Prison Fellowship has done a series of videos which is a 5-part documentary film series following one man as he re-enters his community after 15 years in prison. The first episode, which is just short of 5 minutes, is below to view for free.
The video chronicles his entry into the prison system, and what it is like to get out and enter society. There are clips from his wife telling what it was like to be without him, and clips of him discussing what he missed out on. I am able to view more episodes, but my internet has been bad this week, so I just viewed the first... but it is well done, and gives a compassionate look at someone who has done their time, and is now trying to do right.
More about the series:
For years, Jonathan has been in prison. As a result, he has missed milestone moments with his family. He wasn’t there for his daughter’s first day of school or a thousand little experiences with his wife and as a father, he is devastated to be separated from those he loves most.
Jonathan has been looking forward to his release from prison for over a decade. So many life events have been missed and he is now ready to be with his wife and kids again. Of course, this transition isn't going to be easy. The odds are against him: with over half of prisoners returning to prison within two years, Jonathan is aware of the challenge set before him.
Still, he is determined to take the skills he has learned into the world outside of incarceration and stay there, helping build the community that he is part of for years to come.
Prison Fellowship presents The Restoration Series: Jonathan’s Walk, a 5-part documentary film series following one man as he re-enters his community after 15 years in prison. It demonstrates in imagery, powerful storytelling and social interaction what it means to be human and the shared need of all people to see communities restored.
Though America is home to only 4% of the world's population, we house more than 20% of its prisoners. Recidivism–the tendency of a criminal to reoffend—is out of control. The Restoration Series tells the story of men and women who have experienced The Academy, a revolutionary in-prison program that is combating incarceration and recidivism head on.
Thanks to FlyBy Promotions for this promotion.
Thursday, February 21, 2019
The Restoration Series: Jonthan's Walk
Saturday, February 9, 2019
Breach of Trust, Atlanta Justice #3 by Rachel Dylan
Corporate litigator Mia Shaw suffers the shock of her life when she finds her colleague and friend brutally murdered. Grief-stricken and furious, Mia vows that she will do anything to seek justice and make the killer pay.
The man accused of the murder is a friend of security tech guru Noah Ramirez, but the evidence just doesn't add up. To save his former ATF partner, Noah needs to convince Mia that the real killer is still on the loose.
Mia soon has more than the criminal prosecution to worry about, however. She is tasked with taking over her friend's last case and learns he was hiding secrets about his client. She thinks she may have stumbled upon corporate espionage that has turned deadly, but she has no idea of the danger involved. Her only ally is Noah, despite their difference of opinion on the homicide case. Can he win Mia over to his side and protect her from ever-growing threats?
My review:
I enjoy legal thrillers, and there haven't been many authors on the Christian market who write them. The few who have done so have been men......which is fine, as there are not enough "guy books" on the Christian fiction market.
Rachel Dylan is one of two female authors who have started writing legal thrillers in the last few years, and she does a great job of it. Legal thrillers can be tricky things. If the legal talk and work is too complicated, readers like me who aren't very well versed in legal "stuff" will lose interest and be lost.
This third and final book in the suspenseful Atlanta Justice Series revolves around corporate espionage, which doesn't sound too interesting to be honest. However, Dylan makes it interesting. I was fascinated by how and why some things happened in the book.
These three books center on six people: three female friends who are all lawyers, and three guys who are all members of a security company. (Spoiler: the three guys get the girls). :) The male in this story is Noah, the tech expert of the company. The author used him to help work on the espionage case with his computer expertise, which also was interesting.
Not only is the legal and courtroom parts of the book done well, but so is the suspense. Maybe I am wrong, but it seemed the suspense was ratcheted up even more in the third book than the other two...regardless, this suspense junkie loved those parts of the book and kept me turning the pages as fast as I could.
I mentioned the guy getting the girl....so romance also plays a big part in the story, and it also was well done and not cheesy or gag inducing. (Hey, I am a bachelor!)
And last, but not least, the Christian element. Mia is a fledgling Christian, and there were some interesting and thought provoking things that came up in discussions between her and Noah, a preacher's son who had not always lived his faith.
This was a great conclusion to a very good series.
I was given a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
About the author:
Rachel Dylan writes legal thrillers and legal romantic suspense. Rachel has practiced law for over a decade including being a litigator at one of the nation’s top law firms. She enjoys weaving together legal and suspenseful stories. Rachel writes the Atlanta Justice Series which features strong, female attorneys in Atlanta. Deadly Proof, the first book in the Atlanta Justice series, is a CBA bestseller, an FHL Reader’s Choice Award winner, a Daphne du Maurier Finalist, and a Holt Medallion Finalist. Rachel lives in Michigan with her husband and five fur kids--two dogs and three cats. Rachel loves to connect with readers. You can find Rachel at www.racheldylan.com.
