The Devoted

What a fitting end to The Bishop's Family series!  As always, with Suzanne Woods Fisher's books, lives are changed, answers are found and faith is deepened.
This one centers on Ruthie Stoltzfus and her search for meaning in life.  We join her struggle to decide between leaving the Amish and staying the course to make her life in Stoney Ridge.   She just wants to do something important and make a real contribution.  She develops a sincere admiration for her Aunt "Dok," her father's sister, who has come back to Stoney Ridge to set up a medical practice.  She brings a perspective that Ruthie could not have but Ruthie misses the point, which she does with some regularity.
The host of characters are back in this edition and there are plenty of real life story lines to keep you reading all the way through.  Suzanne brings to light the Amish struggle with many of the same issues we "Englishers" do.  They are not immune to the ways of the world.
I discovered Suzanne's books last winter and I have proceeded to work on reading everything she has written.  I review many types of books, fiction and non-fiction and I sometimes need relief from the murder, mayhem, political intrigue and the like.  When I pick up one of her books, I know that I will get that much-needed relief while at the same time reading a story that brings real life to my reading.  The added bonus is that her stories always bring faith lessons learned by the protagonist and reveal God's glory.
I simply "love" her books!  They are real, intelligent, human, and centered on God.
The Devoted can be read alone, as can all the books in her series and I suggest you "rush right out" and secure your copy!  I highly recommend this book, and all of her writing.
I give The Devoted five stars!  Learn more about Suzanne's books at suzannewoodsfisher.com.  Also at bakerpublishinggroup.com.
I received a copy of this book from Baker Publishing for the purpose of writing an honest review.  All words/opinions are my own.
Thanks so much for being here and happy reading to you!

Jeri~

Newton & Polly A Novel of Amazing Grace

This novel, based on the true story of John Newton, the writer of one of the most beloved hymns of all time, Amazing Grace, is a journey through doubt, denial, rebellion, all of them emotions that a person goes through when struggling with the idea of an Almighty God.
Jody Hedlund is the author of this historical novel.  The story is a "sweeping saga" that takes the reader along for the ride.  It is closely based on John and Polly Newton and the life he lived before he became a Christian.  Polly, whom he almost did not win the hand of, was instrumental in exposing him to the love of God and the salvation of Christ.  However, it was not until John was at his very lowest point, that he allowed God in.  He went through jobs like water through a sieve.  His father, whose love was always there, however distant, rescued him countless times and found him jobs but John carried a bitter resentment after his mother's death when he was a child and he squandered every single opportunity.  That resentment bred a rebelliousness that nearly got him killed more than one time.  He grew up mostly without his father around who was a seaman and was gone a lot until John reached a certain age, then taking him on the ship voyages with him, teaching him to be a seaman.  But, he remained cold and distant after the death of his wife and John's resentment grew.
He carried anger toward God and his father and had a chip on his shoulder he could hardly stand up under.  He thought the world owed him and had little regard for authority or responsibility.
When he met Polly he was instantly smitten and she for him. But, she held back, seeing his irresponsibility.  Just when he thinks he will never see her again, God works on his heart and brings him to his knees one dark and stormy night at sea.
This book drew me in and I felt the despair he went through and the broken heart that Polly suffered.  It is a turbulent journey and about halfway through I reached a point where I could hardly put it down.
Ms. Hedlund is the author of numerous Christian fiction books including Luther and Katherina and was awarded the ECPA Book of the Year Award for that novel; again, based on a true story.  Her novels have also won the INSPY Award, the Carol Award and the Christy Award.
Thank you to Blogging for Books for this volume.  All opinions are my own.
If you would like to know more about Jody Hedlund's writing visit her at Jody Hedlund.  You can also find her on Facebook and Twitter.

Thanks so much for being here!
See you next time,
Jeri~

The Domino Effect

As a top risk analyst at one of the biggest banking organizations in America, Esther Larson works daily with financial numbers and assesses risk. She is beginning to see something that looks very dangerous, and is struggling with a course of action.  As the markets begin to unravel she begins to talk about what she is seeing and engages some top financiers and friends.  This is the plot of Davis Bunn's newest novel. 

Of course, there is a lot more to it than that, but that is the meat of it.  The characters have very real personalities and struggles, which gives the story a good feel of reality. That is also the scary part of this novel. What the author writes could certainly happen to the stock market and would set off a real panic.  As Esther struggles with the reality of what is happening, she begins to fear for her life.  There are people who do not want her to go public with this information and they will stop at nothing to silence her.

