Week In Review: "Mamma Mia, here we go again!"

I heard Mamma Mia on the radio today and the lyrics in the title seemed fitting for this week, even though I wanted to scream when I heard the song because I abhor the movie... (the first one, I haven't seen the sequel.)
Why the whole "here we go again" thing?  Well, it's practically a repeat of last week's insanity!

This week, we unfortunately lost two of our juvenile chickens to illness.  In the same breath, we ended up taking in an Australian Shepherd--my family's second--that is a nervous wreck right now because he misses his former family.  Desperately.

And apparently my car has had a twisted-up throttle cable that has been making its engine race and, more recently (as in yesterday) the brakes to not respond well because of said issue.  That is a fun thing to learn as you're whipping into a parking spot and end up screeching into the next one down instead (and by screeching, I mean I was screeching.  Not my car).

Credit: Princess Diaries // Pinterest 

Currently Reading: 
Leia by Claudia Gray, Young & Beardless by John Luke Robertson and Mockingjay  by Suzanne Collins.  I may have too many books to read...

Current Projects: Same old, same old --although I keep getting new ideas that I haven't collected into logical plots yet, so that's definitely not helping my motivation to finish Something New by the end of July. I'm still trying though!

Current Bible Verse: Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 1 John 4:1. Be careful of who you believe. Guard your heart and what you believe above everything else, and ensure that what you believe is biblically sound. In this present time, a lot of churches are giving into societal pressures rather than God's Word. It's saddening, but it truly happens. It did to me four years ago at a youth conference. A lot of kids went on that trip seeking God, needing Him, but were fed more of the same old broken society instead. And the situation has only deteriorated since then.

 ...Now I need to think of an upbeat way to end this thing, because that was surprisingly dark. Oops.

 Sometime soon (I hope) I will be posting reviews for Called To Protect and Offbeat which are two books I read this week. I'll probably just post the reviews on Goodreads and link them here, so stay tuned!

How many of you guys won Camp NaNo? Have you read any good books lately?

Something New: Values

In the second installment of the Mount Sterling series, the titular college finds itself in need of a new president after the current one passed away unexpectedly.  The president, Dr. Overdorf, is bound and determined to take the once-Christian college and squelch the religious undertone in the name of tolerance. 

While this may be an overstated thing -- this usually happens over a large span of time, and it happened with my own university -- it's a problem that colleges are facing today.  Folks, even entire groups, are being silenced in favor of so-called inclusion and tolerance.  News flash, if you're excluding someone or trying to push them away, you're literally being the opposite of inclusive!

Anyway, Joanna and Alison, as well as a couple of new characters I'm introducing, find themselves at odds with the new president.  They're torn between keeping their heads down and their noses clean or standing up for the Constitutional rights of some groups on campus who are being forced out, including Joanna and Alison's own group and a student's Bible study. 

When is the right time to stand up and say, "I'm doing no harm and I'm going to keep doing what I'm doing," and when is the right time to compromise?  Especially in today's political and religious climate, I believe that this is a big problem that our young adults and youth are experiencing and need guidance on, which is why I'm writing it.  I think it's important to inspire folks to educate themselves on the topics they're passionate about, as well as learning to be courageous in today's climate of safe zones and folks getting fired for things they say on Twitter. 

I write editorials for my college's newspaper.  You can guess that I don't write about popular opinions, but I did have to learn when to keep my mouth shut and when to defend myself, especially when one article in particular blew up.  About the politics of a Disney movie, no less!  Choosing which comments to ignore (ones including threats of physical harm) and which to challenge (someone trying to get me in trouble, erroneously suggesting I--an English major--had plagiarized) was difficult.

 Joanna and Alison are going to face the same sort of problem, and -- you guessed it -- Joanna's a bit of a firecracker.  She's not much of one to stand down when she knows she's right. 

But will it cost her a job?  We'll also explore a lot of consequences, because even the right choices can have them. 

Week In Review: ...It's Only Been A Week?!

