Wednesday, March 27, 2024

A Hope Fulfilled by April W Gardner


About the Book

Book: A Hope Fulfilled

Author: April W Gardner

Genre: Biblical Fiction (Obadiah)

Release Date: November, 2023

One Hebrew slave’s courage and faith opens the gate on Edom’s demise.

Tikvah, a Hebrew slave in Edom, lives in hope of once again seeing Jerusalem, the Holy City. When a Babylonian general and his dashing Jewish liaison arrive at her master’s house, whispering plans of Edom’s destruction, she senses Yahweh at work. After all, there’s a prophecy foretelling His justice upon the kingdom. Tikvah clings to that promise while obediently following the call of service into the heart of danger. If only there were a promise she would come out the other side alive.

 

Click here to get your copy!


 This is a novella about the prophecy of Obadiah. It is also a love story. While reading this story we get an inside look at what a Jewish slave goes through. The relationship between Tovah and another blind slave who cannot talk is inspiring. I think readers would enjoy this story but I think it would have been better as a full length novel or maybe a series of novellas that ends with a cliff hanger( but I am not a writer, so what do I know.)  At the end of most of the chapters there is the Biblical reference which that part of the story is taken from. This novel shows that faith in God is rewarded. 

I received a complimentary copy from the author and Celebrate Lit and these opinions are my own. 

About the Author

April W Gardner is an indie author whose great passion is historical romance with themes of Native American and Southeastern U.S. culture. Copyeditor, mother of two grown children, and non-trad college student, April lives in South Texas with her husband and two German Shepherds. In no particular order, April dreams of owning a horse, learning a third language, and visiting all the national parks.

 

 

 

 

More from April

So…Obadiah? Who ever heard of Obadiah as the backdrop for biblical fiction? I hadn’t. But that’s not where A Hope Fulfilled began…

In late December 2021, while deciding on a Bible reading goal for the upcoming year, I pondered which sections of the Bible I knew least. The minor prophets came to mind right off, then camped there as I asked myself what I knew about these little books.

I’d heard a million sermons preached from one or another of them over the years, but could I give even a one-sentence summary on any of the twelve? That question required a moment’s thought, which produced Jonah and the big fish, Hosea and his harlot wife, Joel and the locusts, Amos and… Uh, er, uh…

This was a problem. After burning some brain cells on the matter, I finally hung my head and admitted I was a minor failure. If I’d been tested right then on the minor prophets, I would have received a big red F.

How was this possible? I’m a missionary’s kid who never missed a church service, for goodness’ sake. This was unacceptable. I had an MK reputation to uphold.

Kidding, kidding. But the point remains. After 4.5 decades in church, I should be able to state every book’s title and theme. At a minimum. Anything less is spiritual laziness.

With that challenge in mind, I hitched up my trousers and set to work. My task? One minor prophet a month. I would read each one again and again, really drilling them home, absorbing their messages and banishing my spiritual “shame.”

By April, and my fourth read of Obadiah, I stared at my Bible, the verses swimming before me, and admitted to a second problem—despite my faithful rereading, the first four books were all running together in a mental smear of prophety messages.

Warning, judgment, doom, gloom. There was hope in there, too, of course. Praise God. And a harlot wife. I had that one down. But I was no closer to being able to distinguish them, to really understand the books with any kind of true ownership.

Since I’m a goal-girl, it made me a little sad to set aside my twelve-prophet year, but there was no getting around it. If this was going to work, I would have to go deeper, get messier, put on my work gloves and knee pads, and start digging.

New goal! Understand Obadiah. I’d worry about the rest once I had this one down. Fifteen months and three written books later, here we are, celebrating the release of my first biblical fiction, A Hope Fulfilled.

So, how did I get from studying a minor prophet to writing biblical fiction? The journey from point A to point B wasn’t very long. The series (A Fire and a Flame) started out as a Bible commentary for women, but when I got to exploring the history around Obadiah, my fiction brain kinda took over. It does that sometimes. Silly brain.

I did finish the commentary, but as soon as I allowed myself to ponder all the what-ifs of the event, the novella practically wrote itself.

