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Dawn of Grace by Jill Eileen Smith Review and Giveaway

April 8, 2025April 10, 2025 Babbling Becky L

About the Book

Book: Dawn of Grace: Mary Magdalene’s Story

Author: Jill Eileen Smith

Genre: FICTION / Christian / Biblical

Release date: February 18, 2025

From her earliest days, Mary Magdalene has known fear and loss at a level so deep she has no hope of surfacing. Bound to the demons within her and incapable of freeing herself, Mary walks in shadow–until one day she encounters a healer, a rabbi who is radically different from the religious leaders and family members who could do nothing to help her. One touch from Jesus and Mary is never the same.

Now Mary’s one mission in life is to serve the one who freed her. She is determined never to leave his side, fearing that if she loses him, she’ll return to her former bondage. Even when the unthinkable happens and her savior is arrested and sentenced to execution, she cannot abandon him as so many others did. Let her be buried in his tomb, for she cannot live without him.

On the brink of despair, Mary is about to discover that while the life of faith is never perfect, perfect love casts out fear–and Jesus makes all things new.

Click here to get your copy!

About the Author

Jill Eileen Smith is the bestselling and award-winning author of the biblical fiction series The Wives of King David, Wives of the Patriarchs, and Daughters of the Promised Land, as well as The Heart of a King, Star of Persia: Esther’s Story, Miriam’s Song, The Prince and the Prodigal, Daughter of Eden, and The Ark and the Dove. Her research has taken her from the Bible to Israel, and she particularly enjoys learning how women lived in biblical times. Jill lives with her family in Michigan.

More from Jill

Dawn of Grace, Mary Magdalene’s story, is a biblical novel based on the life of Mary Magdalene. Step into first century Israel during the time of Jesus Christ and meet the woman whom Jesus healed from demon possession. See how her life went from one of despair to one of grace.

We learn, through Mary’s point of view, what it might have been like to follow the rabbi, Jesus, throughout Galilee and Judea for at least part of His ministry. She is with Him as often as possible, and one of the few women in His circle who stayed with Him all the way to the cross—and watched Him die.

In her grief, Mary learned where they buried Him and determined to return after Shabbat to anoint His beloved body one more time. But when she arrived, He was not where they had lain Him. Distraught, Mary searches for answers until she hears Jesus call her name. She is the first to see the resurrected Messiah, and she is never the same again.

In Dawn of Grace, we imagine how the things we read about in the gospels might have played out through Mary’s eyes. The Bible tells us that she helped support His ministry out of her means, and she is mentioned often as one of His devoted followers. What emotions did she experience as she went from learning about a coming kingdom to hearing her Messiah speak about His coming death and resurrection? The men didn’t understand. Did she? What did she feel in that moment when she thought all hope was lost?

I hope you will gain a new perspective of what it might have been like for one of the New Testament’s most famous women, one who lived in a world where women were not given much notice or status. Yet Jesus included them, and even elevated them. The Scriptures tell us that there is no difference between male and female in God’s eyes. He loves us all. Mary got the chance to see God’s care for her and all women in a way she never expected. God’s love for all is the same today.

My Impressions

“Freedom coursed through me. This man, Jesus—I didn’t know who he was or where he came from, but one thing was certain. No one had ever helped me like he had. I never wanted to leave his side.”

Jill Eileen Smith authors a well-researched, Scripture-based fictional account of Mary Magdalene that will have you amazed, terrified, and wondering. You will be amazed by the miracles Jesus does as they are fleshed out with details that truly bring them to life. You will be terrified for Mary as you see her descent into demonic oppression and get a better grip on the horrors that began to be an unpredictable part of her life, until she wishes for death. You will be left struggling with the reality of Jesus’s predictions of his death, wondering how much you might understand if His teachings and miracles were a new thing. What if the Bible were happening before your eyes, not something well-known, documented, and read and learned. I read with fresh eyes as the disciples and others see multiple miracles and still struggle to process it all, to believe Jesus is really the Son of God as He claims. And then the seemingly contradictory statements. As much as possible, Smith has Jesus speaking using Bible passages, in a concerted effort to avoid any conflict with Scripture. It is so interesting to view Jesus’s ministry from a woman’s point of view- so many emotions while the men reasoned and argued.

