Beguiled by Deeanne Gist and J. Mark Bertrand

Rylee is a Christian and a dog walker.  Her clients aren’t hard to please, but their owners won’t be too thrilled when they find out that local robberies are all being linked to her.  Will Rylee be able to figure out the mystery of the connection  between the robberies and her?  Will anyone believe the truth?

Logan is a reporter who is constantly digging for the truth.  Where Rylee  is concerned, he may have bitten off more than he can chew.  His research for his first book is focused on the robberies…but will he follow the facts or his heart?

The authors did a good job in this book of interweaving romance and suspense.  It’s nice to read a suspense novel that has romance with “purity”.  I really enjoyed this read.

Like a Bird Wanders

Julia is a young lady who breaking  free of her “religious” roots while going to college.  She believes she’s found just the man to trust to show her the world!  Will Julia see this world that she’s breaking into as an adventure or a mistake?  Will she remember the lessons the women in her family have tried to instill in her?

Grace, Julia’s great-grandmother, is watching Julia travel down the same path that she took.  How do you tell someone you love that you’ve already been where they’re going in life and it’s a mistake?  Will Grace be able to reach Julia by the letters and journals she’s left behind?

As the history of this family begins to unfold, the authors show you a glimpse of what could be Julia’s future if she continues on the road she’s chosen.  Grace’s past is a surprise to Julia and instills in her a determination…

Most of this book is written in letter/journal form.  This format took some getting used to.  Because of this format it took me a while to get into the story, but once I did I was thrilled to discover the past memories of this family and how they related to Julia.  The ending was a bit abrupt to me…I would have liked a little more resolution, but overall I enjoyed this book.

These three authors do a fine job of creating a family history that will benefit it’s future generations!

Never Say Never by Lisa Wingate

I’ve heard it said that a hurricane brings people together like nothing else…  In this book, Wingate does that in the literal sense with her characters!

Kai, a cruise ship worker, is surprised to wake up and realize that her ship has left without her!  With a hurricane on her tail and a convicted conscience, she struggles to make it far enough inland to remain safe.  Along this journey inland she makes several friends.  When her friends take her into their hometown, Kai finds something she didn’t know she was even missing…a place that feels like home.  Will there be a reason to stay in this town when the weather is clear?

Kemp, an injured pro-baseball player, had to return home to heal and rest.  When the town is overrun with hurricane victims, he does whatever he can to help.  When he is introduced to Kai he begins to think that maybe this hurricane is a blessing in disguise!  Will love prevail over the storms of his life?

Wingate did a great job of helping you understand her characters and why they do the things they do.  She pulls you into the story so that you can feel the hurricane raging around the characters.  This was a great read.

Not a Sparrow Falls by Linda Nichols

This book was a wonderful read.  Nichols creates her characters using “real life” personality and religion.  It’s refreshing to read a Christian romance novel with characters who aren’t perfect from the start.

Mary, a woman who is running from the demons of her past, stumbles upon the greatest blessing of her life yet…a family who needs her.  She struggles daily to reconcile who she was with who she is becoming.  How much should she tell this family of her past?  What will they think of her?

Alasdair, the perfect ideal of what a christian man should be, is starting to wonder if God is playing jokes on him.  He’s lost his wife, possibly his family, and now his career is in jeopardy!  How much can one man handle?  Will Alasdair be able to save his faith and his family?

How often does God send a beacon of hope in the form of a nanny?

Nichols intertwines the lives of her characters in a way that is realistic and draws you into their story.  This is a fantastic read for those who aren’t looking for a story about the perfect lives of Christians…but are searching for a story that demonstrates the perfect love of God.

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.

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!

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!