AWE

"I wonder what they will say about me when I'm gone. When they've all gathered like we are today in this church, dressed in our best, saying good-bye. I wonder how old I'll be, and if I've lived a good life, and if I'm known for anything.

"I think about this in passing; mostly I'm just wondering if I'll see Marvel here. If maybe I'll have an opportunity to say more to her than I have in a long, long time. We haven't spoken much. Not since Halloween and the misery it brought.

"November passed, ending with a no-so-thankful Thanksgiving. Today is the second day in December and it's still warm enough to rain but cold enough to make you shiver.

"I'm sad, of course. Nobody wants to be at a funeral. But I guess I could've seen this coming. In fact, in a way I did.

We did.

In another life we connected, and he helped us to do so." (pg 1).

Travis Thrasher once more takes readers into a compelling look at the lives of two very remarkable, strong and yet unsual characters in his latest novel Awe. This is the third book in the Books of Marvella series and one I am confident if you love something different in your suspense series, you are guaranteed to find it. Brandon Jeffery's is finishing up his senior year in high school and has been more than infatuated with Marvella since she came to town. Most unusual and one to keep to herself, Brandon seems to find a key to unlock the wall she keeps around her. She would say it was there for your protection, not hers.

But at the opening of this novel, Marvel and Brandon's relationship is at a stand still. Marvel has put a barrier in place because she believes God has called her to this small town in order to save it from the evil that has begun to permeate it by taking the life of the students one by one in accidents the police remain clueless to solve. There are a bunch of creepy characters they have to contend with such as Marvel's Uncle Carlos who has threatened Brandon with killing him if he doesn't stop seeing Marvel. There is the random encounters Carlos has in the bad places in town with a man name Otis Sykes, again someone they are warned to stay far away from.

But with the recent disappearance of Brandon's best friend Devon, he believes he might still be alive. He feels it in his gut. Devon believed that he might be able to get close enough to figure out who has been murdering the students, until he disappeared. Just who is to blame. All Brandon knows is that he received a text on Devon's phone warning him if he didn't stop being so nosy, his girlfriend would be next. He hasn't shown the message to anyone including the police. Because the last thing he knows is he will do anything to protect Marvel, but it may take an act of God to put Brandon's true faith to the test.

I received Awe by Travis Thrasher compliments of Lucas Lane Productions for my honest review. I did not receive any monetary compensation and the opinions found here are my personal and honest ones. There is something dark and silent about Travis's series, one I can't quite put my finger on. It's like knowing that there is something in the dark, you can't see, but know its there. It's the waiting. Travis does such an amazing job at giving the reader just enough to keep him going but not enough to completely give it away. I am still left wondering how this will all turn out in the end, with only one more novel in the series, Glory left before it is all unveiled. For this reader, it has been well-worth the ride and one I can't wait to finish. For me this rates a 5 out of 5 stars but requires readers to pick up the first books in the series to understand what has been happening from the beginning.

For more information about Awe, Travis Thrasher or where you can pick up a copy of this novel today, please click on the links below:

Awe by Travis Thrasher

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The novels in the series are: Marvelous (1), Wonder (2) and (3) Awe. Coming Soon...Glory (4). 

Sky Blue

To say I really like Travis Thrasher's novels would be a serious understatement, and I truly believe that somewhere if it is at all possible, we are definitely on the same wave length when it comes to writing. The exception is, he has had his books published, while mine remain shared between close family members and friends, much like Donald's, a character in his novel, Sky Blue, meaning for now, those great novels are simply in my head. If you have honestly never picked up a novel by Travis Thrasher, I would seriously encourage you to do so, especially if you are at all like me and hate books where you can figure things out before the end. Most novels have that uncanny ability to do just that, introduce a set of characters, develop a plot line and then slowly lead you down the path to where you imagine it all might just end up. Not with Travis's novels.

Sky Blue was something I didn't quite expect and since I've been filling the gaping holes in my Thrasher library with his older novels, I was extremely interested in reading this one since the note he included in the book was "one of my favorite novels." I mean how could you not resist wanting to read a novel that is one of the authors favorites. Once again, I was floored by the last handful of pages, because despite where I though this one was going, once again, he pulled the proverbial rug out from beneath my feet and left me flat on the floor looking at the sky. How did I miss that? I mean it's like the movie Signs by M. Night Shyamalan or The Sixth Sense with Bruce Willis. It's exactly like when you get to the end of the story expecting one thing then it takes you some place different, a place you didn't even see coming. You have to almost go back and reread it to figure out where did the unexpected turn come from that you simply missed perhaps because the story was so good, you simply missed that exit while you were driving along.

