**See the bottom of this posting for information on Patti’s giveaway!**
About the Book:
Since 1955, Sheila Franklin, a talented musician, has perfectly performed the role of devout pastor’s wife, locking away her past as Sheba Alexander and Sylvia Allen. Her carefully constructed façade crumbles with a single phone call from a young Marine named Samuel, the illegitimate son she secretly put up for adoption. Samuel begs Sheila to use her government contacts to get his fiancé, Mali, a Thai prostitute, into America. A dangerous mixture of love and guilt spurs her to help her only child even though it devastates her husband Edward and exposes her questionable past. After a quarrel with Edward, Sheila and Samuel board a C-130 for Thailand and then search Bangkok’s steamy streets for a Madonna-faced prostitute. The two whisk Mali from a brothel but are seized by a warlord who considers Mali his “number one girl.” In a teak “ghost house,” Sheila discovers God’s grace and gains the freedom she needs to find her own identity—Sheila, Sylvia, and Sheba. A framed story, this novel has roots in the bohemian 1940s New Orleans French Quarter and spans three decades, including the turbulent Vietnam era.
About the Author:
Baylor graduate, taught community college humanities until God called her to span seas and secrets in her novels, An Irishwoman’s Tale and What the Bayou Saw. She has two grown children and a dog named Laura. She and her husband can be seen jog-walking the streets of Normal, Illinois, an amazing place to live for a woman born in a car. For more information, visit Patti’s website at www.pattilacy.com, her blog at www.pattilacy.com/blog, and her Facebook daily Artbites.
My Review:
Wow. This book really hits home with me. Not that I live my life as three different woman. Not that I am full of secrets, either. It’s just that Patti Lacy took an amazing plot line and turned it in to a real-to-life historical novel that immediately captured me. From the characters, to the secrecy to the tender, inspirational story line, Patti Lacy is a woman who knows what her readers want.
This is a book that you need to have a LOT of uninterrupted reading time with, because as the jazz music flows, the history comes to life and Sheila Franklin guards her secrets so carefully, that when her son, the baby she gave up for adoption long ago , comes to her in desperate need, she risks those moments of jazz, those moments of living her life as a pastor’s wife, to do what ever she can to win back her son. Reading Shelia’s story, I felt every emotional struggle that she dealt with, I could sit there and hear all the music and the thoughts that she thought….they were mine. I felt so much for Shelia’s character. I wanted to wrap my arms around her and hug many times over, and to pray with her.
There were other issues woven into this beautiful story,like having a son that is bi-racial, prejudice, trust, God’s amazing grace, yet Patti Lacy captures them all in a way that they flow beautifully together and really hit home with the reader. Secrets are brought to life, issues are dealt with and readers become the characters. The pages of this book will be turning long in to the night as, with each page turn, the reader is wanting more and more of this amazing writing from Patti Lacy.
So, please. If you are like me and have NEVER read a Patti Lacy novel, grab a copy of The Rhythm of Secrets now. It’s beyond a 5 star rating, and you will never be the same. The grace and love and spiritual messages in this story are like none other. Patti Lacy is an author whose books should be on everyone’s book shelves to be read again and again. Her work is filled with passion, grace and forgiveness and every reader will see the depth of the story immediately. I am ready for more Patti Lacy work and will start with An Irish Woman’s Tale, which is here on my book shelf.
See what others are saying about this book here.
You can purchase your copy here.
*This book was provided for review by the publisher for LitFuse Group*
Patti’s Giveaway:
