For Dad - who with the help of his nurse - reads my Blog.

Barkley on the "doggie love seat".

Today's a hard day for the family.  Dad has lost two wives and two children, and he's terminally ill himself, though his age (94) may take him before the mass in his colon. I've lost my "moms" and also two children, the one I gave up and one that just didn't make it full term, though it was close, as well as  my only brother and Barkley both my best friends, within weeks of each other last year..

I rushed to write Saving Grace - to have it published while Dad  was still with us, with lots of caffeine and the support of a very understanding husband.  It's a story for my daughter but it's also a tribute to my parents who adopted us from foster care (with issues) and loved us unconditionally.  It's sold well but as an author, you know your friends will write nice  things about it, but what of the world at large?   I did't write it for them, but like anyone that writes, I wondered if the story would bear meaning for someone other than my family.  I wanted this message to touch someone and make them appreciate the family they have, imperfect as they may be. For each day is a gift.

I finally got my first "verified purchase"  Amazon review from someone that's not family or personal friend, but had read and reviewed The Book of Barkley.  It just made a day that's very difficult bright, and will make my Dad smile when someone reads it to him later.

So please humor me and then as we say in the business "move along - nothing to see here"

.Barkley - Dad is not going to give you another treat.

L. B. Johnson uses words to weave her story with more skill than a master weaver ever used to weave the finest silk.

I finished reading Saving Grace yesterday. If I could write with a fraction of the skill of L. B. Johnson, I would have a different career and a different day job. I did force myself to stop reading several times when I was starting to go faster and faster. You do not stuff a gourmet chocolate bar into your mouth and gulp it down, you savor each bite and with Saving Grace you will enjoy the trip if you take a little time to appreciate just how well she writes.

I grew up in Philadelphia, very far from where she grew up, and yet when she wrote of the feeling of community, the neighbors, the bikes, the playing outdoors, the aches and pains, scrapes and scars, and the joy and sorrow in our hearts, I could do more than see it, I could hear it, and feel it.

The book begins with the day when she and her brother are adopted, and flows to where she is in life today. The journey has happiness and pain, and discovery and loss, and mistakes and success, and does not dwell on the “I wish I would have,” it tells us what happens with both good and poor choices, and how the people we are today are the result of those choices.

She tells of her life, her adopted parents, her brother, her family, the undemanding love of animals, and the intertwining of relationships and life events with a natural feel for people. And she has the rare gift to make the reader see her, and those other people in her novel, as the real, imperfect humans that we all are.

Enjoy the journey.

John in Philly