Your Family in Pictures - Nonfiction, Photography

Your Family in Pictures

By Me Ra Koh

Designed to help the amateur photographer capture great family pictures, Your Family in Pictures is filled with inspiring “photo recipes” to get anyone off to a great start.  Me Ra Koh has lots of ideas for ways to get great shots of family life, from portraits to everyday occurrences.  She gives suggestions for everything from props to locations to camera settings to help catch special moments  for every family.

I found this book to be a great resource for getting started taking family pictures.  The “photo recipes” gave me great ideas for how to get my own family to take great pictures.  I love that she encourages you to capture “real” shots of the family engaging in normal activities.  Especially with younger kids, it’s hard to get everyone even looking the same direction for a picture, much less making it look awesome; but this book showed me that pictures of REAL people are better than perfectly posed glamor shots.  I loved that the book was filled with lots of pictures.  She even has suggestions on how to make shots that don’t look that great initially, look great with a little bit of cropping and maybe recoloring the picture.  This amateur photographer is now much more equipped to capture my loved ones on film.  Overall, I give this book an A: a great resource for moms, dads, grandmas, and grandpas who want to take great pictures of their family.

I received a free copy of this book from bloggingforbooks.org in exchange for my honest review.

Beyond All Dreams - Fiction, Historical

Beyond All Dreams

By Elizabeth Camden

Anna O’Brien is a map librarian at the Library of Congress, pleased to be doing what she loves and satisfied with her predictable life.  When she stumbles upon what seems to be an error in the record of the ship on which her father was working when it mysteriously sank, she brings it to the attention of the Navy in an attempt to discover what really happened.  What she doesn’t expect is the vehement objections of the commanding officers to her discovery, and the stern warning to stop her investigation in view of keeping her beloved job at the Library.  When the dashing Luke Callahan, congressman from Maine, enters her life and offers to help, Anna is pleased but cautious – knowing that Mr. Callahan has a reputation for having a bad temper and also for getting what he wants.  The pair has no idea what they will encounter in their investigation, and what they might discover they feel toward one another.

This is a great new book from Elizabeth Camden.  I have come to enjoy her books, and this was no exception.  I really liked Anna and her passion for her work and study.  Luke was easy to like as well, but approached with a bit of caution as the reader tries to find his true character under his charming exterior.  The story is filled with interesting twists and turns as we get a glimpse at life in late 1800s Washington DC.  Overall I give this book an A: a well-written, clean, romantic mystery.

I received a free copy of this book from Bethany House Publishers in exchange for my honest review.

The Patmos Deception - Fiction, Modern

The Patmos Deception

By Davis Bunn

Carey is ecstatic to be arriving in Greece for her new job in forensic archeology at an antiquities institute.  She never anticipated the taxi dropping her off in front of the institute to find the gates closed and chained.  She is rescued by Eleni, a former administrative assistant at the institute, who gives Carey the terrible news – the institute was closed for unclear reasons that relate to the failure of the Greek economy.  Now Carey is in Greece with no job and very little money for a return trip.  A call from an old friend asking for her help investigating a string of antiquities robberies turns Carey’s bewilderment to intrigue and danger.  Can they find out who is behind the thefts and if corrupt government officials might be involved?

I really enjoyed reading this book.  There was a lot of great historical information included that added to my interest in the novel.  The characters were engaging and well sketched.  I found Carey’s enthusiasm for faith and for her work to be a nice contrast to the slightly disengaged personality of her investigative reporter friend, Nick.  The realities of a collapsed economy and how real people are affected was very disheartening to read about.  Overall, I give this book an A: good Christian suspense novel to snuggle up with.

I received a free copy of this book from Bethany House Publishers in exchange for my honest review.