The Hope of Refuge (An Ada’s House Novel)

Cindy Woodsmall

Publisher’s Summary: Raised in foster care and now the widowed mother of a little girl, Cara Moore struggles against poverty, fear, and a relentless stalker. When a trail of memories leads Cara and Lori out of New York City toward an Amish community, she follows every lead, eager for answers and a fresh start. She discovers that long-held secrets about her family history ripple beneath the surface of Dry Lake, Pennsylvania, and it’s no place for an outsider. But one Amish man, Ephraim Mast, dares to fulfill the command he believes that he received from God–“Be me to her”– despite how it threatens his way of life.

Completely opposite of the hard, untrusting Cara, Ephraim’s sister Deborah also finds her dreams crumbling when the man she has pledged to build a life with begins withdrawing from Deborah and his community, including his mother, Ada Stoltzfus. Can the run-down house that Ada envisions transforming unite them toward a common purpose–or push Mahlon away forever? While Ephraim is trying to do what he believes is right, will he be shunned and lose everything–including the guarded single mother who simply longs for a better life?

Click here to see options from Random House’s online catalog.

Click here or on the image to order the book from Amazon.com.

This is the first in a new series of books by the author of When the Heart Cries, When the Morning Comes, and When the Soul Mends.

Bottom line? I liked it. Very much. And I usually don’t like this type of book. Which says a lot. I definitely recommend reading it.

I apologize for the short review–I’d love to write more, since, as I said, I really enjoyed the book. However, we now have a 5-week-old puppy in the house (as of Monday evening) and life has gotten very hectic.

The Vanishing Sculptor

Donita Paul

Publisher’s Summary: Return to the world of the dragon keepers, where the fate of three missing statues will determine the fate of the world. Tipper, a young emerlindian woman, has been responsible for the upkeep of her family’s estate since her sculptor father disappeared several years ago. To make ends meet, she’s been forced to sell off the artwork he left behind.

When at last her father returns, accompanied by two strangers from a distant land, Tipper discovers that her actions have unbalanced the foundation of her world, as well as her father’s life, and she must act quickly to undo the threat. But how can she save her father and the world on her own?

The task is too huge for one person, so she gathers the help of some unlikely companions—including her guardian, the giant parrot Beccaroon, the wizard Fenworth, and his librarian Librettowit—and sets out on a quest, eventually witnessing the loving care and miraculous resources of Wulder.

Join new characters and old friends on a journey into a fantasy that inhabits the same world as the DragonKeeper Chronicles, but in a different country and an earlier time, where the people know little of Wulder and nothing of Paladin.

link to publisher

It was with some trepidation that I agreed to review this book. I love fantasy. I was 3 when my father started reading the Chronicles of Narnia to me. Probably three-quarters of the books I devoured in grade school were fantasy/scifi (or history, but that’s a different story). Tolkien, Lewis, L’Engle, Le Guin, Alexander…and so on. I also write fantasy myself, have studied worldbuilding (love it!) and other elements vital to such stories.

Needless to say, I felt I had a pretty good background to critique such a book. HOWEVER, the previous modern Christian fantasies I’d read were merely okay to abominable, not to mention preachy and/or treacly (and I’ve talked with enough Christian fantasy readers to know I’m not the only one who feels this way). For example, Raising Dragons by Bryan Davis was so bad that after about 3 chapters I skipped to the ending, was highly unimpressed by that, and promptly returned the books to the library. It’s almost as if there is such a lack of writers in Christian fantasy that even the blandest/most mediocre of efforts can find a publisher. The writers ignore such things as “show, don’t tell,” and “Hook your reader with the very first sentence.”

I winced when I read the first sentence of The Vanishing Sculptor: “Sir Beccaroon cocked his head, ruffled his neck feathers, and stretched, allowing his crimson wings to spread.” Do you know how hard the critiquers at Miss Snark’s First Victim would have nailed that sentence?

The next 2 or 3 pages are all description, which I guess is supposed to be worldbuilding, but which came across as turgid. If I’d not been reviewing the book, I probably would have read no further. As it was, I didn’t really get into the story until oh, chapter 25 or 26.

