Tea & Read: The Anonyous Bride

Title: The Anonymous Bride
Author: Vickie McDonough
Rating: Two Cups of Tea

Blurb:
Check yourself into the Texas Boardinghouse Brides series by Vickie McDonough, where you’ll meet Luke Davis, marshal of Lookout, Texas, who flippantly tells his cousin he’d get married if the right woman ever came along. When three mail-order brides are delivered to Luke a month later, he’s in an uncomfortable predicament. How will he ever choose his mate? Rachel Hamilton’s long-time love for Luke is reignited with his return to town. So when three mail-order brides appear, she panics. Will she find the courage to tell Luke that she loves him? Or take an anonymous part in the contest for his hand?

This book was extremely cute. I’m a sucker for old West stories (blame my father for making me watch John Wayne movies instead of girly stuff). I’m also a sucker for novels with mail order brides. This book fit both of those loves perfectly.

The story is full of interesting characters. Luke the type a man I would want as the marshal of my town. Rachael and Jack also are well rounded and complicated, moving them beyond the stereotypical standard of women and children in the 1800’s. McDonough gives us an interesting look into the minds of the mail-order brides. Living in a time so far removed, it’s hard for me to fathom marrying someone I’d never met and my only idea of which they were came through letters.

The plot flowed easily and McDonough provides credible historical details. I enjoyed the theme of second chances that McDonough weaves into the novel, each character adjusting to starting over. This is a definitely a good summer read.

Monday Meditations: Rededication

As a former altar worker, I’m normally on high alert when that time of the service comes, even when I’m in my seat. It’s a serious time (not that other times in the service aren’t important) and I am normally praying that God touches someone’s heart.
I’m also searching my own heart to see if the altar call applies to me.

The past two Sundays, the call for rededication has caught my attention, despite the fact that I’ve heard it made hundreds of times. I believe it’s often overlooked. I must admit that sometimes I’ve viewed it as either the Part B of the invitation to salvation or an attempt to get more people to respond to the altar call.

But recently, I actually stopped to think about the purpose of rededication. It’s normally worded like this: “If you have backslidden, come and rededicate your life to the Lord.” And most of us are like, “Nope that doesn’t apply to me.”

But does it?

Rededication is for people who’ve committed some huge sin, right? Or for people who haven’t been to church for a while. We may have been hanging on by the skin of our teeth, committing some of the lesser sins and coming to church every other Sunday, but we’re not so bad that we need to rededicate ourselves. That’s for the real sinners.

Truth is we should probably rededicate ourselves more often than we do. Rededication is a reaffirming of our salvation. When we received salvation, we confessed that Jesus was our Lord and Savior. But when we try and rule our own lives, we move away from Him. We should rededicate each time we "slide back" into our human nature and stop seeing Jesus as our Lord and Savior.

(I want to say a side night about Jesus being our Lord. Many people confess that He’s their Savior because they see Him only as some supernatural Santa to rescue us from our problems and give us stuff. Yes, His saving work in our lives did rescue us from the penalty of sin and death. But we can’t overlook the fact that He needs to be our Lord. Meaning, He rules over us. Once we are saved, we relinquish our right to be in charge of our lives. Jesus is our Lord.)

Am I saying go down to the altar each time the rededication invitation is made? No, you’d drive your pastors crazy. But each time the invitation is being made, search your heart. See if there are any areas that you’ve moved away from God, maybe taken too much responsibility for your life. And right at your seat, pray and rededicate yourself to God.

Tea & Read: Blood Ransom

Title: Blood Ransom
Author: Lisa Harris
Rating: Two cups of tea

Blurb:
Natalie Sinclair is working to eradicate the diseases decimating whole villages in the Republic of Dhambizao when she meets Dr. Chad Talcott, a surgeon on sabbatical from a lucrative medical practice now volunteering at a small clinic.


Meanwhile, things are unraveling in Dhambizao. Joseph Komboli returns to his village to discover rebel soldiers abducting his family and friends. Those that were too old or weak to work lay motionless in the African soil. When Chad and Natalie decide to help Joseph expose this modern-day slave trade—and a high-ranking political figure involved in it—disaster nips at their heels.


Where is God in the chaos? Will Chad, Natalie, and Joseph win their race against time?

It’s not everyday that you find a CBA book about such difficult subject. The human slave trade is a real occurrence and so this book gets cool points simply for tackling such a horrific subject. Harris doesn’t give us the sugary, dressed-up version of the slave trade. She makes it realistic and I appreciate that.

The novel introduces us to Chad and Natalie, both doing humanitarian work in Dhambizao. Both struck me as authentic, God-fearing people. I like the way they struggled with their decisions to do humanitarian work, and their feelings of being overwhelmed with the needs they witnessed. But I did have a problem seeing them swept up into such a huge adventure like they had. I had to suspend my disbelief, but once I did, the story swept me away.

Harris does a wonderful job of drawing you into the setting of the story. I felt like I’d been transported to Africa. Harris’ descriptions of the landscape are incredible. She also does a great job of portraying the helplessness and fear of the citizens of Dhambizao. Their plight definitely tugged on my heart strings even though they are not real people.

The reason this book did not receive the top rating is that I lost track of the characters several times. I had a hard time remembering which person did what and often had to go back and reread sections of the book. I’m not sure how Harris could have clarified who did what, but that fact did slow down the reading a bit. Flow is very important to me as a reader, so I have a hard time enjoying novels that cause me to go backwards. But for those who don’t mind that fact, this novel is for you.