In Memory of My Dear Mamaw

 My Dear Friends,

Woman By The Grace of God began quite a few years ago as an outlet for keeping up with the antics of our principessa and sharing such with loved ones. It then shifted toward book reviews, which I thoroughly enjoy, but I have intended for a while to add other content as well. Thursday evening my mamaw suddenly passed from this earth into the arms of the Lord. This is my tribute to her. I share it here to honor her. May those of us left behind be comforted until the day we meet again in Glory.

When asked if I was interested in sharing at Mamaw’s funeral, my no was immediate. I talk a lot, but I am much better at doing something so delicate and respectful as memorializing my dear grandmother in writing. So I opened my iPad to start writing and happened to  see my review of a book called The Extraordinary Deaths of Mrs. Kip. Quick backstory: cub reporter Aidyn gets too big for her britches and her editor needs to put her in her place, so Aidyn is tasked with writing the obituary of some random old lady in a hospice house. Roll with me, y’all; I’m going somewhere with this.

Like any well written story, there’s a lot going on under the surface. Clara Kip is not just a random old lady. She has lived an extraordinary life because of the way God used her, but the thought of allowing cancer to steal her life in a slow and un-extraordinary way chafes. She decides that she will answer three of Aidyn’s questions about her life for every extraordinary death Aidyn can think of to spice up her obituary. The truth of Mrs. Kip’s life experiences and lessons write themselves into a phenomenal tribute to the woman.

To my knowledge, Lois Holland did not necessarily live an extraordinary life. She was a wife, a mother, a grandmother, a child of God. What she did extraordinarily, was love. I realize I am one of many arrows in her quiver. Her four children had children who had children and I don’t even know if I could count us all if I tried. But when she talked with me I felt like I was treasured. When she spent time with me, I knew I was her pride and joy, and I guarantee that every one who had the honor to know and love her could say the same. The immediate thought is that I must be talking only about her family and close friends. I’m not. I’ll never forget coming to Indianapolis to celebrate Mamaw’s and Papaw’s 50th wedding anniversary and meeting more people from their church than I can count, every one of them honored to know them, and I understand completely.

Several years ago now, I was in Indy with my momma and daughter, and Mamaw was able to go on some museum adventures. We had a day when we went to the Indiana State Museum and took our time exploring exhibits. At some point in the day she learned that I like Greek food, so she insisted on taking us to a Greek restaurant she had heard was quite good. I don’t remember the food, but I remember sitting at the table with her and my eight year old daughter, having an extraordinary lunch. Then she mentioned being curious about the Mexican bakery near her house, so we went on an adventure to find some delightful south-of-the-border desserts. It was not a bakery, but we did find a couple sweet treats and some stick on mustaches. On another day, we went for a drive to South Bend to check out a children’s museum and she was delighted to choose Fazzoli’s for lunch with her girls. As I tell you all of this, I know you are hearing about us going and doing specific things, experiencing specific events. What I am feeling the same extraordinary warmth we felt when we were with her. The engagement of simply abiding in the great love of Christ that radiated from her.

And an extraordinary death? I pray that if I can’t slip quietly and unexpectedly into the Father’s arms, I can go as she did, just after family dinner with loved ones and in a way that allowed her to be unaware of the pain. Extraordinarily loving and extraordinarily loved. My heart hurts with missing her, but thrills for the Lord’s extraordinary mercy in calling her Home.

Book Review - Critical Alliance

Have you ever gotten to the big reveal in a mystery and been disappointed that you totally saw it coming? I have got to hand it to Elizabeth Goddard; I totally did not see the whodunnit coming in her final installment of her Rocky Mountain Courage series, Critical Alliance. What I did see, was the simmering love interest between the super intelligent Mackenzie Hanson and DSS Special Agent Alex Knight. And I saw how Jack and Terra from Present Danger and Nathan and Erin from Deadly Target were expertly woven into Critical Alliance to bring the trilogy full circle with friends we already know and love.

Mackenzie messed up big time as a frustrated youth and has suffered consequences far beyond the legal ramifications, as years of estrangement have kept her from her family. Driven by the need to right her wrongs, she has worked passionately to counter the measures that took her down a destructive path. All of a sudden, her youthful misadventures have dragged her back home to Montana on a mission to save her family and their lucrative tech business from a cyber criminal bent on revenge. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, Mackenzie finds herself thrown into a situation where she must count on the one guy who won’t stay off her mind. Romance has to take a back seat to quietly and quickly putting her attacker in his place, but it is so difficult when Alex keeps being so incredibly irresistible.

