Sunday, April 26, 2020

Terror in the Skies by Alana Terry

Terror in the Skies

About the Book

Terror in the Skies e book cover
Book:  Terror in the Skies
Author: Alana Terry
Genre:  Christian Thriller Suspense
Release Date: November 12, 2019

A hijacked airplane. A fatal disaster. A desperate soul in need of salvation …

Willow’s spirited, carefree, and far too young to die. Trapped on a hijacked airplane with no promise of survival, Willow’s forced to confront her darkest fear as well as her soul’s deepest need.

Terror in the Skies is the first novella in the Turbulent Skies Christian Thriller series, an unforgettable collection of interconnected novellas about strangers traveling together aboard a doomed flight. Find out why Christian fiction readers can’t stop raving about this heart-stopping, fast-paced series you can devour in a single sitting.

If you like harrowing stories of faith and redemption, spine-tingling adrenaline surges, and heart-pounding Christian suspense, you’ll love these edge-of-your-seat novellas by USA Today bestselling author, Alana Terry.

Dive into the breathtaking Turbulent Skies series today. Just be careful … you may not be able to read just one!

My Thoughts:
This is a really quick read as it is a short novella.  The author does a good job grabbing you from the start and keeping your attention.  It's written from Willow's point of view and that was an interesting ride to take!  The first person view point gave her thoughts and emotions more depth and I enjoyed that.
I liked that Willow was outspoken and not afraid to say what she thought on a number of controversial topics.  Even though it was short, the story was full of suspense.  I loved the overall feeling I got from the book of God puts people in exactly the right place at the right time.  It's an amazing thought.  I will absolutely look for more from this author.
It was a 4/5 for me.

Thank you to the author/publisher for the review copy of this book via celebrate lit. I received this book free in exchange for an honest review and the opinions stated above are 100% mine.

Click here for your copy.

About the Author

alana terry
Alana is a pastor’s wife, homeschooling mom, self-diagnosed chicken lady, and Christian suspense author. Her novels have won awards from Women of Faith, Book Club Network, Grace Awards, Readers’ Favorite, and more. Alana’s passion for social justice, human rights, and religious freedom shines through her writing, and her books are known for raising tough questions without preaching. She and her family live in rural Alaska where the northern lights in the winter and midnight sun in the summer make hauling water, surviving the annual mosquito apocalypse, and cleaning goat stalls in negative forty degrees worth every second.

More from Alana

I’m excited to share my new Turbulent Skies Christian Thriller novella series with all of you! The inspiration behind this series came when I was taking a flight a few years ago … and indulging in one of my favorite past times – people watching! As I looked at the various passengers around me, I started to wonder about their lives … and it was from that line of thinking this novella series was born!
I first wrote a book about a terrifying experience on board an airplane years earlier, (Turbulence, Book #5 in the Kennedy Stern series) and because many members of my amazing Readers’ Club had been asking me to write a book featuring Willow, one of their favorite characters from the Kennedy Stern series, it seemed fitting that Willow gets to be the star in the first of these novellas.
Terror in the Skies is Willow’s story. She’s a chic Alaskan college student, a free spirit who finds herself sharing a dorm room with a conservative Christian missionary kid. Willow first makes her appearance in the Kennedy Stern Christian suspense series, meaning that over a hundred thousand readers have met her!
I can’t tell you too much about this life-of-the-party aspiring actress (mostly because I don’t want to spoil anything for you if you happen to still be making your way through the Kennedy Stern books). But I can tell you she is the first main character in this six-book novella series that helps answer the question: “Who are you really sitting next to hundreds of feet up in the air?”
Maybe, like me, after reading this series, you’ll never look at your fellow passengers the same way!

Blog Stops

Betti Mace, April 27
Emily Yager, April 28
Genesis 5020, April 28
Hookmeinabook, April 29
Mary Hake, April 30

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Alana is giving away the grand prize of a $30 Amazon Gift Card!!
Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.

Thursday, April 23, 2020

A Promise in Ash by Elysia Strife

A Promise in Ash
Book Description:
A romantic-suspense novel featuring: miscarriage, hot co-workers, cybersecurity threats, and the struggle of defining family after abuse.

