“Kyana, I never could have imagined your eyes brightening any more than they usually do. I take it that you like swings.” Kyana looked at him and nodded eagerly. “Come on,” David encouraged, and they jogged their tired muscles over to the swings. It was not until then that he finally let go of his grasp.
Kyana sat on the swing next to him and soon found herself laughing with her head thrown back, letting the soft warm wind flow over her. With her eyes closed, she could hear David laughing as heartily as she was. At that moment, she was brought back to childhood, with all the cares of the world washed away.Kenya (proncounced “keen-ya”) Lumpkin, a Maui pediatric and adult physical therapist, tries her hand at fiction writing with her first novel, Quenching the Fire. The thick hardcover novel is the first in a series that Lumpkin is creating with Leeway Artisans, Inc., a Maryland publishing company aiming to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ through creative products of inspirational value.
Quenching the Fire is the story of three African-American Christians on the East Coast who struggle to keep their vows to God of celibacy while fulfilling their dreams of finding love and happiness. But eventually, the happiness they find is threatened by obscenity and violence.
If you like romance thrillers with a Christian theme, you might enjoy this one. But be prepared for less than perfection in terms of presentation and writing. The publisher’s Website carries a disclaimer about the first edition’s many typos, noting that “the level of errors within this particular work is inexcusable,” but hoping that “ultimately this does not affect opinions toward this work or its author who has created a marvelous literary piece.”
Typos aside, the book could benefit from some serious editing to eliminate repetition and to avoid overstating the obvious in phrases such as: “‘I think my battery’s dead,’” [Kyana] replied in a voice as steady as she could muster under the circumstances. She was trying to remain calm and convince herself that her car would start.”
Overall, the plot is a good one, and Lumpkin builds her three central characters strongly so we feel we know them.
Kyana Milena Cel’on is the heroine, the petite physical therapist who has long held out hope for God to bring her the Prince Charming she knows is out there. She has been deceived by men before in her life, and she is determined to wait for the right one.
If she gives him a chance, the right one just might be David Immanuel Mitchell, the good-looking, ever-patient knight in shining armor who shows up with jumper cables on the night her car battery dies.
Then, finally, there’s Olivia Moore, a scared and defensive woman who tends to always fall for the wrong men.
In the characters’ battle for celibacy, they sometimes win and sometimes lose. When they lose, they chastise themselves with vigor, as does Olivia over the choices she’s made in her past. “And then came Jared. An all too tall, dark, and handsome, all too bright and brilliant athlete, all too last year student preying on freshman emotion and foolishness, all too one night stand vanishing act that forgot her name the instant she became another trophy. Olivia spiraled down after him with a descent she would have never envisioned, compromising her integrity to every heart that offered promise.”
Lumpkin packs the book with plenty of action—chase scenes, confrontations, suspense and drama—although sometimes it seems the simplest events get bogged down in detail.
There is a lot of potential in this first book, and every indication that the next in the series will be the kind of bedside novel that keeps you reading long past bedtime.
2 out of 5 Shakas
Quenching the Fire
By Kenya Lumpkin
Leeway Artisans, Inc.
Laurel, MD, 2007
Hardcover, $26.95
ISBN: 978-0-9744929-2-6