The Freshman Survival Guide by Nora Bradbury-Haehl and Bill McGarvey

Relationships, homework, organization, room mates, money, spirituality. These are some of the issues that plague college freshman. College is a whole new stage in life, and it can be quite overwhelming. That is why the editors of Busted Halo.com bring you The Freshman Survival Guide, to help you maneuver through the labyrinth and make it out better than you went in.

I am a freshman... in high school. Nonetheless, I read this book and found the advice very helpful. The advice is practical, simple things that make your college life a whole lot better. It is organized into chapters that deal with individual topics for quick reference. I found the book to be in a very readable format.

I do note that there are quotes from various spiritual leaders, including not only Christian ones, but Muslim, Buddhist and a few others as well. Some Christians may try to distance themselves from that, but I think it is good to broaden the spectrum, and I found the advice in no way offensive. Since I am not a college freshman, I had my sister who is a college freshman read it. She said it was great and helpful.

I will definitely be reading it again when college comes!
   

The Battle for One Elect by Dr. Simon Hezekiah Kohein

Simon Kohein can not escape sorrow, but neither can he escape joy. His life is filled with ups and downs and every other direction. But lets face it, some of those downs are downs. Is this due to simply bad luck, or might it have something to do with the curse on their family his grandmother always spoke of? What is going on in the spiritual world, parallel to ours? Simon shares his life and all his thoughts in a final letter to his long deceased wife.

I was very surprised to find that, despite the cover, the first half of the book isn't really about spiritual warfare. It has spiritual references, sure, but it's not about spiritual warfare per se. However, as the book continues it becomes evident that the book is in fact about spiritual warfare, but it is also an autobiography. I found the story incredibly interesting, and filled with a message of hope and perseverance. The books was smoothly written, and I could tell that both the characters and emotions are genuine. Great book, recommended to those going through trials.
    

The Priest's Graveyard by Ted Dekker

Renee Gilmore is a helpless victim sucked into a trap of drugs, hopelessness and fear. When she is rescued, she feels forever free and relieved. However, when an unimaginable string of events occurs, Renee is forced to take action and her life is suddenly intertwined with a strange priest.

Danny Hansen would be that strange priest. Once being a helpless victim himself, he is sick of being a witness of cruelty to human innocents as they slip through the law's hands. Thus, he decides to take the law into his own hands (only when the law fails) all in the name of justice. In this corrupt system there are many in the priest's graveyard.

Judge not, or you too may be judged.

To start off, 3D rating! This book completely lives up to the Dekker standard. Very readable book. The perspective in this book is an interesting one. It is in the first person point of view from a woman, but it quite often switches to the third person point of view of a man. That makes for an interesting style that allows you to crawl inside one character's head, and glance inside another's. The feel of the book is moderately dark, but in my opinion in no way a thriller, despite other claims. I think it is more in the suspense category, though not like "The killer is about to get you!" For a nice change there are no serial killers. Both the twist and message of this book grew in my mind like a natural inception so that I felt completely in sync with the characters. Great work Ted, unexpected and amazing!

Below is the trailer.


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Intervention by Terri Blackstock

Emily Covington is a full out addict. Only 18 and she is throwing out her life, health and future. She is, basically, a walking dead. But her Christian mother can not watch from the sidelines, she decides to take action... again. She hires an interventionist and everything seems to go perfectly for a while. But as her daughter arrives in Georgia, Emily won't answer the phone on the way to the retreat, and then- disaster strikes. Barbra, Lance, and Emily Covington's as well as Detective Kent Harlan's lives are turned upside-down. It all started with the intervention... or did it?

I don't think I've mentioned this before, but the average time that I read a book is 3 days-1.5 weeks. The books I read in 3 days are the best; books I can't put down. Past 3 day books would include Immanuel's Veins, Rick Riordan's mythology books, The Promises She Keeps, and The Gift. This book, is the latest addition to my 3 day book collection. In the future, for the purpose of sounding awesome, books I read in 3 days will say "3D rating".

Now, for my opinions of the book. Well, it was amazing! It was one of those books where I made instant connection with the characters. I wanted them to succeed, I dreaded what was about to happen to them. Yes, this is a character based novel. One of the characters, Lance Covington, was a 14 year old guy with an older sister. I too fit that description so I was glad to have a character I could closely relate to. Not really any complaints. Amazing book, Terri! I'm very excited for Vicious Cycle!

Here is the trailer. The characters don't appear much as I picture them, but I'll leave the decision to you.

In the Shadow of Evil by Robin Caroll

It all starts with a a dead body in a burning house. Well, thus starts the catastrophe anyways. Not terribly uncommon, but the house is for the unfortunate and the source of an award; and the body is that of the inspector. Contractor Layla Taylor is thrust along with Detective Maddox Bishop into a chaotic reality where trust is deceitful, hope is weakness, and peace is mockery. Layla can hardly doubt that she is living in the shadow of evil.

When I first started this book, I kept wondering, how is this the shadow of evil? But soon it became evident; this book gets intense! Smoothly written with a fluent story line, it was a great read that was hard to put down. Construction and Louisiana were two foreign subjects to me, so that was an interesting background in my eyes. I was a little disappointing though that there wasn't much culture. I also must note that there are two over used phrases that I assume were meant to add character but came across otherwise. As the book progresses, they do become more scarce. All in all, excellent book and I can't wait to read it's two siblings. Great job, Robin.
   

The Gift by Bryan Litfin

Teofil and Anastasia have been exiled from Chiveis because of their faith. They travel south and are greeted by high class societies. And while Anastasia is greeted with open arms, Teofil is not. They are on a desperate search for the lost New Testament and soon discover that there are more people that want to stop them than only the high priestess of Astrebril. They will stop at nothing to discover the gift.

While The Sword was an excellent novel, in my opinion, The Gift was even better. Again, an excellent example of what Christianity would be in the eyes of someone who never heard of anything like it before. The story is slightly repetitive of the first book, but the various settings and characters make up for it. Bryan Litfin is a master at creating characters. Each is well defined, and they all react to situations in "the way they would".

The story takes you all around the map of the post-apocalyptic world displaying different evolving societies, which I found to be quite interesting. There is a heavy dose of suspense spread through out the book, and a nice drizzle of romance. Both of which make the story all the more interesting. A brilliant novel about redemption and perseverance. Excellent work, Bryan; can't wait until the next one!
    

The Forgiveness Project by Michael S. Barry

Forgiveness. The key to peace. The freedom from hatred. The glorious outcome of Jesus' resurrection. So why are we so quick to reject it? Why is it so obviously absent in our society? Is there any possible chance that it is connected to the deadly disease, cancer? That is exactly what Rev. Dr. Michael S. Barry strives to explain in The Forgiveness Project.

This book is exactly what it advertises itself to be. It contains in-depth neurological and psychological explanations on the responses to forgiveness and hatred. It also gives cancer patient's testimonies, an explanation of why we don't try to forgive, why we should forgive, and ideas on how to forgive. I can't say that after reading this book I have forgiven everyone. But what I can say is that it got the stone wheel rolling, and I have started on the healing path.

I was shocked to find a few passages from the Hindu Mahabharata. The selected quotes didn't go against my faith in any way however, so I see nothing wrong with it. A great book, recommended to anyone who wants to forgive, whether everyday or a major grudge.