Christmas CD reviews: Collingsworth Family, Jeremy Camp, Scotty McCreery, Steven Curtis Chapman

I love Christmas music and tend to buy a lot of it. Every Christmas, I buy a few new Christmas CDs. I've bought 4 so far this year and decided to get away from politics for a while and do a short review of them.

The Collingsworth Family: Feels Like Christmas.
Genre: Southern Gospel
Track listing:

Winter Wonderland/Sleigh Ride

Christmas Can't Be Far Away

It's The Most Wonderful Time of The Year

Christmas Time Is Here

Overture/Silent Night/What Child Is This

Beautiful Star of Bethlehem

Peace On Earth Tonight

Mary's Little Boy Child/Jesus, What A Wonderful Child

My Gift Is Me

O Magnify The Lord

Who Is He in Yonder Stall

O Holy Night

I Wish It Could Be Christmas Forever

My thoughts:
I really like the Collingsworth Family's singing, but am a little disappointed in the CD, to be honest. It is good, but not as good as I'd hoped. There are a couple of instrumental tracks, and I would have preferred a whole vocal CD for one thing. The best song is "Beautiful Star of Bethlehem, though there are other decent offerings. Not impressed with "Mary's Boy Child/Jesus, What  Wonderful Child." To put the two songs together, they changed the style of "Mary's Boy Child", and not for the better. Kim does a new song that is neat. "Peace On Earth Tonight" which would have been better in my opinion if it had not been 100% solo.

Thet did record a couple of new songs and a few others that aren't often recorded, which is a good thing. If I were giving the CD stars, I'd probably go with 3 1/2. It is a decent, good CD, but not great.

Preview:

Jeremy Camp: Christmas, God Is With Us
Style: CCM/pop

Track listing:

1. Jingle Bell Rock
2. Hark The Herald Angels Sing
3. Joy To The World
4. O Little Town Of Bethlehem
5. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
6. Let It Snow
7. Mary Did You Know
8. God With Us
9. O Come, O Come Emmanuel
10. Away In A Manger

My thoughts:

I like Jeremy Camp's voice, and even his style. I don't listen to a lot of CCM (Christian Contemporary Music), and don't have all of Jeremy's music. I think I have one other actual CD and a few other songs. Some of his stuff tends to be too rocky for me, so I pick and choose.

If you're wanting an easy listening CD, this is not a CD for you. It isn't a wild, rocky album, but it is much more lively than a Carpenters' Christmas CD.

All but one song, the title cut, are traditional songs, which I don't particularly like on a Christmas CD. I like new songs or songs that a million other artists haven't recorded. However, Jeremy does do them in a different style, and I like it. He adds some new material to "Joy to the World" which I assume he wrote, which comes off rather well.

"Mary Did You Know" is one of my favorite Christmas songs, and he does a great job on it. There really aren't any songs I wish he had left off. He did something on one song that I really like. It is a pet peeve of mine when a Christian artists records "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" and sings the line "if the fates allow". I heard one artist substitute "Lord" for "fates" and liked it much better, and it goes much better with our beliefs. Fate does not rule our lives, God does. Jeremy does substitute "God" for "fates." Kudos to him.

If you regularly listen to CCM, you will love this. If you listen to some CCM, you should like it, but if you tend to listen to easy listening, Southern Gospel, or Country, you may not enjoy it. Stars? I'd give it 5.

Preview:





Scotty McCreery: Christmas
Style: Country

Track listing:
1. Let It Snow
2. First Noel
3. Jingle Bells
4. Holly Jolly Christmas
5. Winter Wonderland
6. Christmas In Heaven
7. Mary Did You Know?
8. Christmas Comin’ Round Again
9. O Holy Night
10. The Christmas Song
11. Santa Claus Is Back In Town

Scotty McCreery was the winner of American Idol last year. I do not keep up with it, never watched it, and will not give my blunt opinion of the show here, I just am not impressed with it. Buying this CD had nothing to do with American Idol. My best friend had bought it and liked it and I had a really good coupon to use on it (40%).

