Storm by Evan Angler (Book 3 of the Swipe Series)

This is the first book I have ever ready by this Author. At first I was a bit lost, even though some background was given to try to get us up to speed. For a while I felt like I wish I had a list of the names and places to refer to, but after a little bit I felt up to speed.

There is this group of un-marked kids, called Dust. (I'm guessing because we are made from dust.) They are fighting to stay free because they refused The Mark. (Yes, this is set in end-times or maybe Revelations here.) This group of young teens are on the run from DOME, who is fit to be tied because they didn't take The Pledge, and get The Mark. So you have the Marked, and the Markless. Recently they lost a member when they broke in a facility to get out another member's sister. Instead of getting her out, she stayed and one of their own is now being re-programmed, ie--- tortured.

Meanwhile, the whole planet is "at peace" because of the IMPS. They are "peacekeepers". Please read that as fighters in training, an army for the probably civil war that keeps being whispered about. Two major rulers are each over one half of Earth, but rest assured (not!) they are in perfect unity. Oh so much unity, only it isn't. The weather is now being controlled by the government, and they have turned off the rain. No one knows why yet, and the people who are sabotaging the rain stations are basically black-ops.

Topping all off that off, Dust had hacked some messages and they know about Project Trumpet. That is suppose to be a way to kill off all the Markless, only it seems to have backfired and a Marked is very sick. This is nanobot controlled and there isn't an off switch. It is only activated by certain special agents, so how did Erin, one of the Marked who is with the Dust group get infected with Trumpet anyway? The possible cure is even farther out than anticipated, and the unrest, tension and suspense are always underlying.

This book has some fun things in it, mixed it with the stress of surviving a world going to - well pretty much you know where it is going! I did enjoy it, but I did really wish I had been able to read the first two books so that I wasn't so very lost for a while. It is not overly "Christian" in the preachy way like some books are, but instead Evan Angler was writing about surviving what was left of the world after The Mark and massive changes.

Carol :)

About The Book: 

In a future United States under the power of a charismatic leader, everyone gets the Mark at age thirteen. The Mark lets citizen shop, go to school, and even get medical care—without it, you are on your own. Few refuse to get the Mark. Those who do . . . disappear.

Logan Langly went in to get his Mark, but he backed out at the last minute. Ever since, he’s been on the run from government agents and on a quest to find his sister Lily, who disappeared when she went to get her Mark five years earlier. His journey leads him to befriend the Dust, a vast network of Markless individuals who dissent against the iron-grip rule of the government. Along the way to the capital to find Lily, the Dust receive some startling information from the Markless community, opening their eyes to the message of Christianity and warning that humanity is now entering the End of Days.

In Storm, Logan and his friends are the leaders of the Markless revolution. But while some Markless are fighting Chancellor Cylis’ army, the Dust is busy trying to find a cure for a horrible epidemic sweeping through the Marked. And it's difficult for them to know who to trust, especially when they aren't sure if Logan's sister Lily, one of the commanders in Cylis' army, is on their side or not. And all across the nation—and the world—the weather has become less stable and a storm is brewing that bigger than any of them could have ever imagined.

Who is Evan Angler?
Evan Angler is safe, for now. He lives without the Mark, evading DOME and writing in the shadows of Beacon. As a kid he was quiet and well-behaved, having grown up in a town not unlike Spokie, where he enjoyed music, drawing, hover-dodge, astrophysics, hiking, virtual reality . . .  None of that matters now. Evan Angler is the author of SWIPE. But if anyone asks, you know nothing about it, and you didn't hear anything from him. Don't make eye contact if you see him. Don't call his name out loud. He's in enough trouble already. And so are you, if you've read his books. Evan Angler

In conjunction with the CSFF Blog Tour, I received a free copy of this book from the publisher. 

