The Charlatan’s Boy by Jonathan Rogers (day 3!)

Hi there, this is day 3 of the blog tour of Jonathan Rogers Book, The Charlatan’s Boy.

In this book, you will find any number of characters that you might identify with.

First off, you have Grady, who could be called the star of the show. Grady is a humble person who just wants to know where he is from and where he belongs. At times Grady finds himself doing the very thing that he does not want to do, but it seems that he doesn’t see any way out of doing it, and also, its what he’s been doing for so long, he’s not sure how to stop the process.

I know in my husbands blog he had mentioned that he did not see any overtly spiritual tones in it (my paraphrase, not his), but just in that I see a bit of the struggle Paul the Apostle was going through when he said (again my paraphrase) “I find myself doing the very thing which I do not want. And the thing I want to do I do not seem to be able to do”…. I think we as humans so often get caught up in our lives and doing whats wrong that to stop doing it would seem…unnatural. The bad has become second nature to us and we can’t see any way to stop doing it. I think that at times that is where the preaching of the Gospel comes it, or the reading of the Gospel, or someone just sharing the Word with us. We ourselves might not be able to see a way out of it, but when someone else comes in and shines the light on our darkness, its like we can then comprehend what we have been doing, and not only that, but there is now hope that we didn’t see before.  I am not excusing people for doing the wrong things in any way, but I think at times its hard to stop doing whats wrong. You have to look at yourself plainly, like Grady does when he mentions what he looks like, he is not beating himself up for self pity, he is just stating the way he is, and once you have done that, you can see that you need the help of the Savior to overcome.

Alright, so thats ONE character…one of the other characters in this book is Floyd. Floyd is the ringleader, or the Charlatan, of the feechie scam. I think I have run into Floyd before at the mall where those people at the kiosk’s are hawking their wares. Some of them really amp it up and it seems they are ready for anything anyone throws at them. They always have a quick and ready answer and at times are willing to let people hang themselves on their words. Just reading how Floyd makes his speeches brings those folks to mind (no offense if you work at a mall kiosk!!!), I can just hear the singsongy voice, the way his voice raises and then lowers again to catch and then keep your attention, even if what he’s selling you wasn’t what you were looking for in the first place.  You just find yourself drawn in and then once you are hooked, you might say you want to leave, but inside you have a morbid curiosity about what he MIGHT have to offer to you that you end up staying…just like a fly caught in a web.
Hmmm…reminds me of the way Satan lures people into his schemes. I might be seeing paralells in the book that aren’t in there, or weren’t intended by the author, but all this has got me thinking about what the book might be alluding to.

Then you have Short Fronie. I identified with her in some way, it could be because of the way her heart broke when Grady mentioned that he thought he was too ugly to love. There are so many people out there who think that their lives are too messed up for anyone to have any use for them, or that their sins are too ugly for anyone, let alone the Savior of the world, to love them. Reading that chapter broke my heart and made me love Short Fronie. I hope to see more of her in Jonathan’s next book.

Theeen, you have characters in the book like Clarence. Clarence is a huckster that has tuned in to what people really want. Convenience to live their lives the way they want AND a way to have their so called god on a chain. Clarence was making business off of people being too busy to actually live a life dedicated to the Lord and spending time talking with Him and doing his will, he just decided to cash in on that. Unfortunately, I see people doing this today too. Many so called preachers of the Word mis-align and mis-represent what God’s word says and they twist it and turn it to fit their own needs and desires; whether that desire be for more money, fame, glory, or power.

Jonathan Rogers has a way of writing that makes you feel the emotions that the other characters are feeling in the book. Kudos to you sir and thank you for a good read!

Check out what other people are saying about his book on these blogs.

*Participants’ links
Sally Apokedak
Amy Bissell
Red Bissell
Jennifer Bogart
Thomas Clayton Booher
Keanan Brand
Beckie Burnham
Jeff Chapman
Christian Fiction Book Reviews
Valerie Comer
CSFF Blog Tour
D. G. D. Davidson
April Erwin
Andrea Graham
Tori Greene
Katie Hart
Bruce Hennigan
Christopher Hopper
Becky Jesse
Cris Jesse
Jason Joyner
Julie
Carol Keen
Shannon McDermott
Allen McGraw
Matt Mikalatos
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Nissa
Donita K. Paul
SarahFlan
Sarah Sawyer
Chawna Schroeder
Tammy Shelnut
Kathleen Smith
James Somers
Donna Swanson
Robert Treskillard
Fred Warren
Phyllis Wheeler
Nicole White
Elizabeth Williams
Dave Wilson

Venom and Song by WTB & CH

Hi all, wow…if my life has not been busy and hectic lately, I don’t what its been.

The week started out with my husband needing to go to the urgent care, I guess it was actually on friday,  but anyways, the cold he was fighting for 3 weeks was actually bronchitis. Things are looking up! He gets the meds, starts on those and then monday, ends up hurting his shoulder somehow, and we go to the ER late monday night, early Tuesday morning to get and EKG, chest x-ray and blood drawn because of his chest hurting from coughing and his shoulder hurting…thought maybe it could be his heart. He doesn’t have anything wrong with his heart, but he’s got a pulled muscle in his shoulder. ALSO as if that wasn’t enough, this week we are supposed to be doing a wedding…him as an usher and me and my sister are doing the reception for our business we are trying to start up. (that’s for another post!) Suffice it to say that sometimes “getting away” inside a good book has been a blessing at times, even if reading it took awhile as I also have a 9 month old baby so I get to read in about 15 minute increments unless I read it late at night.

