sweet mercy review

"Sweet Mercy" by Ann Tatlock is a novel about Mercy, Ohio during the height of the prohibition era. Eve ( a naive 17 year old) and her family fall on hard times and have to move from St. Paul, MN, a city full of criminals and bootlegging, to Mercy. Her uncle Cy owns a resort there and gives her family jobs and a place to live. Eve thinks in a black and white world. Drinking is evil and so is anyone who does it. She believes so deeply in her cause that she can be annoyingly self-rightous. Mercy introduces her to a whole new way of thinking about herself, drinking, people, and right and wrong. This is short novel and a very quick read. Took me about a day and a half to read. The word play of Tatlock is marvelous, her characters are awesome. Eve meets interesting characters along her way to adulthood. Jones, the albino cousin; Jimmy and Marlene, the Bonnie and Clyde wanna-bes; and Link, the college educated bum. Tatlock tells a remarkable story. I give this one an A. I received this book for free from Bethany House.

return review

"Return to Me" by Lynn Austin is the first in the Restoration Chronicles series.  This book gives a fictional retelling of the return of the Jews to Jerusalem after the Babylonians exiled them to Babylonia.  The story follows Iddo, Dinah, their grandson, Zaki, and their neighbors.  Yael is Zaki's friend, the neighbors daughter.  She is a moon goddess worshiper.  Babylonia is overtaken; and the new rulers release the Jews to return to Jerusalem.  Many didn't want to return, due to having been exiled for 70 years, many either never lived elsewhere or had no connection to Jerusalem.  Those that could remember (Iddo) desperately wanted to return.  When arriving they rise to the task of restoring the city, temple, and lives. 
I am a big Lynn Austin fan.  I love her writing.  This novel took much longer than normal for me to "get into".  Part I just couldn't seem to pull me in.  Part II is where I started to really come to care about the characters.  Austin really starts to develop Iddo and make the reader care.  He suffers from Post traumatic stress and is a deeply faithful man.  Austin also starts to pull the reader into the character of Yael.  I love how she does her own thing (though wrong) and is so stubborn.  She is not a cut out character. Though slow in the beginning  this book is well worth the read.  I received this book for free in exchange for a review from Bethany House Publishing.

critical reaction review

"Critical Reaction" by Todd M. Johnson is a legal thriller along the lines of a Grisham novel.  Hanford Nuclear Facility is a large compound that used to make weapons of the plutonium variety during the Cold War.  Kieran and Poppy are workers that were both on duty during the explosion that caused some sort of contamination to the two men.  Both have long term health problems, both are looking for answers, and both are getting nothing from the company contracted to maintain the facility.  Kieran hires his college buddy, Emily Hart and her father to represent him in court and try to get justice.
Though Johnson may not be in the same ball park as Grisham, he is definitely in the same league.  Not only does he dive into the legal aspects and conspiracies, but he also depicts the father/daughter relationship and the aspect of having a parent die the slow and painful death of cancer.  I loved the dynamic between Emily and Ryan, her dad.  The ups and downs were true to life and well written.  Good book.  A- I received this book for free from Bethany House in exchange for a review.

heart of the country review

"Heart of the Country" by Rene Gutteridge & John Ward is a modern tale of a double prodigal child.  Luke is an extremely wealthy second son and Faith is a country girl.  Both have left their families for what they feel is are good reasons.  Luke later is arrested for a white collar crime and Faith immediately leaves him without finding out any information.  Both are a little right and a little wrong.  Both have to go crawling back to their families and ultimately each other to mend fences and reconnect. 
This is a decent book.  It strikes the cord of a Hallmark movie.  It is nice, engaging, and romantic, yet kinda predictable and sappy.  It is a good book to take with you when you can't really get into a story.  A beach read.  I would give it a B-.  I received this book for free from Tyndale Publishing.

november

November seems to drag on.  Over the month I held Thanksgiving at my house, celebrated my Heart baby's 9th birthday!  Nine!  She was never supposed to make 9 and yet here she is.  She is a vibrant, enthusiastic, happy little girl who loves Barbies, reading history, American Girl dolls, and bowling.  I also read 8 books.  Seven were paper and one was digital.
Unbreakable- Nancy Mehl
A Plain Disappearance- Amanda Flowers
12 of Never- James Patterson (not his best)
Mistress- james Patterson (one of his best)
The coffin Quilt- Ann Rinaldi
Killing Cynthia Ann- Charles Brashear (good but sooo depressing)
Red Sky Morning- Steve Wilson
The Captive Heart- Dale Cramer
Dale Cramer is now one of the very few Amish writers I will read.  I really like his writing.  The Coffin Quilt was also very good.

God isn't mad

"God is not Mad at You" by Jocye Meyers is a nonfiction book about humans and their father/child relationship with God.  The book is broken down into sections, but not a devotional, giving the reader different aspects about God and how he feels about them versus, how God is portrayed.  The book is a reassuring testimony that will leave the reader knowing that they are loved and not doomed. 
I know Meyers gets a lot of criticism about her beliefs and preaching style.  I happen to like her a lot.  I don't agree with everything she says.  I don't agree with everything anyone says.  I do agree with 99% of this book.  I like this book.  I liked it a lot.  I would recommend it especially to anyone interested with Christianity, but has had a bad experience with organized religion.  I received this book from Goodreads.com. 

red sky review

"Red Sky at Morning" is a military thriller written by veteran, Steve Wilson.  The book begins with an unarmed American plane flying through Chinese/Russian skies.  The Russians then attack the plane without warning.  (which was weird, cuz the next day I read in the news that the Chinese had shot at an unarmed American plane)  The reader then follows the main character, a Ukrainian speaking US marine to the Ukraine to investigate not only the shooting, but also the facility that is disarming old Russian warheads.  This novel is full of old Soviet Union gossip, history, and secrecy. 
The book is a little difficult to get into at first.  The military jargon was a little hard to read, but once the reader gets into the flow, it is no problem.  The main character, Neill is easy to like; the rest of the characters are well described.  It doesn't get too into the whole Russian spy thing to become unbelievable.  I liked it and will be reading the next in the series.
 I received this book from the author through the Goodreads website.