Two John 3:16 Authors Are Readers' Favorite Award Winners - SUSAN MIURA and LORILYN ROBERTS

BOOK REVIEW

Religious Fiction for Young Adults

Reviewed by Gail Kamer for Readers' Favorite

“Inside my head, I see his broken parts. Inside my head, I feel his pain.” Those words hooked me immediately. Healer by Susan Miura shares the story of a young girl named Shilo coming to terms with the gift of healing. She’s different. Why? Is she a freak? 

Shilo struggles with her spiritual powers. When to use them? How to keep the world from using them and using her? Should she keep them secret? How to just be a normal person? Will her boyfriend understand? In addition, Shilo becomes involved when a drug gang’s transaction places loved ones in danger. A favorite aunt has cancer but Shilo can’t heal her. What good is the gift if she can’t heal someone she loves? In addition to that, Shilo can’t mend her own broken heart.

Healer by Susan Miura is one of the best Christian young adult books I have ever read. Ms. Miura keeps the reader guessing what will happen next and how in the world the main character will solve the problem. 

The pace is fast. The writing is active. The story line is amazing. She’s made connections with today’s young adult world. Healer is a wonderful story to restore your belief in God’s good in the world and would make a great book club read for young adults. The reader bonds with the characters and, of course, wants more. That’s good since this is volume I. Hurry, Ms. Miura and get volume II out. I’m ready to see what happens next.

To purchase from Amazon, click here

To learn more about Susan Miura visit her website at 

http://susanmiura.altervista.org/

☦☦☦☦☦☦☦☦☦☦☦☦☦☦☦

BOOK REVIEW

Religious Fiction for Young Adults



by 

Rabia Tanveer for Readers' Favorite

Seventh Dimension - The Prescience: A Young Adult Fantasy by Lorilyn Roberts is the fifth book in the Seventh Dimension series that has a very unique take on time travel. Daniel and Shale, a recently engaged (betrothed) couple, found a lost orphan girl in Jerusalem and try to save her from the devastated city. From there, they embark on God’s plan and return to the first century and search for Daniel’s father who has gone missing. Finding his father could be the first step in unraveling the mystery of a tragedy that is waiting to happen. 

However, it is proving to be more dangerous and difficult than both of them ever thought. There are far too many enemies and dangers awaiting them, and all they can do is fight them together. But can they? 

With religious themes mixed with coming of age, the novel is definitely very different and the author seems to be in her element here. I enjoyed the time travel, how the two main characters fought the odds together and came out victorious at the end. Although I have not read the previous novels in the series, I still enjoyed it and caught up with the story really quickly. The story was fast paced and entertaining. 

Right from the beginning, the story gripped my attention. The chemistry between Shale and Daniel was perfect; they respected each other with an intensity and worked together as a team. The element of time travel was spot on; the author ensured that the characters, the dialogues and even the environment were time appropriate. I thoroughly enjoyed everything about the novel! A really entertaining coming of age story.

To purchase from Amazon, click here

To learn more about Lorilyn Roberts, visit her website at 

http://LorilynRoberts.com

Book Review for Get the Skinny by Kimberley Payne

Get the Skinny

Answers to 45 Frequently Asked Health & Fitness Questions

Kimberley Payne

copyright 2017

nonfiction

Health and Fitness

63 pp

$2.99 eBook

$5.99 Print

Buy Amazon US 

Amazon Canada 

Amazon Australia 

About the Book

Get The Skinny debunks the myths and promotes the practices that contribute to healthy living.

Kimberley tackles frequently asked questions such as:
* Does muscle change into fat when I stop exercising?
* Will lifting weights make women bulk up?
* Should I take vitamin supplements?
* Is a flat stomach a realistic goal?
* Can I still exercise after an injury?
* Should I take vitamin supplements?
* Is it possible to spot reduce fat?
* Can ankle weights help burn more calories?
* Are fresh fruits more nutritious than frozen?
* Is fruit juice good for me?

And many more

Lisa Lickel's Review

Wow, this is a great little book! I rarely get excited about non-fiction, but Kimberley Payne’s fitness books are packed with great advice and practical tips. Get the Skinny is an excellent addition. Filled with common-sense information and personal observation, Payne truly does answer, realistically, questions many of us feel too stupid to ask, or didn’t realize there was even an option.

Some of my favorites are about how muscle turns to fat when we age and stop working out (it doesn’t), and whether walking with weights makes a difference (it does but probably not in the way you think). Why can’t I spot-reduce, and how to buy a sports bra—just great advice, backed not just by the most reputable medical research results, but experience. Personally, I’m more likely to follow tips by someone who’s walking the walk; not just telling me how, but explaining why. Get the Skinny is a practical guide for today’s practical lifestyle choices.