Hey everyone!  I know it's only been a week, but it feels like at least three have gone by.  So since last week, I've

• Gotten my first flat tire  (which was never a milestone I wanted to reach)
• Completed 40 (yes, FORTY) tasks for one week's worth of learning in my "happiness" class (yes, I put happiness in quotations because there is no happiness anymore.  Only bloodshot eyes and senioritis and regret.  
• Written about 10,000 words for Something New (which I wanted to do this week, but actually forgot my goal until I realized that I'd reached it....)
• Had a dental appointment with a new dentist (I hate dental appointments, okay?  It was nerve-wracking)
• Had three existential crises 
• Convinced one of my favorite barn cats inside because she has a nasty cut on her paw from something so now my mother and I are playing nursemaid to The Queen Feline 
• Confirmed my eligibility for a scholarship I'm set to receive from my college (yay!)
• Set up another whole planner for writing because my other two were almost overflowing
• Got some Christmas shopping done (sorry bank account)
• Tried to get a head start on my class assignments for NEXT week because next week's going to be busy too (I only have 31 tasks though!...) 
• ....Something else I was going to mention and then forgot.  

Credit: Buzzfeed

Currently Reading: Catching Fire...still.  I also read an ARC copy of He's Making Diamonds by S.G. Willoughby; stay tuned tomorrow for a special post about it! 

Current Projects:  Something New and I'm also considering compiling a bunch of fictionalized autobiographical short stories or something into a small book of short stories/poems about a trip I went on 4 years ago.  More on that later because I'm feeling nostalgic about it right now and in this case, nostalgia isn't good.  A professor for autobiographical writing once said that doing so can be wonderful for healing. So if I work on it, this will be more of a therapy trip than anything else.

Current Bible Verse:  Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.  See, I am doing a new thing!  Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?  I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland."  Isaiah 43:18-19, NIV.  

Things that can be learned from a dry-rotted tire:

So I have a very old car.  '95 Toyota Camry.  Because it's so old, I have to make sure to drive it frequently so that it doesn't seize up or turn into a bucket of rust.  Well, I had been too busy to drive it since that 150th play I mentioned awhile back in June.  On a whim, I decided to take it to church on my own instead of riding with my parents.  I got there perfectly fine, and when the service was over I went to take it home.  My parents were talking to another member of the congregation and I was going to wait until they left so that I could follow them, but something just told me I should just go ahead and leave.  My air conditioner was blowing hot air because of the extreme heat we were experiencing at the time, and I don't really like the A/C anyway so I turned it off and rolled my windows down instead.  A little over a mile from my house -- POP!  fizzzzzzzz......zzzzzzzz.....zzzzzz....Which I wouldn't have heard if my windows hadn't been down (admittedly, I was playing my music pretty loudly).  My car didn't swerve or start pulling towards the flat tire, so I probably wouldn't have even known anything was wrong if I had not had my windows down.  

I decided that I needed to find a place to pull over, but on this particular stretch of road, pulling over is hard to do unless you want to end up in a grassy ditch.  So I kept on going, rim scraping along like some wretched song of defeat.  Now, there's always a lady that goes for a walk past this piece of road on Sunday mornings.  She was out, of course, just in time to see the shock on my face when I heard the rim start to scrape (remember, this was the first time I'd had a flat so I didn't know what to expect, but going from having an old tire to dragging by on a hunk of metal within moments was not it).  She stopped walking and we made eye contact through the windshield...and then she gave me the most sympathetic gaze in the world.  

Nothing brings people together like vehicular problems. 

Anyway, I got within a mile of my house and pulled into a church parking lot so I could text my parents.  Pulling into a strange church's lot while their own church services have just let out and everyone is there to see you?  I turned into the public spectacle for them!  An introvert's nightmare!  A couple of the churchgoers did offer help and several women were chattering with concern over whether I had help coming, so they were very kind.  Thankfully, my parents were only a few minutes behind me and while my spare tire was very saggy and low on air (PSA: if you have a spare tire in your car, check the air!) it had enough to get me up the hill to my house.  

So...lessons learned, you may be wondering?  

Where God guides, He provides.  If I had waited until my parents had left like I'd planned to, they probably would've been home before they could turn around and come back to get me.  It was much more streamlined because I left first.  If it hadn't have been so obnoxiously hot outside, I wouldn't have rolled my windows down, may not have known my tire blew, and may have ruined the rim.  I could have caused a wreck, too, if my car had reacted poorly to the tire, granted that there were at least 3 other vehicles behind me and I didn't know how I should operate a vehicle with a flat.  Lastly, remember last week when I said my laptop inexplicably began working again?  (At least, I think I mentioned it.  If not...my computer's working again!)  I'd been planning to take it up to the shop to get it fixed that week, but since I didn't need to anymore, I had some money to burn.  The exact amount I'd set aside for my laptop repairs just went for new tires to replace the two rears, which were apparently dry-rotted (which caused this one to go flat).  

