Book Review: Bound to a Promise by Bonnie Floyd

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found Bound to a Promise: A True Story of Love, Murder, and Redemption by Bonnie Floyd, quite captivating, as though I was reading someone’s personal journal, going through the emotional highs and lows of something I’d never want to endure.  The part that stuck out the most to me is the power of forgiveness.  I wondered, could I forgive someone who was a part of killing someone I love?  It’s hard to wrap my mind around that.   Would I want the worst for the person?  And then as the author shared, what if God so clearly speaks to my heart to go and tell the murderer about Jesus.  WOW!  Isn’t it that Jesus desires that none perish – not one?  And certainly, if Jesus can save the murderer and save that heart and forgive, why couldn’t I?  It’s a lot to contemplate!

There is more to Bound to a Promise than this, but it’s an amazing true story of how Jesus upholds us – through horrific life events, the deep grief and even going over the facts over and over again in a courtroom.   It’s was hard for me to put it down, several times.

I highly recommend reading this book!

Bound to a Promise has been provided courtesy of The B & B Media Group, Inc.
in exchange for my written, honest review of the book.

From the Back Cover:

At six o’clock on a cold, foggy morning in Fresno, California, Bonnie Floyd’s horrific nightmare began . . . but she was wide-awake! This may sound like the beginning of a fiction thriller, but it isn’t. This is a true story, and the nightmare was all too real. Life as Bonnie had known it was over, and the future she faced was unimaginable . . . unspeakable. Bound to a Promise is a nonfiction novel, told in fascinating, page-turning fiction style. This astonishing true story will grab you with the first sentence and hold you captive until the very last page. Based on Scotland Yard’s investigation, newspaper reports, court transcripts, and eyewitness accounts, Bound to a Promise has it all-exotic settings, courtroom drama, real-life adventure, convicting testimony, and puzzling mystery. The key to this disturbing drama hangs on a very crucial and binding promise made to Bonnie. Did the promise maker keep that promise or was there a chance it was broken? The answer to that burning question had everlasting consequences both for the one who made the promise and to whom the promise was made. This shocking story is like an exciting action movie played out in powerful print. Don’t be surprised if it captures your heart and you, too, become bound to a promise.

Related articles

• Q and A with Bonnie Floyd (tbbmedia.wordpress.com)
• Q and A with Bonnie Floyd Part 2 (tbbmedia.wordpress.com)
• Forgiving When the Unthinkable Happens (tbbmedia.wordpress.com)

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Book Review: The Long Awakening by Lindsey O’Connor

“The day our baby came into the world was the day I left.
A day that began all smiles and excitement and anticipation and joy
ended with running and panic and blood and tears,  And then coma. “ 

The Long Awakening: A Memoir
by Lindsey O’Connor

I

 magine giving birth,  going through major complications  which required 20 units of blood and a medically induced coma to allow your brains, lungs and body to heal, and even then suffering multiple organ failures and close to death, yet to wake up 47 days later and live to tell the story.  This is what happened to Lindsey O’Connor and her story of recovery.  But recovery after being in a coma and all the life threatening problems she went through was certainly not  an overnight recovery.  

This was Lindsey’s 5th child, and as a mom of a dozen children, I can empathize in what she was feeling.  One of her daughters did not go back to college, but was helping care for the baby.  There was a special bond there, that Lindsey could not immediately get back.  I can only imagine that heartache.  

The Long Awakening is not a sugar-coated book.  It’s an honest, riveting story of a mom and family’s faith in God and their long journey of recovery.  Depression and post-traumatic stress syndrome are real.  But so is God to them.   This book was hard for me to put down, and I am sure a few tears dripped on pages, and what rejoicing with those that rejoice, I could do as well.

“The Long Awakening: A Memoir has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc.
and is available at your favourite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group”.

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• The Long Awakening by Lindsey O’Connor: A Review (maryannbenjamins.com)
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Book Review: The Promise by Dan Walsh & Gary Smalley

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few months ago I shared a book review for  The Dance, by Dan Walsh and Gary Smalley which was the first book of “The Restoration Series“, which I thoroughly enjoyed.  So I was quite delighted when I was given the opportunity to read the second book in the series, The Promise, also by Dan Walsh and Gary Smalley.  I certainly was not disappointed!  

In this story, Tom Anderson loses his job, and does not tell his wife . . . for five months!  He continues with his normal schedule by leaving for work each day and coming home at the same time each evening.  His wife, Jean, senses something is going on.  She cannot figure out why her  husband is so concerned about finances, when he has a good job.  He even wants her to clip coupons!  But she has a secret of her own, and does not know how to tell him.  Their communication is definitely broken.   I imagine many readers will be able to relate to this couple.

Tom’s parents,  Marilyn and Jim (the couple whom the book, The Dance is about) are on their second honeymoon in Italy.  I especially appreciated their new communications skills and how they learned to love each other in a new way and how later in the story, Jim takes responsibility for some of the things he taught his son in the wrong way.    

The Promise is definitely a heart-felt, realistic story that encompasses real family and marriage trials that can lead to healing, forgiveness, restoration within a marriage and family,  all coming  from God.  I am looking forward to the next book in the series!

 The Promise  is available at your favorite bookseller from Revell,
a division of Baker Publishing Group.
A free copy of this book was provided to me for my personal, truthful and unaltered review.

Book Review: The Dance by Dan Walsh & Gary Smalley

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do not read many fiction books, but this one caught my eye, and I am thankful I did not pass it up.  The Dance, by Dan Walsh and Gary Smalley is the first book of “The Restoration Series“. My husband and I have been married for 27 (almost 28) years and the couple in this book, Marilyn and Jim have also been married 27 years.  I think the reason I took on reading this, as my husband and I have seen so many couples married as many years as us, divorcing. We have survived, only by God’s grace, through the death of two children. (I’ve been told the statistics are as high as 75% of marriages do not make it after the death of a child).  Being this novel has Gary Smalley, a known author and speaker for marriage and family relationships, I figured this would be a good book.  I was not disappointed in the least.  

Marilyn leaves her husband very unexpectedly, to him, and for some time, she wants no communication with him. From outward appearances, it sure would be hard to understand why.  She had a beautiful home and just about anything she wants.  Both are Christians, including Jim being on the deacon board, yet Jim never saw what she was truly yearning for that money could not buy.  He had lost her heart. He had to learn what part to know how to win her back.  Marilyn found a new freedom in the separation, and she had to be careful of not giving her heart to someone else.

I found it hard to put this book down and read it within 2 days. I wanted to know if and how their marriage could be saved and what it would take.  The Dance is a very realistic, true to life story and would be ideal to give to a friend who is having a rough time in his/her marriage and also would be great to donate to your local library and/or church library. I very much look forward to reading other books in this series.

The Dance is available April 2013 at your favorite bookseller from Revell,
a division of Baker Publishing Group.
A free copy of this book was provided to me for my personal, truthful and unaltered review.