HAPPY NEW YEAR, 2015!

Tonight I hung out with my family. 3 generations playing Pictionary, the Dictionary game, eating snacks and watching The New Years Eve movie. (That movie is quickly becoming a tradition with us.) Now, as midnight and a new year approaches, the teens are off with their friends and we're counting down the minutes to a brand new year. New beginnings after a rather challenging year.

So from all of us to all of you...

May your new year be full of big dreams, hard work and answered prayers. God bless you in 2015!

Netgalley: Miracles in the ER by Robert D. Lesslie

Miracles in the ER

by

Robert D. Lesslie, M.D.

MY TAKE: 

I have a fascination with medical stories. My sister just rolls her eyes whenever I find a new medical documentary that I find fascinating and HAVE to watch. The human body is so complex, that despite all that mankind and science has done to discover it's intricacies, there is still so much to learn. On the flip side, with each new thing we learn, it's easier to see how magnificent and grand God's hand is in creation. SO, with that fascination in mind, I jumped on Dr. Lesslie's book with intrigue. 

Each chapter shares a story of a patient or co-worker he's been connected with. Some truly are what many would call miraculous. Others, may not seem like miracles, but the love and truth that is learned throughout the lesson is just as moving. I have to say that whether they would all be considered miracles or not, is not the point. The bigger picture is that through tragedy, drama, loss and more, a bigger picture was maintained and the heart and compassion of those involved were not lost. That's hard to find these days and it was great to be reminded. 

ABOUT THE BOOK & AUTHOR:

Extraordinary stories from a Doctor's journal. Bestselling author Dr. Robert Lesslie is a physician with more than 30 years of experience working in or directing fast-paced, intense ER environments. He is now the co-owner and medical director of two urgent-care facilities. He has written Notes from a Doctor's Pocket, Angels on the Night Shift, Angels and Heroes, Angels on Call, and Angels in the ER (over 200,000 sold) as well as newspaper and magazine columns and human-interest stories. He and his wife, Barbara, live in South Carolina.

CSFF: The Fatal Tree by Stephen R. Lawhead

Welcome to the CSFF blog tour for:

The Fatal Tree 

(Bright Empires Series)

by

Stephen R. Lawhead

If you're even a somewhat regular reader of my blog, then you know that I LOVE Stephen Lawhead's writing. I've had a blast reading the Bright Empire Series and have been waiting on pins and needles for the final book in the series to release. I was quite excited to get accepted for the review list, but apparently the post office has been overcome by the holiday mail because my book has never arrived. :( I'm VERY disappointed and I'm extremely hopeful it will arrive soon. Until that happens, I unfortunately can't post a review. But, I will give you the down low on the book and hook you up with the other tour members that have reviewed it. I don't think I'll be exaggerating though if I promise I'll love this one. I can't imagine that I wouldn't. 

HOWEVER  - The publisher did send out some really fun promotional gear. Temporary tattoos of the symbols on the skin map. They asked us to post a few on social media before the tour. I posted to both Facebook and Twitter. Here's the link to see the pictures in my Twitter post.

ABOUT THE BOOK: 

It started with small, seemingly insignificant wrinkles in time: A busy bridge suddenly disappears, spilling cars into the sea. A beast from another realm roams modern streets. Napoleon’s army appears in 1930s Damascus ready for battle. But that’s only the beginning as entire realities collide and collapse.

The questors are spread throughout the universe. Mina is stuck on a plain of solid ice, her only companion an angry cave lion. Tony and Gianni are monitoring the cataclysmic reversal of the cosmic expansion—but coming up short on answers. And Burleigh is languishing in a dreary underground dungeon—his only hope of survival the very man he tried to murder.

Kit and Cass are back in the Stone Age trying to reach the Spirit Well. But an enormous yew tree has grown over the portal, effectively cutting off any chance of return. Unless someone can find a solution—and fast—all Creation will be destroyed in the universal apocalypse known as The End of Everything.

In this final volume of the fantastic Bright Empires series, Stephen R. Lawhead brings this multi-stranded tale to a stunning and immensely satisfying conclusion.

“In the sweeping style of George R. R. Martin and J. R. Tolkien, Lawhead has created a diverse universe and rich cast of characters. Multiple story lines weave to form a satisfying ending to this mythological speculative series.” —Library Journal

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: 

Stephen Lawhead is an internationally acclaimed author of mythic history and imaginative fiction. He was born in 1950, in Nebraska in the USA. His early life was lived in America where he earned a university degree in Fine Arts and attended theological seminary for two years.

His first professional writing was done at Campus Life magazine in Chicago, where he was an editor and staff writer. During his five years at Campus Life he wrote hundreds of articles and several non-fiction books.

After a brief and unsuccessful foray into the music business—as president of his own record company—he launched his free-lance career in 1981. In the Hall of the Dragon King was his first novel.

In 1986 the Lawhead family moved to Britain so that Stephen could conduct research for the PENDRAGON CYCLE books. They settled there permanently in 1990, with some years spent living in Austria and a sabbatical in the United States.

In addition to his twenty-four novels, he has written nine children's books, many of them originally offered to his two sons, Drake and Ross. He is married to Alice Slaikeu Lawhead, with whom he has collaborated on books and articles. They make their home in Oxford, England.

Stephen's non-fiction, fiction and children's titles have variously been published in twenty-four foreign languages. He has won numerous industry awards, and in 2003 was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters by the University of Nebraska.

His middle name is ‘Ray’.

Visit him on Twitter!

OTHER TOUR MEMBER REVIEWS: 

Julie Bihn
Thomas Clayton Booher
Beckie Burnham
Jeff Chapman
Karri Compton
Victor Gentile
Jason Joyner
Janeen Ippolito
Carol Keen
Emileigh Latham
Rebekah Loper
Shannon McDermott
Meagan @ Blooming with Books
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Nissa Jalynn Patterson
Writer Rani
Nathan Reimer
Audrey Sauble
Jojo Sutis
Rachel Starr Thomson
Robert Treskillard
Steve Trower
Shane Werlinger
Phyllis Wheeler