Sure, you could chalk that all up to coincidences, but...

Credit: The Incredibles 

So...that was my odd week.  How have you guys been?  Camp NaNo's ending soon -- have you met your goals yet? 

Book Spotlight: "He's Making Diamonds" by S. G. Willoughby!

I recently received an ARC copy of He's Making Diamonds, a wonderful and inspirational book written by S.G. Willoughby.  This book details her journey through illness as a teen and how God remains with us even in the most awful circumstances.  You can see my full Goodreads review HERE. 
This book was a very refreshing read.  Her resilience and ability to take a very difficult situation and turn it into praise for God is astounding and inspiring.  It's extremely easy to fall into the trap of questioning God when trouble arises in life, especially with chronic illness, but she explains in this artfully-written book exactly why we should run to God instead of giving Him the cold shoulder when such situations arise.

I couldn't put this book down and read it in about two hours, and I commend her for finding the courage and strength to be so strong in the midst of her storm. 

He's Making Diamonds is a testament; an assurance that we are never alone even if we feel like we've been lost in the waves of trials.  Chronic illness is one of the most difficult things to work with, and it affects so many lives.  A ripple affect, if you will.  This book covers all aspects of the beast, from those who suffer to those who care for them, and how relationships may be altered because of it.  This is a very intricate problem and she addresses this flawlessly and in a perspective that makes a good deal of sense. 

The book's synopsis is as follows:

"Are you a teenager trying to navigate faith through chronic illness?  I'm here to tell you, you are not alone.  

When sickness takes over your life, it's a never-ending battle to make it through each day.  How do you cope?  How do you keep fighting?  Most of all, though, how do you find God in the midst of the suffering?

Through my own journey of sickness, I've struggled with the same questions -- questions we all think but are afraid to ask.  My name is Sara, and I've been sick with Lyme disease and more since I was fourteen.  

Those questions you're afraid to ask? I've asked them too -- as have many others.

This book addresses topics and questions such as: 

• Why is there sickness?  
• Where is God in sickness?
• Resting in the storm
• How to deal with the way chronic illness changes you 
• Joy and despair
• Hope
• Praying through chronic illness
• Relationships in the midst of chronic illness
• And more!  

The journey of illness is not an easy one, but hope remains.  God hasn't left us.  He hasn't forgotten us.  On the contrary, He's making diamonds out of us. "

Now, a cool fact?  If you've been thinking about the song Diamonds since reading that title....Jon Steingard, the frontman for Hawk Nelson, wrote an incredibly powerful foreword for He's Making Diamonds!  

Again, this book was incredibly powerful.  I highly recommend it for anyone who deals with chronic illness personally or anyone whose family member(s) or friend(s) have a chronic illness, disability, or any kind of health struggle.  

About the Author: 

S. G. Willoughby is a seventeen-year-old with Lyme disease, toxic mold poisoning, and MCS (multiple chemical sensitivity).  Currently, she resides in Arizona with her parents and two siblings.  In her spare time she loves to write, read, and have adventures.  

Now -- if you're interested in reading this book and supporting this lovely author, make sure to attend her Instagram party on July 24th at 2 PM (PST).  She'll be hosting an author Q & A and you can enter to win a signed paperback of He's Making Diamonds!

If you can't make it to her Instagram party, make sure to pre-order He's Making Diamonds from Amazon by July 23rd.  If you do so, you can sign up HERE to receive a free video series with bonus content that was not included in the book! 

Click HERE to purchase He's Making Diamonds -- available in print or Kindle! 
Click HERE to add it on Goodreads; make sure to leave a review once you're done!
Feel free to check out the fantastic book trailer HERE and don't forget to follow S. G. Willoughby on Twitter, Instagram, and her website! 

