Greater Love by Robert Whitlow

Greater Love

by Robert Whitlow

Published  March 16th 2010 by Thomas Nelson (first published 2010)

Paperback, 400 Pages

Synopsis:

No greater love hath man than this: that he would lay down his life for a friend.

As a result of her first-rate work as a law clear, Tami Taylor's been offered a coveted position as associate partner in one of Savannah's oldest and most prestigious law firms. Though her strong faith and convictions are valued by the firm's partners, Tami struggles to discern if God's will for her career is elsewhere.

Meanwhile, Tami must protect a young client named Jessie who is on the run from some shady characters. Her association with Jessie puts Tami in mortal danger. With her life on the line, Tami falls in love and discovers the power of romantic love forged by the activity of the Holy Spirit.

It's hard to predict how much influence we'll have on another person's life. Sometimes we're a comma; other times we're a chapter.

-pg. 294 of "Greater Love by Robert Whitlow"

It is my first time reading Christian Fiction and I am happy to tell you that it was a beautiful read. This book is what I would call a soft, beautiful and heart-warming read. Before picking this up, I did not know it is the final book in the "Tides of Truth" series! But, this one can be read as a stand-alone!
Tami is a strong character and her strength is in her belief in the God and her deep-rooted Christian beliefs. She seeks God's will to choose her career path and also in choosing her life-partner. She is an example on how we can "see" His path and make it our own. It is not a book you can breeze through, but it is one which needs to be read slowly! I agree, that the slow-pace at the start, kind of bugged me but half-way through it picked up pace as Tami struggles to unravel the mystery around Jessie's behavior. Who is Jessie, you ask? Jessie at first seems to be a hard-to-like runaway... but with Tami's help and His "touch" we see the real story. There is a bit of suspense, love and lot of faith added to lovely character's in this book; and it is easy to love Whitlow's writing... it is so serene!

Recommended!
I am not a Christian, but I still loved this book. I believe that all religious beliefs are based on love, faith and an undying belief in love for the people who surround you! God in any form, is one person who leads the way and teaches us ways to lead a happy, satisfying and purposeful life :)

Sookie Stackhouse, #2 & #3

Living Dead in Dallas (Sookie Stackhouse, #2)

by Charlaine Harris

Published April 1st 2004 by Orbit (first published 2002)

Paperback, 279 pages
Synopsis:

Waiting tables, sweeping floors, reading minds and solving mysteries for the undead. It's all in a day's work for Sookie... 

Cocktail waitress Sookie Stackhouse is on a streak of real bad luck. First, her co-worker gets murdered and no one seems to care. Then Sookie is attacked - and poisoned - late one night by some weird and apparently mythical beast. She only survives because the local vampires roll up and graciously suck the poison from her veins (like they didn't enjoy it). But in return the blood-suckers need a favor. 

Which is why Sookie ends up in Dallas, using her telepathic skills to search for a missing vampire, on the condition that her undead friends don't do anything, well, vampiric while she's there. Easier said than done. All it takes is one delicious blonde and one small mistake for things to turn deadly...

Holy Cow! I am addicted! I know I am addicted because I cannot stop reading this series! The only other series had this effect was HP and Steig Larrson's. It is fun and I like the fact that it is a fast and engrossing read. It is a happy get away and I am in no mood for "heavy" books right now! And you would be surprised I am done with the 3rd part as well...

Club Dead (Sookie Stackhouse, #3)

by Charlaine Harris

Published May 6th 2006 by Orbit (first published 2003)

Paperback, 274 pages

Synopsis:

Things between cocktail waitress Sookie and her vampire boyfriend Bill seem to be going excellently (apart from the small matter of him being undead) until he leaves town for a while. A long while. Bill's sinister boss Eric has an idea of where to find him, whisking her off to Jackson, Mississippi to mingle with the under-underworld at Club Dead. When she finally catches up with the errant vampire, he is in big trouble and caught in an act of serious betrayal. This raises serious doubts as to whether she should save him or start sharpening a few stakes of her own ...