Storm - http://www.amazon.com/Storm-Swipe-Evan-Angler/dp/1400321972
Author’s website - http://www.evanangler.com
Participants’ links -
Julie Bihn
Beckie Burnham
Keanan Brand
Pauline Creeden
Emma or Audrey Engel
Sarah Faulkner
Victor Gentile
Ryan Heart
Jason Joyner
Carol Keen
Shannon McDermott
Meagan @ Blooming with Books
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Joan Nienhuis
Writer Rani
Chawna Schroeder
Jacque Stengl
Jojo Sutis
Jessica Thomas
Steve Trower
Phyllis Wheeler
Rachel Wyant

Pieces Of The Heart by Bonnie S. Calhoun

This is my second book by Bonnie S. Calhoun. While very different than Cooking The Books , Pieces Of  The Heart is not totally disconnected from Bonnie's first book. I must stay that I wasn't prepared to feel attached Grammy in this book as deeply as I did, but it hasn't been very long since my own Grammie headed for Heaven.

Cordelia fell in love with Bernard the first time he became her hero. Growing up a bit different than the children around her, Cordelia was often called "high-yeller", and she struggled to fit into her own life. Her Mom didn't get along well with her Grammy, her Father's Mother. To top that all off, her Dad is the Preacher, so she is the proverbial "preacher's kid". If all that wasn't enough, the time are getting worse, and Cordelia is trying so hard to understand why God feels so far away. To help her, her biggest fan and confidant is her Grandmother.

Cordelia's Grammy is a quilter, a talent passed down to her from her family. It is an heirloom and a way of life that Cordelia's Mother didn't grow up with, and doesn't understand or really approve of. Grammy is working on a huge quilt in the Pinecone or Pine Burr pattern. Grammy has one, and she has been working for years now on Cordelia's quilt. She calls the quilt a "life covering" because each triangle is put in covered in prayers for that person's life. But things aren't always just what they seem. Bernard's Mother is an abused wife, and her story gets deeper and deeper as Cordelia's relationship with Bernard progresses. And just when everything looked like it was falling into place, then came the drafts, and the war. With Bernard gone to war, will God really answer Cordelia's prayers? Can she connect to the faith that the generations before her have tried to help install in her? No one can live on someone else's connection to God and with all that has happened to Cordelia, she will not make it with out her own personal connection to the power of God.

This is a very deep book, with common threads pulled together throughout the entire tapestry which was carefully crafted and woven with a purpose. This tapestry covers pride, pain, prejudiced, love, hate, and redemption and end the very end ties to the background of the Author's first book in very beautiful ways.

I don't want this to be a spoiler - so stop here if you are worried about that! I have to say how impressed and grateful I was for the PTSD portrayal of certain characters in this book. It is something that strikes home with me in ways that I haven't shared yet.

I am just waiting till I get to read the next book by Bonnie S. Calhoun!

Carol :)

This week, the

Christian Fiction Blog Alliance

is introducing

Pieces of the Heart

Abingdon Press (June 1, 2013)

by

Bonnie S. Calhoun

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Bonnie S. Calhoun is Owner/Director of Christian Fiction Blog Alliance, owner/publisher of Christian Fiction Online Magazine, Northeast Zone Director for American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW), the ACFW ‘2011 Mentor of the Year,” President of (CAN) Christian Authors Network, and Appointment Coordinator for both the Colorado Christian Writers Conference (CCWC) and the Greater Philadelphia Christian Writers Conference(GPCWC).

For the last six years she has taught workshops in Facebook, Twitter, Blogging, and creating Social Media promotions at both CCWC, and GPCWC, and in 2011 at the Montrose, Pa Christian Writers Conference. She also taught a Facebook workshop at the 2012 ACFW conference.

Bonnie and her husband live in a log cabin in upstate area of New York with a dog and cat who think she’s wait-staff. Her sites are:
https://www.facebook.com/bonniescalhounsnarkandsuspense
https://www.facebook.com/bscalhoun

ABOUT THE BOOK

Cordelia Grace watched Bernard Howard, the love of her young life, go off to fight for our country in WWII. And she has spent the last three years creating the Pine Cone quilt that will grace their marriage bed when he comes home. Each row of triangles signifies a layer in her life, sets of memories, hopes, dreams, and prayers for her future, enough spoken words to cover them forever. Her image of their “happy-ever-after” grows proportionally as the quilt expands.

But is the man that returns from the war, the same man that she remembered? Are the dark shades of color that she had to use for the outside edges of the beloved quilt prophetic of her life to come? Can love and faith overcome all?

