Dyslexia, Narcissism, and Redemption? -- An Audiobook Review of An Elegant Façade

An Audiobook Review of  An Elegant Façade
Tantor Audio

Book by Kristi Ann Hunter
Narration by Charlotte Anne Dore

Review by Carrie Fancett Pagels

Dyslexia, Narcissism, and Redemption? 

This audiobook has had me thinking about it long after I finished reading it. Start with a heroine who is more of an anti-heroine, who has a reading learning disability, or dyslexia. She's born into a family she perceives as perfectionists. Set during Regency England, the heroine reminds me of one of Jane Austin's antagonistic females. There was a movie sometime not too far back where a twist was done on an Austin novel, making the antagonist the heroine and giving her a happier outcome than the book had. This novel reminded me of that movie, to some extent.

As a psychologist of twenty-five years, one of the most difficult conditions to deal with was narcissism. Granted, today it is rampant in our culture. And it is a vice that Lady Georgina Hawthorne epitomizes well. The problem is -- we don't normally want to see that in our heroine! So I kept waiting and hoping that this well-written story would show progress for the heroine and I hung in there and kept listening.  The narrator, while sounding rather young and petulant in voice for this character really is quite perfect for Georgina.

Spolier Alert

The heroine, in contrast, is a lovable guy and kept me interested in the story. Colin McRae makes up for what Georgina lacks. And he draws her forward in her relationship with the Lord. And finally to making her own decision. The problem is, when someone is "ashamed" of their disability and hiding it, that doesn't excuse self-absorption and narcissism and even with redemption, the chance in the heroine is not so marked as to make the reader think -- there now, she'll go forward and stop all that. On the other hand, we shouldn't expect redemption to cure all our fleshly sins. So that is my struggle in reading this story and why it is memorable. One hopes for, wishes, and delights in the day of redemption yet those fleshly behaviors are likely to continue, and disturb others, as God slowly peels those layers away.  We aren't going to see that at the end of the story. We get a nice epilogue, and we can hope, but one can't help but wonder if all that self-centeredness and deception are going to be problematic in a marriage and family. My personal experience has been that narcissism is horrifically hard to excise from someone and overcome. It can be done, but only with God's help. Kristi Ann Hunter doesn't give a neat little package wrapped up with a bow at the end -- and maybe that is how this story needs to be. 

Question: Do you enjoy stories with an anti-hero who is restored? What is your favorite?

Dyslexia Overcomer Molly Noble Bull Shares

Author Molly Noble Bull

Molly Noble Bull and I are both represented by Joyce Hart, CEO of Hartline Literary Agency, so I get to keep track of her busy writing life via our email loop. But this is our first time having her visit with us! Welcome to Overcoming With God, Molly! We appreciate your willingness to share your testimony of overcoming with our readers.

Molly: Thanks, and it’s great to be here. I write novels, and my one and only non-fiction book, so far, has the word Overcomers in the title—The Overcomers, Christian Authors Who Conquered Learning Disabilities. (Note: OWG blog included a previous post about this book in 2012, with Margaret Daley. Click here.) 

Yep, I am dyslexic. How did I overcome this disability? Through faith in our Lord, Jesus Christ. 

Like many parents, my parents thought I was a genius. I talked early, had a big imagination, made up stories that adults liked, could draw well for a pre-school child, created poems that my mother wrote down and kept for safekeeping, and I could carry a tune at an early age. But after I entered first grade, nobody thought I was a genius. If my classroom had been equipped with a basement, I would have been below ground level, scholastically. 

In the fourth grade, we had those old fashion desks you see in old movies that were nailed to the floor, and we were seated in alphabetical order. My last name was Noble, and I always sat in the middle or at the end of the line of desks, giving my daily panic attacks time to grow as I waited for my name to be called. Even though I read below a First Grade level, I was expected to read my history or geography books on a Fourth Grade level before the entire class. If I could have fallen through the floor, I would have. 

Today, I write books that other people read. God is good. 

They didn’t know much about dyslexia back then. I thank the Lord for two Fourth Grade teachers who told me I was talented at a time when I needed to hear it the most, and God became my best friend. As a Christian wife, mother and grandmother, I believe that one way I can go to all the world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ is to write books. I hope I am writing them right. 

My books come in the form of books and stories for children, scary historical novels, westerns, and none of them are available in large print. However, The Rogue’s Daughter is available in audio but only through The Society for the Blind of Texas, and all my books are available as e-books. You can read the first part of many of my books by visiting my website, clicking on the address listed at the end of this interview and clicking Molly’s Free Downloads. If you are a home-school parent or guardian, you can also download a sample of two study guides for teachers and students connected with two of my novels—Gatehaven and When the Cowboy Rides Away.  

