Review: "House of Mercy" by Erin Healy

Erin Healy’s House of Mercy (Thomas Nelson Publishers) follows a young lady named Bethesda (Beth) whose family lives on a generationally ran cattle-ranch turned sanctuary to rehab troubled men.  She dreams of becoming a vet, due to her easy intuition at healing animals, and is about to go off to vet school.  One night she makes a quick decision that turns into a very foolish mistake. This mistake put’s her dream at stake as well as her family’s livelihood causing Beth’s relationships with her family to take quite the toll. As she tries to right each wrong she continuously finds herself in more trouble and her decisions continue to have a domino effect.  Mercy becomes personified and Beth discovers a spiritual gift.  She starts to believe in this gift that she cannot control and follows Mercy to once again try to right her wrongs.

House of Mercy turns even more tragic and the magnitude of consequence is made clear.  While not all the tragedies that ensue are clearly due to Beth, it is argued that she is the cause.  Her family ties continue to sever as she fights for control to fix her wrongs and she is given a task to complete that may fix almost everything.  This request unravels a family secret and sets her directly on a journey toward mercy.   She is given an ultimatum and flees the situation to begin her journey and attempt to fix her problems. 

Healy does a great job at keeping the reader on the edge of their seat; suspensefully relaying Beth’s journey.  The story is heartbreakingly universal.  Beth is constantly trying to fix things herself without relying on anyone else, including God.  As she journeys to fulfill the request set out for her, and find her grandfather she is forced to learn to rely on Mercy or suffer even more consequences. 

The constant challenges that Healy’s character’s face and the extreme abruptness that it takes until they listen to God makes them incredibly relatable.  House of Mercy exemplifies through Beth how decisions that may seem harmless sometimes carry negative consequences, but are not always a death sentence.  Healy also quite realistically describes through Beth’s journey that the plan God lays out for us is not always easy; human pride often gets in the way of His Mercy.  Beth must learn to relinquish control and let God use not only her but the people around her to turn her situation back on track.  Healy also relates to the reader in the truth that these other vessels also may take some work before they are willing vessels, and that is sometimes quite the fight.  Healy keeps it real; not all of the characters accept God’s mercy.  The story ends on a suspenseful note, leaving room for some of the characters to change their minds.

House of Mercy, released August 2012, is a riveting, fast-paced read with a redemptive lesson on what mercy truly means.   It is available in paperback or e-book form and Healy includes at the end of the novel the story of when she met a real life wolf that inspired her story of Mercy.

Find out more about Erin Healy here: http://www.erinhealy.com/

"Unsinkable: A Young Woman's Courageous Battle on the High Seas" by Abby Sunderland, Lynn Vincent

This was a quick read about a girl who grew up sailing and decided to follow her dream of solo-circumnavigating the world at just sixteen years old, an endeavor that is unimaginably near impossible.  She is fearless, and strong willed, but level headed enough to know when to ask for help (even if she stretches it out to the very last second in true teenage style).  Her world is so different than mine has ever been, or will be, yet her story kept me interested.  To me, someone that would be lucky to stay afloat in water, the idea of being in a tiny sailboat surfing ginormous waves is awe inspiring.  Her courage that was steady in circumstances where fear is most natural, is something that could only be born of faith.  The narrative switched from her point of view, her teams', and later the rescuers.  This gave the story a more full circle feel.  I'm disappointed I didn't know about her journey sooner so I could have followed along!  I hope she get's another shot, and make's it full circle!


**I received this book free from the publisher for review.  I was not required to write a positive review.  The opinions I have expressed are my own:**

"Unbroken" by Laura Hillenbrand

I'm having a major book hangover with this one, to my surprise.  A friend recommended it to me, telling me how good it was, so I looked up what it was about and was extremely skeptical.  To my delight I was wrong, this story is SO GOOD! During the early pages I was laughing, and when reading the final few I was tearing.  This true story follows Olympic runner Louis Zamperini from childhood, to Olympic competition, to war.  He get's lost at see and becomes a Pacific POW, once free his nightmare follows him and he becomes lost in it.  The immense amount of hope and resilience is inspiring.  All that the body can be put through is astounding.  How God uses the dark parts of life and shines his light through even those darkest places is beautiful.  I cannot highly recommend  that you read this book NOW.

