CFBA: Rhythm of Secrets by Patti Lacy

Song Stuck on the Brain: Without You by Harry Nilsson

This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing:


Rhythm of SecretsKregel Publications (December 22, 2010)


by


Patti Lacy


MY TAKE:

I'm enjoying this one very much, but I haven't completed the book yet, so be patient with me and I'll be back with a full review.



ABOUT THE BOOK:


Sheila Franklin has masqueraded as the precocious daughter of avant-garde parents in colorful 1940s New Orleans, a teen desperate for love and acceptance, and an unwed mother sent North with her shame.

After marrying Edward, Sheila artfully masks her secrets, allowing Edward to gain prominence as a conservative pastor. When one phone call from a disillusioned Vietnam veteran destroys her cover, Sheila faces an impossible choice: save her son and his beloved…or imperil Edward’s ambitions.

Inspired by a true story, The Rhythm of Secrets intermingles jazz, classical, and sacred music in a symphony trumpeting God’s grace.


Endorsements:

“A vibrant journey across time in search of the greatest truth of all: grace.”—Tosca Lee, author of Havah: The Story of Eve and Demon: A Memoir

“No longer a ‘well-kept secret,’ Patti Lacy is a master storyteller who speaks to the soul with a powerful and unique rhythm, weaving a tale so emotionally rich that story and reader become one.”—Julie Lessman, author of The Daughters of Boston series and A Hope Undaunted

“Patti Lacy pens another beautifully written story in The Rhythm of Secrets. I couldn’t put it down!”—Melanie Dobson, award-winning author of The Black Cloister

“The Rhythm of Secrets is a stirring story of faith and endurance that will keep readers turning the page until every last secret is revealed.”—Tina Ann Forkner, author of Ruby Among Us and Rose House


If you would like to read an excerpt of Rhythm of Secrets, go HERE.


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Patti Lacy, Baylor graduate, taught community college humanities until God called her to span seas and secrets in her novels, An Irishwoman's Tale and What the Bayou Saw. She has two grown children and a dog named Laura. She and her husband can be seen jog-walking the streets of Normal, Illinois, an amazing place to live for a woman born in a car. For more information, visit Patti's website at http://www.pattilacy.com/, her blog at www.pattilacy.com/blog, and her Facebook daily Artbites.

CFBA: Digitalis by Ronie Kendig

Song Stuck on the Brain: Breakeven by The Script

This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing:
DigitalisBarbour Publishing, Inc.(January 1, 2011)
by
Ronie Kendig

MY TAKE:

I've been anxiously waiting for the next book in the Discarded Hero series. I loved the first book Nightshade and I knew from the minute I read the last page, that Colton "Cowboy" McNeely was the one I wanted read more about. YAY! I'm so happy to have my wish come true. Ronie has done a fantastic job building great suspense around real heroes that are also real men. I feel like I got it all. Excitement, suspense, emotion, faith and heart. And a really good looking man too! I know he's cute, I've been picturing him since I read book one. Although I have to say the cover just isn't what I had in mind. :) This was a fantastic follow up, I can't wait to read more from Ronie.

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Step into the boots of a former Marine in this heart-pounding adventure in life and love. Colton “Cowboy” Neeley is a Marine trying to find his footing as he battles flashbacks now that he’s back home. Piper Blum is a woman in hiding—from life and the assassins bent on destroying her family. When their hearts collide, more than their lives are at stake. Will Colton find a way to forgive Piper’s lies? Can Piper find a way to rescue her father, trapped in Israel? Is there any way their love, founded on her lies, can survive?


If you would like to read an excerpt of Digitalis, go HERE.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Ronie has been married since 1990 to a man who can easily be defined in classic terms as a hero. She has four beautiful children. Her eldest daughter is 16 this year, her second daughter will be 13, and her twin boys are 10. After having four children, she finally finished her degree in December 2006. She now has a B.S. in Psychology through Liberty University in Lynchburg, VA. Getting her degree is a huge triumph for both her and her family--they survived!!

