Books about Pretenses from Amazon.com

COULTER Â’S first contemporary suspense novel

First published in 1988, False Pretenses is the explosive story of how one woman survives the destruction of her perfect life—and the intentions of three mysterious men..
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The pain of lost love has shaped Tykira Lowery, and despite the challenges of starting life anew, her savvy business skills and warm spirit guarantee her entrepreneurial success. Now, coming face to face with Quaysar Ramsey each day was overwhelming her nerves…and her desires. One dance in this resort developer's arms led Tykira to believe there may be a chance to start over with the man she'd lost once before….

Convinced that a threat still exists on her life, Quaysar Ramsey has kept Tykira at arms length for years. Now seeing her back in Seattle at his brother's wedding, old embers began to ignite into a flaming passion. Amid surprising revelations, and some hard truths, Tykira and Quaysar might just bridge the gap that has kept them apart for far too long. Will his true feelings for the only woman who has ever held his heart finally bring them together?

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All dressed up in a fresh new cover, Pretense, the bestselling novel from Lori Wick is ready for a brand new generation of readers

Marrell, a happily married army wife, adores her family, but throughout her life she’s felt something missing. When she discovers that the void is spiritual, she is afraid to tell her husband. Will he understand that he cannot meet all of her needs, and that she cannot meet all of his?

Covering the lives of Marrell and her two daughters, Mackenzie and Delancey, from the 1970s to the 1990s, Pretense is a character–rich novel written from Lori’s heart that shows the patient love of God and the promise of His forgiveness for all who seek Him.

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Between 1618 and 1750, sixteen people -- nine women and seven men -- were brought to the attention of the ecclesiastical authorities in Venice because they were reporting visions, revelations, and special privileges from heaven. All were investigated, and most were put on trial by the Holy Office of the Inquisition on a charge of heresy under various rubrics that might be translated as "pretense of holiness."

Anne Jacobson Schutte looks closely at the institutional, cultural, and religious contexts that gave rise to the phenomenon of visionaries in Venice. To explain the worldview of the prosecutors as well as the prosecuted, Schutte examines inquisitorial trial dossiers, theological manuals, spiritual treatises, and medical works that shaped early modern Italians' understanding of the differences between orthodox Catholic belief and heresy. In particular, she demonstrates that socially constructed assumptions about males and females affected how the Inquisition treated the accused parties. The women charged with heresy were non-elites who generally claimed to experience ecstatic visions and receive messages; the men were usually clergy who responded to these women without claiming any supernatural experience themselves. Because they "should have known better," the men were judged more harshly by authorities.

Placing the events in a context larger than just the inquisitorial process, Aspiring Saints sheds new light on the history of religion, the dynamics of gender relations, and the ambiguous boundary between sincerity and pretense in early modern Italy.

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