Book Feature–> Sacred Choices by Karen Hulene Bartell
Title and Author: Sacred Choices by Karen Hulene Bartell
Print Length: 266 Pages
Publication Date: April 2014
Language: English
Genre: Paranormal Romance, Urban Fantasy, Ghost
Sacred Choices Summary:
of three resilient women. Ceren is a newly-married and pregnant professor who
learns her husband is a bigamist who urges abortion. Judith, Ceren’s colleague
– an older, worldlier professor and pro-choice advocate – provides counsel
based on her experiences. Judith’s sister Pastora, a nun, provides the voice of
reason. Written for, by, and about women who have had or are considering
abortions, Sacred Choicesis Ceren’s
journey – from her positive pregnancy test, through her decision whether or not
to have an abortion – to an uncanny conclusion. Sacred Choiceshas an offbeat charm steeped in the supernatural. The
protagonists’ search for the answer to whether it is the Aztec goddess
Tonantzin or Our Lady of Guadalupe who has been revered for the past 500 years
is interrupted by a giggling, young girl, who appears only to Judith. Is she a
figment of Judith’s imagination, a vision – or could she be an angel, as
Pastora believes? Set near Mexico City and incorporating present-day Hispanic and
ancient Aztec beliefs, culture, and cuisine, Sacred Choicesdeeply celebrates the triumph of the spirit.
Meet Karen Hulene Bartell:
Born to rolling-stone parents who moved annually, Dr. Karen
Hulene Bartell found her earliest playmates as fictional friends in books.
Paperbacks became her portable pals. Ghost stories kept her up at night—reading
feverishly. The paranormal was her passion. Wanderlust inherent, she enjoyed
traveling, although loathed changing schools. Novels offered an imaginative escape.
An only child, she began writing her first novel at the age of nine, learning
the joy of creating her own happy endings.
her husband Peter and her ‘mews’—five rescued cats.
Follow Karen Hulene
Bartell:
festivepassengers. It was November first. Día
de los Muertos—Day of the Dead:
fuchsia,canary yellow, cerise, and chartreuse papers fluttered from every
shop,cart, and street. Even at the early hour, the Zocalo was filling with
peoplein costume, waiting for the Day of the Dead parades. More and morepeople
began arriving, their faces painted to resemble skulls.
holiday. Fearcaught her breath. What if the clinic wasn’t open or closed early?
Theurgency spurred her on, but the gathering crowds and ghoulish spectacleof
the city slowed her stride.
sale. Rows of painted ceramic skulls lined the stalls around theZocalo. Macabre
skeleton dolls, carvings, caps, shoes, earrings, necklaces,and assorted kitsch
vied for her attention.
Cerenpaused, momentarily joining the onlookers. The artists created
blackhollows around their subjects’ eyes, painting black over the lids,
eyesockets, and areas beneath the eyes. Whitewashing the rest of their
facesclown white, the artists added a black triangle at the tips of their
noses,and drew black ‘stitches’ over their lips. Some finished with black
blusherunder the cheekbones for a hauntingly hollow effect.
face of death.
withhearts and curlicues on their foreheads and cheeks. But it was the half-decoratedfaces
that caught her eye, grins that began on natural featuresand crossed the face
to become painted skull smiles.
between lifeand death. She sniffed, twisting her mouth into a grimace. I can relate.
hadleft before sunrise without eating. She bought a loaf and hungrily toreoff a
bite, but as it touched her lips, she shivered. Still shaking, beadsof
perspiration broke out on her forehead. What
am I doing, partakingin some kind of unholy communion with the dead? As she
struggled toswallow the bread, she suddenly felt nauseous.
unfamiliarwith the phrase.
died.”
she leaned against a lamppost for support.
remembering the lives of their deceasedchildren, and today, of all days . . . .
took adeep breath to bolster her determination, referred to her map, and
startedoff toward the nearest hospital. Surges of people wearing Catrina andCatrine faces passed her on the sidewalk, watching her with their
blank,black eyes. As absurd as it seemed, she had the unreasonable feeling
thatthe grinning skull faces knew her intentions and were jeering at her.
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