The Remnant

According to the Bible, we know that in the future Christians and believers in Christ will face the ultimate persecution. To deny Him means you will live, but to acknowledge Him means the world will put you to death. However in the science fiction futuristic novel The Remnant by William Michael Davidson, the world is a vastly different place. The world has always known that most wars were based on religion and thus the need to find a way to reprogram the human brain so that the need for religion and belief in God is no longer an issue. So the governments of the world developed something known only as a super flu the destroys what they believe to be the genes that they have determined to be the biological source of spiritual experiences to rid the world of this type of terror threat.

Each person on the earth is implanted with a device known as a NRNTor Neurological Registry of Neurological Transmissions meaning they can communicate with an individual in a one-way manner by the CTC or Center for Theological Control and locate and track them as well like a built-in GPS. Now they have resolved to seek out individuals who willingly practice any type of faith-like activity like prayer, reading a religious book or even talking about it with others. Those that they extract, they interrogate and then ban them to Catalina Island. Those people are called Abherrants and those that hunt them are known as Extractors and Colton Pierce is the number one man in the CTC.

The government is trying to figure out a way to terminate Abherrants instead of giving them a life of imprisonment, kinda of like the Holocaust back in Germany. It would make those who practice or consider practicing such ideas reconsider if their life is worth losing over a belief in a God that Colton refuses to believe in. Now he struggles with communicating with his own teen son and the loss of his wife while trying to make a name for himself at the CTC for a future position as Chief Officer. He will stop at nothing to ensure that this promotion is his and he will do whatever it takes to look good in the eyes of the CTC. But what happens when the next extraction turns out to be a function his son is attending? Will Colton be willing to lay down his own life for his son?

I received The Remnant by William Michael Davidson compliments of Dancing Lemur Press and MC Book Tours. This is such a great novel and love the idea that the government would attempt to find a way to reprogram the human brain in an attempt to stop the need for faith. A great futuristic novel that is guaranteed to make you think twice about the governments involvement in our own religious freedoms we take for granted far too often! I would give this book a 4.5 out of 5 stars in my opinion. It even looks as if a sequel might be in the works as well!

For more information about The Remant, William Michael Davidson or where you can pick up a copy of this novel today, please click on the links below:

The Remnant by Willliam Michael Davidson

You can find William Michael Davidson on Facebook to stay up to date on all his latest books.

To read more reviews on the Remnant, please visit MC Book Tours website. 

Invitation

Harbinger: (noun). A person or thing that announces or signals the approach of another; a forerunner of something.

A crazy school in Southern California with a well that reaches to the spiritual world; a house that haunts instead of being haunted; birds and other animals dying with their eyes missing; a young deserted girl who can appear and disappear at will. These are the harbingers in cycle one of the Harbingers Series of novels by Bill Myers, Frank Peretti, Angela Hunt and Alton Gansky. Think of it like a Christian version of the Twilight Zone and each author takes their turn at one of four characters from their perspective and spins their own unique spin on this unusual pairing of people in episode after episode.

Bill Myers tells the story from Brenda's perspective, a street hustling tattoo artist who sees images of the future. Frank Peretti writes as the professor, the atheist ex-priest ruled by logic, Angela Hunt writes as Andi, the professor's brilliant but geeky assistant who sees inexplicable patterns and Alton Gansky writes as Tank, the naive, big-hearted jock with a surprising connection to a healing power. The Call from Bill Myers sets the stage, followed by Frank Peretti's The Haunted, Angela Hunt's The Sentinels and Alton Gansky's The Girl. These are all coupled in one book known as the Invitation even though you could pick these up one at a time, I was completely glued to each of them.

Each novella offers a bit of the unusual supernatural as only these masters of Christian speculative fiction can weave. These team of rag-tag individuals have been pulled together for some reason yet unknown. Is it a calling on their lives from God or something more sinister and dark. I've been a huge literary fan of each of these authors in their own right and love the collaboration to put something together that I would LOVE to see on a television series. Nothing is ever solved but in each, the characters are tasked to perform each of their unique gifts along with a young boy named Daniel they meet in The Haunted. I don't want to give too much away, but if you love the creepy, suspenseful, dark and supernatural, you will WANT to pick this one up. Readers even get a sneak peek at The Revealing, the 5th installment in the series. I received Invitation by Bill Myers, Frank Peretti, Angela Hunt and Alton Gansky compliments of Bethany House Publishers and Net Galley. This collection is due out in April of 2017 and trust me, you WILL want them all. For me, this was an easy 5 out of 5 stars and held me on the edge of my seat by these talented and gifted authors. Now I am off to find the rest of the series!