To sum up Sky Blue without giving away the true diamond is simply about the life of Colin Scott, a literary agent who is simply burned out (think Jerry Maguire), and is struggle to find his way out of the same old boring routine and from over paid, demanding, egotistical authors who believe that they are the next J.K. Rowling in the mix. Couple that with his marriage to Jen that is on the rocks while they are trying unsuccessfully to have a baby. With careers that keep them apart more than together, they try for one final vacation to put their marriage back together before it's too late. Then tragedy strikes and the life Colin had hoped would be their future is now lost at sea and he is among the debris. Think you know where this one will end up. Yeah I don't think so. Trust me you will want to savor this one to the end, don't rush it trying to figure it out. Enjoy the journey!

Now if you ask me, I'm going to have a hard time, trying to pick one of my favorite novels from Travis Thrasher simply because they are all that great but in vastly different ways. One thing he has taught me as a potential future author is that it's okay to take people where they least expect to go. If you sell them on the story they will go with you all the way to the end and it will be that greatness you had dreamed it would be. Well one thing I can say about this novel Mr. Thrasher is to pen a quote from Sky Blue where you borrowed a quote from Stephen King, " writing isn't about making money, getting famous, getting dates, or making friends. In the end, it's about enriching the lives of those who will read our work, and enriching your own life, as well." You have done that and more thanks to taking your talent and enriching the lives of those that read your novels. Greatness awaits as you put more of your incredible stories between the pages of another brilliant novel. I am a forever fan!

I received Sky Blue  by Travis Thrasher as a self purchase and did not receive any monetary compensation for a favorable review. The opinions contained in this review are strictly my own personal honest ones. Hands down I would be extremely hard pressed NOT to give this one 5 out of 5 stars but if you read it, I'm sure you are likely to agree with me.

For more information about Sky Blue, Travis Thrasher or where you can pick up a copy of this novel, please click on the links below:

Sky Blue by Travis Thrasher

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Admission

When most people are asked to describe college life for typical male young men, you would often bring to mind fraternity parties, college pranks, drinking, partying, drugs and short term relationships, even perhaps poor choices when it comes to studying and attending class. Often time, most people believe that this would be a check list of sorts for your average college student. When Travis Thrasher wrote Admission it was about that kind of experience. Where a group of rag tag men gathered together to have one anothers backs. If you mess with one, you messed with all of them.

You have your teens that went there based on their parents money, so it wasn't a real serious thing for them. They went because it was something to do to pass the time instead of getting real job. For others, it was simply about trying to figure out where they fit into the world, what would come next after college, a half way point between leaving high school and making the jump into real life as a mature adult. One final hurrah before you had to get serious. But what happens when things go too far. When people take life into their hands as a seemingly innocent prank designed to scare and it gets too far out of hand. I guess it shows that even life's best laid plans don't always work out and sometimes you have to grow up and leave all that college stuff behind.

As Jake Rivers attempts to remember what happened during Spring Break in college at Providence, he learns that not everyone is keen to rehash something that might be better off being unsaid and undiscussed. However 11 years later, Jake needs to put those nightmares to rest and with the incentive to help locate the missing daughter of a wealthy man who believes she has left with one of Jake's old college roommates Alec, he spends time piecing together where Alec ran off to and to regain the missing pieces of a dark memory that no one want to talk about.

I received Admission from Travis Thrasher compliments of a self purchase as I have been a huge fan of all Travis Thrasher's novels and wanted to revisit some of his earlier novels. I did not receive any monetary compensation for a favorable review and the opinions contained here are strictly my own personal ones. This one reads like the movie, "I know what you did last summer," in which some terrible deed lays in the past that Jake has no memory of but has flashbacks of bits and pieces he can't make sense of. The novel toggles back between present day 2005 and 1994 where once again the author cloaks the mystery until the final pages of the book. While you know you could easily have wrapped it up sooner, the author conveys there is more that to this story than simply what Jake goes searching for and thus the reason for taking his time getting to what we all want to know. Well done again, Travis and in my mind, another 4.5 out of 5 stars.

For more information about Admission, Travis Thrasher or where you can pick up a copy of this book today, please click on the links below:

Admission from Travis Thrasher

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Every Breath You Take

I love it when I read a novel in which the ending seems to be right in front of you. Like you have it all figured out before you get to the end how it will all work out. Its the way of most novels. Then the rug gets completely pulled up from underneath it all and you're left wondering, "Well that is not how I thought it would work out." You find yourself debating whether or not it was a good book after all, but is that really what is going on, you're simply mad cause it didn't go the way you wanted. That is just what I got when I finished with Every Breath You Take from Travis Thrasher.

You can tell he simply loves music, because I find them scattered throughout his novels. I think my husband and him would be great friends. In this novel referenced quite a bit with The Police, Sting, and Cold Play, we find two soul mates that are no longer together despite the fact that they work in every way possible. Kayla Rowe, 26, has had enough. When she quits her high paying job in marketing on the whim of following whatever dreams she has, her friends think she has lost it. She simply tells them she can't waste another 5 to 10 years doing the same thing with the same results but no passion for what she is doing. It may have to do with the fact her boyfriend Ryan has proposed to her, and while she said yes, she can't help but remember the one man she gave her heart away to so many years ago. That man that she will always love. She just isn't sure if it is Billy Harris, the man she was once engaged to, or her father that she lost when she was 2.

