The Sunday Book Review: Riding Lessons, with guest Teena Stewart

Riding Lessons

by Sara Gruen

ISBN-13: 978-0061241086

Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks (April 3, 2007)

$10.98 on Amazon

 

Riding Lessons is Sara Gruen’s debut novel and, if this is her first novel, I cannot imagine what masterful work will come next. Her writing is sensitive and superb and her knowledge of horses and the world-class competitive equestrian world is stunning. Every writer must study up on certain topics in order to realistically incorporate it into their work, but Gruen clearly is an expert in horses and horsemanship.

At the heart of her story is Annemarie Zimmer who nearly made it to the Olympics but at eighteen saw her dream and life shattered when she suffers a fatal injury that nearly left her crippled for life and destroys the horse she worshiped. Though she recovers physically, she never fully recovers emotionally and she lives the equestrian dreams behind to become a wife, mother and career professional.

Suddenly everything unravels.  As if losing her job, and husband isn’t enough, Annemarie must also return home to her dying father and hardened mother. Her relationship with her teenage daughter is falling apart and Annemarie is so emotionally fragile from past wounds and her present circumstances she begins a slow descent into destruction that nearly undoes her. Annemarie comes to symbolize lost youth and childhood wounds.

At times the story is almost too painful to read, but when things seem darkest, Gruen gives us new hope tied to an amazingly beautiful but imperfect horse who enters Annemarie’s life and gives her a second chance. 

This was a book I had difficulty putting down. I give it five stars out of five. You can’t do better than that.

Buy on Amazon

♦♦♦♦♦ Reflections

 

Teena Stewart is a published author of The Treasure Seeker and many other books. In addition she is a  ministry leader and successful artist.Teena Stewart is a published author of The Treasure Seeker and many other books. In addition she is a  ministry leader and successful artist.

 

The Sunday Book Reveiw: two great new non-fiction self-help books

I rarely recomend books, but these two have caught my attention. It’s a series, and I look forward to more of them.

I give both 5 Reflections.

Thaw: Freedom From Frozen Feelings

By Don Carter, MSW, LSCW

ASIN: B005X8OQT0

Kindle book: $9.99

Publisher: www.Internet-of-the-Mind.com (October 18, 2011)

For those of us who live in a shell of emotional discomfort, who are stuck in a rut of inability to connect or stay connected to others, Carter’s book will help work through these issues. By analyzing and coming to grips with the events that led up this emotional impasse, you’ll be able to appreciate, maybe for the first time able, the joy of living a healthy and stable emotional life.

Carter, who has a masters in social work and is a therapist, spends most of the book teaching readers to recognize patterns of misguided parenting. As a parent of adult children, I look back at what I thought were my very best efforts to raise them the best I knew how. But we are all the sum of our experiences, both positive and negative, and “our best” doesn’t always mean the same to others or have the results we hoped for. I certainly never meant to do harm; no one in his right mind does, but I’m not perfect.

Beating ourselves up over our mistakes, and taking an honest ride through our own upbringing will help purge the negativity, makes room for healing, and sets us on a course for positive growth, no matter what stage of life we’re at now.

I learned things about myself that suddenly make sense. Instead of reacting to my past, I find I can, with lots of baby steps, trial and error, move forward and make new positive memories and associations with my parents and children. I’m not so impatient and appreciate the struggles we share much better now.

Read the book and work book, do the exercises no matter how you feel. At the very least you’ll come out stronger and better equipped to understand yourself.

Thawing Adult/Child Syndrome

By Don Carter, MSW, LSCW

ASIN: B007RPMAIG

Kindle book: $9.99; paperback: $14.99

Publisher: www.Internet-of-the-Mind.com (April 4, 2012)

Like Carter’s previous book, Thaw: Freedom From Frozen Feelings, the author helps readers explore their past, recognize patterns of woundedness and work to heal those current patterns of detrimental behavior.

It’s not easy to delve into painful past memories. Even those of us with fairly mild and remembered happy, healthy upbringing will be able to reach inside to uncover—not make up, but peel away—layers of learned behavior we’ve developed to protect ourselves from emotional pain inflicted by others.

