Quest 52 - A Review

 

Quest 52

by

Mark E. Moore

A Review

Quest 52 is a year-long look at the person of Jesus using a set of 52 devotions including daily readings for throughout the year. The book divides itself four groups of 13 studies based on four different themes:

1. The Person of Jesus
2. The Power of Jesus
3. The Preaching of Jesus
4. The Passion of Jesus

Each of the 52 studies consists of an extended essay (ca. 10 pages), 5 daily devotional exercises, and a collection of “bonus material” available on-lkine. These include videos and PDFs of helpful resources.

The book stands out for a variety of reasons. it is fully grounded in scripture. Scripture permeates both the essays, the daily devotions, and the bonus material. The reader will find himself or herself seeing Jesus in the Old and New Testament. This reader was also appreciative of the interactive nature of the study. The reader is guided as he or she takes a journey through the person and work of Christ - though the author does provide some explicit lessons, the reader is provided questions and material to work through on their own. Finally, the author recognizes that different people learn in different ways. There are plenty of opportunities for the reader to practice visual, aural, and tactile learning styles during each weeks study.

The book could be used as a stand alone study by an individual or as the basis of a small group or classroom study. The resulting volume is well worth the five-stars I am awarding it.

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This review is based on a free electronic copy provided by the publisher for the purpose of creating this review.  The opinions expressed are mine alone.  

Sleep Deprived - A Review

 

Sleep Deprived

by

Therese Heckenkamp

A Review

This faith-based story sees the lives of three missing babies intersect to save a marriage and destroy the life of one young man. Two of the children have died, one has been kidnapped.

Mea has lost a child and seeks to help another – but something backfires. She is accused of kidnapping and is set to spend the rest of her life in prison. The love of her husband and God’s answered prayer begin to rebuild her faith and allow her to regain her life.

This short novella served as a reminder of the pain of loss and the presence of God’s grace through that pain. I give the book five-stars.
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This review is based on a free electronic copy provided by the publisher for the purpose of creating this review. The opinions expressed are mine alone.

#Follow Me for Murder - A Review

 

#Follow Me
for Murder

by

Sarah E. Burr

A Review

The author has created a modern cozy mystery that combines the tech of Dick Tracy and the fashion sense of Glamour Magazine as she begins a new series of books featuring blogger and PR consultant Cordelia (aka Coco) Cline.

Cordelia’s current clients are Sean and Olivia Chen, owners of the soon to open Once Used, Twice Buy antique store. One morning Coco walks in and finds Stacy Lockner, a young woman hired to help set up the store, lying on the store floor, dead. The police originally set out to prove that Sean and Olivia are responsible for her death. Coco makes it her job to find the real killer and to salvage the reputation of the soon to be opened store. Cordelia takes a liking to Stacy and doubles down to find her killer.

The result is a story with enough turns and suspects to hold the reader’s attention from beginning to end. Coco and her friend feed bits of evidence to the local police and the county crime lab - some evidence sends the cops chasing the wrong suspects, but the clues that are discovered will eventually disclose the person responsible for the crime. I found little wrong with this title and easily give it five stars.
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This review is based on a free electronic copy provided by the publisher for the purpose of creating this review. The opinions expressed are mine alone.

Trace of Doubt - A Review

 

Trace of Doubt  

by

DiAnn Mills

A Review

Why do I remember

The sins that stalk my soul?

Why can’t I hold on to the

Forgiveness that makes me whole?

Ashes rise to steal my breath.

I choke from downing fear.

Help me, Lord, to cling to You

In never-ending prayer.

When I pick up a new book by DiAnn Mills, I expect to experience the best in Romantic Suspense. Trace of Doubt is no exception. Marissa is the epitome of evil; even the fifteen-year prison sentence had not changed her. Now she would kill her sister and her daughter and break her father’s heart.

