Jesus and the Beanstalk by Lori Roeleveld

I've been hearing about this book for a while now. Heard it wasn't like anything else out there. Heard it wasn't going to be "for everybody." 

Once I finally got my hands on it, I understood.

It is NOT like any thing I've ever read. It's part Christian living, but not like what you think of when you hear "Christian living." It's part devotional, but not like what you think of when you hear "devotional."

It is other.

Which is appropriate, because overcoming giants? Living a fruitful life? That requires something OTHER.

You don't need me to tell me you that. You already know. You already know that the usual stuff isn't going to cut it. And that's why you need to read this book. 

Lori is not interested in patting you on the back and telling you a fluffy story. This is a grown up story for grown ups fighting grown up giants in grown up battles.

If you're looking for a book full of platitudes that will make you feel better, this book isn't for you. If you're happy remaining childish in your faith, then you should pass.

But it you want to take your childLIKE faith and put some muscle on it? 
If you want to explore what virtue looks like in this day and age?
If you want to learn how to use Biblical knowledge in battle?
If you have issues with self-control (um, ouch), know you aren't always as steadfast as you should be, get a little nervous about "godliness," struggle with how to juggle affection and confrontation, and suspect that there is something missing in the way you love...then Jesus and the Beanstalk could be the very thing you didn't even realize you were looking for.

I know. Some of you are getting a little antsy. This sounds a lot like to-dos and those of us who consider ourselves to be recovering legalists tend to have a knee-jerk reaction to anyone telling us we NEED to do ANYTHING other than trust in Jesus.

Relax.

This book is not about condemnation. 
This book is not about doing more or pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps.

It IS about putting on the whole armor of God. 
It IS about growing in our understanding of Scripture.
It IS about seeking holiness and righteousness.
It IS about Biblical sanctification. 

It is OTHER.

And it can help you live a life that will point others to Jesus and the extraordinary, better-than-any-fairytale life He offers.

About the book: 

Jesus and the Beanstalk: Overcoming Your Giants and Living a Fruitful Life (Abingdon Press, September 2016)

What if a fairy tale and ten Bible verses could free you to live an effective, fruitful life in Christ?

We live in unsettling, challenging times. Everywhere we look, we see giant problems: giant obstacles to sharing faith, giant barriers to peaceful lives, giant strongholds of fear. But what if you knew eight small secrets to unlocking a strength big enough to overcome whatever obstacle life may bring?

Using allegory and a bit of humor, Jesus and the Beanstalkexplores a passage in 2 Peter 1 to uncover eight truths that will help you unleash a larger-than-life faith:

-Faith

-Goodness

-Knowledge

-Self-control

-Perseverance

-Godliness

-Affection for others

-Love

In this creative, refreshing perspective on spiritual growth, you will discover an unyielding strength when you tap the power of a God who is stronger than any beanstalk and bigger than your biggest giants.

Purchase a copy: http://bit.ly/2dcnopJ

About the author:

Lori Stanley Roeleveld is the author of Running from a Crazy Man (and other adventures traveling with Jesus) and Red Pen Redemption. Her blog, LoriRoeleveld.com, was voted Top 100 Christian Blogs by RedeemingGod.com and has enjoyed over 1.5 million views. Lori lives in Hope Valley, RI.

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | Google+

Read More

Thursday Review - The One Thing

I’m a task-oriented person. It’s how I’m wired.

You’d think with that kind of wiring, I’d be churning out books by the dozens.

Not so much.

In fact, I’ve been struggling to figure out how to get this whole writing thing squeezed into my day.

I’m a wife, a mom of three, and a published author. And that is how I want my priorities to stay…husband, kids, then books.

Not the other way around.

But…this book business? The storytelling and swooning. It’s not just for kicks and giggles. It’s certainly not for the money.

When life crowds out the creating, my calling goes unfulfilled and my spirit shrivels under the tyranny of the urgent. I do the laundry and cook. I read and clean (not much, but still…) and pay bills.

But when I don’t write, I’m not right.

