Happy Easter

Code Triage (Mercy Hospital)Code Triage by Candace Calvert

374 pages, 38 of 39 reviews are 4 or 5-star, Lending Enabled

Dr. Leigh Stathos likes her ER shifts fast, furious, and adrenaline-infused—“Treat ’em and street ’em”—with no emotional complications. Life’s taught her a soul-rending lesson: nothing lasts forever, including marriage. And the clock is ticking toward the end of hers. Then an unwelcome confrontation with “the other woman” begins a whole new set of lessons.
San Francisco police officer Nick Stathos never gives up, whether protecting his patrol neighborhood, holding fast to faith—or trying to save his marriage. Seven days is all he has to reach Leigh’s heart. But when a desperate act of violence slams Golden Gate Mercy Hospital into lockdown, it starts a chain of events that will change lives forever.

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Beer Is Proof God Loves Us: Reaching for the Soul of Beer and Brewing (FT Press Science)

Beer is Proof that God Loves Us: Reaching for the Soul of Beer and Brewing by Charles Bamforth

304 pages, 44 of 71 reviews are 4 or 5-star, Previously Free

Bookwi.se Review

Discover the extraordinary culture and history of brewing: the remarkable craft that reaches back before written history. Visit legendary British pubs now fading sadly into memory…and the craft breweries, corporate boardrooms, and home brewers that are the new future of beer. Learn how to tell a great beer from a good one…find surprising new research on beer and human health…uncover beer in the Bible (and other unlikely places)…and discover divinity and transcendence in your very next brew.

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The Reformation: A Very Short Introduction

The Reformation: A Very Short Introduction by Peter Marshall - $2.99

144 pages, 3 of 3 reviews are 4 or 5-star, Lending Enabled

The Reformation transformed Europe, and left an indelible mark on the modern world. It began as an argument about what Christians needed to do to be saved, but rapidly engulfed society in a series of fundamental changes. This Very Short Introduction provides a lively and up-to-date guide to the process. It explains doctrinal debates in a clear and non-technical way, but is equally concerned to demonstrate the effects the Reformation had on politics, society, art, and minorities.

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The Truth of the Matter (The Homelanders)Summary: Charlie now knows who actually killed Alex and he is searching for Waterman, his best clue on how to get back to his normal life.

This is book three is the Homelanders series. You do not want to jump into the middle of this series.

This book picks up almost immediately after The Long Way Home.  In the Long Way Home Charlie re-connected with his friends and girlfriend Beth.  He found out how he got connected to the Homelanders, but there is still a year missing from his memory.

Klavan has done a good job in the series keeping the action moving, giving new information so the story moves and keeping the tension up.

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Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless GodCrazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God by Francis Chan 

202 pages, 460 of 548 reviews are 4 or 5-star

Bookwi.se Review

It’s crazy, if you think about it. The God of the universe—the Creator of nitrogen and pine needles, galaxies and E-minor—loves us with a radical, unconditional, self-sacrificing love. And what is our typical response? We go to church, sing songs, and try not to cuss.

Whether you’ve verbalized it yet or not, we all know something’s wrong.

Does something deep inside your heart long to break free from the status quo? Are you hungry for an authentic faith that addresses the problems of our world with tangible, even radical, solutions? God is calling you to a passionate love relationships with Himself. Because the answer to religious complacency isn’t working harder at a list of do’s and don’ts—it’s falling in love with God. And once you encounter His love, as Francis describes it, you will never be the same. Because when you’re wildly in love with someone, it changes everything.

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The Skull Ring (Julia Stone)Skull Ring by Scott Nicholson

330 pages, 41 of 47 reviews are 4 or 5-star, Lending Enabled

Bookwi.se Review - Dr. Pamela Forrest is determined to bring Julia’s memories to the surface, hoping to heal Julia’s panic disorder. The therapist keeps returning Julia to a night twenty-three years ago when Julia was four. A night of hooded figures, strange chants, pain, and blood. The night her father disappeared from the face of the earth.
But the line between the past and the present begins to blur when Julia finds a silver skull ring that bears the name “Judas Stone.” Someone is leaving strange messages inside her house, even though the door is locked. The handyman, who has a key, spends a lot of time in the woods behind her house. Her boyfriend Mitchell becomes distant and violent. And the cop who investigated her father’s disappearance has followed her to the small Appalachian town of Elkwood.