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

The book link is: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1426752725

Lock, Stock and Over a Barrel by Melody Carlson (Dear Daphne Series )

I must say that Melody Carlson's books are always fun for me.

Lock, Stock and Over a Barrel is fun also!

Daphne is in New York, working for the New York Times writing wedding announcements. She has been stuck in the same apartment, and the same job, for the last 10-12 years. Suddenly, her Aunt Dee passes. Daphne heads to Appleton for her Aunt's funeral. Being back in Appleton, Daphne's home town, started making Daphne wonder about her live back in New York. She didn't get long to wonder, because after the funeral was the reading of Aunt Dee's last will and testament.

Aunt Dee had some major secrets, and now, Daphne knows what they are. She also knows why, but what to do with a few of them is another issue. They are life altering! To top that, she gets the classic car, the beautiful Victorian house complete with garden grounds, the two sweet cats, a new line of work, and a sizable inheritance,  with a few catches included. She has to move back home, take over a few things where her "Aunt" left off, and most of all, she only gets the whole package if she falls in love and gets married in the next 365 days! What a stipulation!!! How do you pray your way through finding the right man in less than a year??! Her only other option is to loose it all, and that isn't a great thought either. Indeed, Daphne is Lock, Stock and very much Over A Barrel with everything in her life!

Faster than she knows it, Daphne has caught the eye of several eligible bachelors in Appleton. So now what is a girl suppose to do? Worse yet she was left hurt and gun shy from Ryan, the man she was falling in love with. Finding out quite suddenly that he was married left her alone and out of the dating field for quite sometime. Now it is time to give herself some good solid advice, to trust God and to see what His plans are for her.

I'm looking forward to the next book!
Carol :)

This week, the

Christian Fiction Blog Alliance

is introducing

Lock, Stock and Over a Barrel

B&H Publishing Group (April 30, 2013)

by

Melody Carlson

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: 

Over the years, Melody Carlson has worn many hats, from pre-school teacher to youth counselor to political activist to senior editor. But most of all, she loves to write! Currently she freelances from her home. In the past eight years, she has published over ninety books for children, teens, and adults--with sales totaling more than two million and many titles appearing on the ECPA Bestsellers List. Several of her books have been finalists for, and winners of, various writing awards.

She has two grown sons and lives in Central Oregon with her husband and chocolate lab retriever. They enjoy skiing, hiking, gardening, camping and biking in the beautiful Cascade Mountains.

(I made edits to the About The Book write-up. The first name was not matching my book. In the write up below I have changed the first name of the leading lady so that it matches my book!)

ABOUT THE BOOK

With high hopes, Daphne Ballinger lands her dream job at The New York Times. But it's not long until writing about weddings becomes a painful reminder of her own failed romance, and her love of the city slowly sours as well. Is it time to give up the Big Apple for her small hometown of Appleton?

When her eccentric Aunt Dot passes away and leaves a sizable estate to Daphne, going back home is an easy choice. What isn't easy is coming to terms with the downright odd clauses written into the will.

Daphne only stands to inherit the estate if she agrees to her aunt's very specific posthumous terms -- personal and professional. And if she fails to comply, the sprawling old Victorian house shall be bequeathed to . . . Aunt Dot’s cats.

And if  Daphne thinks that’s odd, wait until she finds out an array of secrets about Aunt Dot's life, and how imperfect circumstances can sometimes lead to God's perfect timing.

If you would like to read the first chapter of Lock, Stock and Over a Barrel, go HERE.

The book link is: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1433679302 

Slow Moon Rising by Eva Marie Everson

I did read Waiting For Sunrise, but manged to miss a book in this series. With Slow Moon Rising, readers find themselves back in Cedar Key. In this book the story is told from the view point of five main Clayborne women. Because of this it jumps about a bit, so keep that in mind when reading! These women are Kimberly, Jayme-Leigh, Heather, Anise, and Ami. 

Their over all story works its way down a time-line but through the eyes of several people. Each woman has at least four or so chapters written from their view point. As you keep reading you start seeing family secrets, big ones that threaten families, and relationships being exposed.

