books

The Generations Series: A Little Lower Than the Angels (Book 1) – Caryl McAdoo

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If you love the stories of the Bible, if you are new to reading the Bible, or a seasoned expert looking to expand on the stories surrounding the creation of the human race- this story is the perfect place to start.

photo courtesy of Caryl McAdoo
photo courtesy of Caryl McAdoo

This first in The Generations Series, titled A Little Lower than the Angels, takes you through the lives of Adam and Eve, and Cain and Abel, and how the choices they each willfully made affected the rest of their lives.

You will experience Abel and his interactions in Heaven with various cherubim, his constant questioning of when the rest of his family will join him, and the biggest question of if Cain himself will be able to join him there.

Watch as Adam and Eve deal with the disobedience and sin of Cain, and his disappearance with his sister and wife, Sheriah. Adam and Eve are again left alone, Eve seemingly unable to bear the burden of her guilt that all of this tragedy her family is experiencing is due to her original sin in the Garden of Eden. Will she ever be able to repent enough and again enjoy a life on Earth with her husband? Your heart breaks right along with her as she buries her son into the ground, not quite understanding her husband’s insistence that they are from the earth, and to it they must return.

The facts in this story are true to the Bible, and come from the King James Version. The story is one interpretation of what life may have been like; what this family may have experienced as they lived through the ups and downs of their lives during this time period.

This story is a triumph for Biblical fiction: it gets everything right, while adding to the story to allow the reader to experience what the early Christians went through for and because of their faith.

I do not think Caryl McAdoo could write the remaining books of this series fast enough for me!

Be sure to visit her website for more great reads! I have another one already, and cannot wait to read it!

http://carylmcadoo.com

Oklahoma Ride: Guideposts for your Life – Tony A. Smith

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What a great read this was! It takes you through a young boys’ life, the time he was fortunate enough to spend with his Grams, and the lessons she taught him. Everyone should be so lucky to have such a wise, loving person in their young life that they can spend time with.

Oklahoma Ride Cover

I have never been to Oklahoma, but Tony certainly wrote this in a way that I could see every scene he described as if I had visited it many times. I adore books that have great descriptions of the surroundings.

There are wonderful life lessons here that will always be important, no matter what stage of your life you are at. They will never go out of style either. Tony’s Grams showed him from a very early age the importance of writing letters, and how much it means to the person who receives it. Why it is important to always be on time, and to truly listen to others, even if they repeat themselves. Your time is really the most valuable gift you can give to another.

There are great explanations and examples of why it is necessary and important to have a plan, be organized, and always strive to learn something new.

This book brought many smiles to my face, reading about this young boy and the loving relationship he had with his Grams. It is an easy read with some wonderful poetry, and is a perfect way to spend a relaxing Fall weekend!

The Faust Syndrome – Jaysen True Blood

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The Faust Syndrome CoverJust in time for the upcoming All Hollow’s Eve, one more story to make your hair stand on end while you fight the overwhelming urge to turn on every light in your home. Yes, it’s that good. This was my first read of Jaysen True Blood’s work, and I could not have been more pleased!

We all have the basic understanding of right and wrong; correct? Good. And we all try to do good by our hearts, and what we know we should be doing.

But what if you had the ability to do whatever you wanted? Anything: right, wrong, or indifferent. Could you still do the morally correct things and follow the rules of society as society dictates? What if you could have it all? Or at least you believed you could have it all. Then what would you do?

This story looks at right and wrong, morally correct and unethical, righteously sound and corruptness by evil. Read about the lengths one man goes to in order to have it all. Ironically, he “had it all” throughout his entire childhood. Having it all would cost him his soul, but what did he need that for anyhow?

You will never look at Heaven and Hell the same, and may change your mind on what you believe to be true. There is no religious marketing scheme here to get you into a church; just the lengths a man goes to in order to have it all. He destroys anyone and everyone who gets in his way, and then he destroys some more just for the fun of it.

The ending had quite the twist for me, and it made the story that much more profound now that I knew the “whole” story. I try at all lengths to never give out spoilers, and the same holds true here. You are going to have to read it for yourself!

