Tag Archives: book reviews

Review: The God of All Comfort, by Hannah Whitall Smith

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The God of All Comfort cover artThe God of All Comfort, by Hannah Whitall Smith (Whitaker House, 2003)

If God is indeed the God of all comfort; if He is our Shepherd; if He is truly our Father; if all the many aspects we have been studying of His character and His ways are true, then we must conclude that He is, in Himself alone, enough for all our possible needs. Therefore, we may safely rest in Him, absolutely and forever. (p. 284)

That’s an apt summary of the message of this book. Hannah Whitall Smith challenges readers to consider what the Bible says about God and His nature, and to compare that with what our inner responses reveal we actually believe. It’s not enough to have head knowledge that God is good, for example. We need to develop the heart knowledge that lets us base our lives and actions on the fact.

The version I’ve read has been “revised for clarity and readability” although it keeps the King James Scriptures. The next time I read it, I think I’ll look each one up in a newer translation as I go, for an even clearer grasp of what’s being said. And there are still some readability issues.

For example, Mrs. Smith refers to “comfortable faith,” meaning faith that’s not “uncomfortable” in the sense of distressing us because we have an unhealthy view of God as tyrant, weak or unloving. To my mind, “comfortable faith” implies laziness and stagnation.

I found much to bless, encourage and strengthen me in The God of All Comfort. Some things I didn’t quite accept, and I’m not sure if I didn’t understand them or if I take a different view.

According to the biography at the end of the book, Hannah Whitall Smith ended her days as a Universalist. In general, the teaching in The God of All Comfort meshed well with Scripture and drew me nearer to God, but with her change in mind I’m not too eager to adopt anything blindly (good advice at the best of times).

My copy of the book bristles with coloured flags marking key points. The best thing it did for me was challenge me to intentionally trust God as my Good Shepherd and to consciously rely on His Word.

According to the Wikipedia article on Hannah Whitall Smith, she lived from 1832-1911 in the US and England.

[Review copy from my personal library.]

Review: Worth its Weight in Old, by K.D. Hays

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Worth its Weight in Old cover artWorth its Weight in Old, by K.D. Hays (Spyglass Lane Mysteries, 2011)

Karen Maxwell’s career as a private investigator is just starting to take off. She hopes. Working for her brother’s investigative firm, she’s finally getting out of a clerical role and into the field. Her assignment: take an undercover job in an antique store and find out who’s been damaging the merchandise.

Her challenge: to do this while single-parenting a 9-year-old son and 12-year-old daughter, and while securing her boyfriend’s attention when he only seems to want to see her at play rehearsals for his church’s youth group. Oh, and she has to not kill the new guy her brother hired to help in the office.

I really enjoyed K.D. Hays’ writing style in this cozy mystery. The novel is funny and a fast read. It’s as much about the characters as about the mystery, which makes sense in a series book. Karen has still got some things in life to learn, and she’s gained a bit of perspective by the story’s end. I hope there’ll be a third book in the series, because I’d like to spend more time with these characters.

Worth its Weight in Old is book 2 in the Karen Maxwell Mystery series, and readers new to the series will have no trouble starting here. But you might want to start with book 1, George Washington Stepped Here. Otherwise, there will be spoilers.

K.D. Hays is a pen name used for contemporary mysteries and children’s stories. The author also publishes historical romances under her own name, Kate Dolan. Click to learn more about the Karen Maxwell books  or to read sample chapters.

[Review copy from my personal library.]

Review: Spinneret, by Timothy Zahn

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Spinneret cover artSpinneret, by Timothy Zahn (ebook version from Open Road Integrated Media, 2012)

In the year 2016, Earth’s first starship sets out on Project Homestead: a mission to find a planet to colonize. They soon discover a problem: the habitable planets are already taken!

The best the humans can do is to lease a planet nobody else wants due to its complete lack of metals. The cost and risk factors push what was to be a UN mission onto the Americans. The planet is dubbed Astra, and humans’ first colony begins.

When all metals – including a bulldozer – literally sink into the ground, the colony seems doomed. Until the planet proves to contain an ancient artifact worth more than anyone imagined.

