Title: Missing Daughter Author: Rick Mofina Publisher: MIRA Publication Date: 2019 Format: Paperback Length: 512 pages
I LOVE this psychological thriller. This book stayed with me for days after reading it. The Lane’s daughter goes missing and the family does everything they can to find her. They reach out to family members and friends. Phone records are searched, every person involved in their daughter’s life is interviewed by detectives, polygraphs are given and tracking dogs are brought out to the woods behind the family’s home. Years pass with no leads and no sign of their daughter. This novel has so many twists and turns. I slowly read because I wanted to savor every word, and towards the end I had to put the book down a few times because it was so much. Missing Daughter is a must read for those that love psychological thrillers.
Five out of five bookworms. Excellent read!
About the author…
From the author’s website:
Rick Mofina is a former journalist who has interviewed murderers on death row, flown over Los Angeles with the LAPD and patrolled with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police near the Arctic. He’s also reported from Algeria, Morocco, Nigeria, Ethiopia, South Africa, Senegal, Egypt, the Caribbean, and Kuwait’s border with Iraq. His true-crime freelance work has appeared in The New York Times, The Telegraph (London, U.K.), Reader’s Digest, Penthouse, Marie Claire, The Moscow Times and The South China Morning Post, (Hong Kong). He has written more than 20 crime fiction thrillers that have been published in nearly 30 countries, including an illegal translation produced in Iran.
His work has been praised by James Patterson, Dean Koontz, Michael Connelly, Lee Child, Louise Penny, Tess Gerritsen, Jeffery Deaver, Sandra Brown, James Rollins, Brad Thor, Nick Stone, David Morrell, Allison Brennan, Heather Graham, Linwood Barclay, Peter Robinson, Håkan Nesser and Kay Hooper.
As a two-time winner of Canada’s Arthur Ellis Award, a four-time Thriller Award finalist and a two-time Shamus Award finalist, the Library Journal calls him, “One of the best thriller writers in the business.”
Rick Mofina lives in Ottawa, Canada. Read more at his website, www.rickmofina.com
Happy Monday! Today on the blog I have four books written by strong women. They have faced challenges and have come out on the other side willing to share their story to help other women. I hope you find encouragement from them just as much as I did. You can check out my additional reads on my Goodreads page by clicking on the link located on my blog homepage or click here.
Title: The Beauty of Broken: My Story and Likely Yours Too Author: Elisa Morgan Publisher: Thomas Nelson Publication Date: 2013 Format: Paperback Length: 256 pages Elisa Morgan, the previous CEO of MOPS International for 20 years, shares her personal story. Morgan writes how we have bought into the myth of the perfect family, when in reality there is no family that is perfect. She writes “We all come from a broken family because God’s family is broken. The thing is, this isn’t the tragedy we assume. Broken is right where God wants us-and right where he can powerfully reassemble us,” (p. 30). She writes about her family’s struggles with alcoholism, drug addiction, infertility ,adoption, teen pregnancy, abortion, divorce, homosexuality and death. Morgan is relate-able in her writing and I found encouragement as a mom.
Five out of five bookworms. Excellent read!
About the author…
From the author’s website:
Elisa Morgan was named by Christianity Today as one of the top fifty women influencing today’s church and culture and is one of today’s most sought-after authors, speakers, and leaders. She has authored more than twenty-five books on mothering, spiritual formation, and evangelism, including The Beauty of Broken, Hello, Beauty Full, She Did What She Could: Five Words of Jesus That Will Change Your Life, the NIV Mom’s Devotional Bible. Her newest release is The Prayer Coin: Daring to Pray with Honest Abandon.
Her blog, Really, platforms both Elisa’s voice and the voices of a myriad of women who are committed to living out their influence in real life.
For twenty years, Elisa Morgan served as CEO of MOPS International (www.mops.org). Under her leadership MOPS grew from 350 to over 4,000 groups throughout the United States and in thirty other countries, influencing over 100,000 moms every year. Elisa now serves as President Emerita.
