Indie Review: Crucible Heart by Diana Symons

Jenna’s college days ended before they even began when she ran over a small boy while texting and driving—a mistake that put her in prison for two years. She’s now living in downtown San Francisco and trying to build a life as an ex-convict and murderer, but she is still in a prison of sorts, this one a prison of guilt, nightmares and headaches.

Jenna is sitting in the park one day when a handsome young man sits beside her and tells her Jesus can heal her hurts. Her first thought is that he is crazy, but he keeps showing up and one day, after yet another setback, she decides to listen, becomes a born-again Christian, and sees her life start to change. She finds God is real, and not only is He willing to forgive and heal her, but He has plans to use her to reach those around her.

Crucible Heart isn’t a typical Christian romance. It’s edgy, with real characters who are feel like fallen people with genuine faults—even Jess. They face temptations, have arguments, do stupid things and feel guilty, just like real people. They aren’t the cookie-cutter Christians speaking in Bible verses all the time. Even when they do quote Bible verses it feels real, as though they are genuine discoveries made by the characters. It’s exciting to watch them grow in faith, and I guess that sense of reality and exuberance is why I rate it so highly. Yes, there are a few too many adverbs and run-on sentences, but the story is so real that they are hardly noticeable.

One issue is that the whole falling in love thing happened very quickly and they seems to spend more time apart than together. I also question the wisdom in pursuing a relationship with such a new Christian. And while I like the immediacy of the first-person narrator, the weakness is that we only ever see the story from one character’s viewpoint. There were times when I would have liked Jess's point of view.

At the end, the author talks about melting gold in a crucible: “The gold technician knows when the gold has reached its peak of purification when he can see his face reflected in it. Pure, molten gold is nearly clear. When our hearts are purified by God’s grace, he can see himself in us”. That’s a lovely image, and I think Jenna’s story brings it through well. Recommended for anyone who likes Christian fiction with a bit of edgy realism.

You can find out more about Diana Symons at her blog.

Indie Review: The Discipleship Series by Taka Sande

The Discipleship Series is a series of lessons, all in this one book, about the fundamentals of Christianity—specifically, Pentecostal belief. Although it’s only 90-odd pages, it’s not a quick read. There is some real meat in here.

The strength of The Discipleship Series is that it is written in conversational English, using extensive Bible quotations to back up its arguments. It’s not an incomprehensible theological treatise. It’s simple , just like the gospel is meant to be, and reflects his view that “the decisive qualifications for profitable Bible study are spiritual rather than intellectual.”

There is nothing new here, but that’s the point: it’s an explanation of the central views of Christianity (albeit from a Pentecostal viewpoint). Sande’s not trying to lead the church into a new revelation, but to solidify our understanding of our faith, and reignite (or ignite) our passion for worship and fellowship (I found those sections particularly inspiring). Importantly, I didn’t find any areas where it misrepresented or twisted Christian belief (which is more than I can say for some ‘Christian’ books I’ve read).

The weakness of The Discipleship Series is that while it is a solid discussion of belief, it’s not really clear who it is aimed at: the non-believer, the new believer or the Christian who is more established in their faith. There are also occasional typos or misused words, and some formatting bugs in the ebook, but these do not distract from the central message.

Overall, The Discipleship Series is a very readable work which would make an excellent Bible study for young adults, new Christians, or those who would like to understand evangelical or Pentecostal Christianity better. Thanks to the author for providing a free ebook for review. You can find out more about Taka Sande at his blog.

Indie Review: Dead Man's Journey by Phillip Cook

Aaron decides to investigate when father goes missing during his daily run and is found, dead, twenty kilometres away from home—and missing a finger. The investigation leads him to suspect a link between his father’s death and the mysterious ‘vanishings’ of homeless men in Brisbane.

His investigation also leads him back to Mackenzie, his childhood best friend and the girl he left behind. He knows what Mackenzie believes about what happens when we die. She’s a Christian. He isn’t. But when Mackenzie vanishes, Aaron finds himself re-evaluating his beliefs about life and death, angels and demons—and God.