For more information about Invitation, Bill Myers, Frank Peretti, Angela Hunt, Alton Gansky, or where you can pre-order the first four installments of the Harbingers Series in one, please click on the links below:

Invitation by Bill Myers, Frank Peretti, Angela Hunt and Alton Gansky

You can find Bill Myers on Facebook to stay up to date on all his latest novels.

You can find Frank Peretti on Facebook to stay up to date on all his latest novels.

You can find Angela Hunt on Facebook to stay up to date on all her latest novels.

You can find Alton Gansky on Facebook to stay up to date on all his latest novels.

To read more reviews on Invitation, please visit Bethany House Publishers website. 

Some Small Magic

"Keep your eye on things that matter and don't, and learn to know the difference. Most people die every day in some way or another. It's the good ones who only die once."

If you have never read a novel from Billy Coffey, you might just be missing out on one of the most articulate southern gentlemen's artistry with words. You might even call him a true wordsmith, but that down-home humility of Mr. Coffey's is likely to make you think he doesn't recognize his own God-given gift to weave such belivability into these stories, you might forget your reading a fictional novel.

In Some Small Magic by Billy Coffey, he takes readers back to the small-town charm of Mattingly, Virginia and into the heart of a broken young boy named Abel Shifflett, who has found himself at the hands of the school principal once again on the final day of school for getting even with Chris Jones, his nemesis and school bully by feeding him what looked to be a chocolate bar, but was in fact a large dose of laxative. This would put Chris Jones as the butt of jokes to come from here on out, but one that requires that his busy momma Lisa to leave work at the diner to come fetch Abel.

Abel is considered broken by many due to a medical condition that renders his bones to be soft and subject to breakage at the slightest fall or bump. He's gotten used to it, the way people want to ignore him instead of befriending him, and that is why his only friend is a young man called Dumb Willie. He wasn't born dumb, more like his parents beat him senseless and now they are stuck dealing with him. Yet Abel and Willie share something that transcends what most don't see and that is their genuine friendship for one another, the kind that would have either of them laying down their life for the other. But now, threat comes to Abel this summer, as Chris vows to get even with him, and that is a threat that Abel has to take serious. If he were to get into a fight with Chris, who knows how badly he might be in the hospital or even worse.

When a traveling miracle man heads to Mattingly, the principal recommends that Lisa and Abel might want to see him. Miracles are promised to those the man touches and it might just be what they both need to rise above all the slights from people based on their current status in town, barely making ends meet and of course Abel being born to an unwed mother in a small town is just the kind for rumors to circulate. One thing is certain, that night will forever change the lives of every single person in town, might be for the better or might be for the worse. Just depends on whose side you might be on!

I received Some Small Magic by Billy Coffey compliments of Net Galley and Thomas Nelson Publishers. The best thing about any of Billy's novels is that you don't know what you are getting yourself into, only that is will be a remarkable and amazing ride. For me, this one was a bit of blend between Meet Joe Black and What Dreams May Come. You might not know how it plays out in the end, but you know you are forever changed somehow by this journey into the unknown. There are so many exceptional quotes from this book, I don't wonder if I have most of the book highlighted over what isn't. Well worth every single 5 out of 5 stars. "Doesn't everything and all hold its own small magic, waiting to be revealed to one who merely bends close enough to behold it?"

For more information about Some Small Magic, Billy Coffey or where you can pre-order a copy of this novel today, please click on the links below:

Some Small Magic by Billy Coffey

You can find Billy Coffey on Facebook, to stay up to date on all his latest novels.

To read more reviews on Some Small Magic, please visit Thomas Nelson Publisher's website. 

