07.05.09
Review – A Gathering of Finches
Cassie’s marriage to Josiah Stearns following her father’s death is one of convenience. It insures financial security and a roof over not only her head, but her mother’s and sister’s, as well.
Josiah moves the three women from their home in Corning, New York to Hoquiam, Washington, where Cassie finds herself seeking to fill an emptiness she cannot name. Not even the baby girl she gives birth to satisfies that inner hunger, and she soon finds herself falling in love with handsome playboy Louis Simpson. The affair predictably leads to pain and betrayal, with Cassie forsaking all she has and everyone who cares about her to be with the man she loves.
Beside her entrepreneurial lover, Cassie moves to the wild, rugged coastal region of Oregon, and what follows is a lifetime of parties, gaiety, extravagance and self-fulfilling endeavors. Yet happiness eludes her, despite the riches and respect, despite being Louie’s spoiled darling. When he betrays her, Cassie sinks even further into a realm of self-doubt and distrust. She’s a bright star wandering a dark galaxy, never finding the perfect place to be happy and at home.
A Gathering of Finches is based on the life of Cassandra Hendrick Stearns Simpson. It’s a wrenching tale of a lifetime of questionable choices, a life lived almost wholly without purpose, devoted to self-satisfaction, and a heart that longs for something more. Yet Cassie has many friends, many people who genuinely love her and long to see her find herself…to find God.
Perhaps in the end, she does.
Jane Kirkpatrick weaves a heartbreaking tale of love and loss, of pain and betrayal. Well-written, laced with authentic historical tidbits that lend richness and reality to the storyline. This one won’t be easily forgotten.
WANT TO FIND MORE BOOKS LIKE THIS ONE?
A Gathering of Finches is one of a collection of books offered at deep discounts from Waterbrook Multnomah Publishing Group this summer. See press release below:
Colorado Springs, CO— Fiction lovers don’t need to budget to travel this summer with Waterbrook Multnomah Publishing Group’s eight full-length, historical novels by beloved Christian authors (WaterBrook, June 2, 2009). At the low cost of only $5.99, these well-read “get-aways” provide quality enjoyment at a price that any reader can afford.
Full-length historical novels offered include:
The Captain’s Bride (ISBN-13: 978-0-307-45806-3)
by Lisa Tawn Bergren, book one in Northern Lights series. Experience an epic saga of perseverance and passion, faith and fidelity in a sea adventure from the gentle hills of Bergen, Norway, to rocky coast of Camden, Maine.
Tomorrow’s Treasure (ISBN-13: 978-0-307-45808-7)
by Linda Lee Chaikin, book one in East of the Sun series. Family secrets and a passion for a man of a higher social class draw Evy Varley into a dangerous mystery and disturbing questions about her past.
The Silver Sword (ISBN-13: 978-0-307-45809-4)
by Angela Elwell Hunt, book one in The Heirs of Cahira O’ Connor series. The auburn-haired O’Conner women push against social limits. Their tale is one of peril, courage, vengeance, love and sacrifice.
The Veil (ISBN-13: 978-0-307-45807-0)
by Diane Noble. Hannah McClary dares to question the truth behind the shroud of secrecy that cloaks a nineteenth-century sect known as the Saints. Soon she and Lucas Knight, the young man she loves, find themselves fighting for their lives.
Under the Distant Sky (ISBN-13: 978-1-60142-245-3)
by Al and Joanna Lacy, book one in Hannah of Fort Bridger. Join Hannah and Solomon Cooper as they journey by wagon train to a new life on the frontier. Will they overcome tragedy and great opposition as they strive to live their dream?
A Promise for Breanna (ISBN-13: 978-1-60142-244-6) by Al & Joanna Lacy, book one in Angel of Mercy series. Suspense, danger, romance and spiritual truth each play a part in this heroine’s life as she faces the man who once broke her heart and led her to mistrust men.
Maire (ISBN-13: 978-1-60142-256-0)
by Linda Windsor, book one in Fires of Gleannmara. Maire, Warrior Queen of Gleannmara, finds her fierce heart gentled by a reformed mercenary, a Christian, who’s taken hostage during a raid.
