Book Review: The Pirate Queen by Patricia Hickman

Being a native North Carolinian, I'm always interested in books set with my home state as the backdrop. So I was excited to get the chance to review The Pirate Queen by Patricia Hickman.

Saphora Warren stayed married to her womanizing spouse "for the children". However, after the kids are grown, she has had enough of his cheating and decides to leave him and their affluent lifestyle. Her plan is to let Bender remain on the affluent estate overlooking Lake Norman where they just did a shoot for Southern Living magazine; she will move to their old bungalow "Oriental" on the Outer Banks.

She agrees to stay with him, however, after he tells her he is dying. Saphora is a nurturing person, although some call her "codependent" for not just leaving her philandering cancer stricken husband after all he's put her through. Saphora finds faith, hope, and love in the midst of loss. The Pirate Queen is a rich story of forgiveness and grace.

About the author: Patricia Hickman, author of acclaimed novel Painted Dresses, is an award-winner, speaker and humorist who has won two Silver Angel Awards for Excellence in Media as well as a Romantic Times Reader’s Choice Gold Award for her novel Katrina’s Wings. Patricia holds a master’s degree in creative writing from Queens University and enjoys biking, hiking, and mapping out the Southern towns where her novels are set.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.

Book Review: Firestorm

Firestorm is book 6 in the Refuge series by Lisa Tawn Bergren, but you will enjoy this one whether you've read the others or not.

The book is characterized as "Christian Fiction" but isn't as cheesy as some others in this genre that I have read. Reyne and Logan are fire-jumpers. After a bad experience with a jump, Reyne distances herself from the front lines. Then she meets Logan, another jumper. Reyne then finds herself dealing with the question of whether she wants to "jump" back into the fire - figuratively and literally. :) It was an enjoyable, easy read.

Author bio: Lisa Tawn Bergren

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.

Free Summer Reading! I love this!

I joined this site a few years ago, and have love-love-loved it from Day 1. If you're looking for some good summer reading, check it out ASAP! As of the time of this post, they have OVER 4 MILLION books to choose from!! Yes, you read that right! And you get 2 free credits just for joining and listing 10 books that are gathering dust on your shelves!

If you haven't yet checked it out, I can't recommend it enough! So far, I have traded 147 books and all for free! You pay shipping to mail out your books to those who request them (usually no more than $3 - can you buy the latest book for that? I think not!) When you request a book from someone else, they pay shipping to mail them to you....what a great system! You get credits for each book that you send out, which you then use to request books you want from other members.

Oh yeah, they also have audio books (2 credits) which is my current favorite due to time constraints. I order a couple at a time and always have something good to listen to on my commute to work & back. :)

UPDATE: Is Jesus really worth it?

I'm so excited to read this book - I hope you will be, too! We need to be RADICAL for Christ!

It's easy for American Christians to forget how Jesus said his followers would actually live, what their new lifestyle would actually look like. They would, he said, leave behind security, money, convenience, even family for him. They would abandon everything for the gospel. They would take up their crosses daily...

BUT WHO DO YOU KNOW WHO LIVES LIKE THAT?

DO YOU?

In Radical, David Platt challenges you to consider with an open heart how we have manipulated the gospel to fit our cultural preferences. He shows what Jesus actually said about being His disciple--then invites you to believe and obey what you have heard. And he tells the dramatic story of what is happening as a "successful" suburban church decides to get serious about the gospel according to Jesus.

Finally, he urges you to join in The Radical Experiment --a one-year journey in authentic discipleship that will transform how you live in a world that desperately needs the Good News Jesus came to bring.

Read the first chapter of Radical here

Request a free copy of The Radical Question by going to www.WaterBrookMultnomah.com/RadicalQuestion It's a concise companion booklet...tiny, but the message packs a big punch!

Get 15% off the book + FREE shipping by using promo code WBMNEWS09 and pre-order your copy here!

Some new, neat free e-books!

I just got this email newsletter from Free e-books.net and thought these looked interesting enough to pass on. I haven't read them yet, but they look pretty good to me! Take a peek!

(note: I am not an affiliate or otherwise compensated in any way by free-ebooks.net)

The Vegetarian Paradox

Health, by Russell Eaton

The Vegetarian Paradox reveals why vegetarians are less healthy than non-vegetarians. Why is this so? Surely a diet with plenty of fruit & vegetables should make you healthier? What’s going on? The extraordinary research that is now coming to light is clearly showing that, compared to their non-vegetarians peers, vegetarians are more at risk of cancer, dementia, obesity, heart disease, stroke, eating disorders, infertility and other ailments. This astounding new report will shock you whether or not you are vegetarian. This high quality ebook is fully referenced. Download it now.

Strange & Weird Stories

Short Stories, by Nathan Orion

You probably remember, or have seen reruns of that great 60s TV series, Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone, where strange things happened without any scientific explanation. Things just happened, right? And you lived with it. Scifi magazines want scientific justification. I don’t buy that. Things happen every day that defy explanation. Fantasy Magazines seem to lean toward sword & sorcery, & Horror magazines—in my mind lean toward too much gore. So, if you can get past the fact that these stories defy explanation, aren’t too bloody, and no dwarves, then you are in for some great reading.

Experiments

Drama, by David St. James

SHEA MCTORY, 31, is way down on his luck. His photography career fell to the party scene. For a few years he’s been on the street, scratching a living. He gets more than bargained for when he answers the ad: VOLUNTEERS WANTED, FREE FOOD, PAY….All he wanted was a roof over his head, to earn some money, maybe get some good food. But the food is not tasty; he’s locked up with an adolescent-minded ex-sailor and a psychopath; he stumbles across secret, illegal & dangerous research; meets NATALIE, the love of us life. Frustrations build, tempers flare, love affairs, friendships, hatreds, develop.

Press 1 for Pig Latin

Business, by Robert S. Swiatek

If you hear those 5 words, we’re sunk. This not a book about farm animals - it covers technological advances: cars, TV, bombs, the computer and telephone. Technology has failed us, giving us too many bad side effects to the people and the earth. Despite this, we have to fix it, since there are so many benefits. This book offers solutions to clean up the mess that the people themselves have made.

Fall Into Reading Challenge!

Thanks to Andrea over at Under Grace and Over Coffee, for telling us about the Fall into Reading Challenge. This will give me a great excuse to hide out and finish all the books I've been meaning to read. Yes, this is a bookcase headboard with my "Short List".

So here's my Fall Reading List. I'll report back on December 20
and let you know how I did!

Currently reading: Confessions of a Good Christian Girl - Tammy Maltby
Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World - Joanna Weaver
The Shack - Wm. Paul Young
Looking for God - Nancy Ortberg
Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
Revolutionary Road - Richard Yates
Deception - Randy Alcorn
First, Do No Harm - Lisa Belkin
Dispatches from teh Edge - Anderson Cooper
Becoming a Woman of Prayer - Cynthia Heald

Want to join me in the Challenge? Check it out here: Fall into Reading Challenge 2009

Do you read?

If so, you will LOVE this site! I've been using it for about a year (or more?) now and have gotten SO many great books from other readers across the country, as well as passed on some of my favorites to those who wanted them. Just for listing your first ten books for trade, you get free credits that you can use to get books that YOU want! Then you get more credits as people request your books... It's super!!

Check it out and let me know what you think!