BOOK REVIEW: "Journey To Riverbend" by Henry McLaughlin (Tyndale)

TITLE: Journey To Riverbend

AUTHOR: Henry McLaughlin

GENRE: Christian Fiction
ISBN: 978-1-4143-3942-9
PUBLISHER'S SUMMARY: "Michael Archer is nothing if not a man of his word. Though he was unable to save Ben Carstairs, Michael is determined to carry out Ben’s dying wish: to be reconciled with his father. Unfortunately, Sam Carstairs, one of the most ruthless businessmen on the frontier, has no use for his own son, much less a man of God seeking reconciliation.
Soon after arriving in Riverbend, Michael meets and falls for the stunning Rachel Stone while waiting for Sam to return from a business trip. Beautiful yet guarded, Rachel seems to be running from a past as dark as Michael’s.

When word reaches town that Sam has been kidnapped on the stagecoach home, Michael offers to join the search party formed by the local sheriff. With a budding romance behind him and a dangerous rescue ahead of him, he sets out on the trail, determined to complete his journey no matter the cost."

MY REVIEW:

Well, it has been a very long time since I've been impressed by a work of Christian fiction and I was thus quite surprised to find myself enjoying this book very much!

There are three main characters in this book. Sam Carstairs is all set to be the villain of the tale and winds up a victim of the consequences of his own evil choices. I flip-flopped between detesting him, and pitying him, and even occasionally admiring him. Rachel Stone struggles to continue being a new creation in Christ after being rescued from a life of prostitution. Caught in the middle between the townsfolk's unforgiveness of her past and the Redeemer's forgiveness, she strives to keep a right perspective. Michael Archer has a difficult past of his own but now he's on a mission to make amends with stranger Sam Carstairs on behalf of his estranged and now-deceased son Ben Carstairs. Michael arrives in Riverbend to find that Sam is out of town, and while he's passing the time until Sam returns he falls in love with Rachel. Rachel isn't sure if she has it in her to ever love and trust a man again. Sam doesn't arrive home on the stage- he's been kidnapped! Michael joins the search for Sam and the book takes a turn for the sinister and suspenseful...
As I said I was quite impressed with this book. It keeps it's Christian focus. I find alot of Christian fiction novels throw God in there as an afterthought but this book does not. The main characters were a little less defined than I like and the who's who was a tad hard to follow at times. The story was gripping and I was up until 3am trying to finish this book because I couldn't put it down. There were a few parts that were a bit too descriptive and/or unnecessarily gruesome for me so I would not recommend this book for immature readers. Overall I liked it very much and give it 5 stars out of 5.

I reviewed this book for Tyndale publishers in exchange for a free review copy of the book. No other compensation was received and I was not told what to say. My opinions, good and bad, are my own and have not been coached or influenced in any way.

You can read the first chapter HERE.

BOOK REVIEW: "Tithing - test me in this" by Douglas LeBlanc

TITLE: Tithing; test me in this
AUTHOR: Douglas LeBlanc
GENRE: Spiritual Growth & Christian Thought
ISBN: 978-0-8499-4608-0

PUBLISHER'S SUMMARY: "Stories of people who live a generous and happy life (and why you'll want to live that way too.) Journalist Douglas LeBlanc travels the nation to talk with believers whose lives have been enriched by the ancient spiritual discipline of tithing. He discovers people along the way who do not understand the practice as an onerous law but as God’s call to a life of generosity and compassion. The effect on their lives is dramatic. LeBlanc talks with a variety of believers—from a pastor in the south side of Chicago to progressive Episcopalians, from an Orthodox rabbi to an Eastern Orthodox priest and his wife. By holding their gifts with open hands, they are drawn deeper into a life of joy and sharing that begins in the very heart of God. A volume in the eight book classic series, The Ancient Practices, with a foreword by Phyllis Tickle, General Editor."



I hate doing negative reviews but I believe a review isn't worth anything if it's not honest so: I was hoping that somewhere in this book it would talk about the history of tithing in depth. How and why it started. How it became such an unknown or ignored practice in our culture. I was hoping for all this in addition to real life examples of people who have been blessed by tithing. But all I found were the stories. And they were disorganized, difficult to read. Sometimes hearing the story in the person's own words loses something when it's put into print. Especially if the author interrupts the story with back story and other relevant and irrelevant factoids at certain points during the telling. I found myself having to read that last sentence or paragraph that I just read over and over again until I finally got it. Add to that the increased confusion of an ordinary Christian with Baptist and Mennonite background trying to comprehend Episcopal terminology, and it was a very difficult read. Some chapters I re-read as many as 4 times trying to follow them but my mind kept wandering and just wouldn't seem to track the story.
Not all the stories were difficult to track though. Some were just plain creepy. Like the doctrine of the interviewee is skewed and contrary to scripture and they are preaching it like it's gospel and reading that just gave me the shivers. One or 2 of the stories toward the end were actually interesting enough for me to stay focused and get something out of. All in all it was not an impressive read. I kept waiting for a final chapter to touch on those pesky historical and cultural questions I opened with, but none was forthcoming. I think the answers to some may have been scattered throughout the book but the lack of fluidity and understandability confounded any ability I may have had to mentally tie them together into a complete thought.
Cons: This book was very hard to focus on, difficult to understand, hopping around, breaking up, and scattered. Difficult to get anything out of except an irritation over the time I spent trying to get into it and failing miserably.
Pros: A couple of the people interviewed had some good things to say about tithing and our current culture.

 
Bottom line? I'd give it 1 out of 5. I wouldn't read it again, I wouldn't recommend it to others. Reading it felt like hiking up a mountain to see the view, it turns out to be a steep and difficult climb rather than a hike, and when you finally get to the top, there is no view at all.


*This book was reviewed for Thomas Nelson's BookSneeze blogger review program. I received a free copy of this book for review purposes. No other compensation was received. My opinions are my own and have not been edited or influenced by the publisher in any way.