About the Author

Kimberley Payne is a motivational speaker and writer. Her writing relates raising a family, pursuing a healthy lifestyle, and everyday experiences to building a relationship with God. Kimberley offers practical, guilt-free tips on improving spiritual and physical health. Visit her website www.kimberleypayne.com

Newest from Deborah Heal

About the book:

A modern retelling of the Old Testament story of Ruth—a sweet romance about courage, loyalty, and second chances.

When Julia passes through the small town of Coldwater, driving her screeching pickup with her mother-in-law and everything she owns in the RV they’re towing, all she wants is to get Helen settled on what’s left of the family farm and hurry back to civilization.

Julia’s still mourning her husband, and so romance is the last thing on her mind. But whenever Neil Ashe shows up, the attraction between them flares—even though his divorce has left him leery of city women, and she’s not interested in muscle-bound farmers, no matter how handsome they may be.

Julia soon realizes she’s going to have to stick around to help Helen hold on to her forty-acres because someone is after them. Besides, how could she leave her mother-in-law to the tender mercies of the legalistic bullies who have taken over Bethel Church? They pick at Helen like Job’s “friends,” telling her God has cursed her. Why else would her husband and both sons die in tragic accidents?

Julia is determined to deal with everything on her own, just as she’s been doing ever since Lucas died. But Neil thinks it’s his job to make all their problems go away. Will Julia stubbornly go it alone, holding on to both her pride and the memory of her husband, or will she ask Neil to come to the rescue—and into her heart?

Lisa's review:

I was a Deborah Heal fan before I learned she was working on a series of Biblical fiction set in contemporary times. This story of Ruth and Naomi is a beautiful and timeless story perfectly fit for today. I learned a lot about the setting and fully enjoyed the characters as they played out the loyalty, despair and love that go along with making a forever commitment. I adore too-good-to-be-true heroes, even though they make me sigh into tomorrow and realize they're not perfect. That only makes them sweeter. We don't get to know Boaz's inner angst in the Bible, but the author of Holding On made an excellent and determined effort to show it.

No, it's not the time traveling adventure of her earlier series, but show Heal's versatility, and you know...in a way, we do time travel here in this story that parallels the biblical romance of Ruth and Boaz. Recommended for teens and up. Told from multiple viewpoints.

3.99 eBook

11.99 Print

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New Suspense from Barbara Derksen

E-book $4.99

Print $13.20

Buy the book on Amazon US
Buy the book on Amazon Canada
Buy the book on Amazon Australia

About the Book:

What happens when truth is perverted to suit the circumstances? Christine Smith, owner of Finders Keepers Investigative Services, and Jeremy Goodman, owner of Goodman Investigations, discover the answer when they decide to help a woman recover her children from a Mennonite village in Mexico. Drug running and human trafficking are justified by Elders who place money and control above the people they are supposed to lead. Christine's new faith explores the contradictions in the search for Redemptive Justice.

Lisa's Review:

I like Derksen's passion for her series dealing with the fallen side of humanity. The subjects are not easy ones to deal with, and Derksen does a great job of showing that the best way anyone can see through the depths of evil is with the eyes of Christ. This story I had to try a little harder with as I'm currently involved with a fantastic group of Mennonites who are working on various aspects of our new home. I just can't think of them acting like this, but I know it happens in every culture. I mentally substituted a cult while I read.

I admire Derksen's characters, Christine and Jeremy. Their diligence to seek the truth and find causes to aid in their separate investigation agencies is inspiring. Readers with their hearts on their sleeves for causes to fight for will enjoy this suspenseful tale of rescuing the helpless. Told through multiple viewpoints and distracting constant internal monologue--that's truly my only beef. The description and dialog are great and tell the story just fine.

Carole Brown and Undiscovered Treasures

Undiscovered Treasures, an Appleton WV mystery

Carole Brown

About the Book

Caroline Gibson is co-owner of Undiscovered Treasures, a shop of antiques, collectibles, and junk in rural West Virginia. Inside the shop is a music box that Caroline particularly relates to, believing that her own life is similar: forever spinning and never going anywhere. She dreams and prays for the right man to turn up. But when family and friends hint that the local artist could be the guy, Caroline forgets about trusting God and takes matters into her own hands. Besides, she could never love a man who paints such depressing pictures. Andrew Carrington, painter of said depressing pictures, insists there’s always one redeeming trait to each of his works. He’s loved Caroline since they were kids and thinks he’s not handsome enough, strong enough, or rich enough to impress this woman. But when God—or is it?—suddenly sends contracts begging for his signature, Andy thinks this just might be the way to win the only woman he can ever love. But there’s a hitch in their plans. Someone is stealing Andy’s pictures, and why would they do that when he’s an unknown—so far? Do they know something Caroline and Andy don’t know? Is it mischief? Or something deeper that neither understand? Andy gets the chance to work with Caroline, and she must put aside her on-going battle to avoid Andy and his art so they can discover the art thief in Appleton before Andy loses the chance of a lifetime to ‘make it big.’

