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Monday, January 18, 2010

The Judas Ride by Peggy Sue Yarber



This week, the


Christian Fiction Blog Alliance


is introducing


The Judas Ride


Tate Publishing (December 8, 2009)


by


Peggy Sue Yarber



ABOUT THE AUTHOR:


Peggy Sue Yarber, PhD in psychology, lives in central California with her husband, two daughters, six turtles and two dogs. She works in the field of education.

The Judas Ride was inspired by her current and previous students. She has seen and experienced and seen similarities between the students and Jesus’ traitor, Judas Iscariot. She has always been fascinated with Judas. Yarber went to a catholic school when she was young and Judas was always portrayed like a mysterious rebel.

She ventures to say, “I guess he was my James Dean of the Bible. But in a good way! In the way that…he did something so wrong so that the entire world could be saved. He had to betray Jesus in order for the rest of the story. I have always wondered what it would be like to not do that one bad thing that would lead to that one great thing. So I had the Vader character sort of run through the paces of Judas.”

Redemption and reality are the two distinguishing features about Yarber’s writing. Not all teens find redemption in The Judas Ride. Yarber considered trying to show the negative outcomes as much as the positive. She wasn’t thinking in terms of positive and negative but she did try to balance the two sides. Yarber says she often sees people daily that , “…have even more screwed up lives than these characters.” Yarber admits sometimes there is not an ending to the madness unless someone dies and then even after the death the ripples still linger. She has written another novel TARE and a children’s book Rocketships to Heaven and the SOS Fuel Station. She loves to run, read, shoot guns and watch her daughters play soccer.



ABOUT THE BOOK


An unwed (and unwanted) teen pregnancy with two possible fathers. Abusive relationships. Drug and alcohol addiction. Rape and molestation. The struggle to understand grace, forgiveness, and free will versus predestination. The Judas Ride hits the road running in the opening pages, where Sonia and Xavier argue explosively about whether Sonia should have their unborn child and about who the father is: Xavier, a struggling Christian, or Vader, an abusive and abused drug dealer. As the pages turn, readers continue to meet a hodgepodge of troubled teens and eclectic characters, including Pastor Manny, a quirky immigrant pastor infatuated with John Wayne. Pastor Manny desires to help the tortured souls in his community but finds that it takes more than unconditional love to reach them. Secrets literally kill in The Judas Ride, an edgy, in-your-your face Christian novel that boldly explores the struggles of modern-day young people.

If you would like to read the first chapter of The Judas Ride, go HERE

Some personal reviews of this book: some reviewers say this book is poorly written
Edgy Inspirational
Smiling in the Background
Pam's Personal Refections

Others that should have reviews up between now and Wed.
Andie at Radiant Light
April at Projecting A
Becky at Joyful Mother
Cheryl at Writing Remnants
Christa at Fairfield Corner Academy
Dave at The Plot Thickens
Dave at Novel Spotlight
Deanna at Deannna's Corner
Debra at Soul Reflections
Gretchen at Back Cover Reviews
Jane at Winning Readings
Janis at The Nearsighted Bookworm
Janna at Cornhusker Academy
Jenn at One House Schoolroom Reviews
Karen at disturbing the universe:reviews and rants
Kim at Window To My World
Loren at The Magoos News
Lori at Noggin Bits
Lynetta at Open Book
Michelle at Raising Little Women
Pam at Daysong Reflections
Rulan at Fiction Showcase
Sean at Bookmark Cafe
Stacy at Vader's Mom
Takiela at Beauty 4 Ashes
Tara at Tara's View Of The World
Nessie at Illuminating Fiction
Victoria at Overlooked Orchid



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