Review: Finding pathways through life
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 06 16, 2014
Colorado born author Cleo A. Lampos is a Midwest product, having moved from Colorado to Iowa and Wisconsin, earning her degrees in Education from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and St. Xavier College-Chicago. Her post graduate years and beyond were spent teaching in regular and special education, but now she has retired to write full time. She has published an impressive series of books - the DIAMONDS IN THE TOUGH series, of which SECOND CHANCE is the first volume. Lampos is actively is involved with Share the Harvest, Childrens Hunger Fund, Pantry Kitchen and Bibles for Missions Thrift Shop. .It is Lampos' style to jump into her stories with an incident or encounter the pulls the reader magnetically into the tale she is about to weave (this reviewer has had the pleasure of reading two of her other novels - MISS BEE AND THE DO BEES and A MOTHER'S SONG), and the opening page places the two main characters front and center - new teacher Zoey Pappas in a Chicago urban area for the Diamond Projects School and conscientious hunky police officer Gavin Corrigan who stops Zoey from driving down a one way street in the wrong direction. But as seductive as this encounter may feel to the reader, the relationship that develops between the independent Zoey who has been assigned a fifth grade class in which she must learn how to communicate and deal with hearing impaired students, and the experienced but tarnished officer has only begun. The school (and the area from which the students are housed) is a drug and crime area. Coincidentally (!) Officer Gavin Corrigan (from the morning's encounter) is assigned to work with her as the Drug Awareness coach - a pairing that at first seems daunting but eventually develops into a mutually understanding and acceptance. Each of the two grows from the other's needs and secrets in a bonding that is touching and that represents many standards of understanding for a fresh look at the underprivileged students and their destinies that can be altered with informed guidance.Lampos' skill at presenting social maladies in need of correction while at the same time painting a love story of sensitivity is a gift - a gift worth receiving for the sensitive reader. Grady Harp, June 14