Horse Dreams (Backyard Horses Series) by Dandi Daley Mackall

This is the first book in a new series by Dandi Daley Mackall called Backyard Horses. If you have an elementary school-aged girl that is enamored with horses, as many of them are, this would be an excellent series to gift her with. This is a paperback of approximately 150 pages.

The story is about 10-year-old Ellie who has asked God daily for several years for a beautiful black stallion. When a rather down and out pinto unexpectedly comes into her life, she takes a great interest in the horse but doesn’t realize for a while that she has finally received God’s answer to her prayers. If I tell you any more of the story, I will spoil it for you so I will leave it for you to read. The book is very engaging. Both my granddaughter and I read it in one sitting.

Tyndale gave me this book to review and I look forward to reading the rest of the series as it comes out. This particular volume has a bonus of the sign language alphabet (Ellie’s young brother is deaf) and a “Horse Talk” glossary.

Pattern of Wounds: A Roland March Mystery by J. Mark Bertrand

This is a crime mystery that is hard to put down. This is not my normal genre of leisure reading material, but something about the description intrigued me when it appeared on a list of books to review for Bethany House.

This is a fast paced story with a surprise around every corner and lots of loose ends that get tied up eventually in the course of the story. It is about a detective searching for a killer with a distinctive M.O. amidst department politics, marital situation, internal conflicts, old family history and spiritual uncertainty. It all manages to come together pretty well with a few questions left unanswered for a starting point for the next book in the series.

I enjoyed this book and look forward to reading more in this series in the future.

FREE!

I thought you might be interested in the free summer digital issue of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine. Feel free to forward to those you know that might have interest as this is a free for all. :+)



http://www.thehomeschoolmagazine-digital.com/thehomeschoolmagazine/freegift#pg2

Inside Threat by Jason Elam and Steve Yohn

This book was one of those books that you didn't want to put down for anything -- just read it from beginning to end in one sitting. I wasn't able to do that but could think of little else when I didn't have it in my hands.

This is the story of a very realistic and very plausible terrorist attack on US soil by US-born Islamic terrorists. It is told from the point of view of various members of a special ops team in Washington, DC and also from the point of view of one of the terrorists.

Not only will you gain a greater understanding of some of today's most important issues, you will also find the plot of this story very instructional.

One of the agents involved is Khadi Faroughi,a Muslim-born woman who is caught in the middle of the attack and held hostage. Khadi does much soul searching during her ordeal, praying to Allah and to God and trying to gain a peace about which one she would serve. This is all done very tastefully with no preaching involved. You just live through the things going on in her life with her.

I would never have picked this book up off the shelf but when Tyndale offered it to me for review, it looked intriguing so I requested it. I am so glad I did. This is one of the best books I have read this year! Now I need to search out a copy of a previous book that this one is a sequel to. I highly recommend this book to you no matter what genre you are most accustomed to. You will be glad you read this book.

The Sweetest Thing by Elizabeth Musser

This is the story of the friendship that forms between Mary Dobbs Dillard, the daughter of an evangelist from Chicago and Perri Singleton, an Atlanta debutante daughter of a prominent banker, when Dobbs comes to Atlanta to live with her Aunt and go to school during the Depression. The book begins with Dobbs’ arrival in Atlanta, followed closely by Perri’s father’s suicide. As the story unfolds, we learn more about Dobb’s father’s past in Atlanta and subsequently and about what transpired to cause Perri’s father to take his own life. All comes out in the end and all evildoers meet their just reward. The story, however is about the friendship that forms between these two very different young girls. It is also about God’s provision even during the most difficult and trying times. It’s about Faith and questioning one’s Faith. And all that is interwoven so masterfully into the story that you never feel like you are receiving a sermon or being led down a primrose path. The characters are interesting and compelling, and the setting of 1930s Atlanta provides a history and culture lesson about our country’s not too distant past. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes historical fiction or a good mystery. There’s some romance in there too for those so inclined.

Desert Gift by Sally John

This book is about Jillian Galloway, a successful marriage expert, writer, radio show host etc. and her podiatrist husband, Jack. Just as they are leaving on her book tour, Jack announces that he is not going and furthermore, he wants a divorce. This is how the story begins. By the end of the first chapter I was ready to run screaming hysterically in the other direction. I was convinced I would be bored to tears by this book and frankly, I didn’t understand their problem. But I persevered. The further into the book I got, the more intrigued I became. It eventually got to the point where I read most of the rest of the book in one sitting. This book is about relationships, not the least of which is our relationship with God.

Family relationships, three generations worth, were dealt with in this book and all in a very interesting and connected way. This isn’t one of those books where there are three or four very separate storylines going on. These all meshed together, part of the whole. The story has some twists and turns and some very interesting moments but I will leave those for other readers to discover for themselves. Tyndale gave me this book to review and I am glad they did because I would never have picked it up on my own and I am very happy to have discovered this story. I highly recommend it – I couldn’t put it down and other readers will, I am sure, be in the same boat. Thanks Tyndale for introducing me to an author I had not heard of before but hope to see more from in the future!

Abby Johnson's Unite for Life webcast!

Go to: http://uniteforlifewebcast.org Starting Friday, May 13, 2011 and continuing through Tuesday, May 17, 2011 (the day of the webcast).