Alex Knight is supposed to be on a mandatory three week vacation, but it is not easy to rest and relax when the terrible events of his most recent assignment plague his waking and sleeping hours alike. Furthermore, someone has defaced the Rocky Mountain Courage memorial again. This time, the damage is done to the his father’s memorial. Catching the vandal will be the diversion he needs. Alex finds himself with a much larger diversion when he finds the girl who got away in his own neck of the Montana wilderness, especially when he finds that she is in need of protection. Solving two separate cases that shouldn’t even be his keeps Alex entirely too busy to be sidetracked for his feelings for Mackenzie. At least it should, but how can he stifle the Mackenzie makes him feel?

I am not going to pretend that I actually sat down and read this book in one sitting. It is back to school time and our household contains one groomsman, one matron of honor, and one incredibly adorable maid of honor for a wedding that is approaching at a rate that sure does feel like warp speed. So what I can honestly tell you is that I did absolutely devour Elizabeth Goddard’s finale to her Rocky Mountain Courage series in one day. I’ll spend the next few days making up for everything I put off for the sake of this delicious binge read, but I have absolutely zero regrets.

Critical Alliance, the finale to Elizabeth Goddard’s Rocky Mountain Courage series, is available now from your favorite local bookseller or online:

Baker Book House     Christian Book    Barnes & Noble    Amazon

Thank you to the author and publisher for allowing me a copy to read and review. All opinions expressed here are my own and are completely genuine.

Book Review - The Extraordinary Deaths of Mrs. Kip

Sometimes I read a book that is just too big to review. Its impact is simply too grand to express with mere words. The ideas, themes, quotes sit so profoundly in my mind and on my heart. The Extraordinary Deaths of Mrs. Kip is certainly one of those books. It is particularly moving if you have known a Mrs. Kip of your own.

Aidyn Kelly is a cub reporter for the Kansas City Star with dreams and confidence bigger than her britches. To put her in her place, her section editor sends her to interview a little old lady in a hospice house. The grand insult: Aidyn is to write the obituary of one Mrs. Clara Kip. This assignment is a hurdle to be cleared on Aidyn’s climb out of the hole she has dug for herself, but God and Mrs. Kip have other plans. Cancer may try to knock the wind out of Mrs. Kip’s sails; it cannot, however, knock the shenanigans out of the spunky little old lady who is determined to “…love people as best as I could for as long as I was privileged to be with them.” As Aidyn attempts to get to the real story, an agreement is formed: Mrs. Kip will answer three questions for every extraordinary death Aidyn can create for her. But the truly extraordinary deaths of Mrs. Kip do not come from the young reporter’s creative mind and are an exquisite gift wrapped in prose that speaks to the reader on a blessedly intimate level.

The Extraordinary Deaths of Mrs. Kip by Sara Brunsvold is available now from your favorite local bookseller or online:

Baker Book House      Christian Book      Barnes & Noble      Amazon

Thank you to the author and publisher for allowing me a copy to read and review. All opinions expressed here are my own and are completely genuine.

Book Review - Among the Innocent

Ten years ago, the peaceful Amish community outside St. Ignatius, Montana was rocked by a family’s gruesome murder. Leah Miller is the only survivor, left orphaned and taken in by the town’s police chief and his wife. Now Leah is an officer on the force and responding to a phone call about a missing girl, a girl whose family farm sits right next to the one that belonged to Leah’s family. A girl whose secrets and circumstances seem a little too familiar to Leah. She’s not the only one who recognizes the similarities; her new police chief, Dalton Cooper, is holding on to the secret that he was best friends with the man who took the blame for those murders. And there’s no way Harrison could have been responsible for what happened to Leah’s family and what has now happened to Beth Zook, since he’s dead now. One thing is certain, though: the murderer is not finished with Leah Miller.

Mary Alford pens intense suspense in Among the Innocent. My attention was piqued from the very beginning and held throughout the entire pulse-pounding sequence of events. This was the first I’ve read from this author, but it certainly won’t be the last.

Among the Innocent is available now from your favorite local bookseller or online:

Baker Book House        Christian Book        Barnes & Noble        Amazon

Thank you to the author and publisher for allowing me a copy to read and review. All opinions expressed here are my own and are completely genuine.

Book Review - Sunburst

There’s a reason why Kingston triplet Ranger is known as Danger Ranger, and it is solidified by his absolute devotion to his team and his career as a SEAL and a sniper. Danger Ranger Kingston does his duty, even on the occasion when his duty was to walk away from the only woman who had ever managed to open his heart to the what-ifs. When that duty involves slipping into the Nigerian wilderness to rescue hostages from the Boko Harem, Ranger knows he and his brother Dodge will be rescuing their triplet Colt, but he is surprised to find the hostages include the woman he never should have lost. Noemi Sutton is determined to escape and find help for her fellow hostages, but her loyalty to Blessing is a weapon their captors can wield effectively against her. When Ranger and Dodge slip into the camp and rescue them, she is unprepared to face a savior who had so deeply wounded her in the past. Getting split from the rescue team is just further proof that she is not good for him, but they have to work together to get away from the terrorists who pursue them and make their way to safety. If that means Noemi must keep up the pretense that the wounded warrior traveling with her and Blessing is her husband, then so be it. At least, until the moment they find themselves face to face with her uncle, a tribal king with resources to keep them safe and an opportunity for Noemi to know her mother’s family. The friction of the push and pull between desire and self defense between Ranger and Noemi creates a delicious heat that burns from their first encounter and doesn’t stop.

