What Your Dreams Are Telling You by Cindy McGill

Cindy McGill is an expert on interpreting dreams. From what I can determine, she became an expert as a result of many, many years of practicing dream interpretation. I was skeptical at first because the book starts out sounding a little faddish and New Age, but toward the end she did qualify that she is a Christian and believes that dreams are from God.


She explains what different dreams mean. Much of it sounded very logical. I read the book cover to cover wanting to give it a fair evaluation. I found much of it helpful. Although Ms. McGill says we all dream every night and have at least 2 dreams per night, I don't remember very many of mine. I can remember a couple from my lifetime very vividly and some others vaguely but not a lot. I only have one "bone to pick" on the symbolism of dreams. Ms. McGill mentions more than once that the "bathroom dream" is a symbol of "purifying and cleansing." I have had some of these dreams myself from time to time and truly I believe that all it pertained to was the fact that I had to "go" really bad and needed to wake up and take care of it. The rest of the interpretations I have no real opinion about and you will have to read them and decide for yourself. I believe this author is very sincere and has helped a lot of people, and I do believe that God gives people dreams on occasion that help them. It is up to the individual to determine what is valuable here and what is not.


I received a copy of this book from Chosen Books for review. I did not receive any compensation for completing the review. All opinions are my own.

Heart of the Country by Rene Gutteridge and John Ward

PREVIEW MOVIE TRAILER

Faith is running from a difficult situation. Her husband has been indicted for securities fraud in New York. She ran once before -- from grief when her mother died in North Carolina. Now she is returning to her childhood home in NC to heal and like the prodigal in the Bible, she is welcomed with open arms by her father and with a little bit of distrust by her older sister. This book tells the story of their long journey back -- hers and her husband's as they discover that family is what it is all about and as they put their faith back in God where it belongs.

I received a copy of this book and the movie from Tyndale House to review. I did not receive any compensation and all opinions are my own. I read the book first. Then I watched the movie. As with all movies that are made from books, some details were changed which is always annoying for me, but I realize that they must do this to make it work in this different format. My granddaughter, who watched the movie with me and has not yet read the book, enjoyed the movie and so did I.

The best part of the book for me was the description of both parents' transition from this world into Heaven. That was beautiful and real. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, they did not include those pieces in the movie. I thought the references to God in the book were a little too sketchy and a little too glossed over, but the doctrine is sound. I liked the book -- read it from cover to cover without taking much time out for anything else, but it was a little different, and there were a few less "warm fuzzies" than similar books I have read.

The fact that Gerald McRaney played the father in the movie made the movie for me. That was some wonderful casting.

I enjoyed both the book and the movie and would recommend either one or both to my friends.

Fired Up -- Trouble in Texas Book 2 -- Mary Connealy

Mary Connealy’s second book in the Trouble in Texas series is out and it is just as wonderful as the first one. Another one of the Civil War buddies that lived through the Andersonville Prison of War experience together is the focus of this book. Dare Riker is the town doctor, although he doesn’t feel that he actually has the credentials to be a real doctor. He is more than a little smitten by Glynna Greer who is more than a little man shy since her first two husbands were duds. She has opened a diner and the problem is she is a horrible cook. To top it all off, someone keeps trying to kill Dare. What a train ride! I love Mary C’s books. She is so funny. I am always excited to see the latest book by her on the shelf.

I can’t recommend this or all Mary C’s books enough. If you don’t have time to read anything else this year, pick up one of her books. You will not be disappointed.

I received a copy of this book from Bethany House for review. If they hadn’t offered it I would have bought it anyway because I can’t pass up anything by this author. I did not receive any compensation for completing the review. All opinions are my own.

Stranded by Dani Pettrey

Another great suspense/romance by this author! She has the right combination of mystery/love story/redemption in Christ to make a novel that you can't put down.

Darcy St. James is back in Alaska to help her old partner solve a crime on a cruise ship. She renews her acquaintance with Gage McKenna who is also working for the cruise line on contract. Just when Darcy arrives, her friend Abby disappears before she can explain to Darcy what she was investigating. Darcy has to figure it out all by herself (with help from Gage and his family, of course).

This is a marvelous series of books and I can't wait for more installments. I like how the author seamlessly includes each characters faith (or lack of it) in Christ into the story without being preachy or it feeling like extra baggage. It is just part of who they are and I really enjoy this aspect of the story. Can't wait to hear more from this author!

I received this book from Bethany House to review. I did not receive any compensation and all opinions are my own.

