Playing the Part

With Spring around the corner and the theme of love in our book, I am recalling Alfred Lord Tennyson's quote, "in the Spring a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love."  Our book is a compilation of romance, deception, mystery and suspense with an unexpected ending.  The story contains a villain, a heroine, a knight, a mausoleum that serves as entrance to a castle with a moat, a dungeon with torture implements and a roaming ghost in full body armor.  The heroine, Miss. Lucella Plum, is a leading lady performing in plays in New York City.  Mr. Bran Haverstein, said knight and castle owner, and Mr. Silas Ruff is the story villain.  A friend of Miss. Plum escorts her to Mr. Bram's castle as protection from the dangerous pursuits of Mr. Ruff.  Our heroine and knight have some wild adventures at the castle.  Each perceive the other person to be someone they are not, and their interaction is part of the mystery of the story.  Neither are looking for love, but they find it in each other..  The story and characters were interesting.  However I had trouble getting lost in the complicated plot.  If you are looking for a book with lots of action I recommend you read "Playing the Part".   This is the third book in the series called, "A Class of Their Own".  I received this as a free book from Bethany Publishing House.  The above is my own opinions.  I give "Playing the Part" four stars.

Risen

Angela Hunt has written the book "Risen" which is a Christian fiction.  The author is qualified in this genre because she has her doctorate in Biblical studies.  In 30 AD the Jewish religious leaders encourage Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea to seal and post guards at the tomb of Jesus of Nazarath.   Jesus had foretold that he would rise from the grave three days after his death.  Our story begins with Jesus missing from the tomb.  The author tells her story in the first person through two main characters.  Clavius who was a Roman Tribunal under Pontius Pilate, and Rachel who was a Jewish widow.  Pilate had ordered Clavius to investigate the disappearance of Jesus and to find his body.  Clavius questions the guards posted at the tomb, and many others who claimed to have witnessed the resurrected Jesus.  He eventually meets with the disciples of Jesus.  Even though they came from different cultural backgrounds Clavius and Rachel's lives became intertwined because both are driven to learn more about this Jesus.  What they found profoundly changed their lives.  The characters seem real and fit will into the Biblical story.  I liked the fact that the author tells about the history and culture of the Roman and Jewish people of that time period.  The author gives many scriptural quotes from both Jesus and his disciples through out the story.  The quotes seem accurate, but the author does take literary license as to when and where the words  were spoken.  I purchased "Risen" from Amazon and would give it four stars.  I enjoyed the story and would recommend reading it.  The story has been made into a movie, and I am looking forward to viewing the movie to see whether it follows Angela Hunt's work.

A Worthy Heart

Welcome once again.  Hope your Christmas was a blessed one.  Have you ever been in a relationship that family and or friends said could be unhealthy or harmful.  Well that is the underlining premise for our story, "A Worth Heart" by Susan Anne Mason.  This is her second book in a series called Courage To Dream.  The first book being "Irish Meadows". 
A brother named Gabe and his sister Maggie Montgomery leave Ireland for the summer and travel to New York to visit with their older brother and his family.  While in New York both Gabe and Maggie fall in love with someone their families don't approve of.  The story continues with their adventures through the summer visit.  I had a little trouble at the beginning sorting out the various characters and their relationship to each other.  However once that was accomplished I couldn't put the book down.  The author uses suspense, action and tragedy in her story to keep you turning to the next page.
Mrs. Mason writes Christian fiction.  So the lives of her characters portray Christian values.  The verse Romans 8:28, "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose" is repeated by various characters through out the story.  This verse is meaningful to me.  So I enjoyed seeing it used in this story.  The author does a good  job at developing the personality of the characters, and they seemed real, and their conversations between them natural.  I highly recommend reading " A Worthy Heart".  Determine for yourself which character meets that criteria.  I received this book free from Bethany Publishing Company, and the opinions stated above are my own.  I give "A Worthy Heart" five stars.