BUT, about midway through the book, things started rolling along, and I actually enjoyed reading the rest of the story. Also, Donita Paul does manage to balance the two sides (good doctrine vs. good fantasy) fairly well. Which is very difficult to do. I know. I’ve tried.

So, I guess I would have to say, as far as Christian fantasy goes, this is pretty good. In fact, I just passed the book on to a young (12 year old) friend of mine, saying she would probably like it.

According to Wikipedia,

Steampunk is a sub-genre of fantasy and speculative fiction that came into prominence in the 1980s and early 1990s. The term denotes works set in an era or world where steam power is still widely used—usually the 19th century, and often Victorian era England—but with prominent elements of either science fiction or fantasy, such as fictional technological inventions like those found in the works of H. G. Wells and Jules Verne, or real technological developments like the computer occurring at an earlier date. Other examples of steampunk contain alternate history-style presentations of “the path not taken” of such technology as dirigibles, analog computers, or digital mechanical computers (such as Charles Babbage’s Analytical Engine); these frequently are presented in an idealized light, or with a presumption of functionality.

I love alternate history/historical fantasy, so I said, “Okay. I’ll bite.” and ordered a few of the books on the list. I had already read ‘The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen,’ thought the idea was fascinating (though the book itself left much to be desired).

The first two to come in were Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones and The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson (William Gibson’s The Difference Engine is awaiting me at the library).

Now I’ve run out of time to do really in-depth reviews (books are due today), but I must say I did enjoy them.

Howl’s Moving Castle is more like fantasy than science fiction to my way of thinking, and the sequel House of Many Ways is the same. But they’re both delightful reads, well-written and funny, for kids and adults. I especially like Sophie

The Diamond Age (or, A Young Lady’s Illustrated Primer) was fascinating. I’m not sure I liked the book, as in the characters (except Nell) or plot or ending, but the writing was superb and the world-building incredible. I’d recommend it for older readers, mostly because of the Drummers and their ‘Wet Net’, which are very sexual in nature.

Never Say Diet

The Never Say Diet Personal Fitness Trainer

Chantel Hobbs

Summary: After years of failed diet attempts, Chantel Hobbs discovered the missing ingredient to permanent weight loss: to change your life, you first have to change the way you think.

She developed a balanced plan for exercise and nutrition and lost two hundred pounds. Now, through writing, speaking, and her work as a personal trainer, she inspires others to achieve far more than they thought possible.

In Never Say Diet, now available in trade paperback, Chantel provides everything readers need to lose weight for good, including:

• Simple, step-by-step workout routines that fit into a normal weekday schedule
• A realistic approach to nutrition that helps people break their bondage to food
• Strategies for staying motivated when life takes unexpected turns
• Keys to dealing with discouragement by relying on God’s strength
• The secret to moving beyond past failures and getting over old excuses

Chantel helps readers make the five commitments that are necessary for changing their lives. Her high-energy, no-nonsense approach inspires readers to achieve results that last in body, mind, and spirit.

Personal Trainer: Her newest book, The Never Say Diet Personal Fitness Coach, now allows readers to have Chantel show up each week to inspire, encourage, and energize them on the journey to a healthy life that centers on body, mind, and spirit.

This fitness guide helps readers set new weight-loss goals and create an exercise schedule that works in the midst of life’s constant demands. Readers will be inspired with Scripture, and they will welcome Chantel’s healthy eating plan with simple, energy-and-nutrition-packed recipes. Weekly checklists and personal evaluations direct readers in reaching their goals. Plus, Chantel’s personal and entertaining stories provide the motivation needed to get through even the most frustrating days.

With Never Say Diet and The Never Say Diet Personal Fitness Coach readers will establish new fitness habits that burn off excess weight, increase strength, and establish a new, healthy way of living.

