Showing posts with label christian novel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label christian novel. Show all posts

Tuesday

Misery Loves Company - Book Review

I was privileged to get an ebook reader copy of this book from the publishers and read it during the past week.




Synopsis:


        Don’t tell me it’s terrifying. Terrify me.

Filled with grief, Jules Belleno rarely leaves the house since her husband’s death while on duty as a police officer. Other than the reviews Jules writes on her blog, she has little contact with the outside world.

But one day when she ventures out to the local grocery store, Jules bumps into a fellow customer . . . and recognizes him as her favorite author, Patrick Reagan. Jules gushes and thoroughly embarrasses herself before Regan graciously talks with her.

And that’s the last thing she remembers—until she wakes up in a strange room with a splitting headache. She’s been kidnapped. And what she discovers will change everything she believed about her husband’s death . . . her career . . . and her faith. 





While I was reading this book I thought I couldn't relate the title of the book to the story I was reading but as at other times I know that I may have to wait until I finish the book and then I get it!

       And yes I got it!

Not having read anything by this author before, I knew I would not be expecting a certain type of writing style or plot formula and it was nice to just read and enjoy the story as it developed in the way the author had intended it to and not the way I would be expecting.

Some of the characters were a little typical but not one-dimensional and the development of the storyline in the two separate ways within the story worked quite well.

Twice I thought I knew what was going to happen and I was wrong so definitely not a predictable storyline.  I enjoyed the book as a relaxing read but also in parts of it I found I was drawn in to consider how I would react if I had to face some of the issues presented.

Taking into consideration the fact that this was written by a woman and the main character is a woman I needed to decide if this was going to be a book that would only be categorised as a women's book.  It is not action packed but action and suspense are there and the fact that the rest of the main characters are male I have to say that I would not categorize it as such.

Within the storyline the subject of happy endings or real life, possibly unhappy endings came up but I will not give spoil it by telling you what type of ending this resulted in, just read it and see for yourself.






Misery Loves Company  by  Rene Gutteridge  www.renegutteridge.com 

Published by Tyndale  www.tyndale.com 

Released in August 2013









The Presence - Book Review


This was the first book I ever read by Davis Bunn and I was so impressed by it that I have read most of his books to date.







The Presence



Description


A Small-Town Lawyer. Big-City Corruption. Can One Person Truly Make a Difference? T. J. Case, a North Carolina lawyer and politician, takes a stand of integrity that costs him his election. As he considers his future, a morning of quiet reflection is transformed into a remarkable summons that propels him into the middle of Washington politics. And accompanying this commission is an extraordinary sense of divine direction to help reshape twisted lives and challenge corrupt systems. The cause that T. J. Case represents meets with resistance at the highest levels. In a dramatic clash against a shadowy network of organized evil, The Presence emerges as the prevailing power. But obedience demands sacrifice….










My Thoughts


The summary above does not give even a hint of the true impact this book can have on the reader.

I remember feeling changed when I had finished it and the sense of the presence of God was heavy on me.
I had not read a novel like this before and have not read one since.

Set in Washington and seemingly a political type story line would not have attracted me towards this book as I would not normally be interested in politics except in TV dramas like The West Wing.  However this was a story about the heart of a person and how he was led by God.  I loved seeing how even in places where we tend to presume very little Christian influence gets through, there is always God's way.

As I said at the start it was the first book by Davis Bunn that I read and it was many years ago but I will never forget it and the true test of how good a book is, will always be - will I read many more by this author?

 The answer here was yes, yes, yes!

 In the years since I have read most of his books and introduced my family to them as well.




 Here is a link to a list of other novels by Davis Bunn on Amazon
Books by Davis Bunn


If thinking of reading this book in the future why not pin this pic to go back to later.






It definitely deserves a place on my bookshelf,  what about yours?



Here are some more Book Reviews at Sandra's Ark