Wednesday, August 30, 2017

Can't Wait Wednesday



Since most of my Can't Wait Wednesday posts have featured books that don't release until the first of the year so I thought I'd feature a book that has a sooner release date. How does October, 2017 sound? Better? I thought so too! I'm a huge fan of Dani Pettrey and can't wait to read this book. I'm re-reading the first two so I'm ready for this one.



About the book:

FBI agent Declan Grey is in the chase of his life--but isn't sure exactly what he's chasing after. Threatened by a terrorist that "the wrath is coming," Grey fears something horrible is about to be unleashed on American soil. When his investigation leads him to a closed immigrant community, he turns to Tanner Shaw to help him. She's sought justice for refugees and the hurting around the world, and if there's anyone who can help him, it's Tanner.
Tanner Shaw has joined the FBI as a crisis counselor . . . meaning she now has more opportunity to butt heads with Declan. But that tension also includes a spark she can't deny, and she's pretty sure Declan feels the same. But before anything can develop between them, they discover evidence of a terror cell--and soon are in a race against the clock to stop the coming "wrath" that could cost thousands their lives.


I'd love to hear about what book you are waiting for . . . to release, or to move down in your TBR pile. Let me know in the comments.















Can't Wait Wednesday is a weekly Meme
hosted by Wishful Endings

Tuesday, August 29, 2017

Top Ten Tuesday


The Broke and the Bookish topic this week is choosing ten hidden gem books from any genre that have gone under the radar. I couldn't find ten from one specific genre so I have ten from different genre's, mainly from the first books I read of these wonderful authors and I don't see much conversation about them.


Genre: Contemporary, Women's Fiction.

My Review 
 Genre: Fantasy, and Contemporary.

My Review
 Genre: Historical Romance

My Review
 Genre: Historical Romance

My Review

Biblical History

My Review
Genre: Contemporary, Women's Fiction

My Review 
 Genre: Women's Fiction, Contemporary

My Review
Genre: Romance, Contemporary

My Review
















 Genre: Amish Historical.
 My Review
Genre: Contemporary, Women's Fiction

My Review
















What hidden gems are not well known in your favorite genres? Are any in my list? Let me know in the comments.



Monday, August 28, 2017

Coffee the World and Jesus . . . Not Necessarily in That Order by Ron DeMiglio Review and Giveaway


About the book:

Life lessons and almost irreverent musings from twenty-five years in the global coffee industry.
When many Christians take a long, hard look at the lives of the spiritual elite in America, they want to shout, "I don't want to be like that!" Ron DeMiglio knows how they feel and he's not afraid to do the shouting—even when those shouts are sometimes directed at himself.
Coffee, the World, and Jesus is a collection of mildly contrarian musings from this international coffee businessman who happens to love Jesus. In these humorous vignettes about the relational, flawed, unwavering faith Ron clings to, readers will find glimmers of their own daily struggles to reflect Christ in a fallen world. For the religiously cautious, the disillusioned, and jaded followers of Christianity, this is a refreshing look at how God reveals Himself to be so much bigger than politics, dogmas, or western influences.
Ron's sidesplitting series of stories about how he found his spiritual groove smack-dab in the middle of his God-breathed, coffee-scented uniqueness will appeal to readers looking for a quick bite of spiritual growth with their next latte.


About Ron:

Ron DeMiglio is the former president and owner of Eko Brands, LLC. The past twenty-five years of his life have centered around coffee as he traveled around the world. Ron lives in Snohomish, Washington.








My Take:

I was introduced to Mr. DeMiglio through one of my favorite author's, Jim Rubart, and Mr. DeMiglio sent me a complimentary copy to read.
I am a drinker of coffee, although that is not required to read an enjoy this book. As the owner of Eko Brands, a coffee company, Mr. DeMiglio traveled the world looking at what else, coffee beans. In his debut book he shares what he has learned not only as a businessman but a follower of Christ as he traveled. His stories have humor and a nugget of truth in them. As I read I was reminded of the parables that Christ told. If you have ever listened to a missionary share their stories at church on a Sunday or Wednesday and walked away inspired. Then this book is a must read. 

