My college age son has been telling me for 6 months that I needed to read Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.  When that boy’s right, he is really right.  Hunger Games is an exhilarating ride of a book that visually grabs you into another time and space and doesn’t let you go!  Set in the future, the government has devised a way to remind everyone that they are in control and take their most prized possessions anytime they want. How?  By lottery, 24 teenagers are chosen to go to the Hunger Games and battle one another to the death.  The last survivor wins wealth, fame and a year of rewards for the district they represent.

Now if you’re not a sci fi person and you’re already vetoing this book, don’t.  The suspense is nonstop and the characters become deep three dimensional figures you are sad to let go of on the last page.  And of course there’s a unique and puzzling romance.  Buy the book for your teenagers, boys and girls alike but don’t wait like I did.  Read the book for yourself.  It’s a delight.

At Christmastime I like reading a book that relaxes me, restores my hope and washes me with the sweetness of the coming of the Lord.  That is what Remembering Christmas is all about.  Rick Denton is a young guy that built a life away from all the reminders of family and Christ.  Not so unlike many of us in our 20’s.  Through a crisis at home, Rick is forced to give up his vacation time to watch his parent’s Christian Bookstore during the holidays.  Through a long array of characters and of course a little romance, Rick is reintroduced to his parents and his Lord.  If you need a good Christmas book to snuggle up with, give Remembering Christmas a try.

http://www.danwalshbooks.com/index.html

Can Christmas time really bring unexpected blessings to anyone?  In Christmas at Harrington’s Melody Carlson takes Lena Markham, an unlikely receipient of Christmas Blessings and leads the reader into believing in the goodness of Christmas time.  Lena has been released from prison just in time to work as Mrs. Santa at the local department store.  Through a series of unexpected events what was likely to be a disaster of a Christmas turns into one that touches not only her life but the lives of those around her.  It’s a fun, quick Christmas read… Enjoy!

http://melodycarlson.com/Christmas_novellas.shtml

I love giving books for Christmas.  If you are looking for some great gifts to give those hard to buy for people… check this out!  Click on each title to read my complete review.

For the person that loves a love story that might make you cry…

The Mountain Between Us by Charles Martin

For the person that loves spies, political intrigue, and winning one for the ole’ USA …

American Assassin by Vince Flynn

For the person that loves spiritual historical romance…

The Begotten by Lisa Tawn Bergren

For the person fascinated with the religious and political confusion of the Middle East

Fuse of Armageddon by Hank Hanegraaff and Sigmund Brouwer

For the person looking for the perfect book to put them in the Christmas Spirit…

Two From Galilee by Marjorie Holmes

For the person who loves fun legal novels with a twist…

Try Dying by James Scott Bell

The person that loves querky British Novels

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Schafer and Annie Barrows

For the Teenager that loves Fantasy

Heartless by Anne Elisabeth Stengl

For the person that loves Jane Austen

Mr Darcy’s Diary by Amanda Grange

For single gals that thing single guys are nuts…

Flabbergasted by Ray Blackston

For the woman that’s looking for a way to break out of the routine of life…

Quaker Summer by Lisa Samson

For the person looking for a book to strengthen their Christian walk…

The Life You’ve Always Wanted by John Ortberg

I have not read all of Lisa Samson’s books yet but every book of hers I have read absolutely takes my breath away.  BUT The Passion of Mary-Margaret is my favorite.  Samson paints such a magnificent picture of what a life sold out to God can look like and I’m here to tell you it ain’t all pretty.  In my own path with the Lord, He has been giving me little glimmers of how how He can over come your deepest loneliness with nothing but Himself.  This front and center position is exactly the position Jesus plays in the life of Mary-Margaret.

Mary-Margaret is this sweet young girl that grew up knowing that she would be a nun.   Then in walks Jude Keller, the wild child from the lighthouse she can see from her backyard.  Now Margaret-Mary KNOWS that Jude is trouble and that she has no business being with a wild boy but the Lord has other ideas.  Samson is a master at not just creating stories but creating people through their struggles and joys to become full blown characters with so much intensity you feel they are sitting with you as you read.  The Passion of Margaret-Mary is a love story but so much more than a romance.  it’s a full portrait about how a life with God is beyond our plans and beyond our expectations but full to over flowing.

LOVE THIS BOOK!

Find out more: http://lisasamson.typepad.com/

There are LOTS of historical romance out there but this one is exceptional.  The Colonel’s Lady is the story of Roxanna Rowan a young woman stranded at a Kentucky frontier outpost during the Revolutionary War.  So there’s trouble from the British, the Indians, the spies and of course the dashing commander Colonel Cassius McLinn.  Only problem is that the colonel she is falling in love with accidentally shot her father.  At it’s core, this is a story of redemption and I love stories of redeeming the unforgivable.

