Ashton Park by Murray Pura

This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing Ashton Park Harvest House Publishers (January 1, 2013) by Murray Pura

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Murray Pura was born and raised in Manitoba, just north of Minnesota and the Dakotas. He has published several novels and short story collections in Canada, and has been short-listed for a number of awards. His first books to be published in the United States are the inspirational works Rooted and Streams (both by Zondervan in 2010). His first novel to debut in the USA is A Bride’s Flight from Virginia City, Montana (Barbour), which was released January 2012. The second, The Wings of Morning, will be published by Harvest House on February 1. Both of these novels center around the Amish of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.



ABOUT THE BOOK

For fans of the hugely popular Downton Abbey series, comes this equally enthralling story of the Danforth family of Ashton Park. Among the green hills and trees of Lancashire, only a few miles from the sea, lies the beautiful and ancient estate of Ashton Park. The year is 1916. The First World War has engulfed Europe and Sir William's and Lady Elizabeth's three sons are all in uniform--and their four daughters are involved in various pursuits of the heart and soul.

As the head of a strong Church of England family for generations, Sir William insists the Danforth estate hold morning devotions that include both family and staff. However, he is also an MP and away at Westminster in London whenever Parliament is sitting. During his long absences, Lady Elizabeth discreetly spends time in the company of the head cook of the manor, Mrs. Longstaff, who is her best friend and confidante. This friendship includes visits to a small Baptist church in Liverpool that exposes Lady Elizabeth to a less formal approach to Christian worship and preaching than she is used to and which she comes to enjoy.

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

My review:

   This is a fairly new author to me, and I like what I have read so far. Its not often a male author writes a book that has much romance in it, and I think he did a great job. The book has a lot of drama and war in it. I am not familiar with the TV show Downtown Abbey, but the book is being compared to that show for those familar with the show.

   The book wasn't a fast read for me, but it did hold my attention and I enjoyed it, and am looking forward to more in the series.

The Tenth Plague by Adam Blumer, and a giveaway

Water turns to blood. Flies and gnats attack the innocent. Marc and Gillian Thayer’s vacation resort becomes a grisly murder scene, with a killer using the ten plagues of Egypt as his playbook for revenge.

When their friend turns up dead, Marc and Gillian put their vacation on hold, enlist the help of a retired homicide detective, and take a closer look at the bizarre plagues as they escalate in intensity. Meanwhile, a stranger is after the Thayers’ newly adopted baby. Will they uncover the truth behind the bitter agenda before the tenth plague, the death of the firstborn son?


My review:

    A few years ago, I was shopping with my best friend around the time of my birthday. We were in a Christian bookstore and he told me to pick out a few books and he'd buy them for my birthday. One of those books was Fatal Illusions by Adam Blumer. It was one of the best suspense novels I had ever read, hands down. I have gotten to know the author fairly well through his blog, facebook, etc, and he had asked me to review his new book, and I was happy to do so.

    The Tenth Plague has the same main characters as in Fatal Illusions, which I liked,  but it is not necessary to read them in order.

    Some authors improve with each book, and that is the case here. Fatal Illusions was a really good read, but this book is even better. You can tell when an author has put a lot of thought and research into a book, and it shows in this book. There is a terrific plot that is complicated, yet not so much as to be over the reader's head. There is an evil man who is unleashing the ten plagues from the Old Testament on a Christian retreat center. I had an idea what the book was about before I started reading it, and wondered how Adam was going to do that. Its one thing to come up with a plot like this, but another to portray it in a reasonable way that though fictional, is also possible. He did a fine job of doing so.

   The evening I sat down to the read the book, I fully intended to find a stopping place and go to bed. That didn't happen. I was up til 1 am that night finishing the book. This was a truly remarkable book. I love suspense, and it kept me on the edge of my seat and was a thrilling ride. And that thrilling ride was free from bad language and even graphic violence. Adam proves it is possible to write clean suspense that is just as gripping as the best out there on the market, and keep it Christ centered and bad language free. His blog is titled Meaningful Suspense, and that is a great description of his writing. Its great to come across authors like this who are writing to glorify God. And though this is a suspense novel, there is a strong Christian message in the book.

