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Book Review: Double Minds By Terri Blackstock

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Title:Double Minds
Author:Terri Blackstock
Publisher:Zondervan
Release Date:February 3, 2009
Pages:336
Source:publisher|My FTC Disclaimer
Purchase: Amazon|BarnesAndNoble|Deepershopping.com
Rating:5/5 Books

About the Book:
As talented singer/songwriter Parker James struggles to make her mark on the Nashville music scene, she finds the competition can be fierce – even deadly.

When a young woman is murdered at the recording studio where Parker works, Parker is drawn into a mystery where nothing is as it seems.

Unraveling the truth puts her own life at risk when she uncovers high-level industry corruption and is terrorized by a menacing stalker. As the danger escalates, Parker begins to question her dreams, her future, and even her faith. Does stardom even matter anymore?

About the Author:
Terri Blackstock is a New York Times best-seller, with over six million copies sold worldwide. She has had over twenty-five years of success as a novelist. Terri spent the first twelve years of her life traveling in an Air Force family. She lived in nine states and attended the first four years of school in The Netherlands. Because she was a perpetual “new kid,” her imagination became her closest friend. That, she believes, was the biggest factor in her becoming a novelist. She sold her first novel at the age of twenty-five, and has had a successful career ever since.

Her most recent book, Vicious Cycle, debuted on the New York Times best-seller list, as did Intervention, the first book in the Intervention Series. Intervention was also a 2010 Carol Award Winner. The series deals with the subject of drug abuse and its impact on families. Other reader favorites include her books Predator and Double Minds, as well as the Restoration Series, the Newpointe 911 Series, the Cape Refuge Series, and the SunCoast Chronicles series. In September, Shadow in Serenity will release. Her next Intervention Novel, Downfall, will release in February 2012.

In 1994 Terri was writing romance novels under two pseudonyms for publishers such as HarperCollins, Harlequin, Dell and Silhouette, when a spiritual awakening prompted her to switch gears. At the time, she was reading more suspense than romance, and felt drawn to write thrillers about ordinary people in grave danger. Her newly awakened faith wove its way into the tapestry of her suspense novels, offering hope instead of despair. Her goal is to entertain with page-turning plots, while challenging her readers to think and grow. She hopes to remind them that they’re not alone, and that their trials have a purpose.

Terri has appeared on national television programs such as “The 700 Club” and “Home Life,” and has been a guest on numerous radio programs across the country. The story of her personal journey appears in books such as Touched By the Savior by Mike Yorkey, True Stories of Answered Prayer by Mike Nappa, Faces of Faith by John Hanna, and I Saw Him In Your Eyes by Ace Collins.
My Review:
Terri Blackstock is a fantastic Christian suspense author. The best, in my opinion. She starts her novels off straight away with the suspense, keeps the twists, turns, ins and outs coming through out each page, never revealing too much, too soon. By the final pages of the story, the reader is left on the edge of their seat, trying to slow their breathing down.

Double Minds is thrilling awesome. Parker James, receptionist for a Christian recording studio, gets a call from her detective brother. The reason? A murder at the studio. She leaves her concert to go to the studio. The victim? An intern receptionist filling in for Parker. It really throws her world for a loop, especially when her home is invaded. But, the question is….why are they after Parker? Why is someone invading her home, trying to kill her, stealing her music? What has she done?

Those are some of the many questions answered in the pages of the awesometastic novel. It’s a stand alone, so you aren’t coming in in the middle of a story line. It’s got fantastic suspense, page-turning plot line, gripping characters and it draws you to the heart of Parker’s story. A mix of faith in God to pull you through, betrayal, forgiveness, heartache and family, this is a story that you won’t want to miss.

I definitely, highly, recommend this with a 5 Book rating. It will send you on a spin to find out who the killer is, and will leave you hungry for more Blackstock work. I can’t wait to read more of her work! Why are you still sitting there? Shouldn’t you be hunting down Double Minds??? It will so take you on a whirl wind roller coaster ride!

Book Review: The Ambition by Lee Strobel

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About the Book:
A corrupt judge in a mob murder case. A disillusioned pastor, hungry for power. A cynical reporter, sniffing for a scandal. A gambling addict whose secret tape threatens the lives of everyone who hears it. New York Times bestselling author, Lee Strobel, weaves these edgy characters into an intricate thriller set in a gleaming, suburban megachurch, a big-city newspaper struggling for survival, and the shadowy corridors of political intrigue. The unexpected climax is as gripping as the contract killing that punctuates the opening scene.

About the Author:
Lee Strobel is an award-winning legal editor of The Chicago Tribune and a New York Times bestselling author. After years of nonfiction bestsellers, he is publishing his debut fiction novel, a legal thriller. Lee is a Yale Law School graduate, accomplished journalist, and world-renowned speaker.

