5/29/2023 0 Comments Saul laterEven today, by murdering and persecuting Christians around the world, they are spreading it, even against their own will. The very thing that the Jewish religious leaders were trying to eliminate by persecuting them, and even murdering them, caused the church to spread far and wide, and so Paul, prior to conversion, was actually helping the gospel spread by his trying to destroy it, but you can’t destroy what Jesus said the gates of hell or death would not prevail against (Matt 16:18). Shortly after Saul (later, Paul) approved of Stephen the Deacon’s stoning and death, “there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles” (Acts 8:2), so what about those Christians who escaped and were scattered about? “Those who were scattered went about preaching the word” (Acts 8:4). In fact, persecution helped spread the Word of God throughout the Roman Empire. It’s very much like someone trying to put out a grass fire but by stomping on it, it only manages to spread it, and so it was with Christianity. Ironically, the more the Jews tried to stamp out Christianity, they more they managed to spread it. How did the Apostle Paul influence Christianity? Through Persecution
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Soon Lina and Max discover animosity may not be the only emotion creating sparks between them. Except Max has been public enemy number one ever since he encouraged his brother to jilt the bride, and Lina’s ready to dish out a little payback of her own. If they can nail their presentation without killing each other, they’ll both come out ahead. Then he learns he’ll be working with his brother’s whip-smart, stunning-absolutely off-limits-ex-fiancée. Marketing expert Max Hartley is determined to make his mark with a coveted hotel client looking to expand its brand. she has to collaborate with the best (make that worst) man from her own failed nuptials. But despite that embarrassing blip from her past, Lina’s offered an opportunity that could change her life. Mia Sosa delivers a sassy, steamy #ownvoices enemies-to-lovers novel, perfect for fans of Jasmine Guillory, Helen Hoang, and Sally Thorne!Ī wedding planner left at the altar Yeah, the irony isn’t lost on Carolina Santos, either. Named one of the Best Romances of 2020 by EW, Cosmo, OprahMag, Buzzfeed, Insider, and NPR! "A romantic comedy that's fun and flirty, young and fresh." – PopSugar This makes the book fun to read as well as easy to remember. According to him “ If something is usable - whether it’s a web site, a remote control, or a revolving door - it means that a person of average (or even below average) ability and experience can figure out how to use the thing to accomplish something without it being more trouble than it’s worth.” Each chapter in the book is portrayed with profuse illustrations to keep the readers engaged and visually reinforces the concepts covered. What struck me was the simplistic way in which author Steve Krug defines usability. I found “ Don’t Make Me Think” to be an easy read that was not only humorous but also a practical guide for understanding web usability and user experience. 5/28/2023 0 Comments Even bonesEqually intriguing is the constant musing on what makes a monster, how people respond to trauma and control, and how one’s choices affirm or deny one’s own humanity.Ī slasher flick spliced with Crime and Punishment, this engrossing debut novel asks complex philosophical questions in a pleasingly hard-to-stomach way. The vivid setting, Mercado de la Muerte (one of several Death Markets worldwide) in a sweltering South American jungle populated by buyers, sellers, and sold, is matched by a zipping plot interspersed with deliciously horrifying and gory scenes of dismemberment and destruction. Menaced by a zannie (creatures that feed off physical pain) and a ruthless woman, Nita, who is mixed species (with a brown-skinned human father and a nonhuman mother), has to figure out how to escape and whether she has any morals to live by. But when Nita’s conscience inconveniently prevents her from vivisecting a live specimen, she’s kidnapped and taken to the Amazon, caged by people in the same business. Her ghoulish mother hunts and kills, while Nita dissects them with a meditative grace, trying to think of herself as innocent. But she and her mother also deal in monsters, species regulated by the International Non-Human Police, selling their body parts on the black market. She can heal her own wounds and even block her pain receptors. An adolescent, yet Nietzschean, examination of humanity and horror. 5/28/2023 0 Comments Feel free zadieZadie Smith handles the many subjects with grace and wields her knowledge on each subject easily she also is transparent to the point of admitting when she may not be all that knowledgeable about a given topic. The book displays, as essays often do, the breadth of the writer’s interests and abilities. They vary in length and style, but the most notable variety of the collection is in the subject matter. (It’s almost twice as long as Changing My Mind, her first essay collection.) Feel Free contains thirty-one essays, divided into five sections: In the World (politics and current events), In the Audience (music, film and television), In the Gallery (art), On the Bookshelf (books), and Feel Free (miscellaneous, personal essays). Smith regularly publishes essays in Harper’s, The New Yorker, and The New York Review of Books, and these essays and more are gathered in her new collection Feel Free.īeyond the beautiful cover, the most striking thing about the book itself is its size-for a book of contemporary essays, it is quite hefty at 464 pages. Zadie Smith, an author known best for her novels, already puts quite a lot of herself into her fiction even so, when she takes to writing nonfiction, this sense of pulling back the veil does happen, and maybe even more so because of her straightforward writing style. When writers of literary fiction leave the foundations of their craft-narrative structure, character development, plots, themes, motifs-to write essays, there is always some sense of pulling back the veil and offering a clearer picture of the writer herself. 5/28/2023 0 Comments Below the Belt by Sidney Halston"I am completely and utterly in like with you."Īntonio “Scarface” Marino was once at the top of his game and he wants it back, only with his reputation of tits, ass and booze no one wanted to give him a shot, that is until Francesca Silva took a chance on him. But Tony’s tempting her to give in to the heat. Now Tony’s kisses are stirring up complicated feelings-especially when he agrees to face her ex in the ring. After a short-lived marriage soured her on love, a one-night stand is all she can handle. But who’s the real Francesca: the trash-talking trainer who rides him hard, or the vulnerable woman who blushes at his touch?