Christian Store Week

Dear Readers,

Oct. 1-10 is being called Christian store week here in the Christian bookstore market.   Baker Book Store along with our local Parable store - Kregal - are celebrating the independent Christian bookstores.  We have loads of fun activities all week long, including a silent auciton for 3 orginal art pieces with the proceeds going to World Vision.  These artists has donated their pieces for this auction. 

Another reason to be excited is Fiction author Jody Hedlund is coming to visit on Tuesday Oct. 4th.  She is a Baker Publishing Group author and I am looking foward to meeting her.  She writes historical fiction with a story line that revolves around a real life story.

In The Preacher's Bride, Jody takes on the story of John and Elizabeth Bunyan.  John's first wife had past away and Elizabeth is helping him with his children as are other woman in the church.   This is not a love at first sight love story and even the story afterwards is not a happily ever after story.  They face loss and hardships that most of us can only think of and pray it never happens to our family. 

There is a monument in Wyoming that honors Narcissa Prentiss Whitman & Eliza Hart Spalding at the first white women to cross the Continental Divide.  Jody uses Narcissa's story as the back drop for her newest release The Doctor's Lady.  It is the story of two young people who wish to follow God's calling to become missionaries to the Nez Perce natives. 

As Narcissa and Marcus perpare for their trip west they find out that the mission board won't let two single people of the opposite sex travel together.  They must be married or not go.  So instead of not going and not listening to what they both feel is a call from God, they marry and head west. 

I can't imagine what that was like.  Not only was it a very hard and difficult trip, suddenly you have a spouse that you were not really planning on. Yikes and yet they both moved forward in their call.

I don't know if you have read either or both of these books, but it doesn't matter as now you have the chance to meet Jody and hear her heart in the writing of these books.  I have found over the years that that is something that makes books come to life.  She will be here in the store October 4th at 7:30 p.m.

We also have other authors visiting all week long and I have included a schedule below.  Hope to see you all here.

Happy Reading

Chris

Joel Tanis From TV's Come on Over Oct. 1st 10:30 - Noon

Jody Hedlund - Oct. 4th - 7:30 p.m.

George Moss - rap artist and WAY fm DJ - Oct. 5 - 7:30p.m.

Ed Dobson - Oct. 6th at 7:30

Peter Schriemer - Considered the "animal" guy - Will have live critters with him for the kids to learn about Oct. 8 - 2:00 - 3:00 p.m.

New Release Sept. 19-24

Dear Readers.

The Saturday before this releases I will be running in my first (and maybe last) 1/2 marathon.  You know how it is, something sounds like it will be loads of fun and how hard can it be.  Right?  Well that was my thinking and I was doing fine with the training until the last month or so.  The longer distances that were required started eating in to my Saturdays.  I had to get up early to beat the heat and the couple of hours it takes us to run those distances it made the morning go quickly.  Not to mention the naps I needed after all that running.  But now the training is over and I will have completed my task (hopefully) by the time you read this.  If not I am sure you will read about the woman who took two days to run 13.1 miles. LOL

I have to say that the best part of the training is I was doing it with my oldest daughter.  She has fought off cancer twice and (she hates this;-) is my inspiration for running.  I needed something to motivate me and when she suggested we run the longer runs together, that was all it took.  When my youngest joined us a couple of Saturdays ago there had to be more than one driver who passed us that thought we were crazy, but it was so much fun running, talking and laughing together.  I would run forever if it meant spending times with them. 

So this letter has gone on long enough and the reason I started it was to say, now that I don't have to train so much I can hopefully get even more reading done.  I know that pile of books I want to read never gets any smaller.  How about you, does your must read pile of books ever get any smaller?

Happy Reading

Then Two Hearts Meet - Janelle Mowery
When Love gets in the Way - Janelle Mowery
A Marriage for Meghan - Mary Ellis
The Baker's Wife - Erin Healy
Unexpected Dismounts - Nancy Rue
Dangerous Mercy - Kathy Herman
Love on the Line - Deeanna Gist
A Wedding Invitation - Alice Wisler
House of Secerts - Tracie Peterson
Wonderland Creek - Lynn Austin
Reclaiming Lily - Patti Lacy
Falling to Pieces - Vannetta Chapman

Gina Holmes

Dear Readers,

Dry as Rain by Gina Holmes is her second book.  I really liked Crossing Oceans but I enjoyed Dry as Rain even more.  Gina has a gift for writing issue driven stories that include wonderful characters.  The characters are very human and you like them at times and you dislike them at times.  They could be our neighbors, family or even ourselves. Which always makes for an interesting read if not a comfortable one.

Eric and Kyra had something wonderful and they promised each other it was forever.  On their way to success they lost each other and the promise they made.  When Kyra finds an incriminating email she tells Eric he needs to leave. 

When Kyra loses her memory, Eric has to decide if what they had is worth figthing for.  With support from a friend and little support from Kyra's sister, he decides it is and goes to work.  But when Kyra gets her memory back will she be able to forgive him?  Will it still be worth it?

Statictics are showing that the greatest number of divorces are happening in marriages that are 20 - 35 years old.  It is happening across the board, in and out of churches.  When asked why, infidelity is still listed as number 1, but running a close second is the "we just grew apart"  reason.  Empty nesters find themselves suddenly having lots of time on their hands and don't know what to do with each other.  They have their own lives and nothing in common with their spouse.  This can even lead into the first problem.

