NIV First-Century Study Bible

I have enjoyed getting free Bibles and looking at all the "new" additions for helping with study. With this edition, Pastor Kent Dobson has added information about the First Century and its context with Scipture.

This is the new New International Version of the Bible so it might read slightly different than a typical NIV in some passages. (ie: mankind instead of man in Genesis 1)

The Bible is chock full of bonus material: you will find around 76 maps spread out, 36 charts, 8 models of buildings, articles that dive into the text, articles about the "day in the life" of a first century Jew, small boxed word studies and of course the page notes and book introductions found in most study Bibles.

Everything included in this book deals with a First Century context. This seems to be the hot button in biblical studies - everyone wants to know what was is like, how did Jesus and his disciples read the  Bible.

You'll get the middle-of-the-page cross references as well as the back of the Bible study helps which include: weights and measures, endnotes, topical index, glossary, concordance, index to maps, and more maps.

This is an excellent addition to my Bible library. It helps with my own personal study as well as preparation.

This book was provided, at no cost, by Zondervan Publishing.

Bend Your Brain

Do you love Sudoku? Are you a fan of brain puzzles?

If so, you'll get a kick out of this book.

This is 167 pages of puzzles designed to grow your mind! You'll find a variety of puzzles that are specifically geared toward different parts of your mind. Some are super easy, many are mind-blowingly hard.

The creators were kind enough to provide the solutions at the back of the book, but don't turn there too quickly and miss out on the eureka moment of solution.

Along the way you'll read quick facts about your brain that you probably never thought about.

I found some of the pages to be quite busy with images and puzzles. Sometimes too busy as my eyes had trouble focusing on just one part. But this book will give you a run for your money as far as your brain power is concerned.

This is a great book for puzzlers.

This book was provided for review, at no cost, by Three Rivers Press.

The One Year Devotion for Active Boys by Jesse Florea and Karen Whiting

This is a fantastic one year devotional.

Written for parents with boys, you'll get a year's worth of scriptural devotions and creative activities.

The devotions take up about half the page with the items needed and activity taking up the other half. The print is very small but clear.

After the activity, you'll get prayer suggestions and a Bible verse that inspired the devotion. Everything about this book is fantastic. The activities were diverse enough and full of creativity that boys will anticipate what's to come the next day.

The devotions are incredibly relevate to boys age 9 to about 15 I would say. Jesse and Karen have done a superb job and this addition to the One Year devotional genre.

This book was provided for review, at no cost, by Tyndale Publishing.

The Legend of Sheba by Tosca Lee

For a person who has a short reference from the Bible, Tosca Lee creates an emotional powerhouse of a novel.

It might take you a few chapters to get used to the names and places used in the book, but this story will rock your foundation.

For me, it felt very much like Ted Dekker's AD 30 novel and so it was challenging for me to not think of that book as I had read it first. But Lee has a gift at storytelling and creating characters you can't stop thinking about.

Lee's Sheba has a difficult childhood and it doesn't quite get much better leading her to question pretty much everything about her life. It's fantastic how these characters are from so long ago and far away yet, Lee sets them to resonate with her audience.

You'll get a good dose of love, politics, "chess-playing" in every aspect of life and that creates the depth.

Like she has done with a demon and with Eve, Lee takes a character from a fleeting moment in history and casts a spellbinding web in which you can't escape until the last page.

This book was provided for review, at no cost, by Howard Books.

Let Me Be Clear by Katie Kieffer

These kinds of books really upset me.

I enjoy reading political books, political commentary books, behind-the-scenes political books, you get the idea. I enjoy reading a well-rounded exploration of ideas. Heck, I'll even read a clearly biased book like HRC.

What I don't enjoy is when an author feels she/he can disrespect elected officials - particularly the President. Just a few pages into this book and you'll notice Katie despises President Obama. And to be clear, it's okay that she does! What isn't okay is for her to refer to the President as Barry or any other nickname for the person. It's okay to even refer to him simply by his last name but Katie goes out of her way to belittle by way silly names.

This is how far we have come. There has to be a level of respect for the office even when you don't agree with anything the person holding that office stands for.

I agree with a lot of the points that Katie makes throughout this book, from the inconsistencies, to outright lies President Obama made during his election promises to what he factually did after being elected. I agree that the Millennials were taken to the cleaners by the political machine that was Obama's Reelection Team.

I simply had a sour taste in my mind reading this book. You can tell she's trying to get a name for herself by using Presidents Clinton and Kennedy's sexual failures in connection with President Obama's policy failures of this generation.

So I'm pretty biased against this style of political writing no matter who's in office.

This book was provided for review, at no cost, by Crown Forum.

Alien: Sea of Sorrows by James Moore

This is the second book of a new Alien trilogy. The first book was interesting as it took place between the the first two Alien movies, but this book takes place far into the future - beyond the last Alien movie (Alien Resurrection).

Sea of Sorrows is simply the Aliens movie rehashed.

We have the Weyland-Yutani Corporation looking for the alien lifeform. We have a descendent of Ellen Ripley as the one person to help out a group of military-like mercenaries locate and capture them. We have the colony that has been built around the location of the alien from the first book.

Sound just like James Cameron's Aliens?

Sea of Sorrows is what I have found typical in Alien novels. Group of people enter a place, aliens wake up and slaughter all but a few. Mildly entertaining but not completely enjoyable.

Somehow Alan Decker is a descendant of Ellen Ripley and he has a connection to the aliens by way of emotional telekineses. I don't like when authors give "thoughts" to the aliens. (i.e. Decker can feel their hatred of him, and they "think" about him as the destroyer)

I thought Ripley only had a daughter and then died in the third movie. And, I thought, Ripley's daughter did not have children according to the novel of Aliens. Now, an interesting thought I had was if Decker was a descendant of the Ripley clone. (This would count for his ability to connect with the aliens) But apparently that is not the case.

This just felt too much like a repeat of the second movie for me to enjoy it.

Goodnight Ark by Lara Sassi

This children's book is a delight.

With fun rhyming and illustrations by Jane Chapman (The Bear Snores On) your young son or daughter will be captivated with the story of Noah few have heard.

The animals in the ark rush to the ark and when the rains come, they all pile into bed with poor Noah.

The pictures fill the page with vibrant colors and the quick action words will have your child repeating the story while they play.

Well done, ladies, well done!

This book was provided for review, at no cost, by Zondervan Publishing.