Half of the book is “lecture” with lots of diagrams, and half is work book. Carter, who has a masters in social work and is a licensed therapist, guides us through a careful and detailed analysis of our childhood. By doing the exercises, the reader will develop a dynamic picture of his or her current behavior.

Why do we act the way we do? Read the Thaw series and find out. It’s more than a “get in touch with your inner child” set of books. The books are a great, non-threatening way to understand yourself and pick away at unwanted emotional baggage. A great bargain!

The Sunday Book Review: Hiking Through by Paul Stutzman

Hiking Through

By Paul Stutzman

Revell

ISBN: 978-0-8007-2053

$13.99 May 2012

Inspirational Memoir

 

Healing grief is different for everyone: some try, some don’t, some make rash decisions or none at all. Paul Stutzman through-hiked the Appalachian Trail one summer two years after his wife’s death from cancer.

Leaving his career as a restaurant manager and taking the hike, Stutzman says he needed a greater purpose than simply making a drastic change in his life. His goals were twofold: “to remind men to appreciate what they have today—don’t take your family and your wife for granted.” Secondly, he wanted to write a book showing “that the Christian life doesn’t have to be boring.”

And boring this book is not. From the prologue where the author states he uses only trail names to identify his trail brothers and sisters so they can claim plausible deniability if ever accused of any of the stunts, to the rain, sleet, festivals, and fear, Hiking Through is a great journey book that’s more than a guide; it’s a quest for peace.

Taking the trail name Apostle, Stutzman begins his journey with a photo op, then hiking north from Georgia to Maine over four and a half months. Starting in April with thirty-five pounds of tent, bear bag, and notebook, Stutzman hoped to walk a thirty-mile leg one day, one of the few goals he never met. I’ve become addicted over the past few years to follow Interstate highways and freeways ever since accidently driving the entire length of I65, and I enjoy hiking, but Stutzman’s pictures helped me decide to continue to enjoy “through drives.” More photos are available on his web site hikingthrough.com. He’s begun a “biking through” adventure as well.

Walk with the author as he meets wonderful and exotic hikers with names like Sailor, Bubbles, Sir Entity, and Litefoot as they walk through fourteen states in all kinds of terrain and weather, beautiful scenery, and dangerous overnight conditions as well as enjoyable ones such as old stagecoach stops and hotels. I’m a sucker for the history and details Stutzman shares about the various places along the trail, such as Civil War sites, and general early Americana. The life-lessons Stutzman shares? Well, I’ll let you discover those as you read.

Available May 2012 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

♦♦♦♦♦ Reflections

The Sunday Book Review: Finding Angel, by Kat Heckenbach

Finding Angel

Kat Heckenbach

c. 2011

Splashdown Books

ISBN: 9781927154137

$6.99 eBook

Speculative fiction, YA

An Angel appears out of nowhere…a young girl, wandering along a country path inFlorida, in her possession, but no memory. When the Masons find the lost girl, they name her “Angel” for the letters on her bracelet and soon she becomes part of the family.

The Mason collect stray children, including a set of twins who are older than Angel, and a younger boy, Zack, who holds onto Angel’s heart and appreciates her fascination with magical creatures and her reading tree. Eight years pass, and at fourteen, Angel has made a new life, albeit one with a gaping hole.

As much as Angel is infatuated with mythical creatures, Zack loves nature and bugs, and shows her a beetle. Promising to help identify it, Angel visits the library and instead discovers that a new boy, Gregor, has come to town. Gregor unlocks the missing pieces of Angel’s life by taking her “home” to a place of myth and mist, like Glockamorra or Brigadoon.TochIslandis “sort of” inIreland; “hidden” so it can’t be taken over by technological development, a place where the Empowered do not have to hide their Talents. It’s a place where the magical creatures are true, Elves live and make music, and dangers are real, so real that Gregor has lived as an orphan since the age of ten after the evil Dawric killed his family. Angel stays with Gregor while her memories gradually surface and she relearns her Talent. But Gregor harbors secrets. Is she safe with him? Where are her parents? And what about the new murders in the community?

Chapters are interspersed with scenes of concurrent events that build like pieces of a puzzle. Each chapter and segment has a title that hints at what’s to come.

