Book Review: Though Mountains Fall

I have been itching for the next book in Dale Cramer's The Daughter's of Caleb Bender series- and its finally here!  Though Mountains Fall continues the struggling Amish church settlement in Paradise Valley, Mexico centralized on Caleb Bender and his family.  We left the family torn to pieces over the death of their older brother and healing over the kidnapping of Rachel and coming to grips with the inevitable love of Domingo (the Mexican hired hand) and Miriam.  This next installment brings intense drama as the Amish struggle to maintain the peace in the valley as bandits and soldiers disturb their lives.  This book is about choices- decisions have to be made not only about the future of each character and family, but of the entire Amish settlement.  Will Miriam choose her love for Domingo over the faith of her family?  Will her family choose love for their daughter over the rules of their church if she is banned?  God forgives us, can we forgive others?

Dale Cramer has become my favorite new novelist and I hope that this is not the last installment of the Caleb Bender series and that there are future ones like it.  The story lines are the perfect blend of fresh ideas merged with the classic topics (Amish lifestyle, faith, love) that keep us reading Christian fiction.  Cramer's writing has beautiful voice which I connected to greatly- which is not always easy from a male author writing from a primarily woman's point of view.  If you are looking for a new author or a new series- I cannot recommend this series enough- just be sure to start with Books 1 and 2 before you jump into this wonderful novel.  You will miss a great deal and will not be disappointed.

*I was given a copy of the book from Bethany House publishers in exchange for my honest review

Book Review: The Bridesmaid

Beverly Lewis and Amish Fiction are really synonymous with one another.  Time and time again Lewis captures imaginations and hearts through telling the tales of the Amish people- their pleasures, struggles, beliefs, and seemingly constant toil between who they are as Amish and who they are as God's child.

I had the opportunity to read her newest novel from the Hickory Hollow series entitled The Bridesmaid through Bethany House book reviewer program (in exchange for the book I am asked to give my unbiased review of the work).

I am usually a devout and loving fan of Lewis' work, but I was quite disappointed with this novel.  The main story line is that of Joanna and her dreams of being wed, despite her 'old' age and being 3 times a bridesmaid.  Reaching what seems to be the end of her courting years with now prospects in sights, a happen chance meeting on the shoreline with a boy from another state re energizes her desire for love, marriage, and an Amish family.  Eben and Joanna begin a long distance courtship through letters and weekly phone calls, but many bumps hinder their plans.  This is where I lost love with the novel.  There were too many subplot story lines that never seemed to 1) be explained as to why they were problems in the first place (like the troubled relationship between Joanna and her younger sister) or 2) that were brought up but never really dealt with again.  I felt like the entire book was a constant cycle of Joanna receiving a letter, fighting with her sister, lamenting to a wiser woman in her town, and then writing back to Eben.  Chapter after chapter never really seemed to go anywhere.  There were also many subplots that just hindered the telling of the story and detracted more than added value (The quilt storyline was neat and would have loved to hear more about it, but it ended up just being a distraction in my point of view).

The nature of the Hickory Hollow series is that they are supposed to be stand alone novels.  Therefore, many of the storylines I felt were not wrapped up well (like Joanna's love for writing and whether it became an issue).

Overall, I love Lewis as an author and is the go to source for great Amish fiction, but I would point those seeking that genre to another one of her great series.

Here is a link to the book's trailer.   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOP-s-AWa-4&feature=context-gau  

Book Review: 12 Unlikely Heroes

I was really excited about the concept of John MacArthur's book Twelve Unlikely Heroes.  I have been on a journey of faith in recent months that has been exciting- and feel God is using me (despite feeling under-qualified and not the best choice for His task) do do something great.  I thought it would be a great read of encouragement to see how God uses the unlikely to do the unexpected.