Suddenly everyone wants it: the aliens and the UN. But US-appointed planetary leader Colonel Meredith and the people of Astra won’t give up their new home.

As well as learning to work with six diverse alien races and trying to fend off a UN takeover, the Astrans have to overcome internal differences. What began as a military-run effort faces the transition to civilian government and the threat of a coup from within.

This is a fun science fiction novel with Timothy Zahn’s trademark mastery of political and military tactics. Spinneret was printed in 1985 and released as an ebook in 2012. It’s still relevant conceptually and in terms of the issues it raises about immigration and international politics.

Naturally some of the “historical” events mentioned haven’t happened (like the 2011 Mexican Collapse). The characters still use cassettes, but they also have star drives (invented by Canadians, thank you very much). Still I doubt we’ll reach the projected date of space travel in 2016.

Spinneret is one of seven of Timothy Zahn’s hard-to-find novels released by Open Road Media in ebook format, and they’re all worth reading. My personal favourites on the list are Blackcollar and The Backlash Mission (Blackcollar #2). I really like the covers for these ebooks… some of the original paperback covers are very, well… eighties-ish.

My copy of Spinneret is an advance review copy, and there are a few typos that may have been corrected for the retail version. The font is a bit unusual and although attractive it can be hard to read on the smaller display settings. Lower-case letters with stems (like b, f, l, k) aren’t much taller than the shorter ones, which makes it easy to confuse f with r, i with l etc. Especially in a science fiction novel with unusual names, this can be a problem.

Still, to read these earlier books from a master in the genre, the ebooks are an easier choice than hunting the Internet for used copies of the paperbacks. (Thanks, AbeBooks, for helping me complete my collection a few years ago. I’ll be upgrading to ebooks over time.)

Hugo Award winning author Timothy Zahn writes in the Star Wars universe as well as in those of his own creation. You can find him on Facebook. His next scheduled release is the Star Wars novel, Scoundrels, releasing in early 2013.

[Review copy provided by the publisher in exchange for a fair review.]

Review: The Word Reclaimed, by Steve Rzasa

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The Word Reclaimed cover artThe Word Reclaimed, by Steve Rzasa (Marcher Lord Press, 2009)

It’s 2602 and humans have developed interstellar travel and colonized planets. Major power belongs to the Realm of Five, with dissenters living on the fringes as Expatriates. The other players in this universe are the Martians, and I’m not clear if they’re humans who lived on Mars and then rebelled or if they’re another race entirely. What they are is hostile.

The Realm of Five’s Royal Stability Force, aka “Kesek,” is a nasty secret-police-type enforcer of political correctness, including the Realm-wide ban on any religions other than the state-created generic one that won’t “threaten the human spirit”.

When their spaceship stops to salvage the remains of another ship, Baden Haczyk discovers highly dangerous contraband: a Bible. Print books are things of the past, and people read on wireless devices called delvers. Along with other holy books, Bibles were thought to have been destroyed.

Should he sell it on the black market? Give it to Kesek before they come after him?

He’ll decide when the ship reaches the next space station. First, he starts reading it.

While the main plot thread of Baden and the book (and his difficult relationship with his father) plays out, a secondary thread follows cadet Alex Verge and his family on earth and into space on a military mission.

Author Steve Rzasa weaves two seemingly-different stories set in the same universe to mesh into one satisfying conclusion that dangles enough questions to make me want to read the next book in the series, The Word Unleashed.

One thing I enjoy about futuristic novels is the authors’ extrapolation of technology, specifically space travel. Steve Rzasa has some intriguing ideas that add an extra layer of interest to the novel.

I felt a degree of information overload in places, as if the author were giving me more background details than I needed to know. He’s done a thorough job of world-building (would that be “universe-building”?) and I can definitely visualize this story as an epic space movie. It has everything: ships, chases, action, explosions, battles, exotic locales… as well as relationships, political machinations and a thought-provoking plot.

One thing I’ve noted in other Marcher Lord Press books is the meticulous editing, and I was surprised to see some copy-editing issues here. Nothing more than you’d see most places, except for the fact that Alex is Alec for a while when we first meet him, but still not what I expected.