Elisa received a BS from the University of Texas and an MDiv from Denver Seminary where she now serves on the board. As a co-host of the syndicated radio program Discover the Word Elisa offers a daily fifteen-minute real-time conversation around the written and living Word of God. She also writes regularly for the Our Daily Bread Devotional. She is married to Evan (Founder and President of christianuniversity.org) and has two grown children and two grandchildren who live near her in Denver, Colorado. Wilson and Coach, her Rottie-wannabes, take her on walks in the open space behind her house.
Connect with Elisa on Instagram (elisamorganauthor), Facebook and Twitter (@elisa_morgan).
Title: Beautifully Broken Author: Kimberly Jones-Pothier Publisher: AuthorHouse Publication Date: 2015 Format: Paperback Length: 136 pages Kimberly Jones-Pothier, a pastor and speaker, shares her testimony in Beautifully Broken. God called Jones-Pothier to be a pastor from a young age. She was raised in an evangelical family that was legalistic. Women were not allowed to sing, preach, wear jewelry, or slacks. She rebelled and didn’t want to be part of religion. God allowed healing in her life that eventually allowed Jones-Pothier to fulfill her dream of becoming a pastor. She shares how the broken pieces of our life and our trauma can be used to fulfill God’s will in our life. She has experienced rejection, abandonment, and divorce. She tells her story in a way that provides the opportunity for the reader to experience her own sense of healing. I have been following her FB page and have found encouragement as a believer.
Five out of five bookworms. Excellent read!
About the author…
From the author’s website: Kimberly Jones‐Pothier, known as Real Talk Kim, travels the world fulfilling her passion and purpose of loving people back to life.
She is a wife, mother, pastor, entrepreneur, best-selling author, entertainer and most importantly a worshiper after God’s own heart. Pastor Kim and her husband Mark Pothier are the Senior Pastors at Limitless Church in Fayetteville, Georgia and together have four sons.
She is a human rights advocate with a passion for giving back and believes in the compassion of the Holy Spirit, delivering it to those who need it most. Pastor Kim is an advocate partner with Rock Paper Scissors Foundation, a Non-profit Organization, which exists to foster healing and give a voice to those who have been silenced from all forms of abuse and human trafficking.
Pastor Kim has been featured on The Doctor Oz Show, Oxygen’s Network Series’ Preachers of Atlanta, Your World with Creflo Dollar on BET, ABC’s Nightline, The Word Network, CNN, Praise in the Park’ Atlanta and numerous magazines and radios shows. She is truly a living and walking testimony of God’s redemption plan in action. Follow her on FB and visit her website, RealTalkKim.com
Title: The Glass Castle Author: Jeannette Walls Publisher: Scribner Publication Date: 2006 Format: Paperback Length: 288 pages Jeannette Walls shares her story of growing up in extreme poverty with parents that were eccentric. Her father was incredibly smart and well read on various academic subjects, but could not keep a job for long periods of time. The family was constantly moving and at times were homeless. Her mother had a degree in education and was a skilled artist, but refused to get or keep a job. She would rather spend all day working on her art. Walls and her three siblings were forced to take care of each other. Her years of growing up with an eccentric family was both a blessing and a tragedy. The Glass Castle is an amazing story of determination. Walls shares her family story in a beautiful way-not out of anger or bitterness, but of forgiveness and learning to understand what made her parents the way they were.
Five out of five bookworms. Excellent read!
About the author…
From the author’s website: Jeannette Walls graduated from Barnard College and was a journalist in New York. Her memoir, The Glass Castle, has been a New York Times bestseller for more than six years. She is also the author of the instant New York Times bestsellers The Silver Star and Half Broke Horses, which was named one of the ten best books of 2009 by the editors of The New York Times Book Review. Walls lives in rural Virginia with her husband, the writer John Taylor.
Title: Girl Meets Change Author: Kristen Strong Publisher: Fleming H. Revell Company Publication Date: 2015 Format: Paperback Length: 224 pages Kristen Strong writes about the stresses of expected and unexpected change in her book, Girl Meets Change. She writes about the several seasons of change that have been part of her life. The three stages of change according to Strong are acknowledgement, acceptance and adapting. Change can be a way for us to draw closer to God and allow Him to grow us an individual. Her book is filled with practical advice for women in how to deal with the changes life brings. She doesn’t preach or write in a condescending way-just as an encouragement for women that find themselves in difficult seasons life and are experiencing loneliness and heartache.