The Seekers

One of the things that have always impressed me about the Amish is that they keep basic home-making skills alive. Things like sewing, gardening, and cooking is such a vital part of their lives, it would be odd if it were missing in lieu of things like eating out instead of taking your food from garden to table and often wonder how amazing that food tastes when no preservatives are added. If you have ever wanted to cook like the Amish, you can find plenty of Amish cookbooks out there, but what if you could read a great novel about the friendships that form among various people who come together drawn initially by their love of wanting to know how to cook?

In The Seekers by Wanda E. Brunstetter, that is just what happens when Heidi Troyer realizes that she has quite a bit of time on her hands and learning from her friends that they have benefited from creating classes to teach others what they excel at, and for Heidi that is cooking! She has always dreamed of starting a family of her own, but at this time, it seems that will never happen. So now she imagines a small group coming together where she can teach them how to prepare some of the Amish beloved dishes.

She managed to incorporate her friends who burn more than they can successfully cook like Loretta Donnelly, who is a recent widow and mother of two very busy young children, who would love to utilize this class to help her prepare better meals for her family but also give her a much needed break from being a mom. Charlene Higgins is the most desperate of the group as it seems she can't do anything right. She needs to be able to at least cook seeing as a wedding to her Amish boyfriend Len is in her future and her future in-laws aren't the slightest bit impressed with anything she does, finding fault in everything. Eli Miller is tired of cold cereal and hard boiled eggs, now that his wife has died in an accident, a cooking class might be what he needs to get out of his slump and at least put a decent meal on the table for himself. Kendra Perkins needs this class since being tossed out of her Amish house when she became pregnant unexpectedly. This might help her find a true purpose in her life for now.

Ron Hensley needed to find a place to fit in and the Troyers seems just the place. Since they are a small family with no children and plenty of space on their farm, he anticipates they are just the right people to garner sympathy for a man living out of his RV that needs a place to park it while he tries to fix it. Only it is all a ploy so he can find the time to scope out their home and find just the right things they won't miss to sell at the local auction. Joining a cooking class might just be the edge he needs to get that kind of invitation. But will they be cooking up something else that he didn't expect?

I received The Seekers by Wanda E. Brunstetter compliments of Barbour Publishing and Net Galley. For me, the best part of this novel is the mouth-watering recipes that Heidi provides for each of her classes and ones you will find at the conclusion of this book as well as some great discussion questions perfect for book clubs. I love how this group of people come together to learn to cook and come away with so much more. For some, they will find the perfect friends, others will see that their perceptions of others aren't quite what they imagined and for others a dream come true. I give this one a 5 out of 5 stars in my opinion and this is the first novel in the Amish Cooking Class series.

For more information about The Seekers, Wanda E. Brustetter or where you can preorder a copy of this novel today, please click on the links below:

The Seekers by Wanda E. Brunstetter

You can find Wanda E. Brustetter on Facebook to stay up to date on his latest novels

To read more reviews on The Seekers, please visit Barbour Publishing's website. 

A Note Yet Unsung

It is hard not to pass up any novel by Tamera Alexander and if you never have read one you might just want to pick them up. Not only do you get an exceptional novel, but also a bit of a history lesson as well. In her latest novel in the Belmont Mansion series, A Note Yet Unsung takes readers into the heart of a passion of Rebekah Carrington who has spent the last few years in Vienna pursuing her love of music under one of the great conductors there. She was sent there by her grandmother because for women in the United States, society isn't ready to accept a woman's role in any seat in an orchestra even in private performances. They simply believe they don't have the discipline necessary to be good enough, and while Rebekah would love to prove them wrong, she is about to face her biggest challenge yet.

Coming home on the news of her grandmother's death, she isn't anticipating seeing her step father Barton anytime soon. She remembers the night that he tried to have his way with her but was stopped by one of the families slaves, Demetrius. She longs for a relationship with her mother, but it seems like she is more concerned with abiding by Barton's wishes over the her own daughters. She just hopes to catch her mother home alone. When she learns that her long lost friend, Demetrius has died, she believes she has been dealt more grief than anyone can handle. She also finds out that all of her grandmother's belongings have been sold or given away by Barton because her mother couldn't handle dealing with it.

Rebekah knows she can't stay under the same roof as Barton, and vows to find a job in the city that might provide room and board, even though she dreams of working with an orchestra one day, this will not be the day. When she finds an ad in the local paper as an assistant to the conductor, Maestro Nathaniel Tate Whitcomb, in the local orchestra house, she believes God might just grant her prayers. But as Rebekah will soon learn, a woman's place is not in a man's world and it will have far-reaching implications.

