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Isadora "Issy" Presley suffers from PTSD after witnessing a family tragedy. Plagued with the fear of leaving her home and safety of her backyard, she becomes a secret radio host for a talk show called My Foolish Heart. She gives advice on love and romance, but one caller The Boy Next Door steals her heart. Little do either of them know, they're next door neighbors. Caleb Knight aka The Boy Next Door, has just moved to Deep Haven to settle in to the small town and maybe win the coaching position. It's his chance to feel normal after his own tragedy from the war in Iraq. The question is, can these two push past their fears to find the perfect love? And what is perfect love?
My Foolish Heart is a heart pounding romance that explores deep fears and how to overcome them through the perfect love of Jesus Christ. I couldn't put it down and read it in one sitting. I felt like I was right there in a small Minnesota town, from the dialect to the Walleye fish burgers by the shore. Susan May Warren knows how to draw a reader into a book and make them forget it's only words on a page. She creates an experience.
I appreciate Tyndale for allowing me to review this book for them! I thoroughly enjoyed it.
God’s Promises for the American Patriot, by Richard Lee and Jack Countryman, is a reminder that not only was America founded upon, but is infused with, Christian principles. Chapter after chapter presents examples of Christian leadership in the founding of our country, as well as it’s continuance throughout it’s history.
Lee and Countryman have provided a look at how great an impact the Word of God has had on America as a nation. The view is provided through the lens of a compilation of histories of individual leaders, along with impacting ideas, documents, people groups, organizations, and even physical structures. The individual leaders include presidents and politicians, scientists, patriots, colonists, Supreme Court justice, business men and women, scholars, a hymn writer and a philanthropist. All of whom have contributed to the shaping and development of America.
Each historical reference describes how each person or circumstance mirrors the importance of our nation as a whole following the God of the Bible in the success and longevity of America as a nation. This central theme, of giving reverence and credit to God as the force behind America’s beginnings, development and achievements, flows consistently throughout the book. The inclusion of relevant Biblical Scripture verses, capping off most chapters, make for a wonderful educational devotional book focusing on American patriotism.
I expected this read to be just another devotional book. I was wrong. It is so very much more. The historical education provided through each concise chapter is a welcome read. I enjoyed not only the entertaining history lessons, but the tidbits of information gleaned from all the research that must have gone into the writing of this book. All revealing a central faith in God, the God of the Bible, upon Whom our country is built.
This was given to me by the Thomas Nelson Company for an honest review.
The Final Summit is the second book about David Ponder, our intrepid Traveler first introduced in "The Travelers Gift" in which he travels back in time and learns of the 7 decisions one needs to make in order to find great success. The Final Summit is a self-contained novel in and of itself and it is unnecessary to read The Travelers Gift in order to understand the storyline.
In The Final Summit, David Ponder is older and recently widowed. Having acheived great success by following the 7 decisions he learned during his travels as a younger man, but losing his wife, he no longer has the desire to live. But, God has other plans for him, the Archangel Gabriel comes to him and tells him that he is to lead a very important heavenly council, made up of the most influential movers and shakers the world has ever known.
A council that must come up with a two word action plan for humanity. The two word plan must be something that can be done as an individual and as a whole, something that humanity must do in order to save itself.
Calling upon some of the greatest minds that have ever lived, they discuss and present the princicples that mankind needs to implement. The Archangel Gabriel, the arbiter of this council, gives them enigmatic clues that ultimately lead them to the one principle that will save humanity.
I loved the way this book presented the guiding principles that the main historical figures represented and modeled in their lifetimes. The principles presented in the book were backed up by historically accurate details, concerning the main figures. It provided an interesting look into just how they embodied the particular principles they presented to the council. All in all, an interesting and fun way to learn the guiding principles we should all endeavor to emulate.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
Emory University doctorate student Grant Matthews knows he is running out of time on submitting his thesis. His topic focuses on the impact other cultures had on the early development of Christianity. In particular over the objections of the school's advisory board, he pursues a legend of an Asian boy traveling fourteen-fifteen centuries before Marco Polo went the other way.
In Asia, he learns from Buddhist monks that what he seeks might exist in one of the monasteries in Bhutan. He journeys to the Himalayan nation where his guide is a former Buddhist monk working to feed his family. He learns more about Issa and the lad's spiritual journey that affirms his subject loved and wrote down his travels. Grant meets Kristin Misaki and soon finds the treasure he sought. However, what happened to a Russian late in the nineteenth century when he made the same discovery soon proves history repeats itself. Christian fundamentalists are willing to kill, destroy or hide to prevent anything heretical that affirms that the early founders were in touch with other cultures for some of the religion's critical foundations coming east to west.