I’m not fully living as the person God intends for me to be.

But how am I supposed to rightly order my world and priorities (God, family, then fiction) and still get it all done?

I don’t have a perfect answer, but I’m a lot closer to it than I was a few months ago.

I'm guest blogging over at The Write Conversation today. Pop over there to read the rest of the story. 

Read More

Super Structure

Every time I see a book on “structure” or “story” I find myself bracing for the inevitable battle. If you’ve hung around with writers for long you know why, don’t you? 

Someone is about to get in an argument about THE way to write. In my mind, I see a group of literary protesters. “Structure Leads to Perfect Stories!” shouts one side. “Structure Leads to Predictable Stories!” counters the other.

I see myself standing in the middle of the crowd singing, “LET IT GO!”

Don’t get me wrong. If someone has figured out how they write, I want them to tell me how they do it. I really do.

But I have absolutely no illusions that the way they do it is going to wind up being the way I do it. I wish it would work that way but I know a lot of writers, and I have yet to meet one who writes exactly like someone else.

I’m okay with that. It’s part of the mystery of story…and I love a good mystery.

Want to know more? I'm guest posting today over at The Write Conversation. Come by and join the conversation!

Read More

Running from a Crazy Man

Lori Roeleveld

One of my favorite writers anywhere ever is Lori Roeleveld. I've had a writer crush on her since 2010, when I heard her share her story in a workshop at the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference...and then listened as her name was called several times during the awards ceremony a few days later. 

I discovered her blog, Deeper With Jesus in Rhode Island, and found myself developing a love/hate relationship with her posts. They are beautifully written, funny, and provocative. They are also courageous, disturbing, and convicting. When I read her posts, I am often encouraged. I am also frequently annoyed. Annoyed that I can no longer sit cozy in my comfy chair and ignore the plight of suffering Christians, stay silent on unpopular issues, or pretend that I serve the kind of God I can explain in a tweet.

I'm thrilled to tell you that Lori has just released a new book, Running From A Crazy Man (and other adventures traveling with Jesus). 

Running from a Crazy Man

Here's what I had to say about it on Amazon: If you've discovered that following Jesus is more like traveling to Mordor than following the yellow brick road, then the wisdom found in these pages will encourage you when you fear, strengthen you when you falter, whisper peace in the dark, and kick your rear when you start thinking about calling it quits. Lori writes from a unique place. She writes as a poet warrior who rests in the certainty that the One leading us into battle is not only big enough to have already won the war, but is also loving enough to understand how afraid we become when swords start flying at our heads. Running from a Crazy Man is an honest look at what it means to follow Jesus - it's an adventure no one will want to miss.

Here's what I had to say about it on Facebook: Lori is one of my favorite writers and Running from a Crazy Man is the kind of book that will encourage you as you walk with the Lord. Of course, by encourage, I mean the way jumper cables "encourage" a car to start! Running from a Crazy Man isn't the kind of book you read and then close the pages and think, "well, that was nice." Running from a Crazy Man is the kind of book you read and then get out of your comfy chair and live the adventure Jesus is calling you to.

This weekend, you can grab the paperback copy for $8.96. And the Kindle version is only $1.99! I don't know how long these prices will last, but Running from a Crazy Man would make a great gift for anyone on your Christmas shopping list. It belongs on your nightstand as well, so go ahead and pick up two or three. 

I know sometimes we wonder if the people who write books about the Christian life are the real deal. Do they live their faith? Do they mean what they say? You don't need to worry about that with Lori. Since that conference in 2010, it has been my privilege to call Lori my friend. Over the past few years, Lori has prayed for me, encouraged me, listened to me whine, prodded me, celebrated with me, asked me hard questions, and extended lots of grace.

I can recommend Running from a Crazy Man without reservation. Get it. Read it. Just don't expect to walk away unchanged. 

Read More

Beneath A Navajo Moon by Lisa Carter

Hi Everyone!! I've missed you!