I liked this one too!But I thought it was a very stupid reason Bill had to be taken hostage for. Other than that... Go Sookie! Kick all of 'em hard! Oh and I really liked Alcide ;) :)


"It isn't the big pleasures that count the most; it's making a great deal out of the little ones."— Jean Webster

Dead Until Dark (Sookie Stackhouse, #1) by Charlaine Harris

Dead Until Dark (Sookie Stackhouse, #1)
by Charlaine Harris
Published March 4th 2004 by Orbit (first published May 1st 2001)
Paperback, 326 pages

Welcome to Bon Temps. It's just your average sleepy backwater town. You know the kind of place . . . a dime store, a trailer park, a diner, and a gang of newly 'out of the coffin' undead. 

Sookie Stackhouse is a small-time cocktail waitress in small-town Louisiana. She's quiet, keeps to herself and doesn't get out much. Not because she's not pretty. She is. It's just that, well, Sookie has this sort of 'disability' --- she can read minds. And that doesn't make her too dateable. But then along comes Bill. He's tall, dark, handsome --- and Sookie can't hear a word he's thinking. He's exactly the type of guy she's been waiting for all her life. 

But Bill has a problem of his own: he's a vampire. With a bad reputation. He hangs with a seriously creepy crowd, all suspected of --- big surprise --- murder. And when one of Sookie's co-workers is killed, she fears she's next . . .

My Thoughts -

 Ever since vampires came out of the coffin (as they laugh-ingly put it) four years ago, I'd hoped one would come to Bon Temps.

-pg.2 

I finally dug my paws into the much hyped, much dissected series on the Vamps. I was skeptical to say the least. There were just too many reviews and too many stars for this one! Some loved it and some are totally disgusted with it. For me... I think it is a winner! Let me explain.
Now I am sure I cannot tell you anything more about Sookie, Bill, Eric, Sam... that you don't already know. So I am going straight into what I liked about this book. I loved the pace. I was hooked to it all the time. There was no place where I was bored. I love Bon Temps and Merlotte, the settings are marvelous and the world that Charlaine has created is very much interesting! I have seen a couple of episodes of True Blood series and I usually kept on visualizing Sookie as the one in the series. The writing and dialog is interesting too. There is something fresh about it and I did not think of Twilight once after I started reading.

I liked Sookie! She is determined, confident and sometimes naive! Bill and Sam both are really good!

—that the creature I loved was lying somewhere in a hole underground, to all intents and purposes dead until dark.

-pg. 107

I know I have wondered about how cool it would be to read someone's mind. But now I really think I am lucky I am normal LOL!

So how did you like this book? I am already into the 2nd one :-)

Hugh and Bess by Susan Higginbotham

Hugh and Bess 
by Susan Higginbotham
Published August 1st 2009 by Sourcebooks Landmark (first published October 29th 2007)
Paperback, 320 pages

Forced to marry Hugh le Despenser, the son and grandson of disgraced traitors, Bess de Montacute, just 13 years old, is appalled at his less-than-desirable past. Meanwhile, Hugh must give up the woman he really loves in order to marry the reluctant Bess. Far apart in age and haunted by the past, can Hugh and Bess somehow make their marriage work? 

Just as walls break down and love begins to grow, the merciless plague endangers all whom the couple holds dear, threatening the life and love they have built. 

Award-winning author Susan Higginbotham's impeccable research will delight avid historical fiction readers, and her enchanting characters will surely capture every reader's heart. Fans of her first novel, The Traitor's Wife, will be thrilled to find that this story follows the next generation of the Despenser family.

Set in the 1300s, Hugh and Bess by Susan Higginbotham is a great historical novel about 2 people brought together by fate and there lives under the rule of Edward III. 

Elizabeth de Montecute (Bess) is not happy when she learns that she is to be married to Hugh Le Despenser whose father, Hugh Le Despenser the second,  was the lover to King Edward II and who was executed in a very gruesome manner along with his grandfather.  Young Hugh after the death of his father had to spend sometime in prison under King Edward III, but was released later on and served the King loyally since then. Hugh is always trying to prove himself and that he is nothing like his father and when the King suggests he marries Bess, daughter and heiress of the King's closest confidants, Hugh is not pleased but would never let this opportunity pass either. 