I found it especially interesting to see how Smith handles a few things, like Mary’s need for deep love. “What I really wanted, I didn’t have. I wanted someone to love me.”As Mary follows Jesus, she has accepted that He truly loves her, but she deals with the human emotion of trying to understand how God can love all people equally, when people naturally want to be the most important in a relationship. Can God love Mary ( and us) specially, uniquely, but still love others with the same intensity? Does His love spur us on to do for Him as it did Mary? And doubts. Can we have doubts? I loved how Smith imagines Jesus addressing the disciples’ doubts: “It is not wrong to have doubts and confusion, Philip.”… “It is what you do with your doubts and confusion that matters. Do they lead you to me, to faith and to seeking the Father, or do they push you to go your own way?”

I received a copy of the book from the publisher through Celebrate Lit via NetGalley. I also bought my own copy. No positive review was required, and all opinions are my own.

Notable Quotables:

“We all have a past, Mary,” he said softly. “Everyone needs Jesus to forgive them of something. If we were all holy as God is holy, we wouldn’t need him.”

-Joseph Justus

“I did not come to make friends with those who think they are righteous. I came to save those who know they are not,”

“To realize Jesus accepted the worst members of society comforted me in a way I could not explain.”

“I think we need him far more than he needs us.”

My Rating

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Magnificent! You’ll see Mary Magdalene and Jesus’s Ministry with New Eyes!

Blog Stops

Inspired by Fiction, April 3

Lights in a Dark World, April 3

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, April 4

Texas Book-aholic, April 5

Locks, Hooks and Books, April 6

Abba’s Prayer Warrior Princess, April 7

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, April 8

Babbling Becky L’s Book Impressions, April 9

Life on Chickadee Lane, April 9

Stories By Gina, April 10 (Author Interview)

Devoted Steps, April 10

Happily Managing a Household of Boys, April 11

Cover Lover Book Review, April 12

For Him and My Family, April 13

Pause for Tales, April 14

EmpowerMoms, April 14

She Lives To Read, April 15

Holly’s Book Corner, April 16

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Jill is giving away the grand prize of a $15 Amazon gift card and a paperback copy of the book!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/00adcf54191

ARC, BLOG, Celebrate Lit Tour, Kindle, Purchase

Sheltering You by Robin Patchen Review and Giveaway

August 9, 2024 Babbling Becky L

About the Book

Book: Sheltering You (Wright Heroes of Maine Book 4)

Author: Robin Patchen

Genre: Christian Romantic Suspense

Release Date: August 6, 2024

In the sleepy town of Shadow Cove, Maine, a woman’s desperate flight becomes a high-stakes game of cat-and-mouse.

After escaping Iraq with her twin sister, Jasmine seeks refuge from Qasim, the terrorist she was forced to marry. She’s determined to carve out a safe haven in this peaceful coastal town for herself and her unborn child. But her polygamous husband’s relentless pursuit threatens to shatter her fragile world, leaving her with nowhere to hide.

Enter Derrick, a guardian angel in the guise of a friend.

Drawn to Jasmine’s quiet strength, Derrick vows to shield her from harm, even as the boundaries of friendship blur into something deeper. Unaware of Jasmine’s secret, he agrees to help her rescue and hide another Iraqi refugee woman and her younger brother in the US. Derrick will do anything for Jasmine, his heart yearning for a connection she refuses to embrace.

All the while, Qasim is closing in.

He took Jasmine as his second wife for one reason, and she carries that reason her womb. Once his heir is born, nothing will stop Qasim from bringing him home to his beloved first wife and disposing of Jasmine—and he will take out anybody else who stands in his way.

Join the Wright Heroes of Maine for an edge-of-your-seat international romantic suspense that takes you on the run with a heroine in hiding, a secret baby, and unrequited love.

Click here to get your copy!

