Book Review

Book Review: Shepherd, Potter, Spy—and the Star Namer

April 6, 2017 by NZ Filbruns 1 Comment

A couple of months ago, I received the offer to review the book Shepherd, Potter, Spy—and the Star Namer for Peggy Consolver—author. She had been intrigued by the story of the Gibeonites, found in Joshua 9 and 10, and wanted to write a novel about them. Well, I was immediately intrigued by the idea; I had never come across a story written from that point of view before! So, of course, I signed up for it.

Keshub is the main character; he is a 12-year-old as the story begins. He lives in Gibeon, and is a shepherd for his family. One day, he runs across an Amorite boy on the border between their lands, and is startled to learn that the boy, bin Zedek, a son of Adoni-Zedek king of Jerusalem, hates his own father. Why? He learns the terrible reason a few months later.

The author has created a study guide for the book. I did not purchase it, but did look over the sample. If you wanted to do a unit study on Ancient Israel, this would be a wonderful resource. She has some maps, and many links to help you learn more about various topics mentioned in the book.

Read my full review here.

For the reviews of 80 other people who read this book, click on the banner below:

Book Review: Meddlin’ Madeline Book Two—Such a Tease

March 29, 2017 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

Click here to purchase your copy.

About the Book

Book: Such a Tease
Author: Chautona Havig
Genre: Christian Fiction/Historical/Mystery

My Thoughts:

I enjoyed Sweet on You, the first book in the series about Madeline Brown, but Such a Tease is even better, I think. This was a really fun book to read. I enjoyed seeing how Madeline worked out the details of Vernon’s scheme for electrifying the town—was it a fraud, or wasn’t it? How was the bank involved? And then there is Russell. He really wants her to receive something better than the first offer of marriage she was given—is Henry the one? Russell is only fulfilling his promise to his sister Amy to keep Madeline from being lonely while Amy was in Europe, or so Madeline believes. I loved all the different strands woven together in this book. I also love seeing the way Madeline is developing a deeper walk with God through this story.

The author’s synopsis:

Madeline, with a little assistance, discovers her old adversary is gaining a following in Rockland! Can she expose him for the fraud she’s sure he is? In book two of the Meddlin’ Madeline series, Madeline Brown has a new endeavor to occupy her time. But is it to keep her out of the way or a reward for her work in Sweet on You? With the help of her young friends, Madeline discovers her old adversary is gaining a following in Rockland! What’s a girl to do? But her new position also gives her opportunities to observe, and what she sees sets more than one new investigation in motion. What does her old suitor, Delbert Jackson, know? Why is Mr. Merton giving important papers to that scoundrel, Vernon Smythe, and whatever happened to poor Abigail Cooper? Add to these intriguing questions Henry Hardwick’s continued attentions, Edith’s newfound devotion to the temperance movement and Madeline’s determination to find her a more reliable suitor, and strange behavior from her Aunt Louisa and things heat up as summer fades from Rockland. Her dear friend, Russell, busy with an important project at work, finds himself unable to help keep her out of trouble and away from danger. Is Madeline going too far? Will her meddling get her in serious trouble this time, will it destroy her reputation irreparably, or will she rid Rockland of a scoundrel once and for all?

About the Author

Author of the Amazon bestselling Aggie, Past Forward, and HearthLand series, Chautona considers herself blessed to live in California’s Mojave Desert with her husband and five of her nine children. When not writing, which she admits isn’t often, Chautona enjoys blogging, paper crafts, sewing, smocking, photo editing, and old (read: before her parents’ time) music.

Guest Blog Post from Chautona

Leon Czolgosz is my new nemesis. He’s dead, but he ruined my book. No, really. The guy totally destroyed the opening pages of Such a Tease. Now, these days, not a whole lot of people remember the name of Leon Cozolgosz. I didn’t. But I’ll never forget him now (although I may never remember how to spell his name). Who is he? Only the guy who shot President McKinley. Why am I annoyed with him over a hundred years later? The idiot did this thing on September 6, 1901. You know, four days after this book opened? Yeah. Couldn’t he have done it on say… January 6, 1901? Even January 6, 1902 would have served my purposes. Look, I’m not as callous as I appear. Truly. But if President McKinley had to die, did his murderer have to do it when it would completely mess up my book?