It is hard to loose me in a book, so I didn't get lost, just a bit frustrated at times. Like watching a series on TV that picks up somewhere else when you see the next episode leaving you wondering, but wait! What about? I think I really NEEDED the other book to make more of this fit together for me.

Carol :)

About The Book:

Cedar Key has long been a place of rest, healing, and release in the Claybourne family. But it might also be the birthplace of a lie that is poisoning the family from within. Join the strong Claybourne women--Anise, Kimberly, Jayme-Leigh, Heather, and Ami--as they each confront the truth. Their unique paths will lead them through heartbreak, misunderstandings, and pain. But their journeys will also bring reconciliation with each other and renewed love in their own lives.

In her lyrical, evocative fashion, Eva Marie Everson weaves a tapestry of complicated relationships that, when complete, reveals the most beautiful work of art there is--family.

Author Bio

Eva Marie Everson is a successful speaker and the award-winning author of Things Left Unspoken, This Fine Life, Chasing Sunsets, and Waiting for Sunrise. She is coauthor of the Potluck Club books and the Potluck Catering Club series. She lives in Florida.

Find out more:

http://www.evamarieeverson.com or http://www.evamarieeversonauthor.com/

The book link is:
http://www.amazon.com/Slow-Moon-Rising-Book-ebook/dp/B00B85M3LK/ref=dp_kinw_strp_1

“Available June 2013 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.”

Fear Has A Name by Creston Mapes (The Crittendon Files)

Fear Has A Name is a book that moves so quickly and is so involved that you don't want to put it down. Jack Crittendon is a journalist and he has pretty good story sorting about abilities. He is working on a story about a missing Pastor when his own home is broken into. Things get deeper and deeper from there on out!

Jack's wife, and two daughters are being stalked, but not in the normal way. Their home was broken into and Pamela and the girls barley escaped. Then when they thought it was all over, items keep vanishing, such as Pamela's Bible and one of her daughter's lockets. Frankly, it is starting to look very personal, and not your average break in or stalking issues. Jack is fighting to keep his temper under control while still working to  find out if this missing Pastor Evan committed suicide, or if he ran off with another woman (unlikely as Jack and Pamela had been in some of his marriage teaching), or if there is some major foul play or murder involved.

Pamela is striving to keep her faith strong and protect her children. The man who has been tormenting them, his past pain and torment at the hands of  "Christian" parents who quoted the Bible is soul wrenching. He is the way he is now because of the abuse, and because of Pamela - who had no idea what she did or didn't do to wind up with this on her hands. Everywhere Pamela and Jack turn there is fear involved. At the store, at home, at church, on the road, it just keeps escalating. Even their daughters have said you have to trust God and believe or faith will not work.

This is an book with in-depth characters who deal with real world issues of faith, fear, abuse, healing, and the stuggles that we go through when fear tries to invade and take our peace.

I'm going to be watching for the second book in this series!
Carol :)

This week, the

Christian Fiction Blog Alliance

is introducing

Fear Has a Name

David C. Cook (June 1, 2013)

by

Creston Mapes

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Creston has fond memories of his boyhood in Bath, Ohio, where he became enchanted with his future wife, way back in the fourth grade. His father, Bernie, owned and operated The Weathervane Furniture Shop in town. The whole family lived right upstairs in the century-old house known as "The Shop."


Creston studied journalism at Bowling Green State University, then began his writing career. During the past 30 years, he has worked as a reporter, corporate copywriter, creative director, freelance writer, and author.


ABOUT THE BOOK


From popular suspense author Creston Mapes comes another faith-building thriller, a tale that follows journalist Jack Crittendon as he fights to protect his family from a stalker's terrifying schemes, investigates a pastor's mysterious disappearance, and struggles to keep his faith amidst unthinkable fear.

With his family's safety on the line, Crittendon realizes there are secrets behind "Christian" walls--secrets with painful, deadly implications. He must find the faith to trust a God who allows inconceivable trials, and the courage to guard his family, with danger exploding at every turn.

Through it all--the sharp, character-driven writing for which Mapes is known--takes fans and new readers on an edge-of-your-seat journey that explores the harsh, far-reaching consequences of bullying and the Christian response to fear.

