Christian Book Reviews

The Hidden Flame takes you back in time to the early church. You can feel the heat of the day and the cobblestones under your feet as you walk through the streets of Jerusalem with Abagail. She is a quiet, unassuming, gentle lady who has two suitors vying for her hand in marriage. The history of the early church comes alive. You feel Abagail’s joy and pain as she experiences celebration and hardships during the growth of the early church and the beginning of persecution of the followers of The Way. I love the way Bunn & Oke show the traditions and daily lives of the Jews using both fictional and Biblical characters.
This narrative explores the lives of the early believers in ways I’d never thought of. Who were the families of Ananias and Sapphira? Were they angry at God and Peter for the death of the couple? What about Stephen’s family? Were they proud of his sacrifice or confused by what God had asked of him? As the authors explore these questions in this fictional story, they present many truths and make the characters come alive.
The Hidden Flame is the second in the Acts of Faith series. I haven’t read the first book The Centurion’s Wife but do plan to pick it up soon. However, it is not necessary to read the first in the series to be able to follow the story in this book. It was a book that was hard for me to put down. A great book to sit by a fire and read on a rainy day. I’ll be looking forward to reading more in this series! *Thank you to Bethany House for providing this book for me to review. All opinions expressed are mine

Having never even glanced at a Jane Austen novel, I was afraid that reading this book would not be fun. Yet I found myself caught up in the story of two sisters, one levelheaded(sometimes hiding her emotions) and the other very dramatic. This is a tale of sisters who struggle to learn what love is truly about and of their unending loyalty to each other.

What made the book interesting to me were the notes added by the editors. They included Historical and cultural details, information on Jane Austen’s life, references to Sense & Sensibility in films, an unscientific ranking of the novel’s most frustrating characters and themes of faith drawn from the novel and from Jane Austen’s life. I actually caught myself laughing out loud as I read some of the side notes. The comments helped lighten the tone of the book and made it painless and even fun to read. If I were homeschooling my daughter, I would definately use The Insight Edition! If you are a die-hard Jane Austen fan or a novice like me, this edition will show you why Sense and Sensibility is considered a classic.

*Bethany House supplied this book free of charge as part of their book review program. All opinions expressed are my own.

This is a must read for teens. It tells what could happen when they let their emotions dictate their actions. It is very pro-life and has no profanity, sex or violence. It’s short and economically priced. I have bought several copies for gifts.