   This is only Adam's second book, but it is one to be proud of. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good suspense novel. It has it all: A great plot, a wonderful cast of characters, and a strong, but not preachy, Christian message.

About the author: 


Adam Blumer is the author of Fatal Illusions and The Tenth Plague. A print journalism major in college, he works as a freelance writer and editor after serving in editorial roles for more than twenty years. He lives in Michigan's Upper Peninsula with his wife, Kim, and his daughters, Laura and Julia.

Check out Adam's blog, Meaningful Suspense.

Thanks to Adam for the review copy of The Tenth Plague.

The Tenth Plague is available from Kirkdale Press.

Giveaway:

    Courtesy of Kirkdale Press, I have one copy of The Tenth Plague to give away. This is an ebook giveaway, not a physical copy of the book. If you do not have an e-reader, you can read it on your computer.

   To enter: Since the publisher is providing the giveaway, go to their site, and look through the available books - there are 2 pages of them, and comment with which book, other than The Tenth Plague, you would be interested in reading most.

   Extra entry: Any of the following, do a separate comment saying which ne you did:
   Follow Adam on Twitter
   "Like" Adam on Facebook
   Go to his blog and read one of his posts about clean language in fiction (you may have to click on archives for the last couple of months)

    Using Random.org, I will pick one winner  2 weeks from today, February 9.

Grace Given by Beth Shriver

This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing Grace Given Realms (January 8, 2013) by Beth Shriver

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Childhood memories of her grandfather's ranch came alive as Beth wrote her first Amish story. Her parents grew up in the country, so she appreciates pastoral life and respects those who make a living off the land. She visits a nearby Amish community just south of Fort-Worth for an occasional church service or brunch with the bishop and his wife. And on the way home she stops at the community store to get some plum jam!

Beth received a degree in social work and psychology from the University of Nebraska. She worked as a caseworker for Boulder County Department of Social Services before starting a family. Beth and her husband, two children, along with two cats and a beagle live in Texas after moving from their first home in Colorado. She freelances for the local papers in her area and writes columns, devotionals for magazines, and novels in a variety of genres in both fiction and nonfiction. Beth is represented by Tamela Hancock Murray of the Steve Laube Literary Agency.



ABOUT THE BOOK

“Never doubt in the darkness what God has shown you in the light.” —Amish Proverb

Elsie Kline can’t forgive her sister for leaving the community. Gideon Lapp helps Elsie through her bitterness by studying the Martyr’s Mirror book that is centuries old, describing their ancestors’ sacrifice for their faith. But he feels there is something more. When the community moved to Texas, they were not welcomed by some of the locals. They have told Katie and Elsie that harm will come to their community if don’t go back up north where they came from. Gideon stays by Elsie’s side as she learns to give grace and to humble herself to accept grace as well. “Beth has a heart for helping others, whether through her nonfiction and fiction writing or in other capacities. It has been my pleasure to read and respond to her work during the past few years of knowing her.” —Leanna Ellis, Author of Facelift and Forsaken and winner of the National Readers Choice Award.

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

The Reason by William Sirls

When Facing the Impossible, Can You Only Believe?

Storm clouds gather over a small Michigan town. As thunder shakes the sky, the lights inside St. Thomas church flicker . . . and then go out.

All is black until a thick bolt of lightning slices the sky, striking the church’s large wooden cross—leaving it ablaze and splintered in two.

When the storm ends—the search for answers begins.

James Lindy, the church’s blind minister, wonders how his small congregation can repair the cross and keep their faith in the midst of adversity. And he hears the words “only believe.”

