Elizabeth's Page

Hello, book lovers!

My reviews will range a between YA books and adult books, I don't really intend on sticking to one 
in-particular age and genre. I will also be giving my reviews in a Christian viewpoint, because my beliefs are very important to me (One warning--I am very critical.).

I'm also planning on setting up a critiquing  program for authors who want to send their books to literary agents and want a free critiquing job. I plan on reading bits of what the author wrote before I begin critiquing, so that I can pick up the author's writing style. I am also going to be posting many of my own stories, so people can decide if they like my work. If interested, please email me at yawhowrite@gmail.com .  

~Elizabeth

Here's the story I wrote to go with a previous TOTW (the theme was that the story had to begin with, "Lisa was angry, so she threw the book at Nate.").

Lisa was angry, so she threw the book at Nate.

I promised myself I would never throw that again. . .thought Lisa. She had done it once, and she had promised to never do it again. Then again, weren’t promises meant to be broken? It seemed like that was what everyone else was telling her.

Once she gained control, she glanced up at Nate’s face, almost scared to look, terrified of what she would find in his eyes.

Nate was no actor—he looked shocked. Lisa was much more sensitive than he had originally thought. Much more.

Lisa tipped her head down to look at the Book. She saw its faded cover, which was nearly torn off, due to her reading it quite often. The Holy Bible.

She received it at her baptism, fourteen years ago. Her mother read it to her when Lisa was little; her dad had been stationed in the navy on and off for nearly ten years. Then her mother died of cancer when Lisa was nine. That was when she threw it the first time.

It took a couple of months for her to get used to reading her Bible alone, but that was a step she knew she had to take, so read it she did.

She got to see her father sometimes, but only a couple weeks a year. Her aunt and uncle had been kind enough to open their home to her.

Ironically, she had just finished James—the classic hold-your-tongue-and-temper book in the Bible. She should’ve heeded the words more carefully. 

Thankfully no one else had seen her tantrum, it was just the two of them alone in the old abandoned library.

Lisa liked to go there as often as she could, normally for an hour or two after school. It was a wonderful place to read and think, a place where it was just her. . .a place to relax.

He was the only one that she told about her secret hideout, she trusted him. She didn’t think he would actually show up there.

It was then that Nate finally got up the courage to speak, “I. . .I just wanted to join you. . .I thought maybe you would let me read here too. . .I guess I was wrong. . .”

He picked up the Bible and gave it back to Lisa. Whether she wanted to admit it or not, she hated being alone.

Lisa looked up to see his back as he slowly started walking away.

“Stay,”

Here are parts 2 & 3 of the story I put on one of my previous posts.  I drew a blank when ending it, so leave suggestions in the comments!

The police car slowed, and came to a rapid stop. I heard footsteps drawing near, and soon I could sense a pair of eyes looking quizzically down on my limp form. His voice was gruff, “Look ‘ere, missy, you’re in a ‘eap of trouble, ya hear? At first I thought you was one a dem early joggers, but then I thought to myself, ‘Why would a jogger jump in a ditch?’. Now would you be so kind as to tell me what you’re doing out ‘ere at five in the mornin’?”

I bid my lip, “Jogging.”

“Sure you was. . .sure. Ta me it looked like someone was tryin’ to run away.”

“Why. Would. You. Say. That?” I choked out each word as if each one was a curse word.

“My, my, don’t you seem ‘fensive. . .wait a minute, don’t you live in dat orphanage?”

No. There was no way that could’ve been happening. No.

“Any-who, we should get you back where you belong.”

At first I refused to enter the car, but after a few minutes of standing there, I realized that defiance was meaningless. So, reluctantly, I opened the door plopped myself down in the middle seat of the back row. The drive home was made up of contradictions: it was the longest ride of my life, yet if passed too quickly, I felt proud of myself, and yet also ashamed, I was extremely tired, yet I was completely awake.

I recognized the cobblestone orphanage as soon as I saw it; if I hadn’t been so angry, I probably would’ve noticed it's sheer beauty, it was nothing like the classic dreary orphanage that some people picture. 

I looked gloomily at the other teens who had habits of waking up early. They were all doing fun things--playing baseball, swimming in the pool, tossing a football around, things like that. I sighed; they were all having the time of their lives, while I was about to experience getting escorted by into the orphanage by a police officer.

I opened the car door and slowly proceed towards the entrance, my stumbling was one of the many signs that my mind was elsewhere. I clutched at the door knob, taking a deep breath before finally opening it. I ignored the constant stares, they didn’t mean anything, I was too determined.

Wait a minute. . .

I looked into the study to see Mrs. Lakewood—the person in charge of the orphanage—talking with the Becker family, a family whom had just interviewed me a couple days previous to that. It wasn’t that they were there that caught my attention, it was what they were saying. I listened intently and I heard the voice of Mrs. Lakewood, “Wonderful! I’m absolutely delighted! Monica has been waiting to be adopted all her life, I’m sure she will be overjoyed.”

Am I being adopted?

Oh crap. No. This can’t be happening. There was no way officer what’s-his-face was going to steal my one chance. Never.