Appleton, WV Cozy mystery series, inspirational

October 2016

Story and Logic Media Group

Ebook $2.99

Print $11.99

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Lisa Lickel's review

Brown’s third addition to her Appleton, West Virginia mysteries, focuses on another young resident business owner, Caro Gibson. Establishing a familiar milieu ala Jan Karon, Brown is building a repertoire of characters that figure in each other’s lives.

In this story, Caro, her brother Toby, and their lifelong friend Andy, wrestle with the direction of their adult lives. Caro and Toby run an odds and ends shop, besides what Caro does in her spare time—writing and selling plays for church groups to perform. She has begun to establish a respectable reputation in the area, and when a handsome director shows up in Appleton to hire Caro to write a play for his large church, Caro is smitten. Meanwhile, Andy has been developing a highly regarded following as an oil painter. He’s been sure Caro is his soul mate all of their lives, only somehow Caro not only missed that point, she blows off Andy and his work. For her, familiarity really does breed contempt. But when Andy needs her to help figure out who’s sabotaging his career, she hops over on one foot while keeping the other tangoing with the handsome stranger. Caro and Andy’s friends add to the fun trying to help their favorite couple realize they’re perfect for each other.

I found Carolyn Gibson needing to grow into herself and often wanted to smack her upside the head. Thank goodness for good friends who refuse to give up on her. Somewhat reminiscent of Nancy Drew, Brown’s circle of friends and mysteries are a fun clean read for those who enjoy jumping into small town life with big dreamers and achievers. Told in multiple viewpoints but mostly from Carolyn, Undiscovered Treasures is a sweet addition to the series. A sneak preview of the next book is included.

Book 1 Sabotaged Christmas

Book 2 Knight in Shining Apron

About the Author

Carole Brown's debut novel, The Redemption of Caralynne Hayman, is a 2015 Book of the Year in General Fiction from Christian Small Publishers, a RWA Oklahoma International Digital Award 2nd place winner, a Clash of the Titles top three finalist, a Selah Award finalist in debut novels, and a semi-finalist in the Genesis contest.

Besides being a member and active participant of many writing groups, she enjoys mentoring beginning writers. She loves to weave suspense and tough topics into her books, along with a touch of romance and whimsy, and is always on the lookout for outstanding titles and catchy ideas.

Time Travel series by Deborah Heal

Once Again

Rewinding Time series, book 1

Deborah Heal

Paperback: $9.99

Ebook: 2.99

Others in the series:

Only Way Home 

How Sweet the Sound 

Matter of Time 

More Than Meets the Eye 

Buy Entire series

About the Book:

Professor Merrideth Randall has a tool that other historians can only dream of—computer software that virtually rewinds time!

It comes in handy for historical research and for her sideline genealogy business. When her colleague physics professor Brett Garrison asks for help with his family tree she can’t resist, even though he’s far too attractive for her peace of mind. And amazingly, he seems to be pursuing her, despite the fact that everyone knows dating a co-worker is career suicide.

Using her software, Merrideth gets a first-hand look at Brett’s ancestors, the courageous pioneers of the Illinois Country who withstood Indian attacks, hardship, and loneliness to settle there in the 1780s. One of the settlers is James Garretson, who risked his life to take the Gospel to the very tribe that wreaked havoc on his family. Merrideth is amazed that he could forgive a crime so huge.

She would love to tell Brett that he is descended from heroes, and that he inherited his black hair and green eyes from James Garretson. But she is determined to safeguard her program, and discretion is not Brett’s strong suit. She also has secrets about herself that she’d just as soon he didn’t find out either.

One virtue Brett does have is patience, and he’s quite willing to wait for Merrideth to figure things out.

Lisa's Review:

Little Merri Randall is all grown up in this new series from inspirational time master Deborah Heal. She’s followed her dream of becoming a young PhD history professor at a southern Illinois college. It’s been years since her childhood encounters with a dangerous and mysterious software program called Beautiful Houses. When she accidentally? rediscovers the program not only still exists and is just as active as ever, curiosity overcomes her good sense and she is once again drawn back to explore time.