A Gathering of Finches (ISBN-13: 978-1-60142-247-7) by Jane Kirkpatrick. A turn-of-the-century Oregon coastal couples’ life is seen through the eyes of the wife, her sister, and her Indian maid who discover reasons why money and possessions can’t buy happiness, forgiveness or relieve consequences of choices.
Waterbrook summer release of value line books will also include a 99 Ways (July 2009) and Non-fiction series (September 2009).
06.29.09
Mom Needs Chocolate: Hugs Humor and Hope for Surviving Motherhood
Debora M. Coty is a woman on a mission. Since answering God’s call to write six years ago, Debora has published over 80 articles in international magazines, newspapers, and anthologies, and signed 11 book contracts! Her latest, Mom NEEDS Chocolate, just released from Regal Books and is endorsed by legendary funny ladies Martha Bolton and Patsy Clairmont.
Mom NEEDS Chocolate: Hugs, Humor and Hope for Surviving Motherhood puts moms back in touch with rejuvenating joy and empowering faith. From outrageous coping tips to off-the-wall 
insights, Coty’s humorous book will have you laughing out loud. With witty frankness and wild abandon, she tackles the highs and lows of marriage, the horror of embarrassing children, and the defeat (and re-defeat) of depression. If you’ve been wondering lately why in the world you embarked on the journey of motherhood, then Debora Coty has the perfect reminder in this book.
You can learn more about Debora (and her other books) at www.deboracoty.com.
06.28.09
Review – He Loves Me
This book is a hug from Heaven.
Wayne Jacobsen offers a chapter-by-chapter reiteration and reassurance of one unalterable, inarguable fact: God loves you. That glorious truth is unconditional. No need to ever again play “He loves me … He loves me not,” based on life’s circumstances and situations. Leave your daisies to grow naturally in your garden. Nothing you can do will make God love you less; nothing you do will make Him love more.
He just loves you.
You have been precious to Him since before the world was created. He loved you when Adam was still a lump of clay. He longed for your reciprocating affection eons prior to his first wail as an infant in Bethlehem. You were His favored child even as He carried His own cross up that hill to Calvary.
He loves you.
Just as He did with Adam and Eve, God longs to be your Friend. Your Father. He yearns for that close, personal, intimate relationship that comes only when true, untarnished love is freely given and received between two individuals. He won’t demand it. He’s chosen not to force it, because let’s face it—true love doesn’t happen via coercion. Such unnatural affection would be a weak and unsatisfactory facsimile, not good enough for the Creator of Heaven and Earth.
In simple terms and straightforward fashion, the author paints an unforgettable portrait of a Father waiting with outstretched arms for His child…His cherished friend to accept his affection—and return it, so they two can enjoy the fullness of a loving relationship. Jacobsen builds his premise largely on that relationship: what it is, how to achieve it, what it means to each participant.
Woven through the entire book is the one golden thread of simple truth: God. Loves. You. If you ever wondered about that; if you ever needed assurance that He knows you—who you are, why you are, and that you matter to Him; if you ever just wished you could feel His arms around you, read this book.
Your hug is on the way.
06.20.09
Review – So You Don’t Want to Go to Church Anymore
by Wayne Jacobsen and Dave Coleman
(Jake Colsen)
Meet Jake Colsen, Associate Pastor. He has it all. A good job with more than adequate salary, a loving wife, two children, and plenty of respect and prestige.
But then he meets John and his world turns upside down. Could this stranger be the Apostle John, still alive, still spreading the gospel?
Over the next four years, through a series of conversations with John, Jake goes on a personal odyssey that makes him rethink everything he thought he knew about God and the church as a whole. In the process, he loses everything he thought was important, but discovers a whole new life, and a whole new relationship with the Father.
The authors have produced a revolutionary look at the church world. This book has the potential to change generations of tradition, and alter the status quo of organized religion.
If you’re content with your spirituality; if attending Sunday services makes you feel like a satisfied Christian; if you don’t need a spiritual jolt – a shot to the soul, then don’t read this book. So You Don’t Want to Go to Church Anymore will change the way you think about church and the body of Christ. It will transform your life.
