Review & Kindle Touch Giveaway: Remembering You by Tricia Goyer

Posted on November 28, 2011 · 2 Comments

Remembering You
by Tricia Goyer
Publication Date:  November 2011
Publisher:  Guideposts
Purchase this book - Amazon

Source:  I received a free copy of this book for my participation in a blog tour through Litfuse Publicity Group.
View the full Blog Tour Schedule HERE.

About the book:

Television producer Ava Ellington cannot refuse her grandfather’s last wish – that she accompany him to Europe on a tour of World War II battle sites.  Ava has little interest in historical battles, but this may be her last chance to break down the barriers that have grown up between them, and she sets off, camera in hand, ready to record and report on their journey.  She and Grandpa Jack are greeted in Paris by Paul, her grandpa’s best friend, and his grandson Dennis.  The Dennis who just happens to be Ava’s first love.

History comes alive as the group travels across Europe – from the romantic sights of Paris to the bleak battlefields of Belgium to the Austrian labor camp these men liberated so many years before – and Ava sees a side of her grandfather she’s never known before.  As he shares his memories of those bitter days on the battlefield, she begins to understand how his experiences in the war made him the man he is today.

Throughout the journey, Ava and Dennis are drawn together in ways neither of them expected.  Can their memories of the past lead to a bright new future?

Read an excerpt, watch a video and find out more here. http://www.triciagoyer.com/contemporaryfiction.html#RememberingYou

My Thoughts:

I love novels centered around World War II and although this is a contemporary work of fiction, it is based on two grandfathers recalling their stories from the front lines of the war against Hitler’s regime and the ultimate liberation of the Jewish people from one of the many concentration camps, specifically Mauthausen in Austria.  In their 80′s, Grandpa Jack and his best friend and WWII buddy, Gran Paul, are fantastic characters, brimming with life.  You can feel their emotional turmoil as they recount their numerous stories as the foursome make their way across Europe, from Paris to Belgium, through Germany into Austria.  The angst lying under the surface as they watch their friends dying; their joy and horror at opening the gate to the Mauthausen concentration camp rings very true to life and I was very caught up in their tales.  The side stories with Jack as he comes to terms with some of the things he had to do during battle were heartbreaking and I felt truly sorry for the young man that he was, having to experience what he did.

Although I loved the historical aspects of this novel, the rest of it fell flat for me.  I did not care for the main character, Ava.  She was not a likable character at all.  I kept wanting to like her, but she kept doing silly and stupid things that made me dislike her even more.  Eventually I just got tired of her.  I never connected with her as a character or really knew what she was about.  All she seemed to care about was her job and getting the next camera shot.  It was agonizingly frustrating considering how much I enjoyed the other parts of this book.  Her relationship with her grandfather, Grandpa Jack, seemed strained at best and I never really felt a connection between them, which is unfortunate.

Dennis and Ava’s relationship is pretty awkward.  It isn’t until 230+ pages in that we learn the whole story of their past and why things are so weird between them.  They are on a roller coaster of emotions with each other and it is frustrating trying to figure out what the issues are between them when neither of them will talk about anything!

Finally, considering this book is Christian Fiction and published by Guideposts, I was a little surprised that there wasn’t some conclusion to Ava’s spiritual development at the end of the novel.  Prayer and God were touched on throughout the book (but not overly so), but I was expecting some kind of wrap-up to the journey I went though for 300 pages, or at least some type of “it’s in the works” statement.  But, it seemed to solely focus on the relationship between her and Dennis and making sure all of those loose ends were tied up.  It left me wanting more.

Overall, an okay read, especially for those who love the historical aspects of World War II. There’s a fantastic author’s note at the end regarding her interviews of veterans and some of her research.

About Tricia:

Tricia Goyer is the author of thirty books including Songbird Under a German Moon, The Swiss Courier, and the mommy memoir, Blue Like Play Dough. She won Historical Novel of the Year in 2005 and 2006 from ACFW, and was honored with the Writer of the Year award from Mt. Hermon Writer’s Conference in 2003. Tricia’s book Life Interrupted was a finalist for the Gold Medallion in 2005. In addition to her novels, Tricia writes non-fiction books and magazine articles for publications like MomSense and Thriving Family. Tricia is a regular speaker at conventions and conferences, and has been a workshop presenter at the MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) International Conventions. On Tricia’s weekly radio show, Living Inspired, she shares stories of inspiration and encouragement. She and her family make their home in Little Rock, Arkansas where they are part of the ministry of FamilyLife.

For more about Tricia and her other books visit www.triciagoyer.com

Win a Kindle Touch for YOU and a Friend from Tricia Goyer!