How did it mess up my book you ask?

I’ll tell you. I left it out—the whole assassination thing. There I was, fixing a wedding date for one of the characters, when a thought occurred to me. She could be married on Flag Day—if Flag Day was a thing then. I didn’t think it was. I really thought Wilson was responsible for that—you know, creating holidays in between his notes to Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany or something like that. But I hoped. Somehow—just maybe. I mean we had Labor Day from Cleveland, why not Flag Day from McKinley. But noooooo. He didn’t. What did he do? He got shot. Four days after my book opened. And there wasn’t a single word about it in the story. Like I could ever get away with that. This was news! Big news. And nothing about it in the life of a daughter of a politician? I think not. Not only did this Leon Czolgosz (no, really. It’s spelled correctly) shoot the president on September 6^th, but he didn’t do a good job of it! Look, I think I’ve established that I didn’t want President McKinley killed. But if the guy with the unpronounceable last name had to do it, couldn’t he have done a good job of it? Couldn’t he have shot the president in the head? McKinley suffered for eight days before he died. Eight days! They thought he was getting better and then gangrene killed him. It would have been a mercy had Leon just shot McKinley in the head or the heart. Why the abdomen? Cruel, if you ask me, even for an anarchist. And it made adding the whole affair to my book even more problematic. No, really! Think about it. I couldn’t have the newspapers announce the death of President McKinley on September 7^th and then have a few mentions of the bank being affected or something. No… no… now I had to have a headline event, give false hope, and then add the death on top of it all. Look, I do an obscene amount of research for my books. No, really. Keen was slang in 1901. Woohoo! Look up “peachy keen”? Yeah. Can’t use it. 1950s. The telephone? Can Madeline expect to use one in a burgeoning city in 1901? Considering there were over 850,000 telephones in use, yes. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to assume that a photographer who works for a local paper might have a telephone in order to receive calls requesting him to come photograph some big event—like the Mayor’s speech on the death of President McKinley, perchance? Yep. Somehow, I almost missed one of the biggest events in US history. Research saved the book—and ruined my timeline. All at the same time. Gotta love history. Or not. And Leon Czolgosz? Yeah. Thanks for nothing.

Buy the book on Amazon here.

To visit more of the blog stops on this tour, go here.

To enter the giveaway with which Chautona is celebrating this release, go here.

Book Review—Bessie’s Pillow

March 23, 2017 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

We recently had the opportunity to review Bessie’s Pillow, a new book by Linda Bress Silbert, published by Strong Learning, Inc. I read the book to myself first, after a couple of people in an online forum mentioned some possible concerns with it, but decided that it would be fine to read aloud to my children. I’m glad I did! We really enjoyed this true story. One thing that made it even more meaningful to us is that we have a family living with us at the moment, and the wife came from Latvia; she was born in Lithuania, where Bessie came from! I was glad to be able to ask her how to pronounce a Russian word.

We greatly enjoyed Bessie’s Pillow. Esther commented that it has a unique perspective on immigration. Most of the stories that are written about European immigrants to America tell about people who traveled in steerage and lived in the tenements. Bessie was more upper-class, however, so the perspective is quite different. Another thing that was different about this book, from most, is that it is written in first-person, present-tense style. I’m not sure I’ve ever read a book quite that way, but it worked well. You are really drawn into Bessie’s life.

Read my full review here.

To read what 90 people have to say about this book, click here:

Product Review—Circle C Stepping Stones Books

March 16, 2017 by NZ Filbruns 2 Comments

Mr. Intellectual, the only boy in our family who reads much of anything, has really enjoyed the other Circle C books we have (most of each of the Circle C Beginnings and the Circle C Adventures series). When I had the opportunity recently to sign up for review copies of the first two books in Susan K. Marlow’s newest series, Circle C Stepping Stones, published by Kregel Publications, I knew he’d love them. I read both Andi Saddles Up and Andi Under the Big Top aloud to all the children, and the boys really enjoyed them. Mr. Sweetie badly wants me to get the rest of the books in the series. Mr. Intellectual really likes them, and so does Mr. Diligence, although I can’t get any more out of him than that! Even Mr. Imagination enjoyed them. Here he is holding them:

There is a study guide on the author’s website to go along with these books. Although we won’t be using it, it would be a great resource if you want to do a unit study based on these stories. There are also coloring pages which can be printed. I printed a set for each of the four children ages 4-7 who are living in our house right now, and they have really enjoyed them. There are six pictures for each book. They are the illustrations in the book, each one in a full-page PDF. We really enjoyed doing this review, and I’m hoping we will have the chance to review more books for this author. We also loved that Kregel Publications was willing to mail physical copies of them to us, even though we live in New Zealand!

