For Maria, by Bruce Judisch (OakTara)

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Great news! (Well, for me, anyway...) J I've heard from my editor and For Maria, the sequel to Katia, is scheduled for publication in May of this year. Here's what the story's about:

December, 1939: The Gestapo haul Izaak and Maria Szpilmann away to the Ravensbrück concentration camp, leaving their twin infant daughters behind to die. But the twins do not die. Rescued by a neighbor couple, Gustaw and Ròsa Dudek, they escape occupied Poland to Salzburg, Austria. They are not heard from again.

Today: Maria Szpilmann has survived Ravensbrück, Auschwitz, and Bergen-Belsen. She is now grandmother to Madeline Sommers, a young journalist who, despite the odds, passionately clings to the belief that the lost twins are still alive. She makes it her single-focused mission to find and reunite them with her failing grandmother before it’s too late.

For Maria took a year and a half of research-intensive, emotionally exhausting work—work that has changed this author in ways he's still discovering. It is offered in honor of those survivors of the Kindertransport, children who, from 1934-1945, were rescued from the clutches of the Nazis and spirited away to foreign lands to await reunions with their families. Most of those reunions never took place. Some of those survivors the author as had the unlimited joy of befriending. Others he wishes he could.

But most of all, the book is dedicated to the 1.5 million children who did not escape The Shoah, what most of us know as the Holocaust. May their memories be preserved.
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Reconciliations, by Susan Elizabeth Ball (Oak Tara)

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A delicately written, but thought-provoking, story of lost love regained, and lost souls reconciled.

Ms. Ball has crafted a story that walks a thin line, and does it well.  In Reconciliations, you'll encounter a full and honest treatment of significant moral issues--the author does not shy away from the reality of our world--but in a way that doesn't slap you in the face, or deliberately shock your sensibilities.

Kevin is an honest, but worldly, man who appears quite unlucky in love. His wife, Christine, left him after adulterating their marriage with multiple affairs. The woman he dated for several months is now engaged to another man. And don't even ask about the most recent woman to enter his life!

Christine, a broken product of a dysfunctional family, continues in the way of the lost, rebounding from relationship to relationship, until one goes horribly wrong and she ends up in the hospital. Through Divine intervention (what the world sometimes misconstrues as 'coincidence') Christine and Kevin are thrown back together again, her welfare now dependent upon her ex-husband's--shall we say "reluctant" as an understatement?--care.

Enter Mark and Janet Vinson, and the congregation of Riverside Christian Fellowship, and the plot both deepens and softens into a genuine exhibition of Christian benevolence. Kevin and Christine must now deal not only with the turmoil of the unexpected return into each other's lives, but the inescapable and unyielding love of people committed to a faith neither Kevin nor Christine understand.

The tagline on the back cover promises, "A heart-warming story of a powerful love..." And that promise is kept between the pages of Reconciliations, the second in Ms. Ball's "Restored Hearts" series.

More about the author and this book can be found at http://www.susaneball.com/.

Reconciliations was provided by the publisher free for this review. But then, I'd have purchased it anyway.
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Great Lady, Great Author, Great Cause

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Please scroll to the bottom of this page for a really important notice.

Thanks so much!
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Lost, by Ed Lewis (Cape Arago Press)

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A storyline you don't expect; a tale you won't forget.

In Lost, Mr. Lewis treats us to glimpses of the past, present, and a possible future, and ties them together in an intriguing tale that juxtaposes deception with integrity, and grief with hope.

The story opens with an engaging monolog by a minor--or at least, not-as-major--character, who sets the stage with glimpse into the past and its application to the present. Then we're off and running...

A brief visit to Delhi, India, where a top-secret scientific breakthrough lauches us into the initial foray between deception and integrity. Dr. "Derek" has invented the capability every military commander in the world covets. Today, that translates to untold billions of dollars for the firm that can bring it from the laboratory to the battlefield. And Mr. Winston Ridgely of the RCI Corporation intends to do just that.

Skip to Pine Crest, Oregon, where Viet Nam veteran, now newspaper owner/editor, Tom Jenkins and his wife, Marty share a quiet life--a life that is about to be turned upside down. Marty embarks on an Alaskan cruise as a member of a singing group. Then, only a couple of days out, the ship runs afoul of RCI's field-testing their newly acquired capability.

Enter grief vs. hope. The Coast Guard gives up on the chances that there are any survivors, but Tom can't let go of the feeling that Marty is still alive. His conviction sends him on a mission that ranges from the cruise line's home office in London, England, to Oregon's backwoods. Driven by his obsession, he ignores the sentiments piling up against him by well meaning friends who counsel him to move on, that he must reconcile himself to his wife's death. He just can't do that--oh, did I mention his granddaughter was also on the cruise? Yeah. Now you see.

But who is right: Tom or everyone else? What really happened to the Paradise Voyager, its passengers and crew?

Mr. Lewis toys with mysticism, but not too much; flirts with science fiction, but doesn't cross the genre line. What he does is produce a unique story that pits the staying power of love and devotion against the forces of 'fate' manipulated by the intervention of greedy men.

Well researched and thoughtfully written, this is a story you'll ponder well beyond the final page.