Two narrators trade places throughout the book as Shelby Pearce and Denton McClure take turns telling their stories and how those stories interact with Marissa’s malignant behavior. It would not be easy as they each had to deal with lies and misconceptions that wounded their lives and the lives of those around them. They each would need to experience far more of God’s forgiveness and grace than they thought they needed. But He would provide.

The book was intense at places and held my attention. My only concern was the implication that a pastor can provide the level of counseling needed by two of the main characters. Unless the pastor had at least a MS in Counseling, the kind of support needed by Aria and Shelby should normally be done by a professional counselor. Seminary training is not sufficient for the consistent therapy these two women needed. I would suggest that an appropriate warning be added as part of the front matter or immediately following the book’s epilogue. Despite this oversight, the book is worthy of 5-stars.
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This review is based on a free electronic copy provided by the publisher for the purpose of creating this review. The opinions expressed are mine alone.

Deadly Ever After - A Review

 

Deadly Ever After

by

Eva Gates

A Review

I love being alone in the library after
closing. I believe that when it’s very quiet,
I can hear the rustle of conversation as the

characters chat to each other, the wind
moving through the sails of ships of old, the
chug of a steam-powered train passing through
the countryside, or the roar of jet engines
bearing a heroine off to adventure.

Eva Gates has again hit a homerun - a cozy mystery that invites the reader to spend time visiting the North Carolina’s Outer Banks wondering when the next murder will occur. The author reminds us again that the lighthouse truly exists, though it is not a library, and can be visited on our vacation. We can then climb the 214 steps to the top to see the view of the ocean, the marshland, and communities that make up Nags Head.

It is within this lovely setting that we discover that Boston lawyer Richard Eric Lewiston the Second has been murdered on the back steps of one of the community's best restaurants. The suspects are numerous. including family, friends, mistresses, and a few others. Assistant Librarian Lucy Richardson will again be thrust into a murder mystery that she does not want to be involved in but must be involved in to protect the reputation of those she cares about.

It was not clear whether this will be the last of the series (I hope not), but is worth reading regardless. It held my interest while I attempted to finish the book in my allotted four days. This is the second book I have read in this series, but the book has no immediate holes if a reader would have missed previous volumes. I give this cozy mystery 5-stars.

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This review is based on a free electronic copy provided by the publisher for the purpose of creating this review. The opinions expressed are mine alone.

The Heart of Anger - A Review

 

The Heart of Anger

by

Christopher Ash and Steve Midgley

A Review

A well-written description of anger and its impact on the human condition. After reading this 200+ page book I don’t know whether to classify it as a theology of anger, a counseling textbook (an ancillary text), or a self-help book - and in fact it is all three. As a theology text, the book explores how anger is defined and expressed by both God and man. As a counseling textbook it will prepare the helping professional to address the causes and repercussions of unaddressed anger. As a self-help book, the book allows the reader to address their own concerns and to move forward in their life.

The book also includes a number of helpful appendices:

1. A Checklist for Our Anger - to help evaluate where and how we need help to understand the reader’s personal struggle with anger.
2. A Devotional Response to Our Anger - guiding the believer in his response before God as they address anger in their lives.
3. General Index
4. Scripture Index

These last two were not available for review in the Advanced Reader’s Copy I received.

The book is not difficult reading and is rooted in scripture. It has a place on both the pastor’s shelf and in the church library’s. I give the book 5-stars.
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This review is based on a free electronic copy provided by the publisher for the purpose of creating this review. The opinions are mine alone.

Irish Parade Murder - A Review

 

Irish Parade Murder

by
Leslie Meier

A Review

I grew up reading Agatha Christie and Sherlock Holmes mysteries - bur that is about as close I got to cozy mysteries until the early 1990s when I discovered the series of Lucy Stone mysteries written by Leslie Meier. I read as many Lucy Stone books as I could for the next seven or eight years; but, because life goes on, I moved to other authors and genres. However, over the past year I have again stumbled upon this imaginative and fun cozy mystery writer. It was eleven months ago I found myself reading British Murder, a compilation of two earlier Lucy Stone books. This past week I found myself reading the newest book in the series, Irish Parade Murder (2021) and I was not disappointed.