Read my full review here.

For 60 other reviewer’s opinions on these books, click on the banner below:

Giveaway—Ready or Not

February 16, 2017 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

One of my favorite books is Ready or Not, by Chautona Havig. In fact, I like it so well I’ve read it three times now—and enjoyed it as much the third time as the first! She had a giveaway on her blog this week, offering a copy of this book, and I won because I commented on her post. Well, I already own the book, both in Kindle format and a physical copy, so I certainly don’t need another. I would like to bless one of you, or a friend of your choice, with a Kindle copy. Please comment on this post to be entered in a drawing. I’m going to choose a winner in just 22 hours (that will be about 9:00 Friday night, the 17th, here in New Zealand—3:00 am on Friday the 17th EST). If you want to know more about the book, read my review here.

Book Review—Baggage Claim

February 15, 2017 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

I was not going to help launch this book. I decided I was busy enough that Esther could help Cathe Swanson launch her books, and I’d stick to helping Chautona Havig with hers, and Esther was happy about that. Of course, since she got Baggage Claim to read in advance of publication, she sent it to my Kindle when she sent it to hers, and I started reading it a couple of weeks ago. Oops! I ended up wasting a lot of time reading it instead of getting right back to work when I should have. And now, Esther hasn’t even had time to finish the book, so guess who volunteered to write a review and help promote the book! It’s a good one—you won’t regret buying this book and reading it. It published today, so you should be able to get it immediately.

Here is my review, which will stay here until Esther publishes it on her website:

I don’t know when I’ve read a book I’ve enjoyed as much as I enjoyed Baggage Claim. I loved all of it. Cathe Swanson is one of my very favorite authors! I hope she keeps writing. This is only her second published book, but it’s a winner.

Ben Taylor is a young widower with four children, and he has a nanny who keeps his life in order. Teresa Cooper not only takes care of the children, she also keeps the house tidy and meals on the table. Ben has never had life so easy since he got married at 18 after Anneliese got pregnant. Now, though, he is searching for his birthparents. What a mess he finds!

One thing I love about this book is the many stories interwoven skillfully into one. Teresa has a fascinating story; Ben’s history is mysterious and I absolutely loved what he ended up finding; Ben’s life ends up full of intrigue and possible danger. I also love the setting. Ben lives in Chicago, but he ends up in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan a few times. One thing I really liked was the mention of Bond Falls in the U. P. I had never heard of it until our family was traveling through that area a number of years ago and saw a sign pointing down a side road toward Bond Falls. It was the most spectacular waterfall I have seen in my life, and is a very special memory, so I was delighted to see it in a book. It was also fun to see the mention of Ontanagon, just because it’s an unusual name for a place, and it’s real. I think I would love this book just for the portrayal of my home state, even if the story wasn’t quite so good!

Besides simply enjoying the story, there were some very meaty parts to it, too. One scene that really stands out in my mind is when Teresa is telling the story to a friend of her experience in a women’s shelter. She describes another woman who was in there, and says that she was the reason that Teresa became a Christian. It wasn’t because she told Teresa about Jesus, but rather that she was a “living testimony” that other women could build on to explain salvation to Teresa. I shared that passage with my husband one afternoon when he was talking about his frustration with himself and not sharing Jesus with the world as much as he wants to. Teresa’s friend’s response was just what my husband needed that day, “Some plant the seed, some water and some harvest. God put it all in place for you. He’s just amazing that way.”

I highly recommend Baggage Claim if you’re looking for a great story that’s perfectly clean and pulls you in. It is a long book, but keeps moving. I’m hoping for a sequel—Ben had some unfinished business at the end, although Teresa’s story had a satisfying conclusion! Oh, and my favorite quote from the book? “And Jonah couldn’t find the outhouse at all.” You’ll have to read the book to find out who Jonah is and how an outhouse comes into the story.

