Bonnie S. Calhoun is Owner/Director of Christian Fiction Blog Alliance, owner/publisher of Christian Fiction Online Magazine, Northeast Zone Director for American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW), the ACFW ‘2011 Mentor of the Year,” President of (CAN) Christian Authors Network, and Appointment Coordinator for both the Colorado Christian Writers Conference (CCWC) and the Greater Philadelphia Christian Writers Conference(GPCWC).
For the last six years she has taught workshops in Facebook, Twitter, Blogging, and creating Social Media promotions at both CCWC, and GPCWC, and in 2011 at the Montrose, Pa Christian Writers Conference. She also taught a Facebook workshop at the 2012 ACFW conference.
Bonnie and her husband live in a log cabin in upstate area of New York with a dog and cat who think she’s wait-staff.
Her sites are:
https://www.facebook.com/bonniescalhounsnarkandsuspense
https://www.facebook.com/bscalhoun
ABOUT THE BOOK:
Cordelia Grace watched Bernard Howard, the love of her young life, go off to fight for our country in WWII. And she has spent the last three years creating the Pine Cone quilt that will grace their marriage bed when he comes home. Each row of triangles signifies a layer in her life, sets of memories, hopes, dreams, and prayers for her future, enough spoken words to cover them forever. Her image of their “happy-ever-after” grows proportionally as the quilt expands.
But is the man that returns from the war, the same man that she remembered? Are the dark shades of color that she had to use for the outside edges of the beloved quilt prophetic of her life to come? Can love and faith overcome all?
If you would like to read the first chapter of Pieces of the Heart, go HERE.
MY REVIEW:
As a CFBA blogger, I have had the pleasure of reading most of the Quilts of Love series. As the daughter, daughter-in-law, and granddaughter of quilters, I have enjoyed the series thus far and am quite amazed at the diversity of the books. Subject matter ranges from contemporary to historical to mystery/suspense and each novel has been unique. Yet each plot revolves around a quilt.
Bonnie Calhoun’s Pieces of the Heart features a Pine Cone quilt, a traditional quilt popular with African-American women. I loved the fact that each quilt was stitched for a specific recipient and that the stitcher prayed over each piece of fabric as she put together a “prayer covering” for her loved one.
Despite the fervent prayers of her grandmother, Cordelia Grace remains resistant to God. After all, Cordelia’s father is a pastor and her parents have displayed a mixed message about their faith most of her life. There is one person Cordelia knows she can count on other than her grandmother and that is Bernard Howard. She has loved Bernard since he rescued her from a group of bullies when she was much younger and they plan to marry as soon as she graduates high school. Alas, nothing ever stays the same. Cordelia is faced with one tragedy after another and even Bernard has deserted her to go off to war. Has God turned His back on her completely?
Bonnie has bravely included several hot topics in her novel. Racial prejudice is something Americans still deal with daily but I learned a few things about the prejudice during that era that I was not aware of, especially the poor treatment of African Americans by the military. Add to that other subjects like parental abuse and tragic deaths, and it is easy to understand why Cordelia’s faith was challenged. But one of her grandmother’s statements resonated in Cordelia’s mind over and over until Cordelia began to understand how many people are motivated by their pain.
Pieces of the Heart is a great book with many life lessons that should be taken to heart. You’ve done it again my friend!