All Kayla knows is that she has to make some hard decisions before her wedding and as much as she would love to talk to her mother, that isn't going to happen. Her mother walked out on them when she was born and never looked back. So she takes her conversations to her father's grave and wonders what he would say if he was alive. Their bond seems to transcend the spiritual. Thomas Rowe, Kayla's father has been well aware of what has been happening in her life from his seat in heaven and is suddenly provided with a unique opportunity to visit his daughter one final time. The catch is, he can't tell her that he is her father and he must help Kayla come to a decision of what is best for her despite being locked in a past she can't seem to fight free from.

I received Every Breath You Take by Travis Thrasher compliments of the author himself for my honest review. Aside from the free copy of this novel, I did not receive any monetary compensation for a favorable review and the opinions contained here are my own personal ones. I loved this story because as a parent, there is a bond that you have with your child that transcends human understanding and logic. Love simply does not end, because someone is no longer with you. It is the legacy that we take with us long after they have left. The bond between Kayla and her father, besides a passion for music and that unconditional love that simply accepts things as they are without trying to influence any chance. That comes across all the way through this novel even though the ending was not what I thought it would be. I applaud Travis for throwing that twist in. I would have done it as well even though I didn't like experiencing it on the other end from a reader's perspective instead of a writer's one. I get why it was done and love it. For me this one was a well deserved 5 out of 5 stars in my opinion.

For more information about Every Breath You Take, Travis Thrasher or where you can pick up a copy of this novel today, please click on the links below:

Every Breath You Take from Travis Thrasher

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Isolation

Warning: Do NOT read this book into the late night hours, it will seriously creep you out and make you wonder what every single noise in your house is, and making it extremely difficult to sleep without thinking about what you have read. If you love being scared right to the end of a great suspense thriller with a wicked twist, then by all means pick this one up. It was a rough night last night after I read it just before bed.

It is definitely a novel you won't be able to put down. From the first to the last page, the suspense only intensifies and you have to keep reading it to know how it will all turn out. I love that Travis Thrasher writes novels like this, because before becoming a solid believer in Jesus, these are the kinds of books I read. Not the slasher novels, but the ones dealing with the supernatural world, because somewhere in the back of your mind, you know that it is all possibly true and it could and has happened. This is why these novels and movies work so well to their target audience group.

This one is about the Miller family who has recently returned from a missions trip in Papua New Guinea and has come away from that place forever change and a bit separated at the seams. James Miller and his wife Stephanie are feeling the strains of being married and coming back after what they dealt with regarding the supernatural evil in the village where they served. Is it possible that they simply didn't leave it all behind, or is there another more deeply buried reason from Stephanie's pasts that are causing her to have the most unreal nightmares of seeing things in her home that she swears is real, only to come to find out she's been sleepwalking. It is causing a division in the family even among the children that is bringing fear into their home.

James learns about a lodge nestled away up in the Smokey Mountains that is being designed for us for missionary families returning from their trips as a way of getting back to the real world and the 45,000 square foot mansion is just waiting for them to be the first family to try it. The only other people staying there are the caregivers of the lodge an elderly couple by the name of the Petersons. The only restriction is that the north wing is locked as the original owners strive to move some of the personal belongings that remain in the lodge. Sounds like the perfect retreat right? Well you'll just have to join the family to see how it all works out in the end.

I received Isolation by Travis Thrasher compliments of the author, himself, as he knows what a huge fan I am of his others series like Solitary and the Books of Marvella. I did not receive any monetary compensation for a favorable review, aside from a free copy of this novel and the opinions are strictly my own. Fans of Stephen King, Ted Dekker and Frank Peretti will absolutely have to pick this one up. It is definitely a 5 out of 5 in the way of suspense, horror and all the elements that readers love when they pick up a book like this. They want to be scared right to the end, and the part that I love about Travis Thrasher's writing style is he doles out pieces of suspense a small bit at a time, so you seriously don't know what is coming or what lies behind the locked doors and secret passages in the lodge known simply as Edge Hill.

For more information about Isolation, Travis Thrasher or where you can pick up a copy of this novel, please click on the links below:

Isolation: A Novel by Travis Thrasher

You can find Travis Thrasher on Facebook to stay up to date on all his latest novels.

To pick up a copy of this book, please visit Travis Thrasher's website for more details. 

Wonder

If you have never read Travis Thrasher's novels, he pretty much has a novel written to meet every interest but for me, nothing is more thrilling than to find Christian authors who know how to keep you glued to their novels, add the element of suspense and things that go bump in the dark, and you have me on their waiting list for the next one!

In the coming of age series geared more for the young adult or teen fans, The Books of Marvella have struck a cord in this book lover's heart! To say that there is something evil coming in the town of Appleton, earmarks what you will find when you enter the life of Brandon Jeffrey, a senior struggling to make his way in a difficult world marked by two unsolved murders involving teens that have happened in his town.

