Join us today as we share an excerpt of Sherri Lewis’ latest book, Selling My Soul and discuss what you would do if you were the main character. Sherri will be in later throughout the day to join the discussion.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sherri Lewis’ writing was put on hold while she attended Howard University as an undergraduate, then medical school at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. After working almost fifteen years in the medical field, Sherri left her position as a staff physician at a Georgia Department of Corrections’ Women’s prison to pursue writing and ministry full time.
Sherri is co-founder of the Faith-Based Black Fiction Writers of Atlanta with Essence Best-Selling author Tia McCollors. Selling My Soul is the anticipated sequel to Sherri’s debut novel, My Soul Cries Out. She lives in Atlanta, Georgia. Visit Sherri online at www.sherrilewis.com.
ABOUT THE BOOK
When Trina Michaels steps off the plane after her two-year missions trip in Africa, she 
realizes that other than longing to see her mother and her best friend, her heart aches to fly back to the place that now feels more like home than anywhere she’s… ever lived. And to the man who’s stolen her heart.
Her dream of a quick return to Mozambique fades within hours when Trina discovers that her mother has been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. Trina is forced to go back to her job as a publicist to cover her mother’s health costs.
She’s assigned a damage control client, Bishop Walker, a megachurch pastor accused of covering up a church sex scandal within his church involving the molestation of young boys. Representing him could cost Trina her most valued friendship, the love of her life, and her soul.
AN EXCERPT FROM SELLING MY SOUL
Before Trina Michaels can get out of the airport after returning from her two year missions trip in Africa, she finds out that all hell has broken loose in her best friend Monica’s life. Little does she know, she’s about to become a part of the problem…
My eyes fell on The Washington Times. My heart fell as I read the large front-page headline. “Church Sex Scandal.” I glanced down at the picture of two men in handcuffs, being led away by policemen. One guy had turned his head to shield his face but the other had been captured dead on.
I gasped. It was the head deacon at Love and Faith Christian Center, the church I had gotten saved at and the church that Monica had been a member of before she moved to Atlanta. Her husband, Kevin, had been the minister of music there for years, but after everything that happened with them, he had moved to Atlanta about a year after she went.
I scanned the article. The head deacon at Love and Faith and the pastor of their daughter church in Alexandria, Virginia had been arrested the day before. The men were accused of molesting little boys in the church for as long as twenty years. I remembered Monica telling me that Kevin had been molested at the church when he was ten years old. I was sure that it had been by one of those men. The article said the arrest came after the ministry council governing the churches received a letter from a man who had been molested there as a child. He had finally spoken out after God had begun taking him through a healing process.
Monica had told me that as part of his therapy, Kevin had mailed a letter to the Bishop’s council overseeing Love and Faith Christian Center. In spite of his fears that his celebrity status as a gospel artist would be affected by the admission, he couldn’t stand the thought of any more boys being molested. He felt guilty that he had kept the secret for so long. I was glad they kept the source of the letter confidential in the article. Monica would die if the truth about Kevin’s past life got out.
I read the article further. Since the ministry council had begun their investigation, they discovered that several boys at Love and Faith DC and Alexandria had been molested. They expected that as the investigation continued, more would come forward.
My stomach churned. Twenty years? How had they gotten away with it that long? How come no one came forward before Kevin had? How many other mens lives had been affected like Kevin’s? How could their pastor, Bishop Walker, not have known what was going on?
Did Monica know that the men had been arrested? How was she going to handle it when she found out? Was it possible to keep Kevin’s past out of the press or would he be exposed and affected by this as well? If he was exposed, how would Monica handle it?
I tucked the newspaper into the front pocket of my suitcase and grabbed both bags and ambled slowly toward the front door to look for my sister and my car.
I was ready to go home. I had hoped to be able to relax for a few days when I got back, but already I had issues to take care of. First order of business was getting up to Baltimore to see how my mother was doing. Second, I had to call Monica to find out what was really going on.
DISCUSSION QUESTION: Trina comes home from Africa to find that her mother has terminal cancer and can’t afford the medical treatment that can keep her alive. Also, Trina’s little sister hasn’t kept up with her mortgage while she was gone, so she’s in danger of losing her house. She has to return to her career as a public relations specialist and is assigned a damage control client, Bishop Walker whose top priority is to keep his reputation intact so he can maintain his mega church status. If Trina refuses to represent him, the bishop threatens to expose Monica’s husband’s past.
Trina has to decide between covering her mom’s medical bills, keeping her house, and protecting her best friend’s family at the risk of selling her soul to the devil. Faced with such a decision, what would you choose to do?
View the blog tour schedule at http://bit.ly/SellingMySoulBlogTour .
*A Tywebbin Blog Tour
First off, welcome everyone!!
Wow! This is a hard one; one I don’t think I could answer unless faced with it personally. My first thought is to definitely look after my Mom and try to do what I could to make her remaining time as pain-free as possible. The other situations though…whew.