Something New: A Fresh Chapter

In the first book of the Mount Sterling Collection, Beautiful Chaos, the main characters deal with what seem to be a myriad of unrealistic problems.  While I won't go into specifics -- I don't want to spoil my own book for you guys in case you haven't read it yet! -- I think it exemplifies life itself.

Oftentimes, we're faced with what seems to be an insurmountable list of problems; whether it be with our families, jobs, school, finances, relationships, or health.  Sometimes all of the above all at once!

Joanna's big brother, whom she saw as a best friend, pushed her aside in his teen years as he spiraled into deviant behavior that eventually was his death sentence.  This pushed her family apart, some irretrievably, and to top it off, she lives with a terrible secret that nobody else will believe.  Her family life isn't what it should be, nor does she exactly know what it should be.

Walter is thrust into a caregiver role with his father, who suffers from a cognitive disease, and despite having older siblings, he is the one who has to support his family through his father's death and take care of them thereafter, since his older brothers have moved out and aren't willing to step up to the plate, and his mother and younger sister are all that's left.

In these two circumstances, it seems as though most of the problems I listed above are touched on, especially considering that in Beautiful Chaos, Joanna and Walter are still in college.

Something New is a fresh chapter in their lives.  Not only is their marriage coming up, but the fallout from many of the issues in Beautiful Chaos continues.  Joanna's secret finally comes to light and justice is sought.  A boy (or should I say scumbag?) who lusted after Joanna until he was willing to kill her just for the sake of assuring that Walter couldn't love her either, is finally brought to court.  Walter struggles to maintain a strong face as he watches his father waste away.  Not to mention a few other things I can't mention because, again, spoilers....

However bleak these situations may be, they find ways to turn them into lemonade as Joanna, Walter, Alison and a couple of others begin a mission to combat substance abuse on their college campus.  This program leads Joanna and Walter to meet a social worker who has a plan that could change their lives...maybe forever.

I am writing these stories because -- truly, life happens.  We can't expect to sail through life smoothly.  We can't expect things to go easily if we're Christians, either.  God never promised that; He promised to be near us and help us through our struggles.  We simply have to hang on and make the best out of it, and that is exactly what Joanna and Walter Larkin (yes, they have the same last name now!) will be doing in the forthcoming novel.

This series is being created with the hopes that it can touch the lives of anyone seeking the knowledge that while life may be a struggle, those struggles can either define or refine you -- you'll either live stuck in the past or you'll learn from them and become a better person.  This is a central theme in these books, and I hope they show a message of hope to anyone who reads them. 

Week In Review: WHAT Happiness Hypothesis?!

Hey everyone!
Well, this week was a series of very, very weird events that actually weren't too bad.
Except for my psychology class on happiness.
That's very, very bad....but more on that later.

Credit: Chuck // Pinterest

Currently Reading: The Hunger Games: Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins; An Orphan's Wish by Melanie Dickerson.
This week I finished reading White as Silence, Red as Song by Alessandro D'Avenia and The Thief, The Damsel, And The Dragon by Angela R. Watts.  You can find my Goodreads reviews of each if you click on the titles.

Current Projects: Something New -- I'm over 40k words, out of a goal of ~60k!

Current Bible Verse: The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble (Psalm 9:9 NIV) Don't forget to pray for those in Haiti and Nicaragua for political unrest.


So this week, I was planning on taking my HP laptop up to the local repair shop because it had a major issue with the audio that completely locked it up and turned it into a very expensive paperweight.  It isn't even two years old yet.  The last time I had attempted a fix I'd found in the HP forums, the computer wouldn't turn on.  So obviously, I left it alone for 6 months because I was irritated and didn't even want to know how much the repairs would cost.  But this week, I tried to turn it on to see if I could write down some of the problems it had so I could send it to the repair guy.
Wouldn't ya know, it turned on perfectly.
And then gave me an error message about an app that didn't want to start up.   As in, it beeped and it actually beeped out loud, it didn't just send it into a perpetual war between the two conflicting audio services that (grumble grumble) HP loaded onto it!

I have never shrieked with excitement to hear an error message pop up on any computer before.  So right now it's working perfectly fine and apparently the fix I tried, the one I didn't get to test out because the computer bricked out and wouldn't turn on, worked.  Inexplicably, but I'll take it!


