Before I let one more day pass, I want to encourage rumble lovers to sign up for a chance to win a copy of Baby Shark and her adventures. Note: Not for the weak or sensitive reader. Here's the link to my review of book one. If you are interested in what Robert shares sign up. The winner will be notified via e-mail, so make sure we can get ahold of you.
Mike Dellosso's newest book is out. Read about his previous novel and his interview here.
About the book:
Otherworldly Screams... A Madman on the Loose... This Time the Stakes Are Higher Than Ever
While talking to his friend on the phone, Mark Stone is startled by a cacophony of otherworldly screams. Seconds later, a tragic accident claims his friend's life. When this happens several more times--screams followed by an untimely death--he is compelled to act.
Battling his failure as a husband and struggling with his own damaged faith, Mark embarks on a mission to find the meaning behind the screams and hopefully stop death from calling on its next victim. When his estranged wife is kidnapped and he again hears the screams as she calls from her cell phone, his search becomes much more personal and much more urgent.
If you would like to read the first chapter of Scream, goHERE
My Review:
In his sophomore novel, Mike Dellosso has created an intriguing, spiritually rich story involving rips in the fabric between Hell and earth. Mark Stone, a man with a broken marriage and a cynical outlook on all things religious, hears an otherworldly scream one night while talking to his friend. Moments later that friend is dead. After a couple more random conversations where he hears the same horrific squeals he puts the details together and contacts a minister who explains the likely scenario.
The creepy and multi-layered plot involves a serial killer, whom I correctly guessed a third of the way in, and the abduction and captivity of women. Along with the Hellish screaming this makes the plot a bit intense. Dog lovers may want to use a bit of caution as there are some disturbing dog moments. Chickens and dog lovers take note of the warning, and those who are offended by Jesus and the discussion of where one goes after death may find offensive material as well.
Well-written and solidly spooky story that may satisfy thriller lovers. The Christian thread is woven throughout and may be just what you're looking for if you want a strong Christian message with some thrills and chills.
Click on the book cover and read more about Saints...
My Review:
A literary fiction with a unique storyline, Saints in Limbo is a lazy, beneath-the-wisteria read. Slow and smooth, Saints mixes generations, loss, crushed dreams, brokenness and a swirl of hope in a literary cocktail that surprises and satisfies.
Three-dimensional characters, a touch of whimsy, heavy melancholy, and a surreal adventure with a magical and spiritual undertone make for a lazy summer read. This is my first River Jordan novel and it will not be my last.
The omniscient point of view is not my favorite but it was easier to overlook since I was drawn into the story.
I've been told of a website that is giving away one Christian book a day for the month of June.
The Christian Pulse is sponsoring a contest called The Great Escape Summer Reading Contest. They are giving away free autographed copies of books every day in June. Each book is only available for one day, and the daily contests continue until the end of June 2009. All you have to do is go to the address below each day and click.http://www.thechristianpulse.com/then click on the Great Escape ad near the top of the page and click again. Check the title of the book available to win on that day because the titles change daily. After you click on the ad and checked the title, you will be given an email address to click on. So, there you go.
To make a new life, she'll have to learn how to breathe again...
By the time Dominic and Moira St. Clair get their ailing sister, Odessa, to Colorado Springs in the winter of 1883, she is nearly dead. Odessa has been seriously aling for the past year from consumption, an illness that claimed the lives of four of her younger brothers, prompting her father, to send his only surviving children west to chase the cure.
Moira is beautiful and dangerously headstrong; and pugnacious Dominic is charged with establishing a new arm of the family business--a business he doesn't want. Several days after her arrival, Odessa witnesses what she fears is the murder of miner Sam O’Toole, friend and neighbor to the charming Bryce McAllan.
What’s more, Sam leaves her a poem containing clues that seem to direct her to his mine, which is purported to carry a fantastic vein of silver. But if she is ever to rise from her bed again, she must first concentrate on conquering the giant that threatens her─consumption. Indeed, she must learn to breathe again─daring to embrace her life, her future, and hope in her God.