You can read a sample of The Word Reclaimed online. The remaining books in the Face of the Deep series are The Word Unleashed and Broken Sight. You can read an interview with Steve Rzasa (pronounced “Ra-zah”) on the Marcher Lord Press site or visit his website, The Face of the Deep. His newest novel is Crosswind, in the steampunk genre, and it looks intriguing.

[Review copy from my personal library.]

Blogging Book Reviews: Benefits and Tips

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If you read books, it’s a natural progression to talk about them on your blog. Here are six benefits, plus some tips to get you started.

1. New Content

Bloggers have an ongoing need of material. You’re reading anyway; why not get some extra mileage from it?

2. Attract Visitors

Some visitors who find my blog for reviews stay as subscribers, and some write blogs that I’ve added to my own reading list.

3. Promote Your Blog

Join a readers’ group on Facebook and post your review link. Tweet the link with an eye-catching phrase and the hashtag #review.

4. Value Added

If you review books with content related to your other posts, you’re providing resources for your community of readers.

5. Help Others

Your reviews can help readers discover books they’ll love, and they raise awareness of authors you like.

6. Free Books

Publishers and authors provide free books to reviewers, and you only choose the ones you want. (I review for Graf-Martin and BookSneeze®, and I’ve just set up with NetGalley. An Internet search will turn up more options.)

Blogging Book Reviews 101

Be yourself; use your regular blogging voice. Start with a book you think your readers might appreciate.

Keep it short, 300-400 words. Write a brief description (no spoilers!), tell what works (or anything key that doesn’t) and share your personal reaction. Include cover art if possible and a link to the author’s website.

If you didn’t like the book, think twice about reviewing it. Don’t turn it into a personal attack on the author. Be  professional.

If you decide to make this a regular feature, don’t schedule it so tightly that you turn reading into work.

If you were given the book for review purposes, or if you’re using Amazon (or other) affiliate links, include a disclosure to that effect.

[This post originally appeared in Carolyn Wilker‘s monthly newsletter, FineTuned, October 2012 edition.]

Review: When Will the Dead Lady Sing? by Patricia Sprinkle

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When Will the Dead Lady Sing cover artWhen Will the Dead Lady Sing? by Patricia Sprinkle (Signet, 2004)

MacLaren and Joe Riddley Yarbrough live in the small town of Hopemore, Georgia. She’s a county magistrate, and he had the job before her. They have married children and school-age grandchildren, so these aren’t your traditional 20-somethings.

They were childhood sweethearts, and the long relationship has developed some delightful banter between them. There’s also a secret between them, one MacLaren hoped would never surface: in university, she briefly dated someone else behind Joe Riddley’s back.

That man is now somewhat of a hero to Joe Riddley. What’s she to do when he turns up in town, complete with a political entourage and a live buffalo?

And when she finds a dead body who’s linked to the man, things get even worse. Mac has promised her husband she’ll stay out of investigating, but the local sheriff is short on sense. I assume that’s how she’s gotten involved in previous mysteries, too.

When Will the Dead Lady Sing? is book 7 in the Thoroughly Southern Mystery series, and the first one I’ve read. I plan to go back and start at the beginning. The author thoughtfully provides an opening list of the characters to help keep them straight.

This is a mainstream mystery with some Christian characters. In the story, MacLaren and Joe Riddley attend church, send a homeless man to a church-funded soup kitchen (and then regret that they didn’t help him more), and pray for their grandson when he gets in trouble. Nothing preachy or flashy, and everything serves a purpose in the plot.

The characters, Christian and non, are real, feeling people. Some are a bit eccentric, as you’d expect in a humour-tinged southern mystery. They fit with Patricia Sprinkle’s delightful voice (as spoken through first person narrator, Mac).

Patricia Sprinkle has published many mysteries, including the Thoroughly Southern Mysteries and the Family Tree Series, but somehow I hadn’t read any of her novels. When another mystery author, Jayne E. Self, interviewed her I enjoyed the interview and liked the humour in some of her titles. Her name sounded familiar, and a search turned up When Will the Dead Lady Sing, deep in my to-read stash. [Read the interview: Part 1 and Part 2]

[Review copy from my personal library.]

