Rise of the Mystics (Beyond the Circle Book #2) by Ted Dekker
read my earlier review of the first book The 49th Mystic by Ted Dekker
Revell publication October 2018

I turned off commenting long ago on the blog but I welcome comments at the Facebook page here.

The 49th Mystic (Beyond The Circle #1) by Ted Dekker
May 2018, Revell/Baker Publishing group
Review copy from publisher, thank you for your generosity!

Some say the great mystery of how one can live in two worlds at once died with Thomas Hunter many years ago. Still others that the gateway to that greater reality was and is only the stuff of dreams.

They are wrong. In the small town of Eden, Utah, a blind girl named Rachelle Matthews is about to find out just how wrong.

When a procedure meant to restore Rachelle's sight goes awry, she begins to dream of another world so real that she wonders if Earth might only be a dream experienced when she falls asleep in that reality. Who is a simple blind girl to have such strange and fantastic dreams?

She's the prophesied one who must find and recover five ancient seals--in both worlds--before powerful enemies destroy her. If Rachelle succeeds in her quest, peace will reign. If she fails, both worlds will forever be locked in darkness.

So begins a two-volume saga of high stakes and a mind-bending quest to find an ancient path that will save humanity. The clock is ticking; the end rushes forward.

Ready? Set?

Dream.

The novel focuses in on a strange little town of Eden all on its own, dependent on each other as a whole with a new world order and Rachelle must go on a journey to save it from itself. It's a little bubble of a town and nothing goes in and nothing goes out. But the Shadow Man is there suddenly and Rachelle and her life are turned upside down.

"What begins as White that man has made Black?" is the first riddle that Rachelle needs to solve to save her little Eden. Rachelle is blind (but are we all blind anyway?) and the Shadow Man comes along and heals her blindness (or was it a scientific breakthrough) then kidnaps her dad or is it just a spell? Or just a dream? A nightmare.

Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God. and the lion lays down with the lamb. Where is your faith? Is it in the seen? What is your cognitive perception? As Rachelle tries to deal with living in two different worlds and being tasked to save Eden and find five seals to defeat evil she is undergoing a transformation of what she really is. Can she master her earthen vessel and sacrifice that what she holds dear? Can she live up to her prophecy as the One?

"There are those among the human race called mystics who know that God is infinite." - says the Shadow Man who calls brains tissue tops. There is a wonderful fluidity of the writing of Dekker even when your own tissue top brain is struggling to keep up with the reality of what is going on in their world and yet it is so similar to what is in our world in front of us today. "The light only used the darkness to reveal its brilliance."

"God is infinitely secure, the mystics say. Would such a being ever need to defend himself...".
I can't quite accurately explain The 49th Mystic as we have theology and science doing a merry dance in a circle and it brings us to the one undeniable truth that the world is doing its very best to forget and ignore, much to our peril. To read and comprehend this book is a gift, but to actually live out the message is a challenge. Do you dare?

A book that I will cherish and pick up when I need a reminder of my purpose as there are so many hidden gems throughout that one just needs a minute to find one and then a few more minutes to mull it over. It will be a lifetime before I reach the ultimate goal that is hinted at but it would be a blessing to die trying. Cannot wait for the second installment and I also feel so blessed that I have so many other of Ted Dekker's books to read too!

I turned off commenting long ago on the blog but I welcome comments at the Facebook page here.

Hello again! I missed posting last week, summer isn't really slowing the craziness in my life..I had another darn birthday and played with my presents all week.
But I didn't want to miss sharing some of the books coming my way..
For the near future, however, I expect there may be some more skipped Mailbox Mondays since I must.stop.accepting.books. or I will burn my library down.

This first book is special, because I need to see what I can do to help a friend who had a bad experience with Christianity. I am hoping I will be able to learn something from this one that will help me help my friend.

When Bad Christians Happen to Good People by Dave Burchett
Help for those who have been harmed by Christians–and those who have inflicted the wounds. Throughout history, Christians have done considerable damage to others–both independently and in the name of Christ. Each time this occurs, one of God’s precious creations is wounded and the church’s witness to the world is grievously weakened.

For years, unbelievers and Christians have rejected the church because of damaging encounters with a Christian, a Christian leader, or a group of Christians. No matter how much we wish to reverse the damage, however, we cannot reach the unchurched with the life-changing message of the gospel–nor can we protect those still within the body–unless we insist upon dramatic changes within our church communities.