To say that the town is on edge is an understatement. Parents are concerned that their teens don't go out at night or alone until the person or persons responsible are caught. There is something brewing with an elderly man known as Otis who owns the quarry. Late at night he can be seen burying things in the back of his house but no one knows what is is. Now it seems he has formed a following when Brandon's best friend Devon, takes up watching his nightly activities believing he is behind the sinister evil building in town. Brandon doesn't want anything to do with stalking people at night especially when he is dealing with his own abusive alcoholic father who almost killed him in a car accident, watching over his younger brothers, keeping the secrets of the abuse from his mother, and trying to win the girl of his dreams.

Sounds like the typical life for a senior teen living in Appleton right? Now that school is back in session, all those summer escapades have not been forgotten. Brandon's intervention with the school's bullies, who also happen to be on the football team, have not gone unnoticed. Brandon's ex girlfriend, Taryn is stirring up trouble for Marvel on Social Media sites and Marvel still believes she will die doing something for God's glory and it will happen sooner than everyone believes. So just what is hiding in the shadows of Appleton? Only time will tell.

I received Wonder by Travis Thrasher compliments of NavPress, a division of Tyndale House Publishers for my honest review. I did not receive any monetary compensation for a favorable review and the opinions expressed here are strictly my own. The best part of this entire series, is the tension that Travis is building but not sharing what is really going on. He is keeping that just beyond what the reader can see, but the suspense element that keeps coming from each of this novels is growing. Evil is slowly showing itself in the unexplained and just who is the hippie older man, Phil who shows up just when Brandon seems to be willing to take unexpected risks? We know he works at the record store with Brandon, but is there a spiritual element here at work as well? All I can tell you is that I can't wait for the next novel and poor Travis Thrasher can't write fast enough for me. This one hits it out of the park again with a stellar 5 out of 5 stars! Suspense fans looking for a bit of the creep factor, pick this entire series and Solitary Tales as well. This is the second novel in The Books of Marvella series with Marvelous being the first. Start there before reading Wonder or it simply won't make sense.

For more information about Wonder, Travis Thrasher or where you can pick up a copy of this novel today, please click on the links below:

Wonder by Travis Thrasher

You can find Travis Thrasher on Facebook to stay up to date with all his latest novels.

To read more reviews on Wonder, please visit Tyndale House Publishers website. 

Marvelous

Ever since reading the Solitary Series from best-selling author Travis Thrasher, I knew I wanted more! Something that you find yourself going back to again and again in memory of a great series. He has done just that with the Books of Marvella Series and I couldn't be more excited. Not sure how I missed knowing these were coming out, but now, I know they will be just as good if not better than  the Solitary Series was.

Marvelous is the first novel in the Books of Marvella series and begins with the life of Brandon Jeffrey, the oldest of three boys in the Jeffrey household. He is on summer break before heading into his senior year, one he is looking forward to completing in more ways than one. For Brandon it's not just about graduating, its about freedom from his abusive father who spends all his free time, drinking instead of looking for work. It is all Brandon can do to find ways to stay out of the reach of his father's drunken outbursts, which he hides from his two younger brothers and his busy hard working mother, a lawyer who can only see the best in him.

Brandon is struggling to find jobs to pay back the loan his parents provided him to buy a car, which was totaled when he loaned it to a friend. His father intends to ensure that Brandon pays all the money off this year and seeks to remind him of it whenever he gets the chance. Through a seemingly random coincidence, Brandon runs into Marvella Garcia, who goes by the name Marvel at Fantastic Street, a record store where he offers her a job even though it's not his decision. He decides she is so worth knowing he will find a way to get his boss Harry to hire her just to keep her around.

In between dealing with his father, the town of Appleton learns that a young boy Artie Duncan has been brutally murdered. While the police struggle to find suspects, they ask that all teens stay inside after dark and stay in groups. Brandon is your typical high school boy with an unbeatable crush on Marvel who insists that she only wants a friendship with Brandon. He only hopes in time he can convince her to possibly go on a date, while trying to keep the local football bullies from beating up a timid nerd named Seth. Brandon wonders if these same bullies could be the ones responsible for the death of Artie seeing as they love intimidate anyone they can.

I received Marvelous by Travis Thrasher compliments of NavPress, a division of Tyndale House Publishers for my honest review. I did not receive any monetary compensation for a favorable review and the opinions contained here are my own. This is such a realistic novel as told from the eyes of Brandon Jeffrey. He has his own issues to deal with coming to terms with how to handle his father, and being able to be truthful when he needs to. Trust is a big issue here, and it takes confiding in Marvel to help him come to terms with his own deep dark secrets. But the town of Appleton is hiding its own secrets while the murder investigation continues. I love the emotions that come through in each character that comes to life in this series, from the bullying of Seth and how he struggles to handle it each time he runs into the football team, to Marvel sharing her insight into what has happened in her past that has lead her on a path for God. I can't wait for the next novel Wonder which is the second book in this amazing series. Solitary Tales fans? You will definitely want this one!! I rate this a 5 out of 5 stars!!!