If you would like to read the first chapter of Breathe, goHERE
My Review:
Breathe exhales drama, adventure and the lives of three siblings as their locations and situations rise and fall within the tight four-hundred pages. A silver mine mystery, a tense, suspenseful chase, spiritual changes and growth, occupation and location changes, love and life-threatening situations abound in this page-turner.
Lisa Bergren writes a solid story and multi-dimensional characters. The scenery she paints is vivid and nearly breathtaking. History and the details of the cure for consumption in Colorado Springs are fascinating. This is the beginning of a series and it is sure to be loaded as the unfinished tales are rich for the mining.
Fans of family sagas and historicals set in the wilds of Colorado need to check this novel out.
Lesley wins the Latino set. ossmcalc is the winner of the Hachette Asian book giveaway.
Nicolewins the Mother's Day books.
Thanks to all of you for the fabulous comments and for not injuring each other in the comment posting frenzy.
Hopefully, Hachette is going to make a habit out of book giveaways.
I will contact each of the winners via e-mail and ask for a snail mail addy. However, if the winner doesn't hear from me check the spam and if all else fails e-mail to me at kelly( period )klepfer( at )gmail( dot )com.
And for the rest of you who are NOT losers...this may make you feel better. We have a young man at our church who has some challenges...one of which is a social disconnect. He plays a great piano though, and every once in awhile will grace us with a passionate worship song.
Yesterday I walked up to him to thank him for playing. He shook my hand, looked me dead in the eye, cocked his head and said. "Kelly? Kelly Klepfer?"
"Yes."
"You don't look like yourself."
"Well, uhhhh, I got my hair cut."
Still staring. He smiled, dropped my hand and waved his in the air. "Oh, we all get older."
So, now don't you feel better about not winning the books?
Fresh Air has been available to my family nearly every day of our lives. In Iowa we are full of fresh air, sunshine and the singing of birds. Over the last week I've even been seranaded, as I've tried to sleep, by some strange screeching animal. But, I digress.
I received an e-mail from an organization that I've never heard of. And it made me stop and think a bit. I'm passing the information along to you. If fresh air is something you want pump into a city kid, check it out.
What is Fresh Air?
In 1877, The Fresh Air Fund, an independent not-for-profit organization, was created with one simple mission — to allow children living in disadvantaged communities to get away from hot, noisy city streets and enjoy free summer experiences in the country.
When The Fund began, New York City was overflowing with poor children living in crowded tenements. Many of these youngsters were hit by a tuberculosis epidemic, and “fresh air” was considered a cure for respiratory ailments.
More than 130 years ago, the Reverend Willard Parsons, a minister of a small, rural parish in Sherman, Pennsylvania, asked members of his congregation to provide country vacations as volunteer host families for New York City’s neediest children. This was the beginning of The Fresh Air Fund. By 1881, the work of The Fund was expanding so rapidly that Reverend Parsons asked for and secured support from The New York Tribune. By 1888, The Fund was incorporated as “The Tribune Fresh Air Fund Aid Society.” Today, Fresh Air continues to benefit from the support of the media with invaluable assistance from The New York Times.
The Fund’s tradition of caring provides children with a much-needed respite from the inner-city streets. Thousands of youngsters enjoy summer experiences with volunteer hosts or attend one of five Fund camps in upstate New York.
The simplicity of our program is its strength. Looking back to 1877, we can reflect on how much has changed, and how much has stayed the same. The Fund began with a small group of youngsters heading for the country and went on to benefit more than 1.7 million needy children.
Right now any gift you make toThe Fresh Air Fundwill be matched dollar for dollar by a group of generous donors! If you can give $25 that means $50 for inner-city children. $50 becomes $100!
But you must make your donation by June 30th to take advantage of this wonderful opportunity!