Merredith uses the program to help her in both her work and private side business, researching family history. She has grown up reluctant to share herself with others, a definite lack of trust in others and even to a certain extent her own abilities and gifts. When the physics professor sets his sights on her, Merri has a lot to overcome, especially her teaching mentor, to believe anyone might be personally interested in her.

Told from Merredith’s viewpoint throughout, this story and series is a history lover’s dream. Because the character is a professor, her lectures that include blocks of rote history are a natural part of the story, as are the fascinating dialog sharing dates and people. Merri’s trips through time provide a virtual visit to experience life in the late eighteenth century literally through those people’s heads.

Just a fascinating series with excellent research. While science is not discounted, the details of the software’s ability to provide virtual time travel experience for the user doesn’t hinder the reader. The books are part of a series, and while a reader can pick up any story and read it with enough information from the past books to make sense of the particular story arc, you’ll want to read the whole series. I know I will. Recommended for those who love plucky wounded females with a side of romance while reading their history.

Note: Time and Again, the first book in the History Mystery trilogy sert before this series, is available free from Amazon Kindle

Montgomery High series by Stacy Padula

Featuring Stacy Padula

Montgomery High series

5 books

 

Book 1 – The Right Person, June 2010

Chris Dunkin and his close friends have lived lives of excessive partying since age twelve. At fifteen, Chris is drinking more often and trying heavy drugs to keep himself high--but his dream of becoming a professional athlete is slipping away as quickly as his grades. Chris feels empty inside, bored with the partying scene, and incredibly attracted to Courtney Angeletti--his best friend's girlfriend, the mayor's straight-laced daughter. Courtney is equally intrigued by Chris' "life of the party" reputation, and her hidden desire to rebel leads her and Chris on a quest for a lot more than just romance.

This story of teenage acceptance and the resulting battle over moral convictions will hit home with many teens looking for answers

e-Book $4.99

Print $11.50

ISBN-13: 978-1609114725

buy on Amazon US

 

Book 2 – When Darkness Tries to Hide, January 2011

As the skies grow darker and darker over Montgomery Lake High, not everyone takes the severe storm warning seriously. A day later, Andy Rosetti--the popular class president--is in a coma, and his classmate Jason Davids feels responsible for the tragedy. As Andy's friends and family cope with the aftermath of the storm, Jason and his friends set out on a quest to save Andy's life. Stopping at nothing, Jason begins to see that there are forces stronger than nature at work in Montgomery--and more than one life in need of saving.

e-Book $4.99

Print $11.50

ISBN: 978-1609768577

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Book 3 – The Battle For Innocence, April 2014

Within a dimly lit hospital room, Chantal Kagelli peers at her boyfriend Andy's blank face. It has been one month since he slipped into a coma-one month since she last heard his voice. Chantal begins reflecting on their journey, which began two years prior in seventh grade. The Battle for Innocence flashes back to that pivotal year when the characters of Montgomery Lake High were first introduced to the temptations, peer pressures, and internal-struggles associated with adolescence. 

e-Book $4.99

Print $12.00

ISBN: 978-1628577778

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Others:

The Aftermath, October, 2013

For the past two years, Jason Davids has lived a charmed life. Blessed with good looks, a popular girlfriend, quick wit, and a wealthy family, Jason has everything he could want--but everything is not enough. There is emptiness--something unsettled in his soul. Partying, drugs, sex, and alcohol provide temporary relief, but the haunting emptiness always returns once he is sober. He can't stand being sober. When a tornado strikes his town, Jason's drug dependency puts one of his classmates, Andy Rosetti, in danger. After Andy is taken away on a stretcher, the guilt and regret that Jason feels lead him to a paradoxical place of darkness and illumination. Jason soon realizes that there is more than one life at risk in Montgomery and a stronger force at work than nature. 

e-Book $3.99

Print $13.00

ISBN: 978-1628570571

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The Forces Within, March, 2014

Last month, when a tornado wreaked havoc on my hometown, I suffered a severe head trauma. I have since experienced something much more disturbing. During my recovery celebration, I came face to face with a force more powerful than any weather phenomenon—something darker than I ever dared to imagine.

Twice this past month, I woke up in a world that I did not recognize. I heard things that didn’t align with my memories—things that made me question my identity, my beliefs, and my own thoughts. I still cannot fully comprehend what happened to me or distinguish reality from illusion.