For more information about Marvelous, Travis Thrasher or where you can pick up a copy of this novel today, please click on the links below:

Marvelous by Travis Thrasher

You can find Travis Thrasher on Facebook to stay up to date on all his latest novels.

To read more reviews on Marvelous, please visit NavPress' website. 

Hurt: A Novel

If you should ever happen upon a quite little remote mountain community with the sign welcoming you to Solitary, turn around. Do not enter and forget you ever saw this place. In fact, Solitary is just that, a place that longs to be kept a silent secret. Isolated. Alone. Just like the name implies. However for Chris Buckley, it's a town he can't escape. It's a town that has ties to him that bind the soul. One he has been desperately searching for a way out of only to be brought to the conclusion of where he finds himself at now. At the final chapter. The climatic ending of an epic story of old.

Some call Solitary a gateway, but for Chris Solitary isn't a gateway drug. Nope, Solitary is crack and heroin and every other drug blended together and served as an ice cream cone. However the town of Solitary was discovered by an original settler who the town is named after. The wicked man who already knew and believed in evil. It was as if this town called for him. But it is why Chris is so valuable. He is needed to combat the evil that is slowly consuming the town and it's residents.

But if you have picked up this book and wondering where it all begins, where can I begin to fill you in? It's three in the morning, and so far baby dearest hasn't managed to crawl up the stairs with a steak knife. Let's see - I move to Solitary and fall in love with the girl that the evil people have decided to sacrifice on New Year's Eve. Before this sacrifice happened I met my mother's creepy aunt Alice with her selection of mannequins. Perhaps this doll escaped from her house.

I saw a weird mountain man with a big German shepherd who ended up being my uncle in costume. The man, that is. Not the dog. There were the nightmares my mother had. There were tunnels underneath our cabin. Oh yeah, don't forget the cabin in the woods. Or the mannequin maker.

There's the creepy pastor and the ignorant bully. But both answer to a twisted man named Staunch who answers to my great-grandfather. And they all say I'm special and that somewhere down the road I'm going to get a special key that does something special for a special reason. Welcome to the fourth book, Hurt by Travis Thrasher. This is the fourth book in the Solitary Tales series and should not be read as a stand alone book. To read it by itself would simply cause you to be confused because you need to know what has happened to bring Chris Buckley to his final year in Solitary.

This book is the culmination of everything Chris has had to endure to bring him to this point. When he first arrived in Solitary in book one, he was very much the outcast being the new kid in high school Alone and isolated much like the city. However as the books progress we find out that something sinister has been brewing and a spiritual war is about to be unleashed. Think of this series as Travis Thrasher describes it like Pretty in Pink meets The Exorcist. I couldn't think of a finer way to sum up this series.

I received Hurt by Travis Thrasher compliments of Christian Blog Alliance and David C Cook Publishers for my honest opinion. It is written from Chris' point of view and thus you are dealing with the impressions one would expect from a boy in high school trying to fit in. It seems like he can't do anything right and he is always on someones bad side from the local sheriff to the pastor and even his mother when she is sober. Yet I viewed this fourth and  final book, having read all three books in this series, as Chris' absolution. He realizes he can't run from his problems and has to deal with them alone. I can't share with you how it ends, but definitely could see more books launched from this series. A well-deserved and earned 5 out of 5 stars! For those of you that like a good suspense thriller with a powerful message, pick up the entire series. For readers like me that love this genre, it was well-worth the ride.

For more information about Hurt: A Novel, Travis Thrasher or where to pick up a copy of this book today, please click on the links below:

Hurt: A Novel by Travis Thrasher

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To read more reviews from the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance Book Tour, click here. 

The Solitary Tales by Travis Thrasher - Available at your favorite book retailer:
#1 - Solitary
#2 - Gravestone
#3 - Temptation
#4 - Hurt

Temptation

Chris Buckley has been struggling with a lot of issues since he and his mother moved to Solitary. That's just what seems to happen to when you move here. You find yourself a bit isolated from everyone else. It's hard enough trying to fit in and when you finally make friends, something happens so them. They move away. They disappear. Or they are murdered.

Chris attempts to come to terms with what has been happening in this town, and once again he finds he is alone. Aside from a small black dog named Midnight, Chris wrestles with the inner demons inside himself. Those that constantly blame him for things that have gone wrong. That as a sixteen-year-old boy he should have been able to put a stop to things in Solitary. But he's being watched. Every single thing he does, he's being watched. He still can't trust anyone in town and he's afraid more than ever to make friends. So when faced with dealing with spending the summer once again back in school at Harrington High, he tries to make the best of it by keeping to himself. With only a few other people in his summer school class and a teacher that wants to be anywhere but here, Chris finds himself digging a bit deeper into the darkness surrounding the town.