The story is a Christian thriller with a speculative/science fiction backdrop and a hint of romance. It is set in and around Brisbane, Australia, in the near future, has a well-constructed plot and a host of interesting characters (I particularly liked the group of homeless men for their humour). It’s an exciting story that kept me thinking ‘what’s going to happen next?’, and I wasn’t disappointed.

Dead Man's Journey is Phillip Cook’s debut novel, and I will look forward to reading more of his work (and not just because I edited this. I really enjoyed it). Recommended for those who like Christian Speculative fiction by authors such as Frank Peretti or Alton Gansky, and for anyone who wants to support Australasian authors.

Indie Review: Knowing (A Series of Gifts) by Tammy Hill

Ember is unwillingly stuck in Smalltown, Georgia (pop. 15,000), when her mother divorces Bill. Ember is a Christian, although you wouldn’t know it based on her behaviour over the last four years. She strikes up an immediate friendship—and romance—with Cade, and through him is introduced to Mouse, who invites Ember to her church youth group.

As Ember unpacks and settles into her new home, school and church, she finds that she attracts attention not just as the new girl, but as the strange girl. Because something strange is happening. Sometimes, not all the time, but sometimes when she sees someone, she knows things about them—private things, things no one else would know. This gets her in trouble at first, but then one person believes her. And things change.

Knowing isn’t just a standard Christian novel with an evangelical bent. It goes further than that, as Ember comes to know and understand that the miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit detailed in the Bible weren’t just for Biblical times, but are for now. In that, the novel is more Pentecostal than evangelical, yet it manages to dispel some myths about Pentecostals and normalise them. Us.

Those who don’t believe that God gives people these gifts and talents today might be tempted to discount this novel, but they’d be missing something. And think about it: the doctrine of Cessationism is that “miracles, prophecies and such in the Bible existed to help grow the church. They don’t exist now because we don’t need them any more”.

Yet we live in a society where church attendance is declining rapidly, where large portions of Africa and South America are run by governments that are rife with corruption and human rights abuses, and where the War on Terror against Islamic militants in the Middle East has been continuing for more than a decade.

God is being dismissed as irrelevant by the majority of the population. At the same time, large portions of the church believe we don’t need His miracles any more, because we don’t need to grow the church. Are we stupid, or merely ignorant? Hmm. (Rant over.)

The title, Knowing: A series of gifts, implies this is the first book of a series covering some of the gifts of the Holy Spirit as seen in I Corinthians 12:8-10. Ember has shown us the gift of messages of knowledge. I look forward to seeing what’s next.

Thanks to Tammy Hill for providing a free ebook for review. You can find out more about Tammy Hill at her website.

Indie Review: Trust Me Twice by Alison Stanley

Alana Johnston and Zac Whitehouse had been best friends since they were children in Oakley, New South Wales, Australia, and discovered the shared the same birthday. But then Zac’s parents moved. Seven years later, Zac came back. He was cute and cool. And Alana wasn’t. And while Alana thought they might become best friends again, she then overheard something that confirmed it wasn’t meant to be.

Ten years later, Alana and Zac are both back in Oakley. It seems super-cute Zac is now a TV star, on the soap, ‘North Shore’. Not that Alana knew, as she’s too busy with her career to watch TV. Meeting Zac again… the attraction is still there, but she’ll have to work out their new relationship, and review her relationship with God.

I really enjoyed Trust Me Twice. It was an easy and relaxing read, perfect for summer sunbathing (or curling up by a winter fire). There is quite a lot of detail about Alana and Zac as teens, and it was almost too realistic. Remember those times when you said things you didn’t mean, or you said something and it came out totally wrong?

The adult Alana and Zac were much more mature (thankfully). They’d both worked out who they were a bit better, and while there were still a whole bunch of issues to work through before Alana especially could trust Zac again, it was well done. A good read and I’ll look forward to reading more from Alison Stanley.

Thanks to Alison Stanley for providing a free ebook for review. You can find out more about Alison Stanley at her website.