Kicking Eternity [Kindle Edition]

Ann Lee Miller (Author)

Book Description

Stuck in sleepy New Smyrna Beach one last summer, Raine socks away her camp pay checks, worries about her druggy brother, and ignores trouble: Cal Koomer. She’s a plane ticket away from teaching orphans in Africa, and not even Cal’s surfer six-pack and the chinks she spies in his rebel armor will derail her.

The artist in Cal begs to paint Raine’s ivory skin, high cheek bones, and internal sparklers behind her eyes, but falling for her would caterwaul him into his parents’ life. No thanks. The girl was self-righteous waiting to happen. Mom served sanctimony like vegetables, three servings a day, and he had a gut full.

Rec Director Drew taunts her with “Rainey” and calls her an enabler. He is so infernally there like a horsefly—till he buzzes back to his ex.

Raine’s brother tweaks. Her dream of Africa dies small deaths. Will she figure out what to fight for and what to free before it’s too late?

For anyone who’s ever wrestled with her dreams.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Ann Lee Miller earned a BA in creative writing from Ashland (OH) University and writes full-time in Phoenix, but left her heart in New Smyrna Beach, Florida, where she grew up. She loves speaking to young adults and guest lectures on writing at several Arizona colleges. When she isn’t writing or muddling through some crisis—real or imagined—you’ll find her hiking in the Superstition Mountains with her husband or meddling in her kids’ lives.

Product Details

• File Size: 423 KB
• Print Length: 318 pages
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B0082GF8CE
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,888 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)
  • #37 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Religious Fiction > Romance
  • #40 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Romance > Inspirational > Christian

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Choices of the heart... June 7, 2012

By Jutzie TOP 1000 REVIEWER

Format:Kindle Edition

Kicking Eternity by Ann Lee Miller
This book follows the lives of four young adults. There is Raine who has always dreamed of going to Africa. Her heart is for the orphans there but is her motive to escape from under her dad's thumb or her brother's dependency upon her? She is teaching Bible at the Triple S Christian Camp for the summer. When her new friends tell her she hasn't experienced life being home schooled and not out in the world, her faith is challenged. Will she wait to hear what God desires for her or will her physical desires rule her decisions?

Drew has been living the past years in a blur. He has lived waiting for the love of his life to walk back into it. Drew is the Rec Leader at the camp. He remembers the younger Raine who has now become a beautiful young woman. Drew struggles with dealing with the past and deciding on the future. Will the Lord give him a wife and family? Will his old flame return and if so, is it what he still wants?

Cal is from the family where dad is a preacher and brother runs the camp. He is rebelling against giving into God. When he sees the beautiful Raine, something inside him wants to become a better person for her. But is he being led back to God or only trying to meet human expectations?

Aly has been a lost little girl for some time. Her goody two shoes roommate wants to be friends but what does Raine know about life? Aly's dad has been out of the picture for years so she's replaces her dad with other guys to fill her need to be loved, yet she always ends up feeling empty. When she realizes there is one guy that 's always been there for her....and has cared for her....it's too late. He is in love with someone else. And the big question she asks herself is, "Can God forgive someone as sinful as me?"

Ann brings these characters to life. They are imperfect. A few think that drugs will help while others look for human comforters. One is just enabling another. As they hang onto their pasts or look into their futures....you will be pulled along into their lives. On the roller coaster of relationships that always take that sudden turn or drop off when you least expect it. It does have romance in it but so much more. Looking forward to her books coming out later this year.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Unique Love triangle August 28, 2012

By Char in Boise

Format:Paperback

Very clean romance with a unique love triangle that kept me wondering far into the story who Rainey would choose. This story is set in a bible camp in Florida where Rainey is a bible teacher as she waits to go to Africa to be a missionary. Drew, the activities director and a childhood friend, teases her; Cal, the art teacher and a rebel to the Christian values his parents espoused, draws Rainey in with his handsome looks and charm. Issues brought up in this book are Christian values, meth use and addiction, and hard family relationships when dealing with a user. I enjoyed this story a lot. It was well written, fast paced and I learned a lot from it.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Good read, great message August 27, 2012

By Elle

Format:Kindle Edition

This book was well written and very engaging. It's a Christian book (although not preachy!) with a clear moral message made very believable. The main characters were well defined and easy to relate to. I enjoyed this story and think it would be especially meaningful for teenage readers. Adult readership may like to see more intense background detail in future books featuring different age ranges. The author has a gift for making the characters come to life and leaves you wanting more!

More About the Author

Ann Lee Miller earned a BA in creative writing from Ashland (OH) University and writes full-time in Phoenix, but left her heart in New Smyrna Beach, Florida, where she grew up. She loves speaking to young adults and guest lectures on writing at several Arizona colleges. When she isn't writing or muddling through some crisis--real or imagined--you'll find her hiking in the Superstition Mountains with her husband, meddling in her kids' lives or at AnnLeeMiller.com.

Tattered Innocence debuts in February, 2013.

Ann says: Every year in elementary school the teachers wrote, "daydreams too much," on my report card. Like Ty Pennington, no doubt, put his, "can't sit still," to good use on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, I cashed in my bad behavior writing novels.

However, sometimes the daydreaming didn't work out so well in real life. When I was twelve, my job was checking the depth when we sailed near shallows. I jabbed a pole at the bay floor and yelled out how many feet of water we had by reading the notches on the stick. One day the pole stuck in bottom, and the next thing I knew, I clung to the pole, suspended a couple feet above the water, and my family sailed away.

Of course, I didn't waste all my hollering about mud and barracuda and cold water as I sunk into the seaweed waiting for Dad to lumber the motor-less, forty-foot hulk back around to fetch me--I wrote it into one of my books.