Friday, April 14, 2017

Ring of Fire


I read Susan Fox's book RING OF FIRE a couple of years ago and have never forgotten the story or the excellent characters she drew.

The heroine, Lark, is a single mother of a young boy who has Cerebral Palsy. Lark is the fire chief of the local fire dept. Her mother lives with her and helps care for her son, Jaden. I fell in love with this little guy.


The hero is Major Eric Weaver. Eric is suffering from PTSD. He lost his leg and his best friend to an IED explosion in Afghanistan.

Both Jaden and Eric are attending Sally Ryland's Riding where they are taking therapy horseback riding lessons, to help with their respective disabilities.

The author portrays Jaden's disease, Cerebral Palsy, so as not to over whelm the reader, but so one gets a clear idea of what this child goes through on a day to day basis. Jaden reaches out to Eric and they become buddies.

Eric and Lark's love story is dealt with in a respectful way. As an amputee, Eric has to learn that he is still a man in every sense of the word. 

When an accident happens on the horse trail, it is Eric who gives Jaden the responsibility of going for help. And Jaden blooms as the hero of the day.

Every bit of this story is believable. Well worth reading.

Personally I have a few people in my life who are disabled in one way or another. I live with two of them. One is my 91 Yr. old mother. She is deaf, but do to a cochlear implant she had done in February she is learning to hear again. She uses a walker and has lots of back and leg and knee pain, none of which can be helped. So good days are few and far between.

My husband has been on disability for about nine years now. He has severe problems with his spine and knees. This is a man who loved to hike the mountains for hours carrying a backpack for camping.

He could carry shingles up a ladder to re-roof a roof job he was working on or carry his aluminum canoe to the lake from the parking lot. Now he can’t do any of that. He can’t paddle a canoe or kayak anymore because of lung issues. Ten strokes and he is done. He pushed the garbage cans out to the street, and came in to the house out of breath.

Needless to say my big strong husband has trouble adjusting to not being the man he was, and this brings on depression issues. He’s in his 60’s, but said he feels 90.

For me, I’m physically okay. Living with two people who have issues sometimes brings on blue days for me.

Do you have a mentally or physically disabled person in your life?



9 comments:

Paty Jager said...

Diana, This sounds like a great hero and book. I'll have to check it out.

Diana McCollum said...

Thanks Paty!

Sarah Raplee said...

My grown daughter is disabled from Complex Regional Pain Syndrome. Most days she looks okay on the outside, but inside her arm and leg are on fire. It's hard to see her suffer.

Ring of Fire sounds like an amazing book with heroic characters. Thank you for sharing with us.

Diana McCollum said...

Thanks for stopping by Sarah! I'm sorry your daughter suffers with CRPS. Terrible disease.

Anonymous said...

Diana, thank you so much for your kind words about Ring of Fire. I think it's important to write about heroes and heroines with physical and mental injuries, illnesses, and issues. We're all just people, striving to deal with the challenges life tosses our way. People with disabilities often have to strive even harder, and they deserve love and a "happily ever after" as much or more than anyone else. So I love being able to give it to them!

Diana McCollum said...

Thank you for stopping by, Susan! And I 100 % agree that people with disabilities deserve love and a "happily ever after". It is wonderful that you've been able to do just that in your many books. Thank you, for being the responsible author that you are :))

Trish Wilkinson said...

Ring of Fire sounds like a great story. I'll have to check it out. Your mom and husband are really lucky to have you in their corner, Diana.

Z. Minor said...

Always enjoy reading your posts. In my local KS writer's club there is gentlemen who has multiple disabilities and we are hoping he will write a story about himself so we call can better understand him.

Diana McCollum said...

Thank you, Trish! Hi, Louise, thanks for stopping by. That would be a good story.