Kindle Edition Amazon Secrets of a Recovering SuperGal Category:  Inspirational Publisher: Broken Shoe Press ISBN-10:  0989079007 Type: Non-Fiction Pages: 372 Copyright: June 2013 ISBN-13: 9780989079006 Price: $3.99 (eBook) Supremely self-reliant woman's epic battle in tragedy from SuperGal to surrender to redemption. 2 parts fiction, 1 part memoir, 1 jigger of love story + 1 dollop of humor  SUPERGAL - PRIDEFUL - SUCCESSFUL - STRESSED OUT! A wife, mother, grandmother, business owner and community activist, she could do anything, but felt the pressure to do everything!   LOVE - JOY - TRAGEDY Finding new love in middle age begins to change her heart, but what happens when that joy is quickly followed by tragedy?   THE BATTLE BEGINS Yes, SuperGal could handle anything life threw her way. Until finally, she couldn't. Until finally, during the most tragic night of her life, her SuperPowers failed. Until finally, God had her right where He wanted her.   MESSENGERS - MIRACLES One stubbornly self-reliant woman's inspirational and epic battle from SuperGal to Surrender to Redemption!   KIRKUS REVIEW: “A woman’s faith is sorely tested in this sprightly, tragicomic novel of redemption. . . .in Hynson’s deftly comic prose, Lori is a charming protagonist. . . As readers watch her do battle with God, they may not be able to help siding with the underdog. A winsome, entertaining and occasionally inspiring story of bad things happening to pretty good people.”   FOREWORD REVIEW: “God, Satan and the author fight for control in this fun and dramatic memoir . . . Any woman who has struggled with the ups and downs of being an independent, overworked and underappreciated superwoman may see herself in this well-written and inspirational memoir.”   BOOK OF THE YEAR 2014 - Christian Small Publishers' Association/Biography Memoir       Excerpt Excerpt SuperGal vs. GOD by Lori Hynson The first phone call came in May 1999. A woman. SuperGal didn’t recognize her voice, but did know her name. “Lori? This is Dawn Byers. You don’t know me, but I’m calling to recruit you. Our committee is planning a First Night celebration in our town for the new millennium.” We were both movers and shakers in our community. Dawn was age thirty, fifteen years my junior. She was a member of our local royalty, a family who ran a successful international business. “Tell me more about it. How can I help?” “At our first meeting, we discussed who would head up the entertainment committee. Your name was suggested by every single person there.” Dawn paused. “This will be one of the most important jobs on the committee, of course.” “Really? How nice!” SuperGal kept her voice level. Humble even. But SuperGal was pleased and flattered at Dawn’s words. Yesssss! she thought as she lifted her chin and stood a wee bit taller in her cute pumps. She added a silent fist pump. Another day, another success. Another check mark on her bucket list. As a board member of several performing arts organizations, SuperGal had been in charge of many local entertainment events. But nothing of this magnitude. First Night sounded overwhelming, but she didn’t immediately say no. She’d have to think about it. Okay, whom was she kidding? The word “no” had been purged from SuperGal’s DNA. “Gee, it’s already May. Isn’t it kind of late to start some-thing this big?” SuperGal’s mind was racing ahead, ticking through lists of performers who would need to be called immediately before they were booked for the big millennium parties. “You’re right, it is. But we’ve got a great committee, and if you join us, I know we can pull this off.” Dawn was confident. SuperGal was flattered. If everyone thought she could do this, then she could. It was a challenge. But SuperGal lived for challenges. This could move SuperGal higher on the “Somebody” list. Just like she’d been born to do. She didn’t bother to consult her family first. She already knew what the answer would be. “I’ll do it!” she replied with enthusiasm. “Great! The next meeting is on Thursday. See you there!” ◊ SuperGal. Well, at least my own middle-aged version of her, minus any skimpy leotard or patent leather boots. At age forty-five I was still cute. (Attractive sounds so . . . I don’t know, middle-aged.) I was physically active and had lots of life in me. I could rock a cute suit—with stylish accessories, of course—like nobody’s business. SuperGal? Booyah! Successful career? Check! Community leader? Check! Empty nest mother of two grown daughters and one six-year-old granddaughter? Uh-huh! Popular, cute, accomplished? Check, check, and . . . you get the picture. Oh, and tangled in a twenty-five year teenage marriage that had proven unhealthy from the start? Sigh—check. But this SuperGal was determined to tackle whatever life threw her way. And she could do it all by herself. She didn’t need anyone’s help to solve her problems, by golly. She would pull herself up by her bootstraps, as she had always done. No matter the obstacle. Heeerrrre’s SuperGal! Rrroarrrr! ◊ God watched then slowly shook His head. Who did she think had given her the bootstraps? ◊ SuperGal was down to her last nerve halfway through the six-hour event, but so far, she had managed to stamp out the various fires with her oh-so-cool Doc Martens. Late performers. Missing volunteers. Sound systems with no sound. Locked doors. Overflow crowds. Overwhelmed transportation system. Overworked food vendors. No time to catch a glimpse of a show. No time to chat with a performer. Hopping in and out of the SuperGal Mobile, flying to and fro. Almost midnight SuperGal’s eyes drank in the smiling faces of the huge crowd that had gathered on the school field. She felt satisfied. Exhausted, true, but proud. She had done it. Oh, okay, the rest of the committee had done it, too. The shows were over. The performers were packing up. The night had been a huge success. The “oohs” and “ahhs” of the crowd rose in unison with the tempo of the fireworks. As midnight approached, she strolled into the crowd searching for her family in the cheering multitudes. It would soon be time to ring in the new century. SuperGal wanted to stand with them as the bell tolled. It was the least she could do. Virtually all of her free time over the past months had been consumed by First Night in addition to her full-time job and other volunteer activities. Her family seemed to get the time that was left over. It had always been so. If not because of this event, then because of another. Even when the kids still lived at home. Even when the kids were still small. Her adult daughters and her husband had been pressed into service tonight. Dad seemed to enjoy it. The girls were recruited mostly against their will. It gave a whole new meaning to the word “volunteer.” SuperGal hung back for a moment, watching her clan from a distance. Reflecting. New Year’s Eve 1999 seemed like an appropriate time for taking inventory. She was only forty-five, yet it all started so many years ago. Too many. ◊ At age seventeen, the burning question was always, “Will this guy impress my friends?” And most importantly, “Is he cute?” He did. And he was. So what if we spent too much time arguing? But then, pregnant at age nineteen and planning a shotgun wedding, who knew what I would become when I grew up? Who knew that my husband wouldn’t want me to change—that he wanted to keep the teenager he married? Who knew that this SuperGal was inside, waiting her turn? SuperGal, you see, was a late bloomer. In my twenties, and over the next decade, one baby in tow, then another, I began to shape shift. Average teen from blue collar neighborhood morphs into an achiever. First at my job, then in my community. Hard work, steely determination, and a big dose of street smarts is what I had to offer. Seemingly in an instant . . . Heeerrrrre’s SuperGal! But in my mirror, at home alone, I saw a darker, more shadowy image. The Shadow Face. At work, in public, SuperGal was a charmer. Bright and confident. “You’re always smiling and so cheerful!” She heard that one a lot. But at home, SuperGal’s charming mask fell away, replaced by the Shadow Face. That face was resentful. Angry. Impatient and demanding. Selfish and self-centered—still a child wanting a taste of what life had to offer. The charming Ms. SuperGal was busy, busy. There was a whole world that needed her. But her Shadow Face was so busy licking the open wounds of her discontent that her family paid the price. They couldn’t have all of her, just some. Time was always in short supply. She couldn’t sacrifice her own achievements to give them quite enough time or attention. While SuperGal was busy building a shiny image, the Shadow Face hammered together a house of regret. SuperGal: Strong. Go-getter. Achiever. Independent. Unlikely accolades for a woman who couldn’t even find her way out of the paper bag of her own marriage—a woman who couldn’t save herself or her children from her hidden-from-the-world inadequacies. ◊ The din of the fireworks building to a crescendo dragged me back to the present. Shaking off the memories, I hurried over to join my family. Huddled together in the winter night, the shouts and cheers of the revelers rose to the sky. Out with the old. In with the new. Buh-bye twentieth century. SuperGal couldn’t wait to read the papers. To read what everyone thought of the celebration. To soak up the acclaim. Reliving this night once more. Happy New Year! ◊ God surveyed the scene around SuperGal carefully. He had gifted this child with confidence, a can-do spirit, and a truck-load of energy. Oh, and a substantial ration of responsibility and commitment. He had a plan for her that would require her to use those special gifts. God would leave it up to her, though, to choose how she would use them. That’s just the way He rolled. But she caught Satan’s attention, too. He decided to keep an eye on this one. With just the right, bad attitude she could prove to be useful. Real useful.

