Radio Host Reviews Christian Book

Title: A LOVE STORY

Subtitle:  How God Pursued Me and Found Me. An Impossible Love Story
Publisher: CROSS BOOKS Publishing/Lifeway
Author: Samantha Ryan Chandler

Author's Web site: http://www.SamanthaRyanChandler.com

Genre: Christian Non Fiction

Paperback 90 pages. Published February 25, 2011
Price: U.S. 11.95

ISBN 978-1-6150-7761-8 (dj) and 978-1-6150-7758-8 (sc)

Reviewed by Salvadore DeBasco, book critic

“In A LOVE STORY: How God Pursued Me and Found Me. An Impossible True Story {CROSS BOOKS Publishing/Lifeway, 2011} Samantha Ryan Chandler opens her heart and shares how she was led to the Lord. Hers is a chilling (deeply moving) and encouraging testimony a how God changed her life

.

And while what transpired in her life might sound familiar that is what is compelling about how Chandler opens readers into her thoughts along the way. A LOVE STORY: How God Pursued Me and Found Me. An Impossible True Story shows how scriptures affected author Samantha Ryan Chandler’s life and the unlikely events to her writing this book as a testimony about her relationship with Our Lord God Almighty. Her outlook on life, death, God, Jesus, Satan and more evokes one to wonder and be wide eyed about the significance of how the stories in the Bible and how we apply them in our Christian lives.

As all children of God no matter what age, we are reminder that childhoods are fragile and how we influence each other is not to be taken lightly. The fabric of familial relationships, attention to ones upbringing and a tone that we are not alone in God’s care, all come above in this authentic story about perseverance, trust in God, and how ordinary people are called upon to bring forth extraordinary movements in others’ lives at times when they think they are the most down and out.

What resonated with me about A LOVE STORY: How God Pursued Me and Found Me. An Impossible True Story is how Chandler took the time to capture what she learned and how she describes the wonderment of God’s greatness. At first, to Chandler, the lofty calling of her writing a book about her experience seemed a novelty, but readers learn how the value of the message became forefront in her thinking. After I read this love story, I saw A LOVE STORY: How God Pursued Me and Found Me. An Impossible True Story as Chandler’s story about how she came to love God as an utmost value in life.

To me there is no more refreshing random testimony than when someone first realizes the awesome power God has in our lives and how to harness the excitement, humility along with gratitude resulting thereof, and reverence with the action of falling to one’s knees in wonderment of how one person could be worthy of being touched so deeply. Regardless of whether the right words were used, the naivety about God’s glory, the part about God’s grace that makes us cry, all that is what comes across in how this book’s message has haunted me (in a good way) the past eight months since reading it. And while I can’t predict it will do the same for all readers, I know that one person at a time God’s love is shared through his-story (of which this book is in-part).”

~Learn more about reviewer Salvador SeBasco:
Book Critic
Literary Director
Host of THE INSIDE VIEW SHOW^TM –Christian Radio–
on staff with CNN affiliate station, KNLE

----- The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using this little green retweet widget :

M.B. Tosi Celebrates Release of Second in The Indian Path Series

Title: The Secret Path of Destiny 

Author: M. B. Tosi 

Genre: Historical Romance Fiction.

Publisher: WestBow Press, 2012, a division of Thomas Nelson.

Book Two in The Indian Path Series

ISBNs:

978-1-4497-3349-0 (e-book)
978-1-4497-3350-6 (soft cover)
978-1-4497-3351-3 (hard copy)
Available on Amazon

Brief Synopsis of The Secret Path of Destiny

The Secret Path of Destiny is Book Two of The Indian Path Series. In The Secret Path of Destiny, a young, disabled, German-American girl, named Isolde, and her destitute mother reach out for a lifeline being offered by a widower in the German town of Fredericksburg, Texas. The year is 1865, and the two travel from New York City through the aftermath of the Civil War. But another war is brewing, this time with Native Americans, and Isolde and her mother are heading right into the heart of Comancheria, the homeland of the Comanche.

It is not the Comanche Isolde fears, but her mother’s new employer, who becomes her stepfather. Isolde realizes he is a cunning man who is not who he pretends to be. As the situation worsens, Isolde is forced to make a life-changing decision to escape; desperate, she seeks refuge with a Comanche Indian, who befriends her at first, but later joins a warring band of Comanche. Her malevolent stepfather pursues her across Texas, turning her life upside down. In the midst of her troubles, Isolde’s faith sustains her, and she unexpectedly finds the love that has always eluded her. Eventually, Isolde accepts the difficult circumstances of her life and realizes that a person’s destiny is often hidden from view because the path is sometimes rocky.

