Serenity

Reviewing for: CFBA
Tour Date: December 1, 2008
Author’s Website: Lauraine Snelling

My Review: This book was as much of a page turner as I knew it would be when I read the back cover. I have experienced several of the scenerios that transpire through the book. I lost my mother suddenly, just a few weeks prior to Christmas. Last year, a distant cousin and friend, lost a son in a tragic accident. The accident was in December. And he was a twin. Those thoughts intertwined within my head as I read. Excellent writing. Lauraine takes you straight to the hearts of these people, and you feel your throat close and tears form as you read through the pain, the joys, and anguish and the celebrations. Such a range of emotions, all in one book. I loved this book, and would recommend it, esp. to someone who has lost someone suddenly.

Discussion Questions:
1. When someone close to you dies, what do you learn about grief?

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

ISBN: 13: 978-0446582100
List Price: $ 13.99
Paperback: 320 pages
Publisher: FaithWords (October 22, 2008)

Back Cover:
Nora Peterson is determined to make this Christmas perfect. Next year her twin teenagers will be off to college, and their lives will never be quite the same. With her husband delayed on a business trip abroad, Nora’s nerves are already frazzled when she gets the news of a car accident that will not only change the Petersons’ lives forever, but also those of another family whom they’ve never met

As a nurse, Jenna Montgomery has always struggled with balancing her personal and professional lifer. Her daughter, Heather, has suffered from a heart defect for most of her life. Now that Heather is twenty years old and still on the organ transplant waiting list, Jenna must find a way to accept that this is likely their last Christmas together. Then the miracle Jenna has desperately prayed for becomes a reality in an instant, and Heather’s health is restored.

While Nora struggles with depression and grief, Jenna discovers that miracles aren’t always easy to receive.

Reviewing for: November FIRST
Tour Date: November 1, 2008
Author’s Website: James David Jordon

My Review: I am more of a “chick-lit” reader,  but occasionally throw a Suspence read in.   This book started a little slow for me.  But, I wanted to give it a chance, and several chapters in, the author caught me, hook, line, and sinker.  I knew then that I would read this book, all the way through, because I just HAD to know what happen.  It most definately wasn’t a chick lit “fall in love” kind of book.  You thought that, most of the way through, but I did. not. see the ending coming.  And yet, it was the perfect ending to a great book.    I have to admit, I did enjoy this book, inspite of myself and my reservations going into it.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

ISBN: 978-0-8054-4749-1
Fiction: Christian, Suspence

When Simon Mason, the world’s best-known televangelist, receives threats from Muslim terrorists, he hires Taylor Pasbury, a beautiful former Secret Service agent, to take charge of his security. Taylor is thrilled to receive the high-profile assignment, but she has no idea that Simon already knows more about her than she could imagine.

When the terrorists strike, making a demand of the pastor that would shake the most steadfast saint, Taylor draws on all of her hard-knock toughness and training as she fights to save Simon and his daughter. Along the way, she discovers that she is not the only one who has done things she would like to forget—and she is not the only one who understands that some things are more important than living.

“James David Jordan pens a fascinating tale that is more than a suspense novel. An intimate exploration of the soul’s need for acceptance and belonging, it touches the nerves of some of our most sensitive fears and longings. Forsaken is a moving and relevant saga of faith on a collision course with the brutalities of our world.”

Reviewing for: FIRST Wild Card
Tour Date: November 8, 2008

My Review: This is not your typical “sit down and read cover to cover” kind of book.   This is an interactive book, where you sit down with pen and paper and work through the prompt questions.  Its an examination of your faith, your spiritual time line and just a way for others to get to know you.    If you take a look at my various different blogs, one common thread is the love of prompt sights and those question and answer places.   This book ties all that together in a spiritual way.  I am not doing working through it, nor will I for some time to come, but it is a book I will enjoy for a long time to come.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

It is time to play a Wild Card! Every now and then, a book that I have chosen to read is going to pop up as a FIRST Wild Card Tour. Get dealt into the game! (Just click the button!) Wild Card Tours feature an author and his/her book’s FIRST chapter!

You never know when I might

play a wild card on you!

Me Myself & I AM

Multnomah Books (October 7, 2008)

Reviewing for: FIRST Wild Card
Tour Date: October 5, 2008
Author’s Website: Sharlene Maclaren

My Review:
This book had me at the first page. Even though my first husband didn’t go to the extremes that Thomas did, I understood and felt Callie’s fear. Sharlene writes in such a way that you are drawn in and find yourself wanting to protect Callie. And to knock some sense into Dan when he found comfort in the bottle. But God has a way of working through the worst of circumstances, and you knew that they would end up together. I enjoyed this book and would like to read others written by Sharlene.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

ISBN: 1603740562
US: $9.99

After divorcing her abusive husband, single mother Callie May is still nursing the scars of a painful past. The last thing she needs in her life is another man, so she’s less than thrilled when a handsome but brooding stranger moves into the apartment across the hall.

Dan Mattson may be attractive, but his circumstances certainly aren’t: a former church pastor, he abandoned his flock in Michigan and fled to the Chicago suburbs after the death of his beloved wife and baby daughter in a tragic automobile accident. Embittered by his loss, Dan turns his back on God.

Callie mistrusts men, and the angry Dan often gives her good reason to. Both are weighted down by the scars and disappointment in their pasts. When Callie’s ex-husband shows up to wreak more havoc in her life, Dan finds himself coming to her defense-and facing his own demons in the process. Will Dan and Callie be able to get past their baggage and give love another chance?

