World View by Marvin Olasky

Book description:

How could our world be different if Christians were recognized for not only speaking the truth, but also demonstrating mercy? What would our lives be like if we reacted to our common culture with not just biblical facts, but also grace and compassion?

For more than 25 years, Marvin Olasky has offered this kind of viewpoint in his columns as the Editor-in-Chief of World Magazine, the leading news magazine written with a Christian perspective. In this collection of far-ranging columns, Olasky's commentary on world events and affairs, as well as his own personal interactions, encourages readers to respond with both grace and truth in every encounter.

A leading voice for standing for biblical truth in the public square, Olasky also believes Christians should incorporate the biblical virtues of humility, kindness, and mercy in all of life. His call for biblical values to include both truth and mercy makes his voice stand out in a world that often falsely divides those goals and settles for a poor imitation of the robust Christianity described in Scripture. These short and punchy columns offer readers a new way to consider challenges in today's world and shows them how to respond to any encounter biblically, but not hysterically, providing a wake-up call for the complacent, while also calming the frantic.

Regular readers of World will want to have this 60-column collection for their own library, as well as an extra copy to share with friends.
Curated columns that offer the best of Martin Olasky, editor-in-chief of World.
Commentary on world events of the last 25 years from the leading news magazine with a Christian perspective.
Sets forth a vision for how Christians can speak truth and demonstrate mercy at the same time.
Provides a reader-friendly way to think through challenges and respond biblically, but not hysterically.
A wonderful collection that World readers will want for their own library and to share with friends.

My review:

  When I read the email offering this book for review, I just skimmed it. I didn't realize until I started reading it that is comprised of columns the author wrote for World Magazine. That is not a complaint. I actually enjoy books that have short sections/chapters, as they are great to pick up and read a page or two and set the book aside to do other things. And these columns cover a lot of different topics, all written in an interesting fashion that one wants to ponder on and not just skim.

 To be honest, I have never read World Magazine nor have I heard of Marvin Olasky....... but this book makes me want to read the magazine. Olasky has a unique style of writing that merges religion, current events,  and politics in a great way that makes sense and shows the need of Christian values and morals in our world.

 In one way, the book is a quick read being split up into so many columns. Yet, these are columns that need to be read carefully and thought about, so in that way it is not a quick read if you want to get the most out of the book. Regardless, there is a lot of great thoughts in this book that make it worth the time to read.

About the author:

Marvin Olasky is editor-in-chief of WORLD News Group, a distinguished chair in journalism and public policy at Patrick Henry College, and the author of more than twenty books, including Compassionate Conservatism and The Tragedy of American Compassion.

He and his wife, Susan, have four sons and one granddaughter.


World View is available from New Growth Press.

Death At Thorburn Hall, A Drew Farthering Mystery #6 by Juliana Deering

Book description:

Investigating a suspicious accident leads Drew on a path that points to international intrigue and ever-growing danger

Drew Farthering arrives in idyllic Scotland for the 1935 British Open at Muirfield, hoping for a relaxing holiday with his wife, Madeline, and friend Nick. But death meets him once again when Lord Rainsby, their host at Thorburn Hall, is killed in a suspicious riding accident--only days after confiding in Drew his fears that his business partner was embezzling funds.

Thorburn Hall is filled with guests, and as Drew continues to dig, he realizes that each appears to have dark motives for wanting Rainsby out of the way. Together with Madeline and Nick, he must sort through shady business dealings, international intrigue, and family tensions to find a killer who always seems to be one step ahead.

My review:

  Every time I think this series is done, the author comes out with another book. That is not a complaint, as I have enjoyed every book in this series. This series is set in England in the 1930's and centers around Drew Farthering, a wealthy young man who has a habit of falling in the middle of a good mystery. He has been married for a few books now, and drags his wife and best friend/attendant Nick with him.

 This book actually takes place in Scotland. The author always writes a great mystery with a lot of drama and suspense, and this book was no different. There were quite a few suspects, and I never did figure out who the guilty party was until it was revealed in the book. Along with the mystery, this book also centered more on Nick's romance with his American girlfriend who is visiting. I won't give anything away there, except to say that went the way I hoped it would.

 With six books in the series and it being a few years since I have read some of them, it is hard to pick a favorite. Each does seem better than the one it follows, but maybe it just seems that way. I will say the author has done it again, and written a great suspense novel true to  the time period, and has again brought back her great likable characters of Drew, Nick, and the others.