I've been writing non-stop, but none of it has been for the blog. I entered a contest and to my utter shock, I made it into the final round. Last night at 9:30 p.m., I hit "send" and a full manuscript is now in an editor's hands.

I may be sick.

But the best way not to think about an editor with a big red pen is to read and write - a LOT! Which is exactly what I plan to do!

Let's kick things off with a book I thought I'd reviewed a couple of months ago, but didn't. 

If you like romantic suspense, historicals, and, like me, are always on the lookout for a way to support a local writer, then Beneath a Navajo Moon by Lisa Carter is the book for you!

(Lisa's from Raleigh and as far as I'm concerned, any Carolina girl is a local). 

In Beneath a Navajo Moon, Erin Dawson is a cultural anthropologist. She's hoping her internship at the Cedar Canyon Information Center will help her fulfill a personal mission to uncover the story behind one of her adopted ancestors, Olivia Thornton, a white woman who served at a mission on the Navajo reservation in the early 1900s. 

Her search leads her to butt heads with tribal policeman Adam Silverhorn. A man who turns out to be far more complex than his shallow, womanizing ways lead her to originally believe.

As Erin digs deeper, she has no idea that her search for Olivia will uncover a dark secret that threatens her life and the lives of those she loves. 

Beneath A Navajo Moon kept me guessing with complex characters who struggle to make the right choices in difficult circumstances.

For someone like me who loves a great historical, but also loves a great contemporary suspense, this was the best of both worlds. 

Check it out. And if you read Beneath a Navajo Moon, be a friend and leave a quick review on Amazon, would you please? Authors really appreciate reviews and it only takes a few minutes of your time to bless them in this way!

Grace & Peace,

Lynn

Read More

Silenced by Dani Pettrey

I'm so excited about today's post. We've got a great book, an opportunity to win a FREE copy from Bethany House publishers, and a fun sweepstakes you can enter.

All of these great opportunities are in celebration of the release of Silenced, the fourth book in Dani Pettrey's Alaskan Courage series.

The Alaskan Courage series follows the adventures of the five McKenna siblings. When Silenced opens, Cole and Bailey (from Submerged) are in the final stages of planning their wedding, with Piper and Landon (from Shattered) just a few months behind. Reef (who gets his own story in Book 5, yeah!) has promised to come home for the weddings and Darcy and Gage (from Stranded) are doing great.

Silenced is Jake and Kayden's story, and I was so excited to finally figure out what made the cool and distant Kayden McKenna tick, and to find out how she would treat Jake Westin, now that the truth about his past has come to light.

Here's the scoop on Silenced...

A relaxing day of rock climbing takes a dark turn when Kayden McKenna’s route brings her face-to-face with a dead climber. Was the climber’s death a terrible accident or something more sinister?

When the case is handed to Yancey’s overburdened sheriff, he turns to Jake Westin for help. With the truth of Jake’s past now revealed, Jake agrees to use his investigation skills for this one case–but nothing could prepare him for where the case will take him.

As Kayden and Jake work together to uncover the truth, will they also find a refuge in each other?  Or will the deadly plans of a killer destroy their chance at love?

I've come to expect page-turning reads from Dani, and Silenced did not disappoint. I tried, really tried, to stretch it into a three-day read. 

Didn't happen. 

I got about 1/3 of the way in before life pulled me away, but once I picked it back up the next evening, I knew I'd be reading until I got to the end. I closed the book after midnight, exhausted and satisfied. 

I read a lot of romantic suspense, so as it became clear that the investigation into the murder of the rock climber was winding down, I started to get a little anxious. There was still a lot of book and not a lot of story left. 

WRONG.

That was when the story really cranked up, and I loved that twist. You know how I feel about spoilers, so that's really all I can say.

As a rule, I only read a series in order, and while I realize not everyone feels like that is the only way to do it (even though it totally is) :-) I should say that if you read these books out of order, I think you'll be missing too much to be able to fully appreciate the character and romantic development. By the time you get to Silenced, you've already seen Jake and Kayden interacting for three books, and been in their heads quite a bit in the last book, so these characters are already familiar. And I know for me, I was rooting for Jake to finally break through Kayden's tough shell.

