Legacy Road, by Graham Garrison (Kregel)

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Fine book; really good story.

Mr. Garrison has crafted a tale well worthy of its prequel, Hero’s Tribute, in depth and thought-provoking poignancy.

Set near Athens, Georgia, Legacy Road follows Wes Watkins, the sportswriter who had delivered the eulogy of hometown hero Michael Gavin in Hero’s Tribute.  Now a freelance writer, Wes is on an even keel and doing well—until the end of the first chapter.  His world begins to crumble with an disrupted attempt to propose marriage to Emmy, an ER nurse soon due to deploy to Afghanistan, and her awkward rebuff of that proposal.  Close on the heels of this jolt is the forced reappearance in his life of his wayward father, his mother’s suddenly deteriorating health, and the pressures of an overly demanding professor supervising Wes’ post-graduate studies.  All of these stresses combine to shake Wes’ personal world and his young faith.

Legacy Road examines the issues of forgiveness and trust with brutal, yet compassionate, honesty.  Set against the backdrop of the Civil War, part of his post-graduate studies, Wes’ own journey is mirrored through letters his father had sent him from prison, some of which he’d never read, and letters preserved from an ancestor who fought for the South in the very campaigns his course work focuses upon.  These thrust upon him decisions regarding that forgiveness and trust that he finds himself ill prepared to face.

If you’re looking for a novel filled with jeeps blowing up and grisly murder scenes, skip this one.  However, if you dare look past the sensational into an evenly written, thoughtful reflection of human fallibility, and how interpersonal relationships suffer but can recover from it, Legacy Road is a sure bet.

Happily, Kregel Publishers sent me this copy of Legacy Road free of charge to review.  I was planning to purchase it anyway.  J
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For Maria, by Bruce Judisch (OakTara)

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Shameful, isn't it? Two entries in a row of the same thing. Well, not quite the same thing.

Look what I got from my publisher today! The cover design for For Maria. So far, we're still on track for a May release date. Lots to do betwixt now and then, so please pray for me.

I'll keep you posted!
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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.  ;-)