My thoughts:

This CD is filled with mostly classic songs. It does have two new, at least to me, songs: Christmas In Heaven and Christmas Comin' Round Again, both of which I like. Scotty has a decent voice, a much more mature sounding voice than you'd espect from his 19 years. He does put his own spin on the classic songs, and I like most of what I hear. He does "Jingle Bells" in a different style that I don't particularly care for, but it isn't terrible either. I like "Mary Did You Know", "Winter Wonderland",  and "Christmas In Heaven" the best. He ended an otherwise very good CD with the song "Santa Claus Is Back In Town". I can't stand that song, but other than that: great CD, and one I am enjoying a lot. 4 1/2 stars, if I rated it.

I couldn't find a preview of the CD, but here is one of the songs from it that I really like: Christmas In Heaven.




Steven Curtis Chapman: Joy
Style: CCM, easy listening, older

Track listing:

1. Joy To The World
2. Christmas Time Again
3. Christmas In Kentucky
4. Do You Hear What I Hear?
5. Christmas Kiss
6. Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!
7. Christmas Time Is Here
8. What Child Is This?
9. In The Bleak Midwinter
10. Christmas Card
11. We Three Kings
12. I Am Joseph (God Is With Us)
13. Happy New Year

My thoughts:

Overall, I am not a big SCC fan. I like some of his songs a lot, and others...... not so much. I do not buy his regular CDs, but do have some of his songs. However, I do like his Christmas CDs, and already had 3 of them. He first did "Music of Christmas", then Hallmark had him do a Christmas CD for them, "Christmas Is All In The Heart", followed by "All I Want for Christmas." Unfortunately, the first is the only one with all new material. The second had some new, and some from the first CD. The third CD had some new and some from the other two. To be honest, I figured this new release would be the same, but it is not. It has 13 Christmas songs not previously recorded by SCC.

Six of the songs are new, written by SCC. The other seven are tradional songs, most of them often recorded by other artists. One song that I like and it is not often recorded is "In The Bleak Midwinter", and he does a great job on it.

It is hard to pin down the style of this CD. He is CCM, but this doesn't sound CCM. It is very easy listening, and almost sounds like something from the 60's or 70's in some ways, but with a more modern sound, if that makes sense. If you listened to this CD, then went and bought one of his non-Christmas CDs expecting the same sound, you'd be very surprised. It doesn't even sound like his other Christmas CDs. He seemed to be going for a sound from older decades for most of the CD, and though I don't typically like music older than myself, I like the sound he pulled off. His new songs are very good, and he does a great job on the classics. Don't be put off by the unique cover photo, this is a great CD, and even people who don't normally like CCM and Steven Curtis' music, would enjoy this.

A song from the CD, Joy to the World:

Courting Cate by Leslie Gould

This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing Courting Cate Bethany House Publishers (November 1, 2012) by Leslie Gould

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Even though I knew I wanted to write fiction by the time I was in the sixth grade, as I grew older I pursued other things instead, such as majoring in history and communications, and then working as a museum curator, then a public relations specialist, and finally as a magazine editor. Once I finally started writing fiction, it was another ten years until I sold my first novel. By that time I’d been married for nearly 20 years and had four children of my own to read to.

In the decade since my first contract I’ve written fifteen books, from Beyond the Blue, a story about international adoption set in Vietnam, to Courting Cate, a retelling of Shakespeare’s “Taming of the Shrew” set in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. No matter what I write, I aim to reveal truths about God’s love, beauty, and redemptive work in our lives. My goal is to connect more deeply to God, family, and friends through my writing. My hope is that my stories encourage readers to deepen their own connections too.



ABOUT THE BOOK

When Amish farmer Pete Treger moves to Paradise Township, Pennsylvania, seeking a better life, he meets sisters Cate and Betsy Miller. Both are beautiful, but older sister Cate is known more for her sharp tongue and fiery temper than her striking appearance. Betsy, on the other hand, is sweet and flirty--and seems to have attracted most of the bachelors in Lancaster County!

However, the sisters' wealthy father has made one hard and fast rule: elder sister must marry first, before the younger can even start courting. Unfortunately for poor Betsy, and for the men who want to court her, her older sister, Cate, doesn't have any suitors--until Pete comes to town, that is.

Though he finds both sisters attractive, something about Cate's feisty demeanor appeals to him. Soon the other bachelors in the district convince Pete to court Cate. She hardly seems receptive to his overtures, though. Instead, she's immediately suspicious of his interest.

If you would like to read the first chapter of Courting Cate, go HERE.