Okay, so I don’t usually read diet books. Yes, I need to lose weight–according to my BMI, I’m obese (by all of three pounds). However, I’m one of those “active but overweight” people. I do Zumba twice a week, and 40+ minutes on the treadmill at least two other days, preferably more. I can do a day-long hike without keeling over half-dead. I did Irish stepdancing up until last September (I’d still be doing it, but the class wasn’t on an available night for me). I don’t eat refined sugar or corn syrup. No matter what I eat or don’t eat, I’ve been the same weight (within 5 pounds) for well over a year now. Most people think I’m quite a bit lighter than I am. The bottom line is, I’ve never hit the rock bottom that Chantel describes, at least not as far as the way I look. But food does have a definite hold over me. I like to eat. I enjoy (far too much) the way things taste, to the point of overeating because it tastes so gooooood.

That’s why the key thing I brought away from this book is that food is fuel, not your main source of fun (or worse, comfort). At one point in the program, she has you make your meals nutritious, but boring (though not permanently), because changing the way you look at food is the only way to break its hold over you. And I can see that. In fact, that thought now goes through my head almost every time I wonder “What am I in the mood for?” That’s the wrong question, according to Chantel. The right question is “What does my body need?”

Her program seems to be a straight-forward deal, and fairly easy to remember, though it still takes plenty of willpower to follow. More willpower than most of us have. That’s why the all-important first step is surrendering our will to God’s. He wants us to be healthy, and it is only through His strength that we can turn from the idol of food (’you cannot serve both God and chocolate’).

There were a couple of areas that I did have problems with. One is food allergies/intolerances. I’ve a lot of them. Many of her meals call for lean poultry or fish–many times trying to eat chicken/turkey and/or fish (even tuna) makes me nauseous. Same thing for eggs. Nor can I do the Kashi thing. I like Kashi. Used to eat it all the time…until I discovered that oatmeal gave me headaches. Corn’s another thing I have to avoid, including popcorn. My husband has Crohn’s, so he has issues with things like celery or lettuce. You know, those good fibery vegetables. My daughter can’t eat so many things that we don’t even usually take her into consideration when making meal plans. I make all her bread at home, which means plain white bread (though with unbleached flour), because making whole wheat bread is a royal pain in the boohickey.

Some of the exercises I have issues with too. The cardio isn’t too much of a problem–I do that already. The ones that get me are the ones with the stability ball. I’ve had a lot of back problems (and legs, and knees, and feet, and neck), and the exercises she shows tend to exacerbate my bad spots. I think she chose the stability ball because it’s easy to use and keep at home, but there are other methods of working the core muscles (which is her main goal as near as I could tell) that are a lot kinder to the body. I know this because my physical therapist made me do a whole slew of them.

Overall, Never Say Diet was a hard-hitting, workable, sensible book. I think those of us who struggle with saying no to food can get a great deal out of it.

When the Soul Mends

Sisters of the Quilt Book 3

Cindy Woodsmall

Publisher’s Summary: After receiving a desperate and confusing call from her sister, Hannah Lapp reluctantly returns to the Old Order Amish community of her Pennsylvania childhood.

Having left Owl’s Perch more than two years earlier, she finally has settled into a satisfying role in the Englischer world. Hannah has found love and a new family with the wealthy Martin Palmer and the children she is helping him raise; and her life-long dream of being part of the medical community is being realized. But almost immediately after her arrival, the disapproval of those who ostracized her, including her headstrong father, reopens old wounds.

As Hannah is thrown together with former fiance Paul Waddell to work for her sister Sarah’s mental health, hidden truths surface about the events during Hannah’s absence, and she faces an agonizing decision. Will she choose the Englischer world and the man who restored her hope, or will she heed the call to return to the Plain life–and perhaps to her first love?

When the Soul Mends is the final book in this series (called “Sisters of the Quilt,” which is something of a misnomer, since quilts play only a very small role in the story), and the one I liked best. The basis of the book is that Sarah, who has only a precarious hold on sanity, gets a hold of Hannah and begs her to come home. As Hannah reconnects with those who turned their backs on her, many secrets come to the surface. SPOILER ALERT: By far the most important secret revealed is that Paul had tried to contact Hannah, as she had tried to contact him, and their attempts had been purposely sabotaged by a jealous girl. This places Hannah in the dilemma of having to chose between Martin and Paul. END SPOILER.