So, who wants to win their own free copy of Silenced?!?! All you have to do to enter is leave a comment here on the blog, or you can also earn entries by sharing this post on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. You can earn up to 4 entries! I'll draw a name from all the entries on May 26th and Bethany House will mail a copy to the winner. (There's a lot of fine print below, so be sure to read that part.)

Another great giveaway is happening until May 21st over on Dani's site. You have a chance to win airline tickets, a gorgeous Alaskan print, or a very fun picnic basket. 

All you have to do is visit http://www.danipettrey.com/rugged-romance-sweepstakes/ to enter!

Wow! Such a packed post! Be sure to enter both for the free copy of Silenced and the great prizes in the Rugged Romance Sweepstakes!

Super fine print for the free book...

No purchase is necessary. Odds of winning are based on number of entries.Giveaway begins May 19 and ends at midnight May 26. Up to 4 entries per person. Entries can be made by commenting on this blog post or by sharing this post on Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest. Giveaway open to US residents, 18 and older. I will contact the winner via email and winners will have three days to respond before I will award the book to the next winner.

·       

Read More

Haunted by Charity Tinnin

I know things have been a little, okay, a LOT, quiet around here lately, but there’s a great reason.

I’m writing.

All.The.Time.

I entered a contest in February and made it into the third round! So that means that my laptop has been fired up and my fingers have been flying, but it’s all been for contest submissions. It’s been quite a journey so far and I’ve got a lot of devotion ideas out of it, but for now, know that I would really appreciate your prayers over the next couple of weeks.

But I am taking a little break from novel writing to share with you three books for your summer reading list.

The first is for all you YA/NA/Dystopian fans. I know you’re out there because we’ve all been talking about going to see Catching Fire and Divergent (and all five Twilight movies…Don’t deny it. I know you went on opening weekend because I saw you there).

 

If you’re looking for your next read, you need to pick up Haunted by Charity Tinnin. There is fantastic world building here and a story that had an ending I was NOT expecting. 

And the characters…Noah State (or is it Sefore?) is a man who expects to be dead by the age of twenty-one, but he’s determined to save as many lives as he can before it finally catches up to him. One of the lives he’s trying to save is that of Maddison James. She’s smart, tough, and not about to put up with any junk from Noah. Then there’s Daniel State, Noah’s older brother. He’s the bad boy that you know you should despise, but, but, but…you kind of don’t.

Did I mention that it had an ending I wasn’t prepared for? You know how sometimes you read a book and you know exactly how it will end by the end of Chapter 1? Not gonna happen with Haunted.

And when it was all over…it was, but it wasn’t. I walked around for several days worried about these characters, wondering how it would all work out.

 

Which leads me to my only complaint about Haunted…I have to wait until October for Hunted, the 2nd book in the State vs. Sefore series.

 

And if you need any further incentive, you can pick up the Kindle version of Haunted for just $2.99. It's a steal! Grab it now!

 

 

 

My next post will be a review of a great romantic suspense book...stay tuned!

 

Read More

No One To Trust by Lynette Eason

There are only a handful of authors whose books shoot to the top of my to-be-read pile as soon as they become available.

Lynette Eason is one of those authors.

No One To Trust is the first novel in her new Hidden Identity series. I was a little sad to say goodbye to the characters in the Deadly Reunions Series, and I wondered how she would top the twisty plotline that wound through those books.

But she did.

No One To Trust opens with a murder. It’s followed by a blood pumping chase that ends in …well…I won’t say, but by this time, I want to know who David Hackett is, and why Kyle Abernathy is being chased by a hit man.

If you think you’ll be able to catch your breath, you’re wrong, because the next scene comes straight from most women’s nightmares. Summer Abernathy wakes up to find a man pointing a gun at her. He’s not there to kill her, but what he tells her sends her world into a tailspin, and takes the reader along for the ride.