Am I, perhaps, discerning an additional dimension of life that I was too blind—too jaded—too scared—to see before? Could the forces within these two worlds exist as one?

I’m determined to solve this mystery and gain all of the insight that I can from the haunting enigma that has recently become my life.
—Andy

The Forces Within follows Andy Rosetti and his friends’ chilling adventure at Fallen Lake. Could Andy be stuck between two worlds, or have his eyes been opened to see a deeper reality?

The story wrestles with spiritual warfare, moral convictions, and teenage social issues.

e-Book $4.99

Print $13.59

ISBN: 978-1628578966

buy on Amazon US

General Series Review by  Lisa Lickel

Padula’s Montgomery High series is a hard-hitting look at today’s teen culture. Fictional, yes, but as Padula notes in her biography, based on current events. The books all feature a large cast of students who assemble and reassemble in couplehood. They are from the typically popular crowd, the faith crowd, and the straight-and-narrow group. Although it might be best to start from the beginning, the winding story line throughout the five books currently available are written so a reader can step into any of them. It will take time to get to know the different cliques, but they are fleshed and real, facing angst, fear, and joy. I did not read them in order, and wasn’t bothered.

Each story is told in multiple viewpoints and are mostly daily activities, behind-the-scenes events at school, home, church, sporting events, or activities. One of the stories, The Forces Within, is one of the character’s first-person accounts of a strange dream-like adventure with the friends lost in an evil-laced mansion. Lies, experimentation, angst, and self-discovery are explored.

The series is written about high schoolers. Even though the intent is to encourage kids to see that that godly faith and lifestyle is the way to overcome temptation and vice, the stories contain pervasive drug use, sexual content and innuendo as well as suggestive sexual language and situations. As a parent, I would recommend checking these stories out first or at least at the same time your children read them so healthy feedback and conversation can take place. You might need to take notes.

About Stacy:

Stacy Padula, a native of Pembroke, Massachusetts, has accrued years of experience working with adolescents. She has been a mentor, life coach, youth group leader, and private educational consultant with extensive experience in the fields of college counseling, tutoring, standardized test preparation, and Christian counseling.

Stacy wrote the Montgomery Lake High books in the hopes of preparing teens to face the “war zone” that is high school–to help kids deal with the stress and peer pressure, and to encourage them to “steer a straight path, pursue God, and not fall for the false promises of the world.”

In her spare time, Stacy enjoys skiing, going to Bruins games, reading about Psychology, taking her dogs to the beach, and spending time with her family, boyfriend, and friends.

Summer's Winter by Robin Johns Grant

Summer’s Winter

Robin Johns Grant

Jan 2014

Inspirational romantic fiction

Story Merchant Books

ISBN 978-0989715430

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US$2.99 eBook

US$12.9 paperback

When Jeanine finally connects with film star Jamie Newkirk, the object of her obsession, will it be a dream come true? Or will she be pulled into his family's nightmare of secrets, control, and death? 

At age ten, preacher's daughter Jeanine fell in love with young movie star Jamie Newkirk and the character he played--Danny Summer. Jeanine believed God Himself promised Jamie would be part of her life--that he would rescue her from boring rural Georgia. But eleven years later, she's graduating college and about to settle into the dreary nine-to-five life with no word from Jamie or God. 

And then Jamie bursts into her life in an amazing way. There are plans to resurrect the Summer series of books and movies, and Jeanine is right in the middle of it all. Jamie seems to be falling for her, just as she'd dreamed. And yet... 

She never expected all the dark undercurrents. Jamie is hiding out in Georgia following the suspicious death of his former girlfriend. And isn't it odd that he found his mother dead of a supposed suicide in that same house two years before, and that both women had the same strangely-shaped burn on their bodies? And who knew there would be so many sinister characters involved in Jamie's life, and in the Summer series? There's his young co-star, Charlie--the Summer author died in an unexplained fire at his house. And Jamie's stepfather, Elliott, and uncle Richard seem to be in a vicious competition for control of the Summer series and of Jamie's life. 

Jamie is obviously hiding things--about his family, about the deaths of his mother and girlfriend. The media and the public have declared him guilty. Jeanine longs to prove his innocence. Unless she can, Jamie's dark secrets may shatter her dreams, her faith--and her life.

My review

I love Grant’s way with words and her sense of story. It’s not breathless when it doesn’t need to be, and gradually sets up story in a way that’s a luscious down comforter and not a bumpy, worn blanket. Since reading Jordan's Shadow, I knew Summer's Winter would be just as good.