Frantz does an excellent job of presenting a vibrant and dynamic setting for her book with plenty of historical information to intrigue the reader without pulling away from the plot.  Some good twists I did not see coming and a couple light hearted characters to keep me smiling.  The author seems to favor stories about women that have ended up in places they have no business being and needing to find the inner strength to find their way out.  I really relate to that!  Enjoy the fun, face paced read.  I know I did.

Find out more here:   http://www.amazon.com/Colonels-Lady-Novel-Laura-Frantz/dp/080073341X/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpi_2/182-2868364-0101448

I love stories of old love.  That’s right.  Not stories of young love, those are a dime a dozen.  I love stories of couples that have shared their lives and hurts for decades and against all odds find a way to still share their love.  Patience of a Saint is just such a story.  Red Kane is a Chicago newspaper reporter that between  investigations of dirty politicians and unexplained disappearances, He experience a renewal of the Holy Spirit.  Despite his better judgment, Red sets out to restore his broken marriage.  The story of redemption is not one sided but two showing the rewards of one person taking the first step.  Greeley shows how to disclose the baggage that two people can let fester until it dampens the joy of a loving relationship.

My favorite part of the book is when Red decides he is going to back to being his old ornery self and finds the Holy Spirit does not let him go so easily.  What a releif to know that the love of the Lord can stalk us and lure us back to His loving arms.  Read the book– One of my all time favorites– and renew your own belief of restoration in  your life.  It’s fun to read about Chicago too.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/044651294X/sr=1-1/qid=1318463417/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8&me=&qid=1318463417&sr=1-1&seller=

I love Charles Martin books and in The Mountain Between Us he has way outdone himself.  This book dives deeply into the emotional intensity of two strangers fighting for their lives in the frozen wilderness while battling the relationship chaos they left at home.  Martin is a master at taking the reader into a marriage that truly restores and unites two people despite their past and brokenness.  Discovering this leaves you clinging to a God that does not leave us in our pain but sends people into our lives so He can breath restoration into our darkness.

The book opens with magazine writer Ashley Knox and ER doctor Ben Payne surviving a plane crash on the side of a frozen mountain in  the middle of nowhere.  You name it, it happens and the responsibility to get the two of them to safety falls to Ben as the novel fills in the back story of how he met, adored and became estranged from his wife.  This is more than a page turner, I found my self gripping the sides of the book filled with awe and anticipation for what might happen on the next page.  You want to read this book.  It’s story will stay with you long after the last page.

http://charlesmartinbooks.com/blog/entry/some_thoughts_on_mountain/

OK, I’m a late-commer to Vince Flynn’s Mitch Rapp series but I am really enjoying it.  Mitch Rapp is a smart, deadly, heroic guy that has been trained to fight terrorist all over the world.  The prequel to the series is American Assassin describes how Mitch, a world class college athlete seeks retribution for the death of his girlfriend on the Pan Am Lockerbie terrorist attack.  After six months of training, he’s set loose on the terrorist world breaking rules and getting results until his team is kidnapped and held ransom.  Heart pounding suspense, bone chilling terrorist and a collection of custom designed support characters make American Assassin a novel you’ll want to read.

But I have to tell you that reading the next book in the series, Transfer of Power, was more than just an intense and enjoyable experience.  It jogged my perceptions about what a pre-September 11th world was like.  Flynn published the book in 1999 and yet the list of historically accurate terrorist threats and attacks dramatically reminded me of what a frightening place the 1990’s were to our country.   In a post-9/11 world, I do not want to ever forget those years of not responding to terrorist with strength until their threat ended up on our shores.   There are lessons here to be learned.   As with all terrorist related books, there’s violence but Flynn handles it realistically without being gruesome.    I think this book will be high on my gift giving list for those hard to buy for men this Christmas.

Listen to Vince Flynn talk about American Assassin http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMEtUEXpV-8

Click here to read more http://www.vinceflynn.com/American_Assassin_Summary.htm

I am a HUGE Beth Moore fan.  I have done all of her Bible Studies and some of them twice.  Although I was blessed by all of them, Believing God is by far my favorite.  Beth has created a comprehensive Bible study that pushes the reader to explore how they live out their faith in their everyday life.  Believing God asks you to not only believe in God but to believe God’s promises.  Moore has everyone learn the five-statement pledge of faith:

1) God is who He says He is.

2) God can do what He says He can do.

3) I am who God says I am.

4) I can do all things through Christ.

5) God’s Word is alive and active in me.

Just one question.  What if you lived your life everyday as though each of these promises were true?  Just think of it!  Daily monotony would become daily adventure!  Life on the edge!  That’s the place this study drove my life and I believe it can do the same for you.  Challenge yourself to discover what you believe and to live as though you truely, whole-heartedly believe it!

http://www.amazon.com/Believing-God-Beth-Moore/dp/0805431896