Indelible by Kristen Heitzmann

Indelible. I felt a tinge of hesitation. I had to read it on my computer, downloaded to Adobe Reader. I'm a book person. I like pages, and paper, and raised lettering on the covers. But it was the weekend - one of those big, long comfy weekends that makes reading a happy event - and so, I decided to give Kristen Heitzmann's recently released, Indelible, a try. I had it read by the end of that long, comfy weekend. 367 pages. It took a top spot on my all-time favorite Christian novels list.

It's a story of redemption, of transformation, of Godly order out of sinful chaos. And it all takes place in the, by all appearances, sleepy town of Redford, Colorado - a rural community situated in the treacherous Rockies. {I confess: I'm a sucker for these rural, sleepy town plots}. But behind the generic faces of Redford's own, lie specific stories - stories of loss in a lost world - abandonment, suicide, abortion, divorce. Everyone has a wound. Heitzmann phenomenally articulates each individual's pain. She takes her reader into the soul of a Fleur, the blind artist; into the brain of Natalie, the young sculptor with the eidetic memory; into the heart of Trevor, a member of the emergency mountain rescue team; into the mind of obsessive compulsive Miles. It is one of those treasure books, in which, you become a character yourself - you taste the fear, sense the anxiety, and revel in the goodness that all the actual characters experience.

Heitzmann writes an engaging thriller - one that is both suspenseful, and yet well-written. A tough combination to find in Christian lit.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the Waterbrook Multnomah book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255

Love Does:

Discover a Secretly Incredible Life in an Ordinary World
By Bill Goff

It's a refreshing compilation of anecdotal stories drawn from author, Bill Goff's very life experiences. He was the kid who talked his way in to law school; the man who unintentionally became a U.S. diplomat; the home-owner who was visited by a foreign prince; the guy who played a $$$ prank on his best friend; the gentleman who sent flowers to the lady who totaled his jeep...

Truly the amazing stories are made all the more appealing by Bill Goff's hilarious style of writing and dry humor. He is able to pull it off, more or less, without coming across as arrogant.

If the book were simply a string of these life stories, I would give the book 5 stars (yes, the stories are that fascinating). However, with every story, Goff tries to weave it back to Jesus. This in itself is not bad, but stretching scripture to apply to stories, and vice versa, is. The spiritual "tie-in" attempts are generally shallow and eventually became tiresome: "[Jesus] already digs us more. And more than that, our pictures are already in His wallet."

In addition, much of the spiritual discourse is very elementary; Goff introduces important biblical characters, i.e., Joshua, Paul, Judas, as if the reader probably does not have any clue as to who they are.  This seems unnecessary as the book is written to Christians, not unbelievers.

In my book, Love Does gets 3 our 5 stars.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255