A Cup of Dust by Susie Finkbeiner - REVIEWED

About the Book:
Where you come from isn't who you are 

Ten-year-old Pearl Spence is a daydreamer, playing make-believe to escape life in Oklahoma's Dust Bowl in 1935. The Spences have their share of misfortune, but as the sheriff's family, they've got more than most in this dry, desolate place. They're who the town turns to when there's a crisis or a need--and during these desperate times, there are plenty of both, even if half the town stands empty as people have packed up and moved on. 

Pearl is proud of her loving, strong family, though she often wearies of tracking down her mentally impaired older sister or wrestling with her grandmother's unshakable belief in a God who Pearl just isn't sure she likes. 

Then a mysterious man bent on revenge tramps into her town of Red River. Eddie is dangerous and he seems fixated on Pearl. When he reveals why he's really there and shares a shocking secret involving the whole town, dust won't be the only thing darkening Pearl's world. 

While the tone is suspenseful and often poignant, the subtle humor of Pearl's voice keeps A Cup of Dust from becoming heavy-handed. Finkbeiner deftly paints a story of a family unit coming together despite fractures of distress threatening to pull them apart. 

My Thoughts:

“Every storm has a beginning and every storm’s got and end.  They never last forever.”  (p. 121)

The words from Meemaw’s lips could not have been more prophetic.  Pearl Spence would live through far more than the Dust Bowl within the pages of Susie Finkbeiner’s novel, A Cup of Dust.  Every page of this novel bears the grit of the dust that fills the air in Red River, Oklahoma.  The author’s writing poignantly weaves every detail of Pearl’s family into a beautiful and painful picture of trial that is faced with the strength of love. 

The love that holds the Spence family together is palpable and real.  Their reality is made boldly visible by the trials that they have already overcome before they even bear a hint of the Dust Bowl.  Be that as it may, the trials the lay ahead within the Dust Bowl are particularly brutal.  The reader gets a front row seat when sacrificial love faces off with a twisted, evil version of perceived justice.  It is a battle that rages through the Spence family as violently as any earthly storm.

In the end, the sense of strength and perseverance that is left in your heart and mind is unforgettable.  You will long remember the Spence family – especially Pearl – and the love which endures when everything around them falls apart.  This is truly a special book, and one you won’t want to miss!!

About the Author:
Susie Finkbeiner is a stay-at-home mom, speaker, and author from West Michigan. Her previous books include Paint Chips (2013) and My Mother's Chamomile (2014). She has served as fiction editor and regular contributor to the Burnside Writers Guild and Unbound magazine. Finkbeiner is an avid blogger (see www.susiefinkbeiner.com), is on the planning committee of the Breathe Christian Writers Conference, and has presented or led groups of other writers at several conferences.

A Father's Second Chance by Mindy Oberhaus - REVIEWED

This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing A Father's Second Chance Love Inspired (July 21, 2015) by Mindy Oberhaus

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

A Word from the Author: To steal a line from Donny and Marie, I’m a little bit country, a little bit rock-n-roll. I’m trapped in the city, but prefer the country or the mountains.

I love Jesus, my family, and just about anything sweet.

I believe Jesus died for my sins, rose three days later, and will one day return. He has carried me through some of my darkest hours. Without faith in Him, I would be nowhere.

I have a penchant for chocolate, clothes, and shoes. When I’m not penning romance novels, I enjoy cooking, decorating and shopping.



ABOUT THE BOOK

Businesswoman Celeste Thompson has one goal: to make her restaurant and hotel a success. She doesn't need any distractions, even from handsome contractor Gage Purcell and his two adorable little girls. Besides, single dad Gage is just biding his time before a big job at the mines comes through. But as Celeste's project springs to life, their arguments transform into attraction. Gage isn't looking for romance, especially not with another career-driven woman like his ex-wife. But openhearted Celeste is more than just another work-consumed client. She might just be his happily-ever-after.





My Thoughts:

“However, sometimes fear holds us back from going after what is right.” (p. 172)

That statement states a truth that is etched out in the characters’ lives in Mindy Obenhous’, A Father’s Second Chance.  Abandonment, loneliness, fear of failure, Celeste Thompson and Gage Purcell begin their friendship at arms’ length – convinced that their only interaction will be the business transaction of refurbishing Celeste’s family homeplace.  The family dynamics that are in play in both their lives pose mountainous obstacles to any attraction that might be forming between them.

I’m not so sure that this Love Inspired novel isn’t more about overcoming the generational shortcomings of our lives than about the budding romance between Celeste and Gage.  The author has developed her characters well in a brief amount of time, and she even inserts an element of danger and uncertainty that make the resolution both realistic and honest. 

This is a book that is meant to entertain and satisfy your heartfelt desire to sigh with satisfaction when love wins.  But the characters in the story take all of that to a much more satisfying place of deep faith and trust in God.  I really enjoyed this story, and I am happy to recommend it to others!

If you would like to read the first chapter of A Father's Second Chance, go HERE.