Kirkus Reviews
A woman’s faith is sorely tested in this sprightly, tragicomic novel of redemption.
Lori is a middle-aged working woman and mother who prides herself on riding to the rescue of everyone around her.
Alas, she also leads an unfulfilled life in a loveless marriage—a problem that not even her “Supergal” persona can fix.
However, she gets her groove back after she joins the choir at an ebullient new Baptist church, dumps her disapproving
lump of a husband, and meets a handsome tenor named Ben. Lori, resplendent in her trademark cute pumps and frilly
pink boa, thinks that she’s engineered these triumphs on her own, due to her own nobility, so God decides to teach her
the meaning of “blessing.” (God is an embodied character here, along with his emissary the Holy Spirit and his foil
Satan, who are all forever whispering competitively in Lori’s ear.) Soon Ben is stricken with an epic, terrifying illness
that proceeds from gallbladder problems to gastrointestinal collapse, a drug-resistant staph infection and kidney cancer.
In full Supergal mode, Lori struggles ever more frantically and impotently to manage Ben’s deteriorating condition until
the ultimate question—“Why me, God?”—shakes her belief in a benevolent deity. Hynson’s drolly feminine update of
the story of Job, based in part on true events, conveys lessons about swallowing pride, being honest about one’s feelings,
abandoning delusions of control and self-sufficiency, and putting oneself in God’s hands while giving him glory. As a
theodicy, however, it’s no more satisfying than Job; God can seem downright callous when he plans out spiritual
edification via misery, heartache and astronomical hospital bills. Still, in Hynson’s deftly comic prose, Lori is a
charming protagonist—good-hearted but a bit conceited, her hubris deflated by self-consciousness and punctured by
pratfalls. As readers watch her do battle with God, they may not be able to help siding with the underdog.
A winsome, entertaining and occasionally inspiring story of bad things happening to pretty good people.
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/search/?q=SuperGal+vs.+GOD&t=all