This is my fifth Davis Bunn novel.  I have been moved, scared and convicted by the other four.  They have all been thought provoking and left me very satisfied.  This one was almost as good, but not quite.  It is well written and absorbing.  The middle of the book has a lot of financial explantion which Esther is giving her friends as she talks to them about what is taking place and that lost me a little.  I had to lay it down for a bit.  I was disappointed that Bunn did not include deep faith in the characters persona as he has in the other books of his that I have read.  I know this is a different type of story and not entirely about personal faith and seeing God work in the lives of the characters, but I enjoy that piece of the story too. He does have an excellent ability to write in various genres and make all of them read well.  I loved his Marc Royce series which was fast paced, scary and also well written, as this book was.  The Domino Effect was a good book, but not my favorite Davis Bunn book.  If you have an interest and some knowledge of the stock market and the global economy, you will love this book. I enjoyed it.  It was good but not exactly my cup of tea.  Excellent writing, grammer, sentence structure, as always.  I will still read Davis' books!  You can read more about this book at Bethany House and more about this author at Davis Bunn Facebook

I give The Domino Effect four stars and suggest you get a copy and give it a read!  

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher, Bethany House, in exchange for an honest review.  These words are my opinion.

Thanks so much for being here!

Jeri~

To Follow Her Heart

Captain Jeremy Horton's ship, The Swallow, is wrecked and all the crew but him is lost.  Adrift at sea, he is eventually picked up by a frigate, a gunner ship headed to Boston.  Family and friends have had a memorial service and declared  him dead.  All but Patience Terry, his lifetime friend and fiance.  She never gives up hope and when he reappears to her and all of Southold, they pick up where they left off.  She wants him never to sail again and he cannot bear to leave the sea.  He was raised on it and it is in his blood.  The ensuing emotional struggle forms the main storyline with several additional characters which give this novel substance and depth.
Rebecca DeMarino is the author of this historical romance.  It is set in the summer of 1664 in Southold, Long Island.  So, that being the case, we are talking (reading) about very early colonial New England.  I am always struggling to tell you about the story without giving it away and writing a spoiler!  It is hard.
The plot centers around a small group of colonials who are working and struggling to make a new life in a new world.
This is a good story.  I have not read any of Ms. DeMarino's work until now and I was impressed with her command of historical facts. I am sure, in part, because this is loosely written on the adventures of a great-grandfather from "generations ago."  For me, that always lends an authentic feel to a book.  I was absorbed from the beginning and read this fairly quickly.  The excellent grammar and sentence structure made it easy to read.  It flowed well from page to page.  The author included phrases and Old English that would have been spoken in the 1600's and that added to the novel.  She did that very well, also.  Enough to give you an idea of how colonials spoke but not so much that it sounded corny.
This is Book 3 of The Southold Chronicles.  Another series that I am going to have to go back and read Books 1& 2 of!
I give To Follow Her Heart five stars and suggest you give it a read!
Read more about Rebecca DeMarino at Rebecca DeMarino
Explore Revell books and sign up for their email newsletter at Revell Publishing.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing in exchange for an honest review.  These opinions are my own.

Thanks for being here!  Up next, Davis Bunn's newest release The Domino Effect.
See you soon!

Jeri~

Honor Redeemed

Prosperity Jones has lost everything.  Born and raised in Nantucket, her father was a whaler who was lost at sea.  A few years later, she lost her mother to consumption.  With nothing left in life but herself, she sets out for Key West to reunite with her fiance' David Latham, who is stationed there as an army engineer.  When she arrives in Key West, she finds that she has lost David, as well.  You would think that she has nothing left to live for.  But, under-girding all her loss is her unwavering faith in God, who can make good out of bad and is the author of all things good.  So she has not lost all, she still  has her faith, the most important thing.  With no money to sail back to Nantucket, she is forced to stay in Key West and takes a job as a laundress at the hospital.  Heartbreak covers every day as she sees the evidence of David's infidelity, as their paths cross. He has taken a wife of ill-repute who carries his unborn child.  I leave it for you to read and discover the fulfillment of this story.
Christine Johnson, the author of Honor Redeemed has written the second book in the Keys of Promise series.  This is my first time reading her work.  I loved this book.  It was easy to read, yet carried a depth of emotion that I could relate to.  Her characters are well written and contain my favorite trait, human frailty. That lends a touch of reality that brings a character to life.  The complicated plot lines were believable and could all happen in real life.  The sentence structure and grammar were spot-on, allowing the reading to sail smoothly.  I can't say anything bad about this book.  It was great.  I plan on circling back to the first volume in Keys of Promise which is Love's Rescue.  I am interested in the other characters in this book who are introduced in the first book.
I give Honor Redeemed five stars and urge you to get your copy asap!  I was given a complimentary copy of this book by Revell, a division of Baker Publishing, in exchange for an honest review.  These words are my opinion.
Find out more about this book at Baker Publishing | Honor Redeemed.  Read about Christine Johnson and her writing at Christine E. Johnson
Thanks so much for reading!  See you soon,
~Jeri