 The books definitely should be read in order.

I was given a copy of  this book in exchange for my honest review.


About the author:

Julianna Deering is the creator of the acclaimed Drew Farthering Mystery series. She has always loved British history and is a particular fan of the writings of Dorothy Sayers and Agatha Christie. She graduated from the University of Texas at Dallas with a degree in business administration and spent several years as a Certified Public Accountant. She lives outside Dallas, Texas. For more information visit www.juliannadeering.com.


Death At Thorburn Hall and the rest of the books in the series is available from Bethany House Publishers, part of the Baker Publishing Group.

Thanks to Bethany House for the review copy.

Living With No Excuses: The Remarkable Rebirth of an American Soldier by Noah Galloway

Book description:

Military hero and beloved Dancing with the Stars alum Noah Galloway shares his life story, and how losing his arm and leg in combat forced him to relearn how to live--and live to the fullest.

Inspirational, humorous, and thought provoking, Noah Galloway's LIVING WITH NO EXCUSES sheds light on his upbringing in rural Alabama, his military experience, and the battle he faced to overcome losing two limbs during Operation Iraqi Freedom. From reliving the early days of life to his acceptance of his "new normal" after losing his arm and leg in combat, Noah reveals his ambition to succeed against all odds. 

Noah's gripping story is a shining example that with laughter, and the right amount of perspective, you can tackle anything. Whether it be overcoming injury, conquering the Dancing with the Stars ballroom, or taking the next steps forward in life with his young family - Noah demonstrates how to live life to the fullest, with no excuses.

My review:

  I have always been very pro-military. Novelists like Ronie Kendig who writes great military fiction has helped me gain a greater appreciation for our military. This book, however, is not fiction and made me feel even more pro-military as I gained and even greater appreciation for Noah Galloway and other men like him.

 I was impressed with Noah from the first time I heard of him. I watched his videos, saw clips of him on Dancing With the Stars, voted for him to be on the cover of Men's Health and then rejoiced as he won. And then I saw he had a book coming out and I could review it.

 The book definitely does not disappoint. Noah takes the reader through it all - his upbringing, his military career and family life, the loss of his two limbs, his descent into depression, and his decision to focus on what he had left instead of what he was missing. His story is an inspirational story with high and low points as he honestly bares his soul and tells of his victories and his losses.

The first part of the title of the book is Living With No Excuses. It should come with a warning. Noah's story can make you feel guilty as  you read of what he has accomplished as a double amputee, while so many of us complain and give up so easily in what we think are big challenges. I found the book to be both encouraging and convicting, and one we should all read. Thanks to Noah and others for all they have sacrificed for our country.

About the author:

Sergeant NOAH GALLOWAY was assigned to the 1st of the 502nd Infantry of the 101st Airborne Division during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Three months into his second tour of duty, he experienced a life changing injury-- losing his left arm above the elbow and left leg above the knee in an Improvised Explosive Device attack. After a long stint in recovery and rehabilitation, Noah became a motivational speaker and fitness activist. A father of three, Noah currently resides in Alabaster, Alabama.


Living With No Excuses: The Remarkable Rebirth of an American Soldier is available from Center Street Publishing, part of the Hachette Book Group.

Thanks to Center Street for the review copy.

The Paperbag Christmas by Kevin Milne

Book description:

Dr. Christopher Ringle is the last person you'd expect to find moonlighting as Santa Claus at the mall on the day after Thanksgiving. But it is there that he meets a young man named Molar Alan, who desperately needs a new perspective on the underlying value of Christmas. Dr. Ringle recruits Mo and his older brother as volunteers at a nearby children's hospital for the holiday season. At the hospital, Mo is tasked to help bring holiday cheer to the young cancer patients on the fifth floor. His biggest challenge is befriending a decidedly angry girl who is so embarrassed by her scarred appearance that she hides her face behind the safety of a paper bag.

My review:

 I am not big on Santa, so I was a bit dubious about this book. To my surprise, it was not at all what I was expecting.

  Though this book is fiction, I found it to be a very touching story. I laughed through the hospital Christmas pageant, and found myself crying as two very different kids gave their own unique Christmas gifts to God. The book definitely had its sad moments, yet the message of the reason for Christmas comes through in the end and there are enough high points in the book to make the book a great read. I am highly recommending it.