About the Author

Robin Patchenis a USA Today bestselling and award-winning author of Christian romantic suspense. She grew up in a small town in New Hampshire, the setting of her Coventry Saga books, and then headed to Boston to earn a journalism degree. Working in marketing, she discovered how much she loathed the nine-to-five ball and chain. After relocating to the Southwest, she started writing her first novel while homeschooling her three children. The novel was dreadful, but her passion for storytelling didn’t wane. Thankfully, as her children grew, so did her writing ability. Now that her kids are adults, she has more time to play with the lives of fictional heroes and heroines, wreaking havoc and working magic to give her characters happy endings. When she’s not writing, she’s editing or reading, proving that most of her life revolves around the twenty-six letters of the alphabet.

More from Robin

Back when I first started writing fiction, I used to worry that each story idea would be my last, that I’d never get another good one. Since then, I’ve learned that stories somehow beget more stories.

For instance, back in 2022, I created a character named Grant, who was secretly in love with his coworker, Summer. In the process of figuring out who Grant was, I realized he had five brothers. All I knew about them was that they grew up in Maine and one had a limp and blamed Grant for it.

I had no idea why.

Grant’s story came out in Courage in the Shadows, the ninth book in the Coventry Saga. Then I told his brother Daniel’s story in A Mountain Too Steep, book eleven in the same series, a bridge to the Wright Heroes of Maine.

In the middle of writing Running to You, the first book in that series, which is about Sam, I “met” his older brother, Michael, a CIA agent, and thought, wouldn’t it be fun if his girlfriend was kidnapped? Oh, and what if she was Middle Eastern? And what if she was taken by terrorists?

Well, crazily enough, that’s what happened. (It’s fun to be the little-g-god of my little story world, always submitting to the Big-G-God in the real world, of course.)

In Rescuing You, Michael heads to Iraq to rescue Leila and meets her twin sister, Jasmine, who’s also being held against her will. And their family has ties to terrorists, which gave me a great idea for the next book, Finding You, which takes place in Germany with Bryan, the brother with the limp.

After he and his beautiful heroine, Sophie, survive their plot, we head back to the US, which brings us to Sheltering You, my most recent release.

And now it’s getting really fun because Jasmine is hiding from her terrorist (and bigamist) husband, who’s searching for her and his unborn child.

See what I mean? Each story births the next.

You’re going to love Sheltering You. Derrick, the youngest of the Wright brothers, is already smitten with Jasmine, but he has no idea she’s married and expecting a child. And she might loathe her husband—so much that she ran from him and is hiding a half a world away. Even so, she’s married, and that means something. So no matter what she feels for Derrick, she can’t act on it.

The situation is complicated, and it just gets more complicated as the story progresses. Which is what makes it So. Much. Fun!

And guess what. This series isn’t over, not even close. We’ve gone through all the brothers, but there are more Wrights out there…cousins. I don’t know all their stories yet, but Alyssa’s is already coming together. It’ll release in the winter of 2025 with some familiar faces—good guys, of course, and maybe bad guys as well.

I hope you’ll check out Sheltering You and all the stories in the Wright Heroes of Maine series.

My Impressions

“Work together? He liked the sound of that. Would that they could work together on more than just a stupid card game.”

Robin Patchen showcases riveting romantic suspense in Sheltering You:Terror in Shadow Cove ( The Wright Heroes of Maine, Bk #4)! I was anxiously scrolling pages as fast as I could with this novel, hoping that Jasmine( Yasamin) and Derrick would ultimately be safe and have their own happy ending. The tension is so well built, whether between Derrick and Jasmine, or Derrick and his brothers, or the Wrights vs. the terrorists! I was happy to meet some characters I’d met in previous books. I was also happy that missing a few books, I could still enjoy this book, but this book also gave me the desire to go back and catch up on the brothers whose stories I’d missed.

Trust, freedom, working together, human slavery, and conflict are all themes explored in this novel.