WARNING: When Ben is searching for his birth parents, he hears a fairly detailed story from his teenaged mother’s best friend. Later in the book, a girl who is babysitting Ben’s children hits a man over the head with a gun to knock him out so she can tie him up.

Note: The links in this post are Esther’s affiliate links, so if you purchase the book through them you’ll be helping to support her website.

Book Review—New Year’s Revolutions

December 30, 2016 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

Chautona Havig has written yet another book this year! After writing Christmas Stalkings, she wanted to tell Neal Kirkpatrick’s story—he’s sort of the villain in it. New Year’s Revolutions, therefore, is both a prequel and a sequel to Christmas Stalkings (see my review here).

Christmas Stalkings is told mainly from Wendy’s point of view, as she prepares for Christmas with her seven cats and deals with someone entering her house and moving things around. New Year’s Revolutions tells the story from her neighbor Neal’s point of view—but starts earlier and goes on a long ways after the first story ends.

For the rest of my review, you’ll have to visit Esther’s website! Read it here.

To buy the book, just click on the title. I used Esther’s affiliate links, so if you buy a book through them, she will get a little money to put toward maintaining her website and it won’t cost you any more.

Book Review—Exploring Creation with Zoology 2: Swimming Creatures of the Fifth Day

December 26, 2016 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

We have finally finished our science course for the year. It was very hard to get in time for science this year, with the crazy schedules we had all year, and a lot of time off school for one reason or another. Toward the end of the year, after several of the boys finished some subjects and I had more time, we were able to do lessons more often. I have thoroughly enjoyed our study this year, of Swimming Creatures of the Fifth Day. I am greatly enjoying getting an in-depth look at various topics from a strongly Christian, Creationist point of view. Jeannie K. Fulbright has done an excellent job with this book, as with the other books we’ve used that she wrote.

Because this review has now been published on Esther’s website, I’ve removed the rest of it. Read my full review here.

History 15—Part 3

December 17, 2016 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

I thought surely I had done at least a third post in this series! Life got pretty crazy in October, and we haven’t done much of our history reading. Right now, Esther is on her way home from America, and I’m a couple of chapters ahead of her. Time to do a bit of serious reading, Esther! I’ll share my notes up to where she has read. For the first two installments of notes on Unwrapping the Pharoahs, go here and here.

Chapter 15 talks about Thutmosis I. He was an extremely rich, powerful king. It is likely that he is the Pharoah whose daughter Solomon married, and the father of Hatshepsut. One bit of supporting evidence is that none of his records mention invading the hill country of Israel, although he did invade Syria. He erected the first obelisks.

Chapter 16 is about Hatshepsut. She became regent for her stepson Thutmosis III at the age of 15 when her husband died. Seven years later, she proclaimed herself Pharoah, at age 22, and ruled for 22 years. She was likely the Queen of Sheba who visited Solomon. She left inscriptions describing a trip to the “Land of Punt”. Egyptian inscriptions refer to the Land of Punt as being in Palestine. Jesus mentions the Queen of the South coming to visit Solomon, and Daniel refers to the king of the South being from Egypt. She would have been going to visit her sister, who married Solomon.

Chapter 17. Thutmosis III conquered many cities, making them tributaries. He is more than likely the “Shishak” who looted Jerusalem in Rehoboam’s day. He seems to have been friendly toward Hatshepsut, who usurped his rule at first, until late in his reign when he destroyed all her inscriptions.

Chapter 18. Amenhotep II, son of Thutmosis III, wanted to imitate his father’s victories. He took immense amounts of booty and prisoners in his second campaign, but a subsequent one was different. They went no farther than south/central Palestine and only 2 horses, 1 chariot, and some bows and arrows returned. Was this the battle in which God miraculously defeated the “Ethiopians” for Asa?

Chapter 19. Thutmosis IV became Pharoah even though he had 2 older brothers. He claimed that the Sphinx told him that if he removed the sand covering it he would become the next Pharoah. He died young of a wasting disease.

Chapter 20. Amenhotep III had over a thousand wives. His favorite was the daughter of commoners. He had many statues made of himself. His 38-year reign was peaceful. His huge statues were made of layers of stone rather than one huge one, so they weren’t repurposed for other uses.