I loved every art of this story. I think I loved Hugh, inspite of him loving and leaving Emma. But I think what I loved most was "watching" Bess grow from slightly spoilt girl of 13 to a women who was loving, caring and well aware of her duties as a wife of one of the greatest Knights who has led England to many victoreis. 

I loved Susan's style of writing, it is smooth, it flows like the calm river and there are no ripples that I can really talk of. There was not even one phase where I was bored.  I was reading this book every waking/feeding/ semi-waking hour I could find with Aarya :). I definitely want to read more of her books. And my sister is escited to get to read this book as well. 

If you have not got around reading this one yet, you most definitely are missing out on a great historical fiction novel.  Susan Higginbotham definitely has found an ardent fan in me.  


Thanks to Dar, for sending this one to me. I won it at a contest at her lovely blog. 

Hannah's List By Debbie Macomber

Hannah's List

By Debbie Macomber

Publishing on April 27th 2010 by Mira

Hardcover, 400 pages

From GoodReads.com, 

Make time for friends. Make time for Debbie Macomber. On the anniversary of his beloved wife's death, Dr. Michael Everett receives a letter Hannah had written him. In it she reminds him of her love and makes one final request. An impossible request: I want you to marry again. She tells him he shouldn't spend the years he has left grieving her. And to that end she's chosen three women she asks him to consider. First on Hannah's list is Winter Adams, a trained chef who owns a cafe on Seattle's Blossom Street. The second is Leanne Lancaster, Hannah's oncology nurse. Michael knows them both. But the third name is one he's not familiar with - Macy Roth. Each of these three women has her own heartache, her own private grief. During the months that follow, he spends time with Winter, Leanne and Macy, learning more about each of them...and about himself. 

My Thoughts: This book traces the life of a 40 something Pediatrician, Michael who has lost his beloved wife, Hannah of 11 years and whom he loved immensely. Even after an year, he is still sad, broken from inside and not ready to accept her non-existence. He accepts the fact that she is dead, but it is not ready to let go. Hannah's brother and Michael's best friend hands him a letter from Hannah. Hannah had asked Ritchie to wait an year and then give this letter to Michael. In the letter, Hannah asks Michael to move on with his life and goes as far as listing 3 probable women he could date. Knowing him, she is sure he needs this help more than anyone else. And thus Michael to honor Hannah's last wish meets and spends time with the 3 women.

Michael is a guarded and stubborn person who is not ready to let go of the grief that he has in his heart because of the loss of his wife. He holds on to it and his past and is not ready to acknowledge the fact that it is futile. He feels that if he was happy again, he would be guilty. All through, Hannah just wants him to let go of her and remember their times together as beautiful and just move on. She wants him to let go off of his guilt and walk towards happiness.

I definitely thought this was a slow read in the beginning but on the entry of the 3 women and there individual stories it suddenly became interesting and a great read. Of course it is a bit predictable but I really liked all the 3 women. There individual relationship problems, were lessons from which I learned a lot. Of course, Macy is a favorite and her quirkiness is her charm and it is a great experience seeing Michael winning over his emotional struggle and feeling happy. 

All in all, it was a nice, fluffy and cozy read. I am sure it will put a smile on anyone's face and you get to learn a thing or two about relationships as well. Recommended.

                       

On a side note, I don't like that cover but it is relevant to the books plot :)

Thanks to NetGalley for my review copy.

"It isn't the big pleasures that count the most; it's making a great deal out of the little ones."— Jean Webster

The Clearing By Heather Davis

The Clearing

By Heather Davis

Publishing on April 12th 2010 by Graphia

Paperback, 336 pages 

Synopsis - 

Amy, a sixteen-year-old recovering from an abusive relationship, moves to the country to start a new life with her aunt–all she wants is for everything to be different. In the clearing at the back of Aunt Mae’s property, she makes an amazing discovery—Henry, a boy stuck in the endless summer of 1944. Henry and his world become Amy’s refuge and she begins to learn that some moments are worth savoring. But when the past and present come crashing together, both of them must find the courage to face what is meant to be, even if it means losing each other forever.