I have an extra copy of this book that I am going to giveaway. Just follow the instructions and you'll be entered.


Sunday, August 27, 2017

A Matter of the Heart



The subject of White Supremacy, Racism, and the events from Charlottesville have been a huge topic on social media the last week or so. On Friday my husband and I went to our state fair which of all things for me to see was good ol' country boys walking around in Confederate flag shirts, and or a stars and bars bandanna around their cowboy hat. Seeing that symbol took me back to the years I lived in southern Virginia and the hate people would spew at colored men, women, and children using the stars and bars.
Since Friday night I've been wrestling with the thought that as a country we can remove the statues such as General Lee, ban the Confederate flag, call the horse that USC uses at their football games racist because the name of the horse is the same as General Lee's horse. We can do all of that, however, will that change anything? Will that stop small minded people from being hateful to another because they are different whether in race, who they love, beliefs, and anything else a small minded person disagrees with. After some serious soul searching, I've come to the conclusion that we can remove everything that represents a painful time in American history, but sadly it won't keep anyone from being cruel. Treating another human being with respect and dignity is a matter of the heart, not of the mind. What I think about someone or something usually comes from my experiences and how I was raised. Realizing that another person deserves the same respect, and human decency comes from my heart, and until people receive a heart transplant they will continue to be self-centered, and hateful to anyone different, which in my opinion is sad.

God has a few things to say about our heart.

Proverbs 27:19
As water reflects the face,
so one’s life reflects the heart.

Jeremiah 17:9-10
The heart is deceitful above all things
and beyond cure.
Who can understand it? “I the Lord search the heart
and examine the mind,
to reward each person according to their conduct,
according to what their deeds deserve.”

Proverbs 4:23
Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.

Romans 12:2
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

From the beginning of time God knew that our humanness would desire to control our own lives and outcome. He also knew that in our humanness we would be hurtful and mean. Which is why he talks about our heart and uses examples like David, Abraham, Jacob, Sarah, and a slew of others to show us how horrible the human spirit can be, and how only He can change the heart to see your neighbor as a person regardless of the differences.

Mark 12:30-31
30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”


Friday, August 25, 2017

First Line Friday #34



School started here on Wednesday and I can't believe my grandchildren are in 8th, 7th, 5th, 4th, 3rd, 2nd, and 1st. There are fourteen kiddos in those grades, and I can't believe how fast they are growing up! Today, I am featuring an upcoming release by Randy Singer, Rule of Law.






About the book:

What did the president know? And when did she know it?
For the members of SEAL Team Six, it was a rare mission ordered by the president, monitored in real time from the Situation Room. The Houthi rebels in Yemen had captured an American journalist and a member of the Saudi royal family. Their executions were scheduled for Easter Sunday. The SEAL team would break them out.
But when the mission results in spectacular failure, the finger-pointing goes all the way to the top.
Did the president play political games with the lives of U.S. service members?
Paige Chambers, a determined young lawyer, has a very personal reason for wanting to know the answer. The case she files will polarize the nation and test the resiliency of the Constitution. The stakes are huge, the alliances shaky, and she will be left to wonder if the saying on the Supreme Court building still holds true.
Equal justice under law.
It makes a nice motto. But will it work when one of the most powerful people on the planet is also a defendant?


First Line:

Sana'a, Yemen

They descended like vultures from the C-17 transport plane, silhouettes against a quarter moon in tar-black sky. 


What's your first line this week? Leave it in the comments, and then go visit my blogging my friends and see their first line.







Wednesday, August 23, 2017

Can't Wait Wednesday



My 2018 TBR list is getting quite long and we have four more months left til Christmas. I'm a huge Sarah Sundin fan, and this book has definitely caught my attention. Plus, the cover is so pretty!






