No Sanctuary: A Dark Oak Mystery by F.M. Meredith

About the Book:
Two churches, two ministers, two wives, one murder. While on patrol in the central California foothills near Rocky Bluff, Officer Stacey Wilbur spots a car crashed into a giant oak tree. A woman is slumped against the steering wheel, blood pooling on the floor mats. Stacey calls the incident in to her colleague and special friend, Detective Doug Milligan, then secures the scene and waits for emergency crews. The rescue squad confirms Wilbur s judgment. The woman is dead, but it s soon apparent the crash had little to do with her death. There is a bullet hole behind her ear. The car belongs to the minister of a local church with an upscale congregation, and the dead woman on the front seat is his wife. When Wilbur gives the minister the bad news, it is met with aloofness bordering on unconcern. The typical suspect the spouse first theory ratchets up a few ticks in Stacey Wilbur s analytical mind. Before that jells, however, Wilbur learns there is a potential other woman in the mix. As she sorts through the elements of the case, Stacey tries to find enough time to explore her feelings for Doug Milligan.

About the Author:
Marilyn Meredith is an award winning author of mysteries, psychological and Christian horror. She is a popular speaker and instructor for writing conferences, mystery conventions and festivals, book fairs, and other similar venues, including the Maui Writers Retreat. She is a member of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, Public Safety Writers Association, California Writers Club and Mystery Writers of America. Learn more about Marilyn at Fiction For You

The Review:
What grabbed me most about this book and makes me want to go back and read the other Rocky Bluff tales is the fabulous cast of characters that Meredith has developed for the reader to get to know. As a writer she has a way of putting the reader in the character's shoes so that they feel like they are part of the very intriguing storyline that plays out.
I know just when I thought I had figured it out I was surprised to find I was wrong and cheering for the lead character Stacey as she came to the dramatic conclusions.
If you are a mystery buff this is a must read series to look for.

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The Sunken Kingdom 1: Ghost Ship by Kim Wilkins

About the Book:
Asa and Rollo are royal children. Their parents, King Sigurd and the Star Queen, are dead. Flood, the evil court magician, has taken over and used his powers to drown the kingdom. Asa and Rollo are the only hope remaining for the people of the Star Lands.
In Ghost Ship, a loyal family friend gives Asa and Rollo an enchanted ship so they can rescue their infant sister, Una, from their parents’ killers. But first they must outrun Emperor Flood’s sky patrols.

About the Author:
Kim Wilkins was born in London, and grew up at the seaside north of Brisbane, Australia. She has degrees in literature and creative writing, and teaches at the University of Queensland and in the community. Her first novel, The Infernal, a supernatural thriller was published in 1997. Since then, she has published across many genres and for many different age groups. Her latest books, contemporary epic romances, are published under the pseudonym Kimberley Freeman. Kim has won many awards and is published all over the world. She lives in Brisbane with her husband and two small children.

The Review:
While this well written book is earmarked for Young Adults I think it is equally readable as a Chapter Book for children ages 8-12 as well. The characters are lovable and the story attractive that it will capture the heart of the young reader and make them want to read the other books in the series easily.

Keys to Living Joyfully by Sheri Kaye Hoff

About the Book:
Keys to Living Joyfully is an inspirational book on experiencing joy, peace, passion, and energy in daily life. It is designed to demonstrate the powerful roles of thoughts, action, and faith. The book is a merging of Sheri Kaye Hoff's spiritual life and lifelong interests in leadership and motivation. The ideas presented in the book are techniques and processes that have worked for the author and clients. Foreword is written by Michele Caron, creator of MyLifeCoach.com
The book, Keys to Living Joyfully, was born out of a heartfelt desire to share the keys that lead to living a transformational life. Ms. Hoff is a personal and executive coach working with individuals, small businesses, and corporations. Her words on faith are derived from her own Christian walk and spiritual self-discoveries. Her action steps are a mix of faith. love, leadership skills, and management experience. Chapters include topics such as: Is your heart thinking right? And how to tap into intrinsic motivation. This book, Keys to Living Joyfully, offers the techniques and insights that move people towards more peace, joy, energy, and passion in everyday life.

