Of Stillness and Storm by MichelePhoenix

Of Stillness and Storm by Michele Phoenix is by far the most interesting Christian love story I have read in awhile.  It is a love story between a man and his wife.  It reads so true to life I had to recheck to make sure it was fiction which it most certainly is.  The story is told through the eyes of Lauren, the wife, and her life which is told in flashbacks of  growing up and meeting Sam at a Bible school in Austria when both of them were exploring and deepening their Christian faith.  Sam and Lauren both knew that they wanted to find lifelong spouses who were Christian.  Sam knew that God had something important for him to do and wanted to make sure that Lauren also felt the same way and that they both would do anything that God called them to do.  Lauren knew that in addition that she wanted to most of all be a mother.  Both during this time of study in Austria thought and prayed long and hard about marriage to each other and finally both agreed that they loved each other and God and that they were meant for each other.  They married and then came life.

Lauren and Sam both wanted children but they couldn't get pregnant.  After 2 years of trying they investigated getting medical help but Sam was sure that if they spent that kind of money on getting pregnant that they would never be able to go into the mission field. When Lauren got pregnant nearly 7 years after their marriage they both cried they were so happy.  Ryan was a happy child and Lauren and Sam loved him very much.  Sam though knew he was supposed to go into the mission field and started the process of getting all their bills paid and saving for spending time in a foreign land, wherever God sent him.  Lauren was content to stay in the good old USA and care for her family.  The day that Sam came home excited and through down the brochures for Nepal was not the day that Sam expected.  Lauren was concerned for the safety and care of Ryan first and foremost, agreed to keep an open mind but when they told 6 year old Ryan he was from the beginning against it.  Ryan, over the time it took them to get financial backing and prepare for life in the mission field in Nepal, became more and more withdrawn and sullen from the happy carefree child he had been.  Lauren was concerned but every time she voiced her concerns Sam would talk her out of it and kept planning the trip to Nepal.

Nepal was everything that Lauren and Ryan was afraid it was and more.  For Ryan the only good thing about Nepal was that they played soccer and Ryan loved to play soccer and was quite good at it.  Lauren loved the kind and loving people of Nepal but she hated living there. It was dirty and because Sam felt that they should live close to the way that the Nepali people did and so they had no cellphone or most of the time no electricity.  Ryan started an emotional downward spiral emotionally which concerned Lauren but Sam felt it was only teenage acting out.  Lauren was with Ryan daily and grew more and more concerned but Sam who was in the field for weeks at a time kept brushing it off.  Lauren and Sam both believed that the wife should be dutiful to her husband and though sometimes it took some arguing on Sam's part Lauren always eventually caved in to Sam's plans and wishes.  That is until the weekend of the disaster.

I loved this book.  It is a love story like no other but also shows what can happen when 2 people who very much love each other marry and only one of them has the power in a relationship.  These people never fall out of love for each other and this is the story of what happened.  This book can be read by any aged person who can tolerate the emotions of the book.  The ending is a hard read but this is also a book that is difficult to put down so be prepared.  Don't start reading this book in the evening and think is will relax you to sleep unless you are really sleepy and can go to sleep in about 2 pages.

The Tea Planter's Wife by Dinah Jefferies

The Tea Planter's Wife by  Dinah Jefferies is a complex novel set in the 1920s and 1930s.  It is a tale of living on a tea plantation in Ceylon.  Where is Ceylon? you might ask well look up Sri Lanka and you will find Ceylon.  Gwen has just married a man and is madly in love and so excited to get to her new home.  She knows that there will be many changes to make in learning to live in Ceylon when she is so used to living in England.  Her husband, Laurence has gone on ahead to prepare the home for her arrival.  Gwen learns to live the life on the plantation and to think of this as her new home and to love it.  But there are many changes to make- why does her sister-in-law seem to hate her no matter what she does?  why are the plantation workers not treated better?  But then the worse thing of all--Gwen is pregnant with twins but when they are born her son, Hugh, is white and looks very much like Laurence but the daughter is dark.  How could this happen?  What can she do?  She is all alone for this delivery except for her servant, Naveena.  Naveena helps her to find a wet nurse in the village to care for her for money.  No one can know, Naveena has convinced her.  But how could this have happened?  Did it happen the night she was so drunk that she allowed a trusted black friend see her to her bedroom?  Gwen tumbles into a deep depression for the guilt of giving away her baby from which she recovers but never does she forget her daughter, Liyoni.  Gwen convinces Naveena to take her to the village to make sure that Liyoni is ok but only one time.  That is the only safe way for but the baby's safety as well as the secret's safety.  Liyoni grows as does Hugh.  Then Liyoni begins to limp and her foster mother will no longer care for her.  Read this book to find out the outcome of this novel.

