Review: An Endless Christmas

An Endless Christmas by Cynthia Ruchti

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

An award-winning novelist’s heartwarming story about family and love lost, found, and finally truly revealed at Christmas.

Christmas takes a very different turn when the guests of honor break up instead of announcing their engagement. Trapped with his family, they learn that love looks different than either imagined.

Both in their eighties, Dodie and Wilson Binder celebrate every Christmas as if it were their last. This year, their grandson Micah is planning to ask his girlfriend, Katie, to marry him so they can celebrate with the whole family. But things go very wrong when she says "no." Now they are stuck. Too many people, too much snow, and too little room should be a recipe for disaster. But sometimes too much is just enough. Especially when it's Christmas.

I loved this book!!! It was very heartwarming, perfect for Christmas! I loved the big family togetherness that is portrayed in this book. Also the family's determination to become better people and learn from the past instead of letting regrets and mistakes in life stop you or make you bitter and destroy you. It's advice all of us need to take to heart. (I love the scene where they throw their regrets into the bonfire!)

Katie has VERY dysfunctional parents and has never known what it means to love and be loved by a family like Micah's. She's so sure that her life will follow the path of multiple past generations of her family that she determines she can't marry Micah and ruin his life. However, the warmth and generosity and love that Micah and his family show her is so real that she decides to stay for the holiday and find out what a Binder Christmas is all about.

You'll have no problem getting involved in this book while you snicker, laugh, and then cry tears of joy and sadness. There were so many inspirational and teachable moments in the book - I just loved it!!!

*Thanks to First Look and Worthy Publishers for the complimentary copy of this book for review purposes. All opinions stated are my own.*

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Review: Knit, Purl, Pray: 52 Devotions for the Creative Soul

Knit, Purl, Pray: 52 Devotions for the Creative Soul by Lisa Bogart
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Knit, Purl, Pray is for the knitter who recognizes that when she is creating
something beautiful with yarn, it is also a way to be quiet and reflect. The
devotions make connections between knitting and all manner of things from joy and
service to boredom and confession. These reflections help the reader think about
the craft they love in a new way and perhaps see their problems as something
that can be unraveled and reworked into something beautiful. Each new day is an
opportunity to create something new.

I don't knit but I would love to! I thought this was a unique devotional that was very inspirational. There are 52 devotions with each chapter starting with a scripture and ending with a prayer. The author incorporates analogies of knitting techniques, stitches, tools, concepts, etc. and relates them to a daily Christian life. This is a delightful easy to read book that also includes a couple of patterns.

You can find Lisa Bogart at www.lisabogart.com .

*Thanks to First Look and Worthy Publishers for the complimentary copy of this book for review purposes. All opinions stated are my own.*


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Review: The Columbus Code

The Columbus Code by Mike Evans
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

In 1492 Christopher Columbus bore a secret agenda as he set out with his tiny fleet to discover a New World. The startling truth? Columbus himself was a Jew! And he sought a new home for his persecuted Jewish kin to escape King Ferdinand’s and Queen Isabella’s newly wrought Spanish Inquisition.

The Columbus Code is just that – the true, historical puzzle few could comprehend until today. Consistent with great historical fiction of our time, New York Times best-selling author Mike Evans pens a story replete with intrigue, adventure, and brutal persecution. The story begins with John Winters, an American Secret Service agent, who unravels centuries old truths about Christopher Columbus and the real drama that lay behind those famous voyages to the Americas.

This is not my usual reading genre but I thought it was well written and I enjoyed it. Secret Service Agent John Winters is on medical leave from his job after a raid that went bad and he's suffering from a form of PTSD. After his mother dies, he finds a request from her to continue her research on their family being direct descendants of Christopher Columbus. With nothing better to do he starts on a quest that leads him to Barcelona and a search for Christopher Columbus' secret journal. Meanwhile, his estranged daughter Maria, a corporate attorney, is also in Barcelona overseeing a merger. However there's more to this very large and powerful company than she knows. Behind the scenes is a secret society that is putting in place a plan to financially rule the world and possibly bring about the anti-christ. John and Maria's worlds collide when the search for Columbus' journal gains the attention of the secret society and they end up joining forces and on the run while trying to figure out how it all connects before it costs them their lives.

*Thanks to First Look and Worthy Publishers for the complimentary copy of this book for review purposes. All opinions stated are my own.*

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

MIKE EVANS is a #1 New York Times best-selling author with more than 25 million copies in print, including Christopher Columbus: Secret Jew. He lives in Fort Worth, Texas. He is the Chairman of the Board of the Ten Boom Museum in Holland (tenboom.org) and also of the Friends of Zion Museum in Jerusalem (FOZHC.org). Evans is founder of the Jerusalem Prayer Team (jpteam.org) and has sixty published books. To contact Dr. Evans for interviews or speaking engagements, send correspondence to: P. O. Box 30000, Phoenix, AZ 85046; e-mail EVENTS@drmichaeldevans.com; or telephone 817-268-1228.

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Review: Empire's End

Empire's End by Jerry B. Jenkins

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Jerry B. Jenkin's new novel is filled with adventure, drama, historic people and places, and even romance. Only a few snapshots of Paul's life are revealed in the Bible. In this fictional account, Jenkins tells of a devout Jewish scholar, who after only three years in the Arabian wilderness, emerges as the greatest Christian theologian in history. This novel explains how, after supervising the death of Jesus's disciples, Paul would be moved to effectively conquer the Roman Empire with a message about a Jewish man named Jesus. Empire's End will cause you to rethink whether Paul ever experienced the love of a woman or the embrace of a child.

From a fictional standpoint, this was an interesting book. It was neat to read about Paul behind the scenes so to speak. As stated in the synopsis, very little about Paul's life is told in the Bible. So what did happen between the stories shared? I liked reading and imagining what his life might have been like. I loved the miraculous ride on the horse! :) And I know other reviewers don't, but I liked the story of Paul and Stephanos widow. So much forgiveness and redemption there!

Of course there were a few things I didn't care for. The excessive use of entire passages of quoted scripture (only excessive because I was reading a book not the Bible). The way the camp ended that Paul spent three years in was unexpected and sad and didn't make sense. And I must point out that most of Paul's years of ministry were not covered and it did not cover the "Empire's End".

*Thanks to First Look and Worthy Publishers for the complimentary copy of this book for review purposes. All opinions stated are my own.*



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