While there were highlights of the book and I enjoyed getting to know some of the unknown faces of scripture a little better, I came away feeling underwhelmed and disappointed   In many ways I felt MacArthur took too many liberties with analyzing a person's personality profile.  One example was how MacArthur portrayed Gideon as a man completely void of confidence, a weak person who in today's terms I would say would be someone you could just 'walk all over'.  While I'm not saying I know better than this great scholar, I don't think that it was necessarily that Gideon was that weak, but more that he felt unworthy and and under prepared to do the task God had laid before him.  I see Gideon not as a man who was unwilling to step up, but more unsure that He could fulfill the greatness God had laid out.  I feel in this instance there was an overreach of assumptions in order to make a point.

I felt as though the writing was lacking luster and life.  It was a rather boring read and lacked the vigor and excitement that these stories I feel naturally bring to the table.

I enjoyed reading about James, Jesus' brother and the amount of historical information provided as insight into his story.

Overall, I felt the book had great potential, but lacks what I was hoping to get out of it.  It does show how God chooses to use anyone to fulfill his will here on earth and to never underestimate what God may have for you.

I received this book as a reviewer on BookSneeze.com in return for my honest point of of view.

Book Review: Called to Controversy

I was given a copy of Called to Controversy which is a biography of Moishe Rosen who was the founder of the Jews for Jesus.  This was nearly two months ago.  I had a such a hard time reading this book and really could not motivate myself to read through it in a timely manner.  The writer, Ruth Rosen, is Moishe's daughter.  It was just a boring  and unfortunate retelling of what could have been a more interesting story.  The book is filled with way too many side stories, family characters, and experiences that take away from the point of the story.  I was distracted by the constant flow of characters that I could hardly keep them straight.  The amount of detail into seemingly irrelevant events was also a contributing factor in how hard this book was to read.  I loved getting the little quips into Moishe's growth as a speaker and as a missionary to his own people.  Give me the cliff notes version an I will be happy to pick up a copy!

*I was given a copy of this book by BookSneeze in return for my review, all opinions are my own.

Book Review: Redemption

If any element of life is most commonly used as an analogy for the Christian's journey towards intimacy with Christ, it has to be running. Even the apostle Paul used the popular greek marathon as an example of what he set out to do as a messenger of the Jesus message. So it is perfectly fittig that a decalthlete who has journeyed both highs and lows would write a book of faith based on his life experiences. Bryan Clay may not quite be a household name in the scheme of sports heros, but if you are looking for one- he has the credentials both on and off the field to back it up. Growing up in Hawaii may see like it would be 'paradise' but for Clay his childhood and adolecence was a battle of wills with his contant search for identitiy. A God fearing and prayer warrior of a mother with other adult coaches and mentors along the way, Clay rose from what could have been a life long battle of worth to the highest sporting stage in the world- winning a gold medal at the olympics for what is often defined as the 'hardest sport in the world'. Conquering 10 track and field events over the course of 48 hours is daunting, but it is nothing compared to the marathon of life and training to prepare you for that one moment. Brian Clay's story "Redemption" written with Joel Kilpatrick seamlessly forms the earthly battle to be faster, higher, and stronger with the spiritual battle for Clay's heart. I loved how the story unfolded with appropriate and timely breaks to tie it into a faith based lesson. The analogies of life experiences incorporated into verses of challenge and encouragement for any person (athlete or not) to continue on the race they are running for Christ. The book is well written, as if you are having an intimate and casual sit down with the champion himself. His humility and humanity are evident as he reminisces on the events of his life and sport that have come to define who he is and why he does it. It was also an easy and fast read for even someone who may not understand sport. I find that this book would be an excellent tool to use with a goup of young christian atheletes. It would also be a great tool for outreach as the faith story is so perfectly woven and does not feel preachy. I would suggest using this book as a bible study tool with young people becasue it could easily be taken further Bibically. A great book and great read, especially if you enjoy olympic sports and the tales of what it takes to get there. I recieved a copy of "Redemption" from Thomas Nelson and Book Sneeze in return for an honest review.

