Divorce

When Lauren divorces her husband, she has one thought on her mind...stepping off the merry-go-round. However, her life quickly turns into a three-ring circus: her hypochondriac father moves in, her ex is using her shower when she’s not home, and her perky assistant is pushing her out into the fearsome dating world. She also has to decide if the dilapidated barn and vintage merry-go-round she was awarded in the divorce settlement is a blessing or a bane. As if Lauren’s personal life isn’t chaotic enough, this slightly jaded attorney is overrun with a cast of quirky characters who can’t stay on the right side of the law. What’s a woman to do? She can allow life to spin her in circles forever. Or she can reach out and grab the brass ring.

About the author
Donna Fasano is an award-winning, best-selling author whose books have sold over 3.5 million copies worldwide.

“. . .complex, funny, and realistic. . .” ~Wilmington News Journal

Book Review
The Merry-Go-Round is an utterly charming romantic comedy that pulled me in right from the start. Award-winning author Donna Fasano skillfully weaves a story consisting of funny, imperfect characters, love lost and found, sexual attraction, and an old merry-go-round. Told with humor and honesty, this novel is an entertaining and satisfying read. I highly recommend it! ~ Karen McQuestion, author of A Scattered Life

Slicing open the afternoon mail rips apart Nola Stevens’ secure—but tedious—life in Seattle. Twenty-three years ago, she moved from her father’s house to her husband’s house, barely pausing to attend her high school graduation. But now her marriage is over. Her ex-husband’s moved on to something else entirely, leaving Nola parked on her friend Malia’s sofa bed until further notice. When Malia’s summoned home to Maui for her father’s seventy-fifth birthday luau, she persuades Nola to come along. Hawaii astounds her—non-stop sunshine, aloha spirit, and fresh fruit cheaper than canned. And then there’s the half-naked sculptor who keeps sneaking up behind her.

“Mai Tai Butterfly” is a three-fold love story: a love of place, of a man, and the love that makes the other two possible.

Living aloha is the best revenge

Breaking Crime’s Vicious Cycle

A gripping true-life story.
Sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole, Don Dennis was a man without hope. Chuck Colson described the inmate Don Dennis this way: "He was a tough, hard con who gave his heart to the Lord and has been just as tough every since—but now as a warrior for Christ."
In 1977 Don Dennis stood at attention before a judge in a Seattle, Washington, courtroom. "Mr. Dennis," the judge began, "you have been in and out of prison for more than twenty years. After reviewing your history of felonies, escapes, forgeries, and other crimes against society, I am sentencing you to life in prison. That was Don Dennis, the habitual criminal. Then, he looked at life this way: "It was me and my prison buddies at war against the police, guards, society. We were like blood brothers." Don was more comfortable behind prison walls than in free society. Each time he went back into prison, it was like "going home." That's where his friends were; that's where people understood him, or so he thought.
More than twenty years later that Don Dennis was no more. He was a man with a different kind of mission. Rather than tearing down, he was building up by helping prisoners and ex-prisoners find a new way of looking at life.
This is the story of how Don Dennis broke crime’s vicious cycle. It is nothing short of a miracle.

An update of this book has been printed under the title From the Cell to the Cross. It is also available as a Kindle E-book.

About the Authors

For almost twenty years, Don Dennis led a group of volunteers in a prison ministry. The efforts of Don Dennis Ministries were recognized with a number of awards. In 1996 he and his group were named Outstanding Religious Group of the Year by the Texas Youth Commission and the Religious Group of the Year by the Gainesville State School. In 1997 he received the Governor's Faithful Service Award from Texas Governor George Bush. This was followed in 1998 with the Governor's Volunteer Service Award for Faithfulness to the Texas Youth Commission.

Shirley Stephens, who joined Don Dennis in telling his compelling story, holds a Master of Divinity degree from Southwestern Theological Seminary. She has years of writing and editing experience. Other books to her credit are: Under the SS Shadow, the true story of a former Hitler Youth and the son of an SS major; A New Testament View of Women, a biblical study of all of the New Testament passages that relate specifically to women; My Daughter Susan Smith, the story of a troubled young mother who sent her children to their deaths in a South Carolina lake; From the Cell to the Cross, an update of Breaking Crime’s Vicious Cycle about Don Dennis’ work in the youth prisons in Texas; Great Truths from Jesus’ Conversations With Women, nine truths that Jesus taught in dialog fashion.

From her hospital bed, 99-year-old Isobel Howard recalls her unexpected friendship with Cathryn, a childless, Chicago-born heiress who shunned her family, attended art school and married an Irishman with no pedigree. During the summer of 1936, the women find themselves alone in Cypress, MN, a mining town on the edge of a glacier-fed lake. Isobel is the wife of a tailor, mother of three young children and a milliner by training. He husband, Victor has taken their two boys away to an island he has purchased--an extravagance that has become a sore point in their marriage. Left behind with her quiet daughter, Louisa, Isobel revives her interest in hatmaking. During their shared days, Cathryn introduces Isobel to literature, art and a more cosmopolitan view of life, ultimately making Isobel an accomplice to the affair she is having with a local forest ranger. But there is a darker side to this idyll, and as the elderly Isobel reflects on the ensuing events, it is clear that this summer has exacted a heavy price. Sticklers for logic may question some turns of the story, and Stonich's prose has an eye for exquisite detail, opening up into atmospherically rendered, carefully observed scenes. Stonich unfurls a complex, many-layered and suspenseful story; and, like Susan Minot and Anita Shreve, she handles flashbacks and contemporary details with equal precision.

Contemporary, Adult, General, Literary, Divorce & Separation

Women's fiction, relationships, friendship, romance

Lack of Forgiveness causes one to never reach their full-potential in life. Why? All things are energy including thoughts. The thoughts that you have that cause you to keep someone captive in your mind, cloud the space with energy that isn't productive.

Therefore, all of your energies are mixed with good and evil. And...in order to be really effective, you can't ride the fence. FOR-GIVE and let the captives go free so that the MOST HIGH can GIVE you ALL that he has FOR you!

This is Part 1 of a series I have entitled "Unlimited POWER." I believe that we are all endowed with the seeds of GREATNESS from conception in our mother's womb. However, from living life, situations and circumstances sometimes take a toll on our effectiveness and steal our POWER. Without Power, personal power, we are deemed to suffer day after day in mediocrity, never tapping into our POWER.

The series will cover blocks, such as unforgiveness, that hold us from our destiny! We ALL have a PURPOSE, but without POWER, our PURPOSE will never be met.

As usual, I use scriptures from multiple cultures, religions, and regions around the world to speak to the reader that has a world view and an open mind.

Follow the words on the pages of this series, and I guarantee that you will be a PURPOSE & POWER filled renewed individual.