The Sacred Path of TearsTBook one in The Indian Path Series ISBNs:978-1-4497-2167-1 (e-book)978-1-4497-2168-8 (soft cover)978-1-4497-2169-5 (hard cover)
Available on Amazon

Brief Synopsis of Book One, The Sacred Path of Tears

The Sacred Path of Tears is a journal written by a young Cheyenne Indian woman, nicknamed Mokee, during the Indian Wars in Kansas in the late 1860s. After Mokee and her companion observe the Sand Creek Massacre, they warn the other Indian camps along the Smoky Hill River. They take cover in a barn near Salina, Kansas, where they are discovered by a widow and her two sons.

Mokee’s companion leaves to join the fight against the white soldiers but hating war, Mokee, with her lighter coloring, gains a safe haven with the widow’s family. She finds a mentor in the well-educated widow and embraces the opportunity to read and write English. As her life unfolds, Mokee is torn between two worlds at war and the two men she loves, one a white settler and the other, her companion who has become Cheyenne Dog Soldier. Though war is her constant shadow, Mokee tries to find the purpose for her life and a path of peace in her war-torn world.

AboutThe Indian Path Series

The Secret Path of Destinyis Book Two of The Indian Path Seriesand about the Comanche. Each book of the series stands independently and focuses on a different Native American tribe during the Indian Wars in the late 1800s. The lives of different fictional characters are woven into the true events of that historical period.

The theme of The Indian Path Series is how to find life’s purpose and a path of peace, love, courage, and faith in times of trouble. As American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow said, “If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we should find in each man’s life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility.”

About the Author

M.B. TOSI has been an editor of nonfiction books and a weekly newspaper. She teaches piano and has a bachelor’s degree in journalism and a master’s degree in education. Born in Pierre, South Dakota, she has lived in Alexandria, Virginia; Bucks County, Pennsylvania; and Toledo, Ohio. She has three children and three grandchildren.

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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using this little green retweet widget :

David St. John Calls Parks' Book "Poetic Romp"

Catalina Eddy

by Lorine Parks

Genre: poetry
Poet's Web site: www.lorineparks.com
ISBN 978-09826024-7-8
$12.00 
Published 2012 by Conflux Press

CATALINA EDDY: Undercover Hero or Ordinary Thug?

Lorine Parks’ Catalina Eddy is one of the most surprising and hilarious poetic romps I have ever read. Weather is “the family business” of these meteorological guys and dolls, molls and mobsters, of whom Eddy is only one of a charming and somewhat disreputable array of noirish figures. The characters here are utterly and universally delightful, and both the romantic and family relationships of these cocky weather systems and their attendant “effects” make for some of the wittiest sagas I know. We have all experienced the profound arrogance of weather, of course, but Lorine Parks makes it clear that it’s always personal! One leaves this collection knowing that Mae Gray and June Gloom and Eddy himself definitely have it in for us. Yet the elegant – if at times bittersweet – music of these poems and their shifting emotional “eddies” remind us that there is as often as not a dark and somber (not silver) lining to these particular clouds.

 Nevertheless, there is something deliciously vaudevillian about Lorine Parks’ humor, and to those of you who find comfort watching the daily weather report, I’m hear to report that Catalina Eddy has told me your days too are numbered.

--- David St. John

"I spend every day of my life trying to think of new poetic ways to describe our oddly routine Southern California weather patterns.

Try as I do, I can't get close to Lorine's beautiful work! A lovely treat for those of us that ponder the daily ebb and flow of the marine layer."

Fritz Coleman, KNBC Weathercaster

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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using this little green retweet widget :

Beyond a Poetry Review

i write therefore i am (?)

By Roy Anthony Shabla 

Poetry Book

Pre-review by John Brantingham

My friend Scott once said that bad poets get into language poetry so they can just write the word “duck” on a piece of paper ten times and be done with it.

 

I don’t know if that’s necessarily true, but it feels like it.

 

By way of explaining, language poetry is a movement that started with poets like Gertrude Stein and took off in the 1970s and emphasizes the way words work together instead of meaning.

 

It’s easy to do badly.

 

Gertrude Stein did it well.

 

So does the Downey, CA,  poet Roy Anthony Shabla.

 

Or rather, Roy’s not exactly doing language poetry. Roy’s a poet who has worked in with narrative poetry for years (think Robert Frost) and is bringing elements of language poetry into his work so he’s able to make those the stories in his poems have music.

And it’s not as though he’s just dropping the word “duck” into his poems ten times in random spots. That would be like dropping it in this piece for absolutely no reason.

