How perfect is the title of the new CW show about a blended family? “Life is Wild” - and so it is when you are living within the walls of a blender. However, this show promises great adventure, family relationships, the mixture of drama and adventure. I’m all over it.

The CW premiered their new show on October 7, 2007, “Life is Wild”, which is currently on their Sunday night lineups and most people get to watch it 8/7c (not me, I get to watch stupid Blues Hockey games until 11pm when they finally air it). Anyway, here is the premise of the show from the CW website (slightly altered):

Katie Clarke may never forgive her veterinarian father, Danny for dragging their entire blended family out of New York City to spend a year living in a broken-down lodge called The Blue Antelope on a game reserve deep inside South Africa. In fact, the one area of agreement among Katie, her 11-year-old brother Chase, their rebellious teenage step-brother Jesse and 7-year-old step-sister Mia, is that Danny has lost his mind.

For Danny and his second wife, Jo, however, the reasons for the move are very clear. Once they married and brought their children together under one roof, it soon became obvious that the kids had little in common and the family was drifting apart. In New York, Katie was a good student with close friends and a serious boyfriend. Mature beyond her years, Katie took on even more adult responsibilities when her mother died, helping her younger brother Chase deal with the loss. Jo’s children had to deal with their parents’ divorce after their father went to prison for a white-collar crime. Jesse reacted by cutting school, rebelling against every rule and resenting his mother’s remarriage, while little Mia comforted herself with her obsession with the New York Mets.

While they worried about the family, Danny and Jo had their own demanding careers to deal with. Jo was a sought-after divorce attorney who worked long hours, while Danny’s skills as a vet made him a favorite with wealthy New Yorkers and their pampered, overweight pets. When Danny learned of the urgent need for vets in South Africa, he saw the opportunity for a fresh start and a chance to change all their lives for the better.

Once the family arrives in South Africa, Danny realizes his motivations go beyond his desire to keep his troubled family together while making a difference in the lives of the people and animals of this amazing place. His deceased first wife Claire grew up at The Blue Antelope, and the lodge is still home to her reclusive father Art (David Butler). The Blue Antelope was once a thriving safari business, but after the loss of his daughter, Art let the lodge slip into disrepair. Now that Danny has arrived with Art’s grandchildren and a new family, Art may finally find a reason to get his life back on track.

The adjustment to this strange land is difficult for Jo and the children, but not for Danny. He’s instantly at home working with the locals to vaccinate their cattle, and using his skills to heal wounded wild animals as well - in their first few days in South Africa, the family encounters an injured lioness, a lost cub and a gentle giraffe.

Katie and Jesse spend the first days in Africa resenting the upheaval of their lives and feeling completely out of place. Things begin to change when they meet a few of the locals, including a handsome and somewhat reckless young Brit, Oliver Banks, and Tumelo, who dreams of becoming a veterinarian, against the wishes of his doctor father. Katie is intrigued by both boys - one British and one South African - and by their knowledge of local customs and culture. Meanwhile, Jesse can’t help but notice Oliver’s sultry twin sister Emily, as well as a beautiful, mysterious young woman named Mbali, a singer/bartender at a local hangout called Ant’s Hill.

While they are definitely strangers in a strange land with a lot to learn about their new home, Katie, Jesse and the rest of the family are nevertheless beginning to love the breathtaking vistas of the bush country, the wild animals and the vibrant culture enveloping them. A year in this strange but beautiful place might not be so bad after all.

If you have missed any of the episodes, you can watch them full-length, here.

Wow. I finally finished Summer Breeze. You can read the Press Release for the book here, the book I spoke earlier about written by Catherine Palmer and based on The Four Seasons of Marriage by Gary Chapman.

I’ve always had a thing for Gary Chapman and his marriage advice, books, lectures and tips.

Up until I was given the change to read and review Summer Breeze, I had never read The Four Seasons of Marriage. But I have now, and what a refreshing look at marriages. I won’t say anything more, because this review is for Summer Breeze. However, I will tell you that it prompted me to check out four other of Chapman’s books from the library and I’m already finished with three of them!

As I started Summer Breeze, I was only about a dozen pages in, when I realized I was getting hooked, but wanted to know more about these characters, which had apparently been discussed in the first book. I decided to put it aside and locate the first book in the series: It Happens Every Spring, also based off Chapman’s marriage series. Only one chapter into the book I was completely hooked. There is a reason that Palmer has won so many amazing awards, and has taken home the covited Christy Award. I had a hard time putting that book down, mostly because I was so ready to start on the new one and continue reading where I left off. Once I had finished It Happens Every Spring, I was totally and completely in love with Palmer and had a nagging to read the marriage series by Chapman. I did that. And even though that marriage series is for married couples, I believe it helps in all relationships.