Macey Lewis, the town’s brilliant young oncologist, is drawn to Alex, a young boy who’s recently been diagnosed with an aggressive leukemia. She puts her hope in modern medicine—yet is challenged to “only believe.”

And Alex’s single mom, who has given everything she can to her boy—is pleading with God to know the reason this is happening . . . to save her son. But she only hears silence and wonders how she can possibly “only believe.”

The Reason is a milestone debut novel, opening with a blast and never letting up as it introduces us to everyday characters who are wrestling with the questions: where is God when bad things happen? And does God ignore the prayers of the faithful? The answer each character receives will astound readers while offering an unforgettable call to hope, to change, to . . . only believe.

My review:

   When this book was first offered for review, there was another I had been watching for, so I passed on it, though it sounded really good. I was happy to see it available again, or still available, a while back, so I requested it. Due to the busyness of the holidays, it sat unread for a while, but I finally picked it up and read it. This is a terrific book. It is fiction, and one might scoff at the things that happen in the book. They are miraculous, and don't seem to happen, but yet they are things that happened with regularity when Jesus walked the earth.

   The author came up with a great plot and cast of characters, and wove them together to create a masterpiece of a story. Though this is a fiction novel, and the people and events are fictional, it left me with a sense of wonder and amazement, and this thought:  If we truly had faith and believed what we asked of God, just imagine what could happen. Unfortunately, we have pigeon holed God, and relegated miracles to the time of Jesus.

   This is a great story, and well written. It is also a message to Christians, a message we need to take to heart. God is capable of doing so much more than we ask and expect of Him. He is just waiting for us to have the faith and belief for Him to do it.

   I enjoyed this book a lot. It was definitely worth reading, and I would recommend it to anyone. A great read.

About the author:
Born on April 3, 1964 in Detroit, Michigan, to a construction worker and a homemaker, William Sirls grew up the youngest of six children. Active in both sports and imagination, he aspired primarily to become either a professional golfer or attorney. Realizing he didn’t have the talent or the grades for those careers, he shifted gears and went in another direction.


Over the course of his life, he has experienced both great highs and tremendous lows— some born of chance, some born of choice. Years before the publication of his first novel, he worked 60 hour weeks as a senior vice president at one of the nation’s largest investment firms, somehow finding time to read three to four books per week and to rough out ideas for different stories of his own.

In early 2004, while visiting his oldest daughter at a Detroit hospital, he came across a young cancer patient that was being pulled in a little red wagon by his parents. At the time, Sirls had no idea that he was looking at three characters that would appear more than eight years later in The Reason.
He was incarcerated in 2007 for wire fraud and money laundering. While in prison, Sirls learned a great deal more than he ever bargained for.

Life lessons involving faith, grace, patience, and forgiveness are evident in The Reason.
He is the father of two and makes his home in southern Michigan.

“Prison is one of those things I wouldn’t wish on anyone, but at the same time there are few things I would trade that experience for … From a spiritual standpoint, it gave me the opportunity to slow down and realize what is important. As my faith grew, I became anxious to share the things I learned, so I figured what better way to do that than to rewrite my manuscript in a way that was a lot less magical and a lot more spiritual.”

The Reason is available from Thomas Nelson Publishing.

Thanks to Thomas Nelson for the review copy.

The Tainted Coin by Mel Star

It is the autumn of 1367. Master Hugh is enjoying the peaceful life of Bampton when a badly beaten man is found under the porch of St. Andrew's Chapel. The dying man is a chapman-—a traveling merchant. Before he is buried in the chapel grounds, an ancient, corroded coin is found in the man's mouth. 

 Master Hugh's quest for the chapman's assailants, and his search for the origin of the coin, begins to make progress--but there are men of wealth and power in league with his old nemesis, Sir Simon Trillowe, who wish to end his search . . . permanently. 