If you would like to read the first chapter of Fear Has a Name, go HERE.

The book link is: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0781408164 

Deadly Devotion by Sandra Orchard (Port Aster Secrets)

This is my first book by Sandra Orchard. Deadly Devotion is good enough that I didn't want to put it down. It has a nice easy flow with plenty of drama and suspense. Kate's good friend Daisy is dead. The police say she poisoned her own tea and slowly, with a lot of pain, took her own life. Kate knows better. Daisy would NEVER have taken her own life. She was a Christian and something is all wrong. So Kate takes it upon herself to find Daisy's killer - with or with out the help of the law.

Tom is just trying to see how his job as a detective will work since he isn't with the FBI anymore. Tom is  understands her not wanting to think her friend did herself in, he also feels that Kate could have had motive to remove Daisy. Kate is just a little bit too suspicious to him, and yet he is drawn to her at the same time. Kate's investigation is putting her in danger, and its not easy task for someone who isn't at all trained in sleuthing or danger to try to solve her friend's murder.

Things do jump back and forth into the past quite a bit, but if you focus on how you can be driving down a road and remember something from your past - then it makes it easier to follow in that area. You do feel a bit like you came in on the middle of the story that is filling in as you go. However, I have to say that is how life is! When you get new friends that is how it works, so though I was a bit off kilter by it at first, I soon was able to put it together very nicely.

I look forward to the next book in this series, it should be another well handled adventure with another well dealt with topic that often effects both Christians and non-Christians alike!

Carol :)

About the Book:

Research scientist Kate Adams and her colleague Daisy are on the brink of a breakthrough for treating depression with herbal medicine when Daisy suddenly dies. Kate knows that if it hadn't been for Daisy's mentorship, she wouldn't have the job she loves or the faith she clings to. So when police rule Daisy's death a suicide, Kate is determined to unearth the truth.

Former FBI agent Tom Parker finds it hard to adjust to life back in his hometown of Port Aster. Though an old buddy gives him a job as a detective on the local police force, not everyone approves. Tom's just trying to keep a low profile, so when Kate Adams demands he reopen the investigation of her friend's death, he knows his job is at stake. In fact, despite his attraction to her, Tom thinks Kate looks a bit suspicious herself.

As evidence mounts, a web of intrigue is woven around the sleepy town of Port Aster. Can Kate uncover the truth? Or will Tom stand in her way?

About the Author:

Sandra Orchard is an active member in American Christian Fiction Writers, The Word Guild, Romance Writers of America, and a local writing group. She recently participated in the Writers' Police Academy for hands-on training and simulations at a police training facility. She is the author of Shades of Truth, Critical Condition, and Deep Cover, which won the Canadian Christian Writing Award for romance in June 2012 and was recognized as one of the top five novels of the year by Family Fiction magazine. Sandra has also received a Daphne DuMaurier Award for Excellence in Mystery/Suspense in both the inspirational category and for best score overall. She lives in Niagara, Ontario, Canada. 

The Author's Web site: http://sandraorchard.com/

The Book Link: http://www.amazon.com/Deadly-Devotion-Aster-Secrets-ebook/dp/B00B85M2RA/ref=dp_kinw_strp_1

Sandra would also love to connect with you and your readers on Facebook at http://www.Facebook.com/SandraOrchard  and she has given us BONUS FEATURES! Check this link out:
http://sandraorchard.com/extras/bonus-book-features

A Simple Song by Melody Carlson

When I picked up A Simple Song, I had planned to read a chapter or two and go to sleep. What happened instead is that I didn't stop reading until I finished the entire book. This book is about teen-aged Amish girl who has a gift. A gift that her Mother had and that her Mother had kept secret. A gift of singing that she doesn't know if it is wrong, or right. But things at home are not easy. Her Dad needs an operation that no one can afford. What is God's answer?

So this is when Katrina, with the support of her best friend and one other family member, winds up a contestant on American Star. (Yes, it is a take off of some other famous TV talent competition shows.)
What makes this good though is the characters, and the influence that Katrina and her Aunt have on others.

