From Sky to Sky, by Amanda G. Stevens

Following immediately on the heels of No Less Days, Amanda G. Stevens picks up the story in From Sky to Sky.  If you haven't read From Sky to Sky, don't bother opening No Less Days.  You can't have one without the other.  You'll be confused and bored.  But if you enjoyed the first book, you don't want to miss this one.

The characters in these books were treated with an experimental serum from a frontier doctor back in the 19th century which essentially immunized them from death.  They can still be injured or sick, but if they experience a fatal injury or illness, they will regenerate and continue to live.  In From Sky to Sky, a new longevite comes along claiming that some of his fellow longevites have been killed.  This leads to a search for the doctor who originated the serum and an answer to the mystery of the dead longevites.

Stevens deals with the question of immortality.  If someone never ages or dies, how does one have relationships with mortals?  Perhaps longevites desire a "cure," the ability to actually age and die a natural death.  And what about faith?  How does one deal with God when one is essentially immortal?  And when one has a century of sin, can God forgive?

I enjoyed Stevens's characters and some of her thought experiments.  She holds back what's happening just enough to have some surprises and suspense.  But the limited scope of the story and the shallowness of many of the characters' actions and interactions kept this from being a really great book.  Still, I couldn't help but wonder about where to find that serum. . . .


Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!

Snug, by Catana Chetwynd

Catana Chetwynd's Snug: A Collection of Comics about Dating Your Best Friend had one primary effect on me: I wanted to immediately go snuggle with my wife.  These cutesy comics about Catana's life with her boyfriend are relatable and honest, capturing the joyful, simple domesticity of two people in love.

Many of the strips deal with typical issues of domestic life: sharing the blankets, negotiating over cleaning duties and dinner, making time for each other.  The overall tone is of a couple full of affection for each other, who love to snuggle in bed or on the couch, and whose favorite place in the world is at home together.  Not only is this their favorite place, but it's their place of recharge, sanctuary, and mutual support.

Be warned: if you don't have someone to share life and snuggles with, this little book will create a longing for the kind of mutual love that Catana and John share!  If you do have someone, well, this isis a great reminder to cherish your time together.  The art is simple black and white.  The characters have huge eyes that make them look like frogs or fish or something.  Even though I didn't really like the appearance of her characters, Chetwynd's tone and themes more than made up for it.


Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!

I Am a Promise, by Shelly Ann Fraser Pryce

I admit I am a sucker for inspiring running stories.  Shelly Ann Fraser Pryce tells her story in
I Am a Promise, a children's book colorfully illustrated by Rachel Moss.  Shelly loved to run as a little girl.  As her love of running grew, she began to realize that she could run faster than other people.  One day her grandmother told her, "You are a promise."  Later, coaches and other encourages would tell her, "You have great promise."

She continually wondered what that meant, to be a promise, but it came together when she competed at the Olympics.  Her coach told her, "You represent the promise of our country."  She ran, and continued to run, as an Olympic champion and world champion.  She is a personification of what it means to represent one's country, family, faith, and oneself on the world stage.  Her story of rising from poverty in a relatively small, poor country to world dominance in her sport will inspire kids to dream and pursue the promise they have.


Thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!

No Less Days, by Amanda G. Stevens

Amanda G. Stevens's novel No Less Days asks the question, what would you do if you could never die?  Bookseller David Galloway hasn't lived forever, but he has lived well over a century.  After a frontier doctor in the 19th century treats him with a mysterious serum, he has survived.  He thought he was alone, but now he has met up with a small group of "longevites" whose resistance to death stems from treatment by that same doctor.

If you want to explore the science and biology of longevity, you will be disappointed.  But Stevens's story explores the human side of apparent immortality.  David, as a lone soul, lived several lifetimes as someone who never ages, without knowledge of other immortals.  In his new circle, he finds fellowship with a community that has been in relationship for a century of mutual support.  What would relationships look like if you could not die?  How would you relate, if at all, with mortals?

Some of the characters are Christians, but even they struggle with questions of church involvement and God's purposes for their immortality.  The questions become even more profound when a mortal human who seems to be onto their secret turns up dead.  How do immortal humans bring to justice one of their own?  There are no easy answers.

Stevens's style is deeply personal and readable.  Her pacing is pretty mellow, with some surprises but not a lot of cliff-hanging.  She does a great job of exploring a speculative idea--immortality, or something close to it--from the perspective of a Christian.


Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!

