ALWAYS IN SEPTEMBER by DORIS ELAINE FELL

I have just come across ALWAYS IN SEPTEMBER by DORIS FELL in my bookshelf, and cannot believe I haven't read this fast-paced novel before. I like the story, the setting in Paris, the believable characters, and, most of all, the Christian message. It definitely will not be the last book I read by this author!
Andrea York is an ambitious young fashion journalist who wants to have her own fashion line one day. When she is sent by her boss to follow the fashion scene in Paris, she is excited and feels her career is about to take off. However, she is loathe to leave her grandmother who is failing fast. She goes to see her and promises to visit her grandfather's grave in Normandy for her.
Andrea has no idea of the intrigue in which she will become involved, nor does she know that this trip will lead to the love of a godly man and a renewed relationship with the God she has been ignoring lately.
The novel is well written, the plots well worked out, and the character analysis excellent. I only wish the sequels were out in Kindle.


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BRIDGE TO HAVEN BY FRANCINE RIVERS

I have been looking forward to reading BRIDGE TO HAVEN by FRANCINE RIVERS ever since I saw it was going to be released in April and have certainly not been disappointed! It is the story of a broken young girl's journey towards salvation. It is really well told and full of biblical truth and I highly recommend it.
Abandoned at birth, Abra feels she is nobody and is unable to accept the fact that she is worth anything or that she is loved by Pastor Zeke or Peter and Priscilla. This leads to her rebellion as a teenager and to her looking for love in the wrong places. It is only after she has made a complete mess of her life that she realizes that she has been loved all along.
Abra is a a good actress, having pretended all her life in order to cover up her deep-seated unhappiness, and actually nearly loses herself in the role she ends up playing. We see the importance of the word of God as she remembers the words to the hymns she used to play in church. Mitzi made her play and sing them over and over, knowing that the unhappy young girl would one day need something to draw her back to the Lord. We also see the importance of intercessory prayer and of never giving up on one's loved ones, even when things look impossible in the natural. It is so true that those who are the hardest to love need to be loved most of all!
The story brings to mind the parable of the Prodigal Son, and also the Father's love for wayward Israel as described in Hosea chapter two.
The characters are beautifully portrayed, and throughout the story one is aware of the Lord's presence in their lives. Their emotional struggles are sensitively brought out, together with the results of the choices they make, not only in their own lives but also in the lives of others. Pastor Zeke and Joshua play important roles in Abra's life, and show Christ's mercy, patience and unconditional love towards her. They also show faith in God when all seems lost. It is largely through their love for her that she comes to accept the Father's love and His forgiveness, and is made whole.  I highly recommend this novel.





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WHILE MORTALS SLEEP by JACK CAVANAUGH

I knew I would enjoy WHILE MORTALS SLEEP by JACK CAVANAUGH as I have read HIS WATCHFUL EYE, the second novel in the Songs In The Night series, several times. In fact, I have yet to read a book by him that I haven't found inspiring because of the strong Christian message in his novels.
While Mortals Sleep is the very moving story of Pastor Josef Schumacher who starts out as a strong supporter of the Fuhrer until he realizes what this apparently charismatic leader is really doing to his country and his people. Josef refuses to compromise his Christian values, in spite of his father in law's advice, and is horrified to see how far his mentor is prepared to go in order to keep his family safe.
Josef loves his wife, Mady, and is looking forward to the birth of his child. He is conflicted as he doesn't want to cause trouble for them, but his conscience won't allow him to do nothing when Jews and children are being murdered.
We see his bravery and faith being tested to the extreme.
We see Mady, who is full of complaints about her husband, coming to love him in the end.
Josef's stand for the truth even reaches the Nazi youths who come to his church.
Against the backdrop of Germany in 1940, the characters make every day life during that horrific time very real for us, and show us how the choices that they made affected their lives and those of their loved ones. I cannot recommend this book strongly enough. I have just bought Above All Earthly Powers, the third book in the series, and cannot wait to read it!


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ON DISTANT SHORES by SARAH SUNDIN

ON DISTANT SHORES by SARAH SUNDIN is the second book in the WINGS OF THE NIGHTINGALE series.  I have recently re-read both books (I reviewed WITH EVERY LETTER on 7th September 2012) and am looking forward to the third novel which is yet to be released.  In enjoy reading books in sequence, but of course each can be read as a stand alone novel.
Georgie Taylor joined the flight nurse programme because of her best friend Rose.  Georgie has been pampered and loved all her life by her family and boyfriend, Ward, and is called "baby" by them all! She battles with fear and is afraid she will not be able to cope in an emergency, causing danger to the soldiers in her care.  When she goes through tragedy and also shows fear in an evacuation, she feels that maybe the Lord is telling her that she should go home to the farm and live safely with her family and Ward.
John "Hutch" Hutchinson is a qualified pharmacist who is unable to become an officer, much to his chagrin, and who becomes bitter and resentful due to the lack of respect he is shown by some of the officers. He also loses his fiancee to another man.  He thinks that things would go better for him if pharmacists were treated the same as doctors in the army. It is only when he humbles himself and realizes that he is obsessed with wanting to become an officer, instead of accepting the situation and doing the best job he can, and chooses to please God instead of man, that he finds peace.
Hutch and Georgie become friends, and we see how they encourage each other. Their relationship is difficult as she is an officer and he isn't allowed to fraternize with her.
When Georgie is faced with tragedy and also with a frightening evacuation where she nearly fell apart, she feels that the Lord must be telling her to go home to the farm, her family and Ward.   When she goes home on leave she knows that she has started to grow as a person through all she has experienced and is no longer prepared to allow others to make decisions for her or to"baby" her. 
It is in the midst of the horrors of World War II that the characters live out their lives, showing bravery and faith in the face of death and disaster. The story is well told and exciting, the characters are very real and there is a strong Christian message.  I can highly recommend this novel.