You still have time to get this book and have it read before Halloween this Friday, October 31st. Or at least start reading it by Halloween. You will want to make space on your scary-books-bookshelf for this one. I myself am making room for a couple more of Jaysen True Blood’s books on my bookshelves.

You can find this book here: http://www.amazon.com/Faust-Syndrome-Jaysen-True-Blood/dp/1502566079

Gingerbread Cookie Murder – Joanne Fluke

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Just in time for the upcoming Holidays (which I cannot wait for!) is a great murder-mystery without all of the blood-and-gore, full of laughs, and even boasts some great recipes.

Gingerbread Cookie Murder

Joanne Fluke has quite the market for her Hannah Swensen mystery books. Hannah owns her own bakery, and seems to come across dead bodies almost as much as she has customers in her shop!

This story begins when Hannah finds her neighbor dead in his condo, with a box of her gingerbread cookies on the floor next to him. Who did she sell those cookies to?

Joanne Fluke has dozens of these types of stories written around Hannah, and they are all good reads. I have not tried any of the recipes in the books, but they seem to be fairly straight-forward without a lot of complicated steps. This particular book also contains 2 more stories; one by Laura Levine, and the other by Leslie Meier. Gingerbread is the theme here, and I think you will enjoy these stories as well.

As we get through October and into November, I am going to be having a few different give-aways; books, gift cards, etc. Stay tuned, the details will be out soon!

Lost – Gregory Maguire

Angela2 Comments

Lost book coverGregory Maguire went out on a limb with this story, creating a completely original character for the focus of the story. It is centered around an American writer, Winifred Rudge, who makes her way to London to visit a distant cousin. After publishing a best-selling story, she is ready to begin her next novel; a story about a woman who is haunted by the spirit of Jack the Ripper.

Her cousin, John Comestor,  has disappeared in thin air, his apartment in the middle of being renovated. His girlfriend proves useless in the search for John, and the downstairs neighbor is not much more of a help. The apartment is haunted by someone who resembles Mr. Ebenezer Scrooge himself. There are many other quick appearances of characters of literary history.

There are also subplots going on that I did not find necessary to the story. Instead of adding to it, they seemed to make it more difficult to enjoy.

I liked this story well enough, but it was not one of my favorites by Mr. Maguire. I have read all of his stories but one, and I find that they tend to be hit-or-miss for me. This could have been well beyond “good”, but I guess it’s like they say, “You can’t win them all!”

The Jefferson Key – Steve Berry

Angela2 Comments

I found this to be a great book. It was better than I expected, and being a history buff, this is no-holds-barred! Mixing history with facts, this book held my attention from start to finish. The author did not overwhelm with useless information that added pages to the book, but no information.

Books and Covers 9-15-2014 004

Fighting the Government, Cotton Malone is focused not only on success, but on the woman who is holding his heart captive. There are twists and turns here, but not a whole lot I can say without giving you spoilers. The main concept of this story is that four Presidential assassinations that span a hundred years are related and happened for the same reason as the assassination attempt on the current President, Danny Daniels.

Is it possible that our founding fathers put into place a clause that allows for the sanctioned killing of a United States President? This is what Cotton needs to figure out, and it puts him on a trail that takes him from one side of the country to the other.

If you are a history buff, and love to read, you will want to make sure this book goes on your must-read list!

Books About Books!

Angela2 Comments

B&N Books Gift Card 10-23-2014 001Has anyone read Lorna Barrett’s books about Tricia Miles, owner of a mystery bookstore?

I am just asking, because I now own 7 of them, and have never read her books.

But, when I see a series of books, about a bookstore owner…Oh Boy! I believe that I do have all of the books she has in this series, and it appears to be the type of books I read, mystery and funny, all rolled up into one great story!

I received a gift card from my awesome team at work when I was leaving my position as their Supervisor to take a different position (everyone knows I am all about the books…) and while I was killing time before a weekly Doctor’s appointment, Barnes and Noble is where you will find me.