Lucy Stone, a reporter for the local small town weekly newspaper, finds herself uncovering the details of a murder for which her main, newly hired, competition at the paper is charged. In the process she finds that she will nearly become the killer’s next victim.

I was up late for two or three nights in a row, not being able to put the book down while my eyes wanted me to put my head down on the pillow. This is a cozy mystery lover’s cozy mystery. I easily give it five stars.
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This review is based on a free electronic copy provided by the publisher for the purpose of creating this review. The opinions are mine alone.

Room of Marvels - A Review

 

Room of Marvels

By
James Bryan Smith

Following in the tradition of Pilgrim’s Progress, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Five People You Meet in Heaven, and The Shack, Room of Marvels fit in nicely.

I would recommend that every reader keep a box of tissues nearby as they follow Tim on his trip through heaven. The book is a work of fiction but it finds its roots in a series of daydreams the author originally had some 20+ years ago. Within a short period of time, the author had lost a close friend, his mother, and his disabled daughter through death - a series of devastating losses. The daydreams helped him process his grief; he made notes of the dreams and eventually published his story in September 2007. Now, 13 years later, it is being re-released by a new publisher, Intervarsity Press.

In the book, Tim meets the three people who died and others - and begins to understand what God was trying to accomplish through those tough times of his life. He begins to process his grief. One of the gifts that the book offers is a detailed explanation of how the people Tim meets in his journey to heaven are closely connected to the people in the author's real life. He then reflects on the growth he has experienced since writing the original book 13 years ago. The book concludes with a series of study questions for individual or group use. It is a spiritual journey of his walk through grief both as the events transpired and as he has continued to grow. In the end, it offers the reader HOPE in multiple ways.

For those experiencing grief, for those who work with those experiencing grief, the book will find a home. It belongs in the church library. And, again, keep tissues nearby.
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This review is based on a free electronic copy provided by the publisher for the purpose of creating this review. The opinions expressed are my own.

Relative Silence - A Review

Relative Silence

By
Carrie Stuart Parks

In the words of Corrie Ten Boom,
“Never be afraid to trust an unknown future
to a known God.”
              [Carrie Stuart Parks]

Carrie Parks' latest book started off slow, feeling like I was reading a high schooler’s stilted initial attempts at storytelling rather than a work coming from an experienced and accomplished writer. The book ended on a different note - I could not put it down as Piper Boone and her group of close friends managed to survive the night living through a Cat-4 or -5 hurricane. The author came through with a winning romantic, faith-based, suspense, thriller.

The prologue opens with Piper sending her three-year-old daughter off with her father to spend the day boating and visiting the South Carolina mainland; by the end of the day, her daughter was missing; and by the end of the week, she was declared dead. Chapter one opens 15 years later with a serial killer shooting the patrons of a small South Carolina café, killing Piper’s high school friend and two other lunch diners. From there the story introduces the reader to other participants in Piper’s life and history. We are introduced to a dysfunctional family that can only begin to recover with the unmerited grace of God. Forgiveness will need to be asked and to be given if healing is to be part of this family’s future.

The book has a great deal to teach about those themes of grace and forgiveness - both human and divine. It was well worth my time, and I was glad to be able to read it.
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This review is based on a free electronic copy provided by the publisher for the purpose of creating this review. The opinions expressed are my own.

Dead End - A Review

Dead End

by

Nancy Mehl

Norman Webber had just received s new, and unwanted, birthday gift - a metal detector. He was surprised when, on his first day out, he discovered a large diamond ring. His wife was extremely happy with the discovery until he pointed out that it was attached to the finger of a dead woman.

Thus begins Dead End. The book is a faith-based, emotional, and romantic, thriller starring protagonists FBI Special Agent Kaely Quinn and FBI Special Agent Noah Hunter, first introduced in Nancy Mehl’s Mind Games and Fire Storm. Both Quinn and Hunter are based out of the St. Louis, MO, FBI Field Office, and were surprised to receive a call for help from Des Moines, IA, normally served by the Omaha, NE, FBI Field Office. First thinking it was a mistake, before finding there were very valid reasons for their involvement, they would be assigned to assist for a month in the case under the jurisdiction of the Des Moines, IA, Police Department.