And Then I Had Teenagers: Encouragement for Parents of Teens and Preteens

And Then I Had Teenagers: Encouragement for Parents of Teens and Preteens by Susan Alexander Yates

209 pages, 3 of 3 reviews are 5-star, Lending Enabled

Susan Yates, best-selling author of And Then I Had Kids and How to Like the Ones You Love, now offers encouragement and guidance to parents of teens and preteens. Drawing from her experiences raising five teenagers, she offers parents a unique blend of stories, compassion, and advice. Yates empathizes with parents whose children struggle with communication, peer pressure, and faith–every parent of a teen!–while also considering teenagers’ perspectives and needs. Readers who enjoyed And Then I Had Kids will be eager for this sequel as they prepare for the teen years. With a similar style, it demonstrates how Christian values work within the family and the home. Discussion questions for each chapter make it a perfect resource for small groups, Sunday school, or neighborhood outreach. By encouraging readers to “articulate the challenges and then choose to focus on the blessings,” And Then I Had Teenagers restores hope during one of the craziest seasons of life.

Sarai (Wives of the Patriarchs)Sarai by Jill Eileen Smith

317 pages, 44 of 51 reviews are 4 or 5-star, Lending Enabled

the way men look at her, including her half brother Abram. When Abram finally requests Sarai’s hand, she asks one thing–that he promise never to take another wife as long as she lives. Even her father thinks the demand is restrictive and agrees to the union only if Sarai makes a promise in return–to give Abram a son and heir. Certain she can easily do that, Sarai agrees.

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A Spirituality of Living (The Henri Nouwen Spirituality Series)Takeaway: We are created to need solitude, community and to do service.

I don’t remember when I first became acquainted with Henri Nouwen.  Probably some time in college.  I had read a handful of his books.

This is the one I have read most and I think is most helpful.  His book Out of Solitude covers some similar material from a different perspective, so it is a good supplement to this one.  Because they are both so short, someone should get rights to both and print them together.

This book is a simple explanation about the movement from solitude with God, to community with others to service for God and back to solitude again is apart of God’s created order.

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The Long Way Home (The Homelanders)Summary: Charlie West is on the run, from the police and a group of unknown terrorist.  How can he prove that he is innocent and at the same time stay alive long enough to make sure the terrorists do not kill anyone else?

Charlie West, the hero of this series, has just stopped a murder at the end of The Last Thing I Remember (do not try to read this series out of order).

The Long Way Home picks up a couple weeks later.  Charlie is trying to discover why he has been framed for murdering his best friend Alex (and by whom) while trying to avoid both the police and the terrorists that are after him.

Charlie decides to head back to his home town, in part because of home sickness, but mostly to get to the scene of Alex’s murder.

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By young adult, I mean books that are intended for ages 13 and up.  Not all books are suitable for  younger teens.  Some books are intended for older teens.

Kick with Bonus MaterialKick by WAter Dean Myers and Ross Workman (pre-order to be delivered April 10)

no reviews

Walter Dean Myers has always written about teens, and now for the first time ever he has teamed up with a teen writer, Ross Workman, for this collaboration about a teen star soccer player and the cop assigned as his mentor.

Kevin Johnson is thirteen years old. And heading for juvie. He’s a good kid, a great friend, and a star striker for his Highland, New Jersey, soccer team. His team is competing for the State Cup, and he wants to prove he has more than just star-player potential. Kevin’s never been in any serious trouble . . . until the night he ends up in jail. Enter Sergeant Brown, a cop assigned to be Kevin’s mentor. If Kevin and Brown can learn to trust each other, they might be able to turn things around before it’s too late.

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