With only an abusive mother-figure to guide her, Norah has learned everything the hard way. An unexpected pregnancy with her fiancé changed her career plans. But miscarriage and betrayal thrust everything in reverse again. Eerie things start happening at work, and Norah finds herself at the center of the investigation.

Secrets tumble forth from Norah's father, her ex-fiancé, and the mystery around her adoption, breaking the walls she's put up to protect her heart. Now, more than ever, she longs for trust, love, and a family of her own.

Bonding with her handsome co-worker, Evan, and his teenage daughter, Ashley, Norah gets a glimpse of cohesive family life. She finds herself falling for Evan and becoming an unlikely source of help and understanding for Ashley. Evan and Ashley have an empty seat at their table, one Norah wishes to fill. Yet the guilt of taking the previous woman’s place threatens to keep them apart.

Can Norah overcome the scars of her past and discover her inner strength? And will the private letter from her father answer her questions or destroy the family, and the man, she's come to love?

My Thoughts:
This was a somewhat heavy book.  The author doesn't shy away from hard topics but jumps right into them and handles them quite well.  Norah is a realistic character (which is sad in it's own way).  She has no good example to follow in life and feels lost and broken.  She has been hurt, betrayed, abused, and wants love and acceptance.
Evan and Ashley are a father/daughter pair and the author does a good job with them as well.  There is a lot about having to overcome and persevere which is also realistic.  Plenty to keep you glued to the pages with everything going on and all the things coming to light.  This isn't a light fun read, but one that will make you stop and think for a long time after closing it.  
It was a 3/5 for me.  

Thank you to the author for the review copy of this book via PUYB.  I received this book in exchange for an honest review and the opinions stated above are 100% mine.  

Wednesday, April 22, 2020

Negative Zero by Ireland Gill Narrated by J. Elizabeth Anderson

Negative Zero, Volume 1 audiobook cover artBook Description:
If you thought death was the end...you’d be dead wrong.
Life was barely manageable after my mom was murdered three years ago. I wasn’t sure what my purpose was anymore. But then on my twenty-first birthday, I drank a little too much and fell from the roof of my nine-story apartment building.
I died. Then... I un-died.
Enter Hayden, my really bossy (and hot) guardian angel whose duty is to train me to be the next “Soldier of Light.”
Sound fun? Well, it’s not. I save dead people, helping them move on to the World of Light. And to make matters even worse, they are all troubled souls stuck in the Dark Realm with the devil and his army of demonic creatures. They roam my city’s streets at night, waiting for me to screw up.
The Afterlife is one of Death’s best kept secrets, and I’m living proof. I’m pretty sure I’m the wrong person for this job, despite what Hayden thinks. Guess I’m stuck saving the dead.

My Thoughts:
This is a good start to a new series.  A quite unique take on angels and demons that intrigued me from the start.  Hayden, the author does a great job with him.  I liked that the book wasn't what I expected and wasn't predictable.  I had gotten into a rut with all the YA books I listened to being the same-old-same-old and this was a refreshing change.
Evika was a good character, if a bit frustrating at times.  She wasn't the same as the others and had her own opinions and takes on things.  I liked that about her but some of her actions made her come across as juvenile.  The book kept my attention start to finish.  The narrator did a pretty good job with it, but I would have liked a bigger change in character voices (only personal preference here).  I will absolutely read the next in this series to see what happens.
It was a 4/5 for me.

Thank you to the author for the review copy of this audiobook.  I received this book in exchange for an honest review and the opinions stated above are 100% mine.

Tuesday, April 21, 2020

The Traitor's Pawn by Lisa Harris

The Traitor's PawnBook Description:
When FBI agent Jack Shannon arrives in Corpus Christi, Texas, he is focused on one thing: find the man who has been selling encrypted government secrets to the Chinese through online birding chat rooms. But when a senator is shot during a hunting trip and the woman he was with is abducted, Jack agrees to join the search--especially when he discovers that the kidnapping victim is Aubrey Grayson, a woman he was once in love with.

As the search continues, it becomes clear the senator may not have been the intended victim--and Aubrey may be connected to the other case Jack is supposed to be working on. Can Jack untangle the knots before it's too late? And when he learns the truth, will it be too painful to get past?