Obadiah gives a fiction writer almost no details to build on. So, A Hope Fulfilled is what one might call an artist’s rendition of what might have happened during the fall of Edom. There were probably Hebrew slaves in Edom. One of them probably knew the prophecy of Edom’s doom. And that somebody might have, just might have, longed to help God’s justice play out.

Thus, Tikah and her story, A Hope Fulfilled, were born.

Blog Stops

Dee S White, March 20

Holly’s Book Corner, March 21

The Lofty Pages, March 21

Book Looks by Lisa, March 22

Exploring The Written Word, March 23

Books You Can Feel Good About, March 24

Abba’s Prayer Warrior Princess, March 25

Lots of Helpers, March 26

Locks, Hooks and Books, March 27

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, March 28

The Printed Edge, March 29

Texas Book-aholic, March 30

She Lives To Read, March 31

Gina Holder, Author and Blogger, April 1 (Author Interview)

Mary Hake, April 1

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, April 2

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, April is giving away the grand prize package of a $30 Amazon gift card and a paperback set of the A Fire and a Flame!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.

https://promosimple.com/ps/2a8f4/a-hope-fulfilled-celebration-tour-giveaway

Up From Dusr by Heather Kaufman

 

About the Book

Book: Up from Dust: Martha’s Story

Author: Heather Kaufman

Genre: Biblical fiction

Release Date: January 23, 2024

Martha of Bethany is no stranger to adversity. After her mother’s untimely death, Martha shoulders the responsibility of raising her siblings–quiet and studious Lazarus, and wild and rambunctious Mary. She finds solace in friendship and the beginnings of first love, but just as Martha begins to imagine a new future, hardship strikes again and her dreams crumble into dust.

Ten years later, Martha’s friend pleads for the new teacher, Jesus of Nazareth, to come and heal her husband. When Martha discovers that the carpenter-rabbi is connected to her past, she’s not sure she can trust him with her future. But as he continues to perform miracles, the invitation to believe becomes harder to resist, renewing Martha’s hardened heart, even as she faces an unknown future.

 

Click here to get your copy!

 

I really loved  “Up from Dust” by Heather Kaufman. I think it truly is truly the best book I have this year so far. 

It is a fictional tale of Mary and Martha and Lazarus.  I didn’t read anything that I was contradicting the Bible. 

There were scenes that made my heart ache. This book is a good book to read anytime but I found it especially great this week as it is coming up on Easter and the book ends with the crucifixion and burial and the Resurrection of Jesus. 

I really recommend that after you read this book or maybe before ( your choice) you read the author’s note. I added this in this review because sometimes I don’t read the author’s notes. 

This is my favorite quote from the book. 

“Loss can lead to bitterness. Knowledge can lead to pride.  Both the hard and good things in our lives can take root,in ways that produce death.” He paused  thoughtfully. “That is why the greatest commandment in Scripture is to love Adonai  with all our hearts, with all our soul, with all our might. In loving him with our whole being, our hearts will be fertile ground,ready to receive all that Yahweh ordains for us. So that when the hard and good come into our lives they land in soul, that will produce fruit.” ……” When bitterness chokes the life out of a man he comes to love his hurt more than Adonai. And when knowledge becomes its own reward, a man comes to love his  mind more than Adonai. I  have seen both things happen, and the death they produce.”

I received a complimentary copy from the author and Celebrate Lit and these opinions are my own. 





About the Author

Heather Kaufman is the author of multiple books and devotions, praised by Kirkus Review for writing “a charming and well-crafted tale.” She delights in highlighting the goodness of God through storytelling. When not reading, writing, or accumulating mounds of books, Heather can be found exploring new parks with her husband and three children near their home in St. Louis, Missouri.

 

 

 

 

More from Heather

Up from Dust: Martha’s Story is the first of three books in my new series, “Women of the Way.” Each book focuses on a female follower of Christ, diving deep into her history before touching upon the events we know from Scripture. Book one is on Martha of Bethany, the sister of Lazarus and Mary.

 

Let me ask you a question: What comes to your mind when you think of Martha?

 

Busy? Angry? Worried?

 

How about: Teachable? Trusting? Strong?

 

I’m afraid we’ve distilled poor Martha down into a personality type, turning her into a cautionary tale for Christian women. When Scripture as a whole presents a much different picture.

