Homecoming by Jason Garrett

Synopsis From Back Cover:

On a perfect autumn night in the coastal village of Wicker Bay, a young couple was attacked and a life was forever changed. When teenager Nickel Warren awoke she learned her boyfriend, Eric, had mysteriously vanished. Seemingly the only person on Bishop’s Island eager to find him, Nickel devoted her life to learning what happened to her first love on that tragic night. Though the years provided no clues or comfort, she never allowed herself to stop believing Eric was alive.

Now, after an eighteen year absence Eric Kade has resurfaced on Bishop’s Island under circumstances as unsettling as his disappearance. Though reunited, Nickel’s search for answers is sidelined by another horrific event more deeply connected to her childhood sweetheart than she can imagine. Living as a preacher, Eric has traveled the world for nearly two decades hunting demons in a sect named The Progeny. But a chilling prophecy has named him as a threat and turned his fellow hunters against him.

With a sense of urgency, Eric has come back to the island not to rekindle the past but to protect the home he loves from an oncoming war. Relying on the help of a rare group of locals, he builds a network of his own to defend the unknowing against a world he has come to know too well. As he works to prepare a haven, Eric will strengthen his bond with Nickel and introduce her to a world of miraculous events and unholy terror.

Since the summary provides a really good introduction to the book, it will allow me to really explore how I felt about the book and my growing awareness of how diverse Christian fiction is. I'm going to be honest, I'm still a little confused by what makes a book fall under the category of Christian fiction.

The basic premise of the book is that there is a group of warriors who protect the world from demons, witches, and other such ilk.  They come from a wide range of backgrounds but are all deeply devoted to the mission.  Eric was one of the highest ranking members of the organization until the guy in charge claims to have a prophetic vision that reveals Eric will betray them and cause the death of another in the group.  Eric flees for his life even though many in the group don't believe it and even help him out later on.

When he gets home he meets up with his ex girlfriend and despite the fact they are both keeping secrets from each other, they tentatively start off where things left off.  The action quickly picks up (demonic not sexual) and before you know it Eric has a group of churchmen and laypeople around him who know the truth and are willing to help him out.  Throughout the violence there is quite a bit dialogue about God's love and redemption, which is why, at least I assume it's the reason, this is considered to be Christian fiction.

And that comes to the crux of the question I have about this book, what makes something Christian?  If it's just the fact that good Christian men, women, or churchmen fight evil and come out triumphantly because they have the strength of God on their side, then books like The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty and The Sentinel by Jeffrey Konvitz would have to be considered in the category.  I'm not sure anyone is willing to do that though.  Or does is rest solely in the intentions of the author, is it one of those situations that if the author or publisher say it's Christian fiction, then it is?  Is it the fact that beneath the violence and demon hunting that God's love and faith in him is what allows the characters to fight the good fight?  Is it simply that they two main characters never hook up sexually because Eric is now a pastor and sex outside of marriage is wrong?

This book left me more than a little curious about what defines the genre then I was about the book itself.  Now don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed this book and hopefully will be able to read the next one in the series, since this one ends in such a way I'm left with a burning desire to understand why a character is behaving the way they are.  So I'm going leave you by asking everyone a question, what in your opinions makes a book Christian fiction?

Favorite Fictional Character --- The Madcap Group of Clue

Just looking at the picture, how can you help but love each and everyone of these crazy, troubled individuals?  For anyone not familiar with the movie Clue, based on the ingenious board game of the same name, let me introduce you to the characters.

Starting on the left hand side we have the gorgeous and seductive Miss Scarlet, who happens to run a call girl outfit in Washington, D.C.  She is vivacious and oozes sex appeal in everything that she does, but it can't hide the danger lurking in her eyes. 

Standing next to her is Colonel Mustard, the straight laced military man who has been in trouble a time or two.  Is paying for the company of attractive women his only vice?  Or does he perhaps have another, even more deadly secret that he will do anything he can to protect?

And how could we forget the neurotic Mrs. White?  When her nuclear physicist husband dies mysteriously, is she in mourning or is she hiding behind that veil?  What secrets did her husband take to his grave? Is she the black widow or is she innocent of any wrong doing?

Mr. Green, the closeted homosexual state department worker, is not only deeply troubled but in the McCarthy era of the 1950s, he is considered a deviant and not someone any of us want to be like.  Is he capable of killing to keep his secrets secret?  Or is he really the mild mannered young man he appears to be?

Wadsworth, the gentleman's butler, seems to be the ringleader of this little party.  Is he the perfect servant and host who only had the best interests of the guests in mind or is he something else?  Is he in fact the double dealing blackmailer himself, maybe a FBI agent in disguise, or is he none of these things?  Only time will tell.

Then we have Professor Plum, the psychiatrist who has an unorthodox approach to treating his patients.  The prof may appear to be a regular ladies man but he may be hiding a deeper and crueler desire for the fair sex.  Is there a sexual predator hiding behind those glasses or is he like the lecherous uncle we all seem to have that nobody takes seriously?

