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Enjoy this great trailer from Jacqui Hopper
From the back cover:
Hope, love, and loss meld two
polar opposite personalities. How long can they keep passion for their ministry
and each other after the wedding?
Medical missionary and avowed
bachelor Merit Campbell is wounded during a skirmish at his Mideast clinic and
sent home to recover. Restlessness propels him to explore the happier moments
of his childhood in Illinois where he meets Amalia Kennedy, owner of The Last
Detail, who enjoys helping people prepare for their final years. Merit ushers
in new life; Amalia ushers it out. Love? Obviously. Marriage? Check. Dealing
with the family closet? Step back…
Amalia enjoys her predictable life
in a quiet little Illinois town—until long-time intended, Hudson, finally
proposes in a way that shows her boring and old are coming way too fast. When a
mutual friend introduces Merit and Amalia, the spark of attraction makes Merit
reconsider his bachelorhood. When he can’t return to the mission, he accepts a
call as pastor to Amalia’s church. As the two grow closer they weather constant
interruptions from ministry, business, and family, even at their wedding and
beyond. When tragedy strikes, they must learn to rely on each other in ways
they couldn’t have prepared for.
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EXCERPT
Copyright 2013 © Lisa J
Lickel
Seven seconds. Merit counted silently from the time
the last missile whined past his ear. Senna’s goon needed seven seconds to reload.
Merit ignored the flash on his right and kept his eyes on the child who sat in
the dirt about a dozen long steps in front of him, waving her tiny fists.
After the next barrage of fire went silent, Merit took off in a
crouching run, grabbed Tangra’s youngest granddaughter, Mardra, and rushed
toward the nearest pile of rocks. The punch and stabbing sensation in his left
shoulder, followed by a thud, let him know he had almost made it. As he was
lifted off his feet, he thrust the child he’d delivered last spring into her
father’s outstretched arms. As gravity reclaimed him his left foot plunged
between stones. His ankle twisted viciously as strong hands pulled him to
relative safety amongst the band of defenders.
The child began to scream when her uncle fired his weapon close to her
little ears. Merit felt like doing the same as his ankle thrummed and ground
with his every movement. Broken, at least. No competition for the shoulder
wound. He took Mardra back into his arms so her father could aim his US-made
hunting rifle, meant for small game—not humans—back toward Senna’s position.
Merit hunched over the little girl as a brilliant flame arced overhead.
A ground-shaking explosion followed, then smoke and men’s shouts and the acrid
scent of the rocket’s accelerant. He hoped he wouldn’t have to run, because he
couldn’t. Nothing he could do but pray between the throbs of searing pain and
deep anger at Senna.
The baby wiggled, tugging Merit’s heartstrings away from his fury. It
wasn’t her fault her grandfather’s rival destroyed Merit’s life work. Both
factions were going to miss the little missionary medical clinic Merit ran in
the mountains of Nehrangestan, a tiny spot on National Geographic’s map of
Asia.
Something tickled. Wha—oh, right—blood from the shoulder wound. He
touched the front of his blue shirt then looked at the growing red stain
flowing like a waterfall. Tentatively, he reached behind his collarbone and
hissed at the gouge. Not serious. He’d probably get a nice scar out of it.
Senna’s pound of flesh. Merit shifted the baby and tried to flex his ankle. He
bit back a scream and panted while sparkles pulsed in the fringe of his vision.
Yeah, broken.
Well, that answered that question. If he got out of here alive, the
mission board would make him go home for treatment. Question was, how soon
could he get back to rebuild the clinic?
More about the Book:
Several years ago I met my friend Ruth halfway between our homes for a weekend catch-up and getaway--this happened to be at Peru-LaSalle, Illinois, and one of the parks we visited was Starved Rock State Park. It had such a neat history, as well as the gruesome story of a murder in the 1950s. A local author wrote about this murder, and for me, the idea morphed into what would happen when people die who have no family to clean up after them? The fictional business The Last Detail was born. The story takes place in this area, in a fictional community, of course, called Fox Falls, and uses Starved Rock State Park often.