For the next 300 pages, the story unfolds, one tantalizing detail at a time. We meet siblings, clients, former military unit members, U.S. Marshalls, and let’s not forget the mob boss with a snake fetish and his seriously dysfunctional family.

Lynette does a masterful job of introducing new characters and keeping the entire cast distinct. I never struggled to follow along, even toward the end when plot lines and characters were converging and then taking off in unexpected directions.

No One To Trust also gives us a nice spin on the typical romance, because the main characters are already married. The question is, will their marriage survive? Can Summer forgive Kyle for lying to her? Can Kyle keep them alive long enough to convince Summer that the one thing he hadn’t lied about was his love for her?

Underpinning the entire novel are beautiful themes of redemption, forgiveness, and, ultimately trust, making No One To Trust both a thrilling and uplifting experience.

No One To Trust is available from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group, in January 2014 from your favorite bookseller.

The super fine print: I received this book in exchange for my opinion. I was not required to provide a favorable review. All opinions are my own.

Read More

Aloha Rose and Carolina Reckoning

Anyone else feel like the holiday hustle began right after Halloween this year?

It’s been CRAZY at my house. 

But, you know me. I’ve always got time to read a good book. Or two! And I want to share them with you.

I met Lisa Carter in 2010 at the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference, before she had an agent, or a book deal (or four!). 

I’m so excited to share her first two books with you today. You know you’ve got a someone or two on your shopping list who would love for you to introduce them to a new author. Consider your list a little bit shorter!

Aloha Rose

This is Lisa’s second book. It just came out this month and it is such a sweet story. I generally prefer my books to have a little bit more mayhem and murder, but I couldn’t put this one down!

The only thing Laney Carrigan has to tie her to her birth family is the Hawaiian quilt she was wrapped in as a baby. But that quilt holds the key to everything she’s searching for—the answers to her questions and a reason to put down roots. Of course, Kai Barnes complicates her plans from the first time they meet. He knows there’s more to the mysterious Laney Carrigan than she’s chosen to share with the family. She can’t be trusted. Not with the plantation—and certainly not with his heart.

Aloha Rose is a beautiful story that doesn’t shy away from the painful consequences of sin, the damage unforgiveness can do to our hearts, and the desperate need we all have for grace.

Carolina Reckoning

This is Lisa’s first book and it came out this summer. Lisa uses the tag line “Sweet Tea with a Slice of Murder” (isn’t that the BEST!!!) and Carolina Reckoning met every expectation a tag line like that has.

It’s so very Southern! Set in the Raleigh area of North Carolina, the conflict centers around a historic estate complete with a main house, gardens, and wealthy board members. The characters are as varied as the dishes at a church dinner. There are exotic outsiders, quirky cousins, scary strangers, and let’s not forget the downright creepy psychopaths.

The opening pages of Carolina Reckoning will twist your heart as Alison Monaghan discovers proof that her husband has been cheating on her. She’s going to confront him, but instead finds herself staring into the face of homicide detective Mike Barefoot. Her husband will never come home, but are the people responsible for his death willing to leave his family alone?
Or is Alison next on their list?

Carolina Reckoning will keep you guessing until the climax when … oh, wait a minute. I’m not going to tell you!

Buy the book. Buy both of them. Buy one for your friends. Put one in your daughter’s stocking. Send one to your grandma. Hmm…that’s actually a really good idea. My Granny loves to read…(yes, it’s hereditary). Grab it for your Kindle and read it while everyone is watching football tomorrow.

You can’t go wrong with Aloha Rose or Carolina Reckoning!

Happy Thanksgiving everybody!!

Read More

a million little ways - uncover the art you were made to live

We all make art in A Million Little Ways.

Yes, you do, too.

Even if you don’t think of yourself as artistic or creative, after reading Emily P. Freeman’s latest offering, you’ll view everything you do in a new light. Because “art is what happens when you dare to be who you really are.” (p. 21)

While I have no trouble saying that I’m a writer, I’ve never considered myself to be an artist. Art is painting, drawing, sculpture, design. Art it musicals, opera, plays, and concerts.