Five out of five bookworms. Excellent read!
About the author…
From the author’s website:
I’m Kristen, and I’m so happy to meet you. I’m wife to a U.S. Air Force Veteran, mama to three delightful teens, and your change mentor, belonging helper, and all around listening friend. I write to offer you fresh air encouragement for every season of your life by helping you see your specific season through the filter of God’s care and provision. I love to write stories that help you make sense of your own and help you see your season with more hope and less worry. Visit Kristen’s website, Chasing Blue Skies.
Spring is around the corner…
Y’all, I am ready for spring. I want warmer weather and days where the sun is out longer. While the weather may not be our best friend right now, I have some authors that write lighthearted novels that will help chase away with winter blues.
Mary Kay Andrews Robyn Carr Dorothea Benton Frank Jane Green Elin Hildebrand Debbie Macomber Hannah McKinnon Mary Alice Monroe Wendy Wax
Title: The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek Author: Kim Michele Richardson Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark Publication Date: May 2019 Format: Hardcover Length: 308 pages
I didn’t know much about the novel, The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek, before I began reading it. A coworker of mine mentioned it was a good read and then I read a few good reviews. I didn’t know the book was based on true events that occurred in the Appalachian mountains during the Great Depression. Eleanor Roosevelt started the Pack Horse Library Project (part of the New Deal) in the 1930’s to provide reading material to citizens living in the Appalachian mountains in Kentucky. Librarians would travel at least twice a month to deliver reading materials donated by large cities in the U.S. By 1936, librarians were delivering to at least 50,000 families and over 100 schools. The Pack Horse project ended in 1943 due to the end of the Works Progress Administration, however, in 1946 motorized bookmobiles began making the journey to deliver reading materials to remote locations.
Goodman-Paxton Photo Collection, Kentucky Digital Library
Kim Michele Richardson was born and resides in Kentucky. She researched information about the Pack Horse Librarians and residents of the Appalachian mountains while writing the novel. She discovered that there was a population of residents near Ball Creek and Troublesome Creek that had blue skin. Martin Fugate, a French orphan, came to Kentucky to claim land and married a local resident. They had 7 children, 4 of whom were blue. Neither Martin nor his wife were blue, but both happened to carry the same blue-blood recessive gene. Richardson writes “Congenital methemoglobinemia is due to an enzyme deficiency, leading to higher-than-normal levels of methemoglobin in the blood-a form of hemoglobin…”(The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek, p. 288). The Fugate family faced discrimination due to their skin color, which Richardson addresses in the novel as the main character, Cussy Mary Carter, is a Fugate.
The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek is a historical fiction novel that does a great job in telling the history of the Pack Horse Librarian project. Cussy Mary Carter, a Pack Horse Librarian, faces many dangers on her route-wild animals, dangerous men and unpredictable weather to name a few. She loves her job and is willing to take the risk. Her father worries about her and her future once he passes away. Cussy tells her father she is fine and can take care of herself. She doesn’t believe she will ever marry as she is a Fugate and has spent most of her life being discriminated against.
The novel can move slow at times, but overall was a really good read. I enjoyed learning about the Pack Horse Librarians and about the hardships people faced living in the Appalachian mountains. I recommend Book Woman of Troublesome Creek to readers that enjoy historical fiction.
Five out of five bookworms-Great read!
About the author…
From the Goodreads site:
Kim Michele Richardson lives in Kentucky and resides part-time in Western North Carolina. She has volunteered for Habitat for Humanity, building houses, and is an advocate for the prevention of child abuse and domestic violence, partnering with the U.S. Navy globally to bring awareness and education to the prevention of domestic violence. She is the author of the bestselling memoir The Unbreakable Child, and a book critic for the New York Journal of Books. Her novels include, Liar’s Bench, GodPretty in the Tobacco Field and The Sisters of Glass Ferry. Kim Michele currently finished her fourth novel, The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek about the fierce and brave Kentucky Packhorse librarians. Coming Spring, 2019. Click here to visit the author’s website.
The Quirky Bookworm 