Sunburst is the second Sky King Ranch novel from author Susan May Warren. Warren is an excellent storyteller and it is particularly enjoyable to read her novels as familiar characters we already know and love help drive the story. For example, our Jones Inc. buddies from the Global Search and Rescue series are back again to facilitate the rescue of Colt, Noemi, and the others kidnapped with them by the Boko Harem. Another particularly enjoyable element of Warren’s novels, which is displayed in full glory in Sunburst, is her dedication to research of the places and cultures represented within. I read Sunburst with a search window open at all times as Ranger, Noemi and Blessing made their way across Nigeria and as Uncle Efe and Aunty Precious throw a traditional wedding to celebrate the marriage of their dear departed sister’s only child. Kola nuts and jollof rice, the path of the Forcados and Niger rivers, the locations of the towns named along their escape route all came to life between Warren’s rich storytelling and the searches. And don’t skip the dedication on this one; SMW fans will have a greater understanding of how precious this one is after reading the dedication.

Sunburst, the second novel in the Sky King Ranch series by Susan May Warren, is available now from your favorite local bookseller or online:

Baker Book House        Christian Book        Barnes & Noble        Amazon

Thank you to the author and publisher for allowing me a copy to read and review. All opinions expressed here are my own and are completely genuine.

Book Review - Elysium Tide

James Hannibal has firmly established himself in my must-read list and Elysium Tide is the latest addition to the collection. Dr. Peter Chesterfield, senior attending neurosurgeon at Royal London Hospital, is plummeting toward burnout and a forced vacation is just what the chief medical officer ordered. Detective Lisa Kealoha has worked hard to overcome the circumstances of her youth and return home from L.A. to head up the gang task force for the Maui Criminal Investigative Division. Things are already getting hot on the island when the two collide after Peter tries to save the life of Lisa’s friend, and then continue to collide through the course of her investigation into Kelly’s murder and a host of other criminal activity surrounding it. Peter has his own investigation to conduct after he fails to save the woman he found floating in the surf outside his luxury hotel, and he will conduct that investigation with or without Lisa’s help. 

Sabotage and auto theft, murder and intrigue keep the plot flying like a modified Mustang over hidden smuggler’s tracks toward a satisfying conclusion. Written with great still to keep the reader engaged until the very end, Hannibal has delivered yet another gloriously successful action novel, further solidifying his must-read status.

Elysium Tide by James Hannibal is available now from your favorite local bookseller or online:

Baker Book House            Christian Book            Barnes & Noble            Amazon

Thank you to the author and publisher for allowing me a copy to read and review. All opinions expressed here are my own and are completely genuine. 

Book Review - Where The Road Bends

After losing both her father and mother to illness, Norah King finds herself engaged to a man she hardly knows in order to save her family’s land. As her only option for her future, things are set quite clearly for Norah until she finds vultures circling a wounded creature on her land and discovers that the creature is, in fact, a severely wounded man. A rather large severely wounded man, penniless and lost, searching for direction toward a life he hopes will look very different from the one he had before he was beaten and left for dead. While tending to Quincy’s physical wounds, Norah finds that Quincy brings a comfort to her life even as she brings comfort to his. However, they both must move forward into whatever may come, and he is compelled to leave as soon as he has recovered enough to travel. Neither one aware of what has transpired in the other’s life, the two are brought together in desperation again years later. Will the bond they unintentionally shared before be strengthened by the events that took place in the interim? Or will their hardships and secrets be too much to overcome?

Rachel Fordham writes with great detail a compelling story of loss and of love in Where The Road Bends. Without a family, Norah’s great yearning is to grow one of her own. And yet, some wounds are hard to heal. By crafting a cast of cast-offs with great heart, Fordham explores themes of forgiveness, as well as redemption and hope. Where The Road Bends is romance and more as Quincy and Norah, Alice, Mrs. Dover, Nels, and others learn that who they were does not negate who they have become.

Where The Road Bends by Rachel Fordham is available now from your favorite local bookseller or online:

Baker Bookhouse        Christian Book            Barnes & Noble        Amazon

Thank you to the author and publisher for allowing me a copy to read and review. All opinions expressed here are my own and are completely genuine.