It is a good story, a fast read, and the only thing that I was sad about is that I wished that I felt that Katrina had a bit more in-depth understanding that putting on a show, or a look, for a temporary event doesn't change who you are inside. I understood the conflict, but from my own life I know that sometimes you have a goal that must be reached, and the way to reach it might not be your favorite way to do so. That doesn't mean it is a life long change, nor that who you really are is going to be forever altered. Over all I loved it and it has a very nice ending.

Carol

About the Book:

Katrina Yoder loves to sing, but her Amish parents view singing as vainglory and a sin. Katrina's best friend, Bekka, is convinced Katrina should try out for American Star, a televised singing competition that Bekka has been secretly watching. Katrina resists the temptation until her father's health worsens. He desperately needs a surgery the family cannot afford. Katrina decides she must go against her parents' wishes to win the money needed to help her father. But how will she handle herself as an Amish teenager out in the world?

About The Author:

Melody Carlson is the award-winning author of over two hundred books with sales of more than five million. She is the author of several Christmas books from Revell, including the bestselling The Christmas Bus, The Christmas Dog, and Christmas at Harrington's, which is being considered for a TV movie. She is also the author of many teen books, including Just Another Girl, Anything but Normal, Double Take, the Life at Kingston High series, and the Diary of a Teenage Girl series. She is the winner of a Romantic Times Career Achievement Award in the inspirational market for her many books, including the Diary of a Teenage Girl series and Finding Alice. Melody and her husband live in Oregon.

The book link: http://www.amazon.com/Simple-Song-A-Novel/dp/0800722256
The Author's web site: http://www.melodycarlson.com/

Available June 2013 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group

An Open Heart by Harry Kraus

Hi All! 

This is my second book that I have read by Harry Kraus. The first one was A Heartbeat Away. 

Dr. Jace Rawlings grew up in Africa, but he left as fast as he could. He left full of pain planning to never return and went to the US where he and his wife did pretty well. Jace became a well loved heart surgeon, but his fame went through the roof when he saved the life of the Governor. The Governor's wife really reminds Jace of his twin sister who died. Frankly, most people don't even know he had a sister, much less a twin, but Jace is caught totally off guard trying to save this patient and suddenly winding up in the media in photos with the Governor's wife Anita Franks. 

If it had stopped there, maybe everything would have been ok, but it didn't. Jace wound up having an operation from head trauma. He awoke to his wife Heather being full of questions that he can't answer. He didn't even remember how he got where he was! His wife wants, needs answer to what was going on between him and Anita Franks, since she got killed trying to save him from an accident he can't recall. There are so many questions, and no answers. To top that off, someone has sent Heather a copy of the autopsy report for Mrs. Franks and now there are more questions than ever! 

Jace's running back to Africa to deal with his past hasn't helped any yet. However, Jace never dealt with his past pain, and now the future is uncertain and the recent past missing. If Jace is going to make it through this as a person, much less save his marriage, he is going to have open a heart that was closed up to God and everyone else a very long time ago - his own.

Carol 

This week, the

Christian Fiction Blog Alliance

is introducing

An Open Heart

David C. Cook (June 1, 2013)

by

Harry Kraus

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

A Word from Harry:

I started writing my first novel during my last year of surgery training at UK. I was a chief resident, and started writing Stainless Steal Hearts in a call room at the Veteran's Administration Hospital in Lexington. It was a crazy time to write! I had a very demanding schedule, often spending days and nights in the hospital. I had two sons at that time, and I recognized the wisdom in my wife's urging: "Now doesn't seem the right time for this dream."

My experience as a writer is far from typical. Having received my formal training in biology and chemistry and medicine, my only preparation for a writing career was a love for reading. The longest thing I'd written before my first novel was a term paper in undergraduate school. My first novel was accepted by Crossway Books and published in 1994, and it wasn't until after I had FOUR published novels that I even opened a book of instruction about the craft of writing fiction. This is not what I recommend to others! Yes, I was successful, but I was bending the "rules" without knowing it. I had a natural talent for plotting, but I realize my initial success may have stunted my growth as a writer. I'd have made faster progress if I'd have gone to the fiction teachers sooner.