Duck

Duck

Duck

Duck

Duck

Duck

Duck

Duck

Duck

Duck

 

No, Roy Anthony Shabla is a poet who is able to combine language poetry with narrative poetry to create an emotion that goes beyond the story that he’s telling. His work is elegant and often difficult, the kind of work that you can read again and again to gain more insight into what he’s saying and the worldview that his work is coming out of.

 

Roy has a new book coming out, and I’m going to be the first in line to buy it. I’ve loved his other books, but from what I’ve heard of this newest book, he’s plunged more deeply into the language poetry, and I’m interested in what he has to say.

 

Better yet, he’s going to be reading his work this Saturday in Downey, CA,  at 7:30pm. He’ll be at 9029 Florence Avenue in Downey, just off the 605 in a barbershop off all places, Roni’s #34. There’s an open mic beforehand so if you’ve written something you’re proud of, bring it.

 

I’m going to be there, and so is most of the crew for the upcoming San Gabriel Valley Literary Festival. It’s going to be great.

~More about the poet, Roy Anthony Shabla:
the films ~ roy anthony shabla
the books ~ roy anthony shabla
the paintings ~ roy anthony shabla

 

 

 

~~More about the reviewer:

John Brantingham is the author of:

Mann of War

Oak Tree Press 2012-2013

Poetry Chapbook.

Let Us All Pray Now to Our Own Strange GodsWorld Parade Books 2012-2013

Study AbroadWormwood Chapbooks, October 2012, Pre-Order Now!

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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using this little green retweet widget :

Author Reviews Libby Grandy Mystery

Desert Solioquy
Author: Libby Grandy

Author's Website: http://www.libbygrandy.com
Genre: Mystery
ISBN-10: 1475196725
EAN-13: 9781475196726

Published: June 2012

Publisher: CreateSpace

Reviewed by Laura L. Mays Hoopes originally for Amazon

Reviewer's Rating: 5 stars

Desert Soliloquy is a wonderful read. I began it one evening, thinking I'd read a bit each night until I finished the book. I couldn't stop; read the whole thing until the wee hours of the morning.

The characters are fresh, their passions are up with today's news, but they haven't let go of their need for human warmth. Libby Grandy lets them get into some desperate situations, and you can't see the ending easily from the middle at all. When you read a novel by Grandy, you feel you know the people in it and want to hear more of their lives.

She's a master storyteller and infuses her characters with that human mixture of joie de vivre and mischief that makes the whole book seethe with conflicting desires and plans. Highly recommended!

Reviewer Laura L. Mays Hoopes is author of Breaking Through the Spiral Ceiling.

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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using this little green retweet widget :

Tales2Inspire™ 

An Authors Helping Authors Project/Contest

A Smile Goes a Long Way

by 

Pauline Hager

Great visual depiction of all the different applications of the SMILE. It was great to observe every situation and compare our own travels. It brought to mind my favorite quote by Anne Frank. “Happy people make others happy!” The smile is a wonderful free tool that so many forget to employ. Great story of compassion and appreciation for others. Thanks for sharing.

Cecile M. Bell: free lance writer

Tales2Inspire™ author of: Don’t Worry Mom

This wonderful tale by Pauline Hager reminds us of the power and beauty in a simple smile. She reminds us, through her travels, that smiles are all around the world—even in the worst of situations. Just reading her story has made me want to smile more and complain less, for as she writes, a smile is contagious and has the rippling effect of a pebble tossed into a pond.

Micki Peluso: reviewer, journalist and author

Tales2Inspire™ author of the 'tale': A Magical Meditation Garden

To meet Pauline and learn more about her tale, click here.

A Magical Meditation Garden

by 

Micki Peluso

This is a beautiful model for those who want to meditate but aren't sure how to start ... 

Terry Crawford Palardy

Author

http://terrysthoughtsandthreads.blogspot.com

Absolutely beautiful and I am so there with you! I do much the same thing for my meditation, but I've never thought of including animals and I love that idea.  . . . “

Sandra McLeod Humphrey

Childrens Books Author/

I loved this. I really do get into my garden and walk and think. I have a labyrinth and deer and a white duck. Wishing you well. -

Delinda Mccann

Author

Beautiful! . . .  It is so great to have these concrete, soothing things to think about while meditating.

kario

Blogger: The Winning Life

Micki’s description here is so beautiful and lyrical and I relate to the spirituality coming out of such tragedy. The writing is wonderful.

Shirley Ann Parker, author

To meet Micki and learn more about her tale, click here.

Stepping In Today

by  

Laura Vomos

Great story with a most impactful last paragraph. The story leaves me hanging, which is a good thing, of what the future may hold and wondering whether something like this can turn others into Christmas Elves. 

