Shadows on the Sand by Gayle Roper

Greetings,

Today is about Shadows On The Sand by Gayle Roper. I am not sure how I missed reading any books by Gayle Roper, but I am throughly enjoying this one. Entering into a small cafe, the lives of the people who live and work there start to unfold for us. Carrie has been there for a while, and it is intriguing how she and her sister wound up living in this tiny, mostly safe, costal town called Seaside. Greg is the man who makes Carrie's heart act up, but he lost his wife and children long before Carrie and he hasn't stopped grieving yet.

Their young waitress Andi is dating a really questionable guy, Bill. Bill gets into a fight with their mild mannered, mysterious young dishwasher Jason. Immediately after the fight Jason vanishes, and soon it is  believed that he has run away, or been killed. Then more things happen!

In the mist of it all God is present, and I liked how this was written. The romance was just right, and that is hard to do. I take bouts of not liking romance, and loving it. I was pleased with this book, the settings, and the way the stories of their past lives unfolded. Very enjoyable, not too heavy, and not too light.

Carol

This week, the  Christian Fiction Blog Alliance  is introducing  Shadows on the Sand  Multnomah Books (July 19, 2011)  by  Gayle Roper
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Gayle is the award winning author of more than forty books. She has been a Christy finalist three times for her novels Spring Rain, Summer Shadows, and Winter Winds. Her novel Autumn Dreams won the prestigious Romance Writers of America's RITA Award for Best Inspirational Romance. Summer Shadows was voted the Inspirational Readers Choice Contest Book of the Year (tied with fellow author Brandilyn Collins).

Gayle has won the Holt Medallion three times for The Decision, Caught in a Bind, and Autumn Dreams. The Decision won the Reviewers Choice Award, and Gayle has also won the Award of Excellence for Spring Rain and the Golden Quill for Summer Shadows and Winter Winds. Romantic Times Book Report gave Gayle the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Her Amhearst mystery series, Caught in the Middle, Caught in the Act, and Caught in a Bind, originally published by Zondervan, was reprinted in 2007 by Love Inspired Suspense with a fourth original title added, Caught Redhanded. Another original single title, See No Evil, was also released. Caught in the Middle has been optioned for film.

For her work in training Christian writers Gayle has won special recognition from Mount Hermon CWC, St. Davids CWC, Florida CWC, and Greater Philadelphia CWC. She directed St. Davids for five years and Sandy Cove CWC for six. She has taught with Christian Leaders, Authors and Speakers Services (CLASS), serving for several years as their writer in residence. She enjoys speaking at women's events across the nation and loves sharing the powerful truths of Scripture with humor and practicality.

Gayle lives in southeastern Pennsylvania where she enjoys her family of two great sons, two lovely daughters-in-law, and the world's five most wonderful grandchildren. When she's not writing, or teaching at conferences, Gayle enjoys reading, gardening, and eating out.


ABOUT THE BOOK

Carrie Carter’s small café in Seaside, New Jersey, is populated with a motley crew of locals although Carrie only has eyes for Greg Barnes. He’s recovering from a vicious crime that three years ago took the lives of his wife and children—and from the year he tried to drink his reality away. While her heart does a happy Snoopy dance at the sight of him, he never seems to notice her, to Carrie’s chagrin.

When Carrie’s dishwasher is killed and her young waitress disappears, Greg finds himself drawn into helping Carrie solve the mysteries … and into her life. But Carrie has a painful past, too, and when the reason she once ran away shows up in town, the fragile relationship she’s built with Greg threatens to implode from the weight of the baggage they both carry. Two wounded hearts struggle to find a way to make one romance work. Failure seems guaranteed when Carrie locates her waitress but is taken hostage...

If you would like to read the first chapter of Shadows on the Sand, go HERE.

The book link is: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1601420846

Falls Like Lighting by Shawn Grady

Hi All,

Finally my copy is here! I am VERY disappointed in this book. 123 pages in, I was STILL trying to get into it. I don't know what happened, but this book is nothing like Tomorrow We Die. It doesn't flow, and it doesn't make much sense. I am extremely frustrated. If I had read this book first instead of the other one, I wouldn't have read another one of Shawn Grady's books. Gone is the easy flow of the last book, and missing is the easy professional feel when we were reading about ER type experiences in the book prior.

