Spring is here! Grab a book and stretch out in the sun on the porch, deck or by a lake somewhere. Enjoy this glorious season with a great read…
By Michael Kimball
Portals
Alligator Bay
The Girl and The Forest
A House for Molly
Timken’s Christmas
Portals
(Available in hardcover, softcover, and eBook formats at Barnes & Noble, Amazon and other online sellers.)
Portals is a story that, at its core, explores a simple question: If I could change the past, would I?
It sounds like a simple question. As the novel reveals, it isn’t.
Wrapped up in the eight small words comprising this question is the sum of our personal world view, the lens through which we interpret the world around us. Key to our perspective is what we believe, or don’t believe, about God.
If we believe we are a product of time and chance working the miracle of life upon the material universe unguided, then how we respond to the question might be quite different from someone who contends that a loving God is actively concerned with our personal welfare ― in spite of any appearance to the contrary.
For Jesse, the focus character in the story, the question is no longer rhetorical. His wife, Ellen, drowned in Stillman’s Lake when the two were celebrating their sixth anniversary. Now, three years later, Jesse is given a chance to go back and change the events of that fateful day.
Alligator Bay
(Available in print, Kindle, and Nook formats)
Four cousins find themselves swamp deep in adventure as they seek to solve five riddles in an effort to free a rambunctious Siberian Husky from the evil grasp of Reggie – just one of several teddy-bears-come-to-life that makes Alligator Bay an intriguing and suspense-filled story!
When Cranberry’s recklessness leads to Tyler’s disappearance out in a swamp called Alligator Bay, his attempt to set things right on his own comes to a sudden halt when he finds his way barred by a fierce alligator. It’s only through the help of Harry, a fellow bear steeped in wisdom, that they learn Tyler’s disappearance is the work of Reggie, a renegade bear with a big chip on his shoulder. Reggie presents them with five riddles that must be solved in order to gain Tyler’s freedom.
With Harry leading the way and the help of Ashley and Ethan – the children Harry and Cranbeary belong to, together with their cousins Lindsay and Jimmy – the would-be rescuers join to pit the strength of their combined talents and love for Tyler against the wiles of Reggie and his cohorts.
Written for young readers, Alligator Bay highlights the virtues of perseverance, cooperation, and steadfast love over bitterness and a thirst for revenge.
The Girl and The Forest / A House for Molly
(Available used in print format as well as separately for the Kindle and Nook)
The Girl and The Forest and A House For Molly are presented in the style of the classic tale. Although enjoyed by readers of all ages, the depth of allegory offered by each story will find its fullest repose in those whose own personal stories have had ample time to steep in God’s school of life.
The Girl and The Forest reveals the struggle of young Elisabeth as she seeks to find her own way in the world apart from the constraints of her mother and grandfather. As the euphoria of her new found “freedom” melts away into the rough sea of unforeseen consequences, Elisabeth learns first-hand the paradox of liberty through obedience.
(Kindle Edition / Nook Edition)
In A House For Molly, a God-breathed desire which has come loose from the boundaries of its proper birth gets put back on track through the powerful ministry of disappointment.
Through the beauty of a fairy tale, the reader gets a startling look at how seeming riches can mean much less (and seeming poverty so much more!) when one gets to view them from the vantage point of eternity!
(Kindle Edition / Nook Edition)
Timken’s Christmas
Young Timken finds himself in a dilemma: either learn to play the Authorized Anthem of Doursville in a manner acceptable to the Snobbits or continue playing the music he finds in his heart and risk being sent to the Doursville Musical Rehabilitation Center!
Timken’s Christmas is a tale the whole family will enjoy. Follow along with Timken as he learns of the One who made his cornello, the native instrument of Doursville, and put his song into Timken’s heart.
Thanks so much, Elizabeth. Great review! And I agree!
Elizabeth Fonda on February 7, 2012 at 9:44 pm said:
I was blessed to go away for a short time to relax, refresh and re-fuel. One of the best parts about time away is the ability to sit and read uninterrupted. This trip, I downloaded the Kindle version of “Portals” by Michael Kimball. Wow, what a great book! Even in it’s electronic version, it is an absolute page turner! The protagonists developed quickly into real people, not cardboard versions of cliche characters. The choices that they wrestled with were so evocative of the mental “what if’s” that we have in our thoughts so often. The end of every chapter was so exciting that I couldn’t wait to turn the page to see what was going to happen next. The imagery was painted in just the right amount of detail; I could actually picture the scenes as if the were reminding me of places that I’d been to, but had forgotten. The attention to key parts of each character’s personality, not just the ones that give you hints of what is to come, but the parts that show how complex the layers that each person is made of, gave such depth to the story. So many times in “christian fiction”, I feel like I’m reading a sanitized version of real life; the “Walton mountain”, so to speak, of how we Christian are supposed to live. This wasn’t that way. It was so true-to-life. Free and victorious, funny and serious, deep and still accessible, it had real life applications of the paradoxes of Truth that are found in real life.
Do yourself a favor; read “Portals”.