About the book:

In 1944, American naval officer Lt. Wyatt Paxton arrives in London to prepare for the Allied invasion of France. He works closely with Dorothy Fairfax, a "Wren" in the Women's Royal Naval Service. Dorothy pieces together reconnaissance photographs with thousands of holiday snapshots of France--including those of her own family's summer home--in order to create accurate maps of Normandy. Maps that Wyatt will turn into naval bombardment plans.
As the two spend concentrated time together in the pressure cooker of war, their deepening friendship threatens to turn to love. Dorothy must resist its pull. Her bereaved father depends on her, and her heart already belongs to another man. Wyatt too has much to lose. The closer he gets to Dorothy, the more he fears his efforts to win the war will destroy everything she has ever loved.
The tense days leading up to the monumental D-Day landing blaze to life under Sarah Sundin's practiced pen with this powerful new series.







Tuesday, August 22, 2017

Tuesday Top Ten - Back To School Edition





Historical fiction is probably my favorite genre, romance is a close second. I enjoyed history in school, but as most of us, didn't retain a lot. Reading historical fiction gives me the escape to a different time and place and I learn something about the time period. A definite win/win.
I am joining Broke and the Bookish for Tuesday Top Ten, and I am highlighting books that I believe should be on a History class reading list.





 Shape of Mercy was the first book I read by Susan Meissner. Time period for this book is the Salem Witch Trials.
The Ballantyne Series is a huge favorite of mine, and the time period is Pre-Civil War.
Sarah Sundin's military books are so fun and informative. This book centers around flight nurses in WWII.
 A great story similar to Monument Men, centers around Auschwitz, WWII.
WWI, German spies on the soil of Britain is this novel's center.
Derbyshire, England during WWI is this novel's center.
 Centered in the Golden Age of the 1930's.
 The Hindenburg disaster is the center of this novel.
The colonization of Louisiana, from France is this novel's center point.
The orphan train, in 1850 New York, is the center of this novel.





















Friday, August 18, 2017

First Line Friday #33




I won't be around much today as my daughter flew in from California last night and I am looking forward to a weekend with my daughters and my grand-babies. Today I am going to feature The Enoch Effect by Rick Acker. I won a copy of this book and am a huge fan of legal fiction and I hope to move this up on my TBR list soon.


About the book:

Insurance litigator Leigh Collins has a knack for turning up that missing e-mail that wins the day or breaking down complex facts to sway a jury. So she’s hoping to make partner with her latest case: cancer researcher Dr. Elijah Rhodes and his life’s work are lost in a lab fire, and Biosolutions looks to cash in on a $100 million policy. Unfortunately, she’s up against Daniel Rubinelli, assistant general counsel for the biotech giant, who has a personal vendetta against cancer. In court, Leigh and Daniel clash from the beginning, ensuring a grueling case.
But soon greater concerns emerge. The late doctor might have found a “kill switch” for cancer cells—potentially wiping cancer off the face of the earth. While most of his findings were lost in the fire, he likely backed up his data, though encrypted beyond recovery.
Now, in this edge-of-your-seat thriller, two contentious lawyers must set aside their differences to locate the research before the doctor’s greatest discovery falls into the wrong hands…and the
                                                      secret to life ends in death.


First Line:

Prologue

February

Silence filled the lab, interrupted only by faint electronic murmurs from scientific equipment lining the walls.

Chapter 1

May

Leigh Collins loved her job. She loved finding the case-winning e-mail that the other side had missed.


I'll try to answer your comments, can't promise anything. So, please leave your first line in the comments and visit my blogging friends to see their first line.






Wednesday, August 16, 2017

Can't Wait Wednesday



It's Wednesday, and time for another edition of Can't Wait Wednesday. I am joining Wishful Endings for Can't Wait Wednesday. Today I am going to feature a book that is patiently waiting on my TBR. I received a copy of this book from The Fiction Guild and I can't wait to pick it up and get lost in the story.
What book can't you wait to read, or be published?