All I can tell you about this book is that there are some guys jumping down into flames. Some people die, in some gun fights, there is some gold, we aren't sure where exactly, and there is an ex-girlfriend with a daughter with seizures. Oh yeah, and people eat/spit out and kiss pine needles when falling out of trees they get stuck in. I am over 300 pages through this book, and I am still struggling with it. I hope it at least has a happy ending - I haven't made it quite there yet.

I don't want to sound mean, I know how it is to pour your "blood" into writing, but I can't recommend Falls Like Lighting. I do like the title though.

Carol

This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing Falls Like Lightning Bethany House (July 1, 2011) by Shawn Grady

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Shawn Grady signed with Bethany House Publishers in 2008. He was named “Most Promising New Writer” at the 39th Annual Mount Hermon Writers Conference. He is the author of the novels Through the Fire, Tomorrow We Die &; Falls Like Lightning.

Shawn has served for over a decade as a firefighter and paramedic in northern Nevada. From fire engines and ambulances to tillered ladder trucks and helicopters, Shawn’s work environment has always been dynamic. The line of duty has carried him to a variety of locale, from high-rise fires in the city to the burning heavy timber of the eastern Sierras.

After graduating from James Logan High School in Union City, California, Shawn attended Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego as a Theology undergrad. There he found clarity of direction and proceeded on to acquire an Associate of Science degree in Fire Science Technology as well as Paramedic licensure through Truckee Meadows Community College in Reno, Nevada.

Shawn currently lives in Reno, just outside of Lake Tahoe. He enjoys spending time in the outdoors with his wife, three children and yellow Labrador.

ABOUT THE BOOK

When hotshot smoke jumper Silas Kent gets his own fire crew, he thinks he's achieved what he's always wanted. But a lightning-sparked fire in the Desolation Wilderness of the Sierra Nevadas has his team in a plane before they can even train together.

Pilot Elle Westmore has been called up to drop the crew into the heart of the forest infernos. A single mother of a mysteriously ill six-year-old, she can't imagine her life getting any more complicated.

It doesn't take long for things to go very wrong, very quickly. A suspicious engine explosion forces Elle to make an emergency landing. Silas is able to parachute to safety but soon discovers his crew can't be trusted. They're hiding something, and now Silas is on a race to save himself and Elle from the flames--and from a more dangerous threat: his own team.

If you would like to read the first chapter of Falls Like Lightning, go HERE

The book link is: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/ 0764205978 

Pattern Of Wounds by J. Mark Bertrand (Roland March Mysteries)

Hello Readers,

Ahhh! My first book by J. Mark Bertrand was Back On Murder.  That review is found here:
http://carolkeen.blogspot.com/2010/07/back-on-murder-by-j-mark-betrand.html
I enjoyed that book, but better still is this one. The second book in the Roland March Mysteries series, Pattern of Wounds features detective Marsh, who we met in the first book. No worries, this book stands alone very well.

I throughly enjoy Mr. Bertrand's easy method of putting is right at home in Houston, Texas. I have visited Texas a few times in my life, but I like how well he wrote it into March's home town. While coping with Christmas in a town that is so hot that Christmas always feels like it is in July, a rather pretty young lady is murdered. The problem is the victim was posed, and there is a pattern of wounds on her body that just will not let March alone. He can't help but keep feeling that this is a copy-cat murder, but no one but him sees that. It even gnaws at his gut so bad that it is enough to make one wonder if the wrong man went to prison 10 years ago.

Complicating things even more, the sweet couple that live in the garage apartment are going to have a baby. This is ripping open the depth of unhealed wounds for March and his wife Charlotte. Carter and Gina aren't trying to hurt, they are just clinging to God and well, having a child. If March and Charlotte hadn't lost their daughter it would be quite different. Right soon March resents his friends for Charlotte opening up to them when she hasn't been opening up to him. So in the process of trying to sort out the deaths, and the murderer, we learn a great deal more about March and his past, and the depths of pain that he hasn't even begun to deal with like he should yet.