Review: Murder a Cappella, by James R. Callan and Diane Bailey

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Murder a Cappella cover artMurder a Cappella, by James R. Callan and Diane Bailey (Wayside Press, 2012)

The stereotypical image of barbershop music is a quartet of older men in straw hats, singing four-part harmony. What most people outside barbershop circles don’t know is that A) men’s quartets and choruses have young and middle-aged guys too, and B) there are ladies’ quartets and choruses. And both groups have regional, district and international competitions.

So… the scene is San Antonio, Texas. The Alamo plaza, to be precise, where an identically-dressed quartet of female barbershoppers is part of an open-air concert. It’s part of the Sweet Adelines’ international competition, and women have travelled from all over the US and beyond to participate.

When a sniper kills two members of the quartet, is it random violence? Or is someone after the singers?

Barbershopper Tina Overton is in town for the competition, but she’s a cop in her other life. The victims were her friends, and she wants to help find their killer. She works herself into the investigation as a liaison between the San Antonio police and the Sweet Adelines.

This is a mainstream novel and there’s some minor profanity. Because a lot of my readers are Christian, I’ll warn you there’s one instance of Jesus’ name used as a curse. The sad thing is, another word would have done as well and been less offensive. Otherwise, the novel’s a good read.

By definition, a competition for barbershop choruses involves a lot of characters. While only a few are central to the story, like Tina, Angela and the detective, there are a number of interactions with what I’ll call “mid-level” characters. At times I got their names jumbled. If you’re prone to that sort of thing, I’d suggest taking a blank paper for a bookmark and jotting down each person as s/he appears. First and last name (the detective uses surnames) and a cue, like “director.” It’s times like this I wish for the Agatha Christie-style cast list.

Murder a Cappella is the first barbershop-themed mystery I’ve read, and the authors do a fine job of balancing the intricate behind-the-scenes world of the women’s international competition with the unfolding mystery and clues. The solution took me by surprise.

If you’re a barbershopper, you’ll nod and smile at some of the details and situations. If you’re not, you’ll learn a bit about something new. You won’t feel lost in jargon or technicalities. This is Tina’s first time at International, and she’s new enough to her chorus that if there’s anything you need to know, she’ll need to know too. Her friend and mentor Angela will explain it in a non-disruptive way.

You can learn about co-authors James R. Callan and Diane Bailey at their respective websites. For more about Murder a Cappella, to read chapter 1 or to view the book trailer, visit the Sweet Adelines Mystery site. Yes, there will be more Sweet Adeline Mysteries. And that’s a good thing.

[review copy from my personal library]

Review: Trading in Danger, by Elizabeth Moon

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Trading in Danger cover artTrading in Danger, by Elizabeth Moon (Vatta’s War #1) (Del Rey, 2004)

Kylara Vatta chose a military career over the family’s interstellar shipping business. When she’s kicked out of the academy for a lapse in judgment, the best way to avoid the media frenzy is to accept her father’s assignment to deliver an old ship to a distant planet for scrap.

The job comes with a Captain’s rank and a seasoned crew. The ship’s not in too bad a shape, but it won’t pass its next inspection without expensive repairs. If Ky can pick up some good trades en route to the scrap yard, she could buy the ship herself, fix it up and go independent.

Following the family mantra of “trade and profit” puts Kylara and crew in the middle of an unforeseen interplanetary war. A civilian captain without Ky’s military training would panic and be killed. Young though she is, Kylara has a chance of bringing her crew out alive.

As well as action and adventure, the novel provides an interesting look at cultures, trading customs, and diplomacy. Characters are nominally religious, although that means choosing a sect to suit one’s philosophy. There’s no acceptance of an actual God (or devil).

Trading in Danger is the first in the Vatta’s War series. I want to see how some of the ongoing plot threads work out, and I enjoy watching Ky in action. She’s a strong female hero and I like her style. [At the time of posting this review, I’m ready to start book 4.]

