Bonnie Winters skillfully weaves threads of hope into cords of deliverance in Daughter of Scarlet -- a masterful blend of fiction and Biblical truth that bursts with action and romance. Sometimes all you have are a few frayed threads of hope to hang on to. But when God begins to weave those threads together in your life, something amazing happens. You get a stout cord, strong enough to lift you out of your darkest pit of fear, doubt, despair, pain and shame. Brought to Jericho as a child by slave traffickers, Rahab understands all too well the despair and brutality of a victim's life in the sex trade industry. When two Israelite spies take refuge in her chamber one night, she dares to grasp her few remaining threads of hope as she listens to their tales of a God who delivers slaves and cares for his people. Despite the rumored power of the invading Israelite army, despite the spies' pronouncement that all inhabitants of Jericho will die, hope weaves a desperate plan of escape in the young prostitute's heart. Would this God care enough to save a foreign slave from the darkness of her bondage? And if so, could he weave her threads of hope into a stout new future free from the pain and shame of her heart?

Abuse and shame mar the young life of Ruth, a descendant of Lot in the tribe of Moab. Everyday, the voices in her head torment her, reinforcing the lies that the abuse is her fault and that she is just like Lot's elder daughter who lived more than 400 years before her. There seems to be no way of escape from her inner torment, though she prays constantly to the gods of her people. While mourning the death of her mother, Ruth remembers the stories her mother told her as a child - stories of the Hebrew God of Lot's uncle, Abraham. In the stories, this foreign God blessed Abraham and even delivered Lot from the destruction of his homeland, Sodom. In desperation Ruth prays to this unknown God for deliverance. When she meets and marries the Israelite, Mahlon, it appears that his God has heard her prayers and delivered her from her abusive past. However, her newfound freedom is short-lived when her young husband dies leaving her as a childless widow. Ruth is forced to make a difficult decision. Will she remain in Moab to face the specters of her haunted past, or will she travel to her mother-in-law's homeland to face life as a foreigner; a barren widow with no apparent hope of future happiness?

Tamma, a young Hebrew midwife in Egypt during the time of the Hebrew's bondage, is blamed for the death of an Egyptian baby. The child is the fourth stillborn child of Tarik, Pharaoh's chief general. Tamma's faith in the power of Israel's God to deliver her people is tried when Tarik forces her to become a slave in his household and to bear him a son to take the place of his dead child. Can Israel's God deliver her - and her son - from this terrible bondage?

We are so overwhelmed by the glitz and glamor of the celebrity lifestyle, but how often is the emphasis put on being cheap? Some people try to gussy it up by calling it "thrifty" but isn't that just a rich person's cover-up to not sound like a regular person? Embrace your inner cheapskate, girl. Be proud of every penny you save.

A gay 25-year-old virgin is unheard of these days. But yes, that is what I am. Fortunately for you I am documenting my mission to go from inexperienced gay boy to sexpert in just 40 days. Every day I am determined to try something new. Whether it is new ways to pleasure myself or figuring out how to do it to others, this detailed journal gives you insight into my life as I figure out my sexual identity. Like many gay guys I'm eager to determine whether I am a top or bottom. It seems like that is the way guys are grouped and find compatibility. I realize that's such a stereotype but it's also embarrassing at my age to say I don't know what my preference is. It's not like I'm going to tell a guy to get lost because we like the same thing. I'm not that judgmental that I won't hang out with a guy because we're both tops or both bottoms. And who knows, maybe he feels he's one over the other because he hasn't experimented to find out what works for him. I'm at least trying it all and deciding along the way.