Or is it?

What if art is so much more and what if all of us make art in a million little ways?

Making beds, writing books, cooking meals, designing clothes, playing with Legos, decorating interiors, and hosting dinner parties, all can be ways you express yourself, ways you create, ways you make art.

The most beautiful thing? God uses us as “we make art with our lives” to reveal different aspects of Himself to a world that desperately needs Him.

A Million Little Ways is divided into three parts:

In Part 1, we see a beautiful picture of God as the Artist and us, as His image-bearers, placed in the world to live art.
In Part 2, we uncover the art we were born to make by looking within, back, up, around, and beneath.
In Part 3, we release the art we were made to live when we show up, wait, offer, wonder, and create.

Emily P. Freeman writes with a transparency and honesty that always leaves me surprised to discover that someone else struggles with the same things I do. Each chapter feels like a conversation with a friend who sees beauty in you. Beauty you may be unable to see in yourself, not because of anything you can do in your own strength, but because you are an image-bearer of The Artist.

There was so much in these pages to digest, to ponder, to consider, to breathe in and live out, that I don’t feel one read-through was sufficient so I’m starting over and reading it again.

Lucky for you, when I attended Allume a few weeks ago, I got to hear Emily speak and the fine folks at Revell gave all the attendees a copy of A Million Little Ways. But I already had my review copy from Revell, so I’m going to share the art with you. Subscribe to the blog through email or leave me a comment here on the blog, on Facebook, or Twitter. I’ll put the names in the random number generator and whoever it picks will win their own copy. Contest ends Sunday, November 24th.

A Million Little Ways is available November 2013 at your local bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing.

The super fine print: I received a copy of A Million Little Ways in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Read More

Singularity by Steven James

Most of us accept death as a part of life. But not everyone.

In Singularity, the second book in The Jevin Banks Experience, Steven James plunges us into a world where research into brain function and artificial intelligence that is intended to help quadriplegics or children with life-shortening diseases is being hijacked by psychopaths.

Psychopaths who will eliminate any and all obstacles between them and immortality.

In Singularity, illusionist Jevin Banks loses a friend in what the authorities insist was a tragic accident. He knows it wasn’t and he refuses to allow his friend’s death to go unsolved.

Lucky for him, the supporting cast from Placebo, the first book in the The Jevin Banks Experience, is back, and they are as fabulous as ever. Charlene, Jevin’s girlfriend; Xavier, Jevin’s right-hand man; Fionna, home-schooling mom and computer whiz; Fionna’s kids, four of the coolest kids on the planet.

Of course, one of our villains from Placebo is back, too. Derek Byrne, aka, Akinsanya, intends to live forever and his methods are, well, let’s go with extreme. (Gory, sick, disturbing, horrifying—those would all work as well).

As I’ve come to expect from Steven James, the first few chapters are tough. Evil men unleash their power over those who’ve tried to thwart them, and the results are devastating.

From there, Singularity takes us into a world of illusion, organized crime, conspiracy theory, top-secret military research, and prostitution. Set mostly in Las Vegas, Singularity doesn’t shy away from gritty realities. Nor does it glorify them.

If you’re looking for safe, predictable fiction that gives you an interesting enough story but doesn’t make you think or wonder about anything, then Singularity is not for you.

If, however, you’d love to read something that you haven’t figured out by page five, if you’d like a story that reflects the world we live in, that delves deep into questions about what makes us human and why God allows people to do bad things, if you’d like to get to the final page and go “What??!!!” as the whole story gets turned on its ear…

Read Singularity.

Singularity is available as of November 2013 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

The super fine print: I received a free copy of Singularity in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

You can read my review of Placebo here. I highly recommend reading Placebo first. 

Read More

Through the Balustrade

Through the Balustrade pulled me in from the first page. Roxan is seventeen and has her own shanty. And she’s thrilled about it.

What?

Immediately, I want to know why she’s on her own at seventeen. Why does she think a dirt-floor shanty is a little slice of heaven? What kind of horror was her life before this point? Why does she believe she’s free now?