Book Review: The Lily Series: The Beauty Book

I have two daughters aged 2 and 5.  I also have 4 nieces ages 2-8.  Being a tight-knit family, I'm almost loathing the years where the 6 girls in our family suddenly become tweens and teens.  I remember not enjoying that part of my life.  It was awkward, emotional, oily, confusing, and lonely.  Corresponding with The Lily Series fictional books by Nancy Rue, Rue has come up with a little question and answer beauty book for those tween/teens that may be facing some of those same issues.  The Lily Series:  The Beauty Book.  With a Biblical foundation about what God says about different aspects of beauty, from the clothes we wear, the changes in our bodies, and the latest hair and makeup trends- this book sets out to show girls they aren't alone.  They aren't the first to go through this, and these are issues that parents, kids, and God care about.

This simple paperback has amazing content.  I loved the times of reflection for the girls, the questions brought up, and I thought the answers were very thoughtful.  It does a great job of redescribing beauty and trademarks.  Girls learn to be proud of who God made them.

As much as I loved the content, I was equally disappointed with the way this book looked and felt.  For a tween/young teen girl I see them wanting color, vibrancy, shine.  This book was a basic paperback with cheap newsprint paper.  The writing segments had barely thick enough lines for decent writing to fill in.  With a back cover suggested price of $9.99, I am sorely disappointed.  Even a magazine style format with bright colors, fonts, and graphics would have helped.  It was boring to look at on the inside and I don't see it capturing the heart of a tween/teen to make them want to read more. 

This book is full of great things to say, but needs to understand the audience who will be interacting with it.

I received a copy of this book for free in return for a review of my own honest opinion from Thomas Nelson and Book Sneeze.

Book Review: Simply Grilling

Jennifer Chandler is an experienced and acclaimed chef with books, television appearances, and other writings.  She is also a mom, so I can trust that many of her recipes are not going to have off the wall exotic ingredients, painstaking prep, or fanciful presentation.  I was hoping for simple, family oriented recipes, with a few specialties to be brought out for company days.  Because, lets face it, many moms and dads don't want to be spending all afternoon in the kitchen only to get whines and complaints from their little human counterparts across the table.

I had the opportunity to receive and give honest review of Chandler's latest book, Simply Grilling, a follow up in the "Simply" family of books she has started with precursors being Simply Salads, and Simply Suppers.  I have not seen either of these two previous books, but after experiencing Simply Grilling, you can bet I'm headed to my local library to look it up!

In the day of easy to search recipes, exhaustive lists, and twists on every classic meal available online, an actual paper copy cookbook would have to have a few basic elements for me to even want to look at it.
1) Pictures- photographs that highlight what the food is supposed to resemble if you've followed the directions
2) Easy Searching and well organized
3) Tips or ideas for slight changes if you don't have the ability to quite do the recipe as listed

Simply Grilling offers all of these.  My absolute favorite aspect of this cookbook (and honestly its the best I've seen in any cookbook I've encountered) are the large and detailed photographs.  The basic layout is a photograph on one whole page, withe the recipe on its corresponding right side.  SO AWESOME!  I can tell almost with a glance at the title and the picture if it is a recipe worth looking into for my family.  I also love the various tips she put at the bottom of each recipe.  Icons represent whether they could be done inside on a grill pan, what could be done ahead of time, cooking tips, variations, a marinate icon to let you know at a glance if you shouldn't be starting a recipe at 4:45 and wanting to eat at 5 :) The first few pages of helpful grilling hints, understanding grilling gear, and how to deal with marinades and rubs were also a great element to this book.  The recipes were well organized and had a great index in the back.

The only slight complaints I have about the book is that there are not enough meat recipes, and many of the ones that were there were more sauces and salsas disguised as meat grilling recipes.  While the chapter was in the top right hand corner of each page, I would have loved a color block that was larger or along the side so it was a little quicker and easier to find the section I was looking for.

While I still think the I will use my online recipe resources, this is a great cookbook to have on hand and would make a GREAT gift to someone you know who loves to grill. 

*I was given a copy of the cookbook in exchange for an honest review by book sneeze and Thomas Nelson publishers