About the Author:
Sheri Kaye Hoff resides in Parker, CO with her husband and three children. She is a Life Coach and owner of the Sheri K Hoff International Coaching Company. She teaches college classes as an adjunct faculty member and has earned her Master of Arts in Organizational Management. Her new book, Keys to Living Joyfully, offers a way of living a meaningful, successful and joy filled life.
Ms. Hoff is a personal and executive life coach. Spirituality is a vital part of her life’s work. Prayer and meditation are integral pieces of her daily ritual, which enables her to pursue her life’s passions and live a truly joyful life.
Her words on faith are derived from her own Christian walk and spiritual self-discoveries. Her action steps mix faith and years of leadership training, mentoring, and management. Sheri Kaye Hoff suffered the tragic death of her younger brother when she was a teenager and struggled for years to rediscover the capacity to feel joy and to enjoy her successes. She has a heart felt desire to pass on her knowledge and discoveries that have led to a truly transformational life. Ms. Hoff publishes a free weekly inspiration newsletter, Coach Sheri’s Weekly Inspiration Tips.
You can visit her website at www.lifeisjoyful.org.

The Review:
As one who has long suffered from anxiety and depression books like this are often in my reading pile in the hopes that I can find a path to peace and happiness that isn't 100% reliant upon doctors and medications.
In my first read through I find that the message that Mrs. Hoff is presenting is positive and filled with an energetic spark that makes it a workbook worth utilizing and not just tucking away. Using her advice I plan to now take the time to read the book through again and utilize the exercises to help work towards joyful living. Will this book be the one that does the trick? I cannot be sure, but I believe it has a high potential to be very helpful to many people.

Book Club Survey

What are book clubs reading? How often do they meet? Do they enjoy speaking with authors? We're going to find out the answers to these questions and more with the 2009 ReadingGroupGuides.com survey --- and we'd like your help reaching out to book club members. The goal is to identify trends and topics that are of interest to book groups. The information will be shared with publishers and authors so they can provide the resources needed to enhance book group meetings and discussions. The survey is only open to readers who are in book clubs.

The survey can be found at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=JZxioOza4dvM_2byCHuqQb0A_3d_3d

We estimate that the survey will take about 12-15 minutes to complete. As a token of their appreciation for filling it out, ReadingGroupGuides.com will award all participants (U.S. and Canadian residents only) with a free book, generously provided by our publishing colleagues. See the full list of 28 titles, each of which is perfect for a book group discussion, at: http://www.readinggroupguides.com/surveys/2009-reader-survey.asp.

The survey will close on April 30th, or as soon as 2,500 prizes have been awarded, so visit http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=JZxioOza4dvM_2byCHuqQb0A_3d_3d to answer the survey now!

You Can Lead an Atheist to Evidence but You Can't Make Him Think by Ray Comfort

About the Book:
To be an atheist is to play Russian roulette with all the barrels loaded. An atheist just can't win. Of course, he feels and acts like a big player, until the trigger is pulled.
The issue isn't the existence of God. The atheist is wrong and there is a Creator, then he was wrong. He gambled and he lost; no big deal. The real gamble is that there's no hell. That's what makes the player sweat, just a little. "What if?" is the deep and nagging doubt. He believes it's worth the excitement of the game. Yet atheism isn't a mind game; it is intellectual suicide.
Join best-selling author Ray Comfort as he "talks to the atheists," revealing not just the weakness of the atheist argument but the solid foundation upon which the Christian stands.

About the Author:
Ray Comfort is the author of more than 60 books, including, God Doesn’t Believe in Atheists, How to Know God Exists, Evolution: The Fairy Tale for Grownups, You Can Lead an Atheist to Evidence, but You Can’t Make Him Think, and The Evidence Bible. He was a platform speaker at the 2001 27th convention of “American Atheists,” and in 2007, he appeared on ABC’s Nightline (with actor Kirk Cameron) debating “The Existence of God.” He also co-hosts an award-winning television program, and has a daily blog called “Atheist Central.”
For more about Ray and his work, please visit Living Waters and Ray’s blog at Atheist Central.

