Today Lagniappe Welcomes...
Author -
E.A. West
Her latest release from Pelican Book Group's Passport to Romance series:
Bogota Blessings
Blurb
When
Kayla Shaw travels to Bogotá to help renovate a house for a mission to street
children, nothing can prepare her for the ever-present mission employee Mateo
Luis. He looks like he could be one of the rebels who have caused so much fear
throughout Colombia. Then she begins to see him with her heart instead of only
her eyes.
Mateo
Luis Gómez Días has dedicated his life to the mission, and he's determined to
help as many street children as he can. Unfortunately, he can't keep his
thoughts off the beautiful American helping renovate the new children's home.
Although he would love to have a relationship with Kayla, his past and the bad
neighborhood God has called him to serve in prevent him from pursuing her.
Has
God truly led Kayla and Mateo to each other, or does He have something else in
mind for their lives?
Excerpt
He stepped outside and gazed at the clear blue sky
framed by stucco and brick buildings in various states of repair. A group of
children played fútbol down the dusty block, their clothing ragged and
their faces dirty. His heart went out to them. He had been like them once, one
of los desechables—the disposables—impoverished and starving, barely
surviving his life on the streets spending much of his time looking for ways to
get food or money. Then he had been taken by the Fuerzas Armadas
Revolucionarias de Colombia, and his life had become a waking nightmare.
Those years before he’d been left for dead were the reason he worked so hard to
keep the street children out of the hands of the FARC.
Mateo drew in a deep breath of cool air to clear his
mind of the memories of his teen years. The FARC was in his past, and God had
forgiven him for the things he had been forced to do. What mattered now was
helping to insure the street children of Bogotá were given the best opportunity
to survive and possibly, by some miracle, even thrive.
He headed toward the group playing fútbol, regulars at
the mission. They grinned and ran toward him, their game forgotten. Reaching
into his pocket, he pulled out a handful of hard candy in distinctive green
wrappers with yellow letters.
“Is this what you’re hoping for?” Mateo said, showing
them the coconut-flavored sweet he carried everywhere.
“Please, Mateo, may we have a piece?” one of the boys
asked.
“I have enough for all of you.” He passed out the
candy, then unwrapped one and popped it in his mouth. The sweet coconut flavor
took him back to the first time he had entered the mission as a
seventeen-year-old on crutches, barely healed from a surgery that saved as much
of his left leg as possible. Maria had welcomed him warmly and given him a
piece of the coconut candy to keep him occupied while he waited for Carlos to
arrive.
A tug on his sleeve brought Mateo back to the present,
and he looked down to find Claudia standing beside him, her hopeful brown eyes
peering out of a dirt-smudged face. The six-year-old was one of his favorite
regulars at the mission, and her sweet smile had melted the heart of more than
one volunteer.
He pulled out two pieces of candy and handed them to
her. “Here you go, Claudia. I haven’t forgotten you. There is one for your
brother as well.”
“Thank you, Mateo,” she said with a shy smile.
Then she darted away, presumably to find her
nine-year-old brother, Juan Miguel. The two children claimed to live with
relatives, whose supposed relationship to them changed with great regularity,
but no one from the mission had ever seen evidence of an adult presence in
their lives.
The fútbol game resumed, and Mateo headed for the
parking lot behind the mission. He would love to save every needy child, with
or without family, but it was an impossible dream. The best he could do was
brighten their lives with a little candy now and then, share the love of Christ
with them, and help however many children he could. If by doing that he kept
even one desperate youngster from voluntarily joining the FARC for the promise
of three meals a day and two sets of clothing, he would consider it worth the
heartbreak of seeing so many kids suffer in extreme poverty.
~~
Bogota
Blessings is available from
Pelican Book Group:
http://pelicanbookgroup.com/ec/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=37_46&products_id=530
About
the Author
E.A. West,
award-winning author of sweet and inspirational romance, is a lifelong lover of
books and storytelling. In high school, she picked up her pen in a creative
writing class and hasn’t laid it down yet. When she isn’t writing, she enjoys
reading, knitting, and crocheting. She lives in Indiana with her family and a
small zoo of pets.
Connect with E.A. West and learn more about her books in the
following places:
Website: http://eawest.mcphitty.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/eawest
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/eawest
Amazon: http://amazon.com/author/eawest
Elizabeth, thanks for sharing and for taking us on a short trip to Bogota!
Readers, thanks for visiting Lagniappe.
Be sure to leave a comment to let Elizabeth know you've been here!
I pray that each of you find
"a little something extra"
in each of your days.
Marian
6 comments:
Thanks so much for hosting me today!
It's my pleasure!
Wonderful post. And a great book.
Wonderful post. It looks like a really good read!
Interesting post. Looks like a really good read!
Your book sounds exciting!
Thanks for sharing!
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