Talk about culture shock! This is a great opportunity to realize how different life can be for people in other cultures, especially in cultures where women are seen as property and worthless. We as Americans don’t always realize how good we have it. Although Yasmine challenges Derrick when he talks about her need for freedom from her former life. “…true freedom isn’t the ability to do what I want. True freedom comes from doing what God says. True freedom is in walking with Him, is it not?”

Jasmine’s situation is heart-wrenching, in the way it has caused her to think of herself, as less than nothing, unworthy, “the other one” who “is barely a shadow.” I love seeing her growth and her faith.

Derrick starts with what would seem like a bigger advantage than Jasmine. He has a large, loving family, access to God’s Word, and much more freedom as an American. Yet, Derrick, the peacemaker, has a difficult time with his family. He has many copies of God’s Word, but has not studied it like Jasmine has. And his freedoms just might cause him to think the American way is God’s way.

When Jasmine tries to protect a friend and things go sideways, can Jadmine and Derrick work together and possibly become more than friends? And as the danger increases, can Derrick discover his own motivations within the family and work together with his brothers with pure motives?

I received a copy of the book from Celebrate Lit. I also bought my own copy. No positive review is required, and all opinions are my own.

Notable Quotables:

“He gave me hope when there was no hope.” She yawned. “There was always eternity.”

“That was as close to a real apology as a red Skittle was to a fresh strawberry.”

“Feelings were not grains of rice one could simply flick away. They clung like grime, impossible to remove without painful scrubbing and stinging bleach. How did one bleach a soul?”

“Slavery looked different here than it had in Iraq, but it existed everywhere.”

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Magnificent! Intense, romantic suspense with relatable, flawed, characters you want to help and cheer for!

Blog Stops

Babbling Becky L’s Book Impressions, August 10

Book Reviews From an Avid Reader, August 10

Locks, Hooks and Books, August 11

Stories By Gina, August 12 (Author Interview)

Texas Book-aholic, August 12

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, August 13

Book Looks by Lisa, August 14

Betti Mace, August 15

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, August 16

Blossoms and Blessings, August 17

Blogging With Carol, August 18

For the Love of Literature, August 19 (Spotlight)

Holly’s Book Corner, August 20

Artistic Nobody, August 21 (Spotlight)

Happily Managing a Household of Boys, August 22

Back Porch Reads, August 23 (Spotlight)

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Robin is giving away the grand prize package of a $50 Amazon gift card and a copy of Finding You!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.

https://promosimple.com/ps/2dbe4/sheltering-you-celebration-tour-giveaway

BLOG, Celebrate Lit Tour, Kindle, Purchase, Wild Heart Books

Rescuing You by Robin Patchen Review and Giveaway

February 12, 2024February 12, 2024 Babbling Becky L

About the Book

Book: Rescuing You

Author: Robin Patchen

Genre: Christian Romantic Suspense

Release Date: January 9, 2024

A heart-pounding tale of danger and devotion, the riveting second installment of the Wright Heroes of Maine series by a USA Today bestselling author.

CIA agent Michael Wright’s world crumbles when his girlfriend, Leila, is snatched off the street and later seen in the grasp of a terrorist he’s been tracking, Michael blames himself. Keeping his identity secret from her clearly didn’t protect her. Now he must defy the Agency and fly to Iraq to rescue her.

Leila Amato escaped Iraq a decade earlier, only returning in her worst nightmares. But those nightmares have come true when she finds herself captive and all alone, or so she thinks until she sees her identical twin sister.

Michael tracks Leila to a desert compound, but his rescue mission goes awry when he discovers her sister needs to escape as well. His detailed strategy can only ensure one woman’s safety. Now they’re on the run, trying to get out of the country before their enemies track them down.

But Leila’s kidnapping is only one small part of a larger plot—one that endangers thousands of lives—and now he can’t trust anyone. Not even the woman who’s stolen his heart. A woman who’s been keeping secrets of her own…

A high-stakes international chase full of romantic suspense, spies, and a ticking time bomb that will keep you reading all night long.

Click here to get your copy!