The Review:
Religious books are always a risky review, as you never quite know how wild it may get when you are reading them. This book was one I was truly looking forward to, feeling that maybe it would be filled with great discussions. Alas, it is filled with the same arguments over and over again, and thus poor Ray is left repeating himself so often, that you feel that the only message he can give is repent before it is too late. Is this his fault? Nope, it is the naive questions/statements that he is responding to that leave him with only one path to follow.
Ultimately I found the book gave some good answers, but it did become repetitive for the reader. I do have one major gripe and that was the use of comparisons with Boy Scouts, forgive a Scouting mom for not enjoying that tiny detail.
Mr. Comfort is a well educated man with a message to offer, but if the reader is not willing to hear it, it will go over their head and be lost in the atmosphere. I think only you can decide if this is a book that meets your reading desires.

The Dead Guy by Doug Hewitt

About the Book:
Jack Thigpen works in Detroit, nicknamed The Motor City, the perfect place for a fraud investigator who specializes in car insurance scams. He is on a case he believes is a typical, low-level crime, but it quickly turns into a situation with ominous international consequences. Ironically, as he is targeted for death because of his investigation, Jack is diagnosed with a fatal disease that is untreatable, a disease that will end his life within months. And instead of killing Jack, the hit man shoots Jack's best friend. Struggling to come to terms with his impending death, Jack vows to track down his friend's killer.

Jack plunges into the world of corrupt car dealerships, chop shops, and fraudulent auto repair shops. He is soon swept into the darkness of Detroit's criminal underbelly to uncover the truth about power struggles within organized crime rings. Death is staring him in the face, but Jack doesn't back down. He pushes ahead, plowing through perilous roadblocks planted by his enemies, propelling himself toward the finish line and a teeth-gritting, heart-pounding conclusion.

About the Author:
Doug Hewitt was born and raised near Detroit, Michigan and now lives in North Carolina. Along the way, he did a four-year stint in the Marine Corps and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics. He has been writing short stories for over 20 years and has been getting them published for most of that time, with over 80 stories in print. His stories have appeared in anthologies such as The Dead Inn and 100 Wicked Little Witch Stories. He has appeared in the premier issue of Apex Digest and has seen his chapbook, Slipstream, published by Scrybe Press.

He turned his attention to longer works and had his first novel Spear published in 2002. The Midwest Book Review calls Spear “a thrilling and deftly crafted novel.” After remarrying in 2004, he and his wife, Robin, founded HewittsBooks.com. In addition to authoring a non-fiction parenting book, The Practical Guide To Weekend Parenting, Doug and Robin teamed up to write The Joyous Gift of Grandparenting.

Doug returned to his original passion, writing fiction, and wrote The Dead Guy, which St. Martins author Lynn Chandler-Willis calls a “high-octane, pedal-to-the-metal ride through the criminal underbelly of the automotive world.”