Loving Your Community, by Stephen Viars

I love to see churches that impact their communities.  Stephen Viars, pastor of Faith Church in LaFayette, Indiana, calls churches to demonstrate love and service in their communities in Loving Your Community: Proven Practices for Community-Based Outreach Ministry.  As often as churches get caught up in denominational politics, theological nit-picking, and cultural commentary, they (ok, we) miss their purpose of sharing the love of God with their community.

Viars's basic rule for churches is: "We ought to be guided by the principle "Say yes unless you have to say no."  He writes that "wise churches look for every opportunity to share love and resources with those around them." He offers very practical ideas from his church's experiences.

I was surprised by his first recommendation.  "One of the first ministries I would lead the church family to start would be a community-based biblical counseling ministry because of the wonderful opportunity it affords to love your community." I wouldn't have guessed this would be first priority, but it makes sense, in that it opens doors for relationships, personal ministry, and impacting individuals' lives.

In the bigger picture, Viars touts the idea of churches as community centers.  Rather than a building that sits dark six and a half days a week, our churches should be hives of activity for people from the community.  I love this idea.  We might be too tied to our buildings being used for "holy" purposes, but what is more holy than bringing people in and creating opportunities to love and serve them.

Throughout the book, I kept thinking, Wow, these ideas will take a ton of time, personnel, and money to implement.  That's partly true, but he offers some help there, too.  And once a church catches this vision, it will snowball and grow.

While Viars's vision may seem out of reach to many in traditional churches, his presentation will force you to stop and think about the purpose of the church and the potential your church has for reaching your community.  What higher calling is there?


Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!

Return to the Reich, by Eric Lichtblau

It's one thing to have a great story, but it's a whole next level to tell the story well.  Eric Lichtblau tells the unbelievably great story of Fred Mayer in a compelling, highly readable, and well-told narrative.  Fred Mayer's story has been told before but perhaps not as thoroughly and engagingly as Lichtblau's Return to the Reich: A Holocaust Refugee's Secret Mission to Defeat the Nazis. 

After fleeing Germany to the US with his Jewish family, Mayer tried to sign up to fight against the Nazis.  Once he told the military recruiter he was born in Germany, they sent him home to Brooklyn.  After the US entered the war, the military was a bit more desperate for recruits and Mayer joined the Navy.  He native German tongue and familiarity with his home country got him a look by a new group, the Office of Strategic Services, a precursor to the CIA.  After a lot of training and waiting around, Mayer returned to Europe, parachuting behind enemy lines on a mission to infiltrate the Nazi's stronghold in Austria.

Mayer's heroism was matched by his unflappable nature.  He was willing to pose as a German prisoner in a POW camp, impersonate a Nazi officer in Nazi territory, and endure torturous interrogation without breaking.  Return to the Reich is a great reminder that while mass troop movements and massive efforts like D-Day were obviously crucial, small moves by small groups of people like Mayer and his team also had the capacity to turn the course of the war.

It's also a reminder of how personal World War 2 was for many.  Mayer disavowed Germany as a result of the treatment he and his family and Jews throughout the Reich received.  About Mayer's return, Lichtblau writes, "He could still remember the pain in his father's face that day aboard the SS Manhattan seven years earlier, as they were fleeing Germany, when they learned that Hitler had taken over Austria.  Now here he was, dropping into that very place to try to help free it from the Nazis."  This is a great read about a great hero.



Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!

Blue Moon, by Lee Child

Fans of Jack Reacher, rejoice!  Lee Child's newest Reacher book, Blue Moon, is classic, hard-core Reacher.  Like most Reacher books, this one stands alone and can't really be placed in a Reacher timeline.  (OK, maybe more observant readers than I will be able to.)  Reacher arrives in town by bus, to an unnamed, medium-sized city.  He comes to the aid of a fellow passenger who gets mugged.  One good deed leads to another and soon Reacher gets caught in the middle of a war between rival Ukrainian and Albanian gangs. 

Actually, he's not caught in the middle.  He instigates the whole thing.  Then he exacerbates it by killing some of the gang members.  Then he kills some more.  In fact--spoiler alert--he kills pretty much all of them.  And it's glorious.  Child spices up the plot with a few contemporary issues like fake news and human trafficking.  Needless to say, Reacher is opposed to both, with fatal consequences.

Reacher's vigilante justice, his heart for the downtrodden, and his absolute contempt for those who prey on the weak all drive him to stick around and keep fighting.  If you've never read a Reacher book, there's nothing wrong with starting with this one.  If you've read all the Reacher books, you will love Blue Moon.