Tuesday 15 April 2014

What Follows After ~ Review


ABOUT THE BOOK:

In 1962, life was simple, the world made sense, and all families were happy.
And when they weren't, everyone knew you were supposed to pretend.

For the past year, Scott and Gina Harrison have been living a lie. While they show up at family get-togethers in the same car, they've actually been separated for over a year. To keep up the charade, they've even instructed their sons, Colt and Timmy, to lie--to their grandparents, their teachers, and their friends.

Colt, for one, has had enough, so he hatches a plan. He and his little brother will run away from their Florida home, head for their aunt's house in Georgia, and refuse to come home until their parents get back together. But when things go terribly, terribly wrong, Scott and Gina must come to grips with years of neglect and mistrust in order to recover their beloved sons, their love for one another, and their marriage.

In this emotional story, bestselling author Dan Walsh takes you on a journey to rediscover the things that matter most in life--love, truth, and family. With profound insight into the heart of a hurting child, he reminds us that a time will come to look back on hard times and smile, because we'll know that what follows after . . . is not what we expected at all.

"Dan is an artist and his canvas is the novel, where he uses different colors and hues of words to create a masterpiece. What Follows After is a story that will surely touch your heart and soul."--John M. WillsNew York Journal of Books
Dan Walsh is the bestselling author of several books, including The Unfinished GiftThe Discovery, and The Reunion, as well as The Dance and The Promise with Gary Smalley. He has won three Carol awards, and three of his novels were finalists for RT Book Reviews Inspirational Book of the Year (2011-2013). Dan lives with his wife in the Daytona Beach area, where he's busy researching and writing his next novel. Visit www.danwalshbooks.com for more.
My Thoughts:

Oh my goodness! What Follows After is AWESOME! However, It made me CRAZY!! Why? Well, it is set back in 1962 and I had to remind myself that there were no cell phones, no internet, and some people didn't even own a telephone in their own home! In What Follows After a young boy is kidnapped! Timmy is taken from a diner while his brother, Colt,  goes to the restroom.  Though they are running away, person after person doesn't take Colt seriously and Timmy is getting further and further away with each minute!

While I was reading intently to see how Colt was dealing with the guilt of losing his brother, I was seeing their parents marriage transform with every chapter. The Harrison family goes through so much in What Follows After and while I was going crazy wanting to jump in there and wake some people up and make them help Colt I was so happy to see how Dan Walsh brought this story to a WONDERFUL ending. You see God work in the lives of this family and in others around them. This book isn't just about a kidnapping but it's about seeing God break chains of of bitterness and let truth be revealed and forgiveness be freeing! 

Thank you Dan Walsh for sharing your gift of writing with us! For showing how important marriage is and how two people can work things out! 

You want to make sure this book is smack dab on the TOP of your "to be read pile"!! You will LOVE IT!!!

Thank you Revell for allowing this book in exchange for my honest review!
A DEFINITE 5 ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥'s

Hope Runs: An American Tourist, A Kenyan Boy, a Journey of Redemption ~ Review







ABOUT THE BOOK:

Sammy Ikua Gachagua had lost his father to illness, his mother to abandonment, and his home to poverty. By age ten, he was living in a shack with seven other children and very little food. He entered an orphanage seeing it as a miracle with three meals a day, a bed to sleep in, and clothes on his back.

When Claire Diaz-Ortiz arrived in Kenya at the end of an around-the-world journey, she decided to stay the night, climb Mt. Kenya, then head back home. She entered an orphanage seeing it as little more than a free place to spend the night before her mountain trek. 
God had other plans. 

Hope Runs 
is the emotional story of an American tourist, a Kenyan orphan, and the day that would change the course of both of their lives forever. It's about what it means to live in the now when the world is falling down around you. It's about what it means to hope for the things you cannot see. Most of all, it's about how God can change your life in the blink of an eye.

My thoughts:

Wow! Hope Runs is one of those books that leaves you inspired and anxiously awaiting the next "divine appt." that God has for you! What is a divine appointment you ask? Well, my opinion is when God brings a person into your life and HIS plans work through you or them or both of you together to bring Glory to HIS name and purposes! That divine appointment happened when Claire came to know Sammy and how their lives were changed and now others are being changed as well! Gods purposes at work through HIS Divine Appointment? Indeed! 

Please take time to read this one! You will be changed! You will be inspired!

I give Hope Runs a 5 ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥'s for sure!!

Thank you Revell for allowing me this complimentary book in exchange for my honest review!