Saints and Strangers - a National Geographic event remembering the First Thanksgiving - REVIEWED

I was blessed to receive a review copy of this two-night National Geographic event that chronicles the Plymouth settlement through the first Thanksgiving.  WHAT A JOURNEY!!!  You will be given a realistic look into the lives of the Saints and Strangers that traveled across the ocean and founded Plymouth colony.  It is filled with well-developed characters and a fabulous and realistic Native American cast!

The people who came to America's shores by way of the Mayflower should be remembered for their sacrifice and their bravery!  This two-night television drama captures their experiences in a way that will  cement this in your heart and mind.  You won't soon forget this initial contact that the English have with the Native Americans!

I know I have gained a greater respect for these pilgrims as well as the Native Americans whom they encountered.  I've also been given a renewed thirst for knowledge of the events leading up to the first Thanksgiving.  To say there was much to be thankful for is a severe understatement!!  This is a television event I hope will become an annual commemoration of our founding fathers!

This is a most excellent film!! I HIGHLY recommend that you mark November 22 and 23rd on your calendar and make time to experience this two night event!! You will be VERY GLAD you did!!

A Reason To Stay by Kellie Coates Gilbert - REVIEWED

About the Book:
Sometimes the thing that keeps us from making the wrong choice is the one thing we can't control
As an investigative reporter and the host of her own TV talk show, Faith Marin works to expose the truth for her viewers. But in her personal life, she's anchored her world with firm boundaries in order to hide a family history she'd like to forget. By contrast, her husband Geary's life is an open book. An easygoing pro bass fisherman, Geary is the ultimate family man--and his overbearing relatives don't know the meaning of boundaries.

Faith and Geary haven't been married long when their differences start to derail their tender relationship. Surely love shouldn't be this hard. While Faith considers whether divorce is the only answer to their issues, tragedy strikes. With her life in the balance, she finds that the one she has been shutting out may be the very one she cannot bear to lose.

Kellie Coates Gilbert takes you on an emotional roller coaster as she weaves together unexpected trial, self-discovery, and forgiveness in this profoundly honest portrait of the tensions that can break a marriage--and the ultimate healing power of love.

My Thoughts:

“If she could turn the clock back, she’d change some things.”  (p. 167)

I suppose everyone that reads Kellie Coates Gilbert’s book,  A Reason To Stay,  has faced a moment when you realized your part in the mess you find yourself in.  Faith Marin couldn’t control the actions of the man who shot her and the fact that she would undergo surgery and therapy to regain basic motor function, but her actions resulted in a marriage that was floundering on the brink of failure.  Now, her physical struggle only serves to emphasize her marital issues. 

Gilbert skillfully intertwines the two struggles being faced by Faith and her husband Geary.  Both characters have to face some stark truths about their own choices up to the point where Faith is shot.  The choices that lie before them now, as they face their future, will determine everything.  The reader gets to walk alongside this couple as they navigate their lives from this very different, difficult and unexpected vantage point.   Everyone that comes to the pages of this story will have the opportunity to realize something about their own life choices. 

What really matters?  Find out in this installment of the Texas Gold collection – A Reason To Stay. You will be glad you experience the journey with Faith and Geary.

About the Author:

Kellie Coates Gilbert is a former legal investigator and trial paralegal, and the author of A Woman of Fortune and Where Rivers Part. Gilbert crafts her emotionally charged stories about women in life-changing circumstances in Dallas, Texas, where she lives with her husband. Learn more at www.kelliecoatesgilbert.com.

Thornbearer by Pepper Basham

This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing Thornbearer Vinspire Publishing, LLC (May 7, 2015) by Pepper Basham
** I haven't received a review copy of this book. **


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Pepper Basham is an award-winning author who writes romance peppered with grace and humor. She currently resides in the lovely mountains of Asheville, NC where she is the mom of 5 great kids, speech-pathologist to about fifty more, lover of chocolate, jazz, and Jesus, and proud AlleyCat over at a group writing blog, The Writer’s Alley. Her debut historical romance novel, The Thorn Bearer, released in May 2015, and has already garnered its first award with Readers’ Favorites International Awards. Pepper’s second and third books in the series arrive in February 2016. Her first contemporary romance debuts in April.



ABOUT THE BOOK

From the decks of the ill-fated Lusitania to the smoke-filled trenches of France, Ashleigh must choose between the forgiveness of her past, life in the present, and a Savior who can rescue her from them all. When her fiancé leaves her eight months before their wedding, the unexpected blow ignites a battalion of insecurities stemming from her father's intimate betrayal. Her worst fears are confirmed - who could ever love a soiled woman? In an attempt to escape the shame and disappointment of her past, Ashleigh boards the ill-fated Lusitania to cross the war-torn waters of Europe. Much to her dismay, she isn't traveling alone. Sam Miller is always making up for his best friend's mistakes. Determined to help Ashleigh, he offers his compassion and protection as she ventures across a perilous sea. With the faint hope of renewing his lost love for Ashleigh's sister, Sam never expects to find the woman of his dreams in his best friend's former fiancé and his own childhood companion. As they travel across the Atlantic, neither is prepared for the life-altering and heart-breaking journey of their friendship. When the truth of Ashleigh's past explodes in the middle of war and Sam rejects her, Ashleigh must decide if God is enough - or if the double weight of her betrayal and past will crush her life forever.