This time he attempts to confront Pastor Jeremiah Marsh who promises him anything his heart truly desires if he is willing to seek answers with him. It seems like Chris is the only one centered around the dark happenings in this strange town where secret buried tunnels beneath the town and people who can't die have something to hide. Will Chris face his greatest temptation in facing the darkness head on or will he become part of what the town is trying to hide?

In the third book in the Solitary Tales series by Travis Thrasher, Temptation looks at what happens when I believe you're pushed to the end of your proverbial rope and sanity at the same time. You begin to question what is real and what isn't. What is worth a risk and what isn't and it's at this stage that Chris is finally facing his darkest fears and those that seem to have the answers he seeks. But once again, those that move in to become his allies, are they just playing him for their own purposes or do they truly have good intentions at helping Chris finally get to the bottom of the darkness and evil that thrives in the town of Solitary?

I received Temptation by Travis Thrasher compliments of David C. Cook Publishers and Net Galley for my honest review and have to say, when you pick up anything by Travis Thrasher you are instantly hooked in the world he creates for his readers. It borders on the darkest places in our minds and show the reader just where the true spiritual battles are fought, in our minds! I rate this one a 5 out of 5 stars and now, can't wait for book 4 due out next year. For those of you who have never read a book by Travis Thrasher, think Stephen King, but with a Christian twist you don't see coming!!

For more information on this book, the author and where to pick up a copy of this series today, please click on the links below:

Temptation by Travis Thrasher

You can also stay up with the latest from Travis Thrasher by joining his Facebook page.

Gravestone

Chris Buckley is looking for answers but it seems like he doesn't know quite whom he can trust anymore. The one person who meant the world to him has been murdered and his mom seems to be in a perpetual drunken state all the time. Now that he finds himself back in high school again, he reaches out to the only three friends he had left, but he can't find Rachel. She doesn't seem to be in school any longer and Poe, refuses to acknowledge him except for angry outbursts. Relying on the only friend left, he meets with Newt over lunch. But all Newt will say to him is that lunch is the place for eating only.

When Chris pushes him for more, Newt simply tells him to meet after school. When the boys arrive in Newts basement the only thing he tells Chris is that Rachel has moved away. He warns Chris that the less he is told, the less Newt knows. He also tells Chris that, "they have a way of making thing like this happen. People disappearing. People moving, People moving on. There are reasons I remain quiet and if I were you, I'd get as far away from this place as I could."

But can Chris simply forget and walk away from the town of Solitary? Can he let go of the murder of Jocelyn and not do anything, tell anyone? And just what if he does? Will he disappear or will he move on?

In the chilling sequel to Solitary by Travis Thrasher, the reader is brought back with the aftermath of what happened in the deep dark forest with Jocelyn and the cult that murdered her. There appears to be something happening in this Zombie-like town but Chris isn't sure who he can trust any longer. When an encounter with a man who claims he is Chris's cousin Jared who is searching for his father Robert who has gone missing, he isn't sure what is real any longer. Is Jared someone he can truly trust. He tells him that his mother is part of what the town is hiding and that knowing just who he can trust will make the difference between choosing light or darkness in the battle for his own soul.

I received Gravestone as a personal purchase to continue in series of Travis Thrasher's Solitary Tales. I enjoyed Solitary so much I had to see where the story picked up with Chris on the verge of wondering just what is going on and how much of it is crazy and how much of it is a chilling reality that the town wants to remain a secret. What will it cost for Chris to solve the mystery? You'll have to pick this one up to find out, but I would advise reading book 1 in the series first, to gain an understanding of the darkness keeping this town in secrecy! This one rates a 5 out of 5 stars and I can't wait to review the 3rd book in the series, Temptation!

For more information on Gravestone, author Travis Thrasher or where to pick up these books today, please click on the links below:

Gravestone by Travis Thrasher

You can also stay up on the latest by Travis Thrasher by following his Facebook page.

• Reading level: Ages 13 and up
  
• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: David C. Cook; New edition (June 1, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1434764192
• ASIN: B005OLAD6Q

Teardrop - 7 Hours Series

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If you were presented with a choice at the moment of your death, to live another 7 hours or to go back and relive any 7 hours of your life, what would you chose? Either way, you will die it's just you are given a choice in how you wish to spend your final hours? This is just the decision presented in the 7 Hours Series.

In Teardrop by Travis Thrasher, Mike Harden, owner of the Grind coffee shop is moments away from suffering from a massive heart attack when Mr. Thomas Constant pays him a visit just in the final minutes of his life. The choice is his, 7 hours more, or any 7 hours in his past.

At first, Mike can't believe it but when pressured for a choice in the final minute, his is an easy one. He wants to go back to his wedding day, the day where he can confront one of his wedding guests and one who will ultimately kill his wife based on meeting her that fateful day. But just how is possible to kill a man on your wedding day and go completely unnoticed? Taking his training as a former cop, Mike tries to remember back what happened that day, but the unfortunate timing of his wedding coordinator keeps Mike so busy, it's hard to find a way to confront Vince without leaving witnesses and still participating in his wedding day. Will he be able to go through with it or will his actions forever change the future he would have later in life?