Parents and others can learn a lot about learning problems from the point of view of those who experienced such problems by reading, The Overcomers: Christian Authors Who Conquered Learning Disabilities. I wrote it with four other published novelists, including Margaret Daley. I would also like to suggest The Gift of Dyslexia by Ronald D. Davis. According to Davis, dyslexics are talented and gifted people. 

I have a Texas cattle ranch background, and I write Inspirational historical novels that sometimes win contests. When the Cowboy Rides Away won the 2016 Texas Association of Authors contest in the Christian Western category and was a finalist in the 2016 Will Rogers Awards for western writers in the Inspirational category. 

When the Cowboy Rides Away

(Set on a cattle ranch in South Texas—1880) 

 Maggie Gallagher, twenty-one, runs the Gallagher Ranch in South Texas and has raised her little sister and orphaned nephew since her parents and older sister died. The novel opens two years after Maggie loses her family members.

Out for a ride, horseback, she discovers Alexander Lancaster, a handsome cowboy, shot and seriously wounded on her land. Kindhearted and a Christian, Maggie nurses him back to health despite her other chores. How could she know that Alex had a secret that could break her heart? 

My western novella, Too Many Secrets, will appear in The Secret Admirer Romance Collection to be published by Barbour Publishing on May 1, 2017. But it can be pre-ordered at Amazon and other places now.    

My novella, Too Many Secrets, is one of eight novellas in The Secret Admirer Romance Collection, May 1, 2017. 

Too Many Secrets by Molly Noble Bull

Frio-Corners, Texas—1895 

Abigail Willoughby hides her feelings for Luke Conquest, the handsome cowboy who introduced her to her mail-order husband. How could she have guessed that her future husband was a ninety-years-old man?  

Contact information: 

Website: www.mollynoblebull.com

Amazon: http://bit.ly/mollynoblebull

Blog: http://writersrest.blogspot.com

Facebook: facebook.com/molly.n.bull 

Twitter: Mollyauthor

Pinterest: Molly Noble Bull 

Goodreads: Molly Noble Bull  

GIVEAWAY: We're giving away an ebook copy of When the Cowboy Rides away. Molly’s question to the reader: How important is the first sentence of a novel to you? How about page one?

Interview with Margaret Daley

Margaret Daley

Margaret Daley is the author of Shattered Silence (Abingdon Press, October 2012) and Saving Hope, the first two books in the Men of the Texas Rangers Series (and of many other books!) She just had a Love Inspired release September, 2012--A Mom's New Start. I met Margaret through ACFW where she is president of the organization. In fact, she should be in the midst of wrapping up at the conference and heading back home, so I hope she'll be able to pop by a little, but I imagine she'll be spending a lot of time in airports today and unpacking tomorrow!

Margaret, welcome to Overcoming Through Time.  Would you share either the most difficult thing in your life you have had to overcome, with God’s help, or the most tragic situation or circumstance one of your characters has had to get past?

I have a learning disability (auditory processing disorder) and struggled to learn to read. I don't hear sounds like others do. Nothing is wrong with my hearing. It has to do with how my brain processes what I hear. I could never learn to speak a foreign language even though I love to travel. I still have problems with my auditory processing and have to compensate for it.

What is your favorite bible verse and why?

That is hard because there are so many verses I love. "And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love." 1 Corinthians 13:13

I write romantic suspense and this verse is about how important love is in this world. To me God is love. He is the best example of what love means.

Shattered Silence

Disability friendliness:

Is this latest release available in audio format or do you have any other works available on audio?  Do your e-books have audio capability? Do you have any in large print?  All of my books are available in large print. I'm not sure about ebooks that have audio capability.

What has been the most important thing you hope your readers will get from your books and why?

Hope. Through the Lord there is always hope. Along with that goes trust in the Lord. When you trust in Him, you can let go of worry. When you don't worry, hope has a tendency to grow.

A Mom's New Start

As you researched your books, did you learn anything that particularly touched your heart?

The plight of these children who are taken by human traffickers--the life they endure touched my heart, and I needed to let others know about their situation. Our children are our future, and we need to protect them.

In this latest work, do you have any topics useful for bibliotherapy, or therapeutic influence through reading about a disorder or situation?  

In my Overcomers (a non-fiction book with other Christian authors) I discuss what I went through as a child with a learning disability (at the time that wasn't addressed in school). I talk about compensating skills I developed and still use today. I also talk about what I tried to teach my students with learning disabilities to help them compensate in school. I not only had a learning disability, but I taught high school students with learning disabilities.