įrancesca went to the mat to sign Tony because she believes he still has the potential to bring big success to her gym-if she can keep his head in the cage and out of her personal life. Now he’s finally making a comeback, and it’s all thanks to Francesca Silva, a Brazilian bombshell as tough as any of her fighters. Once one of the most sought-after names on the mixed martial arts circuit, Antonio “Scarface” Marino watched his career go down for the count as he chased skirts and made tabloid headlines. In Sidney Halston’s latest sizzling MMA romance, a former title contender turns the tables on his knockout trainer with a lesson in seduction. 5/28/2023 0 Comments Pretty in Pink by Jay NorthcoteIn Jay Nortcote's 'Housemates' series and while I've enjoyed the first four books on audio I have to confess I did miss out on the 5th book so I can honestly say these books can readily be enjoyed as standalone stories. If they’re going to work things out, they need to start being honest - first with themselves, and then with each other.Īlthough this audiobook is part of the Housemates series, it has new main characters, a satisfying happy ending, and can be listened to as a standalone. Both begin to want more from the relationship but are afraid to admit it. When he moves in next door to Ryan, they’re both interested in picking up where they left off, and it seems like an ideal arrangement: Convenient, mutually satisfying, and with no strings attached.ĭespite their best intentions to keep things casual, they develop an emotional connection alongside the physical one. Staying single is safer, and there’s no need for complicated relationships when hooking up is easy. The attraction is mutual, and the amazing night that follows opens Ryan’s eyes to his bisexuality.Įxperience has taught Johnny that love hurts. When Johnny catches his eye at a party, Ryan’s interest is piqued even though he’s never been with a guy before. Ryan’s always been attracted to tall, leggy blondes - normally of the female variety. Ryan isn’t looking for a relationship with a guy - and Johnny isn’t looking for a relationship at all. 5/28/2023 0 Comments A guide to narrative craftHart employs the methods he describes himself, thus providing a running demonstration, and are also many examples from some very good practitioners.He may not have covered any new ground. Storycraft is an exposition of the techniques and practices for writing compelling (well, that part is largely up to you) narrative fiction. From there, he expands the discussion to other well-known writers to show the broad range of texts, styles, genres, and media to which his advice applies. Revealing the stories behind the stories, Hart brings listeners into the process of developing nonfiction narratives by sharing tips, anecdotes, and recommendations he forged during his decades-long career in journalism. Hart covers what writers in this genre need to know, from understanding story theory and structure, to mastering point of view and such basic elements as scene, action, and character, to drafting, revising, and editing work for publication. Now in Storycraft, Jack Hart, a former managing editor of the Oregonian who guided several Pulitzer Prize–winning narratives to publication, delivers what will certainly become the definitive guide to the methods and mechanics of crafting narrative nonfiction. Yet writers looking for guidance on reporting and writing true stories have had few places to turn for advice. From the work of the New Journalists in the 1960s, to the New Yorker essays of John McPhee, Susan Orlean, Atul Gawande, and a host of others, to narratives such as Mary Roach's Stiff, narrative nonfiction has come into its own. 5/28/2023 0 Comments Kleypas devil in disguise“The devil never tries to make people do the wrong thing by scaring them. That doesn’t stop railway magnate Tom Severin from asking for her hand within moments of meeting her. Lady Cassandra Ravenel has turned down many proposals, holding out for real feeling. “Opposites attract in spectacular fashion in the sixth Victorian-era Romance in bestseller Kleypas’s Ravenel series (after Devil’s Daughter), which pairs a true romantic with a cynical intellectual. Kleypas continues her winning streak with a thoroughly engrossing crossover between her Regency Wallflowers series and Victorian Ravenels novels. The novel abounds in the vintage pleasures of her writing: finely drawn characters a tactile, sensuous style in both the sex scenes and the landscape descriptions banter that illustrates the emotional compatibility of romantic partners dual points of view that show both the hero’s and the heroine’s interior lives moving moments of familial ties and glimpses of couples from other novels to assure us that love lasts forever. Undemandingly pleasurable and guaranteed to go on the reread shelf. 5/28/2023 0 Comments Charged by Emily Bazelonon the political landscape."Ĭharged is an important, insightful book. Even more ambitiously, Bazelon argues that electing prosecutors who are serious about decarceration represents “the most promising means of reform. Through an engaging mix of investigative journalism centered on two specific prosecutions and incisive analysis of broader national trends, Bazelon makes the case that American prosecutors have misused their immense power to punish far too many people much too harshly and, further, that prosecutors must now exercise that same power differently to help reverse mass incarceration. What should we make of these reformist prosecutors, and how do they fit within the larger movement to transform American criminal justice? Emily Bazelon wrestles with these questions in her new book, Charged: The New Movement to Transform American Prosecution and End Mass Incarceration. Several dozen districtĪttorneys (“DAs”) who plausibly describe themselves as reformers or, in many instances, as “progressive prosecutors” have now won elections by promising to shrink the vast footprint of America’s criminal justice system. Until the past five years or so, prosecutors were generally expected to go after those who commit crime with relentless zeal, sparing little concern for the scale and harshness of our carceral system. The role of the prosecutor is currently undergoing a major shift in a steadily increasing number of counties across the United States. |