And is she? Really?

Seriously. I got all that from the first few paragraphs.

If you’re a fan of books like The Hunger Games or Divergent, Through the Balustrade is going to be right up your alley.

If you’ve ever felt different, unwanted, or weird—if you’ve ever believed (or maybe you still do) that you are nothing special, then Through the Balustrade is going to grab your heart strings and refuse to let go.

There are so many things I love about Through the Balustrade.

I love the characters—not a predictable one in the bunch. You’ll love some of them, you’ll despise others. And then there are the guys you just aren’t sure about. I spent half the book trying to figure out if this one guy wanted to help Roxan or if he was just trying to get close enough so he could kill her. (No. I’m not going to tell you. This is a spoiler free review!)

I love the language. They speak English in the Oblate, but they have their own expressions. Turns, rolls, flashes, matchments, Vitawater, merits…the words are dropped in so skillfully that even though you’ve never used them this way before, you’ll know exactly what they mean. It serves to highlight that this world is different—so very different—from our own.

Or, is it?

Speaking of the world…I love the world. Hmm…Well, not really. I love M.B. Dahl’s masterful world building, but it’s not a place I would want to live. Life inside the Protectorate is a closely monitored place where the adults do their jobs and don’t ask questions. Children are raised underground and any child who demonstrates certain gifts gets “modifed”—and yeah, it’s as bad as it sounds. And the thing about modification…it doesn’t always take.

Which brings us back to Roxan. She doesn’t know what’s “wrong” with her, but she’s smart enough to know she needs to keep it to herself.

Bless her heart, she does try, but there are evil forces at work in the Oblate and she’s the key to unlocking the door that will truly set the people free. It’s going to take every ounce of strength and bravery she’s never thought she had to do what must be done.

Because she’s the only one who can get them Through the Balustrade.

The weird one. The one who’s nothing special. She’s the key to everything.

You won’t be able to read Through the Balustrade without wondering if the very thing you dislike about yourself—that thing you so desperately wish you could change—if that’s not the thing that God wants to use to set you, and others, free.

Read More

Love's Awakening

Love’s Awakening is the 2nd book in The Ballantyne Legacy by Laura Frantz.

I’ll admit it.
My expectations were high.

I had fallen completely and thoroughly into the world she created in the first book in the series, Love’s Reckoning, last September (you can read my review here) and have been eagerly waiting for more of the story to unfold.

Love’s Awakening did not disappoint.

In Love’s Awakening, we meet Ellie Ballantyne, the youngest daughter of Silas and Eden Ballantyne, as she’s returning home from finishing school. She’s young, beautiful, worth a fortune, and not interested in marrying the man everyone thinks she should.

I loved Ellie. Full of spunk and determination. Tired of being the baby. Ready to find her way in the world. Totally unprepared to fall in love with the one man her parents would never approve of.

Oh. Did I forget to mention him?

Jack Turlock is the son of a whiskey magnate with a reputation for being a scoundrel. But Jack’s growing up and becoming his own man. A man who doesn’t agree with his father’s treatment of slaves, or his business tactics. A man who doesn’t share his family’s hatred of the Ballantyne’s.

Especially not Ellie.

Love’s Awakening is set against the backdrop of Pittsburgh in the early 1800s. A time when slaves making their way to freedom in the North had to pass through Pennsylvania. A state that—laws on the books notwithstanding—still had slaveholders as late as the 1840s.

Laura Frantz doesn’t shy away from the grim realities of that era. The horrific treatment of slaves, the desperation for freedom, the dangers of every day life.

Of course, some truths transcend time and place. The high cost of doing what’s right. The way some families are a place of shelter and hope, while others are places of turmoil and destruction. The way love can and does transform hearts.

Love’s Awakening is the kind of book that transports you to a different world and when you come back to reality, you discover you are so much better off for having made the trip.

Love’s Awakening is available as of September 2013 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

The super fine print: I received a free copy of Love’s Awakening in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Read More