A Life Apart by L.Y. Marlow

A Life Apart by L.Y. Marlow is a novel starting during the 1940’s and ending present day.  It is the story of Morris who grew up in an abusive home and decided that his future would be different than his past.  He dated a beautiful girl, Agnes, and when she got pregnant did the right thing and married her.  He loved her but he knew deep down that there was love and then there was LOVE that is everlasting and deep enough to survive all that life threw him.  He joined the Navy and was lucky enough to survive Pearl Harbor but only because his friend, Robert, stuck his black hand in the murky water and pulled Morris’ white behind out and then drug him to safety.  Morris always knew that after Robert died he would find Robert’s family to tell them what a hero he was and how he saved him.  What Morris didn’t know is that he would fall deeply in love with his sister, Beatrice, and the complications that a secret interracial relationship would hurt and enhance all of their lives.  Morris kept the secret of his 2 families—one white and one biracial—for years.  Through the years of his daughter growing up and his son’s death soon after birth.  Through the years of Beatrice’s pregnancy and the raising of their twin daughters.  Through the civil rights years and on and on.  This is the life of one man of this greatest generation mistakes and all but always with love.

I really liked this book.  It will be on my “best books” list.  Anyone of any age could and should read it.  I had not heard of this author before but I am glad I found this book.  It treats with respect an out of wedlock love and does not sugarcoat it but rather deals with the hardships and pain of all who are involved.

I received this book from Multnomah for this review.

Sharing Christ with the Dying by Melody Rossi

Sharing Christ with the Dying by Melody Rossi is a very simple how to book on introducing a dying person to a personal life and afterlife with Jesus Christ.  The author is very open with how she dealt with the deaths of her mother, father and stepmother.  She tells of how to do the introductions but rely on prayer with God in order to decide when to lay low and when to go forward with Christian education.  She freely admits that she cannot "save" anyone--only Christ can do that.  She tells of how first with her mother she overcame her fears of rejection from her mother in order to show her the truth of salvation which was a big part of Ms. Rossi's own life.  She shows how to be non-confrontational but still get across the message before their ultimate death. 
This book is advertised as a how to book for showing Christ to the dying but what I think is that this book would be a great resource book for anyone going into the mission of telling the story of Christ and his loving mercy to anyone.  It brings forward that no one can save anyone else-that is only Christ's job.  But it tells of how through prayer God can guide the missioner with exactly how far to go and what to say at what time.  It tells how to recognize when a person is open to the spirit and when to be low key and just listen to them.  This book does not pretend to be a tell all book but rather instructs to pray and follow your own prompts from the savior in order to guide you in introducing a spirit filled life to another.  This book needs to be read by all ages.  It has many Biblical references for the missioner to use in their own mission work with the dying.
This book was provided by Bethany House for this review.

Secret Revealed by L. Marie Adeline

Secret Revealed by L Marie Adeline is an erotic book mainly written for women.  Cassie  and Solange have joined the group of women of S.E.C.R.E.T.  This is an underground group of women who have basically given up on having a sex life though they all have secret fantasies which until now they had never shared with any other person.  They both meet Matilda who was the leader of the group in different ways but both just as all the other women in the group were exploring not only their sexuality which had been lost but also their self confidence in themselves and who they once were and could be again.  Cassie had just be crushed by the loss of her relationship with Will and Solange with another relationship and also still maintained connections with her former husband and father to her son.  The jest of the novel is that each member of the S.E.C.R.E.T. club meets with Matilda and fills out the form in which each tells of her fantasies.  Matilda and the others then seek to fulfill the fantasy. 

This is the 3rd of the S.E.C.R.E.T.  series by this author.  It is well written and in graphic detail.  Any who had enjoyed the Shades of Grey series would enjoy this series though it is by of course different authors.  Though the lady on the front of the book is white or at least fair skinned this book tells of the black experience and because of that I thought that the least they should have done is graced the cover with a woman of color.  That is about the only complaint that I would have about the book.  This book should be read only by grown women or only children who are mature enough to handle the subject matter (high school age maybe).

I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.

Four Weddings and a Kiss by Margaret Brownley, Debra Clopton, Mary Connealy, and Robin Hatcher

Four Weddings and a Kiss by Margaret Brownley, Debra Clopton, Mary Connealy, and Robin Hatcher is 4 novels within a novel.  The novel opens with 5 men who happen to be pastors sitting around a campfire in 1885 discussing the revival meeting that they have been holding the past week.  The youngest pastor is a very young man and has just broke up with the love of his life because he knows that she is not good pastor's wife material.  He is very conservative and he pastors a conservative church in a conservative community.  His 4 pastor advisors encourage him to marry her if he loves her with these 4 stories of odd love matches.  Each of the authors has authored one of each of the 4 novels.  Then the reader is brought back to the original young pastor's problem and the 5 of them work on the solving of his love problem.  Mary Connealy begins with the spitfire named Maizy who finds herself in trouble after purposely disobeying her father and trespassing onto her neighbor's property.  She finds herself between a bear and a cow with calf being protected by a prize bull.  The owner, Rylan, saves her but not without himself being injured so badly that he will find it difficult to meet his financial obligations to the bank and lose his farm.  Maizy has always done the work of a man dressed like a man but she agrees to follow her fathers edict and wear a dress while addressing the needs of Rylan while he recuperates.   When Rylan's lazy hired hand decides to leave the farm Maizy takes on the ranching needs also but this time she calls the shots and goes back to dressing as she pleases (in pants).  There are 3 more western love stories in the book all set in the late 1800's, all Christian, all quite interesting. 
My favorite story of the grouping was the first though all were very good.  I loved reading them and I think that anyone interested in historic or Christian love stories would also love them.  I highly recommend this novel to readers who are of at least middle school years and this is just for the interest of the content.  I thoroughly enjoyed reading the novel.
This book was provided for this review by Booklook.