This is a super Brownian thriller that is at its best when the beleaguered hero is in Asia pursuing the Issa documents amidst Buddhist monks. The Christian conspiracy to shut down the heresy feels more like a sub-genre requirement and detracts from a powerful insightful novel. Still, based on a real Russian Notovitch was condemned as a heretic for publishing his finding of the Saint Issa scrolls in Himis, India, as those ancient documents explained the "Lost Years of Jesus", overall The Breath of God is a terrific tale.
Talking with an author like Susanne Lakin, you might have your doubts. But when it came time for me to use my own brain, I ignored every negative word Susanne had to say, because she was just wrong. And I agree with what authors like Francine Rivers, Jerry Jenkins and Bodie Thoene had to say. They believe in the talent that was put on paper, and I do too! This girl has what it takes to write a great book, and then back it up with a 2nd one, and you don't want to miss "Bound by Guilt," so don't!
Meet a life where a last name like Gold doesn't exactly glitter as such. That would be young Roxi. Simply to be accepted, that's all she wants, and the things she does are not the right way to get attention. She steals rare books with a young man named Diego, and a woman named Irene, and they go to great lengths to get what they want!
Abby Dawson is a cop with a rough edge to her at times. She does her job well, but she doesn't like it. Around the same time her brother is gunned down, she happens to get suspended without pay from her job for showing that rough edge to the Mayor's wife. But needless to say, somebody is going to pay for what happened to her brother. He had his dreams, and just like that, they are gone and done with. York now, but I'm sticking with my people! C.J. Darlington is definitely one of my people. And she's done more to earn my respect with just two books than some authors do in a lifetime. Way to go!!
The paths of Roxi and Abby will eventually cross. What will happen?
You can see the work that Darlington puts into her books. She is no slouch. She might be a newer author, but handles the task at hand like a true master! I don't care what some people might say, because I really enjoy getting lost in what this new, young talent has to offer. It is more than good enough for me.
I would like to thank booksneeze.com for providing me with this complimentary copy of Unsinkable by Abby Sunderland and Lynn Vincent. The opinions I have expressed are my own and I was not required to write a positive review.
Apparently, I was the only person in America not raving about The Lace Reader last year. I didn't hate it, but I had a really hard time relating to the female protagonist, Towner Whitney. Having been curious enough to have read Ms. Barry's second novel, The Map of True Places, again I find myself in the disenchanted minority--and with the exact same complaint!
Brunonia Barry's new stand alone novel is set in the same world--the same Salem--as her first. Characters from The Lace Reader are referenced or make brief appearances. However, this novel is more grounded in the real world of psychology and medicine than with the ethereal subjects she had explored previously. The central character is Hepzibah Finch, known as "Zee." (And what is it with these names, Brunonia?).
Zee is a psychologist in crisis. She's just lost her first patient, and is having a hard time accepting that Lilly Braedon committed suicide. Zee's own mother had killed herself when Zee was a teen, and feelings about the two women have become entangled in a very non-clinical way. Meanwhile, other areas of Zee's life are falling apart. Her father's Parkinson's disease is far more advanced than she had been led to believe. She suddenly needs to step in as a care-giver, putting additional strain on an already strained relationship.
My frustration with this central character exists on several levels, but here is one issue I can illustrate easily enough. Allow me to share some quotes from the novel. All of these are spoken by, or refer to, Zee:
"I don't know what I want."
"The truth was, she didn't know if she didn't want to get married at all, or if she just hated the process."
"She was angry at Michael, though she had no real reason for this except that he so clearly knew what he wanted in all areas of his life, while she couldn't seem to make as simple a choice as whether or not to serve sushi at the wedding."
"Zee had once known exactly what kind of life she wanted. Now she drew a complete blank."
"I don't know what I feel."
"He had never asked her what she wanted out of life... These days she had to admit she had no idea."
"Though she was still having doubts about her choice of career, Zee knew she had to get back to work."
"I don't know what I want either."
"I don't think what I was or was not ready for was clear in any way, least of all to me."
"More than a few of the tears were relief; because... she had no big decisions to make."
"She honestly couldn't remember the last time she'd ordered ice cream for herself. It was ridiculous to be flustered by such a small thing, but there it was. He was waiting for her choice and she didn't have one."
I'm a highly empathetic reader, but I found Zee to be so bland, wishy-washy, and indecisive that I just wanted to slap her. I find it hard to become engaged in a character that passive. I pulled a whole other list of quotes that show the character to be tongue-tied and inarticulate, but given the length of this review, I'll spare you. My point was that as a reader, all I have are the character's words and thoughts to go by, and either Zee or Brunonia just wouldn't spit them out.
I can see that Ms. Barry's work resonates with the majority of her readers. That I am not among their number is unfortunate for me. But henceforth I will try to ignore my curiosity and Brunonia and I will go our separate ways, and we will both be happier for it.
This book was given to me by FSB Publishers in return for an honest review which I was not compensated for.