Luke Potter

Tales2Inspire™ author of: My Life in the Country

To meet Laura and learn more about her tale, click here.

ATTENTION TALENTED WRITERS: 

Do you have an inspiring story to share? Learn more about this exciting new Authors Helping Authors project/contest at: http://www.tales2inspire.com. FREE to enter, with many valuable author platform building opportunities.

Major Reference Important for ESL Students and US Emmigrants

What America Needs To Know About America From A To Z

Subtitle: How To Understand Crazy American Culture, People, Government, Business, Language and More

By Lance Johnson

Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/What-Foreigners-Need-About-America/dp/1468172360/

Author's Web site: http://howtodoitfrugally.com/A_to_Z.htm

Author's E-mail: info@AmericaAtoZ.com

ISBN: 978-1468172362

 

Endorsed by U.S. and foreign ambassadors and editors, this new book paints a revealing picture of America and its people for those foreigners who will benefit from a better understanding of America. It will also inform Americans who want to learn more about the U.S. and how it compares to other countries around the world.

World traveler and teacher Lance Johnson studies cultural differences and the difficulties foreigners (even Americans!) have understanding crazy America, as some call it. Foreigners might come to the U.S. to work for American employers, to open branch offices or factories for their homeland employers, to start their own businesses (100's of thousands do each year), go to school (1 million a year do), or just move here (500 thousand do yearly). Others might work for American organizations in their homelands or have American teachers there. An understanding of American culture and language without question will contribute to their success.

For this book “foreigners” are defined as anyone who is not sufficiently familiar with American culture to achieve success. This includes the multitudes of foreign-born, naturalized citizens who have lived in the U.S. for years and still struggle with the ways and the language. A foreigner could also be a first-generation American whose immigrant parents did not fully expose their children to American culture and they now pay the price in mainstream U.S. There are lots of other examples, too.  Throw in foreign students, those who would like to become foreign students, those who would like to open a business in the US or do business with Americans--either in the US or oversease, and you have a very wide audience indeed. The language chapter has special value for ESL (English as Second Language) students everywhere.

Each of the 26 chapters’ brush strokes contributes to the final painting of what America is all about. For ease of understanding, the chapters are grouped into four sections. (The sections are available as individual books as well.)

•Section I – America's Heritage - The historical background of why America and its people became who and what they are today.

•Section II – America's Culture - Everyday life in America, ranging from customs and etiquette, to what’s on the minds of Americans, to education and personal relationships.

•Section III – America's Business - The complex business environment, operations, and people-related customs. How to start a business of your own in the U.S. How to increase the chances of getting hired by an American firm in the U.S. or abroad.

•Section IV – America's Language - The number one problem area foreigners say they have with American culture. Easy, practical ways to improve English grammar, speech, writing, communication skills, and accent reduction. Common English grammar and speech errors made by foreigners are identified and simple tips are provided for overcoming them.

This book is also in paperback in Europe and Asia at:  

 

Austria - 

  

 http://www.amazon.de/What-Foreigners-Need-About-America/dp/1468172360/

 

Canada  -

http://www.amazon.ca/What-Foreigners-Need-About- 

America/dp/1468172360/

 

France -

http://www.amazon.fr/What-Foreigners-Need-About-

America/dp/1468172360/

 

Germany -

http://www.amazon.de/What-Foreigners-Need-About-

America/dp/1468172360/

 

Italy -

http://www.amazon.it/What-Foreigners-Need-About-

America/dp/1468172360/

 

Japan -

http://www.amazon.co.jp/What-Foreigners-Need-About-

America/dp/1468172360/

Spain - 

 

http://www.amazon.es/What-Foreigners-Need-About- 

America/dp/1468172360/

 

United Kingdom -

http://www.amazon.co.uk/What-Foreigners-Need-About-

America/dp/1468172360/

United States -

http://amzn.to/ForeignersAmericaUS

It is also available in Chine from Oriental Press in simplified Chinese.

For those with special needs or interests,
the sections of this book
are also available separately:

Book 1 - America's Heritage
Find it on Amazon at http://bit.ly/AmericasHeritageBook1
Book 2 - America's Culture
Find it on Amazon at
http://bit.ly/AmericasCultureBook2
Book 3 - America's Business
Find it on Amazon at
http://bit.ly/AmericasBusinessBook3
Book 4 - America's Language
Find it on Amazon at
http://bit.ly/AmericasLanguageBook4
The above volumes are also available on Amazon in Austria, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, and the United Kingdom.

     

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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using this little green retweet widget :