Full Review: An Open Heart by Harry Kraus

An Open Heart by Harry Kraus
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Jace is living the prime of his life as a cardiothoracic surgeon. His beautiful wife, Heather, is a missionary kid like him. A serious of unfortunate events has Jace operating on the Governor. Meanwhile, the Governor's wife is making her move on Heather's husband. What happened on that fateful night? Was Jace unfaithful? Can Heather's heart be mended?

After the incident, Jace decides to return to Africa to carry out his medical mission of love...performing heart surgery. He has an eventful return and welcome back to his "homeland". Is this a sign of what is to come? Will Jace find a way to mend his heart as well as those of his patients?

This is a riveting story that will keep you on the edge of your seat the entire time you are reading it! I love how Dr. Kraus gives such vivid details that you actually feel you are right there in the book. He also addresses a controversial issue in this book, one in which I am still intrigued by. As a nurse who has worked in both pediatric and adult cardiology, I've heard some very similar stories (though not in the same format or details as the characters in this book) of those who have undergone surgery or those who are near death.

I recommend this book to anyone who loves to read a great suspense story!! It does include medical terminology, which is explained in layman's terms and is written from a Christian perspective.

Many thanks to the publisher, David C. Cook, and the author, Dr. Kraus, for a complimentary copy of this book. This is my fair and honest review with no enticements by the publisher or author.


View all my reviews

Full Review: Pieces of the Heart by Bonnie S. Calhoun

Pieces of the Heart by Bonnie S. Calhoun
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The stories that quilts hold...

I loved this book! I envy the relationship that Cordelia has with her Grammy and the special bond that a quilt can hold. Grammy would say that it's a 'life covering' and full of prayers. This book focused on the power of prayer and how it can bring someone through some very dark moments.

Cordelia is a young girl, bullied by the neighbors, until her rescuer shows up. Bernard is the love of Cordelia's life from first glance. There is a lot of heartaches in both of their lives and Bernard decides one day to sign up for the War. His number is pulled and he finds himself in the thick of WWII, but not in a way that he would imagine. Will he make it back home to Cordelia?

There are so many things to talk about with this book but I don't want to give anything away. I love how the author focused this book on the "other" side of WWII...how our black soldiers were treated. This book had me in tears several times. I laughed. I cried some more. My favorite character would have to be Grammy. Her lessons and the relationships she had with others is something I needed from this book.

I do hope you'll support this author and read this fabulous book!! Many thanks to the author and Abingdon Press for a complimentary copy of the book to review for the CFBA Blog tour!


View all my reviews

CFBA: Pieces of the the Heart by Bonnie Calhoun

This week, the

Christian Fiction Blog Alliance

is introducing

Pieces of the Heart

Abingdon Press (June 1, 2013)


by

Bonnie S. Calhoun


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Bonnie S. Calhoun is Owner/Director of Christian Fiction Blog Alliance, owner/publisher of Christian Fiction Online Magazine, Northeast Zone Director for American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW), the ACFW ‘2011 Mentor of the Year,” President of (CAN) Christian Authors Network, and Appointment Coordinator for both the Colorado Christian Writers Conference (CCWC) and the Greater Philadelphia Christian Writers Conference(GPCWC).


For the last six years she has taught workshops in Facebook, Twitter, Blogging, and creating Social Media promotions at both CCWC, and GPCWC, and in 2011 at the Montrose, Pa Christian Writers Conference. She also taught a Facebook workshop at the 2012 ACFW conference.


Bonnie and her husband live in a log cabin in upstate area of New York with a dog and cat who think she’s wait-staff.


Her sites are:

https://www.facebook.com/bonniescalhounsnarkandsuspense
 https://www.facebook.com/bscalhoun

 ABOUT THE BOOK

Cordelia Grace watched Bernard Howard, the love of her young life, go off to fight for our country in WWII. And she has spent the last three years creating the Pine Cone quilt that will grace their marriage bed when he comes home. Each row of triangles signifies a layer in her life, sets of memories, hopes, dreams, and prayers for her future, enough spoken words to cover them forever. Her image of their “happy-ever-after” grows proportionally as the quilt expands.


But is the man that returns from the war, the same man that she remembered? Are the dark shades of color that she had to use for the outside edges of the beloved quilt prophetic of her life to come? Can love and faith overcome all?


If you would like to read teh first chapter of Pieces of the Heart, go HERE.


