Review: Offerings: A Love Story by Tina Williams

Offerings: A Love Story is a book I found surfing around Amazon one night.  It had the "Look Inside" feature, so I read a few pages and it didn't turn me off as many self-published books do.  I decided to give it a try.  I'm not sorry I did.  It is a Catholic faith-based novel about Jack, a 30 year old bachelor who proposes to a recent high school graduate who works in the diner in his farm town.  The proposal came before the courtship, not after, because she was pregnant with another man's child, and that man (boy really) didn't want anything more to do with her or the baby.  Offerings: A Love Story is the story of how their relationship grows from one of convenience to one of love.

It is a self-published novel, and like many self-published books, it could use a good editor.  Including elements of the Catholic faith was important to the author, and since the characters are Catholic and preparing for marriage and the baptism of a baby, there are plenty of opportunities to work Catholicism into the plot naturally.  However, I think Williams went overboard on at least a couple of occasions.  There were some details revealed at the end of the book that I think could have been worked into a more effective opening for the book--as it was, Jack just didn't seem real in his decision to propose.  It was understandable why she accepted, but not why he asked.  By the time we learn, it really doesn't matter.

Still, for a self-published novel it isn't bad and if you are looking for a novel that shows Catholic characters acting Catholic, this is one.    Grade:  B-

Sunday Snippets--A Catholic Carnival

Welcome to another version of Sunday Snippets--A Catholic Carnival, and happy 4th of July.   I've been a busy blogger this week and encourage you to poke around a little while you are here.  I would like to call your attention to my review of Resisting the Devil, a book I got from the Catholic Company.  I pondered the role of money in our lives.    Another book I read is called A Mother's Hope and I highly recommend it.

What did you write about this week?  Go to your blog and create a post called Sunday Snippets--A Catholic Carnival and in it highlight one or more of your posts for the week.  Include a link back here.  Then sign Mr. Linky with a link to your post.  If you'd like a weekly reminder to post, join our yahoogroup.

A Catholic Company Book Review

Ok, I'll come right out and say it:   I didn't like this book and I didn't finish reading it.  There, I resisted one temptation to which I often succumb, the temptation to do things I know are wrong (like telling untruths) to please others (in this case, the nice folks at The Catholic Company who provided a complimentary review copy of the book).  Actually I think one reason I didn't care for the book is that I was looking for more concrete suggestions about how I could resist that and other recurring temptations.

What is Resisting the Devil all about?

Do you find yourself struggling with a particular sin or dysfunction over and over again? Do you feel hopeless in finding freedom despite your best efforts? Do you still feel guilty, ashamed, and doomed to repeat a besetting sin, even after receiving the sacrament of Reconciliation?

In Resisting the Devil, author Neal Lozano shows that sometimes evil spirits tell us lies that lock us into sins and personal problems. He explains the practice of deliverance, a way of dealing with such demonic influences that is supported by the teaching and tradition of the Catholic Church. Lozano's "Unbound" Model, based on three decades of experience in deliverance ministry, builds a bridge between the sacrament of Reconciliation and exorcism. People only very rarely need exorcism.

Readers of Resisting the Devil: A Catholic Perspective on Deliverance will:

Learn how to recognize the activity of evil spirits

See how deliverance from spiritual bondage can be gentle, safe, and effective

Understand how deliverance differs from exorcism and how deliverance and Reconciliation can work together

Read the testimonies of women and men who have been freed through deliverance ministry

"Resisting the Devil is a thoughtful work that facilitates a balanced dialogue between deliverance ministry and the Church's rite of exorcism. I warmly recommend this book to anyone journeying with individuals variously afflicted by the Evil One."

-- Rev. Jeffrey S. Grob, Associate Vicar for Canonical Services for the Archdiocese of Chicago

The book gave scriptural support for the idea that demons actually exist and that we are supposed to use the power of Jesus to drive them out.  The author briefly outlines his "Unbound" model of deliverance ministry.  He gives stories of people healed by it  and talks about integrating it into the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

I don't really think this is a bad book, but it is a book that didn't hold my interest nor did it meet my needs.  

Library Time

What does someone with about 50 books in the garage waiting to be read do on a week when no review books have to be read?  Why go to the library of course--well my six year old wanted to go and its too far to send her by herself.  I grabbed a couple of romances by Lori Copeland.
Walker's Wedding (The Western Sky Series) , like A Kiss for Cade (The Western Sky Series) (here is my review) was originally written as a mass-market romance and then cleaned up and reworked for the Christian market.  It is the story of Sarah, the daughter of a rich man.  Sarah's dad will give her anything but what she wants most--a husband and family.  No one is good enough for her.  She runs away and while on a train meets a young woman whose parents have basically sold her as a mail-order bride.  That young woman is in love and wants to stay put.  The girls switch places and Sarah heads west where she meets ranch owner Walker McCay, who is marrying so he can have an heir.  She doesn't tell him who she really is; later the other girl shows up, he gets made, she runs back east--and yes its a romance so you know how it ends.

It is marketed as a Christian romance and the characters do pray a little, and they go to church on Sunday (but we aren't privy to the sermon) and they reflect a little on God's will and their failings, but I really wouldn't call this book very religious.  I kind of figured, even before checking, that this was a re-worked mass market book.  Still, as romances go, it was slightly better than average.

One True Love: Belles of Timber Creek, Book Three was the other book I got.  It too did not read like the traditional Christian romance where one of them has to find God before they can live happily ever after.  However, the characters in general were more religious than in Walker's Wedding, and my search of Amazon did not turn up a mass-market version of this book.  Cooper hurt her foot and gets  put on a wagon train to meet  up with a specialist.  The train is headed by a guy with whom she has evidently had issues in the past.  Guess what happens?  This was a quick easy read, but I didn't find it to be one of Copeland's better works.