Thank you Margaret for agreeing to answer these questions.  Have a blessed day and keep on writing!!

GIVEAWAY:  Leave a comment and your email to be entered in this week’s contest.  Drawing will be late Saturday.  Your choice of Margaret’s books, choice of format*. Void where prohibited by law. *International winners will only receive the book in ebook format not as a paperback.  

Second giveaway this week: Margaret is giving away a paperback copy of Shattered Silence, her October release!

Carrie Fancett Pagels interviews Nora St.Laurent, TBCN ANNIVERSARY

NORA ST.LAURENT – CEO of THE BOOK CLUB NETWORK

Nora is a column writer for Book Club Corner in the Christian-Fiction On-Line Magazine, also Book Club Talk for Novel Rocket and is featured in the Christian Retailers Magazine in a column she writes with her husband Fred St.Laurent called Join the Club, which featured book pick favorites that have been voted on through TBCN community and the book won the vote for Fiction or Non-fiction.

I met Nora through some online groups, including ACFW as she was the book club assistant for 2 ½ years and then became the ACFW On-Line Book Club Coordinator for 2 ½ years. She recently resigned her position as the Coordinator in March of this year as The Book Club Network has exploded book club giveaways and has over 2, 200 members.

Nora, welcome.  Can you share a way God has worked in your life?

I know God has a plan for us. We are wonderfully made. No part of us is a mistake. In our weakness He is strong. He’s made us to fit in a place where we can make beautiful music and sing His praises. I have to remember that as I face my own challenges in doing what the Lord has called me to do. He’s called me to run book clubs. Not hard you say? True, a piece of cake if you’re a reader and aren’t dyslexic.

I remember the first time someone asked me to run a small book club at church. I couldn’t believe my ears. Did I give this person the impression that I read? This person said I needed to pray about the calling. She felt I was the one for the task.  I went to the Lord. I got the strangest peace about leading this small group. I did work at a book store. It seemed a natural challenge to take on.

It was natural until my boss sat me down one day and said the whole staff was talking about me and that they wanted me to run a book club at the Christian book store I work at. I was petrified. I was reminded of Moses. God had asked him to go to Pharaoh and talk to him about His people. Moses didn’t speak well. He was asking me to run a book club and I didn’t read.

I was reminded of how God asks us to come to Him as small children. I was reminded of Isaac and his joy of facing the challenges before him. He knew God was with him so he ran on full steam ahead at the challenges in life. I on the other hand I reminded God that I was dyslexic and didn’t have much need for reading in my life. I had spent most of my life avoiding it. I read what I had to, but for me watching movies was a lot more fun.

The Lord told me to Fear Not He would be with me. He asked me this, “Nora can you love the ladies I put in your life the way I have loved you?”

“Is that was this is about God? If that’s the case and it had nothing to do with what I’ve read or haven’t read then count me in.”

“Yes, that’s all I’m asking you to do. I’m asking you to show the love of Jesus to the people I bring in your life.”

I went to my boss and shared the message I felt God was telling me. My boss affirmed me. He said that he saw it as an outreach to the community and a way of giving back to the customers. It was then that a book club was born.

Currently I’m running two face-to-face book clubs one at the Christian store where I work and one at my church. My husband and I also started The Book Club Network www.bookfun.org on line, connecting authors with book clubs and leaders.

We want The Book Club Network to be the place to find Christian Book events, book signings and other book fun. I’d never thought in my wildest dreams I’d be mixed up in all this. But I can see that if we walk in what He’s called us to do. He does far more than we could imagine. I’m still dyslexic and still face challenges like my son. But God has restored the bad memories of my past and brought amazing fun to reading and writing. I’ve learned that in my weakness He is strong and gets all the Glory!

What is your favorite bible verse and why?

"He said to me, "'My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.'

"Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong."

2 Corinthians 12:9-10

Nehemiah 8:10

Then he said to them, “…….do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.”

Thank you Nora for agreeing to this interview and sharing your writing experience with us.  

It’s been a Pleasure being here Carrie!! Thanks for asking me to share. I’m excited about The Book Club Network’s second year Birthday party in August where we’ll be giving away 10 books a day. Thanks for letting your readers know about this!!

Blessings

Nora St.Laurent

The Book Club Netowork

www.bookfun.org

Great giveaways all month long at TBCN! Leave a comment here, too, for a special OTT-WGH giveaway this week in honor of Nora and Fred!