Chapter 21. Akhenaten tried to change the worship in Egypt to the sun disc Aten rather than the sun god Amun. By the revised chronology, he was contemporary with Ahab king of Samaria, meaning that neither Moses nor David could have copied him, as they are accused of doing. His wife Nefertiti was a beautiful woman, and they had six daughters.

Chapter 22. Tutankhamen was insignificant as a Pharoah; he is only famous because his tomb was left intact. He married his sister (who had been married to their father); she had 2 stillborn children.

Chapter 23. Soon after Tutankhamen’s death, the 18th Dynasty ended. Rameses I became Pharoah, but only for a year. His son Sethi I accomplished a lot, including an invasion of Syria and Palestine.

(The link in this post is an affiliate link for Esther’s website, and if you purchase the book through this link it will help her website. I would have linked directly to the review on her site, but the website is down right now and will be till Esther gets home to work on it.)

Book Review—Christmas Embers

November 25, 2016 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

Chautona Havig has written yet another wonderful book! I’m losing count of how many she’s launched this year, but it’s quite a few. Christmas Embers is a powerful book. To read Esther’s great review, go here. If you want to buy the book, go here. During the next couple of days, there is a bonus study guide available; visit chautona.com/bonus to claim it. (It’s only available to those who purchase through the 28th of November, 2016.) Sorry about this short notice—I wanted to get this review written and posted earlier, but there’s been a lot going on in my life and I haven’t had the brain power to do it any sooner.

Adultery. What really happens to a family when a spouse commits adultery? Is it really a big deal? It’s so prevalent today; surely that makes the impact less? Emily, a mom blogger, thought it was a big deal. As she discussed the issue with her husband Sean while she wrote a blog post about the topic, she thought of it as a sexually transmitted disease—it affects everyone you have been in contact with, including your souse, your children, your extended family, and even your church. She had just seen firsthand the devastation caused by a man’s repeated affairs. Emily was so very thankful for the agreement she and Sean had to tell the other at the very first hint of any attraction to another person, to talk about it and stay open about it.

Emily’s Christmas project that year would hopefully lead to a book contract. She visited her daughter’s classroom and drew a cartoon picture of each of the children while she discussed what they wanted for Christmas—anything, whether it could be wrapped and put under the tree or not. As she had hoped, she got some unusual answers. One little girl wanted “nothing”. One boy wanted his Mom home again when he got home from school. And Joey wanted his father. After just a little digging, Emily discovered that he didn’t know who his father was or where he was, and she set out on a mission to find him and help Joey’s mother, who was dying of hepatitis. And the next thing she knew, her world was spiraling out of control.

Christmas Embers is, in some ways, a hard book to read. The subject matter is not something we want to ever even think about, much less discuss. It needs to be brought out into the open at times, however, to be able to help people who are affected by the sin of adultery. Jesus made it plain that adultery is sin; it is listed as one of the sins that will keep people out of heaven if they don’t repent and turn from it. Christmas Embers shows clearly how adultery can affect a family, a community, and a church. This is a powerful story. Chautona Havig has crafted a masterpiece here, a beautiful, and ugly, picture of love and sin. She vividly shows the emotional fallout after sin is revealed. Can those hurt by other’s sin ever learn to forgive and trust the one who has wronged them—or is this sin unforgiveable? Is it ever possible to reconcile a marriage that has been damaged by this sin?

The characters are so real. I identified in many ways with Emily, and really grew to dislike her friend Kate. Why are some people so determined to drag others down to their level? As always, there is humor along the way. I loved the scene on Christmas morning when the children woke Emily up, and her daughter announced, “She’s awake! She wasn’t, but I fixed that.” You’ll find yourself laughing along the way, occasionally, and crying at other times through this story.

I appreciated the author’s care in writing this book to not show any graphic scenes. With the subject of the book being what it is, it would have been very easy to cross lines that should not be crossed, but she didn’t. She was afraid she had, and sent out the first half of the book to several people to make sure it would be all right. I read that first half, and told her I didn’t mind allowing my teenage daughter to read it—she was that discreet.

I received an advanced reader copy of this book and chose to write a review of it.

Book Review

About the Book

About the Author

Guest Blog Post from Chautona

How did it mess up my book you ask?

Thank you!