I got this "book" with the understanding that it was only a twelve page document with two stories contained in its pages. I thought that if it got through publishing that the stories inside would be well written and thought provoking. However I was disappointed, the grammar was poor and the sentence structure was less than admirable. The stories themselves were not entertaining, they were simple and random.
The first story is called "Lucy" and is a story about a family who adopts a little girl, and the girl then dies of leukemia. The family then decides to adopt another child.
The second story is if a man who works at the trade towers on the day that they are attacked. The man gets out of the building and runs home to his family, but his family doesn't even know he is there. He travels with a friend back to the towers and realizes he is dead.
The stories both have a good premise, and could make for interesting stories, but because of the poor grammar and ideas that are not completely thought out they seem simple, and almost silly. They would be good works to use in a classroom for practicing grammar, but otherwise are not the best stories ever.
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Babylons Falling
Babylons falling is a novel about the life of Daniel after Jerusalem was invaded and the people taken captive. The story begins on the road from Jerusalem to Babylon. It tells of the struggles and worries of the people on their journey, and moe directly tells the story of Daniel, Mishael, Hananiah and Azariah. The story continues as they are brought before the king as seers and asked to explain his dream. Daniel and his three friends become well known in the eyes of the king for being able to give meaning to his dream. The story of the fiery furnace and Daniel in the lions den are also told in this story.
I would give the book a the out of five stars if I were rating it. The writing was well done, but the book was not as engaging as I would have hoped. Seem places seemed slow and difficult to read, and some of the more exciting parts of the story lacked detail to keep the reader engaged. I thought the love story part of the book was very well written. The author speaks of Daniels wife and the love he has for her, but does not make it inappropriate or inaccurate. I thought he wrote the affections and love of marriage very well.
I would give the book a the out of five stars if I were rating it. The writing was well done, but the book was not as engaging as I would have hoped. Seem places seemed slow and difficult to read, and some of the more exciting parts of the story lacked detail to keep the reader engaged. I thought the love story part of the book was very well written. The author speaks of Daniels wife and the love he has for her, but does not make it inappropriate or inaccurate. I thought he wrote the affections and love of marriage very well.
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
The Choice (by: Robert Whitlow)
I found this story to be inspiring, captivating and exciting. Throughout the story there are examples of trust, love and passion. Selflessness is shown in a way that many other books fail to capture. I would highly recommend this book as a must read.
The story begins with a young girl going to the doctors office in 1974 and finding out that she is pregnant. The question then becomes, what is the expecting mother going to do with the baby. Whitlow does an excellent job portraying emotions and situations that the Sandy (the mother) has to face. In the story Roe vs. Wade has recently been ruled on legalizing abortion. Sandy struggles with advice from many different people and all their varying perspectives, but in the end decides to not terminate the pregnancy and give the babies up for adoption. As her pregnancy progresses she finds out that she is having twins, and decides to send them to separate families.
The second section in the book is about Sandy a sixteen year old girl named Maria, who comes to Sandy fearful of her own pregnancy. In her desire to help Sandy has the joy of being reunited with her two sons in an interesting, and exciting way.
I was surprised and pleased with the way Whitlow wrote his female characters and portrayed their struggles. The author also made things interesting and engaging without making outlandish. I will be reading more of Whitlow's books in the near future. I would highly recommend The Choice, as and entertaining and thought provoking read.
The story begins with a young girl going to the doctors office in 1974 and finding out that she is pregnant. The question then becomes, what is the expecting mother going to do with the baby. Whitlow does an excellent job portraying emotions and situations that the Sandy (the mother) has to face. In the story Roe vs. Wade has recently been ruled on legalizing abortion. Sandy struggles with advice from many different people and all their varying perspectives, but in the end decides to not terminate the pregnancy and give the babies up for adoption. As her pregnancy progresses she finds out that she is having twins, and decides to send them to separate families.
The second section in the book is about Sandy a sixteen year old girl named Maria, who comes to Sandy fearful of her own pregnancy. In her desire to help Sandy has the joy of being reunited with her two sons in an interesting, and exciting way.
I was surprised and pleased with the way Whitlow wrote his female characters and portrayed their struggles. The author also made things interesting and engaging without making outlandish. I will be reading more of Whitlow's books in the near future. I would highly recommend The Choice, as and entertaining and thought provoking read.
Sunday, September 16, 2012
The House On The Corner
The House on the Corner is a story about a young boy who travels to his uncle's house (on the corner) and is whisked away from danger and into a life of confusion and secrets. This book by Michael Rains was written for youth, and the story has great potential, however I was sorely dissappointed with the writing. When I was reading the book I felt like the writing was sub-par.
The book contained many sections that where the writing was redundant and elementary. The story was told from a young boys point of view so I understand wanting to simplify thoughts, vocabulary, etc. However I do not think quality discription needs to be forgone because of this simplification.
The story was also difficult to follow, and I felt very confused through the whole story. Pieces of the story, such as a corrupt government, hiding from the police, and being on the run from danger have potential of making a great story, however I think vital details were not given, and the story became confusing. I found myself completing this book for the sake of reviewing it, and not for the story itself.
Although the book contained many threads that would make an interesting story, the writing did not develop the story in a way that kept it interesting and understandable. Overall this book had great potential, but poor application.