I received A Note Yet Unsung by Tamera Alexander compliments of Bethany House Publishers and Net Galley. I absolutely LOVED this final novel in the Belmont Mansion series, and didn't know how difficult it was as a woman to be accepted by society no matter how talented you were to play in a private or public performance. The term one size fits all does not apply when discussing the vast number of styles of music in this time-treasured art form. Hard to believe that society would consider women too delicate natured for the rigors of practice and dedication required to master a musical instrument in the 19th century considering how they insisted that women play such instruments as the pianoforte as a form of entertaining guests at a party or ball. I even found myself clicking on various websites to listen to the particular music pieces referred to in this novel as a backdrop while reading the novel. This is by far one my favorite novels that Tamera Alexander has written and worthy of 5 out of 5 stars in my opinion.

For more information about A Note Yet Unsung, Tamera Alexander or where you can pick up a copy of this novel today, please click on the links below:

A Note Yet Unsung by Tamera Alexander

You can find Tamera Alexander on Facebook to stay up to date on all her latest novels.

To read more reviews on A Note Yet Unsung, please visit Bethany House Publisher's website. 

An Uncommon Courtship

If you are a fan of Jane Austen's novels, Downton Abbey or traditional regency romances, then trust me when I recommend the Hawthorne House series of novels by Kristi Ann Hunter. They are must haves if you love the romance only found when dealing with Dukes, Counts, Lords and even the household staff  that work for them. In the third novel in the series, An Uncommon Courtship, conveys what happens when a woman's reputation is put at risk while in the unexpected company of a man without others being present, in this case overnight. When Adelaide Bell, the second daughter of Lord and Lady Crampton, ventures off to hunt for mushrooms, she falls through the floor of an abandoned keep on the property of the Duke of Riverton. She just never expected the Lord Trent will fall through the floor with her. Knowing they were stuck temporarily, and what the implications would be when they were found, Lord Trent did what a noble gentlemen would and proposed marriage to keep her reputation from being ruined.

He just expected that when he proposed to his future wife, he would love her or in this case at least know her. Yet he was willing to trust that God knew his circumstances and would make the best of it. Knowing that he would never be crowned Duke as the younger brother, he was willing to make the best of most situations. He just wasn't quite sure what to do to make a marriage work, when the only thing going for you was that you were attracted to one another and you were married already. Only when things begin to get complicated and the lack of communication between the two falls far short, Lord Trent Hawthorne moves in with his brother the Duke of Riverton to ease the tension in the house. That only makes things worse when Adelaide wonders what she has done to drive him away but since its not a woman's place to speak her mind she resolves to spend her time getting to know the staff and trying to fit in as a Lady despite her mother's constant intervention that she simply isn't good enough as a wife or daughter.

I received An Uncommon Courtship by Kristi Ann Hunter compliments of Bethany House Publishers and Net Galley. Having read the other novels in the Hawthorne House series, A Noble Masquerade and An Elegant Facade, I think this may have been my favorite. I love how complicated things are at first between Adelaide and Trent knowing that their positions as secondary figures when it comes to titles are what takes some of the tension off. The way they begin to figure things out over time, it what makes readers covet this novel because it is genuine in the way I believe it would play out if it wasn't a fictional novel. I love comedic way that Trent and Adelaide eventually handle her meddlesome mother and family and how Trent's family comes to the aid of Adelaide when she needs to find a way to make it in the world of noble families. Well worth a 5 out of 5 stars in my opinion.

For more information about An Uncommon Courtship, Kristi Ann Hunter or where you can pick up a copy of this novel today, please click on the links below:

An Uncommon Courtship by Kristi Ann Hunter

You can find Kristi Ann Hunter on Facebook to stay up to date on all her latest novels.

To read more reviews on An Uncommon Courtship, please visit Bethany House Publisher's website.