I AM NO ONE by Patrick Flannery

Patrick Flannery has written a novel about what could happen to you when you think the government has no idea of you, or that you are even alive, much less cares.  Hence, the title I Am No One.  However, that is not always the case.  You may think you have done nothing to call attention to yourself, but we live in an age where surveillance is carried out in a much more subtle manner, for reasons that would not have been reasons many years ago.
Jeremy O'Keefe has returned to America (New York) after ten years living and working in Britain, at Oxford.  He has not been completely transparent, which leads to the reason he is being "watched."  Before I forget, this brings my main statement about this book to mind, which is "If you really are doing nothing, you are probably not being watched."  I picked this book up thinking that citizens who are truly living a quiet life were being observed by the government for no good reason and that would have been a great story if it had a plot that included sinister motives.  That story would have been spine-tingling because it would alert us to the fact that the government is overboard with suspicion and innocent citizens are subject to an invasion of privacy that is, in it's scope, unparalleled in American history.  However dystopian that story line is, that would be scary and we already kind of think that anyway, so that would be alarming, terrifying, gripping, as some reviews have stated about this book.  I was disappointed about a third of the way through and it never came back for me.
Jeremy, our protagonist, returns to New York and a job at New York University.  He begins to understand that he is being watched, in no uncertain terms.  He has researched and written extensively on surveillance so he knows the subtle signs that may be clues that he is being observed.  The story is about him trying to figure out why, which he does mostly figure out, and when I read that part, I thought how stupid he is for thinking that he was doing nothing to call attention to himself.  He originally left New York (moved to England, lock, stock and barrel) right after the 9/11 terror attack which was the first "dumb" thing he did.  He then gives way to loneliness and loss and involves himself romantically with someone he really should not be involved with.  He is a little unpatriotic with this involvement.  During this process of trying to understand why he is being surveilled, we watch him wallow in emotional mud from his divorce and "abandonment" of his adult daughter.  He misses and replays memories of life as it was and that is part of his character, or lack thereof, that allows him to slowly drift into a relationship that should not draw him in.  That is enough of a spoiler.  I don't want to completely ruin your interest because you  may be completely taken with this book, as it seems some readers are.
As far as the writing goes, the author is a professor of creative writing at the University of Reading, so the sentence structure, grammar, etc. should be excellent, and they are.  I especially appreciated Mr. Flannery's ability to make the run-on sentence into a sort of panicking, rushed runaway thought train that perfectly describes Jeremy's fear.  Don't get me wrong; the writing is good.  The story line is disappointing.  So much so that it compels me to give the novel 2 stars but, I give it 3-4 for the mechanics.
I was not pulled in, absorbed, or compelled but that does not mean you won't be.  I recommend that you  form your own opinion.
I was given a complimentary copy of this book by Blogging For Books in exchange for an honest review. These words are my opinion.

On that note, I give I AM NO ONE 3 stars.
Thanks so much for being here!

~Jeri

BOUT THE AUTHOR

Patrick Flanery was born in California and raised in Omaha, Nebraska. After earning a B.F.A. in Film from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, he worked in the film industry before moving to the U.K., where he completed a doctorate in Twentieth-Century English Literature at the University of Oxford. He is the author of the novels Absolution, which was shortlisted for the 2014 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, and Fallen Land. He has written for The Washington Post, The Guardian, and The Times Literary Supplement, and is a Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Reading

I Am No One | Patrick Flannery | Penguin Random House

Central Intelligence

Think about the name of this movie for a moment;  it would indicate that  intelligence (all of it, a lot of it, some of it?!)  is centrally located.  But, in this movie, that central location is not the two main characters brains!!  Ok, my play on words, pun intended!  And that may have been the idea behind the title.  Enter Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart.  Dwayne is Bob Stone, a CIA agent who went to high-school with Calvin Joyner, Kevin Hart's character. They have been out of touch since their high school days.  Bob remembers Calvin as a friend who helped him out when he was being bullied as an overweight teen.  Bob has weighed down and bulked up since his high school years.  Bob finds out that Kevin is a whiz-bang accountant and realizes he needs his skill with numbers to aid in the assignment he is working on, so he makes sure they connect at their  reunion.

Bob practically kidnaps Calvin into helping him out and leads him into a world of car chasing, gun toting spy hunting espionage.  Calvin has no idea what he is getting into, he is swept along by Bob, thinking the favor he needs is a harmless numbers task on the computer.  He soon finds out that it is not, but it takes a while longer for him to see that he is involved in a world class chase for a bad guy.  When Calvin begins to have a dawning realization that he has been duped and is in over his head, it's too late.  The resulting indignant anger he throws at Bob makes him the straight guy to Bob's funny guy responses.  The comic chemistry between Dwayne and Kevin works very well and was a surprising pleasure for me.  Yes, it is a formulaic spy plot.  It works because Johnson and Hart work it.  They play off each others strengths well, bringing genuine laughs and entertainment.  As well as surprising us with good straight guy-funny guy banter.

I saw this movie with my husband and we picked it because we wanted a good laugh and thought this one would fit the bill.  It did.  It was funny and the acting was good.  You have to know going in that this was made for entertainment and Dwayne and Kevin entertained the audience with this one.  There was plenty of laughter in the theatre we were in!  It was a real escape for a couple hours and that alone was worth the price of admission.  Give yourself over to it; don't critique it. Take a tub of popcorn and a large soda in with you, you will be set for a good time!
I do not review movies for anyone but my readers, so I paid my way in.  I give Central Intelligence five stars for entertainment value.  I give it four stars for storyline.  Great funny movie all the way around.
You should see it!

Thanks for being here
~Jeri