Foreword Clarion Reviews
Clarion Review
AUTOBIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR
SuperGal Vs. God
Lori Hynson
Broken Shoe Press
978-0-9890790-0-6
Four Stars (out of Five)
God, Satan, and the author fight for control in this fun and dramatic memoir.
Lori Hynson, author of SuperGal Vs. God, has an impressive list of accomplishments
many women can relate to, such as major event planner, small business owner, singer, wife, and
mother, to name a few. She added writer to the list as a means of sharing her recovery from the
unfulfilling whirlwind of busyness that consumed her until a traumatic event forced her to
surrender herself to God’s will. In addition to Christians, any woman who has struggled with the
ups and downs of being an independent, overworked, and underappreciated superwoman may
see herself in Hynson’s well-written and inspirational memoir.
Hynson writes mainly in the third person as the cute, well-dressed, and perky SuperGal,
while chronicling a fourteen-year period of her life that begins on New Year’s Eve in 1999. The
unconventional and somewhat silly writing style takes getting used to, but Hynson pulls it off,
thanks to the quality of the story and the obvious care taken in the editing process. The prose is
heavy on short paragraphs and chapters, with an abundance of well-done, chatty girlfriend
dialogue.
The story opens with a suspense-building play-by-play example of SuperGal’s
exceptional ability to coordinate a major event in her city, one that perfectly personifies how in
control she is of her out-of-control life. God and Satan make cameo appearances in this first
chapter, and the two of them return regularly throughout the book to comment on the progress of
their particular campaigns to orchestrate the outcome of SuperGal’s life. The reader is also
introduced to a first-person singular version of the author. “Lori” speaks in an authentic and
likable voice that offers a welcome counterpoint to the superficial and high-strung SuperGal.
SuperGal Vs. God quickly morphs into what feels like a sappy romance novel, where in
the course of a few short chapters that cover several years, SuperGal joins a Baptist church,
rediscovers a love for singing, leaves her unhappy marriage, meets Ben, starts dating him
against her rule-bound will, and falls in love. And then, in shotgun style, Ben gets desperately
ill, and the book morphs again into a medical thriller. God, Satan, and Lori begin to play more
prominent roles as Ben’s medical issues consume SuperGal’s life. As she obsessively tries to
assert herself into every aspect of Ben’s worsening health, God manifests a series of minor
miracles in an effort to compel her to relinquish control, and Satan conspires to thwart God’s
plan. Meanwhile, Lori begins to open up to the prospect of letting go and letting God take
control.
The unexpected ending provides a welcome release to the tension-building suspense of
Ben’s critical illness and SuperGal’s spiritual crisis. Hynson successfully provides both the
Christian and secular reader with a satisfying closure that enhances the value of this cross-genre
book.
Patty Sutherland