With all that craziness going on, a book has to be really good for me to stay in tune with it, remember what is going on with the characters and remember the plotline and put them all together too.

Wayne Thomas Batson and Christopher Hopper have done it again in their second book “Venom and Song“, sequel to “The Curse of the Spider King”, part of the Berinfell Prophecies series.

In this book we find the seven elven Lords (Who are men AND women, I like that) trying to fight against the spider king and trying to use all their resources and draw on their talents that they have been given by the creator to fend against evil and all its henchmen.

This book has some good things going for it, adventure, drama, some teary moments (I couldn’t believe it when…. you didn’t really think I was going to tell you did you? You have to read the book for yourself!) as well as some moments that I just thought were hilarious and brought the elven Lords to life. I have a few friends that I saw the Lords in, and a few of the Lords that I could see myself in as well…

Something that I liked that WTB and CH did with this book was the bonus content that they had in the book. It didn’t draw away from the book,  but it did get my imagination going wondering what it was. Something else that they did that I really like, maybe it wasn’t the authors’ decision or choice, but I like it, was the hardback version of this book. The illustrations on the front and back of the book, along with sturdiness of the book, just enhanced the whole book reading experience. It could be that part of why I liked that part is because I have a 9 month old that tries to crush everything paper and having a book that has a hardback makes it just that much harder for her to do that!!! 🙂

I have to give props to Mr. Batson and Hopper, you wrote another great book that seemed to be even more seamlessly put together than your last book. Thanks for your efforts, you can pat yourself on the back, or do it for each other.

When my 17 and 14-year-old sisters saw the book and saw who wrote it, they drew in a breath and both asked in anticipation if they could borrow it when I was done because they read the first one and liked it.  🙂

Make sure to check out the websites of Wayne Thomas Batson and Christopher Hopper, as well as the website about the book series and dive into the prophecies of Berinfell. 🙂

Check out what these other people had to say about the book at these blogs and check out the book for yourself!

Also: In conjunction with the CSFF Blog Tour, I received a free copy of this book from the publisher. (thanks publisher!)

Angela
Brandon Barr
Keanan Brand
Amy Browning
Beckie Burnham
Morgan L. Busse
Melissa Carswell
Jeff Chapman
Valerie Comer
Amy Cruson
CSFF Blog Tour
D. G. D. Davidson
April Erwin
Tori Greene
Ryan Heart
Bruce Hennigan
Timothy Hicks
Becky Jesse
Cris Jesse
Jason Joyner
Julie
Carol Keen
Krystine Kercher
Dawn King
Leighton
Rebecca LuElla Miller
John W. Otte
Donita K. Paul
Chawna Schroeder
Tammy Shelnut
James Somers
Kathleen Smith
Rachel Starr Thomson
Robert Treskillard
Steve Trower
Fred Warren
Jason Waguespac
Dona Watson
Phyllis Wheeler
Jill Williamson

CSFFBT-Nov. “Curse of the Spider King”

This month’s book was “Curse of the Spider King” by Wayne Thomas Batson and Christopher Hopper, book 1 in the “Berinfell Prophecies” series.

I have to say that this book is definitely a good read for pre-teens, teens, young adults and adults all alike.

In this book, the author duo takes you through not only our world, but through a world called Allyra.  Sort of like a parallel world to us. I love books like this that take imaginative things, such as elves, and Gwar (you’ll find out about them!) and make them into characters that you believe are real. The story seemed for me to take a bit to get into, I think in part because I am the sort of person who reads all the pages before the first chapter, and while it helped in this book to sort out who was who, and where was where, and what was what, it also sort of detracted from gung-ho-ness to get started reading the book. (Yes, I made that word up!)

One of the other things that I have a hard time with with young adult books, is thinking back to the time when I was around 12-14 or so and thinking if I would have had the wherewithal to stand up under some of the pressures that kids in novels do, or to be as quick-thinking as they seem to be. I just look back and wonder if I would have reacted in the same way, were I in any of the sticky situations some of the kids in the books seem to get themselves into.

Now, with all that aside, I did like the story line, despite it having spiders in it. Right after I read the book, my husband happened to save me from a giant (yes GIANT-probably 3 inches or so big!) spider that completely freaked me out. I could not stop thinking of this book after I saw the spider tho and kept looking around the room to make sure I was safe! lol

I think these two are a great pair for writing books together and I look forward to reading the next in the Berinfell Prophecies book, and am excited to see what they are going to come up with together. I can not imagine all the hard work it must have taken for them each to mesh their ideas to the other and the give and take that it must have been to have gotten to such a good piece of work, such as this book.

I hope you have a chance to read it, and hopefully you will not have to be saved, like I was, from any rogue spiders out to get you.

God bless and enjoy checking these other blogs out to see what they have to say.

~Becky

Brandon Barr
Justin Boyer
Amy Browning
Valerie Comer
Amy Cruson
CSFF Blog Tour
Stacey Dale
D. G. D. Davidson
Shane Deal
Jeff Draper
Emmalyn Edwards
April Erwin
Karina Fabian
Todd Michael Greene
Ryan Heart
Timothy Hicks
Becky Jesse
Cris Jesse
Jason Joyner
Julie
Carol Keen
Krystine Kercher
Tina Kulesa
Melissa Lockcuff
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Mirtika
Nissa
John W. Otte
Cara Powers
Chawna Schroeder
James Somers
Speculative Faith
Robert Treskillard
Fred Warren
Jason Waguespac
Phyllis Wheeler
Jill Williamson
KM Wilsher