The Atlanta Justice Series is available from Bethany House Publishers, part of the Baker Publishing Group.
Saturday, February 2, 2019
Never Let Go, Uncommon Justice #1 by Elizabeth Goddard
As a forensic genealogist, Willow Anderson is following in her late grandfather's footsteps in her quest for answers about a baby abducted from the hospital more than twenty years ago. The case may be cold, but things are about to heat up when someone makes an attempt on her life to keep her from discovering the truth.
Ex-FBI agent--and Willow's ex-flame--Austin McKade readily offers his help to protect the woman he never should have let get away. Together they'll follow where the clues lead them, even if it means Austin must face the past he's spent much of his life trying to forget. And even if it puts Willow's tender heart at risk.
In this fast-paced and emotional page-turner, bestselling author Elizabeth Goddard keeps the stakes high, the romantic tension sparking, and the outcome uncertain until the very end.
My review:
This was a new author to me. I think it is the author's first trade paperback book, having written mass market paperbacks in the Love Inspired Suspense line of books. I had the chance to join the launch team for the book, and jumped at the chance since it sounded good and I like Christian suspense.
The forensic genealogist was a new one to me, and one I found interesting.
Characters are important to me, and I really liked Willow and Austin. The story pretty much focused equally on both, especially with Austin's past and his dealing..or not dealing with it. It looks like each book in this series is going to center on each of 3 brothers, which begs the question to why there are women on the books instead of guys......hey, I am a guy, of course I'd wonder :)
Christian suspense is my favorite genre' to read, and Goddard brought it in spades. This is not one of those books where you go a few chapters before something exciting happens. The exciting and suspenseful parts happen a lot. This was a book that once I started reading it, I didn't want to put it down. Unfortunately the day I started it, I read it on my breaks at work, so I had to put it down.....but finished it that evening at home.
I even enjoyed the romantic aspect of the story. This was a book where the couple had dated before, but had broken up....a bad break up, but now are working together. You know they will get back together, but it is fun and entertaining to watch how it happens.
If this is an example of Goddard's writing, I am hooked and want to read more by her. I really liked the book, all parts of it: plot, setting, romance, suspense, drama, investigating techniques, etc. It wound down to a suspenseful and satisfying climax, and only left me wanting more, and looking forward to the next book in the story: Austin's brother Heath's story. (Again, the dude should be on the cover if it is his story) :)
This is a book and author I can honestly recommend, and deserves every one of the possible 5 stars possible.
I was given a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
About the author:
Elizabeth Goddard is the bestselling, award-winning author of more than thirty romance novels, including the romantic mystery, The Camera Never Lies—a 2011 Carol Award winner. A 7th generation Texan, Elizabeth graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and worked in high-level software sales for several years before retiring to home school her children and fulfill her dreams of becoming an author.
Check out her website at ElizabethGoddard.com
Never Let Go is available from Revell Publishing, part of the Baker Publishing Group.
Secrets at Cedar Cabin, Lavender Tides #3 by Colleen Coble
From USA TODAY bestselling author Colleen Coble comes the third book in her beloved Lavender Tides series.
Her mother lied about her identity and her husband wasn’t who she thought he was—can Bailey even trust herself anymore?
Running for her life in the wake of her mother’s murder, Bailey Fleming escapes to the only place she can think of—a remote, dilapidated cabin in Lavender Tides. Intending to finally get to the truth behind the lies of her past, Bailey only finds more questions when bodies are discovered near her cabin hideout along with traces of a dangerous human trafficking ring. In an unlikely partnership with FBI agent Lance Phoenix, Bailey races to understand the mystery surrounding her life and circumstances before the murderer tracks her down.
Meanwhile, Lance is determined to rescue his sister, Ava, who was abducted after running away from home as a teenager. An unexpected lead brings him to the remote cabin, and he wonders if Bailey—with her suspicious past and strange connections to his sister’s case—is really who she claims to be and if she can somehow lead him to Ava.
Filled with Colleen Coble's custom blend of suspense and romance, Secrets at Cedar Cabin takes us back to the evocative landscape of Washington's coast where nothing is quite as it seems.
My review:
When asked who my favorite author is, I cannot narrow it down to just one. I have more than a few, and Collen Coble has become one of those favorites. She never, ever disappoints. Of all the series she has done, this has to be her best so far...though I was partial to the series she did at the Outer Banks, my favorite vacation spot.
