An Open Book – June #openbook
Today I’m joining Carolyn Astfalk and Catholic Mom for An Open Book. Here’s what I’ve been working on for the past month.
Enkindle in Me (Chalice 2) by Erin Lewis
Coming from FQP on June 29!
The world wants him. But God wants him more.
Dropped back into the real world with a newfound faith following a lengthy prison sentence, 23-year-old Dallas Malone is bombarded by the tantalizations of secular society and all the changes that seem to have occurred overnight. His Catholic faith burns deep inside him, but now he must live it out amidst morally bankrupt co-workers and without the support of his best friend. Struggling to get back on his feet and prove himself, Dallas’s wounds are becoming scars, and he knows he’s not the same person he used to be. When he meets Samantha, enchanting and headed for trouble, his natural protective instinct is inflamed while past demons of failure chip away at what he thought he knew was a true calling from God enkindled in his heart. Can Dallas forgive himself and heal from his past mistakes to discern the life path God has laid out for him as a man?
Synopsis: A former United Church minister massacres his family. What led to this act of femicide, and why were his victims forgotten?
On May 2, 1963, Robert Killins, a former United Church minister, slaughtered every woman in his family but one. She (and her brother) lived to tell the story of what motivated a talented man who had been widely admired, a scholar and graduate from Queen’s University, to stalk and terrorize the women in his family for almost twenty years and then murder them.
Through extensive oral histories, Cook and Carson painstakingly trace the causes of a femicide in which four women and two unborn babies were murdered over the course of one bloody evening. While they situate this murderous rampage in the literature on domestic abuse and mass murders, they also explore how the two traumatized child survivors found their way back to health and happiness. Told through vivid first-person accounts, this family memoir explores how a murderer was created.
My review: This was an interesting read from the survivors of a horrific act of violence. Well-written and well-researched. Recommend.
Through Esther’s Eyes by Jacqueline St. Clare (Advance Reader’s Copy)
Coming in September from Marian Press.
Synopsis: Through Esther’s Eyes is a story about the life of Jesus of Nazareth through the eyes of His fictional cousin, Esther. Esther thinks that her role as a woman will be complete when she marries the rich Lazarus of Bethany, but when she discovers she is barren, her whole world comes crashing down. Yet, her friend Jesus has come to reveal the role of “woman” for all eternity.
My review: “Imagine growing up alongside your cousin, JESUS.” Through Esther’s Eyes is the debut novel about Jesus’s fictional cousin, Esther. It’s a beautiful story that brings the Gospels alive with well-developed and believable characters. I especially appreciate the author’s research, which helped to transport me back to the first century. Kudos to this talented author. I recommend this book to everyone!
A Father Who Keeps His Promises: God’s Covenant Love in Scripture by Scott Hahn
Synopsis: Hahn explores the “covenant love” God reveals to us through the Scriptures and explains how God patiently reaches out to us—despite our faults and shortcomings—to restore us into relationship with his divine family. Join Hahn as he follows the high adventure of God’s plan for the ages, beginning with Adam and Eve and continuing down through the generations to the coming of Christ and the birth of the Church. You’ll discover how the patient love of the Father revealed in the Bible is the same persistent love he has for you. A Servant Book.
My review: This beautiful book uses Scripture to illustrate that God keeps his promises. Highly recommend.
Murder of Innocence by James Patterson
Synopsis: Dive into two dark stories of crime and murder from a New York Times bestselling author, inspired by true crime horrors where murder isn’t always the worst thing that can happen to you . . .
Murder of Innocence: It’s impossible to resist Andrew Luster. He’s rich, charming, and good-looking, and dozens of women have fallen under his spell. But Andrew is no mere womanizer. He’s a predator, and it’ll take a global effort to put him behind bars. (with Max DiLallo)
A Murderous Affair: Mark Putnam is a rookie FBI agent given his first assignment in a remote part of Kentucky, a land of coal miners and meth dealers. Within his first months on the job, a young female informant named Susan Smith helps him make a big break in an important case. Rumors begin circulating that the agent and his informant are having an affair. After Susan starts telling people that she is pregnant with the FBI agent’s baby, she suddenly disappears. (with Andrew Bourelle)
My review: Two novellas by James Patterson that kept me reading until the wee hours of the morning. Recommend.