 

The seed of this story was planted in my heart during an Easter sermon in 2016, when I was startled into a deep admiration for this remarkable woman of faith. “Why haven’t I been encouraged to be more like Martha?” I wondered. Martha . . . a woman who learned from her mistakes and took the living God at His word. A woman who confessed Jesus as the resurrection and the life while her brother was four days dead in a tomb. Her trajectory in Scripture from worry to radical trust is one to emulate and it led me to ask: What happened in this woman’s heart?

 

In Up from Dust, I linger over Martha, imagining what her life was like before Christ. The story traces all the “many things” that worried and troubled Martha’s heart and the Christ who pinpointed her pain, met her in the midst of it, and lifted her up. We watch Martha come of age as she works through her mother’s death and the heavy responsibility of raising her siblings. We journey with Martha as she experiences first love and learns to shoulder the mantle of womanhood, even while coping with a father who is stuck in his loss. When grief comes to Martha’s own heart, she is presented with a choice. Will she cling to her hurt more than to Adonai, the way her father has done? Or is there a better way forward?

 

May this story encourage you to remain openhearted even when life feels unbearably hard, to pin your hopes to Jesus, the only One able to lift you up from the ashes of grief.

 

While you read, consider listening to the Up from Dust playlist! It’s full of inspirational music that ties into the themes from the book. Give it a listen HERE. Happy reading (and listening)!

 

Surrendering with you to Him,

Heather

Blog Stops

Babbling Becky L’s Book Impressions, March 26

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, March 27

Texas Book-aholic, March 28

Locks, Hooks and Books, March 29

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, March 30

For Him and My Family, March 31

The Lofty Pages, March 31

Splashes of Joy, April 1

Abba’s Prayer Warrior Princess, April 2

She Lives To Read, April 3

Cover Lover Book Review, April 4

Artistic Nobody, April 5 (Spotlight)

Labor Not in Vain, April 6

Mary Hake, April 6

Holly’s Book Corner, April 7

Pause for Tales, April 8

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Heather is giving away the grand prize package of a $15 gift card to Amazon and a paperback copy of Up from Dust!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.

https://promosimple.com/ps/2aa71/up-from-dust-martha-s-story-celebration-tour-giveaway

Tuesday, March 26, 2024

Offshore Ambush by Sherri Wilson Johnson

 

About the Book

Book: Offshore Ambush

Author: Sherri Wilson Johnson

Genre: Christian Romantic Suspense (contemporary)

Release Date: January 9, 2024

Sometimes people aren’t who you think they are.

Gretchen Overton’s world is shattered when someone murders her brother on a remote offshore platform in the Gulf of Mexico. As medicolegal death investigator for Baldwin County, Alabama, she vows to uncover the truth and bring the killer to justice. But little does she know, her path to finding answers requires the help of Everett Forrester, the rig’s Drilling Foreman and her ex-boyfriend.

While tensions rise and the body count increases, danger lurks around every corner…and it becomes clear that someone is determined to eliminate Gretchen and Everett before they uncover the truth.

Can they untangle the web of deception and expose the killer before everything rips them apart again?

 

Click here to get your copy!

This book is a third time chance at love along with lots of page turning action. This book is a clean read but it has lots of people being killed. It has mistaken identity and lots of characters not being the good guys. This book is more suspense than a romance. I can tell you that I liked the ending better than I did the beginning. This is book 5 of the series but can be read as a stand-alone. I haven’t read all 5 but definitely have liked all of them that I have read. While reading this book, my heart ached for Gretchen and Everett. 

I received a complimentary copy from the author and Celebrate Lit and these opinions are my own. 
 

About the Author

Sherri Wilson Johnson is a Christian romantic suspense author and lover of all things book related. She’s always been a sucker for a good love story—whether it’s in real life or fiction (both historical and contemporary). Completing her first novel at the age of eighteen, and later burning the only copy in the fireplace, she continued learning the craft of writing and now writes Contemporary Romantic Suspense and Historical Romance with a splash of suspense and/or mystery. When not writing, she’s usually assisting other publishing professionals or helping authors realize their dreams of becoming published. Sherri and her husband are empty-nesters and live in Georgia with their two dogs. She loves spending time with family, vacationing at the beach, curling up with a good book or working on her current work-in-progress. She dreams of a second home on some beach somewhere someday, where she can plot and write romantically suspenseful novels.