Each book in this trilogy is its own story, but there is one story woven through all three. Three siblings separated over 20 years before, the youngest two not knowing the other two existed, and the oldest not knowing at first the other two were alive. In addition to the usual awesome suspense in Coble's books, this made the series even more interesting as she slowly reuinted these two sisters and their brother, all very likable characters.
Secrets at Cedar Cabin revolves around human trafficking/sex trade. It isn't the first novel I have read that addresses it, but as entertaining and suspenseful the book was, it also brought a new horror and disgust at the reminder that this goes on in our country, and most likely more than we realize or want to think about.
Coble brought back several of the characters from the other books, and added some new ones that are just as likable. The suspense was non stop, and I was honestly surprised and shocked at the identity of the bad guy. I didn't even consider the person as a suspect of the evil trafficking ring.
As with all of Coble's books, this is a romantic suspense novel, so you knew the two main characters were bound to get together by the end of the book. I have come to enjoy the romantic element, and root for the guy to get the girl, even though that may not be the typical male response to romance in a book.
There were some pretty intense moments in the book where it looked like all was lost......even though I didn't figure that was the case....but that is a mark of a true suspense novelist. Even though you are pretty sure of a happy ending and rescue, it is suspenseful enough to keep you on the edge of the seat. And Secrets of Cedar Cabin did just that.
I was given a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
About the author:
USAToday bestselling author Colleen Coble lives with her husband, Dave, in Indiana. She is the author of dozens of novels including the Rock Harbor Series, the Aloha Reef Series, the Mercy Falls Series, the Hope Beach Series, the Lonestar Series and two Women of Faith fiction selections, Alaska Twilight and Midnight Sea. She has more than 2 million books in print.
Check out her website at CollenCoble.com
Secrets at Cedar Cabin is available from Thomas Nelson, along with the other two books and novella.
Stratagem by Robin Caroll
A High-Stakes Simulation Adventure Leaves Grayson Thibodeaux the Prime Suspect. . .for Murder
Deep in the gritty underbelly of New Orleans, psychologist Grayson Thibodeaux loses everything when his wife leaves him to climb her company’s corporate ladder. He buries himself in his job of creating mind-bending adventure games for businesses as team-building explorations. When his ex-wife’s company hires Grayson’s to create an elaborate game, he doesn’t see how things can get worse. Until she dies during the course of the game he created…making him the prime suspect for murder.
My review:
This is a different kind of book for being Christian suspense. For one thing, the book centers on and is from the perspective of a male, though the book is was written by a woman. Kudos to her for doing so. The Christian fiction market tends to be geared more for women, and it was refreshing to read a book that wasn't that way so much.
The plot was really good, and the game that the plot centered around was quite a genius idea for Carroll to come up with.
This is a classic "who dun it", and it was a great one. I had a suspect early in the book, but was wrong. I was leaning towards another, who turned out to be the correct one, though the author did change my mind briefly on that and had me suspecting the opposite sex briefly of who I was suspecting
There are a lot of police interviewing suspects and others involved, which could be monotonous, but Caroll did those well and they were interesting and even amusing at times.
Grayson was the main character, and was a very likable one who you could not help but feel bad for and believe in his innocence. Even though a fictional story, the issue of forgiveness was addressed and the necessity of him forgiving his dead wife.
This was different from Caroll's usual books - which I have been reading for several years now - but it was a great read that I thoroughly enjoyed.
Stratagem is not a book I was given for review, but one I purchased and decided to do an official review for.
About the author:
“I love boxing. I love Hallmark movies. I love fishing. I love scrapbooking. Nope, I've never fit into the boxes people have wanted to put me in.” ~Robin Caroll is definitely a contradiction, but one that beckons you to get to know her better.
Robin’s passion has always been to tell stories to entertain others and come alongside them on their faith journey—aspects Robin weaves into each of her published novels.
Best-selling author of more than twenty-seven novels, ROBIN CAROLL writes Southern stories of mystery and suspense, with a hint of romance to entertain readers. Her books have been recognized in several awards, including the Carol Award, HOLT Medallion, Daphne du Maurier, RT Reviewer’s Choice Award, and more.
When she isn’t writing, Robin spends quality time with her husband of twenty-eight-plus years, her three beautiful daughters and two handsome grandsons, and their character-filled pets at home.
Robin serves the writing community as Executive/Conference Director for ACFW.
Check out her website at RobinCaroll.com
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