About the author:

Kevin Milne was born in Portland, Oregon on June 13, 1973. Nearly eighteen years later he graduated from high school in Sherwood, Oregon, a small country town outside of Portland. From there it was off to college, where he studied anything and everything that caught his interest.

In his first two years as an undergraduate student he changed majors almost a dozen times, studying such varied fields as film, journalism, communications, philosophy, pre-dentistry, advertising, pre-law, pre-medicine, political science, and German, then finally earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology. Just about the only thing he didn’t study was business, which, ironically, is what he chose to pursue in graduate school, earning an MBA at Penn State University in 2000.

Today, Kevin is a business professional by day, an author by night, and a husband and father around the clock. He and his wife, Rebecca, were married in Washington DC in 1995. They now reside in Kevin’s hometown of Sherwood, Oregon, where they are the proud parents of five children: Mikayla, Kamry, Mary, Emma, & Kyler (aka "the boy").

Vanishing Point, Nikki Boyd Files #4 by Lisa Harris

Book description:


Six girls missing . . . and every clue leads to a dead end

During Garrett Addison's first week on the job as a criminal investigator for the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, his team is called out to a murder scene of a young girl. She's just one in a string of disappearances with one thing in common--a Polaroid photo of each victim left behind at the crime scene.

The FBI is pulled into the case to help, and Garrett finds himself working with Special Agent Jordan Lambert, the woman he once loved. When yet another girl dies, Garrett wonders whether he really has what it takes to be an agent. Maybe he should just walk. But while he may be done with the killer, the killer is not done with him--or Jordan.


My review:

 I really enjoyed this series, and thought it had ended with book #3. When I got the email offering this one for review, I didn't even realize it was part of the series at first. The book doesn't have the same look as the others, and does not have the same main characters, though Nikki Boyd is in the book some.

 Vanishing Point actually starts around 13 years before the rest of the series, something I didn't understand at first. Once I caught onto the time line, it was easy to get caught up in the story. Unlike most novels of this type, this book covers around a 13-year time span. In the other books, many references are made to Nikki Boyd's missing sister. This book goes back to before the disappearance of that sister and comes up to beyond where book #3 ended.

 The romance in this book was also different from most suspense novels. The two main characters, Garrett and Jordan had previously dated and kept running across each other because of the case they were jointly working on. This was not a fast romance, but one that slowly took place over the same 13 year time span as the rest of the book.

 In spite of it being so different from the other books in the series, I loved the book. I liked the new characters, and the book was full of non stop suspense, action, and detective work. There were a lot of surprises, and the identity of the bad guy wasn't easy to figure out. Harris outdid herself with this one, and it was a great way to end a series I thought was done, but was happy to read one more book from.

I was given a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

About the author:

Lisa Harris is a bestselling author, a Christy Award winner, and the winner of the Best Inspirational Suspense Novel for 2011 from Romantic Times. She has sold over thirty novels and novella collections. Along with her husband, she and her three children have spent over ten years living as missionaries in Africa where she homeschools, leads a women's group, and runs a nonprofit organization that works alongside their church-planting ministry. The ECHO Project works in southern Africa promoting Education, Compassion, Health, and Opportunity and is a way for her to "speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves . . . the poor and helpless, and see that they get justice" (Proverbs 31:8).

When she's not working, she loves hanging out with her family, cooking different ethnic dishes, photography, and heading into the African bush on safari. For more information about her books and life in Africa, visit her website at www.lisaharriswrites.com or her blog at http://myblogintheheartofafrica.blogspot.com. For more information about The ECHO Project, please visit www.theECHOproject.org.


Vanishing Point and the other 3 books in the Nikki Boyd Files are available from Revell, part of the Baker Publishing Group.

Thanks to Revell for the review copy.

Check out the rest of the series:

The Illuminated ESV Bible, with a giveaway

Bible description:

ESV ILLUMINATED BIBLE:

The ESV Illuminated Bible places the full ESV text alongside over 500 elegantly hand-lettered gold ink illustrations by renowned artist Dana Tanamachi. Printed on thick cream-colored paper, the Bible's single-column text setting and wide margins provide generous space for additional notes, prayers, and designs—inviting readers to creatively engage with and reflect on the beauty of God's Word.
9-point, Lexicon
Black letter text
2-color printing
64 full-page, custom book opener illustrations
50 full-page verse illustrations
250+ hand-lettered margin verses
100+ other illustrations throughout
Illustrated by Dana Tanamachi, whose work has been featured by Google, The Wall Street Journal, Random House, USPS, and Target
Thick, cream-colored paper
Wide margins
Single-column, paragraph format
Smyth-sewn binding
Packaging: Permanent Slipcase

My review:

  The ESV has become one of my favorite Bible versions. I have a couple different ESV Bibles already, but this one looked interesting, so I requested it.