-Tee
I loved this book and would have probably done exactly what Trina did, pray for the greater good, did what I had to take care of my mom and tried to help my friend to the best of my abilities…Trina was in a lot of lose lose situations~
angelia
.-= angelia´s last blog ..WHAT YOU SAY? =-.
What she and Tee said. I need to read this though…
I haven’t read this book but I plan on it. I really enjoyed My Soul Cries so I know I’ll enjoy this one.
Thanks Wana. I’m glad you enjoyed My Soul Cries Out and I appreciate you supporting my work.
I havent read this book. After reading the excerpt listed above, I will be reading this book soon.
So Barbara, what do you think you would’ve done??
Hey ery’body!
Looking forward to hearing your comments on what you would have done if you were Trina. I tried to pile as much drama onto her as possible and make it almost impossible for her to make the right choice. I appreciate you guys reading my work!
Blessings!
Sherri
Sherri,
you did a great job. I was taken back to when my mom was dying with breast cancer and I had to piss umm I mean tell off a few family members because my focus was on the care of my mother and not anyone else’s convenience. A bit different that what Trina had to do concerning her friend but it made me remember…
angelia
.-= angelia´s last blog ..WHAT YOU SAY? =-.
Based only on what’s I read above my first and second mind is for me to take care of my mom and family. I would give Monica the heads up Bishop Walker’s threat and let them handle that. I would even agree to do damage control for Kevin but umm forge the Bishop.
Hmmmm…hard question. PRAY will be the first thing I’d do, then do whatever is humanly possible to take care of my mother. Next I think I would sit down and have a talk with Monica & Kevin and pray that they would understand the position I’m in and let them know the consequences of the situation.
Hey Sharon!!!!
Thanks Angelia and everyone else. I hope the book wasn’t too painful a reminder of your mom’s illness. What’s crazy is that AFTER I wrote the book, my father become deathly ill and almost died and I ended up experiencing feelings just like I written them in the book. My dad even had one of the procedures Moms had in the book. So I captured that pain before I even experienced it. It was weird reading the book again after my dad got well.
Sherri
Sherri,
it wasnt too painful at all, actually, it helped me relate better to Trina’s situation…
.-= angelia´s last blog ..WHAT YOU SAY? =-.
Hi, Sherri! I really enjoyed this book…as well as your other releases. Keep doing what you do!
As for the DQ, I’m sure that I would have done what Trina did…but I would have tried to find a way to let Monica and Kevin know my reasons for doing so…and I would have only done just enough to “get by.” Bishop Walker was a character and I’ll stop writing for the sake of those who haven’t read the book!!
Thanks Hope! I appreciate you reading my work. Blessings!
my mother would have been my priority.
Since I have been 2 years old, it’s been me and my mom.
till this day we are close, talk everyday.
would have had to deal with the other issues day by day
I feel you Barbara. Me and my mother are close too. This book was kind of a tribute to mother daughter relationships and how powerful and wonderful they can be. Even though my mother isn’t a character like Moms was in the book, we still share a closeness that’s invaluable!
Hey Sherri and everyone else!
I did read the book and felt that Trina moved to soon with her decision, which I think that she later realize as well. I would have looked into other options before deciding so quickly that was the course of action to take even if I chiseled down my savings and had to put my house on the market. But with the economy in a slump and the housing market as it was, I understand her decision.
As far as the minister, I would not have revealed the source of the information, which would have made it easier for her to get out of that situation but for the sake of the story line, it worked.
I enjoy your work. Keep it coming.
Thanks Paula. Your suggestions made perfect sense and are exactly what I would have done in real life, but you know in writing the book, I had to bring the drama.
)
Thanks for supporting my work.
Sherri, you’ve mentioned a few times about the drama in the book. Is this something you feel is necessary to keep a reader’s attention?
-Tee
Most definitely!!! Good fiction is made up of good drama. Any good fction writing book will say the same. The more conflict and the higher the tension you create in a story and the higher the level of conflict, the better the story.
LOL…so true, in many cases! I’ll be sure to add this to my list and let you know when I get to it.
-Tee
Sherri, thanks for stopping through today and including us on your blog tour. While I know many haven’t read the book, I’m sure many will find these comments and add it to their reading lists. At least, that is my hope.
To everyone else…thank you too, for joining us.
It was my pleasure being here. Thanks so much for hosting me on your blog tour. Thanks to everyone for stopping by and for supporting my work.
Blessings!
Sherri
Thank you for hosting the Selling My Soul Blog Tour today.
I enjoyed this book. It was somewhat humorous to experience Trina’s re-entry into the US and having to re-adapt to the US Culture after being in Africa for 2 years.
Boy that sister Tiffany, she would have been out on the streets. But hey that’s just me… she was just too much and would have been to much for me to handle after finding out my mother was terminally ill and then dealing with Kevin and Monica’s drama.. Oh Lord..
Oh and that Reverend… its so sad to say but there are several Bishop Walkers in our churches today.
I wrote a review for this book… I enjoyed it. I can’t wait to read more from you Sherri!