The Review:
"Perhaps people needed to be almost dead in order to fully understand how thoroughly the word had infiltrated our language.
Dead spot, dead ringer, dead to the world.
It was a word that lost its potency through overuse. People bandied it about carelessly, being much more cautious with other words, such as murder and mutilation. People said the word so often that when they used it to describe the termination of life, other people are confused. It's abused, denigrated, stripped of its power, cast into the casual realm of everyday use.
There was no doubt - the word "dead" had lost its potency." ~ pages 94-95
How does one face the day to day functions of living when suddenly told that they are dying? If you are Jack Thigpen admirably with such strength of character that the Russian Mafiya are petrified of you.
Jack is just a man. He wakes up one day, dealing with the loss of his marriage and is then offered a job opportunity. How could he know that by the end of the day he would be diagnosed with a terminal illness and thrust into a major turf war that is reminiscent of the rum-running mob days of yore?
Jack takes his death sentence with an attitude that may surprise some but really befits the character that Hewitt has created. At one point Jack thinks to himself, "Death is a ship to be sailed solo. The ship of death had only one captain, and everyone had to chart a unique course into the vast darkness of the afterlife." ~ page 56
Yet after surviving numerous attempts on his life in a matter of days, being mistaken as a killer and one who can't be killed, as well as trying to distance himself from everyone he loves before death comes to take him away he changes his tune, "Death wasn't sailing a ship by oneself, a lonely nighttime excursion - it was a moment of becoming, a release from the incomprehensible puzzle of life." ~ page 270
Hewitt has created an incredible character in Jack Thigpen, raising the average working man to new heights of admirability. One cannot help but become fully engrossed in the complexity of Jack's life and the twists and turns it takes in a matter of just a few days. The story line is equally intense, with a supporting cast that makes you love and hate, trust and doubt.
Definitely considering giving this mystery/suspense novel a run for its money, you'll be happy that you did.

Tiny Toes: A Couple's Journey Through Infertility, Prematurity, and Depression by Kelly K. Damron

About the Book:
Tiny Toes is a personal story of a couple struggling to create a family. The author tackles the effects of infertility, including how it almost destroyed her marriage. She illustrates the emotional trials of having a premature baby and how that, too, impacted her soul and her marriage.
She also demonstrates how she was able to overcome the depression that was keeping her from her own joy. The impact of infertility can extend to the soul of your very being. Watching your baby struggle to survive each day is not something any parent should have to endure. Yet, every day 1 in 9 babies are born too soon. Postpartum depression is being acknowledged as a disorder that occurs fairly frequently. Women who experience infertility and/or the premature birth of a child are more likely to encounter some form of depression than are women who have healthy pregnancies.
This story details the emotional trails of these complex life occurrences. In the end you'll see the transformation of the author and you will be moved by her journey.

About the Author:
Kelly K. Damron is the mother of fraternal twin girls conceived with the assistance of in vitro fertilization (IVF). Her daughters were born at 30 weeks gestation after her water broke. They spent 7 weeks in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). One of her daughters had a life saving surgery at only 5 weeks of age. Today both of her girls are healthy and happy.
Kelly recognizes how lucky she is to be a mom and that her girls have no long-term effects of their prematurity. She lives in Phoenix, Arizona, with her husband, Dave, and their daughters.

The Review:
Kelly K. Damron presents a provocative look into the world of infertility and premature infancy in her book, Tiny Toes. Subtitled, A Couple’s Journey through Infertility, Prematurity, and Depression it aptly touches on all of these difficult aspects of the process that Kelly and her husband Dave survived. That is essentially what this is a story of, survival. Every minute of the process they faced was a challenge that they could either survive or succumb to defeat over. They thankfully survived but it was a rocky road with many unexpected forks.
First the reader is taken on the arduous journey of discovering that the couple is indeed suffering with fertility issues, and the decisions they make to overcome them and conceive. Not having ever dealt with infertility I know it was a learning experience for me, but I think had I read it while pregnant it would have scared the dickens out of me. I can clearly see how this would be a great aid for someone who is going through the process though, to know that they are not alone.
As I know when Kelly’s water broke I felt for her, having experienced something similar with my second child. Her feelings of guilt, anger, depression, and the desire to be super mom, ring like giant reminders in my mind and my preemie baby is now a highly active teenager. I think I would have benefited greatly by knowing I wasn’t the only one feeling like that, but as it seemed Kelly did I never connected to other parents in the NICU, just the staff and a strict focus of my child’s care.
Kelly does a wonderful job of sharing her story with the reader and I think that this is a book that all NICU and fertility clinics should have in their resource library for the patients. My only desire from the book would have been to get a little more of Dave’s side of the story. That is a side I think that oft gets left behind the father’s emotional journey from start to finish.