Last Mango in Texas

It is time for a FIRST Wild Card Tour book review! If you wish to join the FIRST blog alliance, just click the button. We are a group of reviewers who tour Christian books. A Wild Card post includes a brief bio of the author and a full chapter from each book toured. The reason it is called a FIRST Wild Card Tour is that you never know if the book will be fiction, non~fiction, for young, or for old...or for somewhere in between! Enjoy your free peek into the book!

You never know when I might play a wild card on you!

Today's Wild Card author is:

Ray Blackston

and the book:

Last Mango in Texas

FaithWords (March 13, 2009)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Ray Blackston of Greenville, South Carolina, worked as a buyer and a broker for eleven years before cashing in his modest 401k and leaving his corporate cubicle to write full time. He serves on the missions committee of his church, has traveled to rural Ecuador on a summer missions program, and coaches his seven-year-old nephew, Action Jackson, in T-Ball.

Visit the author's website.

Product Details:

List Price: $13.99
Paperback: 272 pages
Publisher: FaithWords (March 13, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0446579610
ISBN-13: 978-0446579612



AND NOW...THE FIRST CHAPTER:


Please press the Open Book Widget to read the first chapter.

Last Mango in Texas by Ray Blackston is a light-hearted romance with an undercurrent of faith and responsibility. Kyle Mango falls in love with Gretchen his freshman year at Texas Tech after she rescues him from a fraternity house while doing the mummy dance from the Thriller video. The two bond, but Gretchen pulls away and becomes deeply involved with rescuing birds and wildlife, especially from the damage done by oil companies. In Kyle's senior year at school, he inherits four oil wells from his uncle, which makes his courtship of Gretchen more than a bit difficult. He's torn between providing for his mother, siblings, and employees and pursuing the woman he loves. Blackston has a real talent for writing laugh out loud humor and creating characters who are just quirky enough to be interesting without being completely unbelievable. He handles the controversy of the damage oil companies do to the environment vs the service they provide consumers with compassion and heart. Blackston's romance is a fun read with a real message of faith and responsibility.

Don't forget to drop me an email to enter to win a copy of Tricia Goyer's Every Sunrise. The deadline is 10 pm tonight! I'll announce the winner tomorrow.

Par for the Course

My conference went very well today, and the Lord gave me the strength to get through it. Thank you for your prayers, they were definitely felt! I have to drop Doogie off at his dad's and pick up Molly from school in an hour or so; after that, I can collapse into a puddle of goo. I'm looking forward to it!

I love my job; I love that I get to work with so many great people. I'm the pastoral care coordinator at the local hospital. In essence, that means I make contact with all of the area pastors and make sure that the hospital has their contact information in case of emergency. I also put CareNotes in the waiting rooms for patients to grab; I send out sympathy letters from the hospital when a patient passes away. If there's something to do with God at the hospital, chances are that I get to do it. The clergy and the hospital are natural partners. The clergy works to heal the soul, while the hospital heals the body; neither is complete without the other. How many people have a job where they feel like they actually make a difference in other people's lives? I'm blessed to have one of those. The conferences I put on are held quarterly for the pastors and members of hospital staff. It's an opportunity to let them know what the hospital is doing for patients' spiritual health and get feedback on it. For the last year, I've been bringing in speakers on different topics to make the luncheon an educational opportunity as well. I'm lucky enough to have a job that I feel excited about going to, and my boss understands my illness and makes accommodations for it. I only work a few hours a week, but what I do in that little time helps to make my community a better place. I love it!

Par for the Course by Ray Blackston is another arrow in Blackston's quiver of satirical Christian books. Chris Hackett, owner of Hackett's Golf Learning Center is South Carolina, is trying to make ends meet doing what he loves best when political analyst Molly Cusack takes a golf lesson and makes a suggestion to boost business. Hack takes her advice and invites political groups to whack golf balls at a guy shouting political diatribes while driving a modified golf cart. Liberals, conservatives, atheists, even rival schools show up to listen to abuse while striking and driving the balls. But Hack pays a high price for the increased profits: someone accuses him of being biased and burns down the entire center. Blackston excels at creating delightful characters engaging in sparkling banter, and this book is no exception. Hack's faith is evident in his treatment of Molly, and their relationship grounds the book. Mystery aside, the book brings up excellent points about the divisiveness about our politics and how it bleeds over into other areas of life. Blackston brings the point home about how God views these antics without ever pummeling the reader with proselytizing or spouting aphorisms.

My reading stack is growing a bit out of control. Sometimes when I'm laid up for a few days, I reserve books on the library website, not giving thought as to when they'll come in. Last week when I was stuck in bed, apparently I ordered a LOT of books. My library stack has outgrown its shelf and is starting to spread to other areas!