Placebo by Steven James

While covertly investigating a controversial neurological research program, exposé filmmaker Jevin Banks is drawn into a far-reaching conspiracy involving one of the world's largest pharmaceutical firms. After giving up his career as an escape artist and illusionist in the wake of his wife and sons' tragic death, Jevin is seeking not only answers about the questionable mind-to-mind communication program, but also answers to why his family suffered as they did.

Rooted in ground-breaking science and inspired by actual research, Placebo explores the far reaches of science, consciousness, and faith. Readers will love this taut, intelligent, and emotionally gripping new thriller from master storyteller Steven James.

My review:

I love Steven James' Patrick Bowers thriller series, and having read some of his non-fiction books, it is obvious to me that he is not just a great author, he is a great and diverse writer. This series is totally different from the Bowers series, and though I wouldn't rank it as high as that series, I did enjoy this book and am looking forward to reading more in this series.

Placebo is the first book in the Jevin Banks Series. Unlike Patrick Bowers in the other series, Jevin Banks is not in any kind of law enforcement, which sets this series apart from the Bowers books right off. Instead, Banks is an escape artist and magician of sorts who now works on expose's to out scam artists.

There was still alot of suspense and bad guys in the book, and a lot of scientific ideas and terms were thrown around in the book, many of which were new to me, but James has done a great job of explaining and exploring them in a way that was not boring or hard to read. I liked the plot of the book, and am liking his main character so far. As with his other series, James goes back and forth between the first person and third person point of writing styles, which actually appeals to me more  than a straight first person point of view, which I am not a fan of, but by switching between the two, James removes one of my reasons for disliking that style: only knowing what the main character knows and reading only action he or she is present for.

Revell publishing has thus far been pretty careful in what kind of language they allow in their books, but I did find one objectionable word in this book. (Near the top of page 128 for anyone who wants to check). The more vulgar term for urination that is used in place of "ticked off" is used, which granted is not a curse word, but it is one the average evangelical Christian doesn't use, and should not use.

I am looking forward to reading more in this series, but I do have to say so far it doesn't measure up to the Patrick Bowers series, but that series is so good that it would be hard to follow up with something as good or better.

About the author:

Critically acclaimed author Steven James has written more than thirty books, including Story, A Heart Exposed, and the bestselling Patrick Bowers thriller series. He is considered one of the nation's most innovative storytellers and versatile authors, and is a contributing editor to Writer's Digest. Steven lives in Tennessee with his wife and three daughters.

Placebo is available November 2012 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

Thanks to Donna at Revell for the review copy.

The Breath of Dawn by Kristen Heitzmannn

This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing The Breath of Dawn Bethany House Publishers (November 1, 2012) by Kristen Heitzmann

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

From the time my dad taught me to read at sit-on-the-floor school when I was four—launching me past kindergarten into 1st grade—I have loved learning and expressing what I know through art, music, and especially writing. Education came easily, and I grew accustomed to having my work read and displayed. But breaking out of the family mold, I left college to marry my husband Jim (celebrating our 29th this year.) Since then, life and all kinds of research have provided the grist for my stories. We have three awesome adult kids, and one incredible teenager. (You might think I’m biased, but ask anyone who knows them.)

While home schooling my four kids, I wrote my first novel. I pitched it for publication, and it became the first of a five book historical series. Since then, I have written three more historical novels and nine contemporaries. The Still of Night was nominated for the Colorado Book Award. The Tender Vine was a Christy Award finalist and Secrets won a Christy in 2005.

People often ask why I started writing, and I say to get the stories out of my head. Some say they’d like to write a book, but I say if you’re not wracked with labor pains, there are easier ways to express yourself. Being a writer is a solitary, eccentric, and often compulsive path. But I wouldn’t trade it for anything.



ABOUT THE BOOK

Kristen Heitzmann Delivers Powerful New Romantic Suspense

Morgan Spencer has had just about all he can take of life. Following the tragic death of his wife, Jill, he retreats to his brother's Rocky Mountain ranch to heal and focus on the care of his infant daughter, Olivia. Two years later, Morgan begins to make plans to return to his home in Santa Barbara to pick up the pieces of his life and career.

Quinn Riley has been avoiding her past for four years. Standing up for the truth has forced her into a life of fear and isolation. After a "chance" first meeting and a Thanksgiving snowstorm, Quinn is drawn into the Spencer family's warm and loving world, and she begins to believe she might find freedom in their friendship.

