents fully involved!

Blessings,
Elva Cobb Martin

Overwritten - Cutting Description

Last fall I submitted my "finished" (is it ever?) Christian romance to six agents. Two eventually asked for the complete mss. The first one finally rejected it, saying it didn't "move" fast enough. The other one also passed on it. She said it should have started on page 5 and was "overwritten" but that I could resubmit. So, of course, I replied and asked her to further define "overwritten" and she wrote back: "too many descriptive words."  


So-o, after spending some days, weeks, mired in the muck of disappointment, I have started work cutting description, moving faster. This is only my seventh time rewriting! But I AM DETERMINED to sell this novel to SOMEBODY. If it takes the rest of my life. Now there's a commitment that will bring you up, out of the mire and muck. Besides, every time I go back through Summer of Deception, a romance set just after the Gulf War, I fall more in love with Luke Markham and Rachel York.
Below is their first meeting I have now moved up to page 2. 

Story line: Summer of Deception is the story of a young woman who determines to unearth the truth about her brother's reported death by taking a position at an historic Carolina Plantation, only to realize he truth may destroy her new found love and could even cost her life.


(The heroine has arrived late one night at Markham Hall, Charleston, South Carolina.)

Rachel stepped onto a looped rug that spread under two leather chairs and a wide desk. A woodsy smell of cedar chips floated on the air.

A dog’s bark split the silence.

 Rachel gasped and dropped her purse.

A man, bronzed by the sun or weather, stood in front of a rock fireplace at the far side of the room. A patch covered one of his eyes. He wore a faded olive T-shirt and Levis stuffed into army boots. The Irish setter at his feet started to leap forward but fell back when a strong hand clamped on its collar.

Rachel found it difficult to breathe as the man’s glance raked from her head to her open-toed heels peeking beneath her jeans. She resisted the urge to smooth her curls or straighten her blazer. Instead, with all the grace she could muster, she retrieved her handbag from the rug.

The dog barked again and its master took its head into his hands. “I want you to sit quietly, Gabriel. Got it?” His voice resonated with authority.

Gabriel sat with his mouth hanging open in a grin, his tail wagging.

After an affectionate rub, the man snapped the dog’s lead to a ring beside the mantle and strode toward Rachel.

A quiver of uneasiness traveled up Rachel’s back. This was not the elderly Charles Markham she expected to see. This man appeared to be in his late twenties or early thirties.

His boots clunked three times on the bare floor before he reached the rug near her. The damp t-shirt stretched across thick, muscled shoulders and arms. Raindrops glistened on his short black hair. He was built like Ron. However, the similarity stopped there. Her brother had been fair and blond, and he was…gone.

Trembling at that thought, Rachel looked up at the man standing before her. Even in her three-inch heels, he was a head taller. Brown stubble darkened his chiseled cheeks. A thin mustache floated above his upper lip. Dark shadows under his eyes and lines etched around his mouth hinted at grief or pain. Or was it anger? Nevertheless, he was the most handsome man she'd ever seen.

 “Sorry Gabriel gave you a start. I’m Luke Markham.” He extended a hand toward her with a stiff smile that briefly lifted the shadows from his face and showed even white teeth.

His closeness and the deep, rich timbre of his voice sent a tremor through Rachel. She reached her hand toward his. Luke's calloused one swallowed hers and caused warmth to travel up her arm. Their gazes locked. The scent of spicy aftershave mixed with sweat and rain tickled Rachel’s nose.

“Rachel York,” she said, surprised at how squeaky her voice sounded. She pulled her hand away and tried not to look at the eye patch.

He noticed and adjusted it before he picked up an armchair as though it were a bucket of oats and moved it near the desk. “Have a seat.”

She glanced at the chair and then at him. This certainly was not the man she needed to see. “Thank you, but I’m fine.”

Luke shrugged and sat behind the desk. A small, half-finished carving lay in front of him, surrounded by cedar chips. He swept the shavings into a trash basket and shoved the aromatic wooden piece and pocketknife into a drawer. Then he leaned back in his chair and looked at her with keen interest before something like shutters closed over his face. He cracked his knuckles twice before speaking. “What brings you to Markham Hall, Miss York? –On a night like this.”

Somewhere in the house, a clock began to strike the late hour. The dog in the corner plopped down and laid its head on its paws.

Rachel sighed. “There’s been a mistake. I’m here to see Mr. Charles Markham.”

Luke’s chair squeaked as he sat forward. “Uncle Charles?”

“I’m sorry I’m late, but my plane was delayed by the storm. Is Mr. Markham retired already?”

“You... might say so.” The man emphasized each word. “What exactly did you want to see him about?”

Rachel’s empty stomach knotted. First the housekeeper, now this apparent nephew. Wasn’t anyone expecting her? She shook off her uneasiness. Everything could be cleared up in two seconds. “Mr. Markham offered me a summer position. I have his note.”

Luke’s brow rose. He laid strong hands on the desk. “May I see it?”

Rachel sat in the chair he had offered and opened her handbag. As she searched for the paper, his rapt attention made her feel like she used to feel during her stepfather’s interrogations. She knocked a lipstick tube to the floor and bent to reclaim it. Relax. Never again would she have to fear Lester Black's control of her every move. She could just see his face, contorted and red, when he found her note tomorrow. Too late. She was in the midst of a wonderful new beginning, just like Ron had found two years earlier. She found the folded sheet and handed it across the desk.

An uneasy silence settled in the room as Luke reread the note several times. 

Rachel’s travel weariness returned and a pain began to throb behind her right eye. She glanced around. An impressive gun case caught her interest. Finally, she began scanning titles in the bookcase behind Luke. But her mind seemed in such a jumble she could only make out “Marines” etched on the spines of tall manuals. Her eyes fell on a gold-embossed Bible resting in a corner and above it some framed family photos. Two of a dark-headed little girl. Her charge? Some of Rachel’s frustration evaporated.

She looked again at Luke bent over the letter. How could a brief note take so long to understand? Obviously, he didn’t know about his uncle’s offer to her of a summer job. Mr. Markham’s gentle face that day in Dean Wood’s office floated across her mind. Her confidence recharged.

“Where did you come by this note, Miss York?” Luke’s challenging tone startled her.

She swallowed and forced her voice to stay calm. “From your uncle, of course. He can explain everyth—".

"Uncle Charles died three weeks ago.”

Onward! ---Elva Martin

New Year's Advice Heard From an Elder

1) Watch who gets into your boat. Jesus got into Peter's boat and filled it with fish.
     Jonah got on a boat and almost sank it.

2) God will not allow you to hang on to two worlds. You've got to burn your plow.
     It's God's responsibility to send people to take you to the next level. It's your
     responsibility to burn your plow.

3) As a true friend we must warn those who've gone astray. Once we warn them,
     it's up to them to turn back.

4) We're in an all out war against our flesh giving in to the spirit of disobedience    
      that's at work in the world today. That's why the Bible talks about "weapons" of                  
      our warfare. Best be learning what they are and how to use them in 2012. Here are a few of them: the Word of God, written or whispered in our ears; the blood of Jesus; gifts of the Spirit, and fruit of the Spirit, especially love, joy and peace. Hint: anything from God can always blast to bits anything from the enemy.

Have a happy, blessed, victorious New Year!