I was given a chance to review this book and I loved it! Now I have to get book one! Will definately be reading more of this author. Good Christian romance, not preachy, but full of God’s love. The characters are real, and I appreciate the chance to read it. This book talked about the issues that sometimes come up from our past, but reminds us that God’s love covers a multitude of sins. I give this book 5 stars.
Monthly Archives: May 2013
First Chapter of “Mr. Topper’s Fabulous Funtown”
![vintage-merry-go-round[1]](https://authorjodiwoody.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/vintage-merry-go-round1.jpg)
Mr. Topper’s Fabulous Funtown
All that glisters is not gold;
Often have you heard that told:
Many a man his life hath sold
But my outside to behold:
Gilded tombs do worms enfold.
Had you been as wise as bold,
Young in limbs, in judgement old
Your answer had not been inscroll’d
Fare you well, your suit is cold.
~William Shakespear
Merchant of Venice
Chapter 1
All That Glitters is Not Gold
There was never a town like Funtown, and likely will never be again. It was every little boy and girl’s dream. Shiny, sparkly, noisy, flashy, extravagant and fabulous! Mr. Topper, the founder of Funtown was well spoken of in many a household. “What a marvelous man!”, some would say, “A genius!”, said others. After all he is the one who imagined Funtown, planned it, built it, paid for it, Mr. Topper was Funtown. Parents used the wonderful, beautiful town to bribe their children for weeks, months and sometime years. “You better be good, or you will not be invited to Funtown” threatened parents, or “If you are good, you may get an invitation from Mr. Popper.” So every child dreamed of Funtown, of that beautiful invitation, of lights and whirls of color, of the big merry-go-round with the music and horses, of the big top and the shows. They played ‘Funtown’ on recess, and if you listened closely, you would hear children discussing their desire to go.
“I want to live there,” said one especially young little one.
“Nobody lives in Funtown,” corrected an older little one.
“Who takes care of it?” asked another.
“Nobody takes care of it…its magic,” answered a voice filled with awe.
This was always met with “ooohs and aaaahs” by the others.
Mr. Topper knew about these outrageous stories and rumors. Of course he did, after all, he started them himself and went to great pains to make sure that they continued being told, were whispered into the ears of all little girls and boys. Sometimes he even began to believe it was magic. When things were going smoothly, when all was shiny and glittered in the night, lit by gas lamps and lights. He would walk through his town and forget about the work, the trouble, and the unpleasant tasks behind all of the sparkle. At those times, he saw himself as a friend, a benefactor to the people, a generous ‘Uncle’ to all who came to escape their dreary lives.
But there were some, a few, who knew who Mr. Topper really was, and what Funtown really was. For all that glitters is not gold…
First Publication-Savage Love
I always wanted to write. As a small child, my imagination ran wild. I’d rather read than eat, write than play sports, and if you ever played with me, there were large storylines, costumes and lines to recite! Life though, tends to run away with us and I just recently finished my first book and chose to self publish with Createspace. I am proud of my first work, and am at a place in my life where there is time to dream, create and put it all on paper.
Savage Love:
Daffyd thought that he had it all, fame and fortune, good looks, and the life he had always dreamed of. Now, at thirty the only thing remaining is the money. He has lost his family, his health, his good looks and his faith in God. Living as a recluse in the Mountains of Montana he has given up on life.
Samantha is thirty-five and recently widowed. Spending the last fifteen years in a marriage of convenience, to a man almost twenty years her senior, she now doesn’t even know who she is. It seems that her life had been on auto pilot, and though she dreams of another life, she can’t seem to find the way. Samantha has two things that keep her going, her daughter and her faith.
Savage Love is a story of love, hope and new beginnings. When two lives come together, seemingly by chance, both are transformed.
CreateSpace eStore: https://www.createspace.com/4218386
Hope For Us
We as a whole are lacking in hope. We run through our lives busy as bees, but instead of working to bring life, we are working at self satisfaction. We see so many people who supposedly have it all, that are killing themselves with drugs, alcohol, and loose living. I have noticed over the past several years that there has been an increase in the media, books and movies about the paranormal and superheroes. My theory is that we lack heroes. I know there are plenty to be found, everyday, normal people to do extraordinary things for the good of others. But they are few and far between, at least from what we can see in the media. We have a need to know that there is someone out there who can fly in and save the world, who can free us from the evil that runs rampant.
I think for some of the same reasons we have seen an increase in the genre of paranormal. Sure some are just plain horror stories, that only frighten and horrify us, and I think those are part of the evil around us, but there are some that I think are a shadow of what we need and hope for as a society. When I read the ‘Twilight’ series, which I did enjoy, I thought about this at length. Edward, the vampire, considers himself a ‘monster’, his whole ‘family’ doesn’t behave like the other vampires, but live by a code of ethics that isn’t normal for their kind. They don’t harm humans and the father figure is a doctor. I think that if we look past the whole love triangle and the shallow parts that young girls adored, we see the need to know that even if we are ‘monsters’ we can be redeemed and loved. We had a huge amount of vampire stories stream into the media after the success of this one story, but they all lacked the background story of fighting against the evil in our own hearts and lives.
Why do I think we so need to hear that there is a superhero out there, or that we can overcome the evil inside of us? Because we have a hero, on the scale of super-super, that died for us so that the evil inside of us is made into something good and right. He swept in, not on a web, or with cape flying, but in a manger, as a man, in our weakness and our frailty, and fully depended on the un-ending love of His Father, to give him the strength to live supernaturally, and to free us from the chains of evil that bound us.
So, you know, I do love superhero movies, and stories like Twilight, to me they are a shadow of what is really happening. They show us that we can’t do it ourselves, that we need someone better than we are to help us and to show us the way. God can do that. He already did.