The Coming Flood

I have been a true fan of Bible Prophecy since before I knew about Jesus as my personal Savior. I guess you could say that growing up as a Catholic and seeing Thief in the Night pretty much scared me about the event most refer to as the Rapture. Later in my early 20's and discovering a true relationship with Jesus, I left behind my Catholic rituals and embraced a salvation in Jesus I never knew before but compelled me to discover more about Bible prophecy than ever before and with an urgency now with the state of things around the globe drawing us ever near to those End Time events the Bible describes.

From the persecution of Christians to the very turning away of the true church, the Bible is 100% in its foretelling of things that have happened, things that are happening and things that will happen in the future. In the book, The Coming Flood, author Jeremy Wells takes readers into first of all a disclosure that while his interpretation of Revelation and other scriptures referring to the Tribulation period are just his, he offers readers a view at what Post-Tribulation Christians might believe could very well happen. For me, I simply don't agree. I am a firm believer in the rapture event but wanted to see if his viewpoints might convey something I might have missed along the way.

One thing we both agree on is that you can't use other books to interpret what Bible prophecy means, "If you are going to read any book other than the Bible, it is important to recognize the difference between ideas that build upon another person's ideas, and theories that precisely fit what the Bible teaches. I heard someone with a pre-tribulation belief say at a conference, "I can prove anything I want to from the Bible, but that doesn't make it right." I think he was referring to how easy is is to take Scripture out of context and make it fit your ideas. People often do this unintentionally, but an incorrect interpretation of passage of Scripture can lead to incorrect theology regardless of intentionality. The absolute best way to understand the Bible is to read and reread the Bible. The more books you read apart from the Bible, the more you open yourself up to man's fallible ideas. If you have not read the Bible cover to cover at least once, there is absolutely no reason you should be reading this book or any other prophecy book (or any other book about anything for that matter.)" (pg 12). On this we can agree.

I have read my Bible from cover to cover 3 times and now on my fourth and while there are some things we can agree on, I am not convinced by the arguments Jeremy Wells has provided using his understanding of Scripture. I don't believe Jesus didn't know the day or the hour as he referred to when asked about when the end time events would occur, He stated only His Father did, but the seasons would be clear. This means that only the timing of the events of the End Times from what I believe will be found in Revelation 4-22 occurs after the rapture of the church age believers. The exact day or hour would be unknown to all men, but Jesus reminds us that we can recognize the seasons of said events just like we can understand the timing of our own seasons based on what we can see.

We can see stages being set for what I believe will be the Tribulation spoken of dealing with God's wrath upon the unbelieving world who adamantly refuse to acknowledge a belief in Christ and those who remain undecided. With the ongoing threat from terrorist groups like ISIS who use beheadings of Christians to drive home their own power points, these are just the events the Bible speaks of coming in the last days when people won't be concerned at all about these things like they did in the past. The church and world growing apathetic even when it comes to issues dealing with human rights violations, racial wars and the ever growing threat among the world against Jesus Christ. While I don't agree with many of the arguments Jeremy Wells uses in his book to convince readers about a coming Christian genocide he refers to as the Coming Flood, and thus the reason that Christians will have to endure what he refers to as Satan's wrath and not God's wrath upon the world, we can simply agree to disagree on certain points.

Some readers might agree with this book, but I remain unconvinced that whenever God uses His judgment upon the world, He always spares a remnant, from Noah to Lot. I remain convinced that the rapture will be  real event and for now the only way we can know for certain is to wait until it happens or doesn't. The one thing we must do is be ready for the coming of Jesus Christ and in order to do that, you must believe in Him for your salvation otherwise your eternal fate is sealed according to the Bible. I received The Coming Flood by Jeremy Wells compliments of LED Ministries and Book Crash. I would rate this book a 3 out of 5 stars in my opinion just based on the evidence he uses to justify his post-Tribulation of view and how he interprets various Scriptures that even now some of Revelations prophecies have happened and are continuing to occur such as Luke 17:36 which refers to two men in the field and one being taken away, he claims is one taken away to execution and not the rapture event. I disagree. While some readers might agree with his position, again the main point is simply to provide readers with a post-Tribulation viewpoint. I find that if you have to twist Scripture to make it fit the viewpoint, it may not work as God had intended. Doesn't mean its wrong or right, just a difference of opinion. Only time will tell.

For more information about The Coming Flood, Jeremy Wells or where you can pick up a copy of this book today, please click on the links below:

The Coming Flood by Jeremy Wells