Love Does by Bob Goff

MY REVIEW 

I kept wondering where I had heard the name Bob Goff. I finally googled his name and discovered that he is the one who founded an international organization to address the atrocities against children called Restore International. I heard quite about this when I was vice president and executive director for CASA-PRC here in Pearl River County. It's a marvelous thing he is doing.

His book, Love Does, is also marvelous. These stories are all true and help you to understand how to shift your own thinking into patterns of can do rather than can't do or I don't know where to start. It's called paradigm shifting. What a wonderful father he was to encourage his children to write world leaders; and then they got invited to go meet those they wrote. Fascinating what a few words from the heart can do.

He now owns his own law firm in partnership with another which is surprising because his grades weren't good enough to even get into law school. To can do the law school thing, he sat on a bench outside the Dean's office until he finally let him enroll. The amazing thing is, he applied himself and graduated proving the Dean's trust in his perseverance was well placed. Things like that can change your world!

Five of five stars! Buy it, you will be pleased.

ABOUT THE BOOK
 

You don’t need another Christian message or a self-help book. You need to have your paradigms about the world shifted into truth. That’s exactly what you get in Love Does. Have you ever noticed that the real change in your life-the growth that sticks and becomes a part of you-never happens with a program or the sheer grit of your best efforts? It happens over time, like a glacier slowly carving valleys through the mountains.
In this book of compelling stories coupled with eye-opening truths, author Bob Goff shows you a new way to live, a way that’s drenched with the whimsy of God’s love and the spontaneity of following where he leads when he says “Go!” In this book, you learn what it looks like to be secretly incredible and advance God’s kingdom everywhere you are and wherever you’re going.
For anyone who’s wanted to change the world but thought they needed money, a committee, and permission to get started, Love Does shows what can happen when you decide to do instead of plan, act instead of strategize, and fiercely, invisibly fight for the possibility God has gifted you to uniquely see.

Looking to buy Love Does? Click here.

Five Miles South of Peculiar by Angela Hunt

MY REVIEW

Angela Hunt never fails to please. This is another notched success and very different from most of her other novels.

The story builds well, and we get a split scene basically viewing all the sisters in the environment they've inhabited for years. I really like setting the scene. Our wide-angle view of all the characters is painted well if a little disjointed. (However, don't expect continuity because the reader jumps from character to character; and I hate that.) Each character has just the right amount of description along with a personality snapshot which gives you a remarkable understanding of character and motivations. So when Caroline comes home, you already expect sparks to fly.

I do not think this is her best novel, but Hunt does fulfill expectations. So enjoy her latest offering.

ABOUT THE BOOK

If these three sisters don’t change direction, they’ll end up where they’re going.

Darlene Caldwell has spent a lifetime tending Sycamores, an estate located five miles south of a small town called Peculiar. She raised a family in the spacious home that was her grandfather’s legacy, and she enjoys being a pillar of the community. Sycamores is the kingdom where she reigns as queen . . . until her limelight-stealing twin sister unexpectedly returns.

Carlene Caldwell, veteran of the Broadway stage, is devastated when she realizes that an unsuccessful throat surgery has spelled the end of her musical career. Searching for a new purpose in life, she retreats to Sycamores, her childhood home. She may not be able to sing, but she hopes to use her knowledge and experience to fashion a new life in Peculiar, the little town she left behind.

Haunted by a tragic romance, Magnolia Caldwell is the youngest of the Caldwell girls. Nolie has never wanted to live anywhere but Sycamores. She spends her days caring for her dogs and the magnificent gardens she’s created on the estate, but when she meets a man haunted by his own tragedy, she must find the courage to either deny her heart or cut the apron strings that tie her to a dear and familiar place.

Can these sisters discover who they are meant to be when life takes an unforeseen detour? In a season of destiny, three unique women reunite and take unexpected journeys of the heart.








For more go to Angela's Website here.http://www.angelahuntbooks.com/

Submerged by Dani Perry

This book is all about second chances with a backdrop of Alaska. I found the story quite absorbing, but it was written like Alaska was an after thought, or perhaps there was a change of location at the last minute.

There are certain aspects of environment that are expected to appear in a story. If the place is Alaska, even in the summer, the weather is mentioned. It is expected. So often in this storyline there are many missed opportunities to incorporate Alaska as a character. It is big country, it is cold, it is majestic. Even summer afternoons are not that warm (ask Sarah Palin). For me, this was a distraction. I missed the mentions of majestic scenery. I missed the mentions of cold water scuba gear.

So, I found it a combination of great, and anemic. It gets 2 out 5 stars.

Love in Disguise by Carol Cox

MY  REVIEW
This is such a delightful tale with some twists and turns of the plot that make it a page turner. Cox did her homework in checking facts concerning the Pinkertons' hiring women as detectives which makes for a much more plausible plot.

The characters are not as well-defined as in other stories I've read recently, but they are more than two-dimensional figures and a flat world. Descriptions are good with just enough detail to get the taste of dust in your mouth or the heat of the sun on your back, but not so much to drag the story flow to a halt. She has a gift for describing costumes and how they transform appearances that helps the reader to know who is who without getting confused. It is clear and concise, with enough detail to help the imagination run with coloring the scenes for a vivid picture of the 1890s Arizona wild west.

The dialogue is good and practical. Characters act without being contrived so you feel comfortable with them, and you might even want to grab your knitting and have a cuppa with Lavinia on a warm afternoon while she watches from the open window of the hotel. Life in a small town is delicately drawn with close attention to how intricately lives intertwine in small towns.

Good storyline, good story telling. This one gets 4 out of 5 stars.
  
 

This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing Love in Disguise Bethany House Publishers (June 1, 2012) by Carol Cox

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Native Arizonan Carol Cox has an abiding love for history, mystery, and romance. The author of more than 25 books, she believes in the power of story to convey spiritual truths. Carol lives with her husband and daughter in northern Arizona, where deer and antelope really do play--within view of the family's front porch.

A word from Carol:

As a native of Arizona, I have a longtime interest in the Southwest and its history. My family shares my love of the Old West, as evidenced by this photo taken back in the halcyon days before my son turned to a life of crime and started robbing trains for a living...


ABOUT THE BOOK

When costume-maker Ellie Moore suddenly finds herself out of a job in the middle of a bleak Chicago winter, she uses her knowledge of theatrical disguise to secure a position as an undercover operative with the Pinkerton Detective Agency. Her assignment: find the culprit behind the theft of silver shipped from the mines near Pickford, Arizona.

Disguised as Lavinia Stewart, a middle-aged widow, Ellie begins her investigation. Soon she finds she must also pose as the dazzling young Jessie Monroe, whose vivacious personality encourages people to talk.

If you would like to read the first chapter of Love in Disguise, go HERE.