Editor's Note: This is Lisa's last post for us. Thank you Lisa! Keep up with her at Lisa writes….. Astute readers of this site will be familiar with my affection for the Patrick Bowers Files, a series of novels by Steven James. I’ve reviewed The Rook and The Knight and have eagerly awaited The Bishop, the latest installment featuring FBI agent Patrick Bowers. As I’ve stated in earlier reviews, James’ novels are not your grandmother’s Christian fiction. They are thrillers in every sense of the word. In fact, The Bishop takes the intensity to a whole new level. The bad guys are beyond bad; they are evil, disturbingly so. And yet, like The Rook and The Knight, James tells his story apart from gratuitous violence and language. He is not unnecessarily explicit and instead employs good ...
Category Archives: Lisa
On-the-Go Devotional: Joy
Joy: A Godly Woman's Adornment is the latest offering in Lydia Brownback’s series of On-the-Go Devotionals. I read and reviewed Contentment so I was excited to be offered the opportunity to read Joy. Like Contentment, Joy is compact, a mere 104 pages. There are 42 devotions, each of them obviously brief, perfect for the woman “On-the-Go.” However, do not mistake brevity for a lack of spiritual depth or instruction. Also like Contentment, Joy will totally get in your business, exposing the real reason for our lack of joy, and carefully pointing the reader to the only source of true and lasting joy: Christ alone. In the Introduction, Brownback writes: Some of us find a perverse satisfaction in our gloom, much like a baby pitching a tantrum to get what she wants. But God doesn’t respond to tantrums. Our moodiness dishonors ...
The Reluctant Entertainer
Hello. My name is Lisa and I entertain, when I entertain, reluctantly. In other words, hospitality does not come easily to me. I lack motivation, not to mention organization. Is there help for someone like me? Oh yes, indeed there is. It is to hesitant hostesses like myself that Sandy Coughlin writes her new book, aptly named The Reluctant Entertainer: Every Woman's Guide to Simple and Gracious Hospitality. From the get go, Sandy offers gentle encouragement and inspiration to those of us who struggle with inadequacy and unrealistic expectations in the entertaining department. It’s Real Entertaining for Real People (coincidentally the title of the first chapter). Other topics included are: Overcoming the Pitfalls of Perfectionism, Simplifying Entertaining, Discovering Your Inner Martha, and The Heart of Hospitality: Conversation (all chapter titles). Sandy shares some of her favorite recipes as well as gorgeous photography from her ...
Mailbox Monday– August 2
Attention: Mailbox Monday is on the move! For the month of August Chick Loves Lit will be hosting, so be sure to check in over there. We've had such a fun time with this meme. We've "met" some new book bloggers this way, and we love this opportunity to get our current readers' thoughts on what's to come. JENNIFER In This Way I Was Saved: A Novel by Brian DeLeeuw appealed to me because he's a young first time novelist and it is supposed to have a strong voice. I think it's a little heavy, but I do generally love young first time novelists (see Finny -- Okay, okay, I'll stop mentioning it, if you'll just read it already) and House of Tomorrow). I downloaded some great titles on my Kindle for ...
Back on Murder
Back on Murder is, from what I understand, J. Mark Bertrand’s first foray into detective fiction and it’s a good one. Really good. Everything that marks a good book is here: compelling plot, complex characterization, smart prose. It is an intricate, intelligent mystery with a complicated and sympathetic protagonist. I liked Back on Murder. I liked it a lot. Houston homicide detective Roland March was once one of the best. Now he's disillusioned, cynical, and on his way out. His superiors farm him out on a variety of punishment details•until an unexpected break gives March one last chance to save his career. And his humanity. All he has to do? Find the missing teenage daughter of a Houston evangelist that every cop in town is already looking for. But March has an inside track, a multiple murder nobody ...
The Pirate Queen
I’ve confessed my love of Southern fiction to you many times before. While I enjoy books of all genres, from mystery to classic to theological, I do like a Southern story well told. The Pirate Queen is one such story. In this novel, Patricia Hickman evokes the Southern sensibility through her choice of setting and in her use of beloved Southern icons, Southern Living magazine for example. However, the real strength of The Pirate Queen lies not with its location nor its regional idiosyncrasies. The Pirate Queen is a beautiful, moving story of love and commitment: Treasure is found in the most unlikely places. The envy of all her friends, wife and mother Saphora Warren is the model of southern gentility and accomplishment. She lives in a beautiful Lake Norman home, and has raised three capable adult children. Her husband is a successful ...
What Is the Gospel?
One would think that, for Christians, answering the question “What Is the Gospel?” would be fairly straightforward, if not obvious. As author Greg Gilbert notes, “the gospel of Jesus Christ stands at the very center of Christianity, and we Christians claim to be about the gospel above all else. It’s what we intend to found our lives upon and build our churches around. It’s what we speak to others about, and it’s what we pray they also will hear and believe.” So, why a book attempting to address this seemingly obvious issue? Gilbert responds by asking: how firm a grasp do you think most Christians really have on the content of the Christian gospel? And, bringing it home: how would you answer if asked what’s so good about the good news of Christianity? In fact, Gilbert asserts, and rightly so in my opinion, that many ...
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Jennifer Donovan
Managing Editor -
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