I just returned home from vacation and found this book in my mail today. Therefore, I have not read the whole book yet. I am getting into though and, wow...

Cordelia is a young girl who has been bullied by the neighborhood kids because of the tone of her skin. She is rescued one day by a young man named Bernard. Cordelia spends a lot of time with her grandmother, who is making a "life covering" for her. She prays over each piece as she puts the quilt together for her granddaughter. Bernard comes from an abusive home but he has a strong faith in the Lord. Cordelia and Bernard are in love and anxiously awaiting the day they can join their lives together. However, a war is ensue and the future is scary. 

Reading this book today has really had me missing my grandmothers. My dad's mom did not quilt or sew of any kind for that matter, but she instilled a love in me for jigsaw puzzles. My mom's mom did a lot of sewing but I'm not sure she quilted. I do have several dolls that she made me as a child. I love Cordelia and her grandmother in this story and I'm excited to see how all of this plays out. It's been awhile since I've read a book that I just didn't want to put down! I hope to finish this tomorrow! :) 

CFBA: An Open Heart by Harry Kraus

                         

This week, the

Christian Fiction Blog Alliance

is introducing

An Open Heart

David C. Cook (June 1, 2013)

by

Harry Kraus

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: 

A Word from Harry:

I started writing my first novel during my last year of surgery training at UK. I was a chief resident, and started writing Stainless Steal Hearts in a call room at the Veteran's Administration Hospital in Lexington. It was a crazy time to write! I had a very demanding schedule, often spending days and nights in the hospital. I had two sons at that time, and I recognized the wisdom in my wife's urging: "Now doesn't seem the right time for this dream."

My experience as a writer is far from typical. Having received my formal training in biology and chemistry and medicine, my only preparation for a writing career was a love for reading. The longest thing I'd written before my first novel was a term paper in undergraduate school. My first novel was accepted by Crossway Books and published in 1994, and it wasn't until after I had FOUR published novels that I even opened a book of instruction about the craft of writing fiction. This is not what I recommend to others! Yes, I was successful, but I was bending the "rules" without knowing it. I had a natural talent for plotting, but I realize my initial success may have stunted my growth as a writer. I'd have made faster progress if I'd have gone to the fiction teachers sooner.

I have three sons: Joel, Evan, and Samuel. Look closely in all of my books and you'll see them there. My lovely wife, Kris, provides the basic composition for all those beautiful, athletic, dedicated women in my novels.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Their Messages—From Beyond the Grave—Might Destroy Him ...

They hover between life and death, their hearts stopped on the surgery table. And the messages Dr. Jace Rawlings’ open-heart surgery patients bring back from beyond the grave cannot be ignored. For they predict the deaths of people around him, and point a finger of suspicion straight at him.

It thrusts Jace into a firestorm of controversy and danger. A maeltsrom blown by the darker winds of political intrigue and spiritual warfare. And the forces working against him will do anything to stop him from uncovering a truth they will kill to hide. He’d come to Kenya to establish a heart-surgery program for the poor. But what he will find in that place where he grew up will put everything at risk–his marriage, his career . . . his life.

If you would like to read the first chapter of An Open Heart, go HERE.

I'm currently reading this book right now. It starts out with a lot of suspense and questions that I hope to have answers for soon!! I'll post a full review once I've had time to thoroughly enjoy it! For those of you who know me well, you know I LOVE medical fiction!! This one has my attention! 

CFBA: When Morning Glory Blooms by Cynthia Ruchti

This week, the

Christian Fiction Blog Alliance

is introducing

When The Morning Glory Blooms

Abingdon Press (April 1, 2013)

by

Cynthia Ruchti


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Cynthia writes stories of hope that glows in the dark, merging her love for storytelling with inextinguishable hope for inexpressible hurts.


Cynthia spends her days diving into words, worship, and wonder and celebrating 40 years of marriage, three grown children, and five outrageously adorable grandchildren. One of her greatest joys is helping other writers grow in their craft. To that end, she served as the assistant director and a faculty member of the Quad Cities Christian Writers Conference, has served as worship and devotions staff for the Write-to-Publish conference, and teaches at other conferences as opportunities arise. She speaks to women’s groups, at mother-daughter banquets, and for women’s refresher days and retreats. It is her delight to serve on her church’s worship team. Rather than “busy,” she likes the term “active.”