Additionally, my "Psychology of Happiness" class started this week.  It's four weeks long and I thought it would be the easy one compared to forensic pyschology -- I mean, seriously.  It's an emerging field and happiness, guys.  How simple is that?

Apparently not simple.  At all.  The future is bleak.  Nothing is good in this world.

I mean, part of it is because of my professor being a little thrifty with the points for the discussion board (i.e., how can we relate fresh material to old material when we've just started the class 3 days ago?  There's no such thing as old material yet!) but the book we're using, The Happiness Hypothesis by Jonathan Haidt, is another animal entirely.
I have taken forensic psychology, abnormal psychology, social psychology, statistics & methods for psychology, any kind of weird -psychology in general, and I not only survived the class but I thrived in it.  I can't even begin to explain how odd this class is. I can understand all the scientific terminology, sure, but the theories themselves?  It's like throwing a dart backwards at a door.  Doesn't stick.

Credit: Big Hero 6 // Tenor

On the other hand, I was also offered an internship that I applied for -- the first one I've ever applied for -- and it's a virtual one that deals with editing and social media, so I'm really pumped.  I'm starting to train for it on Monday and I'm so nervous...I just can't tell if it's an excited-nervous or an 'I have to talk on the phone' nervous.  (And really, I am quite excited to get started; I just don't sound like it because it's still sinking in.  The whole process from application to interview to approval happened in roughly 24 hours so I'm kind of reeling.)

Credit: Tangled // Pinterest

Annnd....drumroll, please: I'm working on developing some bullet journals to sell!  I'm downloading fonts and designs and all sorts of commercial-licensed goodness as I type this, and I have a lot of fun ideas planned, including a journal made specifically for writers.  More on that later! 

How was your week?  How's Camp NaNo going for you all?  

Something New: A Playlist

Credit: Gifer // Robert Downey Jr

Shoot!  It's Wednesday, isn't it?  I completely forgot to write a blog post, even though I thought about it all week.  Whoops....

Anyway, I'm working hard on Something New for Camp NaNoWriMo, and it's at about 39,000 words right now (although I haven't begun working on it today so that number's probably gone up a little bit...hopefully).  I've mentioned before that music is a big part of my writing process, and this is one of my favorite series as far as music goes.  It has a lot of my favorite songs on it...so here you go!  I've attempted to capture the general mood, feeling, themes, and aesthetic of the book in this playlist.  

Braver Still -- JJ Heller

Pieces -- Stars Go Dim 

If It's Amazing Grace -- Stars Go Dim

All I Have -- Stars Go Dim

Heaven on Earth -- Stars Go Dim

(I just really like Stars Go Dim, okay?!  Go check them out!) 

Primrose (From "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Pt. 2") -- City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra

Your Favorite Color Is Green (From "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Pt. 2") --City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra

Stampede -- Lindsey Stirling & Alexander Jean

Hidden Falls -- Taylor Davis (The inspiration for their first dance at the wedding...) 

Waiting on the Night to Fall -- Casting Crowns

Empty My Hands -- Tenth Avenue North

To Build A Home -- The Cinematic Orchestra

This Is Us Score Suite -- Siddhartha Khosla

Mine -- Taylor Swift

Busted Heart -- For King & Country

Without You -- For King & Country

It's Not Over Yet -- For King & Country

Matter -- For King & Country
(....I also really like For King & Country.) 

Beloved -- Jordan Feliz

Never Too Far Gone -- Jordan Feliz

Week In Review: The More You Know

How was everyone's Independence Day?  This week I began participating in four hashtag games on Twitter pertaining to Something New, so if anyone wants to check my responses out, my account is linked on the "Social Media" tab!  (And if you follow me and are tired of the hashtag games, I'm sorry.)

Currently reading: The Hunger Games trilogy.

Current projects: Something New for Camp NaNo, though I don't have an exact word count for this week.   I think I took care of about 50 pages this week, and haven't worked on it yet today.

Current Bible verse: Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?  Matthew 6:27 NIV

This week, I also finished up my forensic psychology class and in the same breath, started my "psychology of happiness" class.  I'm pretty sure that my immediate thought of "Oh, great.  Happiness journals." when I saw the assignment says a lot about my personality and exactly which side of the "glass half full or empty" life I err on. 