Young Adult fiction can cover a great deal of circumstances and settings, but the genre involves exploration of self, growth, and a lot angst getting there. Skillfully melding twists and romance, blurring the lines between bad guys and good, and identifying and taking responsibility for bad behavior without glorifying it, Grant has published a great story about a young lady with gifts on a sure path guided by the only One we can truly trust, and her obsession, a movie star from another continent portraying a beloved character in a series of motion pictures. While Jeanine may not truly believe that she’ll receive the longings of her heart, she has a firm foundation that the Giver of all good things has a plan for her.

Within the realm of believability, the movie star, Jamie, comes from a similar-enough background to feel guilt over actions he controls, as well as events that he cannot influence…or can he? It’s this sense of responsibility that bring Jamie and Jeanine together, yet keep them frustratingly apart.

Told in multiple points of view, Summer’s Winter is a story will keep readers of romantic young adult fiction turning pages. Set in contemporary America, the story has a genteel feel, despite the despair and drug use and less savory actions hinted at behind the scenes. The characters are rich and multi-layered, adding a satisfactory denseness to the beautiful settings and even the less than beautiful events. Star-crossed lovers? Sure, but emotionally satisfying and with just enough questions left over that make me drool for a sequel.

About the Author

While waiting for her writing to pay off, Robin Johns Grant did a lot of crazy fan stuff and was way too involved with books and movies like Harry Potter and Star Wars, which helped her dream up Jeanine and Jamie for Summer's Winter.

With a degree in English and a mid-life crisis coming on, she returned to school and earned a master's degree in library and information science. She now has her best day job ever as a college librarian, which keeps her young by allowing her to hang out with students.

Robin was named 2014 Author of the Year by the Georgia Association of College Stores, and Summer's Winter won a bronze medal in the Romance - Suspense category of the International Readers' Favorite Book Awards.

Robin lives in Georgia with her wonderful husband Dave and formerly feral felines Mini Pearl and Luna. She is also surprised to find herself part owner of a sweet pit bull puppy named Pete who showed up as a stray at her mom's house.

Seventh Dimension new addition to the series by Lorilyn Roberts

The City by Lorilyn Roberts

Paperback $12.95

ISBN-13: 978-1523887910

Buy on amazon US

About the book:

The Illuminati want Shale’s ancient scrolls and they’ll stop at nothing to find them. Shale and Daniel will stop at nothing to protect them. The battle rages from Jerusalem to Shambhala in search of Daniel’s father. With the apocalypse looming, Shale must choose between mortal love and immortality.

Lisa's review:

This fourth entry into the Seventh Dimension series brings the battle against good and evil back to Earth. Although I'm a bit weary of treating public high school science teachers as the bad guy, I trust Roberts's story-telling skills enough to move on from a dramatic opening in class to the reunion of Shale and Daniel as they pick up the search for Daniel's father in contemporary Israel and Asia. Strangely, Shale's biological father is the face of a deeper conspiracy in the hunt for a closely guarded secret behind the physical means to cross the barriers of time--but what this will mean for the rapidly approaching Armageddon and whether mankind can shut out God will become an intergalactic issue, as much as a challenge to our young couple, is anyone’s guess. Or is it a carefully orchestrated event across time? Daniel and Shale not only face the external pressures of a world in transition, but also their own faith in God and each other. Trust has many avenues and faith many faces.

Roberts is a well-rounded story teller and uses her experiences in international travel to add wonderful layers to her credible characters.

About the author:

Lorilyn Roberts is an award-winning Christian author who writes for the young and the young at heart. Lorilyn is a single mother by choice. She adopted her two daughters from Nepal and Vietnam. Read her Amazon best-selling memoir, Children of Dreams, endorsed by New York Times best-selling author Jerry Jenkins, and be inspired. Lorilyn has been a speaker at various events and functions, including women's groups, adoption support groups, and writer workshops. She is the founder of the John 3:16 marketing network.

limited time sale for Sid Frost's new mystery, Murder in Sun City

 Murder in Sun City

ISBN-13: 978-0-9903181-2-5

Kindle US

$2.99 Regular price

$1.99 1/3/2016--1/10/2016

Kindle UK

£1.99 Regular price

£0.99 1/3/2016--1/10/2016

CHRISTIAN BOOKMOBILE NOVEL No. 5

Sun City is typically calm…until Liz shows up in her red double-decker bookmobile and starts cruising. When she finds one of her patrons dead, the police call it an accident and a day…but Liz has her suspicions and isn't about to give up. Lieutenant Bratton has met his match.

