Book Review - Beyond Molasses Creek

Okay folks, I am beginning my year with posts of a couple of my favorite subjects:  books and karate. I will post a cooking item soon, that should wrap up the big three in my favorites category.

My first February book review is for the book "Beyond Molasses Creek" by Nicole Seitz.  I have to say that I enjoy reviewing books for Booksneeze because it is a branch of Thomas Nelson publishing.  Most of these books have a Christian message, some subtle, some not so subtle.  This book left it out entirely.  The setup was there.  The opportunity to show a need and a trust in GOD was ready to be taken.  It was ripe, almost falling from the tree.  Yet it was ignored.

That aside, it was a very unique storyline.  Ally Green comes home because her father has died and she must take care of his, now her, house.  Vesey Washington,  Ally's across the creek neighbor and best childhood friend, appears just when she needs him.  Their friendship has withstood racial tensions, years of absence, and forbidden love.

A woman half a world away, Sunila, also ties into the story.  She is different from all those around her and she is an artist in a gravel pit.  She must find out why she is different and where the "book" came from that she cannot read, but she knows holds all the answers.

Nicole Seitz does a wonderful job weaving the three stands of the characters together.  It is not often you find a story told from three different points of view.  Two of the characters share a common background.  Two search for their past and their future.  Once character is sure of his life and his choices, while one had no choice and the last felt her choices may not have been right at all.

Each is looking for something to guide them, a reason to go on, a purpose to fulfill.  With the void in their lives, they feel aimless, yet driven to find and reach their goal.  Their stories come slowly together revealing just enough at a time to keep you turning pages, but not so much that you get lost in the overload of information.

Beyond Molasses Creek invites you to travel through time to a place where characters are shaped and choices are made.  And the work it takes to live with the consequences.

Another Book Review - First Date

Here we go, another BookSneeze book for review.

Pretty soon I'm going to have to give in and read, and then review, and nonfiction book.  For now I have attacked a fiction book by Krista McGee entitled, "First Date".

This wonderful book is a cross between the TV show "The Batchelor" and the book of Ester from the Bible.  Jonathon Jackson is the President's son.  Addy Davidson is a bookworm who avoids the spotlight.  Both of them find themselves on a reality TV show called "The Book of Love" to find Jonathon a date for his senior prom.

Jonathon must pick one lucky girl from the pool of 100 young ladies from all over the United States.

This was a very fun read.  I could not put it down.  This would be a wonderful book for a young teen girl to be encouraged when trouble comes.  I enjoyed the modern day twist on the book of Ester.  It brings the lessons we are supposed to get from the Bible in to better focus.  As Christians, this book reminds us to not answer anger with anger, and to try to understand those who might be against us a little better.

While there are lessons to be learned from this book, it is not a heavy read, nor one filled with suspense or terror.  I enjoyed the well crafted storyline and the way the author mixed the contestant interviews between the chapters to allow us to get to know the girls a little better.

If you have just finished a long book that required lots of contemplation between chapters (or sentences, for that matter) and need a "refresher" book to help clear your mind and bring a little joy to your heart, this is the book for you.  I recommend this book to anyone who just wants a light read.  It will get you to thinking about yourself and how you handle those troublesome people in your life.

As you read this book, you will cheer for Addy, feel for Jonathon, and despise Hank.  Then you will finish the book and find that your initial reactions may have been off base.

I am looking forward to reading many more books by Krista McGee.  If they are anything like "First Date", I'm sure to enjoy them all!

Book Review - Sunrise on the Battery

I have found that I love reviewing books.  I may not be good at it and sometimes I even ruin the ending for some people but I love talking about books I have read, especially those I really enjoyed reading.

This year I will try to review a book a month.

I just completed "Sunrise on the Battery".  I couldn't read it fast enough.  I loved this book.  A pair of high-school sweethearts has married and busted their tails to overcome rough backgrounds and be accepted into the upper levels of Charleston, South Carolina society.

Mary Lynn is a convenient Christian.  While she attends Bible study with a friend and goes to church occasionally, she thinks about God and she should live for Him when it is convenient for her.  She and her husband have a plan to raise three well rounded daughters according to the standards of high society.

Jackson, a self-made man, puts up with his wife attending church and Bible study.  He is busy building the life he never had and is focused on giving his daughters everything.  God has never helped him so why should he be worried about God.

Then Mary Lynn prays for her husband to know God. And God answers. Big Time.

I highly recommend this book.  It is a quick read, but the story has you cheering for each character.  Your heart will be filled with understanding for Mary Lynn. You will want to encourage the daughters. You just want Jackson to understand what he is missing by trying to have it all.

After you have finished this book, if you are married, you will want to sit down and have a long talk, really listening and communicating, with your spouse.  You will take a look and different areas in your life and wonder about your own goals as a family and an individual.

I would love for Beth Webb Hart, the author of this novel, to write sequels to this book from the different perspective of each of the daughters and how the changes that happened in this book affected their lives and how their lives turned out.

I love it when a book leaves you wanting to know "the rest of the story" as Paul Harvey used to say.  Sunrise on the Battery does just that.

Book Review - The Realms Thereunder

I reviewed this book for Booksneeze.  I picked the e-book format so I could get the book immediately and start reading it right away.  The description of the book was that intriguing.  I also found out after reading the book it is the first in a trilogy. Within the first few pages, I was drawn in.  I didn’t want to put it down.  Freya and Daniel were connected in their past, separated, and then in young adulthood, they needed each other again. 

Unfortunately, after the first few chapters, the book got strange, hard to keep up with, and hard to understand.   Old world spelling is used for very different names, which for me were unpronounceable.  The story kept jumping from the past to the present, from reality to illusion.  When I finished the book, and I did struggle to finish, I had no sense of learned anything from the story.  I wasn’t sure why the characters had to struggle, why certain things happened, or even why some characters and scenes were in the book at all.

I don’t have “get” something from every book I read, but I don’t want to feel confused by a fiction book I am reading for enjoyment.  Usually when I read the beginning of a trilogy, the beginning of a saga, I can’t wait to find out what happens next.  I am content to leave Daniel and Freya where they were when The Realms Thereunder ended. 

I love reading and will not stop investigating new (to me) authors.  I love finding a writer that engages my imagination and challenges me to think through concepts and ideas to gain understanding.  This book jumped around from time to time and from real world to fantasy world to much to understand if there was symbolism in the places and characters.

I cannot recommend this book to my fellow readers.

Book Review: NKJV Greatest Stories of the Bible.

I have a book I would like to tell you all about: "The Greatest Stories of the Bible".  It is a New King James Version abridged Bible for parents to read to your kids.  The cover of the book reminds me of an old fashioned storybook.  It is not the whole Bible, but it catches the "high points" so to speak.  Each chapter could be read as a bedtime story and your kids will have a wonderful overview of the whole Bible by the time you are finished reading it.  Each chapter gives reference to the verses being used so that you may go to your full Bible and look up the completed, unabridged version.

Just like the full version, this book is filled with love, war, good, and evil.  Life lessons abound.  I, as a Christian, see the Bible as an instruction book for life.  "The Greatest Stories of the Bible" will help you open up discussion about different topics that every child will go through.  It may also generate questions that will require more research and questions that may not have a black and white, clear cut answer.

This book is a great gift for parents who want to give their children Biblical knowledge in an easier format than the full Bible.  This book does not replace the Bible.  It is a stepping stone for understanding.