Critical Pursuit by Janice Cantore

Brinna Caruso is a cop whose passion is finding missing children and catching molestors who prey on them. She has a personal stake in this issue because when she was a small child she was kidnapped by a molester and left to die in a remote location. She was miraculously rescued and she wants that outcome for all the little girls. Detective Jack O'Reilly lost his wife and unborn child to a drunk driver and he is questioning everything in life right now. He wants off the homicide beat for a while and becomes Caruso's partner. Together they pursue the bad guys and hash out the meaning of life and the existence of God which both are skeptical about after what they have been through.

This book is well written and keeps you waiting to know more. The struggle with the issue of God's existence is woven into the story and is not clunky or irrelevant to the plot. It is a natural conclusion to the feelings being generated by the action. The fact that Ms. Cantore was a cop herself makes it all real and helps the reader get a feel for the job at hand. I felt there could have been a little more conflict if Brinna had actually met up with her molester in the final pages of this story but it was not diminished by the fact that she didn't. It was still a very satisfying read.

I received a copy of this book from Tyndale for review. I did not receive any compensation for completing the review. All opinions are my own.

The Cry of My Heart

Babies and God-breathed Life are subjects close to my heart. What is breaking my heart is the abortion culture in our country today. I have always known at a gut level that life and babies are precious and that we have no right to mess with that. From the moment the sperm meets the egg in the womb and the baby begins to form a separate life has been created. To willingly murder that baby is an act of evil. Yes, I've heard all the arguments about rape and incest. In truth only about 1% of abortions are results of rape / incest. A similar percentage are due to trying to save the life of the mother. The rest are performed entirely for "convenience." The baby in the womb is a person in its own right. It has its own fingerprints, DNA, blood type etc., separate from the mother. He or she is not an extension of its mother's body parts. The baby is not responsible for the act that was committed to start its life. That baby has as much right to live as the selfish mother or father who wants it aborted for whatever reason they think they have.

Life and babies are so precious to me that it hurts my heart to see the things that are going on in our society today. So many people would love to adopt a newborn but instead they are being brutally murdered. I had three difficult pregnancies in my life. On the second one I miscarried. The devastation of losing those little lives (there were 3) was devastating to me for years afterward. I cannot imagine the pain there would have been if I had been responsible for that miscarriage. I still mourn for those little lives. My daughter has had similar difficulty with her pregnancies. She has had several miscarriages and 3 live births. All of her pregnancies have been high risk and one of the live births resulted in the baby dying almost immediately after birth. The baby died in her arms. That was 10 years ago and we still mourn that little life and the lives of the others that she miscarried. To both of us the thought of anyone deliberately taking the life of a baby in utero is horrifying. My daughter was offered an abortion when it became apparent that her baby had serious problems but she wouldn't even consider it. The opportunity we had to hold that precious life in our arms as she went to meet her Maker was something we would not trade for anything in the world. When I was pregnant with my daughter, the medical personnel told me since I was having a difficult pregnancy and there was the possibility of something being wrong with the baby, I should consider an abortion. I told them in no uncertain terms that would not ever happen and I would die first before I let something happen to my baby. And through some genuine miracles, she was born beautiful and perfect and is, along with her brother, the joy of my life.

A Simple Change by Judith Miller

A Simple Change is the 2nd book in the Home to Amana Series by Judith Miller. I had the privilege of reviewing Book 1 as well. One might think that as simple as life was in the Amana colonies, the books would be very similar. Not so -- only in location. The stories are quite different and both very compelling. In Book 2, Jancey Rhoder returns to the Amana Colonies with her parents, who left the Colonies when they were very young. Now Jancey's mother is ill and her parents have decided to return to their roots. Although Jancey's life has been very different from life in the Amana Colonies, she does not want to be separated from her mother during her mother's illness so she decides to go with them. Her ambitious boyfriend had hoped to end up with her father's company and was not pleased with this move. As Jancey settles into the new life, another young man catches her attention and she sees in him the gentleness and kindness of her father. Now she needs to choose. Several other complications along the way make it a shaky path to travel but her trust in God leads her to the correct destination.

This book is very well written and could certainly be enjoyed by anyone who enjoys historical novels. This book makes you want to keep reading till you figure it all out. I love a little mystery mixed in with the romance. I am awaiting anxiously now for Book 3.

I received a copy of this book from Bethany House for review. I did not receive any compensation for completing the review. All opinions are my own.