I'll be back to add any extra thoughts as soon as I finish the last few chapters.

Carol

This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing Pattern of Wounds Bethany House (July 1, 2011) by J. Mark Bertrand
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

J. Mark Bertrand lived in Houston, where the series is set, for fifteen years, earning an MFA in Creative Writing at the University of Houston. But after one hurricane too many he relocated with his wife Laurie to the plains of South Dakota. Mark has been arrested for a crime he didn't commit, was the foreman of one hung jury and served on another that acquitted Vinnie Jones of assault. In 1972, he won an honorable mention in a child modeling contest, but pursued writing instead.



ABOUT THE BOOK

It's Christmas in Houston, and homicide detective Roland March is on the hunt for a killer. A young woman's brutal stabbing in an affluent neighborhood bears all the hallmarks of a serial murder. The only problem is that March sent the murderer to prison ten years ago. Is it a copycat -- or did March convict the wrong man?

Alienated from his colleagues and with a growing rift in his marriage, March receives messages from the killer. The bodies pile up, the pressure builds, and the violence reaches too close to home. Up against an unfathomable evil, March struggles against the clock to understand the hidden message in the pattern of wounds.


If you would like to read the first chapter of Pattern of Wounds, go HERE.

The book link is: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0764206389 

Vigilante by Robin Parrish

Another great book by Robin Parrish. This time we get to read Vigilante.

This book starts off with a National hero dying. Only, well, he isn't quite so dead as everyone thinks. Instead he has a plan. While the world morns the death of Nolan Grey, Nolan is on a mission to change the world. Armed with cutting edge technology, and more skills than even most of the most elite soldiers, Nolan is tired of the words, and ready for actions that change things. Billboards that no one can trace start popping up all over the USA. "There is a better way", says the first one. "I will show you a better way", says the second one. The white hand they are written over doesn't help matters, but the message has people's attention, and the media's attention.

Crime is more abundant than ever, and though this is a "future" type world, it is also our world today in many places. Soon Nolan Grey is the force know only as The Hand. Under the guise of  "The Hand" Nolan is going stop crime. He is going to right wrongs, he is going to change the world for the better, as a one man vigilante. New York will never be the same, it will be right. It will be moral if Nolan can help it. Using his new personal he will inspire people to be more than they were, and strike terror into the heart of evil-doers.

But none of us are invincible, and Nolan was a POW (Prisoner of War) for several years. He fights now with issues from the past plaguing him, altering his choices. The incredible technology that allows him to be The Hand, that Arjay and his team has created for him, aren't always compromise free either. And deep in the middle of changing the world, Nolan has major choices to make. He wasn't always that well understood as Nolan Grey, war hero. Now Nolan has even more people questioning his motives, while we wonder if he has made things better, or just more complicated?

Many nice twists and questions for thought are presented. This is only my second "super hero" type book to read, and I really liked it. Robin Parrish did a wonderful job, again.

Carol

This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing Vigilante Bethany House (July 1, 2011) by Robin Parrish

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Robin Parrish wants to take you on a ride.

A wild ride -- which is exactly what you're in for when you pick up one of his books. And he's adamant that it will never be the same kind of experience twice.

Robin's stories mix, mingle, and meld various genres together to create thoroughly original suspense/thrillers. His Dominion Trilogy, for example, mashed up superhero action, secret societies, ancient myths, and an apocalyptic setting to create an entirely new take on the classic "hero's journey." Offworld mixed science fiction and an end-of-the-world scenario with high-octane action. Nightmare, his 2010 novel, is a spine-tingling examination of the world of the paranormal, paired with can't-put-it-down mystery. His 2011 novel, Vigilante, is an action-packed story about a soldier who sets out to change the world. Later this year, he's releasing his first ever Young Adult novel, titled Corridor.