Yesterday's Tomorrow, by Cathy West (OakTara)

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In 1954, Malcolm Taylor, a noted foreign-affairs journalist, kissed his daughter at the front door, said goodbye, and promised to come back. He didn't.

 

In 1967, Kristin Taylor, a budding novice journalist, followed her father's trail to find out why.

So begins a gritty and heart-rending tale of integrity, faith and perseverance in two war-torn countries: Vietnam and the United States.

In Saigon, Kristin meets up--or rather, is forced into reluctant collaboration--with Luke Maddox, a photojournalist who irks Kristin in just about every way imaginable. And she reciprocates. Little do either of them know that Kristin's determination to follow through on a story her father had begun the previous decade and Luke's hidden past are intertwined. Finally, her self-imposed assignment, an exposé on a secret war within a war, threatens to explode both of their worlds, which have now become one.

Professionally, Kristin excels in her honest portrayal of a conflict gone so wrong, endearing herself to the men she has come to respect and love. Personally, she doesn't do so well in shielding her emotions from the horror engulfing a nation she has also come to love. From the trauma of a blood-spattered field hospital, to the heat of battle at a forward fire base, to the precious and precarious existence of a Saigon orphanage, Kristin learns the hard way how to survive physically, mentally and emotionally in an environment man was never meant to endure.

Her love-hate relationship with Luke comes to a head, then Kristin is forced to return to the States. Like most veterans of that conflict, part of her she leaves in Vietnam, part of Vietnam she brings home with her. And life is never again the same.

Ms. West delivers an honest, compelling, and very well written tale of war and the aftermath of war. But it's not a mere blood-and-guts story. It's one of hope. She shows us how love and faith have curious and unexpected ways of sprouting even in the most barren soil. Yesterday's Tomorrow will leave you very satisfied at its conclusion, but don't expect the path to be strewn with rose petals. Few paths to meaningful destinations are.

As an endnote, Ms. West is represented by Rachelle Gardner of the Wordserve Literary Agency. Neither Ms. Gardner nor Wordserve are known for tolerating mediocrity. In Catherine West, and Yesterday's Tomorrow, they've advanced their excellent reputation.

This is a re-post of the ARC review I wrote prior to the book's release for Ms. West's blog tour. And yes, the story is just as good now as it was when I first read it.  ;-)

1 Step Away, by Eric Wilson (Bay Forest)

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Why didn't I think of this? What a great premise--one that every Christian should consider; a book every American Christian should read.

Mr. Wilson has taken the age-old story of Job and turned it on its head. What if--just what if a man who had very little in the way of material wealth suddenly came into a fortune? How would it affect his faith? Could this windfall do to him what the deprivation of wealth failed to do to Job? And what if the same spirit who was behind Job's story were also behind this one? You see where this is going? Uh huh.

The Vreeland family is being watched. Their 'doom' is being plotted. They have little to their name, scraping to make ends meet, until...well, until $6,000,000 is unexpectedly dropped into their laps. All the expected emotions emerge: wonder, excitement, perhaps a little trepidation. But emotions are only the vehicles that transport action. What will they do with this fortune? What will it do with them?

Mr. Wilson covers all the angles, as the pressures of a sudden shift in socio-economic status takes its toll on the family of Bret and Sara Vreeland. The decisions they make in the face of this pressure will not only determine the future of their family, but reveal the substance of their faith.

Interesting? Sound like a nice, but rather linear plot? It might be in the hands of a lesser author than Eric Wilson. But what I haven't told you is the one-two punch poised before the Vreelands' noses, the seemingly apparent plotline that suddenly diverges into two threads, and what you thought was predictable is anything but that.

This is not only an entertaining novel, it's a study in human nature. Worthy of individual contemplation and group discussion, 1 Step Away offers a lot in 379 pages. You can't help but put yourself in the place of the Vreelands, and, instead of asking yourself, "Man, what would I do with all that money?" you ask "Man, what would I do about all that money?" 1 Step Away may surprise you with your own answer.

Highly recommended. Get the book.

Oh! And watch the trailer here. It's really good.
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The Lights of Home, by Amanda Morgan (OakTara)

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.In The Lights of Home, Ms. Morgan links past and present tales--with a supernatural twist--in the fiction-fertile soil of Washington State.

First in the series "Legends of the Sanctuary Tree," The Lights of Home finds archaeologist Jill Reade coming into an unexpected inheritance: a bed & breakfast she neither has the time for, nor really even wants. Circumstances beyond her control (but not beyond God's) strand her at the property, where she meets a supporting cast of quirky characters, all of whom try their best to convince her to keep the estate--all but one, that is.

Odd occurrences, unexplainable, bring the disparate group together where they must rely on each other for both emotional and physical survival. What Jill learns from them sparks her transformation from a blunt stalwart loner to a ... well, you'll see what she becomes.

Lurking in the background all the while are shadowy figures of the past, who contribute their own unique influence not only to Jill's change of heart, but to all those they touch.

Ms. Morgan has a gift for description and is clearly familiar with the setting in which her story takes place. Her vivid imagery transports you from snow-bound forests to pine glens ripe with summer life--and portrays the drama of nature and life played through both. If you love the mountains of the Pacific Northwest, or think you might, The Lights of Home will provide a satisfying read.

The Lights of Home was provided free of charge for this review.
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