Tour Book title: Promises, Promises
Publisher: Barbour/Heartsong Presents
Release date: February 2008 through Heartsong Presents; July 2008 to bookstores and online retailers
Genre: Historical Romance
Series: Delaware Brides, book 1
ISBN: 9781597899390
Ordering link: www.ambermiller.com/books.html

MY REVIEW

You are immediately drawn into Raelene’s grief. I lost my mother suddenly, but I had a great support system in place with my husband of 23 years, and my children who loved my mom as much as I did. Amber Miller, with her talented gift of writing, puts you right there, with Raelene, with the thoughts and emotionsshe is experiencing. The grief, the aloneness and yet fierce independence and determination to do it herself, Its all there. You know, all through the book that Gustaf will be her knight in shining armor, it has to be. And yet, Amber ties all these other characters into the storyline, and even though your heart is telling you “it’s Gustaf, it’s Gustaf”, your reading mind isn’t quite so sure. Much like life. In your heart of hearts, you know God is there with you, every step of the way. But, your head allows the world to interfer, and often God is questioned, is doubted, is put in the backseat, because we are so sure we can “do it outselves”. But, much like Raeline, we learn that we will find peace only when we allow him to be the center of our lives.

I enjoyed this book. It was hard to put down, and I would come home and sit down and read, rather than get on the computer like I often do.

===========================================

Amber has a second book come out — Quills & Promises. I am looking foward to reading it as well!
Book blurb (Quills & Promises):
Innocence paired with wisdom beyond her years–
With these traits, Elanna Hanssen unwittingly captures the attentions of Major Madison Scott. Her honest desire to understand the war fascinates him, and he resolves to get to know this perspicacious young lady better. When he is called away to fight the French and the Indians, they begin a correspondence, cautiously baring their hearts to one another. Elanna has never known emotions like these before, but she is drawn to the integrity she sees in her major. When a writer for the first newspaper in the colony questions the major’s credentials and activities, however, will she allow her heart or her head to rule? Can true love grow over such distance and around such obstacles?

For Pete’s Sake - Linda Windsor

ISBN: 978-0-06-117138-3
Publisher: Avon Inspire
Published: April 2008
Pages:294 (Paperback)

From the Publisher
For Pete’s Sake is a remarkable story about the unlikely live between a grown-up tomboy and the millionaire next door.

Ellen Brittingham isn’t sure true live exists until she contracts to do the landscaping of the estate of the sophisticated widower next door, Adrian Sinclair. Adrian has it all—at least on the surface, He’s engaged to a beautiful woman who helped him build a successful business and he’ll soon have a mom for his troubled son Pete.

Yet, from the moment Ellen rescues a stranded Adrian on her Harley, his well-ordered world turns upside down, cracking his thin façade of happiness and revealing the void of faith and love behind it. Even more, his son seems to have his own sites set on Ellen – as his new mom.

As Ellen’s friendship grows with Pete, she realizes that his father is about to marry the wrong woman for the right reasons. And despite her resolve to remain “neighbors only” with the dad, the precocious boy works his way into her heart, drawing Ellen and Adrian closer. Close enough for heartbreak, for Pete’s sake!

But how can her heart think that Adrian Sinclair is the one when he’s engaged to a sophisticated beauty who is everything Ellen isn’t. When Ellen’s three best friends see she’s been bitten by the love bug, they jump into action and submit her to a makeover that reveals the woman underneath her rough exterior and puts her in contention for Adrian’s love.

But Ellen must ask herself whether she’s ready to risk the heart that she’s always held close. Will Ellen be able to trust that God brought this family into her life for a reason? Or will her fear of getting hurt cause her to turn away from God’s plan and her one true chance at love?

================================

I always love a good love story, and this was a good one. As a step mom, I struggled when the kids were little, to balance things out between my boys and my husband’s girls. I admired the way Ellen was able to connect with Pete, in his own special way, and that he always came first. This is what I tried to do with our children, but it wasn’t always that easy. Being “the other woman” in any sense of the word are different shoes to walk in. Even though Ellen didn’t see it in herself, she did it with dignity, beauty and grace, and thankfully Adrian was finally able to see that and let Ellen know just how much she meant to him.

Great read, and I am off to explore other works by Linda Windsor.

Truffles By The Sea - Julie Carobini

ISBN: 978-0-7642-042-2
Publisher: Bethany House
Published: February 2008
Pages: 315 (Paperback)

From the Publisher
Gaby Flores has a penchant for drama and an unfortunate knack for dating Mr. So Wrong. After breaking off yet another relationhip, watching her apartment building burn to the ground, and discovering that her dippy delivery driver has just run off with most of her business, Gaby decides it’s time to turn things around!

She moves to a tiny waterfront loft adn takes on a new motto: “Be gullible no more.” With help from her friends, she works to rebuild her flower shop — and her bank account,. But when a lawsuit, an eviction notice, quirkly neighbors, and two surprise romances invade her beachy world, Bagy’s motto and fledgling faith are put to the test.

Can a young woman prone to disaster in both work and love finally find happily ever after?

=====================
When I began reading this book, I was not familiar with Julie Carobini or any of the books she had written. Half way through Truffles by the Sea, I ordered Chocolate Beach, which focuses on Bri’s story, and was Julie’s first novel. Julie really hits the mark with her writing of characters who are just like you and me, who face many storms in their lives, and are often hesitant to bother God with our problems.

Often, when you read a book, you know almost from the beginning who she is going to end up with in the end. But, Julie kept us guessing. I felt like I knew, but I wasn’t 100% sure until closer to the end.

I loved this book, and am looking forward to reading more of Julie’s writings.

Order here
Visit Julie’s Website here