If you would like to read the first chapter of Thornbearer, go HERE.

Vendetta by Lisa Harris - REVIEWED

About the Book:
No one needs to push Nikki Boyd to excel on the Tennessee Missing Persons Task Force. The case of her own missing sister, still unsolved after ten years, is the driving force in her work. When a Polaroid photo of a missing girl shows up at a crime scene, Nikki quickly recognizes similarities to the past. The closer she gets to the abductor, the more she feels this case has become personal, and she is not the hunter . . . but the hunted.

With this explosive first book in The Nikki Boyd Files, award-winning author Lisa Harris takes you on a fast-paced pursuit of justice that will have you holding your breath until the heart-stopping finish.

My Thoughts:

“So you found a way to change your identity.”  (p. 254)

Chilling words, uttered by Nikki Boyd, as she confronts someone that memory had all but erased from her life.  In the course of her work for the FBI, Nikki encounters more than her fair share of evil people. However, she gets blindsided by this person as she chases down leads to save a young teen that has been abducted from a nearby state park.  The race to find the young girl becomes ever more urgent with each passing hour.

Readers are introduced to Nikki as she is climbing with the widowed husband of her best friend – as they remember her on the one year anniversary of her death.  Both Nikki and Tyler are recovering from their loss when they get pulled into a case that literally won’t let them go!  Barely any sleep, and an ever-more frantic rush to follow every lead they uncover, allows the reader to get to know both the strengths and weaknesses of both of these people.  You watch as they learn to depend on each other for their very survival.

Lisa Harris’ name on the cover guarantees the reader will enjoy a very tense and exciting ride from first to last pages!  If you like police drama with a healthy dose of suspense, pick up a copy of Vendetta today!  I am thrilled to know this is the first in a brand new series of The Nikki Boyd Files!!  I am one happy reader!!

About the Author:

Lisa Harris is a bestselling author, a Christy Award winner, and the winner of the Best Inspirational Suspense Novel for 2011 fromRomantic Times. She has sold over thirty novels and novella collections. Along with her husband, she and her three children have spent over ten years living as missionaries in Africa where she homeschools, leads a women's group, and runs a nonprofit organization that works alongside their church-planting ministry. The ECHO Project works in southern Africa promoting Education, Compassion, Health, and Opportunity and is a way for her to "speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves . . . the poor and helpless, and see that they get justice" (Proverbs 31:8).

When she's not working, she loves hanging out with her family, cooking different ethnic dishes, photography, and heading into the African bush on safari. For more information about her books and life in Africa, visit her website at www.lisaharriswrites.com or her blog at http://myblogintheheartofafrica.blogspot.com. For more information about The ECHO Project, please visit www.theECHOproject.org.

Every Little Thing by Deidra Riggs - REVIEWED

About the Book:
Everyone has had that moment--we see a need and we think, Someone really should do something about that, never imagining that we might be the answer. We don't have the time, the expertise, the money. We've got careers to manage, bills to pay, meals to prepare, and families to attend to. Besides, who are we to think we can change the world?

In this encouraging and empowering book, Deidra Riggs calls you to accept God's invitation to join him in making a difference right where you are, right now. She shows you that you were created with a purpose and with the capacities to fulfill that purpose. And she reminds you that while it's not up to you to fix the world, it is up to you to join God--and his people--in his redemptive work.

My Thoughts:

“One step is all that’s needed, and you can trust God to take it with you.”  (p.73)

Every Little Thing is a book that encourages and challenges you with every single chapter.  However, there is a chapter for everyone in which God whispers, “Listen closely.”  And then you stop.  You seek God in prayer, and you re-read, and pray some more.  God speaks through the words of this book, and as you follow examples set by the Biblical characters that grace the pages of this book, you understand, in a new way, what God is speaking into your own circumstances.

For me, this book was an ordained God appointment, because it intersected my life in tandem with a few other events – all of them pointing me in the same direction – to let go of fear and trust God completely with every moment of my life.  Becoming a single mom of two –almost-grown young adults – after thinking I’d grow old with the husband of my youth derailed me for a while.  And, just recently, a series of events that God ordained in my life, literally set me free from the fear, unforgivness  and doubt that had filled my heart.

Diedre’s move to Nebraska is a story she shares that challenged me to allow God to lead me in my next steps.  I think everyone who reads this book will be able to identify their “Nebraska”.  I did!!  In short, this book uses both personal and Biblical examples to lead readers into a more intimate relationship with Christ.  I will be recommended this book to all of my friends!!  I am thankful that I was able to read this fantastic book!

About the Author:

Deidra Riggs is an influential blogger at her own blog, JumpingTandem, as well as DaySpring's (in)courage and TheHighCalling.org, for which she is managing editor. She has been a speaker for TEDx and has organized her own women's retreat, hosting speakers like Lisa-Jo Baker, Holley Gerth, and many more. She and her husband have two adult children and live in Lincoln, Nebraska. Learn more at deidrariggs.com