This week, the
Christian Fiction Blog Alliance
is introducing
Daisy Chain
Zondervan (March 1, 2009)
by
Mary DeMuth

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Mary E. DeMuth is an expert in Pioneer Parenting. She enables Christian parents to navigate our changing culture when their families left no good faith examples to follow.

Her parenting books include Authentic Parenting in a Postmodern Culture (Harvest House, 2007), Building the Christian Family You Never Had (WaterBrook, 2006), and Ordinary Mom, Extraordinary God (Harvest House, 2005).

Mary also inspires people to face their trials through her real-to-life novels, Watching The Tree Limbs
(nominated for a Christy Award) and Wishing On Dandelions (NavPress, 2006).

Mary has spoken at Mount Hermon Christian Writers Conference, the ACFW Conference, the Colorado Christian Writers Conference, and at various churches and church planting ministries. Mary and her husband, Patrick, reside in Texas with their three children. They recently returned from breaking new spiritual ground in Southern France, and planting a church.


ABOUT THE BOOK

The abrupt disappearance of young Daisy Chance from a small Texas town in 1973 spins three lives out of control—Jed, whose guilt over not protecting his friend Daisy strangles him; Emory Chance, who blames her own choices for her daughter’s demise; and Ouisie Pepper, who is plagued by headaches while pierced by the shattered pieces of a family in crisis.

In this first book in the Defiance, Texas Trilogy, fourteen-year-old Jed Pepper has a sickening secret: He’s convinced it’s his fault his best friend Daisy went missing. Jed’s pain sends him on a quest for answers to mysteries woven through the fabric of his own life and the lives of the families of Defiance, Texas. When he finally confronts the terrible truths he’s been denying all his life, Jed must choose between rebellion and love, anger and freedom.

Daisy Chain is an achingly beautiful southern coming-of-age story crafted by a bright new literary talent. It offers a haunting yet hopeful backdrop for human depravity and beauty, for terrible secrets and God’s surprising redemption.

If you would like to read the first chapter of Daisy Chain, go HERE

Sabrina Here: I haven't finished this book yet, but when I do, I'll give you my full review. For now, let me say, this is my first Mary Demuth book and I can see what all the fuss is about. She has such a colorful way with words. As if each and every sentence is thought out in a way to best paint a picture of the scene. Very unique and I can't wait to see how the whole book plays out.

Excitement...an essay/poem by Tanner Jacob Butcher

Excitement looks like cookies that just came out of the oven.

Excitement smells like fresh picked fruit.

Excitement sounds like a big boom from bouncing off the walls.

Excitement taste like a piece of pizza.

Excetement feels like peace coming after a hard fought war.

Mom here. I loved this last line and was so impressed with his 9 year old mind. I know...I'm his mom and have to be impressed. But seriously 9 years old and he already has the 5 senses down. He's doing better than mom and her own writing. LOL.

CRY IN THE NIGHT

Having read all of Colleen Coble’s Rock Harbor series, I was eager to get my copy of Cry in the Night.

The story picks up a little after we left Bree and Kade in Into the Deep. Though, you can absolutely read this book as a stand-alone and be fine. However, you will definitely finish it wanting to pick up the other books.

The author did such a great job with the internal conflict all throughout the book. I felt myself almost in anguish for the characters as I read along. Several times, I had tears in my eyes hoping things would work out the way the character prayed. However, as with all of Coble’s books there is a definite sense of realism within the pages. Life isn’t perfect and doesn’t always work out the way we’d hoped.

This wasn’t a book about the main character finding salvation and at the end of the book we know she’s done that and we feel all happy inside. No. This book was about what happens next. How even as Christians, we don’t have a perfect life. Most never get everything they ever want, and we still need to seek God’s direction before we can find our way out of the darkness. Being a Christian doesn’t necessarily give us an easier path and Coble does a great job showcasing that.

This book was a little different for me because as I’m reading it I was getting a sense of where the author was going and I wasn’t sure I liked it. As a reader, I was nervous and unsure how she would rectify the conflict she had created. On the other side, as a writer, I could see the way the conflicts were keeping me deep into the book. I was unable to stop reading and even on a work night, found myself reading at midnight. This author does a masterful job in creating a story we’re unable to walk away from. Great read!

This week, the
Christian Fiction Blog Alliance
is introducing
A Cry In The Night
Thomas Nelson (February 3, 2009)
by
Colleen Coble
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Author Colleen Coble's thirty novels and novellas have won or finaled in awards ranging from the Romance Writers of America prestigious RITA award, the Holt Medallion, the ACFW Book of the Year, the Daphne du Maurier, National Readers' Choice, and the Booksellers Best awards. She writes romantic mysteries because she loves to see justice prevail and love begin with a happy ending.

AWARDS:
2004 More Than Magic winner for Best Inspirational Romance
Without a Trace, Thomas Nelson
2004 American Christian Fiction Writers Mentor of the Year

ABOUT THE BOOK

The highly anticipated novel that delivers what romantic suspense fans have long awaited-the return to Rock Harbor.
Bree Nichols gets the shock of her life when her husband-presumed dead-reappears.

Bree Nichols and her search and rescue dog Samson discover a crying infant in the densely forested woods outside of Rock Harbor, Michigan. Against objections from her husband, Kade, who knows she'll become attached, Bree takes the baby in. Quickly she begins a search for the mother-presumably the woman reported missing just days earlier.
While teams scour the forests, Bree ferrets out clues about the missing woman. But she soon discovers something more shocking: Bree's former husband-long presumed dead in a plane crash-resurfaces. Is he really who he says he is? And should she trust him again after all these years?
An engaging, romantic suspense novel from critically-acclaimed author Colleen Coble.

If you would like to read the first chapter of , go HERE