Targeting every person who has ever been hurt by a Christian–as well as those believers responsible for inflicting such damaging wounds–author Dave Burchett calls for a new way of relating that will bring healing to the church and transform our witness to the world.

I bought this one because I loved the first two books of the Two Crosses trilogy, this one is a stand-alone (I have the third of the trilogy to also read soon):

Looking forward to this!

The Sweetest Thing by Elizabeth Musser
The Singleton family's fortunes seem unaffected by the Great Depression, and Perri--along with the other girls at Atlanta's elite Washington Seminary--lives a carefree life of tea dances with college boys, matinees at the cinema, and debut parties. But when tragedies strike, Perri is confronted with a world far different from the one she has always known.
At the insistence of her parents, Mary "Dobbs" Dillard, the daughter of an itinerant preacher, is sent from inner-city Chicago to live with her aunt and attend Washington Seminary, bringing confrontation and radical ideas. Her arrival intersects at the point of Perri's ultimate crisis, and the tragedy forges an unlikely friendship.
"The Sweetest Thing" tells the story of two remarkable young women--opposites in every way--fighting for the same goal: surviving tumultuous change.

And then to complete my Tamera Alexander collection, I bought:

Revealed by Tamera Alexander (Fountain Creek Chronicles #2)
Words, once spoken, can mend a broken life…or cripple it. But words left unspoken can haunt the soul, inflicting a far deeper wound.

Annabelle Grayson has been given a second chance at life, but she can't claim it with the cloud of her past hanging over her in Willow Springs. After her husband dies, she advertises for a trail guide to accompany her to land waiting for her in Idaho—and a most unlikely candidate applies for the job.

Matthew Taylor is a man on the run, with consequences of past mistakes pursuing him at every turn. Meeting Annabelle Grayson the first time was unpleasant enough, but when she crosses his path again, her presence in his life—and what she reveals—is devastating. If given a single wish, Matthew would turn back time and right a grievous wrong. If given a second wish, he would make Annabelle Grayson pay.

From a Goodreads Giveaway:

 The Butterfly Cabinet by Bernie McGill
McGill delivers a haunting, unforgettable story--based on real events in late 19th-century Ireland--of two women linked by a tragic, 70-year secret.


And from a twitter giveaway! YES!
(I really need to get book one now, I wanted it last year, but my request was politely ignored)
Mortal by Ted Dekker and Tosca Lee (The Books of Mortals #2)
Centuries have passed since civilization's brush with apocalypse. The world's greatest threats have all been silenced. There is no anger, no hatred, no war. There is only perfect peace...and fear. A terrible secret was closely guarded for centuries: every single soul walking the earth, though in appearance totally normal, is actually dead, long ago genetically stripped of true humanity.

Nine years have gone by since an unlikely hero named Rom Sebastian first discovered a secret and consumed an ancient potion of blood to bring himself back to life in Forbidden. Surviving against impossible odds, Rom has gathered a secret faction of followers who have also taken the blood-the first Mortals in a world that is dead.

But The Order has raised an elite army to hunt and crush the living. Division and betrayal threaten to destroy the Mortals from within. The final surviving hope for humanity teeters on the brink of annihilation and no one knows the path to survival.

On the heels of Forbidden comes MORTAL, the second novel in The Books of Mortals saga penned by Ted Dekker and Tosca Lee. Set in a terrifying, medieval future, where grim pageantry masks death, this tale of dark desires and staggering stakes peels back the layers of the heart for all who dare take the journey.

The Books of Mortals are three novels, each of which stands on its own, yet all are seamlessly woven into one epic thriller.


And then.. just to make sure I had WAY too many books toppling over..
This is the House of Winslow series, books 1 (on bottom) through 14 (on top) that I won on eBay, by Gilbert Morris. The books will stay on the desk in the library, with the rabbits, since I have nowhere else to put them. My shelves runneth over.

The House of Winslow series started in 1987, and goes (so far?!) to book 40 printed in 2007. The series is inspirational Christian historical fiction, with romantic themes, following the Winslow family in Colonial North America, beginning with the Mayflower, pilgrim settlements, pre-Revolutionary times, and onwards towards the Westward expansion, through the Civil War, you get the picture.

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I also received a few more for review, but since they are a thorn in my side... I am not dignifying their presence with a spotlight. I have not organized my summer reading as I had hoped, and I am fully booked (pun intended) with review books past September. Yep. And that's praying I read like two a week. Not likely.

Bah humbug.