I was pleased by the ending. Yes, parts of it seemed to come out of nowhere (at least it did on the first reading–on the second I was looking for the clues, and they were there), but it fit the characters far better than some of the previous scenarios. And while the epilogue seems a bit “Quick! Make sure everybody ends up happy!”, so what? I like happy endings. I far prefer them over “realistic” endings. If I want realism, I’ll go read a newspaper and get myself royally depressed.

SPOILER ALERT: I was especially glad that Hannah goes back to her Plain ways. One of the big hangups of When the Morning Comes (Book 2) was how quickly Hannah seemed to throw off her Amish upbringing and embraced the Englischer world. Turns out she hadn’t really left those ways behind, that she wanted to return to a simpler life, and that the Englisher world, and more importantly, Martin’s world, made her very uncomfortable. END SPOILER.

Over all, When the Soul Mends is a pretty good read, a nice break from the madness of my quilting business and the holidays. I probably won’t keep it (my bookshelf space is so limited I have to be brutal with what I keep), but I did reread parts of it (especially the last seven or eight chapters) for enjoyment, because I’m a sucker for a good romantic ending.

Bon Appetit

French Twist Book 2

Sandra Byrd

Summary: In this second book in the French Twist series, readers join Lexi Stuart in a crème de la crème adventure!

Deciding to leave her familiar home in Seattle and her could-be boyfriend Dan, Lexi moves to a quaint village in France to pursue her dream of becoming a pastry chef. Life among the French initially proves to be less than easy as Lexi is challenged by her coworkers, missing her friends, and failing to master the perfect baguette.

Determined to find her place, Lexi settles into the culture and life becomes la perfection. She finds a church, meets a new friend, and makes the acquaintance of a child named Celine—as well as Celine’s attractive, widowed father, Philippe. Even Patricia, the gruff pastry cook, shows a softer side as she mentors Lexi in the art of baking.

Fast, fun, and packed with French culture, foodie appeal, and unique recipes readers will love accompanying Lexi on her journey in Bon Appetit as she tries to choose between two countries, two men and the faith to lean on God while savoring the surprises life brings!

After reviewing Let Them Eat Cake last year, I was looking forward to book two. And I wasn’t disappointed. Lexi is just as real and funny as she was the first time around. The story moves along quickly (it was an easy evening’s read) and if the situations and characters aren’t always exactly realistic, they are at least very believable. I am curious how Ms. Byrd is going to solve Lexi’s love dilemma, but I suppose I’ll have to wait until next year for the answer to that.

The only things I found problematic with both Let Them Eat Cake and Bon Appetit are all those loving descriptions of the sweets and pastries and other yummy yummy things that I can’t eat any more. Pout. (Refined sugar and I do not get along at all.)

So…I definitely recommend Bon Appetit (in fact I already have–my mom liked it too). Yes, it is a delightful bit of air and sweet fluff. But so are cream puffs, and I absolutely love cream puffs. (”Anybody have a good recipe for sugar-free cream puffs?” she asks plaintively.)

Justinian’s Flea: The First Great Plague and the End of the Roman Empire

William Rosen

I wasn’t planning on reading this book at all. Merely saw it on a friend’s table yesterday, got curious, and asked if I could read it before she did. Now I feel as if I’ve eaten a 10-course meal in the space of 20 minutes.

This era of history is not usually my thing. I was an International Studies major in college, so I of course covered it in my history classes, and I taught it to my world history students, but it’s not an era I would seek out books upon. However, I was fascinated by Pox Americana (I read it as research for my WIP), and the title of this book sounded like it was similar. It wasn’t really. But in this case, that isn’t a bad thing, because Rosen provided a buffet of information so well presented that you don’t need a background in history to take it in.

His bottom line is this:

” It was the golden age of Emperor Justinian, who, from his glorious capital of Constantinople, united and reigned over an empire stretching from Italy to North Africa. It was the zenith of his achievements–and the last of them.

In A.D. 542, the bubonic plague struck. In weeks, the glorious classical world of Justinian was plunged into chaos, and the beginings of a medieval Europe were born.”

However, the plague itself only occupies perhaps a quarter of the book. The rest of it is background, side-plots, and connections to other ideas and future events. Rosen follows a common thread, loops off on a connected idea, but always manages to bring the reader back the main thread before they get too lost.