Although the teens seem too young to live on their own, Heckenbach’s deft handling of the characters feels rich and fully alive. Gregor knows his duty and is ready to fulfill his destiny, and Angel reunites Toch as no one else can.

The author’s word choices are bright and succinct, in voice appropriate to age and magical world. There are instances of danger and murder and resulting emotions that children younger than sixth or seventh grade might find disturbing. Occasional long segments of description and internal thought, months spent relearning Angel’s identity, were sometimes slow but fascinating, and an end that flies up your face shouldn’t disrupt the great pleasure of immersing yourself in the world of Toch, the Empowered, and a future full of bright possibilities and dreams that will come true.

♦♦♦♦ Reflections

The Sunday Book Review: The Discovery, by Dan Walsh

The Discovery

By Dan Walsh

Contemporary romance

Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group

April 2012

ISBN: 9780800719814

$14.99

Michael Warner’s family history goes no further back than famous author grandfather Gerard Warner. That fact never bothered Michael until his sister, Marilyn, makes a scene at the reading of Gramps’ will.

Then he was exasperated. When Gramps’ literary agent offers a ghost-written book deal for an exclusive biography, Michael gets nervous. He’d grown up both loving and in awe of Gramps, and it seems disrespectful trying to pry information out of the grave. Marilyn says their grandfather promised the secret of their family tree would come out after his death. But do they really want to know?

Michael’s bride, Jenn, suggests he use their inherited wealth and new home in Charleston, Gramps’ estate, to look around, see if there isn’t something he can find about the family while she’s away packing up their Florida apartment. Michael doesn’t need much encouragement and not long after he discovers Gramps’ typewriter case is more than what it appears. Gerard Warner’s life and reputation is left in Michael’s hands. Will he do the right thing?

The Discovery reveals a little-discussed, little-known case of espionage and terrorism in the United States during World War II. Mind-control, loyalty, fear, espionage and collusion would win Hitler new territory, or fail the Third Reich. But which part did Gerard Warner take? Hero to the Reich, or Hero to the US? And why?

An Impossible Love, Gramps’ last unpublished manuscript, can either bond the family or ruin the beloved image of long-time internationally-best-selling author, along with Michael’s dreams and desires to follow in his beloved Grandfather’s writing footsteps.

This is my favorite book of Dan Walsh’s. His style has matured to the point where he can wrap his readers in a soft old comforter and set us in front of a fire and weave a mesmerizing tale of the love of a good woman able to turn the world on an edge. Walsh has become comfortable in his ability to let his characters speak for themselves, even when they’re telling someone else’s story. “Say you’re going to make something of your life. Do something meaningful. Cure some disease. Break some work record. But don’t do it as Ben Coleman or Gerhard…whatever your last name is.”

Good advice for anyone in any age. Walsh is always spot-on with research and life during the era. This book felt less like a report and let us live his characters and their discoveries. Both a contemporary love story and historical, Walsh blends today and yesterday in luscious southern charm.

♦♦♦♦♦ Reflections

Sunday Book Review: The Map Quilt by Lisa J. Lickel

Posted by Elaine Marie Cooper

What could more intriguing than a contemporary mystery/romance about buried treasure that’s also filled with history? The Map Quilt by Lisa J. Lickel is a fun and satisfying read for the grown ups that still long for an involving mystery that provides plenty of detail without overemphasizing the grittier aspects of a story involving bodies.

The central focus of this novel, which is the sequel to Lickel’s The Gold Standard, is an old family quilt that turns out to be so much more. Dating back to the days of slavery and the underground railroad, the quilt becomes the link from the past to the present.

Judy and Hart Wingate, now married and expecting their first child, become caught in the middle of both business intrigue and the ownership rights of property based on an old deed—an important document that has gone missing. After generations of an African-American family’s loss of their land ownership, will big business win against the rights of justice for all?

As is her usual style with characters, Lickel is engagingly creative with her descriptions and personalities, leaving a reader smiling frequently over the fun quirks of all her characters. A few are familiar returnees from her first book in this Buried Treasure Series, but there are a few additions to this cast in The Map Quilt that are equally charming.

The historical aspects included in this book are such a precious part of the plot. It reminds us how close our nation’s amazing history is to our present—and in The Map Quilt, it is as close as the characters’ backyard.