About the book:

What happens when happily ever after starts to unravel?
Eliyana Ember doesn't believe in true love. Not anymore. After defeating her grandfather and saving the Second Reflection, El only trusts what's right in front of her. The tangible. The real. Not some unexplained Kiss of Infinity she once shared with the ghost of a boy she's trying to forget. She has more important things to worry about--like becoming queen of the Second Reflection, a role she is so not prepared to fill.
Now that the Verity is intertwined with her soul and Joshua's finally by her side, El is ready to learn more about her mysterious birth land, the land she now rules. So why does she feel like something--or someone--is missing?
When the thresholds begin to drain and the Callings, those powerful magical gifts, begin to fail, El wonders if her link to Ky Rhyen may have something to do with it. For light and darkness cannot coexist. She needs answers before the Callings disappear altogether. Can El find a way to sever her connection to Ky and save the Reflections--and keep herself from falling for him in the process?



Tuesday, August 15, 2017

High As the Heavens by Kate Breslin - Reviewed


About the book:

In 1917, Evelyn Marche is just one of many women who has been widowed by the war. A British nurse trapped in German-occupied Brussels, she spends her days working at a hospital and her nights as a waitress in her aunt and uncle's café. Eve also has a carefully guarded secret keeping her in constant danger: She's a spy working for a Belgian resistance group in league with the British Secret Service.
When a British plane crashes in Brussels Park, Eve is the first to reach the downed plane and is shocked to discover she recognizes the badly injured pilot. British RFC Captain Simon Forrester is now a prisoner of war, and Eve knows he could be shot as a spy at any time. She risks her own life to hide him from the Germans, but as the danger mounts and the secrets between them grow, their chance of survival looks grim. And even if they do make it out alive, the truth of what lies between them may be more than any love can overcome.

My Thoughts:

I love historical fiction. It is one of my favorite genre's, mainly because I learn about history as I read a story. I don't know a lot about WWI so I was very interested in this story, and was drawn in right away. Ms. Breslin's vivid writing brought France and Brussels alive, and evoked so many emotions, that I wanted to throw, not toss the book across the room, books that capture my emotions that strongly are why I love reading.  The spy angle of the book was a new one for me and the love story between Evelyn and Simon had all the feels.
I don't want to say too much because I don't want to give Evelyn's story away, you need to get this book and read it!!

I am giving this book my 5.5 star rating, see the quote meme below.

















I received a complimentary copy of this book from Bethany House Publishers in exchange for an honest review. I was not paid for my opinion, and I was not required to write a positive review.

Saturday, August 12, 2017

Road Trip to Delusion Blog Hop




Genre: Contemporary, Christian
Publisher: Love Truth
Publication date: June 22, 2017

A fifteen-year-old takes a road trip with her two younger sisters and their strong-willed great-granny, and circumstances force her to drive her granny’s Cadillac through a freeway-closing-down blizzard which brings everyone and everything to a standstill.
 
 
PictureJean Ann Williams is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers. She writes regularly for Putting on the New blog and Book Fun Magazine on the topic of child suicide loss. Her book “God’s Mercies after Suicide: Blessings Woven through a Mother’s Heart” started out as a blogged book on her Love Truth blog. Jean Ann and her husband of forty-six years have thirteen grandchildren from their two remaining children. They reside on one acre in Southern Oregon where they raise a garden, fruit orchard, goats, and chickens. Jean Ann’s favorite hobbies are practicing archery, hiking through the woods, and big game hunting with her bow.
 
1. Who are some of your favorite authors?  Do these authors influence your own writing?
My favorite authors write inspirational/historical, which includes, Kim Vogel Sawyer, Tessa Emily Hall, Kim Vogel Sawyer, Laura Frantz, Jane Kirkpatrick. Last but not least for the deeper Point of View, Virginia Smith, and for my most favorite time period with captivating stories, Sydney Tooman Betts. Each of these authors have taught me differing things; how to write better, go deeper into story, and deeper Point of View so the reader is allowed to live in the characters’ heads.