About the Author

Robin Patchenis a USA Today bestselling and award-winning author of Christian romantic suspense. She grew up in a small town in New Hampshire, the setting of her Nutfield Saga books, and then headed to Boston to earn a journalism degree. After college, working in marketing and public relations, she discovered how much she loathed the nine-to-five ball and chain. After relocating to the Southwest, she started writing her first novel while she homeschooled her three children. The novel was dreadful, but her passion for storytelling didn’t wane. Thankfully, as her children grew, so did her writing ability. Now that her kids are adults, she has more time to play with the lives of fictional heroes and heroines, wreaking havoc and working magic to give her characters happy endings. When she’s not writing, she’s editing or reading, proving that most of her life revolves around the twenty-six letters of the alphabet.

More from Robin

I spent a week this year serving refugee women on the Greek island of Lesvos. Along with helping to distribute food and clothing, I gave hand massages. It seems like such a little thing, but it was powerful.

Many didn’t speak English, and I found it difficult to connect even with those who did. What do I have in common with women escaping war or oppression?

But I could perch on a tiny stool at their feet and rub lotion on their hands. I didn’t know their stories, but God did. So while they chatted with friends in languages I couldn’t understand, I prayed silently. As I did, God stirred in me a deep love for each one.

Imagine the courage it must take to leave everything you know—your home, your community, in some cases, even your family—to seek freedom. Imagine how desperate or afraid or, frankly, hopeful a person must be to attempt it.

The heroine in Rescuing You did just that. An Iraqi who came to Christ as a teenager, Leila feared her family would discover her secret and felt she had no choice but to run away. Resettled in Germany, away from her mother, father, and twin sister, she built a life for herself and fell in love.

And then someone snatched her back to Iraq.

Rescuing You is about a man determined to save the woman he loves. It’s about a woman willing to risk everything for the freedom to…

…Love the man she chooses

…Live a life of purpose, and mostly…

…Worship the One True God

It’s easy to take our freedom for granted—and to forget that true and lasting freedom isn’t political or social but spiritual. Christians are free in Christ no matter what their society looks like.

But what an incredible blessing to live in a free country.

Rescuing You barely scratches the surface of the refugee crisis. It’s mostly about a man and a woman and whole bunch of terrifying villains. Even so, I pray it’ll stir in you a deep love for refugees seeking freedom worldwide. Pray for them and for the nations they’ve escaped. Our world needs Jesus.

My Impressions

“She was keeping secrets, but he was too. And he wasn’t ready to reveal his.”

Honestly, I fell in love with one of Robin Patchen’s books about another Wright brother, so I knew I had to read the stories of the other brothers as they are launched in this series, The Wright Brothers of Maine. Rescuing You is the second book of the series, and features the story of Michael and Leila. Michael, an undercover CIA agent in Germany, is horrified to find his girlfriend has been kidnapped by Vortex, the terrorist he is trailing.

Leila is a native Arab who left Islam to turn to Jesus. Her captors would not treat her well for defecting from the faith, their perception of a Middle Eastern woman’s role, or her first escape into Germany. Michael chomps at the bit when histeam leader, Brock, asks him to remove himself from the situation and let the team handle it.

Explosions, daring escapes, and shoot-outs up the suspense ante. Ruthless, strategic terrorists and a sick twin complicate matters. As does the fact that Michael does not stand down as told, nor does Leila like to be given commands without knowing ‘why.’

Secrets. This novel is all about secrets and trust. Both Michael and Leila hold dangerous secrets, and both need to learn to trust God and other people if they are to survive. There were a few times each I wanted to sit Michael and Leila down and “straighten them out, but good!”

Rescuing You is a novel that will also have you thinking about what some immigrants are willing to endure to reach our shores. By the end of the book, you’ll be looking to tie up a few loose ends and read more of the Wright brothers’ stories, starting with Bryan’s adventures in Finding You.

I received a copy of the book from Celebrate Lit. I also bought my own ecopy. No positive review was required, and all opinions are my own.

Notable Quotables:

“But in his arrogance—and his fear—he’d gone it alone. As he so often did. And because of that, he’d lost…everything.”

“Hope seemed lost, but God was a God of hope, wasn’t He?”