The Baker's Wife by Erin Healy

On the wing of a lie everything changed. Audrey's husband lost his job as a pastor, and her son, his college scholarship. Even through the hardships of being so ignorantly shunned, while much heavier, Audrey's love and focus remains the same. But though her life is strenuous enough, it all gets turned upside down when she hits a motorcycle with her car, leaving a pool of blood and no body...

Erin Healy wowed me yet again with her powerful style of storytelling that dives into the muck of the heart. Excellent believable characters. I almost felt genuinely sorry for most of them. The story flow was seamless, following a nicely paced trail of suspense and wisdom.

The theme of the book is greatly centered around pain, suffering, and perseverance. The novel held several surprises that I did not expect. And, as I had hoped, this book really got me thinking.

Now I do have to give something of a warning: this book will make you hungry! One of the main settings is indeed in a bakery, and oh! I had a few snacks along the way... I do owe Erin Healy a thanks, because you helped me discover the delicious rosemary potato bread. A wonderful novel, and except to pull out your bread maker!

 I received a free copy of this book from Booksneeze, in exchange for my honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

Third Starlighter by Bryan Davis

Adrian continues to search for Fredrick's slave refuge on Starlight. But while he hoped to find a home base to help the slaves escape, he found something entirely different. Between a murderer, rumors of the Bloodless circulating, and a child displaying wisdom years beyond her age, Adrian finds plenty to keep him busy.

Marcelle returns to Major Four separated from her mortal body and wearing a cloak of earth. As with Adrian, she runs into more than she gambled for. Being labeled as a sorceress, she finds it near impossible to convince the military to journey to Starlight.

In a word: wow. I absolutely loved this book and read it every chance I had. It contains that addictive quality that all of my favorite books have, but I can never quite seem to pin it. Third Starlighter dove right into the heart of the story, answering so many of my questions about the story. While it seemed Warrior explained everything, in actuality it only gave a piece of the story, and now I can appreciate the brilliance of having the two companion series. For this tale, it is symbiotic.

This novel also dealt heavily with the concepts of humility and building character. The story is written in a way that focuses on individual's experiences, but still provides a complete aspect with excellent pacing and description.

If you're looking for an engaging series, I would suggest you read both Tales of Starlight and Dragons of Starlight. You don't want to miss this series.


I received a free copy of this book from Living Ink Books, in exchange for my honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

Vigilante by Robin Parrish

I will show you a better way. 

Nolan Gray endured the most cruel and inhumane tortures while serving overseas. Narrowly escaping with his life and sanity, he returns to America as a war hero. There is only one problem, evil thrives over here too, just in different forms. Nolan decides to do something about that, he will show everyone a better way.

Vigilante is basically a super hero story in novel form. No super powers, it relies more on gadgetry and fighting techniques is a fashion similar to Batman. Of course, there is a villain present, and what what a super hero story be if it didn't take place in New York City? Okay, they don't all take place in New York City, but this one does.

I wasn't really sure what to expect when I started Vigilante- there isn't exactly an abundance of super hero novels. I was afraid it would be cheesy, but this novel manages to successfully minimize that. It's almost more like a government mission, except that Nolan is of course a Vigilante.

The suspense was good short term, that is to say, between chapters. However, the overall page turning, must-read-entire-book-now suspense was lacking. I didn't feel a need to return to the book. What I did really like was the characters. They are very full and realistic. And the ending is perfect.

Eat This and Live! by Don Colbert

Nutrition these days is something of a war zone. Finding nutrition in foods can be both easier and more difficult than we think. But with flashy advertizements, tempting aromas, and foods under the guise of being healthy are everywhere. Combined with the seemingly high cost of healthy food, it's hard  to know what healthy really is.

Eat This and Live! is a guide to just that. Pointing out how normally foods can be unhealthy, explaining processes and chemicals that go into things like white flours, artificial sweeteners, and trans fat. And at the same time, providing a guide to what actually is healthy, and how we can incorporate it into our daily diet.

In this age, a lot of Americans are realizing that we need to care about our nutrition. You can't just eat whatever you want and somehow expect to be healthy. But there is so much conflicting information about what healthy food is, it's difficult to find what is actually true.

After reading countless online health journals, and a handful of health books, Eat This and Live! stands out. It is a go-to guide that explains some of those gray areas, explaining things like refined, bleached flour, hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils, artificial sweeteners like aspartame and sucralose, MSG, and pesticides and herbicides. This book actually explains in depth what these things are, how they are produced, and the health effects. It also explains the nutrients and enzymes in healthy food, good sources, and their health effects. Confused on all the information on saturated fats, omega-3 and ALAs, and poly and monounsaturated  fats? It is all about to make sense.

Also included is a guide to eating out healthy, and how to prepare healthy foods in the best way. I highly recommend this book to those trying to eat healthier.

Stuff Christians Like by Jonathan Acuff

Sometimes Christianity can be funny- all of our little habits and ways of speaking. This book is filled with the humor found in faith- including topics such as the culinary magic of the crock-pot, finding typos in worship music, secretly Christian bands, and holding hands.

Need some help in your spiritual walk? Jonathan Acuff has got you covered. There are go-to lists for which meals to pray before, which position to go for in a prayer circle, and the likely story behind how you came to own 14 copies of the Bible.

As a first note, I would only recommend this book to those who have been Christians for several years. It's basically about the little habits we can pick up over the years.

This book is flat-out hilarious. I was laughing out loud during a good quantity of the book. I showed the book to a few of my friends, and they were laughing out loud too. The humor is simply excellent.

A lot of the sections were great because I found out how many other people do the same things I do. It is a peculiar language we speak, and this book translates it. On a more serious note it pointed out some of the things we as as Christians need to change.

I will, however, say that a few of the essays seemed a bit over-the-top. The humor is sarcasm, but I think a couple of the things went a bit too far. Though, as I previously stated, this is as much of an eye-opener of what we need to stop doing as it is to get some laughs.

Warrior by Bryan Davis

The prince of dragons has hatched from the black egg. Jason and Koren flee to the Northlands in search for aid. But who is this white dragon who dwells there? Elyssa and Wallace are hot on their trails.

In Darkspere, Randall and the crazed Tibalt are accompanied by dragons as they try to prepare the planet for the arrival of the Lost Ones.

As I mentioned in my review of Starlighter, it was a good book but seemed very much an introduction to the series, it didn't dive into the heart of the story, per se. So I was really hoping that Warrior would blow me away. And I am happy to report that it did just that. The story was very suspenseful, intriguing, and layered. The story goes between several scenes and each one is so intense and full that you almost forget the other plots entirely until read of them again.

Even on the spiritual elements this book hit head-on. It raised excellent questions and had something of the theme, "How much are you willing to sacrifice?" Very hard to put down; I am very much looking forward to read the remaining novels in the Dragons of Starlight and Tales of Starlight series.

Starlighter by Bryan Davis

Rumors of a world where humans are enslaved by dragons have been circulating in the world of Jason Masters (younger brother of Adrian Masters).

The legend of a world of humans and no dragons now seems impossible to Koren. At the same time, Koren discovers that she has a gift that holds a power she didn't know possible.

Jason and Koren will have to work together to link the two worlds with a portal.

Starlighter is very similar to Masters & Slayers in many ways. Basically, they tell the same story, but two different sides. They even include many of the same events and scenes. It is slightly irritating to read something basically twice. Overall, though, it was cool to see multiple sides and thoughts on events in the books. What questions I had in Masters & Slayers were answered in Starlighter. So even though you can to choose only read either Dragons of Starlight or Tales of Starlight, I recommend reading both to get the full picture.

As for the book itself, it was excellent. The characters were well defined, the flow was good, and the story was very intriguing.