List five of your absolute favorite male characters: (that you have not created)
Mitch Rapp (Vince Flynn/Kyle Mills)
Roman Velasco (Francine Rivers)
Cole "Tox" Russell (Roni Kendig)
Jon Reznick (JB Turner)
Luke Dempsey (Becky Wade)
Father, you are the Author of Life, the Creator, and you give gifts and talents to your creation. Thank you is never enough. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.
If you're a romance lover and a reader of romances and love stories, Sweet Release captures the love stories of six people. Each one has a unique circumstance that brings them together. Each individual wasn't expecting to find the person with whom their love stories began. Sordid pasts, traumatic events, sadness and sorrowful situations, loneliness and confusion, all leading to the one person with whom real love became an honest possibility.
Father, thank you for every story, word, character, and inspiration. Thank you is never enough. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.
Hard Fire by J. B. Turner is Book 10 in A Jon Reznick Thriller Series.
Jon Reznick is your atypical anti-hero. Unlike some anti-heroes, he is likable for many reasons, and, although he goes his own way and does his own thing, often fueling himself with Dexedrine, there's that sometimes lawless but moral code governing his actions pursuing those who think murder is justified because they can get away with it, or because someone got in their way, owed them money, or was a bargaining chip for what they thought they couldn't have.
When Jon arrives at the home in the aftermath of a brutal double murder of his close friends, he wants to know who's responsible and will not heed his romantic interest and sometimes co-worker FBI Assistant Director Martha Meyerstein when she continues to insist he basically let the FBI handle it and stand down. When Jon points out to her what a hypocritical effort is being used against the discovery of who made the order to kill his friends, Martha's argument is pointless. And when Jon goes on the warpath, no one is safe. He may be only one man, but he's a lethal missile of a man, and no matter how hard they try, he will not be stopped, always willing to suffer the consequences if he has to even if that includes his death.
Knowing this time after he's accomplished part of his goals, he should let this thing go, there's a threat to his daughter Lauren, now an FBI agent. That clinches his decision as he calls his former military associates for help. Along with his ace in the cyber world assisting everything Jon asks him to do, Jon makes a final decision.
Hard Fire is a bona fide thriller and J. B. has written a good one. Definitely making it easy to side with Jon in this pursuit, we can't help but wonder how he's going to manage to make it out alive or not incarcerated. It's one of those novels where you cheer his final actions and feel remorse about Martha's attitude. What it boils down to: When ruthless lawbreakers get away with horrible actions because lawful agencies do deals with devils, something to stop the evil must be done no matter what. That's when you need people like Jon Reznick to step up and do what must be done. It's a fictitious picture of our politics today.
If you enjoy reading the justifiable – but just outside the law – actions of truly likable anti-heroes, A Jon Reznick Thriller Series is Highly Recommended.
(Some profanity.)
Father, you gift writers and authors. May each one know from whom their talent comes. Please continue to bless JB and his family. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.
Oh yeah. It's only the beginning, right. January 3rd. May it be filled with excellent music and the hope of goodness and mercy.
Father, we depend on you for it all. Everything. Please intervene and fill us with your gift of hope. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.
Reasoned Resiliency: A Rational Devotional for First Responders by Rodger Ruge and Joseph Courtemanche gives a voice and a hope to those who do what most of us can't or won't to put others before themselves, make the necessary sacrifices, see the things/events most of us can't endure, and wake up each day to do it all over again. It's going to take a toll. This "devotional" asks the important questions, the working questions, the practical questions, and the spiritual questions for a daily confrontation to one's psyche in order to do this life and make it the personal best it can be in spite of whatever horror or challenge each one faces – to be able to sustain a resiliency it takes time and thought to create.
The 3-part daily briefs are under these titles: Thoughts to Ponder, The Reality, and The Hope.
With a spiritual overlook to keying in on what sustains that resiliency, this book puts important occurrences in perspective, giving a voice to the hard, the fearful, the lonely or isolation part of the various jobs, the profitable outlets as opposed to those which damage or diminish a person, tapping into the doable while encouraging and supporting those who face severe challenges on the job.
The two authors tag-team the days giving in their own words, examples, thoughts, and directions to those who face – at the least – hardships every time they're called upon to show up somewhere with potential lives at stake.
Although this devotional is written with first responders in mind, anyone can truly benefit from the wisdom within it.
Highly recommended.
Father, thank you for gifting those whose desire is to uphold honor, save or minister to lives in the most difficult of circumstances. Only you give those gifts to people. Please bless those who help others day in and day out and please minister to them in all of their personal needs that maybe go unseen. You see and know them all. Help them in every way. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.
A little while and the wicked will be no more;
though you look for them, they will not be found.
