Book Marks
The following books have been brought to the attention of the Loudoun Times-Mirror because they are either by Loudoun authors or about Loudoun County or both: Title: 'The Chase'
Author: Jan Neuharth, Middleburg
Genre: Mystery
Publisher: Paper Chase Farms Publishing Group
Type: Hardback
Length: 329 pages
Cost: $33.95
Set in Middleburg, tragedy strikes as "The Chase" begins when Doug Cummings, an attractive, wealthy lawyer and horseman, barely escapes a suspicious vehicle accident with his life and realizes that someone is out to get him. But who? His only known enemy, twisted psychopath Zeb McGraw, is behind bars. Could someone on the outside be helping McGraw? Or could the culprit be the mysterious cowboy who miraculously helps save the life of Doug’s horse but who almost seems too good to be true? Caught in the middle is alluring horsewoman, Kendall Waters, who is recently divorced and battling the demons of her past.
Title: 'The Reaper in the Rye'
Author: Rusty Markland
Genre: Crime fiction
Publisher: PublishAmerica
Type: Paperback
Length: 300 pages
Cost: $24.95
Rusty Markland of Purcellville first got ideas for "The Reaper in the Rye" when he was a police officer for The Town of Leesburg in the late 1980s. The setting is Savanna, Ga., in the the summer of 1978, the hottest, deadliest summer on record. During that summer, a serial killer began a reign of terror, a grisly and brutal campaign. Those who survived and witnessed the fear and chaos were changed forever. For a short period of time, God blinked and evil seized the day. A young street cop with clear-cut ideas of right and wrong stood at the crossroads that summer, a summer that would live on in bad dreams and suppressed memories for many. A summer when the hunters became the hunted, right became wrong and wrong became right. A summer of murder that Savannah would never forget.
Title: 'God's Harvard: A Christian College on a Mission to Save America'
Author: Hanna Rosin
Genre: Political, religious education
Publisher: Harcourt
Type: Hardcover
Length: 304 pages
Cost: $16.50
The following is a review by Vanessa Bush for Booklist and is posted on Amazon's Web site:
"Patrick Henry College, just outside the nation's capital, is a small school preparing Christian Fundamentalist youth to become the elite of the future, permeating politics and American culture to change what they see as an ungodly nation. Washington Post reporter Rosin spent a year and a half among the faithful, watching the efforts of school founder Michael Farris to mold the next generation of evangelicals. She follows the lives of students, nearly all of them previously homeschooled, as they cope with college life, the world of Washington politics, and questions about their faith and their futures. Farahn, a ballet dancer, is an attractive, somewhat cynical misfit, who struggles through the year. Daniel Noa is trying to reconcile his conservative persona at school with the greater tolerance of his hometown of Hollywood, where growing numbers of Christian filmmakers are making their mark. Elisa is a bright, earnest young woman, chafing at the expectations that she will curb her ambitions and devote herself to a future husband and children. A captivating look at struggles within the conservative movement."
Title: 'C’ing Your Way Clear: Every Woman’s Guide to Handling Life’s Storms'
Author: Toya L. Evans
Genre: Self-help, inspiration
Publisher: Haci Publishing
Type: Paperback
Length: 97 pages
Cost: $10.95
Toya L. Evans of Ashburn has just had her inspirational book, "C’ing Your Way Clear: Every Woman’s Guide to Handling Life’s Storms,"' released Oct. 1 by Haci Publishing. This book offers tips to teach that in the midst of a storm people can be more than survivors; they can be achievers. "C’ing Your Way Clear" focuses on seven C’s that can enable change in a difficult experience: Consult God, Confront your Fears, Conceptualize a Solution, Create a Plan, Commit to Making it Happen, Cherish Your Experience and Continue. This book includes stories of everyday women facing personal challenges that take them to dark places -- addiction, incest, unexpected death of a spouse, illness, teenage pregnancy, care of an aging parent. Evans is an author, speaker and businesswoman with an MBA from Howard University and a BSBA from George Washington University. Her experience spans more than 20 years in marketing and strategic consulting.
Title: 'Converting Kate'
Author: Becky Weinheimer, New York
Genre: Juvenile fiction
Publisher: Viking Books
Type: Hardback
Length: 288 pages
Cost: $11.55
Beckie Weinheimer wrote "Converting Kate," nominated by the American Library Association for Best Books of 2008, while living in Leesburg. She credits the Rust Library and the Northern Virginia Writers, who meet in Leesburg on First Fridays as major supporters in helping her create her novel. She also made several quiet visits to the St. James Episcopal Church to ponder, meditate and be inspired by the beautiful stain glassed windows, which play such an important part in Kate's story.
Weinheimer will be signing her novel at Leesburg Books A Million 2-4 p.m. on Oct. 28.
The main character was raised in the Church of the Holy Divine, which influenced everything in her life from her homeschooling to her ugly handmade clothes. But ever since the death of her nonreligious father, Kate has suspected there's more to life than memorizing Bible passages.
Taking advantage of their move to a new town, Kate -- to her devout mother's horror -- quits the Holy Divine. She replaces it with the cross-country team at her public school, her father's beloved book collection and services at a more mainstream Christian church. But these new diversions don't bring all the answers she's looking for. And as Kate struggles to come to terms with her father's death and her mother's blind allegiance to the Holy Divine, she discovers there's a big difference between religion and spirituality, and the two don't always go hand in hand.