It was not that long ago that some white families reached out to help their black fellow Americans reach freedom. Some on both sides survived the dangerous endeavor, while others died in the effort. This is a book that will entertain as well as touch the heart and soul of America—freedom for all.

Well worth the read.

I give this book: 5 out of 5 Reflections

Book Synopsis

Death in rural Wisconsin is only the beginning to new chaos in Robertsville. What do a stolen piece of revolutionary agricultural equipment, a long-buried skeleton in the yard, and an old quilt with secrets have in common? Hart and Judy Wingate, who met in The Gold Standard, are back to solve the mystery of The Map Quilt. Hart’s new battery design could forever change the farm implement industry. But after the death of Hart’s most confrontational colleague in a fire that destroys Hart’s workshop, the battery is missing.

Throw in a guest speaker invited to Judy’s elementary classroom who insists she owns the land under Hart’s chief competitor’s corporate headquarters, and a police chief who’s making eyes at Hart’s widowed mother, it’s no wonder Hart is under a ton of pressure to make sure his adventurous pregnant wife stays safe while trying to preserve his company and his reputation.

About the Author:

Lisa Lickel is a Wisconsin writer who lives with her husband in a hundred and sixty-year-old house built by a Great Lakes ship captain. Surrounded by books and dragons, she writes inspiring fiction. Her novels include mystery and romance, all with a twist of grace. She has penned dozens of feature newspaper stories, short stories, magazine articles and radio theater. She is the editor in chief of Creative Wisconsin Magazine, a workshop leader, book reviewer, contest judge, and a freelance editor who loves to encourage new authors.

Where you can purchase The Map Quilt:

http://museituppublishing.com/bookstore2/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=376&category_id=8&manufacturer_id=196&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=1&vmcchk=1&Itemid=1

The Sunday Book Review with guest Teena Stewart

The Messenger by Siri Mitchell is set in colonial times just prior to the revolutionary war. Hannah Sunderland is a good Quaker girl who adheres to the strict Quaker values of simplicity and pacifism. But it’s getting harder and harder to be impassive as the British soldiers take what they want from the Colonials, often mistreating them and holding over them an air of superiority with no regard for their well being.   When her brother ends up jailed after standing up for an injustice and then joining the colonial cause, she chooses to disregard her parent’s command not to visit him. The conditions of the jail and prisoners is horrific. They are without food, water or warm clothing or blankets and the officials who oversee the jail are corrupt.

Hannah ends up collaborating with Jeremiah Jones, a Colonial spy, who was disabled when he lost an arm during battle at Devil’s hole.  Bitter and stand offish Jeremiah is the owner of a local tavern. He’s the last person Hannah could possibly relate to. But when Jeremiah needs to get important messages to the prisoners in the jail who are planning an escape and Hannah needs a pass to get in, they must come to rely on each other.

As the story progresses Hannah comes to question the rigid rules of her own faith and develops a tenderness toward Jeremiah who has been ostracized partially due to his injury. At the heart of this story is the question, “Is following rules and regulations set by religion the right thing to do especially when they cause us to disregard important commands by Christ to care for the poor, hungry and needy. It also asks the question as to whether being a pacifist is the right thing when great wrongs are being done to humanity.

I felt that at times the story bounces back and forth between Jeremiah and Hannah without much action taking place. There are many visits to the jail but almost the same thing happening each time. I also felt that the chemistry between the two characters could have been a bit stronger. However, the overall story is good and based on true accounts, according to Mitchell. I don’t want to ruin it by giving away all the secrets.

♦♦♦ I give this book a rating of 3 out of 5 reflections.

ISBN: 978-0764207969

April, 2012, Bethany House

$14.99 print

Teena Stewart is a published author, an accomplished artist, and an experienced ministry leader.   Her newest book (Working Title) Mothers and Daughters: Mending a Strained Relationship is due out via Beacon Hill in summer 2012.   Teena is a contributing writer to DreamBuilder’s Ministry in Motion and has served in ministry leadership for years. Currently, she and her husband Jeff are the key visionaries and managers of Java Journey an innovative market place ministry in Hickory, North Carolina (http://www.javajourney.org).