“I can bring home the bacon; fry it up in a pan…” starts a popular song of a few years ago.,
Many of us were raised to think we had to become this type of woman – one who could work at a career, manage her home, raise her kids, and satisfy her husband – if we were to be thought successful. Many of us opted out of the race for the glass ceiling and board room positions to instead, be the kind of wives and mothers who honored God first, family second, and career (if any) third. Unfortunately both systems left us out of the picture and many cried in despair, “What about me?”

SuperGal vs. GOD is a well-written story about that kind of woman. SuperGal could do anything and everything – run a huge charity event, run for and be elected to office, learn that she could sing and become proficient at it in her 40s. Predictably, her family was left in the dust. And besides, she never felt she could measure up to her husband’s expectations or survive his expanding disapproval. What was absent in this race was God.

SuperGal felt the emptiness inside and went church-shopping. After trying many, she finally ended up as one of the few whites in a black gospel church. She sang in the choir, got baptized, and joined it – it was a place of welcome and solace for her.

The marriage ended. SuperGal never intended to become involved with a man again – she was quite self-sufficient, thank you! But God had other plans for her. . .as God often does for all of us.

This is a true story delightfully told as if it were fiction. You’ll cheer and weep, smile and grimace at her antics. I guarantee you won’t put it down once you’ve begun to read it. As I interviewed the author, Lori Hynson, I was amazed when she told me the book actually happened just as she wrote it - the only fiction was the God and Satan pieces. She was married and pregnant as a teen - and stayed married for 31 years despite the verbal abuse of her passive-aggressive husband. She finally left to find herself amid the tatters of her memories.

God is good - she was 51 when she met Ben. She tells me she tried hard to make changes and is a recovering "SuperGal." Last November she closed her account rep business of representing businesses that provided services to attorneys. Ben will retire the end of this year. They still attend that little church (moved after a flood) and are happy.

For those SuperGals who are desiring more, for those who thought they wanted to BE SuperGals, for those who just want a good read about God's goodness and faithfulness - this book is for you.