This degree has also given her a fabulous perspective on her characters and how to not only make them deeper, stronger, but to make them realistic and know how they'll respond to each situation. Her debut novel, Dead Reckoning released March 2010 from Abingdon Press. And her Discarded Heroes series began in July 2010 from Barbour with the first book entitled Nightshade.

This is the second book in the series.

CSFF: Dragons of the Valley by Donita K. Paul

Song Stuck on the Brain: Dream On by Aerosmith

Today, the CSFF blog tour is featuring:

Dragons of the Valley

by

Donita K. Paul

MY TAKE:

Pardon me while I take a moment to do my Snoopy dance... There, all better. Can you tell how excited I am to finally have the next dragon book in hand? (Or, to be proper, the second book in the Chiril Chronicles.) My entire family and most of my friends are drooling over the fact I got to read it first.

Donita has an amazing way with story telling. She's like the classic bard that can share the words and make them come to life in front of you. Wizard Fenworth has nothing on her. Besides an incredibly rich world of races and creatures, there runs a very powerful story about God and His plan for our lives. The depth of her message is so moving, and yet you don't feel like you're being drawn into a religious debate. Instead, your hearing parables and seeing lessons learned by example and experience. The stories have no age boundaries, they really are for everyone and her fan base proves that over and over.

And now that I've finished Dragons of the Valley, I'm back to waiting on pins and needles all over again for the next dragon book.

ABOUT THE BOOK:

War threatens the peaceful land of Chiril… can one painter-turned-reluctant-swordsman really help?

With an invasion of her country imminent, Tipper Schope is drawn into a mission to keep three important statues from falling into the enemy’s clutches. Her friend, the artist Bealomondore, helps her execute the plan, and along the way he learns to brandish a sword rather than a paintbrush.

As odd disappearances and a rash of volatile behavior sweep Chiril, no one is safe. A terrible danger has made his vicious presence known: The Grawl, a hunter unlike any creature encountered before.

To restore their country, Tipper, Bealomondore, and their party must hide the statues in the Valley of the Dragons and find a way to defeat the invading army. When it falls to the artistic Bealomondore to wield his sword as powerfully and naturally as a paintbrush, will he answer Wulder’s call for a champion?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Donita K. Paul retired early from teaching school, but soon got bored! The result: a determination to start a new career. Now she is an award-winning novelist writing Christian Romance and Fantasy. She says, “I feel blessed to be doing what I like best.”

She mentors all ages, teaching teenagers and weekly adult writing workshops.

“God must have imprinted 'teacher' on me clear down to the bone. I taught in public school, then home schooled my children, and worked in private schools. Now my writing week isn’t very productive unless I include some time with kids.”

Her two grown children make her proud, and her two grandsons make her laugh.

Be sure to visit Donita K. Paul on her blog by clicking HERE.

Visit the other tour members blogs to read more:

Gillian Adams
Noah Arsenault
Amy Bissell
Red Bissell
Justin Boyer
Keanan Brand
Grace Bridges
Beckie Burnham
Keanan Brand
Morgan L. Busse
CSFF Blog Tour
Amy Cruson
D. G. D. Davidson
Amber French
Andrea Graham
Katie Hart
Ryan Heart
Bruce Hennigan
Becky Jesse
Cris Jesse
Jason Joyner
Julie
Carol Keen
Dawn King
Emily LaVigne
Shannon McDermott
Matt Mikalatos
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Joan Nienhuis
John W. Otte
Donita K. Paul
Sarah Sawyer
Chawna Schroeder
Tammy Shelnut
Kathleen Smith
James Somers
Fred Warren
Phyllis Wheeler
Dave Wilson

CFBA: Angel Harp by Michael Phillips

Song Stuck on the Brain: Your Love by Brandon Heath

This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing:


Angel HarpFaithWords (January 26, 2011)


by


Michael Phillips


MY TAKE:

Michael Phillips has long been one of my favorite authors. I think it's because when you read one of his novels you take a journey. It's not just a good tale, it's an exploration of culture and land and people. Angel Harp is a good example of this. Scotland itself becomes a main character, impressing itself on Marie. Molding and shaping her with it's spirit and rawness that speaks so clearly of God's presence.