I loved this complicated book though I lay it down time after time because of the sadness and turmoil of the emotions.  I think any adult woman would enjoy reading this book and probably some high school aged girls but as I said earlier it is a complex book with difficult racial and sexual problems of the 1930s some of which still linger on but some of which the young of today will never know.
I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.

Love Bears All Things by Beth Wiseman

Love Bears All Things by Beth Wiseman is the 2nd in the Amish Secrets series.  Charlotte Dolinsky has finalized her  breakup with Ryan for the last time.  He refused to forgive her for snooping in his phone to find out if he was cheating on her.  That was bad enough but when she spotted him in the restaurant obviously on a date with another woman Charlotte was through and figured out that though he may think she was crazy and not trusting enough she was correct about his unfaithfulness and was done.  And if all that was not enough she found out that she had been evicted from her apartment during that same time.  Her only brother had recently committed suicide and she needed to settle his affairs in an Amish community in Lancaster County so she decided to go back there and also see her Amish friends whom she had met while trying to figure out why her brother had decided to kill himself.  While in Lancaster county she stays with her friends, Amos and Lena and their family.  Charlotte has decided to sell her brother's house but even though a friend, Daniel Byler and Aaron have helped get the house ready to sell the realtor has had no one showing any interest in a house with no electricity.  Then Daniel has noticed that someone has been sneaking into the house and leaving behind a mess and leaving the door unlocked.  What is Charlotte going to do?  She needs the money that the sale of the house can bring but the house keeps getting broken into and left in a mess.  She wants to discover the secrets of her past but can no longer afford mental health treatment since Ryan had been paying for it.  Who is the little girl in the purple dress standing with the Amish woman in her dreams?

As you can see this book is well developed and anyone would enjoy reading it.  Though Charlotte is not Amish it is centered in Lancaster county and most of the characters are Amish and so allows the readers a glimpse into their world. 
I received this book from Booksneeze for this review.

Child of the River by Irma Joubert

Child of the River by Irma Joubert is the first book that I believe that I have read by this author but it certainly will not be the last.  This book begins with the leading character, Persomi Pieterse, coming of age in the 1930's in South Africa.  She is the 4th child growing up in a poor white sharecropper family, a bywoner, on a portion of the huge Fourie farm.  She has grown up playing with the owners children but knows that her place is to always be subject to the children of the owner.  Irene one of the owner's children makes sure that Persomi knows her place.  Persomi and her older brother Gerbrand belong to their mother and Piet and Sissie belong to their pa. Hannapat and Baby belong to both of them.  Persomi wonders why she doesn't look like anyone else in the family.  She is tall and thin and has dark hair.  Persomi is smart in school and she can run like the wind.  That running is sometimes what saves her from the cruel hand of her drunken lazy father.  Persomi knows that this is her last year of school.  Her mama has already told her that she will find a job next year and Gerbrand even though he is also smart and athletic has already quit school to work in the mines.  Persomi has been told by the welfare woman that she could get a scholarship for her so that she can go to school and Persomi has high hopes.  The welfare woman was on their case because she found out that Sissie was pregnant and their father had raped her.  The welfare woman had asked Persomi to testify against her father.  Persomi is afraid but she agrees to tell the truth though her ma had said that pa would kill them all.  Persomi testifies and she not only told on her pa but also told why Sissie and her mother had lied and were too afraid to tell the truth.  Pa is sent to jail and Persomi goes to school.  This is the beginning of Persomi becoming educated and becoming an important lawyer during the coming apartheid and World War II years.

I loved this book.  Though it is a novel it is told with the historic facts in place.  It tells of the many problems of the poor both white and the various colors of the human race in South Africa.  It tells of the rich and their ways of controlling the laws to their benefit and how it affects the poor.  It tells of how race relations are manipulated by those in power to keep the poor infighting among themselves and allowing the rich to stay rich by not fighting.  It tells how during the war the rich did not fight but rather controlled how the war was fought by the poor of their country.  "The poor are mere cannon fodder" during the war.   
I received this book from Booksneeze for this review.

