About the Book

Book Title: The Mending of Lillian Cathleen

Author: Linda Brooks Davis

Genre: Historical

Release date: October, 2018

It’s 1914. American women are demanding the vote. And the first flames of the Great War are igniting Europe. But a battle of a different sort rages in Oklahoma.

The thermometer registers one hundred six degrees, an out-of-the-ordinary occurrence even for the twenty-eighth day of July. But this is no ordinary day.

The jury has reached a verdict.

Lily fidgets in the old church pew. Her name has clotted into a by-word. Her blood is tainted. Can she right the wrongs? Or will her past forever define her?

She eyes the judge. And the courtroom holds its breath.

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About the Author

Linda Brooks Davis was born and reared on a farm in Raymondville, a small Rio Grande Valley community in the southernmost tip of Texas. Linda earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Speech Pathology from Abilene Christian University and a Master’s Degree from Houston Baptist University. She retired in 2008 after forty years as a special educator and administrator. Linda and her beloved husband Al worship and minister at Oak Hills Church in San Antonio and dote on six grandchildren, three of whom are triplets. Readers may contact Linda through her website, www.lindabrooksdavis.com.

Linda’s debut novel, The Calling of Ella McFarland, is set in 1905 Indian Territory prior to Oklahoma statehood. It won the 2014 Jerry Jenkins Operation First Novel Award. It was released in 2015 and won the 2016 American Christian Fiction Writers Carol Award. The sequel novella, A Christmas to Remember, is set in 1908 Oklahoma and released in December, 2016. A second novella, A Christmas Measure of Love, released in 2017. It is set in 1910 and is a prequel to Linda’s second full-length novel, this one set in 1914, The Mending of Lily Cathleen, which releases in 2018.

Guest Post from Linda

Certain ancestors and their experiences appear in my stories. There’s bit of my grandmother and a strong dash of my mother in one character. My father’s sterling qualities appear in another. And there’s a low-down family reprobate in another. Don’t forget cotton planting, hoeing, and harvest time. The glorious aroma of fresh-picked cotton and the nothing-in-the-world-like-it odor from the pig pen. A sewing machine whirring. The clink of a milk pail. A cow hollering to be milked. Summer’s sun on my face, the hearty South Texas wind in my hair, and the comfort of backing up to a wall heater on a cold winter morning. All find their way into the plot lines.

In my family’s history, my own life, and the kaleidoscope of lives in my stories, Jesus appears as the golden thread linking the past to the present and beyond. He turns an ordinary morning into a hint of the “Sweet By & By.” He adds the delicate aroma of the Rose of Sharon to the sultry stillness before a summer storm. And He wraps the bitterness of grief and failure in the richness of His incomparable grace. The Mending of Lillian Cathleen is one of those tales that reach beyond the ordinary to the extraordinary because of Jesus.

Lily’s story captures some of the heartache of domestic abuse, but it packs a powerfully joyous punch at the end. I thought I’d add a strong dash of sweet to this post with a recipe that appears in The Calling of Ella McFarland (which is re-releasing in October 2018). Mama’s (or Papa’s) Nectar of Heaven was a treat my mother enjoyed as a child. She set the same yummy delicacy before her kids, and I, of course, have done the same. Here ’tis, ya’ll, from Texas with sweet, sweet love.

The book took a while for me to get into it. I don't know if there were a lot of characters at the beginning or if the author was trying to give us background information too quickly. I was determined that I was going to see this book through to the end and I am so glad I did.

Lily has had a horrendous childhood and is determined to make the man who caused so much pain to her family pay for his torture. When she is able to escape from his clutches she is taken in by a wonderful woman. That is when her life became meaning to her. Her father is one nasty human being and I cringed every time I saw his name, read what he did or said a word. The author portrays him with accuracy and what he does will have readers feel anger and disgust . Lily has scars so deep that she isn't sure she is worthy of anyone's love. Her despair is overwhelming at times. The story is filled with raw emotions and shares a time when women were little more than slaves or nobody's. 

The day Lily leaves the courthouse I could feel fire in her eyes. Her father is evil and a woman's word didn't mean much in the eyes of the court in 1914. I was shocked that an eye witness to a crime  was dismissed simply because she was a woman. That day in court defined Lilly's destiny and how God was able to heal her scars.

I don't want to give too much away but just enough so readers will not miss out on one of the best historical books I've read about prostitution and child abuse. In the 1900s times were hard as families tried to survive. They worked hard and were thankful for what they had. Lilly's mom was someone who devoted her life to her children and God. She would do anything to keep her children safe. I loved how the author showed how much Lilly's mother had sacrificed to keep her children as safe as possible.

Lilly travels to find where her father has run off to and hopefully make him pay for what he has done. I never expected the story to take a turn like it did. We never know how someone's life is when they go home at night. Lilly stumbles upon a deplorable child traffic ring that will hit close to home. The people involved were horrible, unfeeling and money hungry. Lilly has been asked to speak at women's events to share her childhood. I know all too well how difficult it is to speak about your past in front of people. Thoughts of will they judge me runs through your mind. Will they blame me for what happened? Do they look at me as damaged goods? I am thankful that the author wrote a book that depicts the horrors of child abuse and human traffic among young women and girls. 

The ending was so emotional I cried until the end. God does care about each one of us. He sees our scars and wraps us in his arms to heal them.  It was important in 1914 to stand up and be heard as a woman and that still stands today. This is one story that will linger with me forever. It reminds me that I am a survivor and just like Lilly, I realize that God was right there beside me through everything.  Lilly and others like her will have to learn how to forgive, know that they are beautiful in God's eyes and loved unconditionally.

I received a copy of this book from Celebrate Lit. The review is my own opinion.

Blog Stops

Inklings and Notions, October 18

Multifarious, October 19

The Becca Files, October 19

The Lit Addict, October 20

Luv’N Lambert Life, October 20

D’S QUILTS & BOOKS, October 21

Real World Bible Study, October 21

Babbbling Becky L’s Book Impressions, October 22

Christian Bookaholic, October 22

God’s Little Bookworm , October 23

Godly Book Reviews, October 23

Reading Is My SuperPower, October 24

A Reader’s Brain, October 24

Maureen’s Musings, October 25

Baker Kella, October 25

Just the Write Escape, October 26

Mary Hake, October 26

Janice’s Book Reviews , October 27

A Baker’s Perspective, October 27

Bibliophile Reviews, October 28

Proud to Be an Autism Mom, October 28

Texas Book-aholic, October 29

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, October 29

Bigreadersite , October 30

Carpe Diem, October 31

Lis Loves Reading, October 31

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Linda is giving away a grand prize of a $50 Amazon gift card!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries! Click the link below to enter. https://promosimple.com/ps/d56e/the-mending-of-lillian-cathleen-celebration-tour-giveaway