Tricia Goyer is celebrating the release of her novel, Remembering You, with a KINDLE Touch Giveaway for you … and for the friend of your choice. Then on 11/29 she’ll be wrapping up the release of Remembering You with a Book Chat Party!

During the first half of the party Tricia will be chatting, sharing a sneak peek of her next book, and giving away a ton of great stuff. Then she’ll head over to her website for a Live Chat! Readers will be able to chat with Tricia via video or text.

Don’t miss your chance to win a Kindle Touch for yourself … and to “remember” a friend this holiday with a Kindle Touch for them!

Read what the reviewers are saying here.

One grand prize winner will receive:

  • A Brand New Kindle Touch and a Kindle Touch for a Friend (winner’s choice!)
  • A copy of Remembering You by Tricia Goyer for each

Enter today by clicking one of the icons below. But hurry, the giveaway ends at noon on November 29th. Winner will be announced at Remembering You Facebook Party on 11/29. Tricia will be hosting an author chat (on Facebook and Live from her website) and giving away copies of her other WWII books and gift certificates to Starbucks and Amazon.com. So grab your copy of Remembering You and join Tricia on the evening of the 29th for an author chat, a trivia contest (How much do you know about WWII?) and lots of giveaways.

Enter via E-mail Enter via FacebookEnter via Twitter

Don’t miss a moment of the fun. RSVP today and tell your friends via FACEBOOK or TWITTER and increase your chances of winning. Hope to see you on the 29th!!

Disclosure: Crazy-for-Books is NOT giving away a Kindle Touch. I am merely providing this information as part of the blog tour for Tricia Goyer. Please read and review the Kindle Touch giveaway information above to find out how to enter. Thank you.

Filed Under: Blog Tour, Book Reviews, Crazy Good Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Review: Rescued by John Bevere

Posted on November 15, 2011 · 10 Comments

Rescued: A Novel
by John Bevere
Publication Date: October 1, 2006
Publisher: Bethany House

EDGE-OF-YOUR-SEAT SUSPENSE…AND SOMETHING MORE…! A father trapped in a terrible underwater accident. A son desperate to do something–anything–to save him. A digital read-out ticking down toward certain death–and a fate more horrible still… For Alan Rockaway, his teenaged son Jeff, and Alan’s new bride, Jenny, it’s been little more than a fascinating tourist submarine excursion, a leisurely end to a weeklong church-couples’ cruise. Then the horrifying crash and the plunge toward the unknown…. Everything Alan has assumed about himself, about what awaits him in the future, is flipped upside down. In the ultimate rescue operation, life or death is just the beginning!

My Thoughts

My church book club read and discussed the book Rescued by John Bevere for our November meeting.  This book will give you lots to think about regarding Heaven and Hell and the way you are currently living your life.  It’s not an easy read and I would not recommend it for someone who has had a loved one pass away recently.  Especially if you are concerned over their salvation.  It’s hard-hitting and will definitely make you think about what happens after death.

Alan Rockaway is a pastor of a mega-church in Colorado.  When he takes some of his congregation on a cruise, life is grand.  But when a runaway speedboat crashes into the shore, pinning Alan and his parishioners in a submarine excursion below the ocean, a battle for life and death erupts.

As the congregants are stranded, without hope for rescue, they each begin to reflect on their lives.  We learn about Alan and the choices he has made in his life, despite his better judgment.  Flashbacks take us on a journey through Alan’s beginnings as a pastor, his marriage and subsequent divorce and remarriage, to the present day, where he is an esteemed pastor of one of the largest churches in Colorado and he is invited on speaking engagements around the world.

As Alan ventures into the afterlife, shocking events will give the reader pause and consider their own lives.  This is a difficult book to read, but a necessary one.  Although there is question about some of the information introduced in the story (the question of losing one’s salvation is the main point discussed at our book club as well as a “waiting place” upon death), this book will definitely make you investigate your life and what you are doing with your time on Earth.

It should be noted that this is a fictional book.  Since we don’t truly know what will happen upon death, the author obviously took some liberties with setting these scenes.  But if they are anything close to accurate, it’s scary.

The writing was a bit slow for me at first, but once things started happening, the story goes very quickly.

I strongly recommend this life-changing book to everyone.

Filed Under: Book Reviews, HHC Book Club Tagged With: , , , ,

Where Am I?

Posted on November 14, 2011 · 6 Comments

Hi Readers!

Some of you may be wondering where I have disappeared to.  I’ve been posting a lot of guest posts and giveaways of late, but not many reviews.  Right now I am reading for the Inspy Awards and I cannot post any reviews of those books until after the final decisions are made.  So, even though I am reading lots, I cannot tell you about it!