NKJV Word Study Bible

NKJV Word Study Bible is my newest favorite study Bible.  This study Bible focuses on the words of the Bible and how the translate into English from the original Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek. The short word studies are interspersed throughout the Bible as they appear in the text.  Each which has a study in underlined within the text so that you notice not only to look for the study but to also notice how it is used in the sentence.  It has in the back of the text a list of the words which has special focus in the study so if the reader is only studying that particular word or wants to look up other references within the Bible.  I love a Bible which has a concordance and this one has a small one to use for reference, however if you are using this Bible for a study then the reader would have to use an additional larger one most likely.  There is a small map section in the back also.  It has the much loved Christ's words printed in red.  I love the way each book of the Bible has an historical introduction as well as word study of the book's name.

Another thing I love about this edition is the sturdy way it is put together--no wimpy thin pages--this book is printed to be used and studied.  It would never do as a coffee table book--it is not a beautiful book.  It is meant to be read regularly.  It would be at home on your home desk or beside your favorite chair to be read as you can.  It could also be just lying about waiting to be opened and enjoyed.
I received this book from Booksneeze for this review.

A Call to Mercy by Mother Teresa

A Call to Mercy by Mother Teresa is a collection of writings by Mother Teresa during her lifetime or remembrances that others had of her sayings or writings.  These writings center on forgiveness, mercy to others, loving everyone, and taking care of those in need.  She writes of her care of others throughout the world during her work with the Missionaries of Charities.  Her writings and her speech show her humility and her mercy to those less fortunate.  She writes of how she tried to always think of those she served as Jesus-If you did it unto the least of these-you did it unto Me.  She taught not so much What would Jesus do? as How would you treat Jesus if He were standing before you rather than the poor, the sick, the imprisoned, ect.  She showed in her life how to treat others as if Jesus were the one she was serving--because He was.

I loved this book and was constantly in awe of her work with those unloved and uncared for.  I cannot even imagine seeing the sights that she worked with among the poor let alone be that poor.  I cannot imagine babies so hungry they sucked on their sheets.  I cannot imagine being so poor/sick that I lay on the ground and when someone helped me up my skin remained on the ground.  She managed to always show love even while correcting the behavior of those she worked with.  She taught humility by always being humble.  This book should probably be read and reread by me and others on yearly basis so that we learn to be aware of our many blessings and to bless others around us based on those blessings.  This book should be read by all of all religions.  A most powerful book.
I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.

A Love Transformed by Tracie Peterson

A Love Transformed by Tracie Peterson is the next installment in the Sapphire Brides series.  Clara Vesper has had all her monetary needs met by her husband, Adolph.  But this marriage was a loveless arranged marriage by her overbearing mother who insisted on a marriage which was going to increase her societal standing.  Clara has no interest in society but has learned to live with her life as it is.  Adolph is not mean to her, he just has no interest in family but only in the progress of his jewelry business which both Adolph and Clara work in.  When Adolph is shot during a robbery and dies suddenly  Clara now has to figure out how to manage on her own.  The surprises keep on arriving though when Adolph's brother states that Adolph has no financial holdings in the company due to his gambling.  Clara knowing that her mother will soon arrive and try to again take over her life decides to go to the only place where she has known unconditional love and that is on the Montana ranch that her aunt and uncle own.  Clara spent the summers there while she was a child and loved the ranch.  Clara quickly gathers up only the absolute needed clothing for her children and herself and telling only her most trusted servant heads for Montana.  When they arrive in Montana she finds that much has changed but all the important things are there: unconditional love, hard ranch work, and a Christian home to live in.

I love Ms. Peterson's writing that this is no exception.  The reader travels back in history to World War I life in the USA.  The family works hard and mostly lives off of what they can raise on their ranch.  Patriots and traitors live side by side and don't even know it but eventually the truth must come out and traitors are punished.  Sometimes the traitor is a trusted family member so the rest of the family must bear the brunt of the stigma also even if they had no knowledge it was happening.
I believe that most readers of Christian historical novels who love reading this one by Tracie Peterson.
I received this book from BethanyHouse for this review.