I’d suggest picking up book 2, Marque and Reprisal, with the first book. I didn’t do that, and then I read the first chapter (included at the end of book 1). Suffice to say it starts with a bang and the chapter end is not a spot you want to stop.

Elizabeth Moon writes both science fiction and fantasy. To learn more about her and her books, visit her website, appropriately named Moonscape. Her novels have won Compton Crook, Nebula and Heinlein Awards and been nominated for a Hugo. I owe a special thanks to James at Fantasy in Motion for introducing me to this author through his interview with Elizabeth Moon.

[Review copy from my personal library.]

Review: Double Blind, by Brandilyn Collins

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Double Blind cover artDouble Blind, by Brandilyn Collins (B&H Publishing Group, 2012)

Lisa Newberry is a wreck. In recent years she’s had three miscarriages, lost her husband in a car accident, and barely survived a mugging. Depression is crushing her and she’s desperate and alone.

Her last hope is a clinical trial for a revolutionary new treatment for depression: a tiny electronic chip implanted in her brain. The chip works. But it also gives her visions—memories—of a murder.

Who is the dead woman? Has her body been found? And who killed her? Does he know Lisa has his memories through the tainted chip? Is he coming for her next?

As a suspense novel, Double Blind rates highly—no surprise for Brandilyn Collins fans. It’s a page-turning, bedtime-delaying read. The plot is fast, believable and nicely convoluted. But it’s more than just an exciting story. This is one of those potentially life-changing novels for a lot of readers.

Lisa’s recent life events have only added to self-worth pain from her childhood (raised by a single mother who found fault instead of praise). Negative thought patterns and emotions have deepened the original hurts. She doesn’t feel God anymore and believes He’s left her.

Her mother barges back into her life and learns about the visions. While the two women try to solve the mystery, they’re also repairing their relationship.

Lisa learns (and teaches us by example) to stand up for herself and to reject self-defeating behaviours. She learns to trust that God is always with her, even when her feelings disagree. Her mother learns a few parenting skills. All these are minor threads, rising naturally from the characters’ personalities and experiences. Double Blind is not a preachy novel, nor one filled with plastic-perfect examples that shame readers in our imperfect states.

It may seem odd that Lisa wasn’t under a doctor’s care for depression in the first place. I think it’s because the traumas were so recent and she’d withdrawn herself. Even her closest friend didn’t realize how bad things were.

Double Blind is the newest novel from Seatbelt Suspense® novelist Brandilyn Collins. You can learn more about the author at her website or find her Facebook page. You can also read an excerpt from Double Blind.

[Review copy provided by The DeMoss Group for a fair review.]

 

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Refresh: 19 Ways to Boost Your Spiritual Life

Review: Refresh, by Ron Hughes

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Refresh: 19 Ways to Boost Your Spiritual LifeRefresh: 19 Ways to Boost Your Spiritual Life, by Ron Hughes (Gospel Folio Press, 2011)

Who doesn’t need a bit of spiritual refreshment from time to time? Ron Hughes’ slender book, Refresh, offers simple and practical ways to deepen and grow our spiritual lives.

The author is quick to admit that he hasn’t “arrived” yet, but these practices continue to help him and can help us too. Each section can be read in a single sitting. They open with “A Story to Start” (as told by a Biblical character), followed by Biblical background, exploration and application, potential pitfalls, and “A Word of Encouragement.”

Topics include solitude, confession, service, simplicity, rest, and more. I found them easy to read and process, yet with scope for a lifetime’s practice. Refresh is a book to re-read over the years, because its truths aren’t meant for a one-shot benefit/attempt. It’s not a formula for do-it-yourself spiritual growth, but operates on the principle that “God works in us when we actively share in the process.”

Canadian author Ron Hughes is president of the Ontario-based Christian media ministry, FBH International. Refresh can be ordered from the FBH website and there’s a free downloadable workbook for individual and group use. You can read an excerpt from Refresh (a fictional account from the prodigal son’s father).

Refresh can also be ordered through Amazon.ca and through your local Christian bookstore.

[Review copy from my personal library. This review originally appeared in the July/August 2012 issue of Faith Today.]