Month: July 2015

Where better to rebuild and face one’s fears than in 1906 San Francisco, a city rising from the ashes?

About Beyond the Ashes

Ruby Marshall, a young widow, is certain she’ll discover new purpose assisting her brother Robert with his cancer research, but she doesn’t anticipate finding new love.

Dr. Gerald Larkspur dreams of filling his empty home with family, but he’d always hoped it would be a wife and children. In the aftermath of the great earthquake, the rooms are overflowing with extended family and friends left homeless by the disaster. When Robert’s widowed sister arrives, the close quarters seem close indeed.

Ruby and Gerald’s fledgling romance is put at risk when Gerald develops symptoms of the very disease they’re striving to cure. Together they must ask–is it worth a second chance at love when time might be short?

My Thoughts

When I first started reading this novel, I didn’t realize that it was continuing where Out of the Ruins left off. So you can imagine how excited I was when I realized this, as I loved Out of the Ruins!

Ruby has faced many ordeals in a society that is constantly pressuring and signalling her out for her widow status. She wants to escape and be allowed to find out who she is and what she can do. The only place she feels she can escape to is to her brothers, who happens to live in San Francisco, a city that is still recovering from a devastating earth quake.

Gerald is a doctor who has not only struggled with the passing of a family member but is having a hard time dealing with death itself in his journey to find a cure for cancer. When he begins to find symptoms of disease on himself, he ignores them as he struggles to come to grips with this.

Karen is a wonderful writer who draws you into the story she is telling. Her characters are well-developed and while she does include a little bit of romance it is not overwhelming so you can truly enjoy the story she spins. Beyond the Ashes is a great read that you can enjoy by the pool or over a weekend. It is a novel of hope and inspiration, that you can fall in love with over and over again.

You can find more reviews on the Litfuse blog tour page. You can purchase a copy of the book here.

Rating: 5/5

About the Author

Karen Barnett is the author of Beyond the Ashes, Out of the Ruins, and Mistaken. Named the 2013 Writer of Promise by Oregon Christian Writers, Karen lives in Albany, Oregon, with her husband and two kids. When she’s not writing novels, she loves speaking at women’s events, libraries, and book clubs.

Disclosure: I received a digital copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Letters from My Father’s Murderer is a tale of forgiveness and peace, a story of redemption and how far it can reach.

About Letters from My Father’s Murderer

When her father was murdered, Laurie Coombs sought justice and found it.

His murderer now serves two life sentences with no possibility of parole. Yet, despite the swift punishment of the killer, Laurie found herself increasingly full of pain, bitterness, and anger she couldn’t control. After coming to faith, she realized she was being called to seek something infinitely more difficult than justice: forgiveness.

This is an extraordinary true story of grace, mercy, and the redemptive power of God to change lives. The reader is swept along with Laurie as she undergoes the life-changing transformation of becoming a Christian. As she studies Scripture, seeing God redeeming losses and healing deep wounds time and time again, she starts to understand that her own healing would require her to love her enemy in a real, practical way.

Using her incredible correspondence with the man who killed her father, Laurie reveals a compelling journey of transformation, not only in her life, but in the lives of those whom many would call irredeemable.

My Thoughts

Death is very difficult to deal with. Their is anger, frustration, regret and so many more emotions pooled together. I can’t even begin to imagine how Laurie Coombs felt knowing that not only had her Father died but that he was also murdered.

This book is not a story about murder, nor about the crime that was committed against her Father and family. Instead it is a journey – a journey of acceptance, forgiveness and how this can truly free a person. Without knowing it, Laurie held onto her anger for years until it began to eat away inside at her. She had to find a way to move forward with her life and forgive the man who caused her so much pain (God says we should love even those who hurt us). But how should she do accomplish this?

I felt Laurie’s pain as she discovered her own way of forgiving and learning to love the man who hurt her so much. It was not an easy road for her and she had many questions and doubts along the way. Your heart bleeds for her but I was also amazed with her strength and her courage. It takes a strong person to forgive and to love someone who has hurt us. It is also the most important thing you can do to move forward in your own live.

This is an incredible journey into the life of a young woman, who chose to forgive and to love the man who hurt her. There are many lessons that we can learn from her journey and put into practice in our daily lives.

You can find more reviews on the Litfuse Blog Tour page. You can purchase a copy of the book here.

Rating: 5/5

About the Author

Laurie A. Coombs is a passionate writer and speaker on the issues of forgiveness, redemption, and the hope that is found in Jesus. Her story was featured in Billy Graham’s new film, Heaven. She is a featured writer and blogger for iBelieve and Crosswalk. Laurie and her husband, Travis, make their home in Nevada along with their two daughters.

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.