Kiss the Old Toad

Real life provided the author with the initial inspiration for Kiss the Old Toad and Believe, the story of a marriage in crisis. Nia, a young Bulgarian woman, battles with the forces of alcoholism and the cheating of her husband. Her eyes are opened to the real reason behind her enemies’ attacks when she meets a gypsy fortune teller who tells her, “You are under a spell, girl. Black Magic has been cast on you.” I have always known that there is something bigger against me than human malice and hatred. I have always felt cursed. It’s my grandma’s curse…, Nia thought. The well-known symptoms of panic tightened her throat and her body began to shake violently. Across a vast panorama of events, Nia’s journey leads her to the only One who can help her unravel the yarn skein of troubles and lies. With a remarkable art of a story teller, and disarming sincerity, Nadia Ianakieva gives us glimpses of her own life, “turned around by God”. I pray and believe with all my heart that Nadia’s stories will build up not just faith and hope in many lives (after all Nadia comes from “nadejda”, the Bulgarian word for hope,) but character as well. Svetlana Karoleva Editor of Leah magazine Nadia Ianakieva’s first inspirational nonfiction book, The Red Dress Decision: True Stories of a Life Filled with God’s Miracles, was published in 2010. It is available as an audio book and translated into Bulgarian. Nadia and her family live in Chicagoland.