I have three sons: Joel, Evan, and Samuel. Look closely in all of my books and you'll see them there. My lovely wife, Kris, provides the basic composition for all those beautiful, athletic, dedicated women in my novels.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Their Messages—From Beyond the Grave—Might Destroy Him ...

They hover between life and death, their hearts stopped on the surgery table. And the messages Dr. Jace Rawlings’ open-heart surgery patients bring back from beyond the grave cannot be ignored. For they predict the deaths of people around him, and point a finger of suspicion straight at him.

It thrusts Jace into a firestorm of controversy and danger. A maeltsrom blown by the darker winds of political intrigue and spiritual warfare. And the forces working against him will do anything to stop him from uncovering a truth they will kill to hide. He’d come to Kenya to establish a heart-surgery program for the poor. But what he will find in that place where he grew up will put everything at risk–his marriage, his career . . . his life.

If you would like to read the first chapter of An Open Heart, go HERE.

The book link is: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/078140535

That Certain Summer by Irene Hannon

Irene Hannon who has brought us The Guardian's Of  Justice series, the Private Justice series, and Vanished, now gave us That Certain Summer. This book is a departure from the genre that she normally writes. In this book we have a mother who has had a store, but she is manipulative and there are some deep hurts between the two sisters. Karen and Val are finding out that their images of themselves, and their pasts, and their relationships are all not quite what they thought they were. Karen is dealing with raising a teen-age daughter who is angry and upset that her parents are divorced, and that her her Dad is dating younger women.

Val is reeling from an attraction to her Mother's therapist while the good Dr. wonders why he feels attracted to Val, and his little girl is wanting a Mother again. His wife has died, and he is getting a bit lonesome, or is it something else? And then Scott is the Music Director at the church. A former saxophone player who has been through an accident he can't even play the keyboard very well now. This book tracks this whole group through major life changing decisions as they choose to do what they feel God is leading them to do. It ended like I thought it would, and I could tell that Irene worked really hard on her characters.

Carol

About the Book:

Karen and Val are family—yet they’re anything but close. Karen has carried the burden of responsibility for her aging mother ever since her gorgeous sister left town years ago to pursue a career in theater. But Val had darker reasons for leaving town—as well as a secret to keep—and coming home has never been an option . . . until their mother suffers a stroke. Once reunited in their hometown, Karen and Val must grapple with their past mistakes, their relationship with each other, and their issues with a mother who is far from ideal. When a physical therapist raising his daughter alone and a handsome but hurting musician enter the picture, the summer takes on a whole new dimension. As their lives intersect and entwine, can each learn how to forgive, how to let go, and how to move on? And during this summer of grace, might they also find the courage to love?

About the Author:

Irene Hannon is a bestselling, award-winning author who took the publishing world by storm at the tender age of 10 with a sparkling piece of fiction that received national attention.

Okay…maybe that’s a slight exaggeration. But she was one of the honorees in a complete-the-story contest conducted by a national children’s magazine. And she likes to think of that as her “official” fiction-writing debut!

Since then, she has written more than 40 romance and romantic suspense novels. Her books have been honored with two RITA awards—the “Oscar” of romantic fiction—and she is a six-time finalist for that prestigious honor. Her books have also won a Daphne du Maurier award, a Carol award, a HOLT Medallion, a National Readers’ Choice Award, a Retailers Choice Award and two Reviewers’ Choice awards from RT Book Reviews magazine. One of her novels was also named by Booklist as one of the top 10 inspirational fiction books of 2011.

Irene, who holds a B.A. in psychology and an M.A. in journalism, juggled two careers for many years until she gave up her executive corporate communications position with a Fortune 500 company to write full-time. She is happy to say she has no regrets!

In her spare time, she enjoys cooking, gardening and singing.  A trained vocalist, she has sung the leading role in numerous musicals, including “South Pacific,” “Brigadoon,” “Oklahoma” “The King and I” and “Anything Goes.” She is also a soloist at her church.

When not otherwise occupied, Irene and her husband enjoy traveling, Saturday mornings at their favorite coffee shop and spending time with family. They make their home in Missouri.

Her website:  http://www.irenehannon.com/

Available June 2013 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group!