At the Movies by Samantha Sanderson

At the Movies by Samantha Sanderson is a novel in the faithgirlz! series. This novel finds best friends, Samantha and Makala, at a movie with Samantha's dad. Samantha notices that a light is on in a supply room and when she attempts to open the door she finds it locked. Strange, she thinks but quickly forgets it on her way to the bathroom until Makala spills her entire cup of soda on her dad. Sam and her dad get the supply room opened and while rummaging around for cleaning supplies find what appears to be a bomb. This solving of the who done it is the premise of the story. Samantha, who is trying to make her may to someday being the editor for her school news department, is working from the reporter angle and her dad, who is a detective, for the local police department, is working from the adult professional perspective. Samantha alternates between wanting her dad's inside knowledge but not wanting to divulge her information and her dad is torn between treating Samantha as an adult reporter and wanting to protect her as well as finding out how she is getting her inside information (which she refuses to reveal as a reporter). When Samantha takes information which her dad gives her and uses it to find out more information and then form the basis for her daily story her dad feels that Samantha has stepped over the line and has jeopardized his job. Dad pulls rank and has the teacher pull Samantha from the lead story. The story goes on the tell how Samantha and her dad learn to work together and then solve the case.

This book is an excellent young person mystery which I as an adult could also enjoy reading. It brings out how to learn to follow the rules to be a reporter as well as writing a story that others will read. Samantha learns how writing a newspaper article is more than just writing an exciting story--there are lives involved which can be changed by the power of her pen. Within the story is how Samantha remains true to her faith while being friends with those of different faiths. Samantha as a 7th grader is also figuring out how to be a true friend as well as make new ones. I liked reading this book and think that middle school children would most enjoy it but older elementary age children would also enjoy it as their ability would dictate.

I received this book from Booksneeze for this review.

Modern Pioneering by Georgia Pellegrini

Modern Pioneering by Georgia Pellegrini is a book of recipes, projects and skills for a self-sufficient life.  If you have spent your life eating out of the grocery store but have been hearing scary news articles or just want to know how to grow your own then this is the book for you.  This book will walk you through making raised garden beds. Then this book gives you recipes for using your homegrown produce.  It tells of the easiest to grow.  It tells which grow best, which grow in cool weather, and which in warm.   Or if you don't want to know how to grow your own but just want to know which pretty flower or weeds in your yard are edible this is the book for you.  It gives tips on living off the land no matter where your land is even in the city.  Now don't however think that you can with the knowledge in this book you could go off grid.  This would be the first book to read--not the last.  There are a few easy crafts that one can make on the cheap for gifts or making your own glasses from wine and beer bottles.  If you remember real homemade sour kraut that grandma made and want to know how to make it yourself then reading this book can tell you.  There is DIY projects like making your own home made paper stationary or other paper products out of your grocery sacks or other paper products.  Maybe you don't recycle but would like to be part of the reuse or up-use population.  Want to eat pickled eggs but paying $6.00 for a small jar of them is too much?  This book can walk you through making your own.  Want to throw a party but have no keg to serve beverages? Make one from a watermelon.   Been reading the health news about the benefits of using caste iron but everything sticks?  This book tells you how to season it so that sticking is no longer a problem and no worries about the Teflon health scares either. 

If I were a beginner just wanting to learn some of the basics for starting to live simply this is the best first book to read.  It neither talks over your head nor makes you feel like you are reading a 6 year old primer.  It has looks of pictures and drawings where needed also.  It has simple party suggestions as well as making garden beds and as I mentioned earlier making glasses out of beer bottles (this sounded trickier than I wanted to try).  What to do with the mushrooms you just found-are they poisonous? how to cook? what do they taste like?  Do you have 1 1/2 # of almonds and want to know how to make milk out of them?  Oh the list goes on and on.

I would suggest this book for anyone wanting to learn how to live more simply and safely.  2 thumbs up for easy to read and understand.
I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.

Persecuted by Robin Parrish

Persecuted: I Will Not be Silent by Robin Parrish is the next Christian fiction by this author.  It will make the reader think, "What would I do if I were no longer allowed to express my religious beliefs?, what if all religions were so watered down that none disagreed with another? "  Would we all then be one happy group of people who all believed alike or would we merely be a group of lukewarm believers? or non believers?  Who knows we would all be alike---maybe.  When would we recognize that instead of giving freedom to worship to everyone we have instead watered down our Christian faith to such a degree that it doesn't look any different than any other religion or for that matter any non religion either.  Will our freedom to worship as a Christian be subtly be wiped away bit by bit until it is gone?  We think that we know what we would do if a government entity tries to take over that we would fight to the death but what if our own government slickly passes law after law ever so slightly nips away at our freedom to worship.  Will I notice?  Will you?

John Luther is a well known well loved evangelistic pastor of the TV screen.  He loves his wife and daughter though his career takes him away from home more and more of the time.  He is the person that the government workers come to when they have a question about religion.  His long time friend Senator Donald Harrison is constantly calling him to indorse his bill, the Faith and Fairness Act, which John believes would water down religion in order to appease the masses and get Don more votes of course.  When John will not agree, Donald calls on the help of a hit man to solve his problem and further his own political agenda.  This starts the ball rolling in ways that neither could have predicted.

This is a suspense filled book.  People who love religious reading will love it.  Persons who read murder mysteries will love it.  This book has something that many readers of many genres will enjoy.  It is an adult book and describes murders and a sex crims but anyone from the age of high school and possibly middle school age will enjoy this book.
I received this book from Bethany House which is a division of Baker Publishing Group for this review.