What makes Dry as Rain so interesting is that it is told from Eric's perspective.  He talks a lot about why he did things like earning a living and moving the family into a certain neighborhood and even why he sent and received the email.  I thought it was an interesting perspective on the story that usually gets written from the woman's perspective.  I am not sure how Gina was able to write this perspective so well, but like I said, it is interesting to get the guy's point of view. 

If you haven't had a chance to pick up a book by Gina yet, this is a great place to start.

Happy Reading

New Releases Sept. 12 - 17

Dear Readers,

The seasons here in Michigan are changing.  Fall is coming way to quickly.  They are talking about frost warnings and the high in a couple days is predicted to be only in the 50's.  Brrr.  I am not ready for cold and the awful stuff they call snow, but  I do love the changing of the seasons though.  The crispness in the air, the colors on the trees and apple picking.  Which has become a tradition at our house and so much fun.

I just wish fall could happen while the temps were still in the 70's or 80's.  That way I could still sit outside and enjoy my reading on the front porch.  Of course sitting inside wrapped in a warm quilt drinking hot tea has it's benifits also.

Happy Reading.


Barcelona Calling -- Jane Kirkpatrick
Forbidden - Ted Dekker/Tosca Lee
Heather Song - Michael Phillips
Forsaking All Others - Allison Pittman
Night of the Living Dead Christians - Matt Mikalatos
Attracted to Fire - Diann Mills
Along Wooded Paths - Tricia Goyer
Ballots and Blood - Ralph Reed

Sandra Byrd

Dear Readers,

Ask yourself, how much do you know about Anne Boleyn?  So whatever that amount is, I probably knew less.  I knew she was one of King Henry the VIII.  I knew she didn't have any sons and I knew she was not always viewed in a postive light.  Yup that is about it.

To Die For by Sandra Byrd made me want to learn more about her.  I found out that she really did refuse to sleep with King Henry before she married him, which led to the divorce between him and his first wife.  It also led to the offical break between the church of England and the church of Rome.  Now whether or not she was a woman conniving to be queen, or just a young woman caught up in a power play by those who wanted to win the King's favor, we may never know.  I think that will be debated forever.

 

I have to admit that there is a bit of an ironic story as to why I started this book.  I got caught waiting unexpectedly and this book was the only one I had with me at that time.  I figured I might as well start it even though I was in the middle of one at home already.  I am glad I did as it was a very interesting read.  I got caught up in the story line right away even though it is not my favorite time in history.  Too many people behaving badly and using scripture to justify their actions (Oh wait, that is most of history).

I was very curious about the book as this seemed like a very different type of genre for Sandra.  Everything I had seen or read from her had been a light romance, good but this subject matter didn't seem to fit that, and teen books.  Those I have not had the pleasure of reading, but I hear are very good. 

Sandra has done her research and you can tell.  She made a couple of tweaks to make it a little less confusing for the reader (I am glad she did), but by her discriptions of the dress, parties and houses/court you can almost imagine being there. 

The story is told through the eyes of Anne's best friend.  They grew up next door to each other and have similiar experiences, but Anne's family is better off and so Meg watches her friend recieve many more offers to the royal court.   Once Anne is brought to court because she catches Henry's eye, she takes Meg along as one of her ladies. 

This is maybe why the story is so compelling, this is a story of someone who loves her friend, but watches her over and over again make bad choices.  How do you question a friend who is really, as seen by society, your better?  Meg is a loyal friend all the way to the end. 

Happy Reading

10 authors you aren't reading, but should be

Dear Readers,

Here is a very short list of authors that are good authors but are not getting read like I think they deserve.  They are in no particular order.  They write in several different genres, the one thing they have in comon is they write really good books. 

1.Mesu Andrews
2.J. Mark Bertrand
3.Tosca Lee
4.Tim Downs
5.Meg Moseley
6.Elizabeth Musser
7.Lisa Wingate
8.Karen Young
9.Eric Wilson
10.Gina Holmes

Tosca Lee and Ted Dekker

Dear Readers,

What kind of world would it be if none of us had any emotions but fear?  Fear that if you didn't live correctly you would not get to Bliss in the afterlife.  Fear that if you screw up at work you could be immediately fired.  Fear that if you disobey the Order you could disappear, to never be heard from again.  You don't love your spouse, you just marry because it is expected of you.  You don't love your children, they are just a bi-product of your marriage.   Perfection is craved and less than perfect is gotten rid of. 

That is the setting for the first book, Forbidden, in the new series, The Book of the Mortals by Ted Dekker and Tosca Lee.  They are two authors who are among my favorites.  I was so excited to hear they were writing together and could hardly wait to see what they came up with.  Now I already have my order in for book two.

I think I was worried that I would get a cross between the Circle series and Demon, but that is not the case.  Yes it is a fantasy and yes it is a thought provoking book, but it is also very different.  I will have a hard time discribing it without giving something away, so I will be very careful not to. 

Rom is leading a very normal life.  He quietly goes about his job of singing at funerals.  He obeys the Order.  He is planning on marrying soon to the woman that he has been paired with.  He just does what is required of him.  Which is easy to do if you have no emotions to mess that up. 

That all comes to a screeching hault when an old man chases him into a dark alley one night and thrust a vial into his hands.  Shortly after that Rom watches the man get murdered and his life is turned upside down. 

The book leaps off at a running pace and does not slow down.  I was able to read it in one weekend and that is while being quite busy.  So once again Ted shows that he is the master of slight of hand.  With Tosca's help they are very good at keeping everyone guessing. 

Happy Reading.