Plus, I have been reading for my church book club lately but haven’t taken the time to review the books here on my blog.  I think I will review those books soon, once I get some time to sit down and write a thoughtful review of each of them.

I also registered a new domain name for posts regarding my faith journey.  I received a year of free web hosting so I thought it would be a great way to talk about my faith more in depth and explore my love of writing.  I feel God prompting me to write, but I’m still trying to figure out what that is exactly, so this will be a great way to help me figure out what I should be doing!  If you are interested in following or checking out this blog, please visit http://www.thegodchick.com.  I transferred posts from my free wordpress blog over to the new site, so you will see older posts from this year.  I wasn’t very good at keeping up with that blog (managing two is hard!), but I am hoping to spend more time on it now that I invested in the domain name.

In other news, I fell down a flight of stairs and hurt my tailbone.  So, I’ve been in some serious pain.  Apparently it’s not cracked, but the x-ray results were a bit foggy, so I guess it could still be a possibility.  I’ll be heading back to the doctor this week for further evaluation.

So, that’s life in my neck of the woods.  What’s up with you?

Filed Under: Misc Ramblings

Guest Post & Giveaway with Author Gillian Bagwell

Posted on November 14, 2011 · 30 Comments

I’d like to welcome Gillian Bagwell here to Crazy-for-Books today with a guest post and giveaway of her newest novel, The September Queen! Welcome, Gillian!

Jane Lane and the Royal Miracle
by Gillian Bagwell

During the course of my research for The Darling Strumpet, my novel about Nell Gwynn, I learned about an episode in the life of Charles II long before Nell Gwynn came into his life – his six-week odyssey trying to escape from England after his defeat by Cromwell at the Battle of Worcester on September 3, 1651. One of the most intriguing aspects of the story was that an ordinary English girl named Jane Lane had risked her life to help Charles and protect the future of the monarchy. She was famous for a short time after Charles was restored to the throne, but amazingly, her story has never been told in fiction before.

Charles’s father, Charles I, was executed in 1649, and the young Charles was in exile, bouncing between France, Holland, and Jersey, one of the Channel Islands off the coast of France. When Scotland offered an army to help him take back his throne, he readily agreed, and he marched across the border into England in late August. But he was already outnumbered, and by the time he and his exhausted troops limped into Worcester, he had lost many men to desertion, and failed to gain as many English supporters as he had hoped.

The 21-year-old Charles began the morning of September 3 atop Worcester Cathedral, surveying the landscape and Cromwell’s troops approaching from the south. He and his supporters knew that all their hopes rested on that day, and Charles thought that for him, the outcome would be “a crown or a coffin.”

Their bloody rout by the Roundheads ended the Royalist cause. Once Charles had been convinced that the best he could do was survive, he fled as his supporters made a last ferocious stand, and legendarily dashed out the back door of his lodgings as the enemy entered at the front, slipping out the last unguarded city gate.

From that disastrous night until he finally sailed for France from Shoreham near Brighton on October 15, he was on the run, sheltered and aided by dozens of people – mostly simple country folks and very minor gentry – who not only could have earned the enormous reward of £1000 offered for his capture, but risked their lives to help the fugitive king, who had been proclaimed a traitor.

One of Charles’s companions during his flight from Worcester on September 3 was the Earl of Derby, who had recently been sheltered at a house called Boscobel in Shropshire. He suggested that the king might hide there until he could find a way out of England.

Portrait of Jane Lane used courtesy of
the National Trust, Photo by Tony Wilcox

Jane Lane, a young woman of about 25 years old, lived at Bentley Hall in Staffordshire, not far from Boscobel. She became involved in the king’s flight because she had a pass allowing her and a manservant to travel the hundred miles to visit a friend near Bristol – a major port where the king might board a ship. Her brother, Colonel John Lane, had served under Charles’s companion Lord Wilmot, who was with him and trying desperately to get him to safety.

In a story that sounds like something out of fiction, Charles disguised himself as Jane’s servant, and Jane rode pillion (sitting sidesaddle behind him while he rode astride) along roads traveled by cavalry patrols searching for Charles, through villages where the proclamation describing him and offering a reward for his capture was posted, and among hundreds of people who, if they recognized him, had every reason to turn him in and none – but loyalty to the outlawed monarchy – to help him.

It was an improbable scheme. Charles was six feet two inches tall and very dark complexioned, not at all common looking for an Englishman of that time. And yet time after time he rode right under the noses of Roundhead soldiers without being recognized. He narrowly eluded discovery and capture so many times that the whole event eventually became known as the Royal Miracle.