Take the hand of a mysterious stranger and find out who Jesus really is. Meet God, and become His friend. Turn your world upside down.
05.29.09
Review – Broken Angel
Broken Angel paints a frighteningly real picture of a fictional but all-too-possible future. An oppressive and dictatorial nation called Appalachia, formed from a broken United States, is a world where the government tolerates no secrets and affords little privacy to have them.
In this tyrannical society, Caitlyn is more special than even she knows, and her uniqueness creates grave dangers for the innocent young woman; Jordan is her adoring father who, despite his secret and shameful past, is now prepared to sacrifice everything including his life to protect his child. On their trail is a cruel and ruthless bounty hunter who’s determined to capture the girl – and take more than just her life.
Alone and seemingly abandoned by the one person she trusts, Caitlyn must accept help from strangers: a near-blind escapee from one of Appalachia’s many forced-labor factories, and a big man with a kind heart and a slow brain. Together, the little group makes its way through the treacherous Appalachian countryside, enroute to the Outside. There, Caitlyn can be freed from the mysterious thing that makes her different. But reaching and crossing that border may cost the girl everything she’s ever held dear.
Sigmund Broewer’s novel is riveting and fast-paced – there’s no time to breathe and no relief from the tension. It delivers mystery, tragedy, uncertainty … and unexpected moments of humor and joy that make all the rest of it bearable. Broken Angel will draw you in and hold you in its spell long after you’ve read the last page.
Amazing detail, gripping storyline, and unbelievable writing.
05.21.09
Review – Ruby’s Slippers
by Leanna Ellis
Dottie (Dorothy) Meyers lives on a small Kansas farm, alone but for her little dog Toto – oops … Otto. When a tornado rips through her property, it not only demolishes the home she’s lived in all her life, but knocks the middle-aged maiden out cold. She awakens three months later at Rainbow’s End, an assisted living facility in California. Near her bed are a pair of ruby slippers – a gift from the father she hasn’t seen since she was four.
Haunted by childhood memories and a longing to meet the Daddy she barely remembers, Dottie sets out on a journey to Seattle (the Emerald City). Traveling with her are three friends: Sophia, whose mastectomy left her constantly rearranging the “stuffing” in strategic places on her body. A free thinker, she jokes that her son sometimes thinks she’s lost her brain; Tim, Dottie’s elderly uncle by marriage. He gave his whole heart to Elizabeth, who’s younger brother is Dottie’s father. When Elizabeth died, Tim thought his heart died with her; Leo, Sophia’s wild and woolly son, who lives by himself in a cabin in the woods. He looks fearsome, and he makes a lot of noise, but Dottie soon discovers that a part of Leo is nothing more than a scared little boy who mourns the absence of a father in his life, just as she does.
And then there’s Duncan Meyers, who lives in Seattle in a house that’s nothing short of a mansion. Why did he abandon his family all those years ago? And why did he leave those unusual slippers for his daughter while she lay in a coma?
Dottie’s actress sister, Abby, is busy playing the part of the wicked witch in a traveling production of The Wizard of Oz. For some reason, she desperately wants Dottie’s ruby slippers … and she’s not alone. More than one person is out to get those shoes.
The little group of friends learn a lot of important lessons about themselves and each other on their way to Seattle. Focused on guarding the shoes and mentally clinging to the past, will Dottie fail to see the promise of a brighter future? Hurt and disillusioned by her father’s abandonment, will she ever again trust another man with her heart? In search of her Daddy’s affection, will she fail to see the flawless love her heavenly Father has offered all along?
It’s a modern-day Wizard of Oz with Cinderella undertones. But this is no fairy tale or fantasy, with magical resolutions and guaranteed happy endings. It’s a deeply moving story of hurt and healing, of love and loss, of hope and redemption. Immensely entertaining, it is chock full of wit, grit, humor and heartache. Truly unforgettable, Ruby’s Slippers has the potential to be a classic.
Don’t miss this one!