I watched in horror as the police officer made his way towards Mrs. Lakewood, “’Cuse me, ma’am, but I just found dis ‘ere girl hidin’ in a ditch, I ‘tink she belongs to you.”

I don’t belong to anyone—I’m free. I thought defiantly. In a few months I would graduate from high school, then I’d really be free, no one could stop me from running away then.

“Any-who. . .I’m gonna go now. See ya later.” I was outraged as I saw him prance to the door, going slowly to add effect.

Mrs. Becker was the first to speak, Mr. Becker couldn’t speak, he simply stared at me, “Is this true, dearie?”

“Yes.” And if you call me that again, I’ll do something to assure that you won’t ever call me dearie again.

Mr. Becker still had his incredulous stare, but he managed to find his voice, “Why would you run away?”

“I didn’t think anyone would want to adopt me.” To my surprise, I found a tear slowly sliding down my cheek. Stop crying! Stop crying!!!

I marched up into my bedroom, slamming the door behind me. Thankfully the door had a lock. Why had my plan failed? Why, why, why?

Then, the answer hit me like a lightening blot, a shot of electricity surging through me. It was so obvious.

"But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed." Isaiah 53:5

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference." --Robert Frost

"The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not be in want." Psalm 23:1
"Life is unfair, Highness, anyone who says differently is selling something." The Princess Bride

"Good works do not make a good man, but a good man does good works."--Martin Luther

"Salvation is from our side a choice; from the divine side it is a seizing upon, an apprehending, a conquest by the Most High God. Our accepting and willing are reactions rather than actions."--A.W. Tozer


"Give me the love that leads the way, the faith that nothing can dismay, the hope no disappointments tire, the passion that will burn like fire; Let me not sink to be a clod: Make me Thy fuel, Flame of God."--Amy Carmichael

"I don't mind putting up with you, and all the things you say, but I'm not about to stop or even change my way." Kutless (from the song Shut Me Out)

 "Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us."--Abraham Lincoln

"No pain, no palm; no thorns, no throne; no gall, no glory; no cross, no crown."--William Penn
"The more you have, the more it has you." A Friend 

"He makes His ministers a flame of fire. Am I ignitible? God deliver me from the dread asbestos of 'other things.' Saturate me with the oil of the Spirit that I may be aflame. But flame is transient, often short lived. Canst thou bear this, my soul - short life? ... Make me thy fuel, Flame of God."--Jim Elliot

"Let this whole life crumble, let it fade. Let this new life offer be your saving grace."--Jeremy Camp (from the song Let it Fade)

"The Word of God well understood and religiously obeyed is the shortest route to spiritual perfection. And we must not select a few favorite passages to the exclusion of others. Nothing less than a whole Bible can make a whole Christian." A.W. Tozer

"Objects in the mirror are closer than they appear."

"We are all worms. But I do believe I am a glowworm."--Winston Churchhill

"Half the world is composed of people who have something to say and can't, and the other half who have nothing to say and keep on saying it." — Robert Frost

"Obedience to the call of Christ nearly always costs everything to two people- the one who is called, and the one who loves that one."--Oswald Chambers

"Faith sees the invisible, believes the unbelievable, and receives the impossible."--Corrie Ten Boom

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who[a] have been called according to his purpose." Romans 8:27

"God is not silent. It is the nature of God to speak. The second person of the Holy Trinity is called "The Word." A. W. Tozer

"Forgive me my nonsense as I also forgive the nonsense of those who
think they talk sense."
— Robert Frost
"Cheerfulness and contentment are great beautifiers and are famous preservers of youthful looks."--Charles Dickens

"At the timberline where the storms strike with the most fury, the sturdiest trees are found." Hudson Taylor

"A simple, childlike faith in a Divine Friend solves all the problems that come to us by land or sea."--Helen Keller

 "I shall hear in Heaven."--Ludwig von Beethoven

"The devil can cite scripture for his purpose."--William Shakespeare

"A state of mind that sees God in everything is evidence of growth in grace and a thankful heart."--Charles Finney

"People talk of the sacrifice I have made in spending so much of my life in Africa....It is emphatically no sacrifice. Say rather it is a privilege."--David Livingstone

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations." Jeremiah 1:5

"Such as do not grow in grace, decay in grace. There is no standing at a stay in religion, either we go forward or backward; if faith does not grow, unbelief will; if heavenly mindedness doth not grow, covetousness will. A man that doth not increase his stock diminisheth it; if you do not improve your stock of grace, your stock will decay. The angels on Jacob's ladder were either ascending or descending; if you do not ascend in religion, you descend."  --T. Watson

"This is not about what you've done, but what's been done for you."--Tenth Avenue North (from the song You are More)

"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose."--Jim Elliot

"'Not called!' did you say? 'Not heard the call,' I think you should say. Put your ear down to the Bible, and hear him bid you go and pull sinners out of the fire of sin. Put your ear down to the burdened, agonized heart of humanity, and listen to its pitiful wail for help. Go stand by the gates of hell, and hear the damned entreat you to go to their father's house and bid their brothers and sisters, and servants and masters not to come there. And then look Christ in the face, whose mercy you have professed to obey, and tell him whether you will join heart and soul and body and circumstances in the march to publish his mercy to the world."--William Booth