The Deer Effect by Susan Wingate A Review

WINNER OF FOUR BOOK AWARDS IN 2015! WINNER in the 2015 USA Best Books Award for religious fiction (finalist), 2015 eLIT Book Awards for religious fiction (winner), WINNER in the 2015 Pacific Book Awards for Christian fiction (winner) and a finalist award-winner in the 2015 Next Generation Indie Book Awards for inspirational fiction.

A Fantasy Thriller for fans who enjoy reading books by James Patterson, Sue Monk Kidd, Frank Peretti and Alice Sebold.

Once in a while a story comes along that resonates with the very essence of what we call "humanity," and speaks to readers of every age. The Deer Effect is that story - a phenomenal #1 Amazon bestseller lauded for its artistic touch, its tender tapping at emotion, and its mesmerizing ability to speak to the hearts of readers around the world.

"ONE BRITTLE LEAF FOUND ALONG our usual path proved the days had gone wintry. Papery thin as onion skin--blanched from frosty temperatures and yellowing like the pages of an old Bible, the leaf’s long slender shafts, crooked and dry, painted my world. The blue sky dragged me out that Sunday in December—December 5, 2010, if you must know—when the temperature rose to only forty-two Fahrenheit. What was I thinking?

Hold on. Wait a second. Let me back up just a tad. For your information, I'm dead. Although I speak of myself, make no mistakes. I died this day..."

So the story begins about Hannah Demsey who is found dead near the body of a fawn on the side of the road. Rod, Hannah's husband, sets out on a journey to find the killer. With his faith waning, all truths change when Rod comes face-to-face with the only person who can tell him how his wife really died.

THE DEER EFFECT is a story of loss, redemption and forgiveness.

File Size: 538 KB
Print Length: 346 pages
Publisher: Eye of the Needle Press (November 5, 2014)
Publication Date: November 5, 2014
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC
Language: English
ASIN: B00MRPKZ2O

Susan Wingate is the author of the young adult romantic fantasy and paranormal books found in Troubled in Paradise and The Deer Effect.

If you want to read clean, award-winning, fiction steeped in suspense and sometimes set in mythical lands, or books with mystery and thriller elements, you will enjoy reading Susan Wingate’s books. The twists and turns of her stories and her likable, touching characters are always unique. Some of her work even harkens back to the fantasy series The Chronicles of Narnia written by C.S. Lewis and also to the superhero Spider-Man series–books with unforgettable heroes and fantastical worlds readers can escape to. Susan's work has been compared with Mitch Albom's The Five People You Meet in Heaven to James Patterson's Lake House. Her mystery novels are riveting stories like JD Robb and Sue Grafton and her fantasy novels ring of The Golden Compass and A Wrinkle in Time.

MY REVIEW
  The Deer Effect by Susan Wingate isn’t worth reading. Since I got it free I don’t feel bad. I thought it would be really a great read since it won four awards. Just goes to show you that you can’t believe everything you read and we all are very different in what we like.
  This book is told from a dead person’s point of view. It almost seems sacrilege to me. The dead woman talks about her dog more than her husband. She misses her dog so much. She goes along spreading fairy dust and thinking of a big bowl of popcorn and it appears.  She, Hannah also came back as a child spirit, which I believe it completely wrong.
  It really seems like a childish kind of book to me except for Rob, the husband’s feeling of loss and hurt. He was deeply sorry for what he said to Hannah right before she was killed.
If the whole book would have continued in the way Rob felt and left all of the silly, girlish coming back out it would have been so much better.
  Another thing I didn't like Hannah died at the same time as a deer so it jumped around the skies with her.
  I do not recommend this book at all. Just to silly for me. Life and death isn’t a joke or to be taken lightly.

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This is my book and I wasn’t required to review it.

Stay With Me by Carolyn Astfalk A Review

ABOUT STAY WITH ME
With her sister Abby’s encouragement, Rebecca has moved out of their overbearing father’s home. When a chance encounter with Chris ends with an invitation, Rebecca says yes. The authentic way Chris lives his life attracts Rebecca and garners her affection.

Chris loves Rebecca and her innocence, but he’s confounded by the emotional scars she bears from her parents and an attempted assault. Her father’s disdain for Chris’s faith and career only make matters worse.

With the counsel of their friend Father John, can Rebecca and Chris overcome every obstacle and bridge the deepening gulf between them and her dad? Or will a crucial lapse in judgment and its repercussion end their relationship?

File Size: 2009 KB
Print Length: 235 pages
Publisher: FQ Publishing (October 1, 2015)
Publication Date: October 1, 2015
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC
Language: English
ASIN: B015GAH77M

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Carolyn Astfalk lives in Hershey, Pennsylvania where the scent on the morning breeze carries either chocolate or manure depending on wind direction and atmospheric conditions.

A Pittsburgh native, Carolyn carries her Yinzer card with pride, having interned at Pittsburgh's iconic TV and radio stations KDKA and WDVE. She is a graduate of Duquesne University, where she majored in Latin and Broadcast Journalism.

A cradle Catholic, Carolyn was raised mainly at church basement rummage sales and other parish-sponsored events. She worked her way up to "pup girl" at weekly Bingo and even served as a parish organist for several years. Having reached the apex of parish ministry, she moved to the state capital to advance her churchy career.

Carolyn served as communications director and registered lobbyist for the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference for a decade, advocating for religious liberty; prolife, pro-family issues, Catholic education, and healthcare, among others.

Since then, she has been a stay-at-home mom to her four children. Most days she can be found changing diapers, wiping up spills, folding laundry, and tapping furiously on her laptop.

Carolyn is a member of the Catholic Writers Guild, Pennwriters, the Pennsylvania Public Relations Society, and 10 Minute Novelists. She blogs at My Scribbler's Heart.

MY REVIEW
    Stay With Me by Carolyn Astfalk is her first novel. Some parts of this book I like, but other parts are disgusting and very distasteful.
   I read the book because I thought it was a Christian book. It is NOT a clean Christian book. I know we all have temptations and sometimes we fall, but so many things in this book aren’t fit to read. There is no need to write about every detail. Stay With Me is full of mature scenes that shouldn’t be in a Christian novel. Actually it was quite gross.
  Rebecca's sister has the most filthy mouth ever and her dad is a mean old ogre.
 It also seems like the author had an plan to defend the Catholic church against Christianity. I got the feeling that she believes you can’t be a good Christian unless you are Catholic.
  I think this book would have been a winner if the sex scenes were left out. The story is sweet and full of promise if it were more tastefully put together.
  I don’t recommend that you read this book.

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Thank you to the  Author/Publicist  for providing this book for review. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255