 But Master Hugh, and his assistant, the groom Arthur, are determined to uncover the thieves and murderers, and the source of the chapman's coin. They do, but not before they become involved with a kidnapped maiden, a tyrannical abbot, and a suffering monk—who needs Master Hugh's surgical skills and in return provides clues that assist Hugh in solving the mystery of the tainted coin.

My review:

   This is the fifth book in the series, Chronicles of Hugh de Singleton, Surgeon. I have enjoyed each book in the series, and it seems each book is better than the previous. This one is definitely the best so far. There seemed to be even more action and suspense than in the previous books.

   I read a lot of suspense books, as it is my favorite genre', and they all use the modern ways of solving crimes and modern crime scene investigative methods. This book, and the others in the series, are set in the 1300's, and comparing it with books set in modern day has made me admire Starr for his writing. In my opinion, it must be challenging to write suspense set in a time period that he writes in, and have his main character solve crimes and also doctor people with what they had available at that time.

  This book had Hugh travel a little more than the others, and also had him in some dangerous spots, but he still managed to come through it all on top. This was a great story, and I hated to see t the end of it come. I did read it in one sitting, and enjoyed every minute of it. I was glad to see there is at least one more book coming in this series.

About the author:

:Mel Starr was born and grew up in Kalamazoo, Michigan. He graduated from Spring Arbor High School in 1960, and Greenville College (Illinois) in 1964. He received an MA in history from Western Michigan University in 1970. He taught history in Michigan public schools for thirty-nine years, thirty-five of those in Portage, MI, where he retired in 2003 as chairman of the social studies department of Portage Northern High School.


Mel married Susan Brock in 1965, and they have two daughters; Amy (Kevin) Kwilinski, of Naperville, IL, and Jennifer (Jeremy) Reivitt, of Portage, MI. Mel and Susan have seven grandchildren. 

The Tainted Coin is available from Kregel Publishing.

Thanks to Kregel for the review copy.

The Delusion by Laura Gallier

Do unseen forces of good and evil actually exist? It’s a question that haunts Owen Edmonds. Literally.

By March of Owen’s senior year, eleven students at Lincoln Forest High School have committed suicide. Amid the media frenzy and fanatical onlookers, Owen remains levelheaded—that is until he encounters his own near death experience and wakes to a distressing new reality.

Everyone he sees appears shackled and enslaved.

While frantically seeking to cure his crazed hallucinations, Owen’s delusions become even more sinister when he witnesses what appears to be an unseen army of hideous, towering beings. These Creepers, as he calls them, are preying upon people, including his classmates and girlfriend, tormenting and inciting humanity to self-destruct.
Owen eventually arrives at a mind-bending conclusion: He’s not merely imagining forces of evil at work. Everyone else is blind to the evil that is.

He must warn others and rescue those he loves, but this proves to be no simple mission. He’s hard pressed to get anyone to believe him.

Experience life through Owen Edmonds’ eyes and decide for yourself: has he lost his mind or have we?

My review: 

    When I was contacted about reviewing this book, I read the description of it and watched the book trailer, and thought it sounded really good. After reading it, I can say it did not disappoint. The book is written for teens, but as I can attest, adults will enjoy it also.

      Frank Peretti has become a standard to compare Christian fiction that has supernatural themes to, and this book would fall into books similar to his earlier books, though different in ways. The main character starts to see people wrapped in chains, with labels on the chains of what binds them. He also sees angelic beings and evil beings he calls "creepers." I have never been a fan of the first person point of view, but this is the type of book that it works very well for, and possibly better than the third point of view would have worked. In this case, most of everything that happens is through the main character, Owen's, eyes, so the first person point of view works great.

   The book is very well written, has a great plot, and a very likable main character. I really enjoyed it and found it a hard book to put down, so I didn't. I settled in my chair and read it through in one evening, and it is a normal sized paperback, 337 pages. As I said, it is juvenile fiction, but any adult that enjoys reading this type of book will enjoy it. It is not a "dumbed down" book. The main characters just happen to be teenagers.