This short story collection in the 7 Hours Series, reminds me of Lay's Potato Chip's saying comparing this series of books, You can't read just one! These are so addicting and wonderful to read, you have to know how they all turn out. Each author was presented with the same premise, but their story creativity was left up to their own area of literature expertise. Being a huge fan of anything Travis Trasher writes, I had to scoop this one up. I was not disappointed in any way, and this was the second book I read in this collection, but definitely NOT my last. I easily rate this one a 5 out of 5 stars and highly recommend this to fans of such stories of The Twilight Zone and Night Gallery, because that is what these remind me of. For now, I am off to read the next one!

This book is available as an eBook through your favorite book retailer! For more information on Teardrop, Travis Thrasher or where to pick up a copy of this eBook today click on the links below:

Tear Drop (7 Hours Series) by Travis Thrasher

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Paper Angels - Giveaway and Review

Kevin Morrell is a forty-three-year-old husband and father who runs a successful design and marketing firm that's crashed into the suffering economy. Attempting to navigate the chaos of the mall at Christmas, Kevin is humbled when he stumbles across The Salvation Army's Angel Tree program. Later his wife insists that he take a paper angel from the tree.

The name on the ornament is that of Thomas Brandt, a fifteen-year-old still reeling from the implosion of his family - from years of verbal abuse from an alcoholic father to a mother who finally left him behind, only to find herself and her children penniless and struggling. The only thing that has allowed Lynn to survive is her faith. Thomas shares that faith, but he also wonders why God has seemingly abandoned them.

This is the bases for the inspired true story told in a fictional account about a man and a boy one December: a man whose life is changed by a simple expression of kindness, and a boy who takes that expression of kindness and shows the true meaning of Christmas in the novel Paper Angels by Jimmy Wayne and Travis Thrasher. I received this book compliments of Howard Books, a division of Simon and Schuster Publishers for my honest review and found myself receiving the most unexpected gift in return. It's a gift that can't be measured in a dollar amount or even exchanged for something better, because it is priceless. Its the gift that God gave us when He provided His son for the ultimate gift of grace and salvation on a beautiful and blessed night so many years ago.

This story will move you in the most unexpected ways. You can see yourself on both sides of the story. You get to feel the pain and loneliness of Thomas when he arrives at school with only the clothes on his back. Rejected by the basketball team since being a new transfer, he is unofficially "benched" til next year. However when a bully from the team, Vic West, finds Thomas' clothes and lack of food something to tease him about in front of the entire school, the tables will be turned in the most unexpected ways. I would rate this story a perfect 5 out of 5 stars and wish everyone could pick up a copy of this book just in time for Christmas, just to see what a difference it would make in everyone's heart. For more information about this book, the authors and where to pick up a copy of this book, click on the links below:

Paper Angels by Jimmy Wayne and Travis Thrasher

To learn more about the Salvation Army's Angel Tree program click here. Jimmy Wayne: Started his Meet Me Halfway campaign in January 2010 to raise awareness for youth who "age out" of the foster care system and face serious life problems such as homelessness and poverty. Please visit www.project.MMH.org to see how you can help.

Thanks to the generous folks at Howard Books, they are offered a gift in the form of a giveaway copy of this book to one lucky follower of my blog. Here are your guidelines to enter:

1. Be a follower of my blog, Reviews From The Heart.

2. Tell everyone you know about this, Tweet It, Blog About It, Link It, even Facebook it. The more that learn about this book, the better we'll all be in the end.

3. Be a resident of the US or have a US shipping address and remember No P.O. Boxes please.

4. Leave me a comment, telling me what winning this copy would mean to you along with your email address. You can use the words (at) and (dot) instead of the symbols.

The giveaway will end on November 30th and I will notify the winner at that time via email. In addition, a copy of this book will be provided to a homeless shelter in hopes that it will bless the lives of those that read it.

Letters From War

The soldier wrestles to write words he knows will be his last. He searches his heart, trying to find what he wants to say. After so many letters, this one needs to count. This one needs to last. There is no one definitive sentence or theme he needs to write. Yet he wants his family to know that he will always be there, that he will always love them. Just because he is gone doesn't mean he has left them. There is so much he wants to say. Things to share. About the places he's seen, the journey he's been on, the road he's headed toward. The pride in his heart for serving his country.

He knows the world is full of bad places filled with bad men. He remembers his father telling him that. He remembers that was one of the reasons he decided to join the army. Yet even in a world like this, there is hope. Hope is not confined to Tennessee or the United States of America. Hope can be found in the darkest of spots, in the prisons of people's souls. He thinks of her face and smiles. He loves her and wants the best for her. He can only imagine how many times she's prayed for his safety, a safety that won't hold. Maybe God one day will tell her the reasons why. Maybe God will fill her with renewed hope once he's gone. He starts writing. In a world full of endless rhetoric, he tries to convey a simple and elegant truth.