So I was just curious; have you read them? What did you think?

I have a stack of stories in front of me I am reading before I even think about starting on these, but my MBA class ends in 2 weeks (WooHoo) and then I am free and clear for the rest of the year!

Just a thumbs up or thumbs down if you please, I am not a fan of plot spoilers!

The Narnian : The Life and Imagination of C.S. Lewis – Alan Jacobs

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I am a huge fan of the Narnia books, and all books by Clive Staples Lewis. The Narnian is a great overview of C.S. Lewis and his life, and how that in turn brought us the wonderful world of Narnia, and the adventures of the Pevensies.

The Narnian Cover

You will learn about his youth in Ireland. The games he played with his brother Warnie, and how this was the beginning of what would become Narnia. Clive loved to create worlds with fantastic creatures and settings even from a very young age.

Taking part in World War I, being in the trenches fearing for his life would have even more profound effects on his beliefs, and his writing. C.S. Lewis was also friends with J.R.R. Tolkien, and they were members of a writing group known as “The Inklings.” Could you imagine sitting in a room with C.S. and J.R.R.? Oh my goodness, I do not know if I would be speechless, or unable to shut up with never-ending questions I would love to ask both of these great writers!

courtesy of Google+
courtesy of Google+

This is a thorough, extensive biography of the life of C.S. Lewis, and even if you have extensive knowledge of him already, you are bound to learn some new things in this book as well. A wonderful read for fans of C.S., his stories, or great writers in general. This is a book I will read again!

Ravaging Myths – Frederick Marshall Brown

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Okay, it has been a while since I have had to do this, but here goes. Do not read this book. I searched as much information as I could about it, and all of the reviews I found were pretty close to how I felt about the story.

If someone tries to hand this book off to you, do not take it!
If someone tries to hand this book off to you, do not take it!

I wish I had something nice to say about this book. I was looking for another great scary read for the Halloween holiday, but this was not it. Unless if spelling errors, bad grammar usage, poor paragraph and sentence structure, and more holes in the plot than you would find on a colander are your thing.

If so, then this is the book for you!

The first couple chapters definitely got my attention, but as each new character was added in, something else decreased in quality. Nothing made sense. Nothing added up. The story would completely change direction and characters in the middle of a paragraph. With no explanation. Meaning, you are reading about Dick and Jane running up the hill, and the very next sentence tells you Sam and Spot went to the park to chase Frisbees. And whatever Dick and Jane were doing just stopped. Trust me; it is much worse than I can even make it sound.

This story takes place in Hawthorne, supposedly a Native territory, but even that does not make sense. It mentions St. Louis, Sioux Nation. Did St. Louis previously belong to the Sioux? Or is the author just making things up? The storyline was everywhere but on track, and it basically ended up being that a funeral home was built on top of a cave that was a bridge to the spirit world. Yes, there is your spoiler alert. Because I hope to goodness you are going to trust me and not read this book. The author mentioned at the end of the story that since he lives in Las Vegas with his wife and son, he was thinking about a ravaging myths story based there. This, my friends, was the scariest thing about this story. That he may possibly write another.

I can’t even say it has a nice cover 😦

Bugger…

How Big Is Yours?

Angela2 Comments

Your stack of books you want/need/have to read? What did you think I meant?!

There is no such thing as too many books!
There is no such thing as too many books!

I have been collecting books throughout the summer, knowing I want to read them, and just waiting to have the time to do so. Missing from this stack was the 1st book in the Freecurrent series (Deanna J. Compton) which I am currently reading, but could not locate. Panic! I found it, which just leads me to the fact I have been trying to ignore. That I have a lot of books. And also that I need to organize said books.

I have 6 more paperbacks that I bought at a used book sale at the beginning of the summer, and have not even had the time to give them a second glance. I am almost into week 4 of my 6 week long class on Leadership for my MBA. This is my last class for the year, so I can relax and enjoy the holiday season that is quickly approaching.

What do you have that you cannot wait to read, and cannot yet find the time to do so?