Into the Fire

Do you have a favorite from these covers? I'm interested in your opinions. 

Father, thank you for every cover, every word, every inspiration. Apart from you, I can do nothing. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

One of my favorite films with a dynamite song and great music throughout it. 

Father, all any of us need is to find your Son, and He's not hiding. We're all desperate for you whether we know it or not. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

Sara Davison brings us Guarded, Book 2 of The Night Guardians Series. 

Somewhat recovered from the tragic loss of her husband Gage and with the sorrowful death of the only man who treated her like a daughter, "Joe" of Joe's Diner, Nicole now runs that diner he left to her. Joe's wife Connie treats her like the daughter she never had and often watches Nicole's son Jordan who is now six years old and the spitting image of the father he never knew. 

Detective Daniel Grey has spent the last seven years intermittently and unobtrusively watching over Nicole and her son, having never gotten over the love that hit him hard those many years ago when she first entered his life. When one of those times intersects with Jordan, Nicole is grateful to find it's him talking to her son in the park and not some stranger. The chemistry is still there, but she's wary of a relationship with a man who risks his life for a living. The pain of losing her husband during a dangerous escapade remains a reminder of how love can hurt unbearably. 

As Nicole realizes her feelings for Daniel run deep and that her son enjoys him as much as she does, her life begins to take on new life. However, she can't shake that she's being followed and when weird items start showing up around her, she finally must tell Daniel about them. He takes them seriously, and he and his partner Sharleen work on figuring out their significance.

Daniel discovered something about Nicole's history that she knows nothing about, but he doesn't have all the information so he doesn't want to tell her. When an associate springs new information on the two of them, Nicole reacts with fury at Daniel for keeping this important secret from her. 

There is terror, anger, loss, and ultimately understanding. The final scene is absolutely perfect. 

I must admit I hated the way Nicole responded to Daniel after learning the "secret", but Detective Daniel Grey is a great character and definitely carried the story. Sara has written two good ones in The Night Guardians Series. 

Father, again I pray you would give Sara all that she needs to continue to write the stories you have just for her to tell, that you would fill her up with your Spirit, and keep her safe from all harm. Encourage her as only you can do. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

"Turn to me and be saved,

  all you ends of the earth;

  for I am God, and there is no other.

By myself I have sworn,

  my mouth has uttered in all integrity

  a word that will not be revoked:

Before me every knee will bow;

  by me every tongue will swear.

They will say of me, 'In the Lord alone

  are righteousness and strength.'"

All who have raged against him

  will come to him and be put to shame.

But in the Lord all the descendants of Israel

  will be found righteous and will exult. 

Isaiah 45:22-25 (NIV) 

Hey, we're just tapping into favorite novels (Part 2). Loved these. In no particular order . . . 

Father, these amazing authors, gifted by you, appointed for writing stories. It's a pleasure to honor and appreciate them all. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

Breath of Life is available in print only for below cost. A true romance . . .

Breath of Life tells the story of embittered, wounded, and divorced Michael Jamison, who, after a prolonged period as the casual observer of a lovely woman, discovers his attraction to her supersedes remaining a stranger. With a smarting ego and nothing to lose, he figures out a non-threatening way to introduce himself and is overwhelmed with her pristine beauty and challenged to change everything about the way he's lived his life so far.

      (From Chapter One)

      It was so strange to see her anywhere besides leaning against the building that I actually turned in my chair as she walked by the front of the coffee shop with an attractive, also impeccably groomed, silver-haired woman some years older than herself. Her mother? They were discussing something, and she listened intently when the older woman spoke. I was so tempted to get up and follow them it surprised me. What would that accomplish? I felt foolish for thinking it and tried to refocus on my laptop screen when I could no longer see them. But I failed completely. She was . . . unique. Maybe not in how she looked—I couldn’t deny I thought she had true beauty. There was just that something indefinably—I didn’t know. Indefinable. I began to wonder how I might . . . what? Meet her? Learn about her? What? And how? 

     I started assessing myself. Not bad looking. Every bit of 6 feet. Women came on to me sometimes. And good looking ones, too. I knew the signals. I’d given them myself—mostly just for fun. Flirting gave your ego—and theirs—a boost without having to deliver, you know? Right now, I didn’t feel like I could deliver a newspaper, let alone . . . Divorce has a way of taking every facet of your self-confidence and devouring it through clamped jaws filled with razor teeth. 

     I wanted to forget about it—“the sighting”, I mean. But it followed me back to the office and made me realize she wasn’t just a lovely mirage, a sensual distraction standing outside Tully’s leaning against the wall of the adjacent building having a smoke once in awhile. She was a person. A beautiful, real person. I was sure of it. And that thought haunted me like an unscheduled visit to fantasyland.

Father, again and again: apart from you I can do nothing. Thank you for every word. Thank you is never enough. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Nicole+Petrino-Salter&i=stripbooks&x=18&y=18&ref=nb_ss_b  

We authors write the novels given to us. Some credit their vivid imaginations. Some credit other great writers for their inspirations. Some credit stories they've loved to read, driving them to learn to write the kind of stories that echo those. 

We authors sometimes favor certain of our books over others just because they've touched a note, that unique resounding chord, that place where our hearts are vulnerable. We hope our writing can mimic that touch in readers' visions, emotions, and, yes, those vulnerable places in their hearts.

This author – well, she's not that creative. Without the Lord placing the stories in my mind, giving me the words to use, and helping me through the beginning to the end, there would be no novels. No books. Frankly, I can hardly believe I've written nine full-length novels, two remain unpublished. I have one work-in-progress, not very far along. 

Writing has been with me since I was a child right along with my love for horses. Those were two constants in my life. Funny how it all played out . . . 

Father, anything of any value that I've done and/or accomplished is solely because of you. Apart from you, I can do nothing. Period. "End of story" as "they" say. In the Name of Jesus, Amen. 

Old duffers makin' like the rock 'n' rollers of old. Good group. Good song. Back in the day again. 

Father, may all the musicians to whom you've given their talent and gifts realize from whom it's all been given. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

Tom Threadgill has written a complex procedural mystery that resurrects a "solved" three year old accident with a note from a dead – or is he missing – child in Collision of Lies.

San Antonio Property Crimes Detective Amara Alvarez is bored with the thefts and standard issue reports to homeowner victims and yearns to be in Homicide. When she is contacted by a mother whose child was one of the victims in a suicidal school bus/train collision three years before, Detective Alvarez is not convinced by the desperate text the mom receives from her thought-to-be dead son. When this mother will not be deterred from finding the truth of who else could've possibly sent the text, other incidents pop up including the murder of a former soldier who served in the same unit as the suicidal school bus driver. Slowly but surely there are connections to this huge catastrophic "accident" which aren't adding up to the multiple reported details.

As you can imagine, this is a hard case to take seriously since all the "accident" reports are in order, but reluctantly Detective Alvarez can't let it go – the "coincidences" mounting up to a ridiculous amount. With the help of the ME, a Texas Ranger, a homicide detective, and finally a "higher up" in the police department, she begins to make headway in determining what really went down in this school bus/train collision those three years ago. 

When she gets too close, well . . . you know the drill. 

A good mystery with plenty of quirky characters including Amara and her chosen pet. Interesting and entertaining.

Father, please continue to provide those stories you have just for Tom to write. May he know your abundance and write for your glory. In the Name of Jesus, Amen. 

For this is a people without understanding;

   so their Maker has no compassion on them,

   and their Creator shows them no favor.

Isaiah 27:11b (NIV)