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THE AUSCHWITZ ESCAPE BY JOEL ROSENBERG

THE AUSCHWITZ ESCAPE is the first historical novel by JOEL ROSENBERG and it is well worth reading for anyone who is serious about their walk with the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob! There is a great deal we can learn from this account of the atrocities carried out against the Jews in the German death camps. Whilst it is true that there were also Gentiles imprisoned by Hitler's regime, it was his unrelenting and diabolical desire to wipe out the entire Jewish nation that is so well described in this book. This is so relevant in today's world where we see anti-Semitism reaching new heights! The Bible tells us that the person or nation that brings harm to the Jewish people touches "the apple of God's eye" and will surely bring His wrath upon them. Conversely, those who bless His people will be abundantly blessed.
In the novel we see godly Christians such as Jean-Luc, a pastor, who is imprisoned for helping Jewish refugees, and who continues to minister to the prisoners inside the camp.
Against a backdrop of evil, of man's inhumanity to man, we see glimpses of tremendous courage and faith, and also God's miraculous intervention, not only in the day to day life of the prisoners, but also in the escapes themselves.
We see how God can bring good out of even the most impossible situation when we trust Him. We see how Jacob Weitz grows as a person through the suffering he endures. We see how his training under his beloved uncle Ari develops him into a strong member of the Resistance, and how he is taken prisoner when he is locked into a cattle car with some of the prisoners he is trying to liberate, and how his boyish naïveté is quickly changed into determination to survive.
After his escape he is frustrated at the seeming disinterest of those in authority in America and Britain, and their inability to see how their failure to act is costing more Jewish lives every day.
Running through the story is Jacob's love for his friends and for the beautiful Abby.
It is a story of horror and of hope, of hatred and of sacrificial love. It is very well researched and historically true. It is a book that I will read many times and I can highly recommend it. It is most thought provoking and leaves one with a desire to tell the world to wake up before it is too late, and make sure there is never another holocaust!


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IN THE SHADOW OF JEZEBEL by MESU ANDREWS

IN THE SHADOW OF JEZEBEL is another historical novel by MESU ANDREWS that I can highly recommend, for enjoyment and suspense as well as for biblical content and Christian truth.
It is the love story between Jehosheba, Jezebel's step granddaughter, and Jehoiada, Judah's high priest, which mirrors Christ's love for His bride, the church.
There is a wealth of biblical fact blended with enough fiction to make the story flow, and the whole brings the story of 2 Chronicles chapters 21 to 23 vividly alive for the reader.
Jehosheba has been brought up by her stepmother, Athaliah, to be a priestess of Baal and is largely driven by fear. She loves her father, king Jehoram, and is horrified by the way he is treated by Athaliah when he is suffering. His sickness and death has been prophesied by Yahweh's prophet because he turned away from the ways of his godly father, Jehosaphat, and even killed all his brothers. Athaliah has no time for the God of Judah and uses sorcery and cruelty to get her own way. She wants to rule Judah, even as her mother, Jezebel, rules Israel. The description of life in the royal palace at the time is well portrayed - full of pomp and intrigue. It is contrasted with the simple life of the Temple priests and the poverty of the common people.
When the beautiful young Jehosheba marries the elderly High Priest, Jehoida, she has many issues due to her upbringing. We see Jehoida's infinite patience with his young bride which leads to her emotional healing when she turns to his God. We see the contrast between the godliness of Temple worship as opposed to the wickedness of pagan worship and between the fear that comes from Baal and his priests, and the fear of the Lord that leads to obedience. Sadly, even some of the Temple priests and Levites have been caught up in the lure of pagan pleasures and there are not many left for service in the Temple.
Jehoiada is strong physically and spiritually. He is awed when Yahweh speaks to him through the Urim and Thummim and also when He speaks to both him and Jehosheba. Yahweh will not be mocked and we see how His children triumph in the end. The seed of David is saved, as it has been prophesied. In the book this is also largely due to Jehosheba's fervour, faith and courage.
It is a wonderful story, beautifully told! In no way do the fiction elements detract from the truth of the story and I cannot recommend this novel highly enough.


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DARK HOUR by GINGER GARRETT

DARK HOUR by GINGER GARRETT tells the story found in 2 Chronicles 21 to 23 of the wickedness of Athaliah, wife of Jehoram the king of Israel. She is Ahab's daughter and follows the sorceries of her mother Jezebel. She is determined to rule Judah and destroy all David's descendants in order to stop the worship of Yahweh and draw God's people into sin. I can't believe I have had this amazing book sitting on my shelf and hadn't read it before yesterday! Ginger Garrett brings the story alive and the characters are well portrayed as very real people. It is obvious that she has done a tremendous amount of research as she brings out the clash between the worship of Yahweh, the One True God, and that of Baal and the many pagan gods. The description of life at that time is well portrayed.
We see the Lord's miraculous intervention in keeping David's heir alive in hiding until he can become king of Judah when he is seven years old. We see Jehoshebeth's bravery and reliance on Yahweh as she snatches baby Joash from certain death at the palace and hides him at the Temple.
It is interesting to see how relevant things that happened in Bible days are to the days in which we live.  We shudder at the atrocities performed by self-seeking women who want to take over the God-given role given to men and also at the wholesale slaughter of babies so that Athaliah's wicked scheme to take over the throne may succeed. The story of Satan's attack on mankind, often through women, runs through the Bible from Genesis to Revelations, as does the promise of Christ's victory over the forces of darkness.
The story follows the Bible account closely and the message is in no way diminished by it being a work of fiction. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.


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