Marriages made in heaven should be perfect, right?
I think a little of Cynthia Ruchti's book, They Almost Always Come Home, which is also not a genre romance, but of rekindling what was lost. Contemporary is hard to categorize, because although there's love and romance in there, the story is more about keeping it alive after, and I think that's what makes for good conversation.
I wanted to talk about marriage--the way men and women perceive each other while they're getting to know each other; how we think we're doing God's will when he has other plans in mind; how even after we get what we want, it's hard, hard, hard work making marriage be the blessing it's meant to be. Sometimes we're so busy doing for God or following our own path, we forget to take time out for each other.
The characters aren't based on my oldest son and his wife, but it was interesting that I was writing about a missionary who never planned to marry, which was something my son's wife had thought about in her life at one point, and a young woman who was very safe in her own little community, with no desire to change anything; again, not describing my son in particular as he’s quite adventurous, but they complement each other, as do my main characters.
Starved Rock State Park
Utica, Illinois
The Peru-LaSalle
area of east central Illinois along the Illinois River has been inhabited in
some form for 8,000 years. French explorers claimed the region in the late
seventeenth century and built Fort St. Louis atop what became known as Starved
Rock. The French and Indian Wars eventually led to the abandonment of the fort
after only about twenty years of occupancy. Illiniwek, Potawatomi, and Ottawa
people lived in the area during this time. The legend that named Starved Rock
came about in the 1760s when Pontiac, the chief of the Ottawa, was killed by the
Illiniwek chief, Kinebo, during a tribal council. To avenge the killing, the
Potawatomi and their allies the Ottawa drove a small band of Illiniwek up the
125-foot sandstone bluff and refused to let them down. The Illiniwek starved to
death.
The beautiful lodge and conference center at the park is
indeed available for rentals, including weddings, and is on the National
Register of Historic Places. It was built in 1939 and is open year round.
The inspiration for The Last Detail came in part from
the Starved Rock murders on March 14, 1960. Three women friends from Riverside,
Illinois visited the park for a vacation. They registered, had lunch, and told
the caretaker they were going for a hike. Their bludgeoned bodies were found
some days later, after a freak snowstorm, and after one of the husbands had
been unable to reach his wife. A local man who had been implicated in other
attacks was eventually arrested and imprisoned after a sensational trial.
One the friends had recently lost her husband. I wondered
what would happen to a murder victim, or anyone for that matter, who had no
one, no family, to care about the final details of life. This idea became the
framework for The Last Detail.
Visit the following websites for
more information, as well as take a virtual tour:
For Reflection or
Discussion
The theme of The Last Detail is relationships. What kinds of
relationships are described?
Who were the main characters and the secondary
characters? How did they interact?
Merit and Amalia had choices to make which
affected not only themselves but others around them. How did these choices
change during the stages of their relationship?
Both the Illinois and the overseas settings
were fictional, but near real places. How did they play into the theme of the
story? What did the story of Starved Rock symbolize?
What other kinds of symbolism were used in the
story? What cultural and social customs affected the relationships and the
events?
Why do you think Merit’s brother-n-law, Tom,
choose to keep the family secret the way he did? What would have been different
if he hadn’t?
How were Merit and Amalia influenced by their
upbringing?
What secrets did the characters in The
Last Detail have?
Pete says in chapter eleven, “So, you think if
you don’t have love, God can’t take it away.” What did he mean? What was Merit
afraid of? Have you ever felt that way?
What was Amalia’s reaction to the Christmas
news about Bunty? Did she have a right to feel the way she did?
Throughout the story there was a series of
miscommunications that threaten Amalia and Merit’s relationship. What were some
of them and how, or were they, resolved?
What did the characters learn through their
courtship and marriage? How do you handle both trials and triumphs in your
relationships?