The book contained many sections that where the writing was redundant and elementary. The story was told from a young boys point of view so I understand wanting to simplify thoughts, vocabulary, etc. However I do not think quality discription needs to be forgone because of this simplification.
The story was also difficult to follow, and I felt very confused through the whole story. Pieces of the story, such as a corrupt government, hiding from the police, and being on the run from danger have potential of making a great story, however I think vital details were not given, and the story became confusing. I found myself completing this book for the sake of reviewing it, and not for the story itself.
Although the book contained many threads that would make an interesting story, the writing did not develop the story in a way that kept it interesting and understandable. Overall this book had great potential, but poor application.
Thursday, September 13, 2012
The Scarlet Cord (by: Joan Wolf)
The Scarlet Cord is the story of Rahab from the book of Joshua in the Old Testament. In Joshua there are five paragraphs dedicated to Rahab's story, Wolf takes those paragraphs and expounds on them creating a novel.
In Wolf's book Rahab is kidnapped as a child and saved by a boy. When she meets this boy later on in Jerhico she falls in love with him. However they cannot marry because he is an Isrealite and she is a Cannanite. However their love continually pulls them together.
Rahab is a very beautiful young girl, and is required to be the heirodule for the king. This means that she is required to sleep with the king in a religious ritual so that the crops will grow. During this encounter Rahab begins to pray to Elohim (the God of the Isrealites). She is saved from being the heirodule and begins to serve Elohim by harboring Isrealite spys without her families knowledge, once the spys are safe they promise to save her whole family during the destruction of Jerhico. Because of Rahab's allegience to Elohim her whole family is saved and her love with Sala can continue.
I found the book to be moderately entertaining. I did enjoy the story itself, however some of the details were annoying to me. We tend to take our worldview, and our culture and place it on the world thousands of years ago. For example: Rahab's mother is sitting on the floor folding clothes with the children. In reality there would not have been any clothes to fold, they would not have had extra. Also things like disrespect for parents would not have been tolerated, and "love" was not the most valuable thing.
Overall the story was well written, I just took issue with a few minor details.
In Wolf's book Rahab is kidnapped as a child and saved by a boy. When she meets this boy later on in Jerhico she falls in love with him. However they cannot marry because he is an Isrealite and she is a Cannanite. However their love continually pulls them together.
Rahab is a very beautiful young girl, and is required to be the heirodule for the king. This means that she is required to sleep with the king in a religious ritual so that the crops will grow. During this encounter Rahab begins to pray to Elohim (the God of the Isrealites). She is saved from being the heirodule and begins to serve Elohim by harboring Isrealite spys without her families knowledge, once the spys are safe they promise to save her whole family during the destruction of Jerhico. Because of Rahab's allegience to Elohim her whole family is saved and her love with Sala can continue.
I found the book to be moderately entertaining. I did enjoy the story itself, however some of the details were annoying to me. We tend to take our worldview, and our culture and place it on the world thousands of years ago. For example: Rahab's mother is sitting on the floor folding clothes with the children. In reality there would not have been any clothes to fold, they would not have had extra. Also things like disrespect for parents would not have been tolerated, and "love" was not the most valuable thing.
Overall the story was well written, I just took issue with a few minor details.
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
House of Mercy, By Erin Healy
House of Mercy is a story of, well mercy. The main character Bethesda (or Beth for short) makes a terrible mistake that she cannot undo and throughout the story must face the consequences of her actions. A law-suit is filed against her, her family is going to lose their ranch (the Blazing B), and the family is being torn apart.
In another city called Burnt Rock a man named Garner has suffered the loss of his daughter for 25 years. Even though he has a new life in Burnt Rock the thoughts of his daughter haunt him.
The two stories collide after the death of Beth's father and her encounter with a friend called Mercy. She travels to the town in search of her grandfather Garner Remke who she has never met with the hopes that he can save the Blazing B.
I thought the story was very well written, and it kept me engaged the whole time. I constantly wanted to know what was going to happen next. It took me less than three days to finish the book because I wanted to know how the characters struggles were going to work out. I enjoyed the breakdown of what mercy is throughout the storym, and also the aspects of love and family that ran throughout the book.
Although the story was good I felt like there were a few loose ends that were not tied up. I do not know if the author intends to write a sequel or not, but I had a few questions about the saddle, Nova's story and the history of a man named Jacob.
I thouroughly enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anybody who enjoys a good suspense novel.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
In another city called Burnt Rock a man named Garner has suffered the loss of his daughter for 25 years. Even though he has a new life in Burnt Rock the thoughts of his daughter haunt him.
The two stories collide after the death of Beth's father and her encounter with a friend called Mercy. She travels to the town in search of her grandfather Garner Remke who she has never met with the hopes that he can save the Blazing B.
I thought the story was very well written, and it kept me engaged the whole time. I constantly wanted to know what was going to happen next. It took me less than three days to finish the book because I wanted to know how the characters struggles were going to work out. I enjoyed the breakdown of what mercy is throughout the storym, and also the aspects of love and family that ran throughout the book.
Although the story was good I felt like there were a few loose ends that were not tied up. I do not know if the author intends to write a sequel or not, but I had a few questions about the saddle, Nova's story and the history of a man named Jacob.
I thouroughly enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anybody who enjoys a good suspense novel.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)