The book held the reader’s attention as it wrapped together elements of an old case whose perpetrator is serving a life sentence in prison and a new case begun with the discovery of the diamond ring by Norman Webber. The reader will watch Quinn and Hunter as they seek to discover the new UNSUB and listen to the UNSUB’s twisted mind as he seeks to lead them astray. The climax is a mixed blessing as it ties together some threads seen in all three novels, but it also leaves some plot holes that the reader hopes might be answered in a fourth book. Alas, there is no hint that a fourth book is in the works.

The book deserves a place in the church library as well in the public library. Readers enjoying books from this genre will have a difficult time putting the book down.
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This review is based on a free electronic copy provided by the publisher for the purpose of creating this review. The opinions expressed are my own.

100 Bible Verses That Made America - A Review

100 Bible Verses

That Made America

by

Robert J Morgan

Robert J. Morgan has a history of writing books that provide helpful additions to the preacher’s library. The current book does just that as he focuses on 100 texts that shaped the people that would shape America. He begins with a sermon preached on December 21, 1511, by Antonio de Montesinos (known as “the first defender of human rights in the Americas”) on Matthew 3:3. He concludes with quotes from Barack Obama made at the National Prayer Breakfast on February 13, 2015, focusing on II Timothy 1:7, and from Donald Trump’s comments made at the National Prayer Breakfast on February 7, 2019, drawing from John 16:24.

Each entry is three to four pages in length and demonstrates the Scripture’s place in a historical context with copious documentation at the end of the book from historical records or from critical scholarship discussing the people and events mentioned in the devotional.

Page Images From Amazon.com

Each devotional is insightful and practical. Given our current place in US history (Spring 2020), the book helps the reader appreciate the role the church and the Scripture had in our history. The book might serve as a devotional for the layperson or as sermon or teaching illustrations for the pastor or Sunday school teacher. It would also find a home in the church, the Bible School, or the Seminary, library.
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This review is based on a free electronic copy provided by the publisher for the purpose of creating this review. The opinions expressed are my own.

The Traitor’s Pawn - A Review

The Traitor’s Pawn

by

Lisa Harris

Houston Police Detective Aubrey Grayson had come to Corpus Christie for a vacation. On the first day of her trip she found herself and former senator Grant “Papps” McKenna being shot at - and Papps was within a moment or two of dying. Before the day was over she would find the boat she was in being targeted with rocket grenades and hearing that the FBI was accusing her father of selling national secrets. Her father said he was being set up. As Aubrey muses, “This had turned into some kind of game of cloak-and-dagger. Stolen government secrets, rogue agents, and dead bodies. And she’d ended up smack-dab in the middle of it all.” It did not make sense.

Lisa Harris has created another 5-star faith-based, romantic, suspense novel that will hold the reader’s attention from page 1 to the very last page. I have been privileged to read several of Lisa Harris’ books and I don’t remember being disappointed - and she does not disappoint here.

Those who enjoy the genre will find the book satisfying. The book also will fit well into the church or public library.
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This review is based on a free electronic copy provided by the publisher for the purpose of creating this review. The opinions expressed are my own.

Chasing the White Lion - A Review

Chasing the White Lion

by 

James R. Hannibal

Adam Taylor and his crew of ex-crooks, along with a CIA agent or two, have taken over for TNT’s Leverage. They are using a series of cons to take down an international gang of criminals as well as those at the very top of the chain. To do so, they would need to travel from Russia to Washinton DC to the Czech Republic to Thailand to Greece.

In the process of taking down the gang, they would save several groups of children targeted for trafficking around the world. And Talia would learn the meaning of trust - both in her colleagues and in God. It would be a hard lesson to learn.

