Daily Archives: December 25, 2006

Announcing John’s Quest

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I’ve just discovered that Heartsong Presents (an imprint of Barbour Publishing) is going to publish my next novel, tentatively titled John’s Quest. The tentative release date is set for March 2008. The story is about an agnostic who falls in love with a Christian. Of course there’s major conflict involved since the scriptures speak against being unequally yoked. I’ll post more details about my upcoming novel as the release date approaches. In the meantime, if you are curious about this imprint, feel free to visit their website:

www.heartsongpresents.com

Until next time,
Cecelia Dowdy
www.ceceliadowdy.com
www.blackchristianfiction.com

Yuletide Stalker By Irene Brand

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YULETIDE STALKER

Love Inspired Suspense
Published by: Steeple Hill Books
ISBN: 978-0-373-87401-9
Publication Date: 2006

SPOILER WARNING!!!

I really enjoyed this book. The author does an awesome job of describing the scenery in Hawaii. I was in Hawaii for my honeymoon a little over three years ago, so I was able to compare her descriptions to what I saw while on vacation. I felt as if I was right back on the island!

Maddie Horton is invited to visit Linc Carey in Hawaii for Christmas. Linc is a military man who gave emotional support to Maddie and her mother after her father’s ‘accidental death’ ten years ago. Once Maddie arrives in Hawaii, she discovers her father did not die accidentally, but was murdered, and the murderers have escaped from prison. The murderers’ family have their sight set on Maddie because they want to seek revenge against her father since they feel he’s responsible for the deaths of their kinsmen. Maddie is stalked by someone, and she wonders if she’s losing her mind.

Linc vows to protect Maddie, and Maddie feels animosity toward Linc since he treats her like a child. Due to their eleven-year age difference, it is hard for Linc to accept that Maddie has grown into a beautiful woman. When Maddie realizes she loves Linc, she hesitates about revealing her feelings because she’s not sure if Linc loves her as a woman, or as a ‘daughter’ because of their age difference.

When she is abducted, you hope and pray she makes it out alive.

This book was suspenseful, but not too suspenseful. I also noticed that the author had a twenty-year-old woman as her heroine and a thirty-one-year-old man as her hero. I don’t see this much in contemporary romance novels nowadays. The heroine is usually older than twenty. However, I believe the author did a good job in making the romance believable despite the age difference. She made it believable because Maddie was so mature for her age. She lost both of her parents before she reached adulthood, which forced her to grow up quickly.

Until next time,
Cecelia Dowdy
www.ceceliadowdy.com

Piercing The Darkness By Frank Peretti

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ISBN #:0-89107-527-5
Published by Crossway Books
Publication Date: 1989
Re-released: August 2002
Re-released by: Living Books(an imprint of Tyndale House Publishers)
Living Books ISBN-10: 0-84236-372-6

Spiritual warfare. That’s one way to describe this story as Peretti focuses on the angels and demons that roam the earth. He gives these spiritual creatures names and the demons are always ugly, wartlike creatures, which I’m more than glad that I’m not able to see. As the people of Bacon Corner, and elsewhere, pray for the safety of the characters in the story, the strengh of the Heavenly Host increases, making it possible for them to defeat the ugly, evil demons.

I believe this novel is considered one of the classics in Christian Fiction. Sally Beth Roe is haunted by her past, which is linked to the occult. Her journey to finding Christ is a painful one, and she is spooked by her memories of ‘murdering’ her infant child. Demons still torment her, and she can only find relief through calling on Jesus’ name.

Meanwhile, Sally’s experience is intertwined with the town of Bacon’s Corner where a Christian school is under investigation for child abuse. Tom Harris has lost his kids to the state as a result of these accusations, and he fights to get his offspring back by banding together with others in the community. This band of Christian fighters include a lawyer and Ben, a police officer, who is wrongly fired from his job.

This was a long novel, and as is typical of Peretti, as mentioned before, he gives his spiritual creatures names and personalities.

If I had to give Peretti’s writing a category, I would dub it ‘Christian horror’ if there is such a thing.

I highly recommend this book. I enjoyed reading about how somebody who was so deeply involved in the occult came to know the Lord.

Until next time,
Cecelia Dowdy
www.ceceliadowdy.com
www.blackchristianfiction.com