Sunday Book Review: Prize of My Heart by Lisa Norato

Posted by Elaine Marie Cooper

Captain Brogan Talvis, veteran of the War of 1812, returns home to search for his son. Before he had gone to war, his spiteful wife sent his child away, breaking the devoted father’s heart. Now that his wife has died during his absence at sea, all he can focus on is finding his son and becoming the parent that he longs to be.

Returning to the mainland, his search takes him to the family of Nathaniel Huntley, a wealthy ship builder, whose daughter Lorena has become the boy’s adopted mother. Brogan devises a plan to obtain a new ship from Huntley. At the same time, the war veteran plots to abduct his child that is his only living relation.

But Brogan has not taken into account the love the surrogate mother and the now five-year-old have for each other. Nor does the desperate captain realize the attraction that he would feel for Lorena. Could he consider the consequences of breaking her heart as well as his son’s, while satisfying his own desire to get his son back?

An unexpected turn of events forces him to reconsider his quest when Lorena is in danger and Mr. Huntley begs him for help. Brogan must decide if he will help the very man standing in the way of reuniting with his precious son.

Reading Prize of My Heart was an uplifting spiritual journey of a man tormented by his past. A victim of childhood abuse and of destitution, Talvis has risen to the rank of a successful captain of his own ship. But the nightmares of his youthful traumas continue to haunt him. They drive him to reclaim his only child that he fears could suffer his own painful upbringing if he leaves him in someone else’s hands.

Talvis is a man consumed with both fear and yet faithfulness to those that he loves. But in the end, it is his realization of God’s love for him that becomes his source of healing and fulfillment.

Author Lisa Norato’s research is impeccable and the romance sweet.

A satisfying read for lovers of historical romance with a strong thread of faith woven throughout.

I give Prize of My Heart: 4 Reflections

Author Bio

Lisa Norato first discovered a love of writing when assigned to write and illustrate a children’s book at the art college she attended. She also enjoys walks with her Yorkie-poo, the New England seacoast and changing seasons, good friends, Italian food, historical dramas, and British comedy. A lifelong New Englander, Lisa lives in a historic village with homes and churches dating as far back as the eighteenth century. Currently she works as a legal assistant in the corporate department of a Rhode Island law firm. Lisa is also a member of Colonial American Christian Writers.

Amazon.com: Prize of My Heart (9780764209420): Lisa Norato: Books

Market Mondays: The Hunger Games

What makes this somewhat disturbing tale so popular? What can we writers and consumers learn from these books and accompanying films?

Welcome guest, Shellie Neumeier.

With a historic weekend opening, The Hunger Games thundered through America grossing $155 million. The book by Suzanne Collins hit the stands in September 2009 and has since sold over 23 million copies in America, alone. The book series is rumored to hit Hollywood’s production machine with four films (splitting Mocking Jay into two films).

Undoubtedly, The Hunger Games will leave a long lasting mark on this generation. In the winter of 2011, my youngest son, a fastidious sixth grader, had to read The Hunger Games as part of his literature course work. I’d read the trilogy and knew what my twelve year old was about to embark on. Like any other reader, he devoured the pages and reached for the second book. Without a doubt the series fills its pages with violence, young love—in good and not so good, oppression, the dark war between good and evil, and the message of hope.

Sound familiar? I hope it does. If you’ve ever read the saga King David left in the Bible, you’ll recognize similar themes. For those who cringe and claim it’s too much. I agree. It is much. But so is high school. Those themes—violence (ever hear the crack of a shoulder as it’s shoved against a locker door?), young love, the war of good and evil, and hope—they’re alive and well in your local high school. Teens rally against each other, against angry or dispassionate faculty, against government cut-backs that tell them they are the lessor of society. Teens identify with this trilogy because it holds a mirror to their current world and amplifies it. If Katniss can survive The Hunger Games, then they can make it to graduation day.