The author has done a good job of weaving the role faith can play into the lives of ordinary (or are they extraordinary) individuals. Though faith plays a role in the plot, this reader had no feeling that it overran the main storyline, but fit nicely into kt. The book represents the best of faith-based suspense thrillers

Suitable for personal, public, and church libraries. It is not difficult to give this book a five-star rating.

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This review is based on a free electronic copy provided by the publisher for the purpose of creating this review. The opinions expressed are my own.

British Murder - A Review

British Murder

by

Leslie Meier

This book felt like I hit the jackpot - I was able to read two books for the price of one. English Tea Mystery was originally published in 2011. British Manor Mystery was originally published in 2016. The publisher has now combined them into a single volume - making for a longer, but still enjoyable, read

The first book has the reader joining an academic trip to Britain. Much of the book reads more like a travel guide than a cozy mystery. Without the murders, the book could almost be used as the itinerary for a week-or-two visit to England. The country was beautiful. It would be nearly a perfect trip except when Professor George Temple, the group’s leader, died on the group’s flight from New York to London. Lucy Shaw and her travel companion, Sue Finch, would continue to question the death for the entire trip. It was not quite the experience they had signed up for

The second book arises because of a brief contact that Sue had made during that first trip. Lucy was depressed - her family was growing up and moving away. To pull her out of her depression Sue invites her to join her on a trip back to England to display portions of her hat collection in a curated display at Moreton Manor, the ancestral home of Perry and Poppy. It went well until bodies started popping up in unlikely places - the very center of a complex maze located on the property and behind the walls of a hidden room that could only be discovered by following the smell or counting the windows on the outside of the manor’s tower. Lucy was again going to discover that murder does not make a great vacation.

Two well-written cozy mysteries make for a fun week of reading. Unless the reader or library already has one or both of these books in their collection, this book would make a good addition to that collection.
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This review is based on a free electronic copy provided by the publisher for the purpose of creating this review. The opinions expressed are my own.

It's A Numberful World - A Review

It's A Numberful World

by

Eddie Woo

I picked up the book expecting to find an assortment of number and mathematical based trivia. Though not entirely wrong, the book is more scholarly than the typical trivia book. The book is not full of equations but is aimed much more at the visual learner - filled with illustrations and graphs. Each chapter tackles a specific topic of interest in mathematics and illustrates its place in our natural world.  For example, Chapter 7 is entitled “What Sunflowers Know About the Universe”. In the course of 20 pages the author takes the reader through a study of symmetry, into a discussion of the golden ratio, and concludes by saying:

A BRIEF NOTE: It’s not really that sunflowers are intelligent beings who worked out the equations to come to this conclusion -- but simply that any ancestral sunflowers that didn’t use the golden ratio produced fewer seeds per flower, and were therefore weeded out by the process of natural selection. But the fact that this natural algorithm should arrive at a mathematical truth like this is almost as beautiful as the fact that human beings calculated it through their ingenuity and insight!

The author, an Australian public school teacher, has been named Australia’s “Teacher of the Year” and identified as one of the top ten teachers of the world. In 2018, he was named “Australia’s Local Hero of the Year”.  This book serves as great evidence for the validity of those honors. More information about the author can be found on Wikipedia and with a Google search. As a Christian, I found the dedication of interest:

Dedicated to the Author of Life

“Mathematics is the language with

which God has written the universe.”

—Galileo Galilei

Though mathematical, it is not a difficult read - and will be enjoyed by many.  Whether a mathematician, a physicist, a general lover of knowledge, this book has a place on your bookshelf or bed stand. The junior high and high school library will want a copy on their shelves. This is also true of the liberal arts college library. It is less likely to be found on the shelves of the university library, but perhaps on the coffee table in the math department’s lounge. 

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This review is based on a free electronic copy provided by the publisher for the purpose of creating this review.  The opinions expressed are my own.