More from Sherri

The idea for Offshore Ambush came from my annual visits to the Gulf Shores and Fort Morgan, Alabama area. Just like how the idea for Desolate Escape (book one in my Jeopardized Reunions series) came about while sitting on the deserted beach at the Bon Secour Wildlife Refuge where I imagined someone discovering a dead body on the beach, discovering the oil and gas platforms out in the Gulf but not knowing what they were sparked my creative juices. So I began researching what these were while eating dinner on the screened-in porch that viewed Mobile Bay where we were staying (across the street from the beach). When I discovered that they were drilling platforms, my husband and I started brainstorming. Yes, Dan is one of my biggest brainstorming resources, for lack of a better word. He always titles my books for me, always listens daily as I fill him in on what I’ve written, and never fails to cheer me on when I’m dreaming up the next book or series idea.

 

I had planned to end the series (for now) with one final book that reached beyond what I’d written before. Since this series has been set on Mobile Bay and the beaches surrounding the Bon Secour Wildlife Refuge plus some of the rivers that flow into the bay, I felt like it would only be fitting to venture out into the ocean. So the first half is set on the Lapis Lazuli oil platform, then the rest is set in Gulf Shores.

 

Now for an interesting story about how I named the Lapis Lazuli…

I’ve been reading the Bible all the way through this year, this time in chronological order. Because I’m a slow reader, I use a Bible app and let the British narrator read it to me. I follow along in my Bible and make notes or underline verses that touch me. Well, in at least two handfuls of places in the Old Testament the stone lapis lazuli is mentioned, and every time the British narrator pronounced it, it made me smile. I don’t know why, but it did. So when I did a search on what it was and found out that it was this gorgeous deep blue (which happens to be one of my favorite colors), I suddenly felt compelled to name the oil platform the Lapis Lazuli.

 

Exodus 24 talks about Moses and Aaron and the elders going up the mountain where they saw the God of Israel. Verse 10 says: “Under his feet was something like a pavement made of lapis lazuli, as bright blue as the sky.” Can’t you just see it?!

 

It’s mentioned that the priestly garments had lapis lazuli in the breastpiece. And in Song of Songs chapter five, the woman describes her beloved as this:

His arms are rods of gold
set with topaz.
His body is like polished ivory
decorated with lapis lazuli.

Okay, so now I’m in the mood for a good love story. How about you? ðŸ˜‰

Offshore Ambush is another one of my second chance romantic suspense stories that reminds me of how God is the God of second chances, forgiveness, and unconditional love. I hope you will find this story to be as inspiring to read—and yet thrilling due to all the danger our hero and heroine find themselves in—as I did while writing it.

Blog Stops

Locks, Hooks and Books, March 22

Book Reviews From an Avid Reader, March 23

Gina Holder, Author and Blogger, March 24 (Author Interview)

Happily Managing a Household of Boys, March 24

Texas Book-aholic, March 25

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, March 26

Fiction Book Lover, March 27 (Author Interview)

Blogging With Carol, March 28

Betti Mace, March 29

Back Porch Reads, March 30 (Author Interview)

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, March 31

Because I said so — and other adventures in Parenting, April 1

Blossoms and Blessings, April 2 (Author Interview)

An Author’s Take, April 2

For Him and My Family, April 3

Life on Chickadee Lane, April 4

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Sherri is giving away the grand prize package of a $50 Amazon gift card and a paperback of the book!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.

https://promosimple.com/ps/2a8f6/offshore-ambush-celebration-tour-giveaway

Friday, March 22, 2024

Trapped In Yosemite by Dana Mentink

 

About the Book

Book: Trapped in Yosemite

Author: Dana Mentink

Genre: Christian Fiction

Release Date: February 27, 2024

When a massive earthquake levels the region, secrets and unknown dangers are exposed…

The ground in still-icy Yosemite National Park isn’t stable, and K-9 handler Von Sharpe fears the worst. But his worries are pushed aside when he sees an SUV viciously forced off the road…with his ex-fiancée at the wheel. It’s only when Stella Rivers steps out of the vehicle that the very ground under their feet cracks and breaks with the onslaught of a terrifying earthquake.