For 33 years, Cynthia wrote and produced the radio broadcast The Heartbeat of the Home. The scripted radio drama/devotional broadcast aired on as many as 50 radio stations and two cable/digital television stations over the years. Cynthia was the editor of the ministry’s Backyard Friends magazine, a twenty-page, twice annual publication that reached 5,000 homes, churches, and parachurch outreaches.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Becky rocks a baby that rocked her world. Sixty years earlier, with her fiancé Drew in the middle of the Korean Conflict, Ivy throws herself into her work at a nursing home to keep her sanity and provide for the child Drew doesn't know is coming. Ivy cares for Anna, an elderly patient who taxes Ivy's listening ear until the day she suspects Anna's tall tales are not the ramblings of dementia. They're fragments of Anna's disjointed memories of a remarkable life. Finding a faint thread of hope she can't resist tugging, Ivy records Anna's memoir, scribbling furiously after hours to keep up with the woman's emotion-packed, grace-hemmed stories. Is Ivy's answer buried in Anna's past? Becky, Ivy, Anna--three women fight a tangled vine of deception in search of the blossoming simplicity of truth.


If you would like to read the first chapter of When The Morning Glory Blooms, go HERE.



I will be posting a short review of this book later on this week.

CFBA: A Healing Heart by Angela Breidenbach

This week, the

Christian Fiction Blog Alliance

is introducing

A Healing Heart

Abingdon Press (April 1, 2013)

by

Angela Breidenbach


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Angela Breidenbach is a speaker/coach in mental and physical health, author of A Healing Heart April 2013 from Abingdon Press in the Quilts of Love series, Gems of Wisdom: For a Treasure-filled Life, Creative Cooking for Simple Elegance, and Creative Cooking for Colitis. Other works by Angela include compilation books and devotionals from Guidepost, Group, and articles in magazines, ezines, and newspapers. She is certified in mentor/peer counseling as a CTA life coach, as a Stephen Minister, and a weight loss/nutrition coach. Angela serves as an assisting minister (worship/prayer leader) for her congregation in Missoula, MT. Not only did she walk the hard line of deciding to donate her mom’s brain for the study of schizophrenia, but she’s also on the brain donation list at the Brain Bank-Harvard McLean Hospital.


ABOUT THE BOOK

Mara Keegan is an uber-successful mother and a widow of three years. She's been chasing success and all the "good things in life" for her family to make up for the cruel whim God played on them by taking her husband. In an effort to be the perfect mom, she decides to make a photo memory quilt, a graduation present for her daughter, Cadence.


She’s not yet finished when she experiences a heart attack. While Mara recuperates, she revisits the choices she's made that led to this physically and spiritually broken heart. The memory quilt must be finished in time for Cadence's big day, but Mara struggles with her burgeoning feelings for the man who must keep Mara's business going during her recovery, Joel Ryan. Can Joel find his way into Mara's heart and onto Cadence's quilt?


If you would like to read the first chapter of A Healing Heart, go HERE



I will posting a brief review of this book later on this week.

CFBA: Josiah's Treasure by Nancy Herriman

This week, the

Christian Fiction Blog Alliance

is introducing

Josiah's Treasure

Worthy Publishing (April 16, 2013)


by

Nancy Herriman


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Nancy Herriman abandoned a career in Engineering to chase around two small children and take up the pen. She has been writing for longer than she would like to admit. Her work has been a finalist in several Romance Writers of America contests and she won the 2006 RWA Daphne du Maurier award for Best Unpublished Mystery/Romantic Suspense. In 2009, she was an ACFW Genesis finalist. She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers and Romance Writers of America.


When she is not writing, or gabbing over lattes about writing, she is either watching history shows on cable TV or singing. She lives in the Midwest with her husband and sons, and wishes there were more hours in the day.



ABOUT THE BOOK

In 1882, Sarah Whittier dreams of opening an art studio run by immigrant women. She plans to use the house left to her by family friend Josiah Cady as collateral for her studio. But will all be lost when the inheritance is challenged by an angry man claiming to be Josiah's son and legal heir? Rumor of gold nuggets hidden in the house, place Sarah's life in danger. Her future uncertain and her safety threatened, Sarah has nowhere to turn. That is, unless she can soften a vengeful man's heart-and they both learn that love is finer than any gold.



If you would like to read the first chapter of Josiah's Treasure, go HERE.



I am not certain that I have received this book as of yet for review. I will post a review once I receive it.