Hearts Set Free epic historical inspirational drama

   

Hearts Set Free
Jess Lederman
 
March, 2019
400  pp
Available in $12.99/$19.99 print, $2.99 ebook, $21.99 audio
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About the book
Seven Lives Inexorably Intertwined. Over Eighty-Six Years.
That Will Bring a Revelation Beyond What Any of Them Could Imagine.

The Alaska Territory, 1925. When Yura Noongwook’s husband abandons her and her thirteen-year-old son, she vows to win him back and destroy the woman who stole his heart. They embark on an epic cross-country quest that leads them to the Nevada desert, where they meet a man who has turned into the last thing anyone expected him to become …

David Gold. Reno, 1930. A Bible-school dropout known as the Pummelin’ Preacher. His boxing career is fading, just like his faith. But then a former call girl shows up, tells him about the rag-tag congregation she’s part of; how their pastor was murdered. And that the Spirit is moving and David’s destiny is to lead their tiny flock.

Las Vegas, 2011. Cable TV star Tim Faber is an atheist bent on proving God is only alive in people’s imaginations. But Joan Reed, his producer, is trying to recapture the faith of her youth. And both of them are driven to unravel a mystery surrounding the Big Bang theory, never dreaming the answer will forever change their lives.
To do that, they have to meet with the now 99-year-old Luke Noongwook and David Gold’s grandson, Daniel.
The veil is being pulled back, but none of them are prepared for what they’ll find on the other side.
 
My review
Hearts Set Free is a cautious mix of a mainstream story invaded by the Holy Spirit. It’s not a tame Christian tale, nor follows the traditional Christian literature ground rules, so if you expect traditional pure inspirational lit, this isn’t it.
 
Author Jess Lederman creates a puzzle of time and characters, seemingly disparate eras and goals, and begins to weave them together, dancing back and forth in time and place. Several storylines emerge: in the 1920s and 30s a First Nation Alaskan husband leaves him family, who some years later, decide to go after him; a young man called to ministry during WWI makes a left turn into the underworld of professional fighting; in the modern era, a pair of lovers in midlife crisis seek an elusive genius’s theorem regarding the universe for their television reality documentary while debunking the God myth, and a Las Vegas pastor searches for redemption. Many pieces of the story set the foundation for the final battle.

Some ways into the story, it becomes heavily nuanced with the gospel message and lengthy biblical exegesis, as all characters in all walks of life are introduced to faith. These are real people who are often trapped in real sin.

The book should be read in larger chunks, or the reader might consider keeping notes of characters and names in significant historical eras, as several of them interact at different times and have very similar names. The chapters jump around through time and among the players until they begin to coalesce as little bits of details begin the reveal the puzzle’s picture.
 
Hearts Set Free is not an easy or light read. Adult language and situations are part of the story. Ultimately, Lederman shares the battle between spiritual realities and the redeeming love only Christ can offer. 

About the author

A graduate with a degree in music from Columbia University, Jess Lederman is an author of Christian-themed fiction who lives with his wife and two young sons in the Pacific Northwest.

He is currently at work on a novel that begins in the last days of the Wild West and ends in Las Vegas in 1955. When Jess is not writing or chasing his young sons around, he can usually be found at the piano playing Chopin nocturnes for his wife, Ling.

Nike Chillemi's Deadly Designs

Deadly Designs is available on Amazon in ebook format

$3.99 Buy on Amazon

About the Book:

Private investigator Veronica "Ronnie" Ingels teams up with Deputy Dawson Hughes to find a geeky radio broadcaster's missing wife and young daughter. They fear the woman and child were taken by Islamic terrorists as revenge against the husband's pro-Israel, conspiracy theory broadcasts. The investigation takes Ronnie and Hughes from a manicured Connecticut estate, to interviews with an elitist A-List society crowd, and run-ins with cranky local police detectives. Then they plunge deep into the seamy, drug-riddled underbelly of the fashion world, with the specter of international terrorism hovering.

Hughes has recently been promoted to lieutenant in the Taylor County, Texas Sheriff's Department. He's on leave on a special assignment with Authorized Operations (AO), a clandestine, quasi-government agency operating out of a sea-side mansion in Hither Hills, NY. The only thing is, many powerful politicians, and government big-wigs claim Authorized Operations doesn't exist.

Ronnie is furious at both Hughes and the broadcaster for waiting thirty-six hours to start the search. She knows the longer it takes, the less chance there is of finding the child alive. The problem is, radio talk-show host Ed Harper has been hoping-against-hope that his pot-smoking, model wife is on one of her 'esoteric experiences' and has simply taken the child while she romps for a few days. He doesn't want to seriously consider the other, more hazardous possibility… that his radio broadcasts have angered some very dangerous people.

Nike, what do you love about this book?

I loved building tension, and creating plot twists in this one…and there were quite a number of conundrums. I thoroughly enjoyed dishing out turmoil, not to mention mayhem to Ronnie and Dawson. Keeping them on their toes was such fun for me.

Introduce us to the character you had the most trouble with.

I had the most trouble with Ronnie. I had to reveal something deep and dark from her past. To do this I had to lead up to it in a natural way and then set up a circumstance whereby it would be plausible for it to come out.

What do you hope readers will tell other readers when they’ve finished the book?

I hope readers will tell other others it was an exciting detective story. I'd also like for readers to mention that although there were a few dark moments in the novel, there was also wry humor, and overall it was uplifting.

About the Author:

Like so many writers, Nike Chillemi started writing at a very young age. She still has the Crayola,

fully illustrated book she penned (colored might be more accurate) as a little girl about her then off-the-chart love of horses. Today, you might call her a crime fictionista. Her passion is crime fiction. She likes her bad guys really bad and her good guys smarter and better.

Nike is the founding board member of the Grace Awards and is its Chair, a reader's choice awards for excellence in Christian fiction. She has been a judge in the 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014 Carol Awards in the suspense, mystery, and romantic suspense categories; and an Inspy Awards 2010 judge in the Suspense/Thriller/Mystery category. Her four novel Sanctuary Point series, set in the mid-1940s has finaled, won an award, and garnered critical acclaim. HARMFUL INTENT released under the auspices of her own publishing company, Crime Fictionista Press, won in the Grace Awards 2014 Mystery/Thriller/Romantic Suspense/Historic Suspense category. Her new release is DEADLY DESIGNS. She has written book reviews for The Christian Pulse online magazine. She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) and John 3:16 Marketing Network.  

http://nikechillemi.wordpress.com/