I resumed Summer Breeze thinking I would continue reading where I left off, but quickly decided just to start the book over. Again, I was instantly hooked, and I couldn’t stop for very long. Even when I was away from the book, I kept thinking about it, and wondering what would happen to the beloved characters that Palmer had created. They became a part of my thinking for the two days it took to read the book.

Summer Breeze is a closer look into the marriage of a man and woman, as are all the books in this series. This particular couple was touched on briefly in It Happens Every Spring, and to all who read it, appeared to have a terrific marriage. Kim had been married before and had two children, twins from that abusive, terrible marriage. Derek had not been married before, and was entering into a blended family three years prior when they wed. The three years had been great, but Summer Breeze took a closer look into their relationship, and as the book progressed we saw the shortcomings that both characters were flawed with. Derek had been lying for years to Kim about a dark past, one that could withstand most relationships, but was trying just the same. Derek’s mother moved in with them for an interesting twist of events. Kim was having a hard time accepting that as well. Turning to God for answers, Kim and Derek manage to pull it all together in the end.

I really don’t want to share any more of the story, because my hope is that you want to read it too. It honestly is probably my favorite series I have read in years and it helps that the entire series takes place in a tiny community in Lake of the Ozarks (a favorite place to visit), and is in my home state, as well as the place that Catherine Palmer and her family reside. I do not know how I will possibly wait until the Fall release of Falling For You Again, the third in this four book series.

Very soon, there will be a contest giveaway here on the site to win one of two copies of the book, Summer Breeze, so watch for details. It will involve leaving comments in some way, but we are still ironing out the details.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 21, 2007
Contact: Kathy Carlton Willis, Glass Road Public Relations
(615) 477-3873; Kathy@glassroadpr.com

BEST-SELLERS GARY CHAPMAN & CATHERINE PALMER RELEASE Summer Breeze, Second in The Four Seasons Fiction Series

(Nashville, Tenn.) - In book two of this fiction series based on the best-selling nonfiction book The Four Seasons of Marriage, we meet the blended family of Derek and Kim Finley and see the trials and triumphs of a combined household. Luke and Lydia, Kim’s twins from her first marriage, aren’t making blended family life easy. Luke’s recent diabetes diagnosis is getting him lots of attention - and Lydia isn’t taking the slight lightly. To complicate matters, Kim’s meddling mother-in-law comes to visit… indefinitely.

Favorite characters from It Happens Every Spring make an appearance in Summer Breeze, as well as new ones, like the proprietor of the recently opened sandwich shop. When the community loses the one person who brings them all together, they crave the calm only a Summer Breeze can bring.

Chapman and Palmer cover a host of real-life issues in Summer Breeze, including the situations blended families face, childhood diabetes, handling mothers-in-law, dealing with communication breakdowns, sibling rivalry, and a whole lot more.

Catherine Palmer is a graduate of Southwest Baptist University and holds a master’s degree in English from Baylor University. Her first book was published in 1988. Since then she has published more than forty novels, many of them national bestsellers. Catherine has won numerous awards for her writing, including the Christy Award, the highest honor in Christian fiction, and the Romantic Times Career Achievement Award. Total sales of her novels number nearly two million copies.

Dr. Gary Chapman is the well-known author of a series of best sellers, which include The Five Languages of Love, The Five Love Languages of Children, The Five Love Languages for Teenagers, and Your Gift of Love. He is the director of Marriage & Family Life Consultants, Inc. and has counseled married couples and families for more than thirty years. Dr. Chapman is a nationally known speaker on marriage and family relationships and host of the syndicated radio broadcast A Growing Marriage. A complete seminar schedule is available at www.garychapman.org.

Have you ever noticed that there are not too many really great fiction books with Blended Families playing a big part?

I will admit that more recently, with the expansion of Chick Lit, they are becoming a little more frequent. They still have a long way to go.

With the current statistics for step families, you would think that it would be more prominent, but it’s still a growing genre.

However, recently I was contacted by a marketing director for Glass Road Public Relations. She asked if I would mention a book about to be released on my website. She sent me copies of the books and even sent an extra one, so I could give one away to one of you lucky readers. That contest will be coming soon.

I am currently reading Summer Breeze, by Catherine Palmer and Dr. Gary Chapman. It is the second in a series, and at only the third chapter, I have decided I want to read the first, as well. I will be writing a review at a later date, but for now - I will post the press release tomorrow.