But the meek will inherit the land
and enjoy great peace.
The wicked plot against the righteous
and gnash their teeth at them;
but the Lord laughs at the wicked,
for He knows their day is coming.
The wicked draw the sword
and bend the bow
to bring down the poor and needy,
to slay those whose ways are upright.
But their swords will pierce their own hearts,
and their bows will be broken.
Better the little that the righteous have
than the wealth of many wicked;
for the power of the wicked will be broken,
but the Lord upholds the righteous.
Psalm 37:10-17 (NIV)
May the Lord intervene and show His Magnificence. God Bless You in Jesus.
When you read the back cover copy of Final Spin by former Navy SEAL and bestselling author Jocko Willink, you will get the full flavor of this 217-page novel. Not your typical novel by any stretch, it's a quick and somber read.
Johnny MacDermott and "Goat" Martinez are two young men in their 20s working a dead-end night job for minimum wage stocking items on huge shelves in a warehouse. Their night manager has no people skills, his favorite mantra: Less talking, more stocking. Johnny's frustrated and discouraged with his life, hopelessly assuming it's never going to change – or amount to anything good. He and Goat spend time before and after work in a rundown bar where they do next to nothing about changing their circumstances.
We learn Johnny's older brother "Arty" is "different" but can do laundry better than anyone. His work at a laundromat makes him perfectly happy. We also learn Johnny's and Arty's mom is a drunk, but we never see or hear from her, and that their dad is gone.
Johnny is not without street smarts or charm, but he is without hope of finding what he's good at or that he'd be able to do anything about it even if he did figure it out. When he talks with the owner of the laundromat, he's shocked to know the owner must sell it and asks Johnny if he'd please tell Arty because he knows it's going to hurt him.
Hopeless and desperate is a fatalistic combination for a young man, and Johnny comes up with a plan to "fix" everything. Goat signs on to it, and the two of them plot their solution to get them what they need.
The finality of the plan is the hardest part as Johnny contemplates saying goodbye to Arty and his girlfriend Jessica – who looks and sounds "like an angel" to his youthful attraction.
The style of writing is unique: free verse, first person internal dialogue in snapshots, switching briefly to third person POV. Plot and prose capture a morose life with only quick moments of laughter and pleasure usually provided by drink, Arty, or Jessica. Totally unusual from start to finish with an ending that is anything but the final word of the story while providing the twofold meaning of the title.
Father, you've given multiple talents and gifts to your creation. I pray you continue to bless Jocko in all of his efforts and guard and protect him from all harm. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.
If you're fond of second chances in life, love, and romance, not afraid of a little spiritual warfare, love the passion of finding "the one", and appreciate the remarkable insights of a pistol of a woman called "Grams" by her close younger friends, Destination is the novel for you.
Father, I love the inspiration, the characters, the goings on in the stories you've given me. Apart from you, I can do nothing. Thank you is never enough. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.
So who is Geraldine Woolkins and why am I reading about her adventures? Well, she's the star of a children's book series that any adult would be pleased to read to a child whether it be their own children or a classroom full of them. Geraldine has a lot to learn, and in her adventures she discovers there's a lot out there in her little world she can't begin to understand until she realizes there are always lessons in her discoveries whether they be good or bad. And those lessons? Well, any adult who reads this little novel or the series will see themselves in Geraldine's complaining ways. Her mom and dad take extra time to teach her and her newer little brother Button why they need to learn what they need to learn in this often difficult world they live in.
Geraldine's adventures include her friends – and enemies -, the sweet elder Mrs. Cresswell, and a surprising encounter with the scary Big Hands. Each encounter reenforces what Geraldine's parents have been teaching her throughout her young life. All of her doubts and fears and selfishness are exposed as she attempts to do what's right even when she'd rather not.
Readers of Cozy Mysteries might recognize the very talented multi-genre author Karin Kaufman for her Juniper Grove Series or her Smithwell Fairies Cozy Mystery Series. Then there's her Teagan Doyle Mysteries (Book 1) besides her Geraldine Woolkins Adventure Series.
Going back further in time in Karin's writing I loved the Anna Denning Mystery Series which began with The Witch Tree. This is a great series with unique characters and situations which will serve to raise the hairs on the back of your neck.
If you're looking for a children's series that teaches deep truths in a clever, realistic, and loving way, I highly recommend the Geraldine Woolkins Adventure Series. Written well with touching scenes, humor, and vivid pictures of the creatures depicted, it's a can't miss series for kids and sure to touch the hearts of the adults who might be doing the "audio" for their children.
Highly recommended.
Father, you know Karin's physical struggles with her back. We ask that you would heal her body and give her comfort as she writes the stories you've given her to tell. Please provide the healing she needs, Lord. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.