Always pushing the envelope, ever on the edge of where modern storytelling is going, Robin Parrish will gladly and unapologetically tell you that he's an entertainer, a weaver of stories that ignite the mind and delight the heart. Defying labels and refusing pigeonholes, his imagination is fueled by the possibilities of asking "What if…?", and as anyone who's read his work knows, he has a very big imagination.

His influences as a novelist range from television and film storytellers like Joss Whedon and J.J. Abrams, to masters of the modern myth like J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. Akin to Philip K. Dick's search for the meaning of identity, most of what Robin writes about boils down to his own ponderings and examinations of just what this thing we call "existence" is.

Robin is a full time writer. He and his wife Karen and two children live in High Point, NC.

"Robin Parrish is a keen-eyed, passionate pop cultural savant, whose writing is as incisive and insightful as it is entertaining."
- Allan Heinberg, Executive Producer, Grey's Anatomy

ABOUT THE BOOK

Nolan Gray is an elite soldier, skilled in all forms of combat. After years fighting on foreign battlefields, witnessing unspeakable evils and atrocities firsthand, a world-weary Nolan returns home to find it just as corrupt as the war zones. Everywhere he looks, there's pain and cruelty. Society is being destroyed by wicked men who don't care who they make suffer or destroy.

Nolan decides to do what no one else can, what no one has ever attempted. He will defend the helpless. He will tear down the wicked. He will wage a one-man war on the heart of man, and he won't stop until the world is the way it should be.

The wicked have had their day. Morality's time has come. In a culture starving for a hero, can one extraordinary man make things right?

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

The book link is: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0764206087

Veiled Rose by Anne Elisabeth Stengl - Book Two of Tales of Goldstone Wood

Dear Readers,

Heartless, the first book in this series was good. You can find my review of it here in my blog. However, Veiled Rose was even better! Way to go Anne Elisabeth Stengl! Veiled Rose stands alone extremely well, but also has bits and pieces that tie back into Heartless. I have to go re-read Heartless to see what I may have missed.  The write up below doesn't come close to doing this book justice, and frankly is very lacking in enough description if you ask me.

Off in a remote location is a place called Hill House, which sits at the foot of a mountain. This is where young Leo spends his summers coping with his brainiac cousin, Foxbrush. Leo and Foxbrush are about as opposite as two cousins can be, and this leaves Leo lonely and bored. Being young and seeking adventure he decided to find the rumored monster that lives in the mountain next to his Aunt's estate. What he finds instead is a girl!
Leo has very little use for girls, obnoxious delicate creatures that he doesn't care to be around, but this girl is different. She is clothed in veils from head to toe, and only has red scarves or accents, and she has some quite unique talents that the word stealth just doesn't quite cover. She lives almost alone on the mountain, with the exception of her Nanny Beana, who is actually a nanny goat. Yet, in many ways she is less alone than Leo.

They become friends, Rose Red and Leo, and even though Rose Red doesn't want to, Leo is on an adventure to find the fabled Monster. Leo thinks he has found where the Monster lives, but he winds up in a great deal of trouble. This trouble is enough to keep him banished from Hill House for five long years, leaving Rose Red deal with her dreams that speak to her, the Monster, Beana, a bird that talks to her which she calls her Invisible Friend, and her Old Dad. Gone are the days of spending time climbing the mountain with a real friend, Leo. No more leaf boats to be built and sunk, and life for both Rose Red and Leo is rather miserable.
Now no longer 11, Leo is of the age to find him a match. He isn't interested in girls, but he manages to get his Mother to let him return to Hill House for the Summer, since there will be an eligible girl present. Now things really start to speed up, for Daylily is beautiful, but Leo wants to talk to Rose Red again. The mountain is not the same as it was 5 years prior. Things are about to take giant twists that I rather hate to give away.
You just must read them!

Dare Rose Red trust Leo again? There is more at stake than just hearts.
Trust and sacrifice, loyalties and longing are all being put to the test in this tale.
Monsters must be found out of they are real, or if they are real, banished, before lives perish or are forever altered.