Does the movie bring the same justice to the story as the book does? In my opinion, Nina Jacobson did an amazing job of bringing this dystopian world to life. Casting brought new and familiar faces in such a way as to enamor our hearts to the creatures who readers had already envisioned. I can’t fathom the daunting task screenplay writers Gary Ross, Suzanne Collins, and Billy Ray had laid before them. If read aloud, The Hunger Games takes over eleven hours. The movie? A mere 142 minutes. While the highlights were well done and inclusive, I wonder…would those who have yet to read the book understand the impact the death of Katniss’ father had on this family? Would they catch the depth of Katniss and Gale’s relationship and the dire nature of their existence? Would they see the need to betray each other in order to better their lives and the lives of those they loved? Perhaps these points will be developed in later films, but for now, I recommend reading the book first as it will help you understand the movie better.

One last note from me, a Christian mom determined to raise her children to know their Creator. This trilogy is not for the faint of heart or weak of stomach. It is gritty and hard, but therein lies life’s lessons. As Christians we are given the privilege (responsibility) to redeem that which may cause others to stumble. I can use The Hunger Games to springboard great discussion. Ask my children when they feel helpless. If they most identified with Katniss, Gale, Peeta, Cinna, or Haymitch. We can talk about when disobedience was acceptable in the Bible. Find examples of heroes that rage against the crowd to defend the weak. Dream about perfect societies and wonder where God would fit in. After all, isn’t redemption what this world is all about?

Resources:

Focus on the Family— Movie review: http://www.pluggedin.com/movies/intheaters/hunger-games.aspx

Book review: http://www.focusonthefamily.com/parenting/protecting_your_family/book-reviews/h/hunger-games.aspx (Note: the book review from Focus ends with a wonderful discussion guide that can produce some interesting dinner conversation)

Children’s book Reviews: http://ccbreview.blogspot.com/

Redeemed Reader: http://www.redeemedreader.com/

Watch a movie trailer HERE.

The Sunday Book Review: Dance With Me

Welcome Teena Stewart, guest reviewer, today.

Dance With Me, by Luanne Rice

Bantam Books, Dec 2008

ISBN: 978-0553586923

$7.50, mass market

Buy on Amazon

The story centers around a mom and two grown, unmarried daughters in Twin Rivers Rhode Island. With the mom, Margaret’s health failing, the youngest, Sylvie, has moved into her mother’s home to take care of her. Concerns about Margaret’s fragile health bring the older sister Jane back for a visit. As the story unfolds we learn that Jane has a secret. She became pregnant as a teen in college and at her mother’s insistence and against her will gave up her infant daughter, Chloe, for adaption. The heart-wrenching decision left deep scars and Jane has never been the same. It destroyed the happy future she planned with her fiancé and caused her to drop out of college and purse a path as a baker instead of a gifted English major.

While visiting her mother Jane becomes obsessed with finding Chloe and because it was a private adoption her mother helped arrange, she knows who the family was who adopted her and they are local. Things become a tangled mess as Jane pursues this strong need to learn more about what happened to her daughter. What she hadn’t expected was to fall in love with Dylan, Chloe’s Uncle, a tough, retired U.S. Marshal who has suffered through his own heartaches and is now trying to get the family orchard back up and running.

Luanne Rice is a superb secular writer, and unlike some authors who cause we to question how they made it to the New York times best-selling list, I agree that this book deserves to be there. The characters are very real and the struggles–Margaret trying to come to grips with her failing health and memory and Jane coping with the deep hurts that being torn from a daughter she wanted to keep–make it all the more compelling. There is a sensitivity to Rice’s work that gets into issues that run deep and allows readers to feel the pain the main characters are experiencing. Not many writers can take you to that level.

Fifteen-year-old Chloe is vibrant and compassionate and she endears herself to her reader becoming a very real teen facing real issues that a young girl who longs to know her real birth mom can face.

♦♦♦♦♦ I give this book five reflections.

–
Teena M. Stewart

***AUTHOR***
The Treasure Seeker: Finding Love & Value in the Arms of Your Loving Heavenly Father (Wine Press)
Benevolence: Ministering to the Poor and Needy (Beacon Hill)
Successful Small Groups from Concept to Practice (Beacon Hill)
http://nearly-brilliant.blogspot.com/
http://www.teenastewart.com
***ARTIST***
http://www.serendipitini.com
http://serendipitini.blogspot.com/
***MINISTRY LEADER***
http://www.javajourney.org