Book Review ~ Mercy Land by River Jordan

I had a hard time with this book with all of the jumping around. I finally had to put it down. I am hoping to pick it back up and give it another try, but for now here is a summary of the book.

Summary:

Mercy Land has made some unexpected choices for a young woman in the 1930s. The sheltered daughter of a traveling preacher, she chooses to leave her rural community to move to nearby Bay City on the warm, gulf-waters of southern Alabama. There she finds a job at the local paper and spends seven years making herself indispensible to old Doc Philips, the publisher and editor. Then she gets a frantic call at dawn—it’s the biggest news story of her life, and she can’t print a word of it.
Doc has come into possession of a curious book that maps the lives of everyone in Bay City—decisions they’ve made in the past, and how those choices affect the future. Mercy and Doc are consumed by the mystery locked between the pages—Doc because he hopes to right a very old wrong, and Mercy because she wants to fulfill the book’s strange purpose. But when a mysterious stranger shows up, Mercy begins to understand she may have to choose between love and loneliness . . . or good and evil . . . for the rest of her life.
Author Bio:

RIVER JORDAN began her writing career as a playwright with the Loblolly Theatre group. She teaches and speaks nationwide on ‘The Power of Story’, is a monthly contributor to the southern authors’ collective A Good Blog is Hard To Find, and produces and hosts the weekly radio program CLEARSTORY with River Jordan, in Nashville, where she and her husband live. She is the author of Saints in Limbo and this is her fourth novel.

Book Review ~ Hear No Evil by Matthew Turner

What a fun book! It brought back so many memories of when I was a teen and some of my friends who were Baptists weren't allowed to do some of the things he mentioned in this book. They may not have been allowed, but we sure had fun breaking some of the rules! I think it would have been fun to have his job of interviewing some of the Christian artists.

Here's a summary from the book:

A collection of wise, compelling, and often uproariously funny essays built around the experience of music as a transformational element in a moment of truth, Hear No Evil mines Matthew Paul Turner’s humorous memories of his evangelical youth and invites readers to groove along on his journey.

From attending forbidden contemporary Christian concerts to moving to “Music City” Nashville, Hear No Evil chronicles Turner’s “life soundtrack” which morphs seamlessly into the stories of people, places, and experiences that have taught the music-editor-turned-author some new things about God, forced him out of his comfort zone, and introduced him to a fresh view of grace along the way.

If you’ve ever had the opening bars of a song transport you back in time or remind you of a pivotal spiritual moment, Matthew Paul Turner’s honest—and frequently hilarious—musings will strike a chord. Straight forward and amusing, Hear No Evil is an exploration of a life of faith lived to a personal soundtrack.

I am giving one copy away, and will randomly pick a winner on Saturday Feb 20th. You can purchase this book at Random House, Amazon or any place you purchase your books.

** This book was provided for review by the WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group. **

Book Review ~ Love and War

I have found this book to be insightful, and helpful in my marriage. There have been some areas of my marriage that I felt were less than what I had expected, but when after reading one of the chapters, it was and "ah-ha" moment. I will be re-reading this book a few times, as I am sure something else will pop out at me that I didn't grasp the first time.

Summary:

What the Eldredge bestsellers Wild at Heart did for men, and Captivating did for women, LOVE & WAR will do for married couples everywhere. John and Stasi Eldredge have contributed the quintessential works on Christian spirituality through the experience of men and the experience of women and now they turn their focus to the incredible dynamic between those two forces.

With refreshing openness that will grab readers from the first page, the Eldredges candidly discuss their own marriage and the insights they’ve gained from the challenges they faced. Each talks independently to the reader about what they’ve learned, giving their guidance personal immediacy and a balance between the male and female perspectives that has been absent from all previous books on this topic. They begin LOVE & WAR with an obvious but necessary acknowledgement: Marriage is fabulously hard. They advise that the sooner we get the shame and confusion off our backs, the sooner we'll find our way through.

LOVE & WAR shows couples how to fight for their love and happiness, calling men and women to step into the great adventure God has waiting for them together. Walking alongside John and Stasi Eldredge, every couple can discover how their individual journeys are growing into a story of meaning much greater than anything they could do or be on their own.

You can purchase this book over at Random House.

**This was book was provided for review by WaterBrook Multnomah.**

Dug Down Deep ~ book review

I really enjoyed this book. God works in mysterious ways, as this has been a message I keep hearing about... "Digging deeper". We are doing a life builder series at our church, so this book is making me dig a little deeper.  There was a question that really made me stop and think:  "Do you love the Cross because it makes much of you?  or Do you love it because it enables you ot enjoy an eternity of making much of God? Wow!  How powerful is that?  It has helped me get back on track with my walk with Christ.

Synopsis

What will you build your life on?

With startling transparency, Joshua Harris shares how we can rediscover the relevance and power of Christian truth. This is book shows a young man who rose quickly to success in the Christian evangelical world before he realized his spirituality lacked a foundation—it rested more on tradition and morality than on an informed knowledge of God.

For the indifferent or spiritually numb, Harris's humorous and engaging reflections on Christian beliefs show that orthodoxy isn't just for scholars—it is for anyone who longs to know the living Jesus Christ. As Harris writes, "I've come to learn that theology matters. It matters not because we want to impress people, but because what we know about God shapes the way we think and live. Theology matters because if we get it wrong then our whole life will be wrong."

Whether you are just exploring Christianity or you are a veteran believer finding yourself overly familiar and cold-hearted, Dug Down Deep will help you rediscover the timeless truths of Scripture. As Harris challenges you to root your faith and feelings about God in the person, work, and words of Jesus, he answers questions such as:

What is God like and how does he speak to me?What difference does it make that Jesus was both human and divine?How does Jesus's death on the cross pay for my sins?Who is the Holy Spirit and how does he work in my life?
With grace and wisdom, Harris will inspire you to revel in the truth that has captured his own mind and heart. He will ask you to dig deep into a faith so solid you can build your life on it. He will point you to somethingto believe in again.

It goes on sale Jan. 19th, so look for it at your favorite book store like Barnes and Noble or Amazon.com.

**This book was provided for review by the WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group.**