In the course of the book, Rosen covers “history, microbiology, ecology, jurisprudence, theology, and epidemiology,” not to mention tidbits of architecture, art, trade, politics, medicine, and numerous other subjects. Whether he was discussing the changing tactics of warfare or the warring theologies of the early Christian Church (Arian vs. Monophysites vs. orthodoxy/Catholic), his writing went down so smoothly that I almost wasn’t aware of how much I was taking in at times. The only sections that I found hard to chew was when he went into great detail about the evolution and biology of Yersinia pestis, that is, bubonic plague.

Justinian’s Flea is heavy reading, but not overwhelmingly so. It appeals both to serious students of history as well as to the curiosity of the “layman.”

Grade: A/A+

God Gave Us Heaven

by Lisa Tawn Bergen

illustrated by Laura J. Bryant

Summary: Little Cub awakens one morning with some important questions on her mind: What is heaven like? How do we get there? Will we eat in heaven? Will we be angels?

During a delightful day spent wandering their arctic world, Papa gently answers each question, assuring Little Cub that heaven is a wonderful place, “a million times better” than she can imagine. He explains how God has made a way for those who love him to enter their heavenly home forever after their lives on earth are over.

Reuniting the best-selling author-illustrator team from God Gave Us You, this gentle story provides satisfying answers for a young child’s most difficult questions about heaven. Parents, grandparents, childcare professionals, librarians, Sunday school teachers, and others will appreciate the gentle approach to a topic that’s on the minds of so many “little cubs.”

Through captivating, full-color illustrations and tender, biblically sound storytelling, young readers and those who love them will find reasons to rejoice in knowing that God Gave Us Heaven.

Review:

This is the last of the three children’s books I was given to review this time through, and while it is a good book, it wasn’t my favorite. It’s well-written and beautifully illustrated (except the penguins. There are no penguins at the North Pole, nor polar bears at the South. But that’s just a pet peeve of mine.). It manages to cover a very heavy topic in a way easily understandable to older younger kids (you know, 5-7 rather than 3-5).

But… (there’s always a but), it comes across as ‘preachy.’ Little Cub is just a bit too precocious in her questions, and Papa has the answers down just a bit too pat. Maybe it doesn’t come across that way to youngsters–my daughter was only interested in looking at the pictures, not listening to the story, so I don’t know what she really thought of it–but it came across that way to me.

So, a good book, but my copy will probably go to the church library instead of staying on my home bookshelf.

God Loves Me More Than That

When God Created My Toes

by Dandi Daley Mackall

illustrated by David Hohn

Summary: In two new books from best-selling children’s author Dandi Daley Mackall, clever rhymes and delightful illustrations help young children, ages three and up, understand God’s huge love for them and his joy in creating them. These enchanting picture books from the writer-illustrator team of Dandi Mackall and David Hohn will instill awe in young children as they revel in each page. Parents alike will appreciate the engaging stories that communicate God’s perfect plan and his divine purpose for little hearts.

In God Loves Me More Than That, children learn that God loves them deeper than a wishing well, wider than a semi-truck, louder than thunder, and softer than a kitten’s sneeze. Each question, presented with charming child-like faith will help young ones grasp the great love of God through comparisons and descriptions they can easily understand. In short, they’ll discover that His love is bigger, wider, higher, and deeper than anything they could imagine!

In When God Made My Toes, kids are drawn into the wonder of their creation by God. Their masterful artist who fashioned them just right for amazing and delightful adventures, such as roller skating, finger-painting, doing flips, and drinking cocoa. Children will come to an understanding that God shaped each part of their amazing bodies with joy, delight, and humor.

Review: I’ve been reviewing for WaterBrook Press for a year now, and I must say, these two little books are the best ones I’ve done so far. I still have a smile on my face when I think of them. Written in rhyme (but not that annoyingly overdone type) and coupled with beautiful illustrations, both convey deep truths in a way kids can easily grasp (and better yet, parents can read without getting bored).