Join the hunt for the truth--and a traitor--in this tension-laden story of secrets, betrayal, and second chances.

My Thoughts:
Wow, this one was good.  There is mystery and suspense from the start and the author didn't scrimp on the descriptions.  I have visited Corpus Christi and the descriptions the author wrote made me feel like I was back there again.  I had already determined that Lisa Harris was a favorite author of mine and this book is a wonderful example of why.
Jack is an FBI agent.  Aubrey is a detective.  When Aubrey is kidnapped and her 'dad' is shot, Jack is determined to find her.  I loved that these were old friends and not just an insta-love.  Also, the romance takes a back seat to the action, which makes it more realistic.  Aubrey is a fighter and I love her spirit.  The author does a great job of weaving faith throughout without being preachy.  This is a great book that I will be recommending to my friends.
5/5.

Thank you to the publisher for the review copy of this book.  I received this book in exchange for an honest review and the opinions stated above are 100% mine.

Saturday, April 11, 2020

Eden by Brennan S. McPherson

Eden FB Banner

About the Book

Eden: Biblical Fiction of the World's First Family
Book:  Eden
Author: Brennan S. McPherson
Genre:  Biblical Fiction
Release Date: April 1, 2020

“You want me to tell of how I broke the world.”

It’s the year 641 since the beginning of the world, and when Eve passes away, she leaves Adam the only man on earth who remembers everything from the beginning of the world.

When Enoch, God’s newly appointed prophet, decides to collect the stories of the faithful from previous generations, he finds Adam in desperate need to confess the dark secrets he’s held onto for too long.

Beside a slowly burning bonfire in the dead of night, Adam tells his story in searing detail. From the beginning of everything, to how he broke the world, shattered Eve’s heart, and watched his family crumble.

Will Enoch uncover what led so many of Adam’s children away from God? And will Adam find the redemption and forgiveness he longs for?

My Thoughts:
As a general rule, I love Biblical fiction.  It is always known that it is fiction and that the author is going to embellish and add their own take on things.  What I don't like is when it deviates a lot from the actual Biblical account of what happened.  To me, the author went too far with this in several spots in the story.
The above being said, the author did a great job at the start.  The story is told from Adam's perspective and there are some parts that I truly did like.  There were some conversations Overall though, the book was heavy and dark.  There was a lot of conflict and I wanted to see more of God's grace and love shine through to lighten it up.
It was a 3/5 for me.  It was an interesting story, but not one I am going to reread or share with friends.

Thank you to the author for the review copy of this book via Celebrate Lit.  I received this book in exchange for an honest review and the opinions stated above are 100% mine.



Click here for your copy.

About the Author


brennanBRENNAN S. MCPHERSON writes epic, imaginative biblical fiction with heart-pounding plots and lyrical prose, for readers who like to think biblically and feel deeply. He lives with his wife and young daughter in the Midwest, and spends as much of his spare time with them as possible.

Read an Exclusive Excerpt

In my beginning was not darkness, but Light.

As I opened my eyes for the first time, I saw dust motes swirling around five bright points. I reached for them and realized the dust was not blowing past me but instead settling across the complex shapes in my arms.

Distracted, I twisted my wrist, seeing muscle, tendon, bone, and a partial layer of skin. Clenching my fingers one by one, I saw the movement in my joints.

Fascinated, I watched as a swathe of dust poured over me like a sheet of silk and morphed into smooth, brown flesh. I ran my fingers across my new skin, and when the sound of shifting sand settled, noticed what sounded like gentle Music riding on the breath that flowed into me.

I inhaled.

Exhaled.

Inhaled again.

“Adam,” I said, for I had heard that name—my name—in the Music.

I realized that my Father was singing over me, and in his singing, he had given me life and form, and had named me Adam.

He smiled at me, with those dark brown eyes, and let soft melodies fall from his tongue as I lay on my back.

He lifted me from the mud and burned the remaining dust from my skin with the heat of his presence. But he did not hurt me as a natural flame might. Instead, he filled and cleansed me. And the joy of him filled me with an insatiable desire to experience everything around me, to understand the world he had sung into existence.

