Monday, November 18, 2013

Lonnie's Loves

What a wonderful love story!  This is book 3 in the Cadence of Grace series.  I have not read the other stories so there was one bit of information I would have loved to have that was not covered in this book.  Otherwise this book is also a stand alone love story.
Lonnie has to choose between two men that she loves and that love her.  It is a story of these two men and of Lonnie and of God's love for them all.  I had no idea until the end which man she would choose.  I had no idea which one I would have chosen for that matter! :) The characters are very well developed and I enjoyed getting to know each character.  Very well written and it made me want to read more of the books in this series.
Great for young girls because the two men who are vying for the affection of Lonnie are both admirable characters.
I still wish I knew why Gideon left in the first place.  :)  Guess I will just have to go back and read the other books!

Friday, November 1, 2013

Finding God in a Bag of Groceries

Working with the poor as I do , I could relate to a lot of what Ms. Willis writes about. I appreciated her honesty in describing her feelings. I felt like the story was exactly about what it says it is about ...sharing food, discovering grace. Ms. Willis seems to have been searching for a way to follow the calling she feels the Lord has given her. I liked how she related the groceries that she gives away to the Communion and how Jesus met the physical needs of the people as well as the spiritual needs of the people. I think she grew in her own faith through providing groceries to those who were in need and it is always exciting to hear another believer's testimony. :)

Return To Me...historical fiction written to make you feel like you were there!

Historical fiction is not my favorite category of book to read. I think I either want to read fiction or true history. This book is an exception. I love reading the Bible. Honestly, there are some passages that I seem to skim over because I can't relate to how it must have been during that time period. The books of Ezra and Haggai are a couple of those. Return to Me has made reading the books of Ezra and Haggai (as well as some other passages in Kings) much easier to relate to. By placing the true historical account into modern day language with characters that are "fleshed out", Lynn Austin has helped me to truly understand the Biblical Old Testament more. This story is wonderful...a story of families divided, of slaves released, of promises of the Lord God kept, and of forsaking of the one true God. The main character I believe is Zechariah who was a prophet of God. But the story starts out with him as a child, playing with other children, growing up in a family, and discovering whether his faith was his own or his family's. I do not want to spoil the reader's enjoyment of this book by revealing too much. Let me just say...if you like love stories, you will love this book. If you like historical fiction, you will love this book. If you like reading the Bible, you will love this book. If you like reading about the Jewish people and land, you will love this book. If you like books with a lot of action, you will love this book. This is a book I will re-read again...and try to slow down a bit to read it because it is so good that I want to savor it the second time around instead of devour it like I did this time. Wonderful! First time having read any of Lynn Austin's works and now I want to read more.