Book Review: The Saga Continues to My Delight

     Bethany House Publishers provided a complimentary copy of Taming the Wind in exchange for an honest book review. Tracie Peterson has wowed me again with the third installment of the Land of the Lone Star series. The Civil War is still fresh in the minds of many folks out in the west. Tensions are high between the opposing Union and Confederate soldiers and the citizens out in Texas are on edge. This volume picks up shortly after Brandon and Laura had moved out of Corpus Cristi to establish a ranch and a family of their own.  Widowed Carissa Lowe joins her pregnant sister and brother-in-law at the ranch with her two-year-old daughter, Gloria, to help out.
     Tyler Atherton, a friend of Brandon, periodically pops up at the ranch for a visit. It soon becomes apparent Carissa has captured his heart. However, Mr. Atherton is a man of his word and doesn't want to promise a future to anyone, especially to Carissa and Gloria, if he is uncertain he can deliver. Carissa keeps a guarded heart after the abuse she suffered at the hands of  Malcolm Lowe. As she allows God's love to fill her heart, He opens her heart to new possibilities. While Tyler and Brandon are out on a months-on-end cattle drive up north both, Tyler and Carissa acknowledge their growing love for one another. Just when Tyler thinks he will be able to proclaim is heart to Carissa, she goes missing.
     It is no wonder Peterson is such an accomplished author. Her stories are complicated and intricate without losing focus on the character development and main plot line. She carries the characters from one saga to the next seamlessly while allowing Carissa's story to step into the foreground and Laura's to the back. We first met Carissa as an immature teen wanting to play in a grown up world in Touching the Sky. In this volume, the reader witnesses Carissa crossing the threshold into womanhood. The emotions are tangible and real that all can relate to in some manner. Nothing is written so fanciful or unrealistically that you know without a doubt this is a work of fiction. Rather, the reader will be captivated with each facet of the story and entangled that it is hard to put the book down.
     In fact, I read the first fifty pages in one sitting and I was so much enamored with the story, the next sitting I read through the end, page 324, closing the book at 3:30 in the morning. So, I recommend you pull out your copy of Taming the Wind before dusk. One thing is for certain, I must get my hands on the first installment of the series. If the story of the Marquardt girls continue I will definitely be following their journey.

Here is the link to the review of  book #2, Touching the Sky. http://godlovinmama.blogspot.com/2012/09/book-review-fell-for-this-fiction.html

Book Review: Stabilize Your World

    BookSneeze on behalf of Thomas Nelson Publishing provided a complimentary copy of Globequake: Living in the Unshakeable Kingdom While the World Falls Apart in exchange for an honest review. Author Wallace Henley provides guidance to find stability and comfort for the reader in the midst of turbulent times. Looking at the headlines of the nightly news one is submerged into insecurity, insanity and instability. Businesses are collapsing, morality is plunging into the depths of darkness and deceit and families are being ripped at the seams. The changes around us are coming so rapidly that it is hard to make heads or tails of as many current events. What can one make of this? Is there any place to find solace and refuge?
    Many people seek comfort in the material wold, turn to drugs and alcohol or other deadly vices. Henley offers the reader the only lasting  source of comfort that can be applied in every domain and sphere of life: the life of Jesus Christ. The earth can quake, the floor can slip beneath our feet, all else can crumble around us, while the Kingdom of God will stand firm and steady. Henley paints a grim picture of what is happening around the world that can lead to confusion and fear. Further into Globequake he then breaks down the problems that beset our days and then in subsequent chapters gives biblical counsel to steady our gaze and plant our feet on terra firma. People need to live intentionally and have clear cut visions, values and missions in view for various avenues of life, hopefully all of which head in the same direction.
     This book was not what I expected. It was better and more concrete.The suggestions made are biblical, wise and practical. Henley doesn't provide a list that seems impossible to implement. What is your vision? What are your values? And what is your mission as a family? a person? a church?
    As a mother, I appreciated his sage advice that stability begins in the home. It starts with the individual. Our children's schooling and training is an integral part to stabilize our changing society. Instead of feeling hopeless and desperate as we look around at the crumbling pillars of society, we gain hope as we look to our Savior. He alone can hold us up. Nothing can conquer His Kingdom. That message permeates Globequake.
     Globequake is enjoyable to read, not that the news isn't discouraging at times. The delivery of the bad news is written in such a personable manner, the impact of the punches is tolerable. That and hope is quick to follow. Whether Henley is speaking of the person, the church, the family, education, government or the business market he brings stories throughout history to back his thought process and provides clear vision throughout. In about 250 pages, one can grasp the hope we have in God alone and gather valuable input to make their world a lot more sturdy.