God Loves Me describes quite well “how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.” When God Created is based on “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” I especially love the little girl in this one. My daughter is 3 1/2, and I can just see her doing things like this in a few years (actually, she looks like this pretty often–tubbie time is not a favored time.) And at no time did these books feel preachy/too-grown up, nor too babyish (or disturbing for that matter–the illustrations some children’s Bible stories can be downright freaky sometimes).

Usually I pass the books I review on to my church library. I shall be hanging on to these two instead to read with my own little one. In short, I highly recommend both books for any one who has or works with young children, or who has the open, wide-eyed heart of a child.

Rene Gutteridge

Publisher’s Summary: Blissfully unaware that Atlantica Flight 1945 from Atlanta to Amsterdam is about to make aviation history, First Officer Danny McSweeney focuses his energies on navigating the turbulent personalities of an eccentric female captain, a co-pilot with a talent for tactless comments and conspiracy theories, and a lead flight attendant with an outsized attitude that definitely exceeds the limits for carry-on baggage.

On the other side of the cockpit door, the unscheduled in-flight entertainment includes a potbellied pig, a jittery diamond courier, and the recently jilted Lucy Meredith, whose personal mantra of “What Would Oprah Do?” will be challenged by the sudden appearance of her ex and his new traveling partner. On her left sits Hank Hazard, whose unusually polite but constant requests–prompted by his covert role as a spy for the airline–test the limits of the crew’s customer service.

But as Lucy and the rest of the crew discover, Hank’s odd behavior is linked to a quiet faith that may play a key role in the fate of everyone on board. Especially when an unexpected traveler sets this already bumpy flight on a course toward the unfriendly skies.

Author Bio: Rene Gutteridge is the author of twelve novels, including the Boo series, the Storm series, and the novelization for The Ultimate Gift, as well as Scoop and Snitch, the first two Occupational Hazard novels. She lives with her husband, Sean, and their two children in Oklahoma City.

Review:

Okay, so I really need to read these invitation e-mails a lot closer, because again I didn’t clue into the fact that Skid too was an Occupational Hazard novel (which I found a cute series title, but I’m a sucker for that kind of name), and plunked myself into the middle of a series. Anyhow, to clear up any possible misconceptions, SKID IS BOOK THREE IN THE OCCUPATIONAL HAZARD SERIES. There.

As for the book itself…I’m coming to the conclusion that I’m not a good judge of contemporary fiction, because while I found it a nice one-evening tubbie read, I certainly didn’t find it a “fun, wild ride with devious humor” nor did it have “me smiling all the way through.” Nor did I consider it worth 5 stars like most of the reviewers on Amazon. Perhaps I’ve grown cynical in my old age. More likely it’s because the more I try to write, the more critical I’ve become of other writers. So much so that it is very difficult for me to read for pleasure anymore.

The plot was okay, if far-fetched/forced. Again, it may be me–after a stint working for the FAA I dislike most things to do with planes. I did like Hank, though he came across as naive rather than innocent. The other characters… Well, I suppose they were relatively well-developed, had decent back-stories, and I identified with nary a one. They all felt like characters rather than real people.

Truth is as Strange as Fiction Tidbit: I was reading Uncle John’s Supremely Satisfying Bathroom Reader earlier this evening (I love books with random trivia) and stumbled across this interesting little article:

On October 17, 2000, two women and their (300 pound) hog boarded a US Airways flight from Philadelphia to Seattle. They presented a note from a doctor verifying that the animal “was a ‘theraputic companion pet,’ like a guide dog for the blind,” so the airline cleared it to fly.

The hog snoozed through most of the six-hour flight, but got spooked when the plane landed. It charged up and down the aisle, squealing loudly, at one point even trying to smash into the cockpit. Then it hid in the galley until its owners lured it out with food and pushed it off the plane…at which point it fouled the jetway.

US Airways immediately revised its companion animal policy specifically to exclude hogs. “We can confirm that the pig traveled,” a spokesperson told reporters,”and we can confirm it will never happen again. Let me stress that. It will never happen again.”

At least not until Atlantica Flight 1945 takes off.

Grades:

• Characters: B
• Plot: B
• Flow of Story: B
• Writing Style: B
• Enjoyable: C+

Overall: B