James Jones is a Vietnam War veteran who continued to fight the battles long after the war ended and everyone went home. His encounters are mostly in his head today, but if the military took senior citizens, he'd sign up without batting an eye. Combat was what he did best and he is lost without it. Now, as a soldier of fortune, James ends up in Sun City also.

This is the story of what happens when Liz and James cross paths.

My review:

Sid Frost is not only one of my favorite people, he's become one of my favorite authors. In this mystery, the fifth in his bookmobile series, Sid draws his readers into the life of librarian Liz Seido Helmsley who has found her true love in a British ex-pat farmer named Samuel, married and moved to Sun City. She takes the beloved red double-decker mobile library introduced in The Vengeance Squad Goes to England, and it’s not long before Liz and the library give her the opportunity for a mobile library route in this squeaky clean retirement community.

But wherever Liz goes, trouble seems to proceed her. This time it’s with a library patron found dead. Neighbor’s stories about the deceased don’t add up, and when Lt. Joe Bratton of the local police wants to wrap up the case as a simple accident, Liz decides to dig a bit deeper. Sharon Coleman turns out to be a lady of many oddities and mysteries, and Mr. Coleman even more so. With the help of her newly graduated grandson Michael and the blessing, mostly, of Samuel, Liz embarks on her own investigation to help Lt. Bratton whether he needs it or not, and make sure the Coleman’s daughter receives her proper inheritance.

One of Sharon’s secrets, an apparently homeless veteran with PTSD, James Jones, complicates everything. As the story progresses and the twists and turns lead the reader deeper into the corkscrewed life of the Colemans, about the only sympathetic figure left, so it seems, is Princess, Sharon’s pet pooch.

Murder in Sun City is a fun mystery, highly recommended for those who enjoy cozy mysteries featuring characters with a lifetime of experience, and plenty of exciting turns. I especially appreciated the treatment of those who suffer from PTSD and may not be in full control of their faculties.

About the Author:

Sidney W. Frost was born and raised in Austin, Texas, served in the U.S. Marines in California, worked in the space industry in Los Angeles and Houston, and is now living in Georgetown, Texas. 

He is active in his church and is a former Stephen Minister and Stephen Leader.

He has loved choral music from an early age, and was in 42 Austin Lyric Opera productions. He and his wife, Celeste, sing in their church choir as well as the San Gabriel Chorale. They have also participated in several Berkshire Festivals in and out of the United States. He loves to travel and has visited 33 countries.

He has a Master of Science degree from the University of Houston and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of California at Long Beach. He has worked in the Information Technology business for many years, and in May, 2011, retired after thirty years as an Adjunct Professor of Computer Science at Austin Community College. He received the adjunct teaching excellence award in 2005. He now teaches writing courses, most recently a class on memoir writing for the Senior University of Georgetown.

He is the author of four Christian novels, set in and around Austin, Texas, and three non-fiction books. Awards for his first novel, Where Love Once Lived, include First Place in the 2007 SouthWest Writers Contest and First Place in the 2007 Writers' League of Texas Novel Manuscript Contest. Visit Sid’s website http://sidneywfrost.com, and Amazon author pages. http://amazon.com/author/sidneyfrost

The Matheny Manifesto book review by Joe Buonassissi

The Matheny Manifesto: A Young Manager's Old-School Views on Success in Sports and Life 

ISBN: 978-0553446692

US prices - Canada, $2 higher

e-book - $10.99

p-book - $24

audible - $17.99

Buy the book on US Amazon

Buy the book on CA Amazon

From the Publisher:

 “Nothing worth doing right is easy.”
–Mike Matheny

   Mike Matheny was just forty-one, without professional managerial experience and looking for a next step after a successful career as a Major League catcher, when he succeeded the legendary Tony La Russa as manager of the St. Louis Cardinals in 2012. While Matheny has enjoyed immediate success, leading the Cards to the postseason three times in his first three years, people have noticed something else about his life, something not measured in day-to-day results. Instead, it’s based on a frankly worded letter he wrote to the parents of a Little League team he coached, a cry for change that became an Internet sensation and eventually a “manifesto.”

   The tough-love philosophy Matheny expressed in the letter contained his throwback beliefs that authority should be respected, discipline and hard work rewarded, spiritual faith cultivated, family made a priority, and humility considered a virtue. In The Matheny Manifesto, he builds on his original letter by first diagnosing the problem at the heart of youth sports−hint: it starts with parents and coaches−and then by offering a hopeful path forward. Along the way, he uses stories from his small-town childhood as well as his career as a player, coach, and manager to explore eight keys to success: leadership, confidence, teamwork, faith, class, character, toughness, and humility.