Win Jason F. Wright

Click here: The JFW facebook page

Today Jason F. Wright put out a contest on his Facebook page.  You can win one of three of his books just by sharing a specific post that he's posted! If you win might I suggest either choosing The Wednesday Letters (if you are a book nerd like I am, you will probably think the end is the coolest thing ever) or Recovering Charles simply because it's one of my all time favorites. Good luck and may the odds be ever in your favor ;)

"Iscariot: A Novel of Judas" by Tosca Lee

   I started reading Iscariot: A Novel of Judas, by Tosca Lee, very hesitantly to my dismay. I had just finished reading a book that was the first to surprise me with the ending in such a long time, that I was in a bit of a book-hangover.  I've read Lee's previous works and I knew that I had to be all in when reading her novels, but I had waited for it's release for so long that I just couldn't wait anymore.
    Iscariot is a bit of speculative spiritual fiction.  I happen to like Lee's work so much because she stays completely true to what the Bible says and with lots of research attempts to read between the lines.  I've heard and read the same stories over and over that sometimes they become monotonous; she challenges me to really think about what I'm reading...to consider what it would have been like to be that person, to live in that time, how the circumstances would have felt.
     We start off reading about Judas's childhood.  It broke my heart to read about the very realistic possible circumstances that  formed the way Judas reacted to situations, the way he thought, the way he was raised, and the way he was effected by things.  There was a certain sadness that I connected with.  Little Judas broke my heart, and made me realize that we all are Judas.  Most of us, if in his position probably would have made the same choice; many of us, I don't think would ever be brave enough to have been in his position at all.
    The middle of the book felt more like a familiar friend, it's the part of the story we all know so well, this is where the lines are written a little bit closer together.  It is where we have to keep reminding ourselves that Judas was the one Jesus called fried.  It is where we have to remind ourselves how the story ends, and it made me feel sick to my stomach.
   The end of the book I put off....for DAYS.  I would read at a crawling pace and kept setting it down to  do anything but accept how it was going to end.  Sometimes we do things out of love that we really truly do with the best of intentions but they turn out not so good.  Many times we are so close to a situation that we are overcome by the severity of it and we can't see the big picture, we are too overcome to hope.  Is it possible that Judas thought he was doing what was best?  Is it possible that any of us could have so easily been Judas? I think the answer is yes.   think the end of Judas's story is quite sad, he had to have an intense love for Jesus to so whole-heartily follow Him.  Did this love change?  Was it fear, because that had to have been a pretty scary time?  Was it supposed to be out of love, and that part is just burried?   Tosca (I know I should say Lee, but it just feels too informal for her ok?) challenged me to consider Judas's story in an entirely knew way...even to the point of how he died.
    I know that I have rambled on a lot here, but what it comes down to is that you really need to read this book.  Let me warn you it will brake you.  I finished it about two weeks ago and I still am trying to recover.  I can't help but wonder how I would have been.  I am left with so many questions, that in the same answer so many more.  I mean seriously, someone else please read this so we can talk about it together?

12 days of book giveaways

I swear one of these days I'll motivate myself enough to write a book review again, but until then here's a link to win some free books
http://fictionaddict.com/2012/12/05/twelve-days-of-christmas-from-david-c-cook-on-the-fifth-day-of-christmas/comment-page-1/#comment-6988

Want a free Ted Dekker book?

Ted Dekker is giving away free books over at teddekker.com/outlaw . This isn't a contest, you sign up and you get one. More details are said to come.  I don't think this will last for long though so hurry up if you want in. You won't regret it :)