Book Reviews
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---an extraordinary true story by Retha & Aldo McPherson of South Africa
Haven't we all longed to hear from God? To have Him speak to us personally? To know His heart, His will for us?
You can and you will if you read this. Or read it for no other reason than to hear God speak through a twelve-year-old boy who couldn't possibly know all the things that went on while he was in a coma,
GOLD STAR REVIEWS
or quote all the scriptures he does---including their references--except from having met The Author.
His Mom, Retha, appeared to be living the perfect life. Successful in business, faithful in church atten-dance, she had just been voted Mrs. South Africa, and always tried to include her family whenever possible as she traveled around the country to speak.
They were on their way home from one such speaking engagement when they had to swerve to avoid hitting a stopped vehicle, causing their car to tumble multiple times. The two children were thrown out, the oldest clear across the road, yet from their parents' first moment of panic, God was orchestrating miracle after miracle that would ultimately lead this family from tragedy to triumph.
The process turned out to be at times instantan-eous, yet at other times slow and painful. (Wouldn't we all rather have a quick fix for what ails us?) But God had a goal in mind that could only be reached in His timing and by His method, and when they surrendered to God's perfect will for their lives, beautiful things happened. And are yet to happen.
Expect beautiful things to happen to YOU as you read A MESSAGE FROM GOD, which may be pur-chased ($16) through "It's Supernatural" TV host Sid Roth at www.sidroth.org (since currency is different in South Africa). You may visit Retha's web site at www.rethamcpherson.co
Click on the blue circle to reach Retha
Click on red triangle for Sid Roth's web site
A MESSAGE
FROM GOD
FINDING MARIE
Susan Page Davis
Harvest House Publishers
Suspense
Reviewer: Betty Anne Bantz
Married young, Marie Belanger has grown up these past two years in Japan stationed with her Navy husband Pierre. But she's glad to finally be going home to visit her family in Maine, even if her husband must finish one last hush-hush assignment before he can join her. Having moved from the shelter of her father's house straight into her husband's arms, Marie has never really been on her own. This trip halfway around the world
going repairs. Almost immediately, the same band of men who over the centuries had been entrusted to guard the scroll seeks to to snatch it back at any cost. What can this undecipherable message mean, and who wants to keep it from being translated?
Truly this is an epic of Raiders of the Lost Ark proportion, only better. Its historic integrity is phenomenal, the pace superb. And the ending is so satisfying and plausible, I can't wait to see if it actually takes place in Israel in the very near future, ushering in the second coming of Christ Jesus.
Action adventure at its best, I highly recommend Terry Brennan's debut novel, The Sacred Cipher. It's the best book I've ever read, well, except for God's Word.
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THE SACRED CIPHER
Terry Brennan
ISBN: 978-9-8254-2426-7
Kregel Publications
Fiction/Christian/Mystery
Reviewer: Betty Anne Bantz
The ancient scroll, stored securely in an air-tight mezuzah, had been spirited out of Egypt and sent by ship to New York in 1891. The recipient, experiencing the menacing dangers surrounding it, enshrined it in a huge steel safe with all his other priceless documents and sealed the hidden room until, over a century later, Tom Bohannon discovers it as the Bowery Mission is under-
has been in an accident, everything turns topsy-turvy. As if broken limbs, road burns, and skin grafts aren't enough, when he comes out of his coma, he doesn't remember anything, not her, not their sons, nothing.
Even as she and Craig begin to establish a new relationship, secrets from his past crop up. And just when she thinks that she's forgiven him everything, and they are starting to establish a new and better love for each other, she finds out something even more devastating.
I loved this book, especially when she had come to a standstill in the forgiving department and the pastor says: "Right now you're acting like a judge, stamping GUILTY on each page of Craig's life. Maybe it's time you changed your stamp."
You'll love the surprise ending. Totally satisfying!
THE FAMILIAR STRANGER
Christina Berry
ISBN: 978-0-8024-4731-9
Moody Publishers
What a great debut novel! I'm looking forward to Berry's next adventure.
Denise knows her marriage has gone cold, but when she receives a call that her husband
RAIN DANCE
Joy DeKok
ISBN: 978-0-97074585-2
Sheaf House
FICTION/Contemporary/Women
Jonica is doing her best to face the fact she can never conceive when she happens to meet a young lawyer seeking to terminate her unexpected pregnancy. Jonica and Stacie have nothing in common except a shared conversation in the doctor's office ... and a magazine.
I loved the way DeKok intertwined the stories of Jonica and Stacie. Whether you've experienced the loss of a child or the loss of a dream, this novel takes you through honest grief to find answers from a loving God.
Extremely well-done, RAIN DANCE tackles both sides of tough issues like "choice" and "legalism," and resolves them with love and the Word of God. Keep your tissues handy.
I would give this book five stars. You might want to consider buying two: one to keep and one to give away.
TO ALL WHO ARE
TO COME
a memoir by
Betty Cunningham Holleuffer
Not many left.
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100% of the donation goes to Twin Rivers church building project
should prove her new adult status . . . if she could only conquer her fears.
But as she boards, sinister characters seem to be lurking, and her seat-mate seems agitated. When Marie changes planes in San Francisco and happens to witness the woman's murder, she finds their attentions quickly focused on her. Marie's stamina is tested, as well as her her new-found faith, as she struggles to outwit and outrun not just one, but several evil men bent on capturing her for the secrets she unwittingly carries. Not to mention the FBI, NCIS, CIA, and the police who want to catch her first. It's a cross-country chase that ends in the Atlantic Ocean with Marie hanging off a sixty-foot yacht.
The bait was subtle at first, but I was soon so thoroughly hooked I had to read this book in one sitting. (Well, not literally.) You won't be able to put it down either. I give it five gold stars. You won't be disappointed.
Book 1, Frasier Island, is available at your bookstore. Book 3, Inside Story, now complete, was released in January, 2009.
THE TRANSFORMATION
Terri Kraus
ISBN: 976-0-7814-4867-3
David C. Cook
Friction/Romance
A shy contractor, a vivacious real estate speculator, a put-out-to-pasture pastor, and some ex-cons are thrown together in a delightful mix that makes this third book in Kraus's Project Restoration series impossible to put down. None of the flawed characters seems a likely candidate to write a book about, but when we begin to see beneath the flaws, and realize the awesome
love God has for them, we know there is hope for the rest of us.
There's just something about this very old church, especially it's stained glass windows, that compels Samantha Cohen to buy the place, and Oliver Barnett to agree to renovate it for her. And "Robert the Dog" is as much a part of the crew as Oliver's less than dependable brother and the ex-cons he hires to turn the historic church into a restaurant. And while the renovations are taking place on the building, God is busy transforming hearts, even the most unlovable.
A delight to read. You won't be disappointed.
THE CASE OF THE MYSTIFIED M.D.
A. K. Arenz
ISBN: 978-0-979-74856-1
Sheaf House
fiction/Mystery & Detective/Women Sleuths
Anyone who enjoys a whodunit where almost anyone in town could qualify as a likely suspect will love The Case of the Mystified M.D. Give the ever-curious Glory Harper a hand . . . and sure enough, there'll be a body close by. When Glory's dog drops the severed hand at her feet, and she recognizes the missing professor's ring on it, she calls her favorite lawman in the Midwestern college-town of Tarryton.
As usual, Glory collects facts around town as fast as she seems to collect trouble. She loses her job. Her sister gets accused of threatening the professor with a gun. And she uncovers some very unhappy suspects whom the professor had been blackmailing.
Get ready for an exciting trip with the bouncing grandma through small-town America, where nothing is as it seems.
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