That leaves us with Mrs. Peacock.  The prim and proper wife of a U.S. Senator, who also happens to be taking bribes in order to influence her husband's votes.  Is she willing to go to the extreme in order to protect her cash flow or will her love of monkey brains prove once and for all that even if she is greedy, she isn't capable of killing someone.

When you add these brilliantly written and acted characters into a plot line that not only includes blackmail, red herrings galore, and multiple murders you should expect perfection.  What you really get is so much better than that, it defies definition and no words are able to sum up the magnificence that comes across the screen as you view the mad happenings.

Watching these characters try to solve the murders and how their secrets not only decides who lives or dies but gives the viewer a wonderful back story to get lost in, is a cinematic feast.  I guess I could go on and on about how neurotic each character is and how watching all those quirks and personality traits surface is a pleasure to behold or how the fast paced writing keeps you on your toes the entire time you are watching, but I won't.  Instead I will simply urge everyone who has never seen this movie to discover these fabulous characters for yourselves.

Mailbox Monday for 8/9/10

Mailbox Monday is a weekly meme created by Marcia at The Printed Page and is being hosted by Shanyn of Chick Loves Lit for the entire month of August.

I won a hardcover of Harry Potter And The Sorcerer's Stone by J. K. Rowling from Kristen at Bookworming in the 21st. Century.

I received an ARC of I'd Know You Anywhere by Laura Lippman for an upcoming TLC Book Tour.

I bought three hardcovers for $1 a piece from the Friends of the Library Book Store.  I found a old copy of Sleeping Murder by Agatha Christie, The Paradise War by Stephen Lawhead, and The Ruby Knight by David Eddings, which is a replacement for a book I used to own.

Zan-Gah: A Prehistoric Adventure by Allan Richard Shickman

Part Of The Synopsis From The Back Cover:

Pressed by love for his brother and a bad conscience, the hero undertakes a quest which leads to captivity, conflict, and triumph.  In three years, Zan-Gah passes from an uncertain boyhood to a tried and proven manhood and a role of leadership among his people.

This is going to be a quick review, mainly because it was a quick book.  Even though this book is only 148 pages it is chalk full of action and while I was reading this one with my son, neither one of us was ever bored.  Now he obviously enjoyed it more than I did, but since his age group is who this is aimed at, that's to be expected.

The basic story is that Zan, who is named Zan-Gah after he takes down a man-eating lioness all by himself, is a young teenage boy living in a time when men still lived in caves and belonged to warring clans united by family relationships and knew peace for very long.  It was a hard life that was ruled by the need to survive and little else.

When Zan's twin brother went missing a year before it had left a hole in his heart and he never knew what to do about it.  After his heroics allow him to see himself in a new light, he decides to undertake a life changing journey to find out what happened to his brother.  It's a journey of self discovery that will mature and change his life forever.

What I really loved about the book was the time period it was set in.  I have never really read anything that humanized early man the way this book did and I'm thankful I got the opportunity to read it.  I will be reading the second book in the series, Zan-Gah And The Beautiful Country, pretty soon and both Aidan and I are really looking forward to it.

Favorite Fictional Character --- Savil Ashkevron

I wish there was a picture of Savil to show you but I'll have to settle for the book cover of Magic's Pawn which is the first book in The Last Herald Mage trilogy by Mercedes Lackey.  The main character of this series is Vanyel Ashkevron, who was actually the focus of my first Favorite Fictional Character post.

So for this post I wanted to talk about Savil Ashkevron, the tough Herald Mage who is Vanyel's Aunt and teacher.  Savil, who never married or had children of her own, is fiercely protective of the Herald Mage trainees who are placed into her care.  So when her overbearing brother sends her his oldest son who he can't make anything out of, Savil is at first annoyed by the intrusion of a spoiled brat into her well run home.  Throughout the course of his stay however she, with the help of her young protegee who quickly falls in love with Vanyel, begins to realize that she has a very scared and emotionally oppressed young man on her hands but doesn't really know what to do about it. 

When the relationship between Vanyel and Tylendel enter into a relationship, Savil quickly learns to see what Tylendel has been seeing all along.  She shelters the two young men and gives them a sanctuary to build their relationship together.  And when that relationship ends in such a way that it leaves carnage everywhere you look, Savil steps up to save Vanyel from himself and others. 

What I love about Savil the most, other than her gloriously overbearing and confident personality, is the fact that when she realized she couldn't give Vanyel what he needed to heal, she admitted defeat and took him to the people that could.  I have mad respect for anyone who understand their limitations and is able to ask for help.  For that request to come from someone who is such a strong character as Savil, makes it that much more meaningful. 

Savil is that tough old broad that we all wish were in our lives.  She speaks her mind but has a mind that is worth being heard.  She gives advice, even the kind you never want to hear.  But the best part of Savil and women like her, is the fact that once they give you their loyalty and friendship, it never waivers.  Savil and all women like her will have your back and fight your fights for you if you can't.  She is a fantastic character and I just hope that everyone will discover for themselves how great she is.