My Review:
Absolutely different. Not in a bad way, mind you. Lee Strobel is an amazing author when he is writing his Case books. I love them. My dad has a whole collection of them, that I love to break into from time to time. They are stunning and amazing. But, when he writes fiction, well….let’s just say that while his writing is not terrible, it’s certainly not as good as I hoped it would be.

With that being said, The Ambition’s plot is awesome. The way the story line had to flow, with mobs, and megachurches, and politics. Very intriguing to see the way the characters were created for that plot. Each character was interesting and flowed well. I really was captured by the fast pace that this book entailed.

The thrills of the book were good, the action was heart pounding and the suspense was fascinating, but for a debut novel, it could use some tuning. Not anything overly bad, just a few minor tweaks here and there with some grammar and issues with wording. I do recommend this book to those of you who love thrillers and politics. The suspense, the intriguing, thought provoking happenings of mobs and megachurches will have you on the edge of your seat with this Lee Strobel novel. Four stars and I am looking forward to another book by this otherwise fantastic author, in hopes that it will be even better!

Visit Deepershopping.com to purchase your copy of The Ambition.

*This eBook was provided for review by Zondervan*

Book Review: Daughter of Silk (The Silk House, #1) by Linda Lee Chaikin

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About the Book:
Pursuing the family name as the finest silk producer in Lyon, the young Huguenot Rachelle Dushane-Macquinet is thrilled to accompany her famous couturier Grandmere to Paris, there to create a silk trousseau for the Royal Princess Marguerite Valois.

The Court is magnificent; its regent, Catherine de Medici, deceptively charming … and the circumstances, darker than Rachelle could possibly imagine. At a time in history when the tortures of the Bastille and the fiery stake are an almost casual consequence in France, a scourge of recrimination is moving fast and furious against the Huguenots—and as the Queen Mother’s political intrigues weave a web of deception around her, Rachelle finds herself in imminent danger.

Hope rests in warning the handsome Marquis Fabien de Vendome of the wicked plot against his kin. But to do so, Rachelle must follow a perilous course.

About the Author:
Linda Lee Chaikin has written over thirty books including the bestselling Daughter of Silk., its sequel Written on Silk, and The Midwife of St. Petersburg. Linda, an award winning author, is a graduate of Multnomah School of the Bible in Portland, Oregon. She and her husband live in Northern California.

Author Website:
http://www.lindachaikinbooks.com


My Review:
Linda Lee Chaikin is awesome! She writes with vivid detail and complexity. This story immediately drew me in, especially when I got to visit Catherine De Medici again! Reading C.W. Gortner’s Confessions of Catherine De Medici, I became a HUGE fan of her and while this book is about Rachelle, it still visits with the Queen Mother Catherine De Medici and her courts. That was a bonus for me!

Rachelle’s character was vibrantly created. She falls in love with a forbidden man-someone far, far above her in society. When Rachelle learns of  Catherine De Medici’s conspiracy against the Huguenots, the suspenseful twists to the plot begin, for Rachelle, in the court as a seamstress to De Medici’s daughter, is a Protestant in secret. The man that Rachelle fell in love with, that far above her man, falls in love with her, too, and together they try to stop the plotting of a conspiracy. It all came down to an amazingly written, well researched, and beautifully blended historical, romantic suspenseful novel!

Linda Lee Chaikin is a new-to-me author, though with books like this one, she has earned a top spot on my list! This 5 star novel is filled with love, mystery, pain and lots of French history. I highly recommend this to ALL book lovers!

Purchase:

*This eBook was provided for review by Zondervan*

[Book Review] A Place of Peace (Kaufmann Amish Bakery, bk 3) by Amy Clipston

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About the Book:
Miriam Lapp, who left the Amish community in Pennsylvania three years ago, is heartbroken when her sister calls to reveal that her mother has died suddenly. Traveling home to Pennsylvania, she is forced to face the heartache from her past, including her rift from her family and the break up of her engagement with Timothy Kauffman. Her past emotional wounds are reopened when her family rejects her once again and she finds out that Timothy is in a relationship with someone else. Miriam discovers that the rumors that broke them up three years ago were all lies. However, when Timothy proposes to his girlfriend and Miriam’s father disowns her, Miriam returns to Indiana with her heart in shambles. When Miriam’s father has a stroke, Miriam returns to Pennsylvania, and her world begins to fall apart, leaving her to question her place in the Amish community and her faith in God.

About the Author:
Amy Clipston is the author of the bestselling Kauffman Amish Bakery novels. She has a degree in communications from Virginia Wesleyan College and currently works for the city of Charlotte, North Carolina. Amy lives with her husband, two sons, and three spoiled-rotten cats. Visit her on the web at www.amyclipston.com.