2. What is your current WIP?  What can you tell us about this project?
Season of the Fawns is written with the new adult audience in mind, but it’s for all ages. Synopsis: Born on the same day, Vale acts older than her cousin Caleb and is protective over him because of the loss of his family at age ten. Days before they turn twenty, the two cousins yearly hunting trip approaches. Caleb no longer cares about participating, as he suffers from migraines caused by an injury while mountain climbing.
Before leaving for the hunting cabin, Vale discovers how severe Caleb’s depression has become. Though worried she will lose Caleb by his own hand, she insists the trip will be good for him. As the cousins enter a new season of change, will Vale’s grit be enough to save Caleb’s life?

3. What advice would you give potential authors/writers?
Never, ever give up on your dream of writing and publishing, and when you think you’ve hit a writer’s block wall keep writing even if it’s junk.

4. Does writing energize or exhaust you?
Writing energizes me and editing my work exhausts me.

5. What inspired the idea for Road Trip to Delusion?
Now, a bit about how this story came about. I told my California resident mother-in-law we would pick her up when she was ready to stay in our home. She commented she just might get in her car and drive her own self to Oregon. To this, I stared at my granddaughters and said to Mom, “Well, you better bring my granddaughters with you.” Because of this conversation, Road Trip of Delusion took root and I watered it and God gave the increase.

6. What do you want readers to take away from reading Road Trip to Delusion?
I hope readers will get a strong sense of the value of family, especially when not everyone gets along. Also, I’d like readers to consider the importance of prayer to a Lord Who loves us.
 (The cities and places along the characters route are actual locations, though some names are changed.)

1. Some characters are composites of a few family members including myself.
2. Within minutes after the conversation which inspired this story, my husband and I began our trip home to Oregon and I pulled out my laptop and wrote Road Trip of Delusion.
3. The working title of this book was The Road Trip of Our Lives, and I changed it to its current title.
4. The cover illustration was created by my granddaughter.
5. Since the age of eight, I’ve traveled the same route my characters traveled.
6. My sister’s husband works for the highway division in Oregon and plows the snow off of Interstate 5 each winter.
7. At the same age as my main character, I drove my parents’ station wagon without a driver’s license and know the feeling of driving scared when I stalled the car in a deep creek behind our house and couldn’t get the vehicle out.
8. I know what it’s like being in a snow storm. When I was 14, my family and I woke to five feet of snow, and my dad had to climb out a window and shovel the snow away from the front door.
9. My personality is similar to the main character in respect to feeling often like a coward and plagued with a nervous stomach.)
 
My heart sank to my navel as I grip-hugged my cookbook.
Granny slammed on the gas pedal of her Cadillac Fleetwood, and the vehicle chugged onto Highway 101. Her eagle eyes never wandered from the beams of the headlights.
I shook my head for I had a huge regret. I wasn’t able to talk Granny out of taking this trip.
In the backseat, my middle sister thirteen-year-old Leah Be-de-ah jumped on the freeway of reason. “And, Granny, don’t you think we should tell someone?”
Granny’s head barely crested the top of the seat. “Your Grand, James, is gone, so it’s just me now.” She lifted her chin.
Little sister Mia Babe sat next to Leah. “Kari?”
Twisting in my seat, I faced them. “What?”
“Mom says Grand’s in paradise, but where’s that?”
Ah, Mia, an old soul at the age of seven. “Well, from what Mom taught me, it’s a spiritual place where people go when they die.”
“Oh.” Mia rubbed her eye.
A scary notion surfaced, and I slapped my forehead. “Granny, do you even know how to get to Oregon?”
“Of course.” She flicked her blinker and passed a small car. “James and I visited Oregon when your mama was a slip of a teenager.”
“But Granny—” Leah counted. “This was twenty-five years ago. Right, Kari?”
“Right.” I rolled my eyes to the car roof and refocused on the headlight-brightened pavement. “I don’t think, Leah, they moved the state.” But, does Granny remember the route
 
 
 
 

First Line Friday Featuring Riot (A Breed Apart: Legacy #3) by Ronie Kendig and JJ Samie Myles

  Happy Friday!! Welcome to the weekend!!! Today I am featuring one of my favorite authors, Ronie Kendig. I loved A Breed Apart series and I...