Christmas, Lights, and Book reviews

Christmas Lites III was released yesterday and I was lucky enough to get a free ecopy, so I thought I'd start reading... and couldn't stop...

It’s sold to aid those in need, and it’s ready to fill that Christmas need for mystery, intrigue, happiness, joy and more. And I’m loving it.

Okay, I’m not ready to post a full review yet, but each story becomes my new favorite as I read it. Sweet romance, tingling scares, frozen stares, and a hilarious Christmas pudding. The emotions leap and dance like Christmas lights in a raging wind, and the whole is a truly entrancing collection of tales, something for everyone, Christmas for all, and all the happy surprises of well-wrapped gifts under the tree—except these gifts are under the covers of a book.

So now I’ll go back to reading it while you go buy your own copy, in aid of those in need. Grab some coffee too; I might post some more book reviews below.

Christmas Lites III Blurb:

The Christmas season is upon us yet again. Yes, my friends, it is a time of giving, loving, and sharing. Within these pages is a way you can help many people desperately in need of love, support, and goodness: the victims of domestic crime. By purchasing this anthology, you are sending every last dime made off this book to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence. The NCADV is an amazing charity that saves these people and lets them know there is still hope, still goodness, and still a reason to carry on.

Twenty-one authors have joined in this year, giving their time and their stories to these people – and to you. We all hope you enjoy our holiday tales captured in bite-size pieces. Whether you read this on the bus, before bed, or snuggled by the fire, please, do read – and share.

Find it here on Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/Christmas-Lites-III-Addison-Moore-ebook/dp/B00H1KC9UQ/

Christmas Lites will definitely get a 5-star book review. But the stars in the reviews below refer to coffee and content, not quality. That said, I've read some really fun books recently.

Another short story (since Christmas Lites is short stories)  is Mondays with Mephistopheles, by Dan O’Brien. It introduces a very convincing psychologist and his rather unexpected client. Unreal and real are skillfully blended in this 9am appointment and, who knows, maybe there's more to come... Enjoy with a short shot of 5-star dark coffee.

Then there's the short story, Beowulf’s Struggle, by Shana O’Quinn which offers an intriguingly different take on Beowulf, blending language old-fashioned and modern as surely as it blends mythology. Drink a lively easy-drinking 2-star coffee with this one.

But it's Christmas, and the best tales must surely be children's books--short by adult standards perhaps, but fun fast reading filled with fun. A Boy Called Duct Tape, by Christopher Cloud is no exception--an excellent kids' adventure story with intelligence and heart, where Pablo, Pia and Kiki go in search of underground treasure while Mom works too hard. Enjoy with a well-balance smooth cup of 3-star coffee.

Christmas might also be a time for Christian fiction of course, and I've just read and thoroughly enjoyed the 20th anniversary reissue of a classic, Redeeming Love, by Francine Rivers. Set in the time of the California gold-rush, and built around the Biblical story of Hosea, it's a wonderfully evocative historical romance, filled with great characters, complex situations, and genuine history. Enjoy this rich, elegant, complex tale with a rich, elegant, complex 4-star coffee.

For my last review, Barbara Henderson's Oh Worship the King would make an interesting Christian read. An archeologist finds copper plates in Iraq and publishing a best-selling translation on the internet of Christian eye-witness accounts. Of course, the media fights back. It's really two stories in one, with the center of the book taken up with those nicely imagined eye-witness accounts. Enjoy with a dark intense 5-star coffee.