Angel Harp isn't a book to zip through quickly, it's meant to be enjoyed and savored like a good cup of tea. (Although I prefer coffee...Ack, my Scottish ancestors just rolled over in their graves.) Marie Buchan's journey is admirable and eye opening, as is the stories of the many new friends she makes. I really enjoyed the journey.



ABOUT THE BOOK:

Widowed at 34, amateur harpist Marie "Angel" Buchan realizes at 40 that her life and dreams are slowly slipping away. A summer in Scotland turns out to offer far more than she ever imagined! Not only does the music of her harp capture the fancy of the small coastal village she visits, she is unexpectedly drawn into a love triangle involving the local curate and the local duke.

The boyhood friends have been estranged as adults because of their mutual love of another woman (now dead) some years before. History seems destined to repeat itself, with Marie in the thick of it. Her involvement in the lives of the two men, as well as in the community, leads to a range of exciting relationships and lands Marie in the center of the mystery of a long-unsolved local murder. Eventually she must make her decision: with whom will she cast the lot of her future?

If you would like to read the first chapter of Angel Harp, go HERE



ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Michael Phillips has been writing in the Christian marketplace for 30 years. All told, he has written, co-written, and edited some 110 books. Phillips and his wife live in the U.S., and make their second home in Scotland.

Flight of Shadows by Sigmund Brouwer

Song Stuck on the Brain: Million Pieces by The Newsboys

Today I'm touring a book I received free for review from WaterBrook Multnomah through their Blogging for Books program.




Flight of Shadows: A Novel

by

Sigmund Brouwer

MY TAKE:

Flight of Shadows, Sigmund Brouwer's follow-up to Broken Angel, was a very pleasant surprise. I'd read Broken Angel and enjoyed it, but had no idea that a sequel had been written. Reading Flight of Shadows was like stumbling across a group of long lost friends. Finding Caitlyn, Billy, and Theo again, and joining them on this new journey was perfect.

Brouwer's depiction of our near future is indeed dismal, with the worst in humanity on display from politics to religion. But through it all runs a very firm strand of hope. This may be speculative fiction, a story that begs us to look a little deeper at our true nature and how close we all walk the line between good and evil, but it's also a fantastic, fast paced, nail-biting read that keeps you up to all hours of the night.

I dare you not to find a part of yourself that identifies with genetically manipulated Caitlyn, or gentle giant Billy, or even street savy Razor, in some way. It's the sign of a truly gifted writer, that character's become people who live and breathe in our minds. Paper images of our own hidden thoughts and fears that allow us to imagine 'what if'. Alter egos of a sort, that give us the opportunity to explore new worlds and learn the great lessons in life, all while encouraging us to look past the evil in the world and see the hope that is still there for all to receive.

This is definitely speculative fiction at it's best.

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Her genetic secret could change humanity forever.
Her DNA grants her the ultimate power.
But all she wants is to disappear.

Looming buildings rise into the sky of a near-future America, shadowing the desperate poverty of the soovie parks, death doctors, and fear bombs. In this world of walled cities, where status matters most, Caitlyn Brown is desperate to remain invisible, wrongly believing what she needs to hide is the deformity on her back. The powerful want her for so much more.

She’s forced to take flight again, relying on the help of Razor, a street-smart illusionist she can’t trust. Her only hope is to reach friends already tracked by government.

With a twisted bounty hunter in full pursuit, she and Razor begin to learn the unthinkable about her past and the unique gifts of her DNA. It leads Caitlyn to a choice between the two men who love her, and whether to keep her freedom or sacrifice herself to change human destiny.

In this lightning-fast chase through an all-too-plausible future, best-selling author Sigmund Brouwer is at his best. Flight of Shadows is a terrifying ride into the heart of compelling moral questions about science and society.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Sigmund Brouwer is the author of eighteen novels with nearly three million copies in print. His recent novel The Last Disciple was featured in Time magazine and on ABC's Good Morning America. Sigmund is married to Christian recording artist Cindy Morgan, and they and their two daughters divide their time between homes in Red Deer, Alberta, Canada and Nashville, Tennessee.