A wonderful book! I am so glad I got to read it, and I do recommend this one!
Carol

This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing Veiled Rose Bethany House (July 1, 2011) by Anne Elisabeth Stengl

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Anne Elisabeth Stengl makes her home in Raleigh, North Carolina, where she enjoys her profession as an art teacher, giving private lessons from her personal studio, and teaching group classes at the Apex Learning Center. She studied illustration at Grace College and English literature at Campbell University. Heartless is her debut novel.





ABOUT THE BOOK

Rose Red trusts no one with her secret. She hides in the forest, her face veiled in rags, shunning the company of all save her old father and her nanny goat. Her life is bleak and lonely.

Until she meets a privileged young man sent to spend his summer in the mountains. Leo, a lonely lad, befriends Rose Red, and together they begin hunting for the Mountain Monster which, rumor says, stalks these lands.

But the hunt which began as a game holds greater risk than Leo supposes. Rose Red can scarcely guess at the consequences should he insist on continuing his search. Dare she trust him with her secret? Or tell him what dwells at the top of the mountain in the cave only she can find?

Above all, when Leo asks Rose Red to leave the mountain and follow him to the low country, dare she agree and risk the wrath of a Monster that is all too real?

If you would like to read the first chapter of Veiled Rose, go HERE.

The book link is: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0373442726 

Lion Of Babylon by Davis Bunn

Hi Everyone,

Lion of Babylon is a good book. I am particularly happy about how Mr. Davis Bunn frequently managed to give me the same feeling that the old movies with Arabs in them gave me. That was very nice! I haven't heard the word "sayyid" in quite some time. I had not seen it spelled before either, but I recognized it instantly. Effiendi was another word I knew and was glad to see. These little things are big to me, and I really enjoyed them!

Even in the middle of major crisis, in a war torn country, Lion of Babylon has some of the same feel as I loved from the 1940 movies that showed some of this culture. Unlike those movies, there are no magic carpets, but instead real humans struggling with their changing  country.

This book was written with the kindest view towards the peoples of this land. I was extremely impressed at the infusion of culture and the most polite ways of showing Jesus that I have ever read in a Christian book dealing with the Middle-East issues. I think I can easily say that this man has a heart for these people, and it shows in his writing. It showed in the underground churches, and in the day-to-day lives of his main characters. We have brothers and sisters in Christ in lands that are struggling, lands who's people can't openly say I follow Christ as can be done in the USA. The people need our prayers. This book is about them, and a few men from the USA, and government plots, and what we truly hold most dear to our hearts. Lion of Babylon is well worth reading.

Carol

This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing Lion of Babylon Bethany House (July 1, 2011) by Davis Bunn
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Born and raised in North Carolina, Davis left for Europe at age twenty. There he first completed graduate studies in economics and finance, then began a business career that took him to over forty countries in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia.

Davis came to faith at age 28, while living in Germany and running an international business advisory group. He started writing two weeks later. Since that moment, writing has remained both a passion and a calling.

Davis wrote for nine years and completed seven books before his first was accepted for publication. During that time, he continued to work full-time in his business career, travelling to two and sometimes three countries every week. His first published book, The Presence, was released in 1990 and became a national bestseller.

Honored with three Christy Awards for excellence in historical and suspense fiction, his bestsellers include The Great Divide, Winner Take All, The Meeting Place, The Warning, The Book of Hours, and The Quilt.
A sought-after speaker in the art of writing, Davis serves as Writer In Residence at Regent’s Park College, Oxford University.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Marc Royce works for the State Department on special assignments, most of them rather routine, until two CIA operatives go missing in Iraq--kidnapped by Taliban forces bent on generating chaos in the region. Two others also drop out of sight--a high-placed Iraqi civilian and an American woman providing humanitarian aid. Are the disappearances linked? Rumors circulate in a whirl of misinformation.

Marc must unravel the truth in a covert operation requiring utmost secrecy--from both the Americans and the insurgents. But even more secret than the undercover operation is the underground dialogue taking place between sworn enemies. Will the ultimate Reconciler between ancient enemies, current foes, and fanatical religious factions be heard?

If you would like to read the first chapter of Lion of Babylon, go HERE.

The book link is: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0764209051