He was in grave danger of capture and death throughout his 600-mile journey (which can be recreated by following the Monarch’s Way footpath), but the experience was strongly formative.  After his restoration to the throne he told the story frequently for the rest of his life, and the hardships he endured gave him an understanding of the common people such as no other king had had.

About the Author

Photo by Brendan Elms

Gillian Bagwell’s second novel, The September Queen, the first fictional accounting of the story of Jane Lane, was released on November 1. Please visit her website, www.gillianbagwell.com, to read more about her books and read her blog, Jane Lane and the Royal Miracle www.theroyalmiracle.blogspot.com, which recounts her research adventures and the daily episodes in Charles’s escape after Worcester.
 
 

***

Giveaway

Thanks to the author, I have 1 copy of The September Queen to give away to a reader in the USA or CANADA!

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Giveaway, Guest Post Tagged With: ,

Reflections from my Women of Faith Conference Experience…

Posted on November 14, 2011 · 2 Comments

I review for BookSneeze®

Thanks to BookSneeze and Women of Faith, I was given two free tickets to attend a Women of Faith (WOF) conference in 2011.  I was beyond thrilled for the experience as I have never attended a WOF event before and as a fairly new Christian, I couldn’t wait to be among thousands of other women who love Jesus like I do!

I asked my friend Kim to go with me.  She and I have walked this journey together since almost the beginning.  We’ve attended bible studies together, joined the women’s ministry, and ask/ponder many of the same “big questions”.  It has been amazing to have someone to come alongside me over the last year.

Friday started off with messages from Dr. Henry Cloud and Sheila Walsh.  And, of course, the WOF Worship Team, who sang their hearts out.  The music was phenomenal!  Friday night we had the pleasure of seeing a skit from Nicole Johnson (regarding the number of “hats” we all wear as women!), another inspiring message from Sheila Walsh, comedy from Ken Davis who is absolutely hysterical (I don’t know the last time I laughed so much in my life!), and music from the amazingly talented Natalie Grant.  One of the most powerful moments for me was when Natalie led the arena in singing “It Is Well With My Soul.”  Her voice is phenomenal, but when she went quiet and all you could hear were 8,000+ women singing, in harmony, I could feel the presence of God so powerfully.  It was mesmerizing and so impactful.

On Saturday, we started the day in worship with the Women of Faith Worship Team.  Messages from Lisa Harper and Angie Smith followed.  I expected to be impacted by Angie’s story (she lost her baby girl when she was just 2 1/2 hours old), but what I didn’t expect was the message of Lisa Harper, who I have heard of, but do not know much about.  She shared that she is a single 49 year-old woman, who had basically given up on the idea of having a family.  But a series of circumstances brought her into contact with a young girl; a pregnant young girl.  This girl has decided to give up her baby for adoption.  And she has chosen Lisa to be the adoptive mom.

How unbelievable is that?  How awesome is our God?!

Those of you who know my story will understand how much this impacted me.  I’m unable to have children.  I’ve given up on the idea that I will have a family.  And even though I know that God will not work in my situation the way He worked in Lisa’s, her story gave me hope that God really is working in my life.  I may not see it or understand it.  But, he will work things out for my good.  I just have to TRUST.

More messages from Nicole Johnson, Luci Swindoll, and Sheila Walsh wrapped up the event.  Music from Mary, Mary got everyone on their feet dancing and praising our God.  The messages were amazing.  I cannot even describe them adequately.  I would be laughing one minute and crying the next.  Every message hit my heart and convicted me in some way.  The speakers were REAL.  They weren’t packaged messages.  You could feel the hearts of each woman.

After the event wrapped up, I was able to meet Lisa Harper at a book signing.  As I told her my story (crying!), she gave me a big hug and gave me some beautiful words of wisdom that I will treasure forever.  Thank you, Lisa.

If you ever have the opportunity to attend a Women of Faith event, I strongly recommend you do so.  I will be planning to attend next year.  I cannot see this event as not being a part of life.  It’s amazing.  The fellowship among other women; the ability to relate to the speakers; and the joy that we all experienced praising our God was a beautiful thing to experience.

 

I’ll end this post with some of my favorite quotes from the speakers:

Lisa Harper - ”We’re worth more than so many of us are living. Live hard. Love big. Dance in the rain. Live life like it matters.”

Sheila Walsh – “Have you ever told God the whole truth…told him your whole story? He’ll listen”

Nicole Johnson - ”The God of the universe loves misfits.”

Ken Davis – “Perfection isn’t a requirement- if we were perfect Jesus wouldn’t have had to come.”

Sheila Walsh – “Fair doesn’t live here, but Jesus does.”

 

Thanks again to Booksneeze and Women of Faith for your generosity.

Filed Under: Misc Ramblings Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,
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