The man Quinn helped put behind bars has recently been released, however, and she fears her past will endanger the entire Spencer family. As the danger heightens, she determines to leave town for the sake of the people who have come to mean so much to her.

Fixing problems is what Morgan Spencer does best, and he is not willing to let Quinn run away, possibly into the clutches of a man bent on revenge. But Morgan's solution sends him and Quinn on an unexpected path, with repercussions neither could have anticipated.

If you would like to read the first chapter of The Breath of Dawn, go HERE.

All To Jesus by Robert Morgan

“Cast all your cares on him.” “Love the Lord with all your heart.” “I can do all things . . . .” You’d be surprised how often the word “all” appears in the Bible—thousands of times. And with each description of God’s comprehen- sive promises, each reminder of our complete blessing in Christ, each appeal for our full and total surrender, His reputation grows larger before our eyes.

We see again what He can do. We see again who we can be.

From Robert J. Morgan (100 Bible Verses Everyone Should Know by Heart, Then Sings My Soul) comes All to Jesus, a choice sampling of the Bible’s most “all”-encompassing statements, surrounded each day by inspiring stories, personal reflections, and the encouraging assurance that you are cared for in ways you never imagined.

Derived from the pages of real life and a pastor’s heart, each daily reading meets you in an ever-deeper place, revealing God’s immeasurable power and keen attention to the smallest detail. Truly, He is all you need. All year long.

My review:

   In this devotional, the author takes a verse every day that has the word "all" in it, focusing on how much God cares for us. Each day has a verse and personal reflections and stories from the author. The devotionals are not long, but they are interesting and relative to the Christian life. I didn't read the whole book, but I did read several days worth of devotionals and was inspired and encouraged by what I read.

   This is a 365 day devotional, and each one is labeled "day 1", etc, so it can be started at any time, starting with the first page. I think it was a neat idea to use verses with the word "all" in them and write a devotional book around those verses. It also comes with a link to free downloads of more than 40 songs.

About the author:

Robert J. Morgan is a best-selling, Gold Medallion Award-winning author whose books include Then Sings My Soul, The Red Sea Rules, and The Children’s Daily Devotional Bible. He has also served as pastor of The Donelson Fellowship in Nashville, Tennessee, for three decades. Morgan and his wife have three daughters and ten grandchildren.

All To Jesus is available from Broadman and Holman Publishing.

Thanks to B&B Media for the review copy.

People Can't Drive You Crazy If You Don't Give Them the Keys by Mike Bechtle

Strange as it may seem, other people are not nearly as committed to our happiness as we are. In fact, sometimes they seem like they're on a mission to make us miserable! There's always that one person. The one who hijacks your emotions and makes you crazy. The one who seems to thrive on drama. If you could just "fix" that person, everything would be better. But we can't fix other people--we can only make choices about ourselves. In this cut-to-the-chase book, communication expert Mike Bechtle shows readers that they don't have to be victims of other people's craziness. With commonsense wisdom and practical advice that can be implemented immediately, Bechtle gives readers a proven strategy to handle crazy people.

More than just offering a set of techniques, Bechtle offers a new perspective that will change readers' lives as they deal with those difficult people who just won't go away.

My review:

   I don't read enough non-fiction books, and since the title of this book amused me, I asked for it for review, and it didn't disappoint. We all have people that can drive us crazy - and sometimes we can be that person ourselves. The author uses humor and stories from his life to show how we can deal with people who rub us wrong, irritate us, or drive us crazy.

  Although the book has some humor, the author has some great advice and ideas how to deal with difficult people and situations. As he points out, not every answer will work on every situation, especially when family is involved, but he still has some good advice for family situations. This is a book worth reading, as it is something we all deal with on some level.



About the author:

Mike Bechtle (PhD, Arizona State University) is the author of Confident Conversation. His articles have appeared in publications such as Discipleship Journal, Moody, and Entrepreneur. A frequent speaker and former minister of worship, Bechtle lives in California.


Available October 2012 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

Thanks to Revell for the review copy.

Soul's Gate by James Rubart, with giveaway

“Every now and then we get a break from reality. A glimpse into the other world that is more real than the reality we live in 99 percent of our days. The Bible is about a world of demons and angels and great evil and even greater glory.”

What if you could travel inside another person’s soul? To battle for them. To be part of Jesus healing their deepest wounds. To help set them free to step boldly into their divinely designed future.
Thirty years ago that’s exactly what Reece Roth did. Until tragedy shattered his life and ripped away his future.