Vow of Justice

by

Lynette Eason

Justice and Revenge are not the same things - a lesson that would be difficult to learn and to live out for FBI Special Agent Allison Radcliffe. She would come face to face with people who had killed her family 15 years ago, she would also see the brother she thought she had lost in the same events and whom she thought dead. The tears would flow. But in the middle of all the pain and confusion, her faith would grow in unexpected ways.

Lynette Eason has written a faith-based thriller that would compete well with the likes of NCIS:LA or Criminal Minds if found on TV. The plot is solid with just enough turns to keep the reader wanting more. And if the hint embedded at the end of the book is any clue, more is to come.

Unlike her earlier book, Code of Valor, the book does not focus on a cultural issue, but on more personal issues that many face, Maybe not as intense as Allie’s, but just as real. The book would be a welcome addition to the church library - either as part of the set of four books in the series or as an independent purchase. It would also serve as a welcome addition to the public library willing to include faith-based books in its collection. Any reader enjoying well-written thrillers would find the book a good weekend’s worth of reading.
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This review is based on a free electronic copy provided by the publisher for the purpose of creating this review. The opinions expressed are my own.

Cold Aim - A Review

Cold Aim

by

Janice Cantore

Cold Aim is a Faith based crime thriller set in the Rogue Valley outside Medford Falls, OR; it is an exciting sit-on-the-edge-of your-seat story focusing on the issues of international human trafficking and the work of national and local law enforcement’s to intervene in putting a stop to its evil.

With roots 25 years in the past, Police Chief O’Rourke and her small force, working with the county sheriff, the FBI, and the local pastor, Oliver Macpherson, would be responsible for rescuing two local women as well as a score of others located around the country and the world. The reader quickly learns that human trafficking is not just a problem elsewhere or on the international front, but will sometimes need to be dealt with in the local community as well.

But the solution would not come easy - the death of both the innocent and the guilty would provide milestones toward the arrest and capture of the crime family’s long time head. Their work would also lead to the freedom of many (both physically and spiritually) as they moved closer to apprehending those responsible for stealing the childhood of so many. In the midst of the story both Chief O’Rourke and Pastor Macpherson would be facing their own spiritual crisis as they sought to follow the path God laid out in front of them.

The only flaw I found in the book is that occasionally the main characters would reflect on events found in earlier books in the series. This in no way detracts from the current story or leaves the reader at a loss, but a footnote pointing the reader to the earlier books might alert the current reader that the earlier stories are available and can also be read.

For the reader looking for an exciting week of reading, Cold Aim might just fill that need. This book has a place on the shelf of the church library and the local community library’s shelves.______________
This review is based on a free electronic copy provided by the publisher for the purpose of creating this review. The opinions expressed are my own.

NIV Starting Place Study Bible - A Review

NIV
Starting Place
Study Bible

Zondervan

Designed to be the initial Study Bible for a typical new believer, the NIV Starting Place Study Bible would appear to accomplish that goal.

Borrowing from some of Zondervan’s most helpful Study Bibles, the NIV Starting Place Study Bible provides a wealth of information to the new Bible student. The six underlying resources are as follows:

• The Essential Bible Companion
• NIV Quest Study Bible
• NIV Foundational Study Bible
• NIV Archaeological Study Bible
• NIV Student Bible
• NIV Rock Solid Faith Study Bible

With the exception of the last, each of the above resources is well-known and appreciated by this reviewer. Having never the Rock Solid Faith Study Bible, I cannot comment directly on its value. Included are a variety of helps:

• Book Introductions
• Study Notes keyed to Biblical passages
• Context Notes providing background material
• Q & A Notes providing answers to key questions
• Bible Character studies
• Introductions to key Bible Truths
• Subject Index
• Dictionary - Concordance

Designed using a four color (black, white, yellow, and gold) layout, there is useful information on almost every page. I would recommend that pastors and others use the underlying Study Bible resources; but for the new student of the Bible, this Study Bible is a useful resource. It will not be the last Bible most students of any age will want, but it is a great place to begin.
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This review is based on a free copy provided by the publisher for the purpose of creating this review. The opinions expressed are my own.