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Secrets of the Secret Service

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Title: Secrets of the Secret Service
Authors:Gary J. Byrne with Grant M. Schmidt
Pages: 304
Year: 2018
Publisher: Center Street
Book Rating: 5 out of 5 stars


This book gives insight into the Secret Service that is tasked with protecting the President of the United States; its history, successes and failures, and its uncertain future. Author Gary Byrne (former member of the USSS) brings to light why the Secret Service is failing as an organization. He provides a detailed account of incidents of unprofessional conduct such as verbal abuse, threats, sexual misconduct (including extramarital affairs), cover ups and so forth. He explains why these are causing employees of the Secret Service to quit, leaving the Service understaffed. Employees are not valued like they should be. When an employee does wrong, they are not disciplined or even fired, but can keep their jobs and retire with full benefits. The leadership is proven time and time again to be incompetent and fails to fix the internal pro…
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Superheroes Can’t Save You

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Title:Superheroes Can’t Save You
Author:Todd Miles
Pages:196
Year:2018
Publisher:B&H Academic
My rating is 4.5.
I like superheroes. Some people ask if I like Marvel or DC heroes, and my response is “Yes.” Some prefer Marvel, others prefer DC, but I like them both and try not to compare them. I look at the different universes and the heroes that inhabit them on their own merits; however, I understand that some people have different opinions, and that is okay. When it comes to comparisons of the heroes of both publishers, one thing that is true of each and every hero is that none of them can really save people, partially because they are fictional characters but also their abilities do not completely meet the qualifications required to bring salvation to the human race. This is the message of Todd Miles’s book.
Mr. Miles takes seven superheroes—three from DC and four from Marvel—to illustrate examples of seven historical heresies that have and continue to plague the Christian Churc…
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Book #4 of Dani Pettrey's Valor Series! The finale!

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         Read the whole series and enjoy the suspense and thrills!
Cold Shot
Still Life
Blind Spot
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A D 33

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Title:  A. D. 33 (Book #2)
Author:  Ted Dekker
Pages:  384
Year:  2015
Publisher:  Center Street
My rating is 5 out of 5.
Ted Dekker is an author who never ceases to amaze me with the stories he shares with all of us!  A. D. 33 is the sequel to A. D. 30 where we meet again with Maviah and Saba who are learning what it really means to follow Yeshua.  They are also learning what His teachings mean and how He means for them to live out the truths compared to what they thought they meant.  We enjoy the action, battles, intrigue and how the disciples possibly acted or spoke around the Messiah.
I felt as I read how sand would feel when different characters were racing on camels to battle or to another city.  The scene of the arena really stole my breath as a person was chained to a pole, bathed in blood and the lion enters.  Whew!  It was like being a spectator and wanting to yell for a savior or to the king or queen to spare the life.  How Ted Dekker brings the various aspects of the Lord or Scr…
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The Final Installment in the Chesapeake Valor Series!

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The other novels are:
Followed by:  Then Book #3: 


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A.D. 30

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Title:A.D. 30
Author:Ted Dekker
Pages:415
Year:2014
Publisher: Center Street
My rating is 4 stars.
Maviah is a young, middle eastern woman who has returned home to her father’s house in disgrace.She was born as an illegitimate child to her father and a woman from the lowliest tribe.She was sold into slavery as a baby to Egyptians.While growing up as a slave, she was taught to read and knew several languages.However, she fell in love with another slave and was discovered to be pregnant so she was returned to her father.Her father never had concern for her or cared for her that is until he needed her.One night her father, the king, had his tribe attacked by a rival tribe.The odds were overwhelming and her father and his forces were going to lose.He gives Maviah an impossible task from her viewpoint.He asks her to go to King Herod and broker an agreement for Herod to get Rome to agree to an alliance with his tribe.Maviah undertakes the task to gain her father’s love and approval as well as to …
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The Heart of Thornewell

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Title:The Heart of Thornewell
Author:Anita Stansfield
Pages:264
Year:2018
Publisher: Covenant Communications, Inc.
My rating is 4 out of 5 stars.
Enid Hawthorne is in shock from her grief.She and her husband have traveled from England to Africa to fulfill her husband’s dream of being a missionary.Now, he has died from a very short illness, leaving Enid alone in a foreign country, friendless and pregnant.Enid does the only thing she can and that is to gather her belongings and leave on foot for the next village and slowly begins her journey back to England.Upon arrival, she has no family or friends to take her in, so she arrives on the doorstep of her husband’s brother, the Earl of Thornewell, hoping he will take her in.Upon arrival, she learns that her good friend, Marie, the earl’s wife, has died a week after giving birth and the newborn child has also died.The earl, Sebastian, is in mourning and seclusion and wants nothing to do with Enid.He blames her for taking his brother away and thus…
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