Book Review: The Encounter by Stephen Arterburn

Book Description: A wealthy businessman travels to Fairbanks, Alaska, to learn why his mother abandoned him when he was a child, and in the process learns that not everything is as it appears to be.

The Encounter, the unique new book from best-selling author and counselor Stephen Arterburn, is a moving parable involving Jonathan Rush, a wealthy and famous entrepreneur, who is tortured by bitterness toward his mother who abandoned him when he was four. He travels to Alaska to find her but instead meets an enigmatic old woman known only as Mercy. Mercy has the information he needs but is strangely reluctant to talk to him. Somehow Jonathan must find a way to persuade a frightened woman to unlock the secrets of his past.

The book includes an invitation to the readers to verify the facts of their own stories, to accept the reality of their existence, especially the most painful ones, and to live in forgiveness. The end result is a healthy new way to look at life with an ability to share hope with others for the future. Healing is possible but requires truth, acceptance, and forgiveness, including of oneself.

My Review: I think this book, The Encounter, had the potential to be an excellent platform to help its readers understand and deal with their own deep seeded wounds and issues, but I was disappointed with the way it so abruptly ended. It was far to quick and easy a healing for Jonathan who had, evidently, experienced a life-long battle with anger, resentment and  rejection based on the fact that his mother had abandoned him as a four year old child. However, the abrupt ending, after a very simplified  account of an episode where he exploded in anger and drove someone away, left me bewildered.  In my experience, healing of the kind dealt with in The Encounter, doesn't simply vanish the way they did in this book. There was too much left unsaid and too much not adequately dealt with.

Maybe if I had considered it to be a simple parable in a "short story" category, I would have viewed it differently. Or if I had considered the questions posed at the back of the book prior to or during my reading of the story, that might have helped, as well. Certainly without them, for me anyway, this would just be a very unsatisfactory read. I hope those who read The Encounter will start at the end and work their way through using the questions as their guide.


Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://booksneeze®.com/> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 

                                                                                                                                                                                                      

Book Review of LONESTAR ANGEL

Book Description

LONESTAR ANGEL by Colleen Coble

Eden’s hope is rekindled when Clay delivers astounding news: their baby girl has been found. Five years ago Eden and Clay Larson’s baby was stolen. When they went to pay the ransom, what happened changed their lives forever—the kidnapper’s car with Baby Brianna inside sunk deep into the river. Eden blamed herself, Clay lost himself in work. Their young and rocky marriage ended. Or so Eden thought.
My Review
   Although "Christian Romances" aren't my first choice in reading selections, I chose to read LONESTAR ANGEL for two reasons: It's a mystery novel and it involved children. The author Colleen Coble, wasted no time setting the stage for this mystery romance. There were no flowing introductions to the characters, no detailed descriptions of the scenery. Instead, she immediately, from page one, jumped right into the plot of the story and the drama that would soon unfold. She captured my attention from the beginning and held it until the end.
   She did fairly well in breaking my presuppositions to the stereotypical nature  of so many "Christian Romance" novels (although not completely). I find that they, too often, run the same course with heroes who are nothing like the men we are inclined to know and heroines who are most often thin, beautiful and irresistible. 
   Nor do I have time for a frivolous, empty plot and if it's going to be called "Christian" then I would like to at least sense that the characters have more than a cursory relationship with or knowledge of God. The mystery element of LONESTAR ANGEL kept it from being a "typical" romance and there was evidence that both Clay and Eden were making significant spiritual changes in their actions and attitudes. 
   And, while there was no way to figure out the end because of the complexities of the plot, it did get a little complicated and, at times, hard to follow. Overall, I found LONESTAR ANGEL to be entertaining and would recommend it to others.


Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://booksneeze®.com/> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 

"Stained Glass Hearts" Book Review

"Life is no doubt full of difficulties, but it is also filled with promise and possibility," says best-selling author and WOF speaker Patsy Clairmont. In Stained Glass Hearts Clairmont guides readers to view the difficult experiences of life through the lens of God's grace. Using art as a theme, and likening people to stained glass windows, she shares that it's when we're surrounded by darkness that His healing light shines most brightly within us. Encouraging women to step back and see life from this new perspective, Patsy offers help and hope for the dark places of life. Much like stained glass, life's broken pieces become the prism through which God's grace shines most brightly and beautifully.


My Review...
I really liked Patsy Clairmont's book Stained Glass Hearts. She uses stories, analogies and word pictures to make profound and indelible points.  She also draws on an eclectic collection of quotes, poems and works of art that I found inspiring (probably because I collect the same things) and interesting. She writes like I preach-by using every day circumstances to communicate and illustrate life principles in colorful and delightful ways. At one point, in my own journey of pain, I used a similar  illustration of stained glass only my object of focus was a of kaleidoscope, but the lessons I believe God taught me very much corresponded with Patsy's. 


I was especially fond of her description of the importance of books in her life, how she enjoys them, uses them and relates to them.  This book is a resource I will draw on again and again.
I think another appealing aspect of this book was the fact that I believe far too many believing women live lives of woundedness for which they never find any true healing. I hope that, for many, Stained Glass Hearts, will open the way for His daughters to find healing for the spiritual and emotional pain that cripples them.  


Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://booksneeze®.com/> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 

"The Baker's Wife" Book Review

Who wouldn't be captivated by the book's description? 
It read.... "What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger, so why is Audrey weakening day by day? 
It's been a tough year for Audrey's family. Her husband Geoff, a pastor, lost his job after a scandal rocked their congregation.Audrey hasn't lost faith. She's held her family together. Their attempt to resurrect a failing bakery is an effort to heal the family wounds and restore their place in the community.Late to the bakery one dim, foggy morning, Audrey turns into the intersection in front of the shop and strikes a vehicle that she can't see even after the collision settles. Emerging from her car into the fog, she discovers she's hit a motor scooter. There's no rider in sight. There's blood, though, so much that she slips in it, injuring her wrists.The absence of the scooter driver is a mystery, especially to Sergeant Jack Mansfield, the detective and church member who drove Geoff from his pulpit. The scooter belongs to Jack's wife, Julie, a teacher at the local high school. She has vanished like morning fog.Though there is no evidence to support Jack's growing suspicion that Audrey and Geoff were involved in Julie's disappearance, the detective is convinced of their guilt. Jack's ability to reason slips as the leads on his wife dry up.When Jack takes the tiny bakery and its patron’s hostage, Audrey must find Julie and unravel the secret of her own mysterious suffering before Jack comes undone."

Almost immediately I developed a love/hate relationship with the story line and its characters. Audrey, at first, seemed to have her own unnervingly strange quirks which caused her to have unusual and, at times, almost life threatening ailments in response to the distress of others. What was that all about? But then her compassion and sensitivity kind of grew on me as she became ever more endearing, especially as she struggles though her own issues and her responses to the less-than-lovely others in her story.

Then there is Jack, who believes himself to be a godly, just and righteous man of God while being harsh, judgmental and even cruel, until finally...!  He is an interesting and difficult character study. 

Audrey and Geoff's son Ed was certainly the most true-to-life character and I liked the addition of Diane (the ex-con) and Leslie (the nerdy student). They helped give the story depth and volume as the plot unfolded. Another interesting element is the unpredictable ending. I won't give it away...you need to read it for yourself.

This is not one of those fairy tale Christian romance novels with a few references to God or church and then not much more. This is a dig down deep look at the real dilemma of dealing with the most difficult people and circumstances in one's life. I especially appreciated the discussion questions at the end of the book. I wish I had read them sooner so that I would have had a clearer understanding of what the author was trying to present. This is a book I will probably read again, just to pick up what I missed the first time around. 

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://BookSneeze®.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255