(Credit: TBBT /Tenor) 

I also went to see Incredibles 2 and Solo: A Star Wars Story this week.  I'd give each a solid 4 - 4.5 stars!  Have you seen them yet?

In case you missed it: I did an author interview with Angela R. Watts this week and recently updated the blog post because her book is now available on Amazon!  Go buy it, guys!  My copy is coming on Tuesday, so I'll have a review up soon.  I hope.

Fun thing I learned this week: So four years ago, my youth group and I went to a national youth conference in Colorado.   We made a road trip out of it with other churches in the district and got to see a lot of stuff like the Badlands, Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse, etc.  On the way back, they had us tour the Phoenix Gold Mine in Idaho Springs, CO.  Which was great and all.  It was neat, and a lot of girls were freaked out over it being dark inside the mine we toured, so it was funny to tease them about a cave-in, which they were also scared about. 

It was funny until this week. 

Now, a couple of local places are being recorded by ghost-hunting shows, and out of curiosity I've been keeping track of when the episodes will air.  So as I was innocently searching for that, oblivious to what awaited me, I learned that apparently the "Ghost Adventures" crew did a Colorado gold mine episode. 

About the Phoenix Gold Mine. 

And in the same exact flippin' vein of the mine we toured too.
Which I know because I watched the episode and totally didn't sleep after. 

And I have to say that the 'evidence' they supposedly found was pretty compelling, which wasn't comforting at all.  As an on-the-fence skeptic of ghosts.  To sum it up, my church youth group toured a gold mine where a relative of the owner supposedly did black magic in.  Oh and apparently the sectioned-off part of the mine we weren't allowed into *was* caved-in...so maybe those scared girls weren't too far off the reservation for being scared.  Cozy bedtime viewing, right?

(Credit: Psych/Photobucket) 

The more you know...

 On that note, how was your week? 

Author Interview & Book Spotlight: Angela R. Watts & "The Thief, The Damsel, And The Dragon"!

Update: purchase The Thief, The Damsel, And the Dragon HERE!
We have a special post today in honor of The Thief, The Damsel, And The Dragon by Angela R. Watts.  It's coming out this week, and I'll update the post for you guys as soon as the Amazon link is up because you really need to check this book out.  With that being said, I asked Angela a few questions, which she very graciously answered as part of her blog tour week -- and without further ado, let's get on to the interview!

Credit: Angela R. Watts

What inspired you to write The Thief, The Damsel, And The Dragon? 
Angela: I sat down to brainstorm and jot down whatever came....And those three things seem pretty interesting together...So I decided I wanted to switch them up and make them less than obvious. ;)

What did you enjoy the most about writing it? 
Angela: The characters!  Or the setting.  I really miss North Carolina.  But I do like the characters a lot, ha!

What is one thing you hope to convey to readers with this novella?
Angela: That we cannot win our battles alone.  And sometimes, we may not even know we're trying to do things alone -- maybe we think we're letting God be God, but we still fight and struggle to get it all OUR way.  In truth, we have to trust God...And trust that, yes, when we make mistakes, it doesn't make us less.  God still loves us.

Why did you choose Psalm 91:13 to represent this book?
Angela: "Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder; the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet." Psalms 91:13
This verse, to me, is another of God's promise.  Satan is like a serpent -- vicious and sneaky...but with God, Satan is weak.  If we trust in God, we can move mountains, we can overcome the dragons!  Psalms 91:13 is a battle verse for me...And I wanted it to show what The Thief, The Damsel, And The Dragon is truly about.

Synopsis: 

"'....the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.' ~Psalms 91:13

Edward Prosner is going to steal from the small town mayor of Fall Springs, North Carolina.  He's got a flawless plan of action and is determined to return honor and justice for his father's good name.  The problem he faces?  He needs a date for the mayor's dinner party.

Lucy Levitt is a huge romantic at heart, but with her family's ranch and her part-time job, she has no time for dating.  She believes God will place her soulmate in her life when the time is right.  When the new man in town asks her out, how can she say no?

The first date seems ordinary enough, but then they begin to realize that they can't fight their dragons alone...."

I absolutely cannot wait for this book to be released.  It sounds like it has some fantastic messages of faith interwoven.  Click HERE to find The Thief, The Damsel, And The Dragon on Goodreads -- and make sure to add it to your shelves (both virtual and physical)!