Praise for
CATHERINE PALMER and her novels
âVeteran romance writer Palmerâ¦delivers a satisfying tale of mother-daughter dynamics sprinkled with romance.â
â Library Journal on Leaves of Hope
âEnjoyableâ¦Faith fiction fansâ¦will find this novel just their cup of tea.â
â Publishers Weekly Religion Bookline on Leaves of Hope
â Leaves of Hope is a very emotional tale thatâs easy to relate to. Ms. Palmer ignites soul-searching conflict and carries her readers on a remarkable journey they will long remember. This is a sharer.â
â Rendezvous
âBelievable characters tug at heartstrings, and Godâs power to change hearts and lives is beautifully depicted.â
â Romantic Times BOOKreviews on âChristmas in My Heartâ
â Loveâs Haven is a glorious story that was wonderfully toldâ¦Catherine Palmer did a stand-up job of describing each scene and creating a world which no reader will want to leave.â
â Cataromance Reviews
ââCome, you who are blessed by the Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.â Forâ¦I was naked, and you gave me clothing.â
âJesus Christ, Matt. 25:34,36
â P aint? Youâre kidding, right?â Anamaria Burns set one hand on her hip and the other on her editorâs desk. âCarl, you hired me because my investigative reporting took a first-place award from the Texas Press Association. I moved from Brownsville to St. Louis to cover hard news for the Post-Dispatch. So far, youâve asked me to write about a neighborhood beautification project, an ice cream stand, a sports arena and a parade. Oh yeah, and sewage. Now you want me to do a story on paint?â
City editor Carl Webster leaned back in his chair, took off his glasses and rubbed his temples. With budget cuts, a glaring error on the Sunday editionâs front page and three new interns to break in, his Monday-morning staff meeting hadnât gone well. A heavy smoker, who existed on a diet of black coffee and doughnuts, he looked tired.
âNot every article can be a prizewinner, Ana,â he said. âYou know that.â
âBut paint? â
âLead paint. Itâs a problem here.â He took a moment to huff a breath onto each lens and rub with a white tissue. âSt. Louis County just got a two-million-dollar grantââ
âYou shouldnât do that, you know,â she inserted. âClean your glasses with a tissue. The paper fibers scratch the lenses. You should use a soft cotton cloth.â
Carl set the glasses back on his nose and scowled through them at his latest hire. âAs I was saying, the Department of Housing and Urban Development awarded St. Louis County a two-million-dollar grant to seal or remove old lead-based paint. The county will add a half-million bucks. This is their third HUD grant, and the money always goes to owner-occupied single-family houses or to apartment buildings. So thereâs your story.â
âI donât see it. Maybe a couple of inches in the Metro sectionâHUD gave the grant, and now the county is going to paint houses.â She scooped up a scattered pile of press releases, tamped them on Carlâs desk and set them down again. âHow is that news?â
âWhat draws readers to a story, Ana? Money, sex, power. And kids.â He lifted a corner of the paper stack with his thumb and riffled it like a deck of cards. âSee, children are eating the paint chips that fall off the walls in these old buildings downtown. Theyâre breathing in dust from crumbling paint. And lead-based paintâwhich was used in every building constructed before 1978âcan cause brain damage in children under six years of age.â
âOkay, thatâs bad.â
âThatâs not all.â He pushed around the papers she had just straightened until he found the one he was looking for. ââBreathing lead dust and consuming lead paint chips,ââ he read, ââcan cause nervous system and kidney damage. The affected child can exhibit learning disabilities, attention deficit disorder and decreased intelligence. There may be speech, language and behavior problems, poor muscle coordination, decreased bone growth, hearing damage, headaches, weight lossâââ
âI get it, Carl. I do.â She paused a moment, chewing on the nail of her index finger. Nail-biting was her worst habit, Ana admitted, evidence of the stress in her life. In a constant quest for perfection, order and control, she had nibbled her nails down to nubs. Not even pepper-laced polish had helped.
âBut the county has the money now,â she said. âTheyâll fix the problem.â