Now God has drawn Reece out of the shadows to fulfill a prophecy spoken over him three decades ago. A prophecy about four warriors with the potential to change the world . . . if Reece will face his deepest regret and teach them what he has learned.

They gather at a secluded and mysterious ranch deep in the mountains of Colorado, where they will learn to see the spiritual world around them with stunning clarity—and how to step into the supernatural.

Their training is only the beginning. The four have a destiny to pursue a freedom even Reece doesn’t fully fathom. But they have an enemy hell-bent on destroying them and he’ll stop at nothing to keep them from their quest for true freedom and the coming battle of souls.

“Readers with high blood pressure or heart conditions be warned: this is a seriously heart-thumping and satisfying read that goes to the edge, jumps off, and 'builds wings on the way down.'” —Publishers Weekly.

My review:

   This is only James Rubart's fourth book, but he has quickly become one of my favorite authors. Every one of his books is different from the average Christian novel on the market and is well worth reading. His books don't just entertain, they minister and move. I eagerly anticipate each new novel he writes, and this one more than the rest. It sounded like an excellent book, and the book trailer they made for the book made me want to read it all the more. (Check it out, it is at the end of this book review.)

   There are things that happen in this book that cannot happen in real life, such as going into someones soul to do battle for them, and there are other things that stretch the imagination and mind and make you wonder just what is possible if we truly had faith and believed.

    Rubart has written a masterpiece with this book. It is definitely entertaining and a page turner, but it is more than that. Using a fictional story, he has painted a great picture of spiritual warfare, intercession, and shown through his story how even Christians remain bound by fears, insecurities, etc.

   And did I mention what a fantastic read it is? I literally could not put it down. I'm serious, it is that good. I loved the plot and idea of the book, the characters, the suspense. And the book made me think, and not all fiction books will do that.

   I had a couple of issues with the book. A demon masquerading as a person tells someone to go to "the hot place" - I don't like to see or hear that in a Christian book for any reason. Also, the author ascribes to the idea that Christians can have a demon. I won't go into the reasons why, but I don't agree with that. Those two issues aside, this is truly one one the best Christian fiction books I have ever read. People who don't normally read Christian fiction should read this, especially if you want a picture of intercession and spiritual warfare. Awesome book.

More about the book here.

About the author:

James L. Rubart is a professional marketer, speaker, and writer. While being the owner of Barefoot Marketing certainly keeps him on his toes, his passion is writing fiction.

Rubart is an ECPA best-selling author who has been positively reviewed by both Publisher's Weekly and Romantic Times. His first novel, Rooms, won a Best Books 2011 award from USA Book News, as well as a Romantic Times Book Reviews Reviewers Choice Award. His debut release was followed by Book of Days and The Chair. Soul's Gate is Rubart's fourth release.

In addition to being an author, Rubart is also a photographer, guitarist, professional speaker, golfer and semi-pro magician. With all of this, he says that he barely sleeps. Rubart lives with his wife and sons in the Pacific Northwest.

Find out more about Jim at http://jimrubart.com/

 

Soul's Gate is available from Thomas Nelson Publishing.

 

Thanks to Thomas Nelson and Litfuse for the review copy.



 

  Win an iPad Mini from @JimRubart and RSVP for his Live Video Chat {11/13}! The first book in best-selling author Jim Rubart's new series, Soul's Gate, releases on November 6th! To celebrate, Jim has teamed up with his publisher, Thomas Nelson, for a virtual book tour, iPad Mini giveaway and a Live Video Author Chat {11/13}. Watch the video trailer for the book here.

 

One “soulful” winner will receive:

• A brand new iPad Mini
• Soul’s Gate by Jim Rubart {Be caught up in this captivating series.}

Enter today by clicking one of the icons below. But hurry, the giveaway ends on November 12th. Winner will be announced at the ”Soul’s Gate Author Chat Party on 11/13. Connect with Jim for an evening of book chat, trivia, and a live video chat! There will also be a chance to win gift certificates, books, and other fun prizes!

So grab your copy of Soul’s Gate and join Jim on the evening of the November 13th for a chance to connect and make some new friends. (If you haven’t read the book – don’t let that stop you from coming!)

Don’t miss a moment of the fun; RSVP today. Tell your friends via FACEBOOK or TWITTER and increase your chances of winning. Hope to see you on the 13th!