   The book does have a few language issues, which always bothers me in a Christian novel, but especially in one geared for teens. There were a few cases of God's name taken in vain, and also of hell being used as an expletive.

   The book is still worth reading, and is a great start into the fiction genre' for this author.

Check out the site for the book here.

About the author:


As a teenager and young adult, Laura appeared to be an outgoing young lady with a bright future. In reality, she was ashamed, confused and broken as a result of her sexually active lifestyle. It wasn’t until she experienced an unplanned pregnancy, followed by a rushed marriage and subsequent divorce, that she came to the realization that God’s biblical plan for sex and marriage is for our protection. She repented for her past and determined that, by God’s grace, she would live a sexually pure life.

Laura eventually met Patrick, and they honored Christ throughout their dating relationship and became husband and wife in January of 2001. They began serving together in student ministry, and Laura soon discovered that she possesses a unique ability to connect with teenagers and communicate in a way that resonates with young people. In time, the Lord placed an intense passion in her to clearly explain what the Bible has to say about sex and relationships. Realizing that purity training is most effective when parents take the lead through meaningful at-home discipleship connections, Laura authored a parent-teen purity study in 2009. Two years later, she developed a resource for parents and elementary-age children that lays a foundation for a life of purity.Laura continues to write books that bring a biblical perspective to issues surrounding sexuality, romance and relationships and frequently speaks to a variety of audiences including parents, singles, young adults and teens.

Patrick and Laura have an adventurous home life that consists of four children: a teen young man who loves to play football, a teen girl who “gags” at the thought of watching football, an elementary-age girl who thinks she’s a teenager, and an energetic little boy, whom Patrick lightheartedly says “brings balance to the force.” The Galliers live in Cypress, Texas, and attend Champion Forest Baptist Church.

Check out her website.


Thanks to the author for the review copy.

Book trailer:



have we?

Mystery of the Heart by Jillian Kent

This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing Mystery of the Heart Realms (January 8, 2013) by Jillian Kent

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Jillian Kent is a busy writer and the alter ego of Jill Nutter, a full-time counselor.

Jill spent the first semester of her senior year of college at Oxford studying British Literature, where she fell in love with England. During this season, she came to appreciate the written word, the rich imagery of romantic poetry like The Highwayman, and historical novels of many types, including Jane Austen and all things Regency.

Jill received her Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from Bethany College in West Virginia, and her Masters Degree in Social Work from WVU, and she brings her fascination with different cultures and societies into her writing.

Jill has always been a romantic at heart, so readers will find a good dose of romance woven through each of her novels. Jill, her husband Randy, and children Katie and Meghan are animal lovers. They currently own two dogs, Boo-Boo and Bandit and a menagerie of cats, Lucky, Yuma, Snow, and Holden. Critters of all assortments make their appearance in her stories.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Lord Eden is intrigued when he discovers Lady Mercy Grayson’s secret, but how can he hope to gain her heart when he is forced to betray her?

Lady Mercy Grayson longs be a physician like her big brother, Devlin, Lord Ravensmoore. However, society would never tolerate a female physician, let alone one who is a noblewoman. So Mercy takes matters into her own hands, disguising herself as a man to get through medical school. But then a male colleague discovers her secret, which is only the beginning of Mercy’s problems that could destroy her dreams forever.

The Prince Regent is awaiting the return of Vincent St. Lyons, Lord Eden, whom he sent on a secret voyage to locate and bring back a relic that some believe possesses the power to heal. St. Lyons discovers Mercy washed up on England’s shore upon his return and agrees to give her safe passage to London aboard a ship of men practicing African Vodun. Both must face treacherous circumstances, difficult decisions, and a growing attraction to one another that could forever change the course of their lives.

As the final installment in the series, the theme of this book is God’s plans for our lives. “Whatever the hand findeth to do, do it with all thy might” (Eccles. 9:10).

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