Author Website:
http://www.amyclipston.com


My Review:
Another fabulously written addition to the Kauffman Amish Bakery novels by Amy Clipston! I was super glad to have had the chance to review these novels in this series. They are about the plain and simple Amish, but they are packed full of BIG, complex lessons of God’s never ending love and guidance.

Once again, we are taken to Pennsylvania Amish country through Amy’s words and research. This particular addition to the series is my favorite. It just settled into my heart and pulled me straight into the story. We get to see lots of the fun loving characters from the first two novels, along with some new ones. I really felt a connection to Miriam as she questioned things in her life. I have often found myself doing just what she did as she asked the questions, and I found, like Miriam, at times that it was hard to rely on Faith alone. But, through lots of prayer and understanding, God’s love shines through Miriam and flows straight to the readers souls.

Once again, I give Amy’s book no less than 5 stars and the highest of recommendation. If you are new to Amy’s books, never fear….this, as with the other two, are good as stand alone titles as well, but, as always, I highly recommend that you read these fabulous books in order. I am looking forward to more work from Amy (hmmm…possibly another Kauffman additional???? Hint, hint, Amy ;-) !) in the future! Hats off, to a WONDERFULLY amazing author!

You can purchase your copy here.

*This book was provided for review by Zondervan*

[Book Review] Unlocked by Karen Kingsbury

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About the Book:
Before You Take a Stand … You Got to Take a Chance.

Holden Harris is an eighteen-year-old locked in a prison of autism. Despite his quiet ways and quirky behaviors, Holden is very happy and socially normal—on the inside, in a private world all his own. In reality, he is bullied at school by kids who only see that he is very different.

Ella Reynolds is part of the “in” crowd. A cheerleader and star of the high school drama production, her life seems perfect. When she catches Holden listening to her rehearse for the school play, she is drawn to him … the way he is drawn to the music. Then, Ella makes a dramatic discovery—she and Holden were best friends as children.

Frustrated by the way Holden is bullied, and horrified at the indifference of her peers, Ella decides to take a stand against the most privileged and popular kids at school.

Including her boyfriend, Jake.

Ella believes miracles can happen in the unlikeliest places, and that just maybe an entire community might celebrate from the sidelines. But will Holden’s praying mother and the efforts of Ella and a cast of theater kids be enough to unlock the prison that contains Holden?

This time, friendship, faith, and the power of a song must be strong enough to open the doors to the miracle Holden needs.

About the Author:
New York Times Bestselling author Karen Kingsbury is America’s favorite inspirational novelist with over fifteen million books in print. Her Life-Changing Fiction has produced multiple bestsellers, including Take One, Between Sundays, Even Now, One Tuesday Morning, Beyond Tuesday Morning, and Ever After, which was named the 2007 Christian Book of the Year. An award-winning author and newly published songwriter, Karen has had several movies optioned for production, and her novel Like Dandelion Dust is in post production as a major motion picture release. Karen is also a nationally known speaker with several women’s groups. She lives in Washington State with her husband Don, and their six children, three of whom were adopted from Haiti.

My Review:
Karen Kingsbury is a seasoned author, who creates stories that her readers can relate to in someway or another. One thing about her stories and her books, is that she uses Forever in Fiction…an auction of sorts, that honors a friend or family member by placing their name as a character in her books. I think that that adds a meaning to her already depth filled stories.

We saw about Unlocked in Karen Kingsbury’s Take Four book as the characters in that book were producing a movie entitled Unlocked, about a young man who has Autistic. I’ll be honest with you and tell you that I just wasn’t sure how that would pan out in a story all it’s own, like it would drag on and on and not be like her previous stories, that touch the heart. But, I was pleasantly surprised with the book when I sat down and opened the story. Karen took two very touchy subjects: bullying and Autism, and combined them in one powerful book.

In Unlocked, we meet Holden Harris, an Autistic high schooler locked inside himself. Her’s a tender hearted character who prays for EVERYONE, even if they are “mean jerks” who like to tease and bully him. Enter Jake Collins. He’s the “mean jerk” who’s intent on bullying Holden, along with his jock buddies, even his girlfriend says to stop. Enter beautiful Ella. God used Ella in Holden’s life to help him….well, that’s were I’ll stop for fear if I go on, I’ll give spoilers to the story.

Through a hard lesson in bullying and through the seriousness of Autism, Kingsbury shows that God can take every situation, bad, good, or in between, and use it as a message. She also shows the power that unrelenting prayer can have on ones life. It is truly amazing. This is definitely a 4 star book that should not be missed. Oh and did I mention that you should really have lots of tissues handy? Yea, well, in case I forgot to mention it…..HAVE TISSUES!

You can purchase your copy here.

*This book was provided for review by Zondervan*