Now as a side note, I will be reviewing all three books in the trilogy during the month of August for the GLBT Challenge 2010 mini challenge.  I hope that by the end of the month I will have convinced everyone to read these books and find out how great Savil and Vanyel are as characters.

The Murderer's Daughters by Randy Susan Meyers

Synopsis From Dust Jacket:

Lulu and Merry's childhood was never ideal, but on the day before Lulu's tenth birthday their father drives them into a nightmare. He's always hungered for the love of the girl's self-obsessed mother. After she throws him out, their troubles turn deadly.


Lulu's mother warned her to never let him in, but when he shows up, he's impossible to ignore. He bullies his way past ten-year-old Lulu, who obeys her father's instructions to open the door, then listens in horror as her parents struggle. She runs for help and discovers upon her return that he's murdered her mother, stabbed her sister, and tried to kill himself.

For thirty years, the sisters try to make sense of what happened. Their imprisoned father is a specter in both their lives, shadowing every choice they make. Though one spends her life pretending he's dead, while the other feels compelled to help him, both fear that someday their imprisoned father's attempts to win parole may meet success.

This was another one of those books that while the synopsis from the book sounded good (which is why I agreed to read it), it didn't really do the book justice.  For some reason, and I'm not sure why, I was expecting a book that would have concentrated more on the father and that the story would some how revolve around him.  And while his actions acted as the pivot point in the story, this was more about Lulu and Merry and how they chose to deal with their tragic past.

Lulu is the eldest daughter and like most older children (myself included) she tended to internalize her emotions and not really deal with them on the surface.  When they were still children, Lulu took the responsibility for making sure Merry was taken care of and protected.   When they were sent to the orphanage by her mother's sister who refused to take care of them any longer because of what their father did, it was Lulu who became the tough sisters to allow Merry to remain a little girl. 

As an adult, Lulu never told anyone about her father.  Instead she would tell them that her parents died in car crash, she even made Merry tell that lie to everyone she met.  Psychologically, Lulu was the more interesting of the two to read about.  I guess it's because I'm a lot like her in how she dealt with things.  As a kid, while my father never took it the level of Lulu's, my dad wasn't exactly the nicest guy on the street.  The few memories I have of him are heavily laced with violence and it took me years to deal with it.  I would never talk about him and when he passed away when I was 8, I never cried.  I actually didn't cry until my Freshman year in high school and even then it was years later that I even wanted to visit his grave.  So I understand Lulu's reluctance to discuss or even deal with her past, who wants people judging them for something they had no control over.  And as both Lulu and myself found out, children and even some adults will judge you based on those events in your past that they don't understand.

Even in the way she finally lets what happened out to someone else, her behavior was similar to mine.  When she meets Drew, her future husband, she finally feels she can tell someone about her father.  And while some readers may think it was rather soon and out of character for her to tell him the morning after they hook up for the first time, I completely understood it.  When you meet someone that you feel that comfortable and secure with, even if only for a short period of time, you want to let it all out.  You want to talk about it to someone who didn't know you then.  It's a relief to relax and let someone else in on your secret.

This was a brilliant book that dealt with the emotional and psychological impact of childhood violence and one that I connected with on so many levels.  The author, in my opinion, captured two distinct and valid ways that children internalize and cope with traumatic experiences and how it impacts them as adults.  Reading this book actually helped me reanalyze my own feelings about my father and I'm grateful for it.  I would encourage everyone to read this book, but I would implore anyone else who experienced horrific events as children to pick this one up and understand that you aren't alone, that there are many of us out there who do understand what you went through and how that has made you into the person you are today.

I would like to thank Trish of TLC Book Tours for the opportunity to read this book.

Please take the time to visist Randy Susan Meyers' website to learn more about her and her book.
 
Visit the TLC Book Tour Page to visit the other blog stops on the tour.
 
 
 
 
 

Mailbox Monday for 8/2/10

Mailbox Monday is a weekly meme created by Marcia at The Printed Page and is being hosted by Chick Loves Lit for the entire month of August.

I received The Insane Train by Sheldon Russell from Omnimystery for a blog tour in November.

I bought hardcovers of Black Beauty by Anna Sewell, Heidi by Johanna Spyri, The Secret Garden by Frances H. Burnett all for $1.79 from Barnes & Noble.  After I picked up Journey to the Center of the Earth and 2.000 Leagues Under the Sea last week, I went back and picked these three up off the 75% clearance table.  None of these match the covers I have though the one for Black Beauty has the same image on it.  Like the two from last week, I've never read any of these but I figure they are all classics in their own way so I should probably read them sometime.

I bought Santa Cruise by Mary Higgins Clark and Carol Higgins Clark and Elder Gods by David & Leigh Eddings in hardcover for $1 a piece form the Friends of the Library Book Store.