Tough Times, Book Review

Tough Times by Max Lucado

Do your know someone who is hurting? Someone who has just received dreadful news? Someone who lost a loved one?

It seems as though bad things happen during the holiday season. About a week before Christmas my daughter told me that her best friend, the friend who had helped her most when my daughter’s husband was killed in a dreadful accident had just learned she had incurable lung cancer and only has a short time to live.

Right after Christmas my granddaughter emailed me asking for prayer for her pastor’s family–their oldest son had been killed horribly by someone he didn’t even know.

We lost our son to cancer several years ago and his birthday was three days after Christmas. Because I do know where he is and that I’ll see him again, I don’t mourn like someone without such an assurance might–however, I do miss him and can’t help feeling sad.

When I read Tough Times it touched my heart. This little book would be the perfect gift for anyone who is having a difficult time. In a simple but compelling manner, Lucado points through the Bible just how much God loves us. The book ends with the perfect prayer for troubled times.

Highly recommended.

Marilyn Meredith, author of the Deputy Tempe Crabtree series, latest Kindred Spirits.

Great New Interview

This one is all about what was behind Kindred Spirits: http://tinyurl.com/7olyml

Marilyn

The Unseen, A Book Review

The Unseen
T. L. Hines
Thomas Nelson Publisher

Wow! This is one of the most unusual books I’ve read in years. Once I got started, I couldn’t put it down.

Lucas is an unusual hero. He knows very little about himself, and what he does know is suspect. Uncomfortable around people, he’s created his own world by spying on others who work in offices all around the city. He sleeps in crawl spaces, on the commuter trains, and has secret places all over the city.

When he learns there are others doing much the same as he, though they like to watch people in their own homes, he thinks he’s finally found kindred spirits. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work out like that.

The book takes a whole new twist, when he finds out how easy it is to get into and spy on residents of their homes. He also finds out that things are happening that he just can’t ignore and feels compelled to stop. And guess what? He also learns that he’s being watched too.

The book may make the reader feel a bit paranoid–could someone be doing what Lucas and others are doing?

If you love a book that you will not be able to second guess, one that is full of suspense and action, with a hero that you’ll be compelled to cheer on, The Unseen is for you.

--Marilyn Meredith, author of Kindred Spirits, the latest Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery

House of Dark Shadows, by Robert Liparulo

This is the perfect book for a boy who is a reluctant reader. When fifteen-year-old Xander King is forced to move away from his friends and interests into a backwoods town in northern California he isn’t the least bit happy. An up-and-coming film maker, he sees things a bit differently than any of his family. When his parents decide to move into a dilapidated vacant house with too many rooms to count, Xander is the first one to pick-up on the fact that something weird is going on with the house.

Xander and his younger brother, David have an eerie experience when they are transported from a spot in the house right into the school they’ll soon be going to. Things begin to get downright scary, when the boys learn that there are other weird things that go on in the house, including a monster-size man wandering the halls.

Once a reader gets into the story, he’ll have to read all the rest in the series because there are too many unanswered mysteries when the last page is turned in the House of Dark Shadows.

Filled with plenty of action and suspense, the book will keep any young (and old) reader captivated. http://www.thomasnelson.com/consumer/product_detail.asp?sku=1595544941

–Marilyn Meredith, author of Kindred Spirits, Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery series.