I'm not writing to say good-bye. I'm writing to make a promise. So he does.



In the novel Letters From War by Mark Schultz and Travis Thrasher, we experience what its like to have not only a son in the war, but following in his father's footsteps as well. We experience a letter writing session between Beth Thompson and her only son, James who is serving in Afghanistan and then is reported missing. After two long years, friends and even family have tried to convince Beth that he will not be found and to cease the daily letters she writes faithfully to James, all the while believing in the power of her prayers, ones she believes hold more power because they come from a mother.

This is the most moving book I have had the opportunity to read and review from both the perspective of the mother who sits waiting endlessly for some final word on her son, and the son who is serving his country faithfully. Her only comfort is with her daily visits to see her grandson, whom James has never met and his wife, Britt. Her daughter, Emily can't stand to spend one more day waiting around like her mother does and has moved on with her life. Only the daily letters that Beth writes sharing the day to day events with James keeps her moving from one day to the next never knowing if she ever know what happened to James.

I received this book compliments of Howard Books, a division of Simon and Schuster publishers for my honest review and thought today, Veteran's Day would be the perfect time to review this book and share my thoughts. I rate this one hands down a perfect 5 out of 5 stars. For more information on this book, the authors and where to pick up a copy of this book, please click on the links below:

Letters From War by Mark Schultz and Travis Thrasher

40 A Novel

How do you begin to live your life when you know when it will all end? Do you question whether what you've heard is real or wonder if this is some strange dream you are about to wake up from?

Tyler Harrison is about to have a life changing encounter. An encounter with an man named Matthew that will tell him, just nine months shy of turning 40 that he will die on his birthday. Not one second more, not one second less.

Tyler goes through what I believe we all would, confusion, doubt, denial, anger, and finally resolution. He begins to take each day and figure out a way to look back at the things he has done in his life to see where this may all wind up. He looks back at the way he saw his father raising him, all the anger he held inside, and how for so many years, he kept all his feelings bottled up just waiting for the opportunity to lay it on the line and be honest with his dad. How disappointed, how rejected and how he would never measure up in his father's eyes.

When faced with his father being debilitated and unable to speak, he begins to wonder if his father hasn't received some form of righteous judgement after all. Yet what Tyler will begin to uncover is the lies that are woven in our life to prevent us from seeing the truth that lies within our reach. Lies that the enemy would love to hide from us and keep us in the darkness. In the end, Tyler will finally see it won't be about the things we wanted or needed to make us happy in this life but the opportunities within relationships that would define who we would become in the end.

In the latest novel 40 by Travis Thrasher, we live through the eyes of record and music producer, Tyler Harrison and he fights the inner turmoil going on in coping with the reality of receiving the gift of knowledge over his own immortality and how he chooses to spend the precious moments he has left. I think Travis' portrayal of the conflict and emotions is perfect especially when considering what we ourselves would do if faced with the same news that we had only a few months left to live.

I received this book compliments of Faith Words and Hachette Book Groups for my honest review and once again was not disappointed with Travis Thrashers ability to write from the heart and soul of his characters. What a wicked web he has woven in this timeless tale. Another 5 out of 5 stars!

For even more information about the book, the author or where you can purchase a copy of this book, please click on the link below:

40 by Travis Thrasher

You can also follow Travis Thrasher on Facebook by clicking here.

Solitary

Just what the name implies, alone, no outsiders needed or wanted. The people who come to live in the town of Solitary, North Carolina are exactly that. There are some deep, dark, evil secrets to this town that no one seems willing to talk about and anyone new that moves to town soon disappears just around Christmas time with no word on where they went.

Chris Buckley moves to the lovely small isolated town with his mother after her divorce from the father he never really wanted to know. She came to Solitary because her only remaining living relatives still live here, yet when she shows up, they have all left without a trace. They move into her brother's cabin to see if they can make it here and when Chris' mom begins have unexplained night terrors that leave her screaming, Christ wonders if this is the right town for them after all.

Being the new kid in school always presents a challenge until one day Chris meets Jocelyn Evans one of the most hottest girls in school but soon finds out that he isn't welcome to get to know her at all by the bullies roaming the halls. Even Jocelyn has seemed to have lost all hope in this town. Will Chris be able to uncover the deep secrets of the town or will he too find himself another victim of the town come December? You'll have to pick up the book and read to find out.



I received the book Solitary from Travis Thrasher compliments of B & B Media Group, and after reading his last book, Broken, I am hooked on his writing. He is a Christian blend of Stephen King meets Ted Dekker and his books hook you from the first page until the very end. Solitary is the first book in the new Solitary series and I can't wait til the next book comes out. I would rate this book a 5 out of 5 stars for those of you that like a little mystery thriller of the Christian version.

For more information on this book, the author and where to purchase a copy, simply click on the title below or visit http://www.travisthrasher.com for more of his books.

Solitary