I’ve never since felt so whole as I did with him in Eden. Because inside me was nothing that did not belong. Only him, and the breath he gave, and the Music he sang, and the smells of Eden, and the touch of his Light, and the taste of his name on my lips as I spoke for the second time. “Father.” I smiled and laughed.

He stood magnificent, warm, compassionate. The image of the invisible condensed in a life foreknown before the foundations of the world were formed.

I felt his pride over me and laughed again, only now with tears.

My first moments were not like those of a newborn child come from a womb. Instead, they were of a child gone into the womb. Swaddled in the Light of God. Cocooned in his satisfaction.
I was Adam. Man fully formed. Reflection of perfection.

In joy, I fell to my hands and knees and bowed my forehead to the ground. Tears flowed to the soil I’d been formed from. How great! How wonderful this being was who had made me for himself, and who so unendingly satisfied me. Nothing I’ve experienced in my long years could ever make me forget it. That sense of purpose. Of everything being right.

Ah, yes. I see wonder on your face, Enoch, at how tears could be present in a world yet unbroken by sin.

Have you never wondered why the kiss of a lover can bring tears to our eyes? It is because some goods are so great that they must be given vent. For not all tears spring from sorrow. And not all aches are unwanted.

Yet still, my Father lifted me and wiped my cheeks. Then he led me across hills and valleys, puddles and rivers. He pointed at plants and skittering animals and insects, and it seemed as though I could hear the echo of his melodies in their movements.

Blog Stops

Giveaway

To celebrate his tour, Brennan is giving away the grand prize package of a “McPherson Publishing bundle”, which includes the following books: a copy of Flood, Babel, the three Psalm Series novellas, and The Simple Gospel book!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.

Tuesday, April 7, 2020

Author Interview with Jodie Wolfe



AW: Tell us about yourself…
Here's my official bio:
Jodie Wolfe creates novels where hope and quirky meet. She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW), Romance Writers of America (RWA), and COMPEL Training. She's been a semi-finalist and finalist in various writing contests. A former columnist for Home School Enrichment magazine, her articles can be found online at: Crosswalk, Christian Devotions, and Heirloom Audio. She's a contributor and co-founder of Stitches Thru Time blog. When not writing she enjoys spending time with her husband in Pennsylvania, reading, walking, and being a Grammie. Learn more at www.jodiewolfe.com.

AW: What genera do you write and why?
I write Christian historical romance. I've always had a fascination for the 19th Century and it's just natural for my faith to be a part of my stories.

AW: Tell us about your book….
Here's what the back cover says:
In 1875, Kansas bachelor Drew Montgomery's sole desire is to serve God, but his congregation's ultimatum that he marry or leave, forces him to advertise for a wife by proxy.

Jules Walker strides into Drew's life wearing breeches and toting a gun and saddle--more cowboy than bride. After years on the trail, she's not exactly wife material, but she longs for home and family, and will do anything to ensure Drew never discovers what she really is.

AW: What was your inspiration for this book?
I wanted to explore what would happen if a guy ordered a wife and the woman who showed up wasn't anything like what he'd advertised for.

AW: Do you have a favorite character and why that one?
I know I shouldn't play favorites but…my heroine, Jules Walker, has been my all-time favorite character to write. She's full of spunk, naivety, humor, and pure fun. She isn't afraid to tell things like they are, or at least how she sees them.

AW: Did you find anything particularly difficult in writing this book?
Not really. Of all the books I've written, this was the one that flowed the easiest when it came to writing.

AW: What project(s) are you currently working on?
I’m working on tweaking the second book in my Burrton Springs Brides series. It doesn’t have a definite title yet, but I’m looking at the possibility of Wooing Annie or Protecting Annie. I'm also working on a book set in the town where I went to college. It deals with belonging and is titled, Hannah's Quest.

AW: Do you have any interesting writing quirks you want to tell us about?
Hmm. Can't think of any.

AW: Do you have any advice for writers out there?
Trust God for His timing with each of your projects.

AW: Where can we find you?
Website:
https://www.jodiewolfe.com







AW: And of course we have to know, where can we find your book? 

Purchase Links for Taming Julia: