The March CFRB Tour is
The VOID
by Mark Mynheir

I haven't read this third book in the Truth Chasers series. You can read the synposis below - it sounds like a fascinating concept for a novel. You can get more information and read reviews at Amazon by clicking on the book cover. You can also read daily posts about the book during the week of March 2nd by clicking the CFRB icon. At the end of thsi post you can see the list of sites to follow to see what others in CFRB are saying about THE VOID.

Here is the book synopsis:
Someone’s trying to play God…and he’s turning Palm Bay into hell. Florida Department of Law Enforcement Agent Robbie Sanchez devotes her life to crime prevention, and it shows: She has no personal life and doesn’t know the meaning of a day off. After all, someone has to be around to clean up the mess crime leaves behind. So when Officer Brad Worthington is brutally murdered, Agent Sanchez is called to the scene along with Brad’s best friend, Detective Eric Casey. The two turn to Lifetex, the genetics lab near the scene, hoping their elaborate security system might have captured the crime outside. But what’s going on inside the lab is far worse: a renegade scientist is cloning humans! As Robbie and Eric pursue clues–and a growing attraction–they are caught in a deadly battle as the clones begin to act on their own volition…but this battle threatens to claim more than human life; the clones are vying for human souls.

Participating Blog links:
The Christian Fiction Review Blog
Back to the Mountains
Queen of Convolution
A Frank Review Between Sundays
Bibliophile' s Retreat

CFRB is touring Nor Iron Bars a Cage. I have not read this book but you can check out the synposis below. You can also click the CFRB icon to visit the Christian Fiction Review Blog page for daily posts on this novel. Or click the book cover to see this novel on Amazon.


Two baby boys are lost in the hostile country of Ganluc--one the firstborn son of a prince and princess (third in line for the Royal Throne of Latoph) and the other an illegitimate half-breed born to an Itzi slavegirl and fathered by a licentious owner who was executed for treason. Yet Duke Vahn is determined to rescue both of these boys. Scores of knights and bounty hunters have risked their lives trying to retrieve them, yet none can even find a clue to their whereabouts. When all else fails, a bold plan is proposed to send Vahn's most trusted servant posing as a runaway slave in order to gather information. Reluctantly, Vahn sends a strange trio off to Ganluc--his brave captain, a middle-aged healer, and an Itzi slave. Little does he know what challenges await both the trio and his own house, now forced to survive without its key leaders.

Post #3 CFRB January Tour

Time Masters, Book One: The Call is the featured work for January’s tour by the Christian Fiction Review Blog. Click on the image to go to see Time Masters at Amazon.

Time Masters is a fast paced and interesting story centered around two individuals, one human and one Muiraran, who are destined to change the world. Only together can they stop a great evil. We will have to wait for future books in the series for full details of this evil to be revealed, yet in Book One: The Call, we see the struggle to foil this unnamed evil in its first attempt to control time and the history of mankind.

One of the things that I loved about Time Masters was the depth of the characters. Kwaku, Zara, John, Lany, Tomi, Kitty, Julia, Phillip: not a one seemed flat. The feeling of understanding the characters, along with their thoughts, fears, joys and idiosyncrasies, draws the reader fully into the story.

My favorite character was Shona, the Muiraran maiden. From the beginning we see a girl old enough to be out in the world, yet strangely isolated. She struggles with the fear that she is losing her mind as her nightmares progress. She possesses no idea that her nightly dreams are revealing not insanity but her true nature - she is not human. From the beginning we see that Shona is searching. She doesn’t know what she searches for but she knows that she is missing something. She also has dreams of the boy to whom she gave her heart. Is the boy only another dream? Only her music holds her questions and her need at bay.

In Shona we see a young lady who is innocent and trusting. Everything about her character makes you desire to see her protected and cherished. This adds to the suspense of the story as forces conspire to capture, control and even experiment on her. This also draws the reader into the conflict and heightens the intensity of the struggle as you rejoice in Dallan uncovering his desire to protect and cherish Shona. He becomes a larger than life hero, as despite his struggles and bitterness over his situation, he comes to cherish and seek the good of the Muiraran maiden.

I would encourage you to stop by Amazon where you can read the first chapter, other reviews and order the book. You can also stop by the CFRB site to read daily posts that reflect on several of the spiritual lessons that can be learned from Time Masters: The Call.

Post #2 CFRB January Tour

Time Masters, Book One: The Call is the featured work for January’s tour by the Christian Fiction Review Blog. Click the book cover to see the book at Amazon.

From the moment I first read the synopsis I was intrigued. Time travel, a Scotsman (those who know me know how much I love Scotland), fantasy and true love all contained in the same novel. I couldn't imagine what could be better, only to discover that Time Masters was also full of spiritual truth embedded as an intricate part of the tale!

Time Masters captivated me and I highly recommend it. I found the premise creative, the theme of virtue uplifting, the writing descriptive and the story highly engaging.

Musings on Book One: The Call

There is a Creator God who created races both Muiraran and Human. Then He ordained that they must co-exist and intermarry in a very unique way for the future of both races. You see, Muirarans have two hearts. One heart functions much as a human heart. Yet, the other must be fed by something specific, a hunger that the Creator gave that individual Muiraran, that can only be channeled through a human mate. Muirarans also contain special abilities, that when placed in loving submission to a human mate can change the course of history.

While being drawn up into a fascinating story, I also found myself captivated with the spiritual concepts in Time Masters. The spiritual concepts were told in a subtle way and beautifully woven into the fabric of the story.

The Hunger of the Second Heart:

I literally spent days after finishing The Call musing on the second heart of the Muiraran. My musings drew me to reflect on my own heart and a quote by Blaise Pascal, “There is a God shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God, the Creator, made known through Jesus.”

Beauchamp’s Muirarans appeared to be a beautiful picture of the most basic need of humans to know and enter into a personal relationship with God. The Muiraran must mate with a human and feed her heart or die. What an interesting reflection on one of the most foundational of spiritual principles; that if we do no join our lives to Christ and fill our heart with His life then we likewise will perish.

True Virtue, True Love:

Other powerful themes in Time Masters were the reflections, comparisons and contrasts of love. I so appreciated the depiction of an imperfect, yet upright and virtuous main character. Dallan, the Scotsman, exemplifies virtue and real love; love that protects, cherishes, and is not self-seeking. His nemesis, on the other hand, portrays a clear picture of love corrupted. In him we see love strangled by selfish desires which leads only to lust and destruction.

I appreciated the clear portrayal of sex as a portion of a loving relationship, but a thing to be guarded and treasured and given in conjunction of the mutual submission of the whole life to one’s mate.

Time Masters: The Call also contained a true Biblical picture of submission in love. The contrast between submission as it is meant to be and the high price of the corruption of love that came from the abuse of submission was very well done!

Discussion Questions:

Also, I was pleased to see the discussion questions at the end of the book. Reading and discussing novels had a tremendous impact on me during my teen years and continues to be a wonderful critical thinking exercise. I believe that Time Masters would be a wonderful book for teens, young adults and virtually all ages to read and discuss, especially due to the clear portrayals and inherent warning about love, sex and virtue that are packed into an amazingly creative and well written fantasy.

Finally, check out Cathi's Chatter for a great summary of the novel and Grace Bridges post for another review highlighting some of the fun elements of the novel .

Post #1 CFRB January Tour

This month's author is:

Geralyn Beauchamp

and her book

TIME MASTERS Book One: The Call

The week of January 6th the Christian Fiction Review Blog is touring the novel TIME MASTERS. Each day for the next week you can read insights about the book at the CFRB site and you can also follow the Blog Roll on the CFRB site to read what other CFRB members are saying about Time Masters.

Today I am giving general information about the book. Check back tomorrow for my personal comments on the novel.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Geralyn Beauchamp, a former book reviewer and current Wellness and Relationship coach, wrote Time Masters more than ten years ago. “I wrote Time Masters just for me, to see if I could. It was more for fun than anything else "

A native Oregonian, Geralyn and her family live outside of Portland, Oregon.

Publishers Synopsis:

“This first book of the Time Masters series is a breathtaking tale of adventure, romance, virtue and destiny. In the year 3698, the threat of civil war is ever present, and an unnamed but powerfully evil entity is attempting to manipulate time and control people to its advantage. To keep the world as they know it from crumbling, the people of Muirara must convince a reluctant Scotsman – taken away from the 17th century – to protect, love and cherish a Muiraran Maiden, an unsuspecting girl who’s not quite human but who holds extraordinary powers and the fate of the future in her hands.”

I encourage you to read the first chapter here. Also, you can click the book image to read more at Amazon.

And remember to check back to tomorrow for some of my thoughts on this fascinating novel by Beauchamp.

Faith Awakened By Grace Bridges

Click on the image to visit the Faith Awakened Website!

The CFRB November tour (Christian Fiction Review Blog) features the book Faith Awakened by Grace Bridges. Visit the CFRB site: click on the CFRB image to the left or follow the link on my sidebar.


About the Author (from the Faith Awakened website)

Grace Bridges is a New Zealander with partly Irish roots and has spent many years in Germany. She was home schooled and spent most of her early learning years reading novels – in the end it made her a writer. Faith Awakened is her first novel.

She also enjoys reading (of course!), culinary improvisation, living with cats, inventing things, web design and graphics, and meeting people both real and virtual.

Bridges is a pen name - Grace is for real!


About the Book and My Thoughts

(I am trying to do this without any spoilers. Please forgive me if I give too much away)

“In virtual stasis to escape a deadly virus, an ex-slave finds far more than just survival...”

The first chapter of the book immediately drew me into the story. Recently I have picked up a number of novels that were very slow to draw me into the plot, but this tale held my attention me from the beginning. Overall I would refer to the story as thought-provoking and sober, even as it clearly portrays hope and the hand of God.

Personally, I believe the writing style could use some polish, however, I would say that about most of the first novels of even my favorite authors. I look forward to seeing Grace's style develop.

The layout of the book showed immense creativity. It reminded me of J.J. Abrams style in Alias and the third Mission Impossible movie. The book begins near the end of the story and tracks back and forth through events. It is a very effective tool for keeping a readers attention.

This is a science fiction novel, however, the technical elements are minimal so readers of other genres might enjoy the tale, especially if they enjoy a first person look at someones life story.

In this novel Mariah and Faith each tell the stories of their lives in journal form.

Mariah is an ex-slave in a world gone mad. The world is our own, but in a time where all has changed. In Mariah’s character we see God reach out and draw her to believe. While witnessing her blossoming faith we also observe the bitter steps of humanity toward its own destruction. In contrast to this destruction there remains life. This life is a gift from God, who in this novel is referred to as “The Awakener.” Does “The Awakener” wish for Mariah to live? Will He reach into her life and provide a way?

We meet Faith as a child, safe and secure in her parents home in Ireland. Faith knows nothing of the terror of Mariah’s world. She grows from childhood enfolded by faith in God and security. Still, she struggles with anger, depression and the direction of her life. Sometimes she feels trapped and other times she feels compelled by a hand not her own. Is God in her choices? Does He have a plan for her?

I enjoyed the contrast between Mariah and Faith and the insightful descriptions of how God is Master of all things and all created worlds. I found the description of depression and discouragement interesting when it was found in a “virtual” world. It is an intriguing exposition on how the human soul is prone to dissatisfaction in all things, even our own idea of "heaven on earth", unless God draws the focus to Himself. I appreciated seeing these themes played out in both Mariah and Faith's experiences as they stumbled along and found a God who had both a purpose and a plan in the midst of a unique life situation.

You can find the book here at Amazon

Other members of CFRB blogging about Faith Awakened:

David's Day 1 Comment at CFRB

Caprice Hokstad's blog

Cathi Hassan's blog

Carole McDonnell's blog

Lyn Perry's Blog