Monday, November 05, 2007

FAITH AWAKENED, by Grace Bridges



Day 3 Tuesday



The main character in FAITH AWAKENED is Mariah, a 22 year old young Irish woman in Belfast. Although she works with computers she feels that her job is part of an enforced slavery by the Masters over all people. Chapter 2 starts out in the most amazing and foreboding of ways. Mariah tells us, the readers, that she is going to tell her story, a story of how great the world once was, and how nearly all of mankind was destroyed. Talk about giving you a hook. Yet, even in the prologue and chapter 1 you get hooked. Grace Bridges is a very unique and gifted story teller. You'll find this out the more you read.



Before I introduce you to the other main character I need to go back to the prologue and jump around a bit. Mariah, in the prologue, is hooking up survivors to a “virtual reality cryogenic system”. That's right. Those left behind, by some horrific event she has not yet shared with us. The gist of things are that only a handful of people seem to be left living on an otherwise crowded planet. For the human race to survive those living must enter into this state of cryogenic suspension. She is fairly graphic in her depiction of all of this. She gives us hints, in that this time of entering a suspended state, are faced with a certain amount of fear and anxioty, as well as welcomed with joy.



Okay, now I can tell you a little about Faith. We start out with her as a young child and “grow up with her” so to speak. The one thing that becomes noticeable about her is her lapses of memory. There seem to be bits of her past that fade away into the mists of nothingness. In fact, there is a feeling of skipping over things when you read this chapter. Believe it or not, this is important. She grows up like any young girl, at least one with Christian parents and influence, but Grace shows all the pain and frustration at trying to figure God out. The teen years are particularly interesting, just as they are in real life. These years are the ones that most of us face some of the greatest challenges of our lives. We either stand or fall, by how we react to these challenges. She does a great job of depicting Faith.



These are the 2 main characters in FAITH AWAKENED. Grace, if I have misrepresented them in any way, I apologize ahead of time. To the rest of you, I apologize that I cannot give you more information without allowing you to experience the story for yourself. It's always a challenge to find 7 posts for a novel without giving away the major plot aspects and the ending. So I ask that you give me a little slack here. I could easily tell you the story, but then what would be the point of reading it? You must read this book, because the story held within is best told by its author, and because there are several messages that you need to come to grips with. As Mariah says, “You won't find any censorship, even though you will mourn for worlds long vanished. I intend to tell it like it really is.” She follows this up with the ominous words, “Really I can't be sure that anyone will ever read this. Yet if the human race survives, then read on and weep for what once was, and what used to be. For it is no more...”





On sale at Lulu Books


Check out her main website at Grace Bridges – The Future is What You Make It


You won't want to miss her blog either at
Grace Bridges' Blog


The best site for information, pics, audios, etc, however, can be found at
Faith Awakened

No comments:

Tangerine

Tangerine by Marilynn Griffith



This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is posting about Tangerine (Revell, January 2007) by Marilynn Griffith (fellow CFBA member, blogger, writer, and mother of *GULP* seven!)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Marilynn Griffith is wife to a deacon, mom to a tribe and proof that God gives second chances. Her novels include Made of Honor (Steeple Hill, Jan. 2006), Pink (Revell, Feb. 2006), Jade (Revell, June 2006), and If the Shoe Fits (Revell, 2007). Her other credits include Chicken Soup for the Christian Woman’s Soul, Cup of Comfort Devotionals and her Shades of Style series (Revell, 2006). She lives in Florida with her husband and children. To book speaking engagements or just say hello, email: marilynngriffith@gmail.com.

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Tangerine is the third book in the Shades of Style Novels.

Fans of Pink and Jade will eat up Tangerine, the third book in the cutting-edge Shades of Style series. Jean Guerra, a designer at Garments of Praise design firm, doesn't like surprises. These days though, the unexpected meets her everywhere. Since Jean's return to the church a year ago, her God-encounters occur with increasing frequency, along with thoughts of her husband-the one she vowed to divorce and gave up on long ago. The one nobody at work knows about, not even her best friend, Lily, or her boss, Chenille. But when the designer assigned to work with Jean on a line of men's suits shows up, her heart flips. It's her husband, Nigel Salvador. Jean is finally rendered speechless. Can her bruised heart become whole enough to love again? Or will she remain in the trenches of loneliness forever?



The book link: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0800730429


Marilynn's website link: http://marilynngriffith.typepad.com/rhythmsofgrace/

THE 3RD COVENANT - a Comparison

The following table shows where THE 3RD COVENANT stands against 7 top authors and 14 other books.

Title

Author

Times out

times per month

Judge and Jury

Cold Moon

Death Dance

Promise Me

The 3rd Covenant

The Camel Club

Violet Dawn

3rd Degree

The Collectors

Web of Lies

The 12th Card

Words of Silk

Above and Beyond

Entombed

No Second Chance

James Patterson

Jeffery Deaver

Linda Fairstein

Harlan Coben

David Brollier

David Baldacci

Brandilyn Collins

James Patterson

David Baldacci

Brandilyn Collins

Jeffery Deaver

Sandra Brown

Sandra Brown

Linda Fairstein

Harlan Coben

CHO 9

CHO 17

CHO 17

CHO 16

CHO 11

CHO 21

CHO 4

CHO 34

CHO 2

CHO 2

CHO 17

CHO 29

CHO 30

CHO 19

CHO 31

2.25

2.43

2.43

2.28

1.83

1.71

1.3

1.08

1.00

1.00

.94

.94

.91

.82

.72