Corner of Blue by Sharon McAnear

What a fantastic read!  Set in Texas, this story deals with the issue of romance and prejudice in a loving and heart-warming way.

Jemmabeth is a girl trying to find her way in life and this book is about her journey through romance.  She has known love, but decides that she wants to see if there is anything or anyone more exciting out in the world.  She finds excitement, but happiness still eludes her.  When she returns home to nurse a broken heart, she realizes that what she had in the past wasn’t so bad.

While staying with her grandma, Jemmabeth discovers a blossoming friendship from “across the tracks”.  She strives to change the towns point of view by refusing to care what others think about her new friend.  Will their friendship survive the prejudice of the town?

This book touches on many issues in Jemmabeth’s life.  McAnear does a great job of bringing Jemmabeth to life and making you love her.  This was a book that is well worth the time to read it…but be forewarned that it is a series.  Be sure and have all the books in The Jemma Series so you won’t be left on the edge of your seat with no conclusion!

I decided I would read and write a review of this book for the website, but I couldn’t do it.  The book is full of the worst kind of violence from beginning to end (at least until I stopped reading…I wasn’t able to finish it!).

If you are thinking of reading it, be forewarned that it is filled with extreme accounts of and memories of violence.

Recently I re-read most of the Harry Potter books for the release of the newest movie. I wondered as I was reading what people in the religious world thought of the books. I remember the uproar in the churches when these books were first released. I remember hearing from the pulpit how evil these books were and to stay away from them. At the time I hadn’t read them and I thought that every preacher that was preaching against them had…so…I wanted to read them and see what was so bad about this particular series.

Well, I read them and I have to say that I don’t think many preachers have read the whole series. I do believe that if you’re going to preach against a book, you need to have read it so you can defend your views to those who have read it. As for evil, there are all sorts of evils in the book, but they are usually cast in that exact light. Harry, the main character, is a pre-teen who strives to be a good friend, and have loyalty to those whom he cares for. If anything, this is a great example, for pre-teens especially because today the mentality is “me first”. Harry puts his friends and “family” (staff of Hogwarts) first. I think this sends a great message.

I know that the church’s main concern with the Harry Potter series is the magic that is a central part of the books. The bible does speak against sorcerers, but the majority who read these books aren’t looking to become “dark lords”.  As a parent, or a reader, you have to be careful that you’re mature enough to resist any pull into the world of the “dark arts”. These books are written as fiction and for entertainment. I really enjoyed them, but I wasn’t tempted to become a sorceress.

I really enjoy these books because they give you a glimpse into another world. A world that we can only enter into through these books. I do not consider these books evil, but I do want to warn you to read them as fiction. Enjoy them and let me know what you think!

Angels & Demons by Dan Brown

This book really took  some concentration.  It is very technical in some places because the main characters are scientific geniuses!

If you liked The Davinci Code you will probably enjoy this book.

Robert Langdon, a Harvard professor, gets a call inquiring into his knowledge of the Illuminati.  He hops on a plane and views a horrific crime.  This starts a chain of events that mentally challenges and physically exhausts Langdon.

Vitorria, a scientific genius, works alongside Langdon to catch a criminal before time runs out.  She made a scientific discovery that will have great implications for the Catholic Church.

This book contains amazing information and historical details.  The Catholic Church is used to create conspiracy and intrigue.  I was a little disappointed that the Catholic church played such a big role in the book, yet Brown wrote the story in such a way that there is a lack of spiritual insight and morality for the characters that matter.

Angels & Demons will leave you guessing and keep you hooked until the end.

The Host by Stephenie Meyer

Although it took me a little while to really get into this story, I was very pleased with the depth of the writing that eventually presented itself.

This story is about “aliens” who go from planet to planet in the universe infecting a host and experiencing that planet from the host’s body.  In this book the aliens, who call themselves souls, have come to Earth and are using humans as their hosts.

The “soul” is placed on the spinal cord in the back of the humans neck.  It then proceeds to take over the hosts body and push out the original human.  Problems arise when the soul called Wanderer takes over the host body of Melanie Stryder, a rebel human who is running and hiding from this alien invasion.  Melanie refuses to give her body over to Wanderer…so they have to co-exist in her body.  It can get confusing when two people are speaking in one mind!

Melanie has secrets that she refuses to share with Wanderer.  These are secrets that she would give up her life for…will Wanderer dig them out and use them against Melanie?

It took quite a while for this story to capture my interest, but don’t give up.  It’s worth the read!

I just finished reading the Twilight Saga (Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, Breaking Dawn) by Stephenie Meyer for the fourth time.  I read through it this last time looking specifically at the religious implications of the story.  Have any of you looked at this aspect?

The first few times I read Twilight, I was so caught up in the story that I didn’t try to analyze any other ideas in the books.  It wasn’t until we were discussing the series in Sunday School that I really got to thinking about it.

I’m sure a lot of skeptics of the morality of the Twilight series.  But I read through the books looking for positive ideals that go along with the Christian Faith.

First, Edward struggles with the idea that he might not have a soul, and therefore might end up in Hell.  The fact that Heaven and Hell are even brought up in a mainstream fiction was very encouraging to me.  Also, Edward’s goal is to get Bella to the “better place” aka Heaven, even if he doesn’t get to go there.  A true evangelistic heart!  Edward demonstrates a very sincere, selfless kind of love, the kind of love a Christian should have.

The second thing that I found very encouraging for a mainstream fiction is the abstinence of the main characters.  Very rarely, if ever, is abstinence until marriage written about in a top selling fiction novel.  Even more rare is the fact that the motivation for that abstinence is the fate of the characters’ souls.

I loved being able to read this series the third and fourth time knowing that while immersed in Edward and Bella’s world, there would be a morality that would allow me to read with a clear conscious.  With some secular fiction you have to be very careful.  In this series of novels there are a few places where the characters use cursing to express themselves, but I would guess it is much less than many of us hear in our everyday lives.

Overall, I loved this saga.  I would encourage each of you to read it and form your own opinions about it.  Some Christian associates of mine have discredited the Twilight Saga because it is about mythical “monsters” that are supposed to be evil, yet these people haven’t read the books.  I’m one who likes to take in all the information and form my own opinions.  Let me know what you think!

As an enthusiastic reader of Christian Romance Novels, I can honestly say that this book did not disappoint. Usually, in a Christian romance you know which way the plot is going to turn just a little ways into the book…this book is different. You are longing for a happy ending, and you’re not positive it will come.

The plot and subject matter in this book, I’ll try not to spoil, is very mysterious. I have never read a Christian romance book that dealt with this particular problem before and it was refreshing to read deeper into the mystery and gain a deeper understanding of the characters and all they went through.

The author weaves a love story around the main characters Melanie and Joel. They fall in love and Melanie only knows the vaguest basics of Joel’s life. This leaves Melanie wondering how well she really knows the man she claims to love. Someone from the past arrives and Joel is forced to demonstrate his love for Melanie in the most painful way imagineable.

This book is a very entertaining read as you try to figure out:

• What is Joel hiding?

• Will Joel and Melanie’s love survive?

• Will there be that “Happily Ever After” that CRN readers crave?

I hope you enjoy A Scarlet Cord as much as I did.

A. Gail