The Promise of Breeze Hill... for free!

Several months ago I received The Promise of Breeze Hill by Pam Hillman as a reward from Tyndale Publishers' My Reader Rewards Club.  

This novel sat in my TBR box for quite awhile because Pam Hillman was a new author to me and I had other things to read by authors I already loved.  However, I finally got a chance to read it today and it was amazing!  It's now sitting in its permanent space on my bookshelf.

So, I wanted to share how I got this wonderful novel for free!  My Reader Rewards Club is the successor of the Tyndale Rewards program. It offers several ways to earn points and then the points can be redeemed for free books -- and they ship for free, too! 

One thing I really like is that you do not have to have a huge amount of points to get a good book. They have very reasonable points requirements and I've had only good experiences with this program.

So, go sign up today and start earning free books!

The 365-Day Storybook Bible

The 365-Day Storybook Bible from B&H Publishing is a padded hardcover Bible story book of substantial length. It does not adhere to any particular version of the Bible (KJV, NIV, etc...) Rather, it is written to summarize the Bible story in words easily understood by children. Many Bible stories are covered in this book, including much of the book of Acts. However, Revelation is not included.

So, as soon as I opened the package containing The 365-Day Storybook Bible, my five year old grabbed it and proceeded to look through it for an extended time. She was able to identify certain Bible stories simply by the illustrations and asked about others. Over the past week, she's picked it up almost every day to look at the pictures. She likes it a lot, probably more than I do.

And speaking of the illustrations, The 365-Day Storybook Bible is good at engaging through colorful, mostly well-done illustrations. However, some of the illustrations are unpleasant – particularily page 206 where it shows Saul committing suicide by stabbing himself with his sword.... I kinda wish they had left that particular story out. Granted, I know it is part of the Bible, but not necessarily appropriate for young children... Also, I never pictured King David with blonde hair...

My daughter and I have enjoyed reading these stories so far. The story and illustrations are interesting to her. If you want the storytime to last the five minutes that the cover advertises, you'll have to come up with some questions and discussion topics on your own because the narrative provided takes two minutes or less to read. The “parent connection” is one page in the back of the book, not something integrated with each story.

I recommend The 365-Day Storybook Bible to parents of children between 5-9 years of age. Its' a sturdy, colorful book that teaches stories from the Bible. However, I don't think it's appropriate for younger children. The illustrations can be bit graphic and some of the more gritty Bible stories are included: Joseph & Potiphar's Wife, David & Bathsheba, Saul's suicide, (Abraham, Hagar, and Ishmael are noticeable absent.) My two year would listen and not ask questions about how Bathsheba had David's baby, but my five year old is inquisitive and these stories have enough detail to prompt further questions. If you aren't comfortable with that, you'd have to somehow skip the pages.

Overall, this is not the best book of Bible stories I've seen, nor is it the worst. Seems to fall somewhere in the middle, but my five year old does really like it and that counts for something.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

My Francine Rivers Shelf...

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Yes, one entire shelf of my bookcase is dedicated to Francine Rivers' books.  See the one in the middle, The Masterpiece?  It releases today and I highly recommend it to anyone!

The Masterpiece by Francine Rivers

Grace Moore is a single mother, desperate to be independent again. When she takes a temp job as Roman Velasco's personal assistant, she almost quits on the first day. But the desire to support herself financially and care for her young son keeps her coming back daily to work for the temperamental artist. Grace quickly learns how alone Roman is, despite his career successes. As their working relationship improves, Grace and Roman are drawn to each other, but their beliefs and traumas of the past keep them far apart. Will they ever be more to each other than boss and assistant? Can God create a beautful masterpiece from two broken lives? Read more in The Masterpiece by Francine Rivers.

I read The Masterpiece by Francine Rivers twice before writing this review and I thoroughly enjoyed it both times. Francine Rivers is a master storyteller and has been my favorite author since I first read her Mark of the Lion series about ten years ago. Rivers uses romantic tension, mysterious histories, and authentic characters with questions and issues to weave a story that captivates the reader's attention.

Throughout The Masterpiece, Grace and Roman's pasts are slowly revealed and circumstances force them to deal with the separate traumas they experienced in childhood. Rivers' characters are throroughly developed, with the reader seeing exactly what makes these characters the way they are. Even as temperamental and rude as Roman was, I had no problem liking him as well as every other primary character in the book.

I recommend The Masterpiece by Francine Rivers to everyone – man, woman, adult, or teenager. It's gripping, gritty, and full of God's grace.

Read an excerpt from The Masterpiece by Francine Rivers on the publisher's website.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."