Jeffrey Overstreet: RAVEN'S LADDER

The book, Raven's Ladder by Jeffrey Overstreet is at http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1400074673
Check it out.
While you are at it, take a look at the author's website: http://lookingcloser.org/category/journal/
In conjunction with the CSFF Blog Tour, I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

Raven's Ladder is the third book in The Auralia Thread. Overstreet is writing the fourth and final volume to the series, now. The first two volumes are Auralia's Colors and Cyndere's Midnight. The books tells of a dark world with no colors, and the child who knows the Keeper and the child fills the world with color. In this third book, she has grown older and colors are revealed through another child by Auralia creation. King Cal-Raven seeks a place to move his kingdom and his people after their dwellings are destroyed.

The author is aware of the flaws of this book, he refers to them himself, in the story. He asks if we have the patience to hear a story who has too much description and wanders off it course. I have to say I did not always have that much patience, I got bogged now in the lack of story and the inability of the Raven to act. Yet, it added to his point of discouragement.

The author states, "Raven's Ladder is about preserving a vision of hope through doubt, disappointment, distration and disaster." One thing this author does which all fantasy readers look for is he created a world filled with characters, and to walk in this world with the many characters is the books charm.

Sometimes you wonder if the author is making social commentary which is too thinly disquised. I found if I laid the book now, I was in no hurry to pick it up, so it never grabbed me, and made me read to the end. I struggle with getting through this book. I felt it lack a thread to hold it all together, and sometimes you don't need three modifiers for a noun.

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A new book by Lynette Eason

Too Close To Home, by Lynette Eason, published by Revell, a division of Baker Book House. Lynette Eason is the author of three romantic suspense novels, and a member of American Fiction Christian Writers and Romance Writers of America. A homeschooling mother of two, she has a master's degree in education from Converse College.

A main character, Samantha Cash is a computer nerd and the FBI's secret weapon. When missing teens begin turning up dead in a small Southern town, Samantha is assigned to help the local police chief Connor Wolfe find the killer. And he has two problems with that. There's her faith--in God and herself. And then there's the fact that she looks exactly like his late wife.

As they get close to an answer, the case becomes personal. The killer seems to be taking an interest in Connor's 16-year-old daughter, who thinks her dad is getting way too protective.

A book for you and your teen, read it together or read it first and hand it on. With the threat of predators on the internet this book is a must read for you to keep your child safe. Understanding anyone can approach your child on the net, especially if they have a computer in their room, where they spend time unmonitored. For your teen, it shows how a "friend", may be someone with an intent to harm.

I received a complimentary copy from the publisher. Too Close To Home, is Book One, of the Women of Justice series.