   From “The Coach Is Always Right, Even When He’s Wrong” to “Let Your Catcher Call the Game,” Matheny’s old-school advice might not always be popular or politically correct, but it works. His entertaining and deeply inspirational book will not only resonate with parents, coaches, and athletes, it will also be a powerful reminder, from one of the most successful new managers in the game, of what sports can teach us all about winning on the field and in life.

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Joe's Review:

Jerry Jenkins has done it again! What a helpful, well-written page turner. Not only does this book provide excellent advice for coaching (whether sports, business, or family), but it's encouraging to learn there are people of principle like Mike Matheny still on the planet. Our world is starving for true leaders. In politics, religion, sports, business, and just about every other human endeavor, true leadership is a rare thing. How refreshing to see that Mike Matheny gets it—he doesn't use his people to build his work; he uses his work to build his people.

As an incurable baseball fan, I found Matheny's insight into his baseball life fascinating. His comments about players and coaches, whose names were familiar to me, made me feel like I knew them as people, not just as statistical avatars.

Every "coach," (and we all coach at some level), regardless of his arena, should read this book to get his true north bearings before assuming responsibility for others. Mike Matheny is the real deal. His leadership style has been forged by the wisdom of the Scriptures and honed by living it out in shoe leather—he walks the talk. Mike, may your tribe increase!

Joe Buonassissi

TechnologyResources WorldWide

Prisoners Help John 3:16 Authors With Heart-Felt Book Reviews

Steve Fox, a chaplain at Wakulla Correctional near Tallahassee, Florida, is coordinating a pilot program, 

Our Vision: Changing Lives to Ensure a Safer Florida, that allows prisoners to review books written by Christian authors.  

John 3:16 books delivered to Steve Fox for Wakulla Correctional in September 2014

The program not only helps the prisoners feel like they are contributing to society by writing book reviews, but the authors benefit from their insightful comments. 

I asked best-selling Aussie author Martin Roth if I could share his blog post about our new prisoner review opportunity for John 3:16 authors. 

Here is Martin Roth's thoughts after having several prisoners review his Christian thriller books.

Captive Reviews Shine a New Light

My first three novels were commercially published, but they received few reviews and have sold poorly, despite one being an Australian Christian Book of the Year finalist. So I decided I would self-publish my subsequent novels and promote them myself. I now have a total of 10 novels on the market.

Like every self-published author I am quite obsessive about getting reviews, especially on Amazon, as I know that these can make a difference to sales. I even have a spreadsheet on my computer and once a month I neurotically enter the number of Amazon reviews for each of my titles and the average rating (which is a pretty depressing thing to do, as your early reviews, mainly from friends and relatives, are glowing, whereas subsequent reviews inevitably include one-star and two-star dogs that gradually bring your averages down).

But now I suddenly find myself with a new stream of reviews that are among the most important and touching I have ever received. They put everything I have been doing in a new perspective. Amazon is no longer as important.

I am part of a group of Christian writers, the John 3:16 Marketing Network, whose 300+ members work to help promote one another’s writings. Though based in America, we are pretty international, with a globally diverse membership, including some here in Australia.

Recently the coordinator Lorilyn Roberts announced a new initiative, together with a Florida prison chaplain, Steve Fox, to take members’ books into prison to be read by the inmates, who would then write reviews, as part of a writing and job skills program.

I have recently received the first reviews of two of my thrillers, and they have thrilled me.

Here is Keith, reviewing “The Maria Kannon”:

I enjoyed the book, it had a good story and action. Also it didn’t drag with many pointless details, it just kept flowing.

And Lian (who describes himself as a Brother in Christ):

The main theme was that Christians should always act out of love, never vengeance. And at times some Christians must step up and do what is necessary to stop evil people from continuing evil….All in all a good read for an evening or weekend. I enjoyed it.

Of course, not all the reviews are positive. Here’s Robert:

The author has tried to twin the Japanese way of life and the Korean way of life into one simple life form, and it cannot be done. It is two wholly different life forms involved entirely upon God who in my opinion was not spoken of in a good manner….I have been to Japan myself and I have seen very little in the book to remind me of the Japanese people. I did not enjoy this book…

But then, here’s William, reviewing “The Coptic Martyr of Cairo”:

The author seems to want to get across the importance of the persecution of the Christians around the world….This book was enjoyable. I had to rethink the way I see my faith according to a large view of what it is to be Christian.

Helping prisoners. Seeing people rethink their faith. Just what we as Christians should be doing. Thank you Keith and Lian and William and even Robert. Suddenly the mighty Amazon is no longer so important, as I view my writing endeavours in an altogether different light.