The synopsis gives you an exact picture of what this story is all about. Amy, who has been stuck in an abusive relationship moves to the country where her loving Aunt Mae lives... she basically runs away from her previous life to start afresh and to find herself and hopes things will be different. But as she realizes in due course, nothing could be different if one is not ready to be different. On one of the walks in her Aunt's backyard, she chances to find a clearing and on crossing it... she finds herself in a beautiful settings on 1940s and a family who is stuck in time, they are still living in the year 1944. She becomes friends with the boy in that clearing and starts visiting them every now and then. As there friendship blossoms into something more, both realize what they need to do to move forward in life. 

The writing is beautiful, it is lyrical and it is so nice to see words of love, friendship all woven so beautifully together. This novel apart from dealing with love, also deals with various issues in a young teens life - the choices that they make and the role of a parent in helping them out in the time of crisis. It explores the relationships between parent and child and the need of communication in life. It discusses abusive relationship and what keeps one hanging on to it even when it hurts and they know it is in vain. It teaches us that there was no point in fretting over tomorrow and that it has to come and that we need to accept what life holds for us now and then. And finally I got to read a novel on time travel and I loved it. 

My only qualm with this one was the ending, I did not expect it and it did not thrill but I felt some how happy for Amy, for her Aunt Mae and sad for Henry Briggs. I have come to accept the fact that it had to be like this!

"The physical things get more difficult when you are old like me, and the emotional things are hard when you're young like you.  I remember when I was your age, everything seemed like a crisis - everything was so big. Things happened that I thought I'd never get over."
- pg. 121

My dear, time is the one thing you should pay attention to. One day, you'll find there's never enough of it.
- pg 62.

For its writing, it's superb dealing with so many issues and things... I recommend it wholeheartedly!
Thanks to NetGalley for providing the review copy

"It isn't the big pleasures that count the most; it's making a great deal out of the little ones."— Jean Webster

Daddy-Long-Legs by Jean Webster

Reading is a pleasure, ain't it! And it is more interesting when you discover a book out of the blue and it turns out to be a masterpiece!

One of the many reasons why I LOVE the blogging world, is because " you find books everyday, out of the blue".

So there I was hopping around my Google Reader from blog to blog, reading what had been going on in each of my friends reading lives, when I chanced upon a review of a book named Daddy-Long-Legs (and Dear Enemy) by Jean Webster on Nymeth's Blog! Now, what was that?! I went back again to make sure I had read the title right! Yes, I did! And then read the review too.. and if you guys read Nymeth's blog, you know how she can make you LONG to read a book she has loved :) and that's exactly what I FELT!

So off I went in search of this little epistolary novel first published in 1912! 1912? It has to be available online, I thought... and Good God, there it was... you got to LOVE Project Gutenberg [http://www.gutenberg.org/files/157/157.txt]!

This is an epistolary novel about a girl from an orphanage who is given the opportunity to attend college by a benevolent trustee of the orphanage whose only demand is a letter outlining her progress in college.
So this is what I have been busy reading every free minute I had in front of my computer and I tell you it is a DELIGHTFUL read. I have had that smile on my face since I started reading this one! I love it totally!!

So in tab, of the happy-go-lucky book hunting that I have been doing, I think this has to be one of the best classics I have read so far. It is just AWESOME! It is a small book... full of life and inspiration and I LOVE this author. I mean, what imagination!!

OK, I am not going to BORE you guys anymore, you ought to go read it and spread the word, I am sure you will LOVE Judy, her imagination and her happy-go-lucky attitude. Oh! you have so much to learn from this 17-18 yr old!

Anybody can rise to a
crisis and face a crushing tragedy with courage, but to meet the petty
hazards of the day with a laugh--I really think that requires SPIRIT.

So true, don't you think?!

Jamais je ne t'oublierai, Judy! [ I will never forget, Judy!]
I need to find this sequel now - Dear Enemy