When her meeting with a mysterious client is ambushed, Stella witnesses the man being gunned down by a sniper and becomes a target herself. With the threat of aftershocks triggering landslides and floods, the new mom has no choice but to run to save her baby girl—even if it means teaming up with the man who has no idea he fathered her child.

Trapped in a dangerously unstable wilderness with a killer closing in, Von and Stella are running out of time to get to safety. And every fissure reveals a new secret that will shake them to their foundation…

 

Click here to get your copy!

 

I really loved this book. It is a book that keeps you turning the pages. It is filled with surprises that I didn’t see coming. Yes, there is grief and attempted murder but it is written in good taste and not a lot of gory details. 
Here is my favorite quote from the book “It’s never the wrong time to discuss our children.” “I don’t want to cause you pain.” “Talking about them is a good kind of pain. What hurts worse is never speaking about him. Then it’s like he was only alive in my memory. I want him to be alive in yours, too.”

I love this quote.  Thank you to Dana Mentink. It expressed my desire for the memory of my son.

This book is a second chance at love story and it is a clean read.

I received a complimentary copy from the author and Celebrate Lit and these opinions are my own. 


About the Author

Dana Mentink is a USA Today and Publisher’s Weekly bestselling author as well as a two-time American Christian Fiction Writers Carol Award winner, and the recipient of a Holt Medallion. She’s written over fifty titles in the suspense, lighthearted romance and mystery genres. She is pleased to write for Harlequin’s Love Inspired Suspense and Poisoned Pen Press.

 

 

 

More from Dana

I won’t ever forget October 17th, 1989. I was finished with my student teaching duties, chatting with my mother while we watched the World Series. It was an epic matchup of two Bay Area teams. As we watched, the floor lurched and the entire house began to rattle and pitch. We ran outside and watched the street undulate like ocean waves. We’d later come to learn it was a 6.9 earthquake on the Loma Prieta fault. The shaking only lasted 20 seconds but 63 people were killed, 3,757 were reported injured and 12,053 displaced. The damage estimates reached as high as $10 billion, with 18,306 houses leveled. Approximately 2,575 businesses were impacted and 147 were destroyed. The part I will remember most was the collapse of a section of the freeway in Oakland which trapped people in the pancaked structure. I remember watching the close space rescue teams work night and day to find survivors.

Little did I know that memorable event would someday lead to a book! This novel combines the iconic California setting of Yosemite and the big fear buried deep in every California’s mind…the big one, the massive earthquake we know will be coming someday. Of course you know there will be a happy ending in the novel, but I hope you will feel the edge of your seat suspense that keeps you turning pages. God bless you, dear readers!

Blog Stops

Babbling Becky L’s Book Impressions, March 21

Book Reviews From an Avid Reader, March 21

Bigreadersite, March 21

Gina Holder, Author and Blogger, March 22 (Author Interview)

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, March 22

Texas Book-aholic, March 23

Happily Managing a Household of Boys, March 23

Lakesidelivingsite, March 24

Pause for Tales, March 24

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, March 24

Betti Mace, March 25

The Sacred Line, March 25

Locks, Hooks and Books, March 26

Daysong Reflections, March 26

EmpowerMoms, March 27

Life, Love, Writing, March 27

Cover Lover Book Review, March 28

A Good Book and Cup of Tea, March 28

Blogging With Carol, March 28

Tell Tale Book reviews, March 29

Simple Harvest Reads, March 29 (Guest Review from Donna Cline)

For Him and My Family, March 30

Splashes of Joy, March 30

Blossoms and Blessings, March 31

To Everything There Is A Season , March 31

A Modern Day Fairy Tale, March 31

Holly’s Book Corner, April 1

Because I said so — and other adventures in Parenting, April 1

Life on Chickadee Lane, April 2

Labor Not in Vain , April 2

Lily’s Corner, April 3

Lights in a Dark World, April 3

Little Homeschool on the Prairie, April 3

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Dana is giving away the grand prize package of a $100 Amazon gift card and a copy of the book!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.

https://promosimple.com/ps/2a8f5/trapped-in-yosemite-celebration-tour-giveaway