 This is a pretty cool Bible. I am not one to journal in a Bible, but am becoming more and more interested in doing so. This Bible has a lot of room on the margins to jot thoughts or even draw, if that is your thing.

 The illustrations are eye catching and adds a lot to the Bible.

 The Bible has the look of an encyclopedia, and comes in a matching open end box such as a boxed set of books come in.

 If you are wanting a Bible to carry to church, this may not be the right Bible for that. However, if you want a Bible for personal reading and one you can journal and write notes in, this is a great Bible for that.

 I was given a copy of this Bible in exchange for my honest review.

About the illustrator:

Dana Tanamachi is an American lettering artist, graphic designer, and illustrator whose exquisite typographic murals ignited the worldwide chalk-lettering trend.  She has been commissioned by clients such as Instagram, Target, Google, Time Magazine, Nike, and West Elm. Learn more at tanamachistudio.com.

Check out the website for the Bible: IlluminatedBible.org

Giveaway:
Just comment on this blog post to be entered to win a copy of this Bible. I will pick a winer using Random.org on November 25.


“Disclosure (in accordance with the FTC’s 16 CFR, Part 255:  “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”):  Many thanks to Propeller Consulting, LLC for providing this prize for the giveaway.  Choice of winners and opinions are 100% my own and NOT influenced by monetary compensation.  I did receive a sample of the product in exchange for this review and post.


Only one entrant per mailing address, per giveaway.  If you have won a prize from our sponsor Propeller /FlyBy Promotions in the last 30 days on the same blog, you are not eligible to win.  Or if you have won the same prize on another blog, you are not eligible to win it again.  Winner is subject to eligibility verification.

How We Made the ESV Illuminated Bible from Crossway on Vimeo.

 

Murder In Disguise, A Preston Barclay Mystery # by Donn Taylor

Book description:

Official verdict:  Suicide.

But why would that vigorous department chairman commit suicide? And did he kill himself to avoid disgrace from the impending exposure of his activities on the dark side became known? When visiting professor Preston Barclay questions his long-time friend's suicide, he receives threats. Press has enough problems already in proving his competence to students and faculty in the newly-hostile environment of the state university. For the new department chairman and campus radicals do all they can to undermine him. And the sexy female siren assigned as his student assistant creates problems there and with Press's courtship of his colleague Mara Thorn.

Press's questions don't find adequate answers, rumors accuse his friend of involvement in disgraceful activities, and Mara's researches reveal a wide range of criminal activity stretching from the community onto the campus itself. The more things don't add up, the more dangerous the threats become, and the more determined Press becomes to clear his friend's name and find the truth about the alleged suicide.

But can Press and Mara's stumbling efforts to find the truth prevail against the entrenched forces of the police, the campus radicals, and an unseen criminal organization that increasingly puts their lives in danger. . . ?

My review:

 I enjoyed the first two books in this series, so I was up for reviewing this third book in the Preston Barclay Mystery Series.

 The setting for this book is the same as the other two: the college where Preston teaches. This mystery revolves around his friend's suicide, which  the friend's wife refuses to believe was a suicide.

 I enjoyed the book, and thought it was the best of the series so far. I had forgotten though how annoying the main character's constant hearing music in his head was that he hears on different occasions and different people. I find it a distraction as I read the books.

 Murder In Disguise had some very interesting and odd characters, and bad and good. The book not only has suspense and drama, but also a lot of humor. Taylor has a unique way of describing his characters, especially the more colorful ones.

 The end result of the mystery wasn't a surprise, as the description of the book lends to the idea of how it ends. However, there is a lot of suspense. mystery, and surprises along the way as Preston reluctantly investigates his friend's death.

About the author:

Donn Taylor led an Infantry rifle platoon in the Korean War, served with Army aviation in Vietnam, and worked with air reconnaissance in Europe and Asia. Afterwards, he earned a PhD in Renaissance literature and taught literature at two liberal arts colleges. His publications include three suspense novels, one historical novel, and a book of poetry. He lives near Houston, TX, where he writes fiction, poetry, and essays on current topics.


Thanks to Litfuse for the review copy.