Please tell!

Oops...again, not Lisa Samson saying "please tell" but Elysa. This is a pain. Oh well....

Who is Elysa?

right then. Tiger Lillie. I read it because someone said there was a gay character in it that was portrayed sympathetically and there was a big discussion about it (I cannot for the life of me remember where) and I wanted to see for myself.

Susan, I think we talked about that at Glen Eyrie the first year. But then again, it may have been Angie's book Doesn't she look natural...

My first one was The Living End. I just saw it on the library shelf and picked it up.
Tiger Lillie was the next and that's when my Lisa love kicked in. I loved how the whole thing with the sister in slow motion was done. Don't want to spoil anything, but if you've read it, I think you know what I'm talking about. And the fact that such a difficult topic was being dealt with. I hadn't read much of that in Christian Fiction at that point. I'm referring to the sister's relationship, but the homosexual issue was handled excellently, too.

The first book I read by Lisa Samson was Straight Up. I was wandering through the library, hoping to find something deeper than the usual adolsecent-targeted books filled with school drama and petty thoughts. I was looking for Christian fiction and came across this wonderful book written by a wonderful author. It's hard to describe what I love about Lisa's writing...her words are just so honest and her characters face the same crises of identity that I face...her books just remind me to look at the bigger picture of my life and Who I'm living it for. After Straight Up I read Tiger Lillie, Club Sandwich, Embrace Me, Bella, and A Woman's Intuition. Loved them all.

I picked up Quaker Summer at the local library because (blush) I liked the look of the cover. I had never heard of Lisa, but ended up reading everything else our library had, and buying others they didn't!

Thanks you all! These stories give me hope and strength to keep putting those dang words down! Blessings!

I am reading my first book Tiger Lillie because ironically I had a friend recommend Embrace Me by Lisa Samson and went to Amazon.com so I ended up with Tiger Lillie, Quaker Summer and Embrace Me. When they arrived I decided to read them in the order they were written. Soooo needless to say I have had the books for two days and am almost finished with Tiger Lillie -- thanks to late night reading after hubby and kids are in bed. I can't wait to read the others!!

My first book by Lisa Samson was Quaker Summer. I kept going to my local Christian bookstore to look for a book to read. I saw that one a few times and finally bought it! I was hooked from the first book. She is so real, unmasked, unafraid to ask the hard questions, and just a great writer. I have read "almost" all of her books now. I love them all. Embrace Me was the last one I most recently read and it was unbelievable. I cease to be amazed at her realness! Keep writing....and Thank YOU!

Embrace Me. Found it in the New books stacks of our public library. As with all of Lisa's books the cover grabbed my attention and I'm glad it did! I have throroughly enjoyed the journeys her characters have taken and am thankful for the hopeful, grace-filled messages that Lisa shares so well.

My first one was "Church Ladies" and I did not like it at all. I was really not happy with reading about an unfaithful pastor's wife, when I was a pastor's wife! So I didn't really seek out any other of Lisa's books until my friend Natalie (who passed away June 2007) talked me into trying more. So I did. And I loved them. I still haven't revisited "Church Ladies" again...but I know I need to.

Just finished "Mary-Margaret" and it is phenomenal.

Thanks Pattie! (Well, at least the character had her affair before she became and PW! ha!) Thanks so much for trying me again. I really do appreciate that!

My first Lisa Samson book was Embrace Me! A good friend had passed it along to me to read. When I began reading it, I realized I had never read anything like it before, and I wasn't convinced that it was my kind of book. Before I was one fourth of the way through it, I was hooked. At the end, I wanted more.

My first Lisa Sampson book was also Embrace Me. I was at the library picking up some books that I had put on reserve. I have two small boys then age 4 and not quite 2. They go with me everywhere, which is why I put books on reserve for myself....

Anyway, we were coming back from the childrens' book area so I could check out the kids' books and pick up my reserves. Randomly, I passed in front of the display of "new fiction" and did a quick glance. Embrace Me was on the shelf, and I just grabbed it. I didn't know it was a Christian book. I didn't even read the back, I just stuffed it in my bag and made a break for it before mayhem ensued with my boys.

Later when I read it, I couldn't put it down. By the time 2 more months had passed, I had read every Lisa Sampson book in the library, and I am now hitting inter-library loan so that I can read a few more.

THE CHURCH LADIES!!!! Yeah baby! Given to me as a "must read" by Evelyn Armstrong (NCCS). I've been in love ever since!

I just read my first Lisa Samson book: Apples of Gold. it was a rly good book about purity...i love it's parable format!

The Passion of Mary-Margaret. I picked it up off the new books shelf at the library, and was hooked by the cover description. As it turned out, I had to return it before I could read it, but a few weeks later, there it was again, and I got it and read it. Although I am Catholic, I do not typically read Christian fiction. But I absolutely LOVE how Lisa approaches religion with questioning, acceptance, quirkiness, and compassion. I have now also read Embrace Me, and look forward to reading more of her books.

I always check out new arrivals in the CBD fiction catalog. I kept seeing this book cover of a lady with her head half buried in the covers that always grabbbed my attention. Since I'd never read the author, I decided to see if I could find it in the libray first. Loved the writing so much Women's Intuition is still my favorite of Lisa's books because it was my first find. I've since gladly purchased everything she's ever written and loaned them to my friends and bought more for libraries and other friends I know that are horrible about returning books. They bring up her influence constantly. My friend Nicole even refers to her fresh enlightenment by saying, "Before I started reading Lisa Samson," or "after reading Lisa Samson...." And my missionary friend Gail said after reading Embrace Me, "I had to repent and ask God to forgive me for my stereotyping and misjudgments."
Lisa's writing does what the finest sermons have often failed to do; they stick with you years later and keep changing your longheld thoughts and opinions. She kicks fluff to the curb and elevates fiction to art.
Did I mention I love this writer?

I gotta tell you, you all are so encouraging to me on this Sunday afternoon. I can't even begin to tell you how much I appreciate your words. God is so good to me through you!

The Passion of Mary-Margaret was my first book (and only one so far). It was introduced to me by Staci Barger when she handed it to me for our book club. I could NOT put it down, and began highlighting the thoughts that I wanted to reflect on more. I loved the story and can't wait for the next bookclub meeting when we discuss the book in it's entirety. So good!