Tuesday, 25 April 2023

Honor At Stake - Declan Finn - Love at First Bite Book 1

Honor At Stake
Love at First Bite Book 1
Declan Finn
ISBN 9781951768706
ASIN B0C2WCYMTF
 
Honor At Stake - Declan Finn - Love at First Bite Book 1

I am so thankful to see this series back in print. Three Ravens released all four novels in under a week. And they immediately jumped to the top of my reading list. I have read the three published short stories in this series and am very thankful the novels are back in print. 

I have loved the three short stories in the Love at First Bite Series, and this first novel has exceeded all expectations. It is an amazing story! It was so good I immediately wanted to read book two, and the only thing that stopped me was commitments to review two books when they release in the next few weeks. This is the first of the 4 novels in this series they were out of print, but as of April 2023 they are back in print and available electronically and in print. This is great news for fans of Finn’s works

It has been a few years since I have really read a story or series that has centred around vampires. I seem to go through a phase about every 10 years where something catches my fancy and draws me in. These stories have completely captivated my attention. I finished this a few days ago and still keep finding myself thinking about this story.

Over the last 10 months I have read 41 stories by Declan. I have greatly enjoyed books in several other series. I have loved the Saint Tommy and the White Ops, and I cannot wait for the Pius trilogy of 5 books to be back in print. 

The description of this story is:

One is a heartless, bloodthirsty killer. The other is a vampire.

College freshman, Amanda Colt knows few people and wants to know fewer still. She enjoys fencing and prefers facing a challenge every once in a while. She is beautiful, smart, and possibly the most interesting person on campus.

Then she finds tall, intense Marco Catalano in her fencing class. With a mind like a computer and manners of a medieval knight, he scares most people - but not Amanda. They both have secrets, for they are both monsters.

As they draw closer, they must find the line between how much they can trust each other, and how much they can care for each other. Each carries a secret that can destroy the other. But they must come to grips with their personal drama soon because a darkness rises around them. Bodies keep turning up all over New York, and an army of vampires closes in on all sides.

They have only one hope - each other.”

What completely blew my mind is that this volume mentions an “Officer Nolan” whom I can only assume is the same Tommy Nolan from the Saint Tommy series. It also has Merle Kraft who is in the Dances with Werewolves stories. Which I believe means the three series are set in the same world and with overlapping time lines. Once I have finished getting caught up on all of Finn’s published stories I am going to need to go back and reread them to look for more connections and crossovers.
The action in this story is intense. The battles epic. And like most of Finn’s works the greatest strength is the characters. You will greatly appreciate the main characters and be rooting for them. 

I can’t wait to read the next three novels in this series. These stories have a bit of a feel of Blade or John Carpenter’s Vampires, and thankfully no vampires that sparkle. The stories I have read to date in this series are wonderfully written and masterfully executed.

The novels in this series are:

       Formerly Murphy's Law of Vampires

The Short Stories are:

02 Bad Date (During the main story arc)
03 Mad Dog Moon (An Epilogue Story)

Declan has created another incredible series in what I now believe to be a shared world. I am hooked. I am very thankful these novels are back in print, I look forward to reading them and sharing them with others. But be warned once you take a nip of this story you will be hooked.  It is a story with real bite, a series to really sink your teeth into! A great story in what is shaping up to be an incredible series!     

Note: This book is part of a series of reviews: 2022 Catholic Reading Plan

Books by Declan Finn:
Love At First Bite Series:
Short Stories:
Novels:

The Last Survivors Series:

Convention Killings Series:

Pius Series:
A Pius Legacy
A Pius Stand
Pius History
Pius Tales (Anthology)
Pius Trilogy Short Stories:
...

St. Tommy Series:

Top Secret Service Series:

Dances with Werewolves Series:

White Ops Series:

Land&Sea Season 2:
...

Other books:
...

Anthologies contributed to:
Luna: Planetary Anhtology Series Book 2
Supernatural Streets
Starflight: Tales From The Starport Lounge
Mercury: Planetary Anthology Series Book 4
Venus: Planetary Anthology Series Book 5
Mars: Planetary Anthology Series Book 7
Places Beyond the Wild: A Z-Day Anthology
Shoot the Devil: Ten Tales of Humans Defeating the Demonic
Fantastic Schools, Volume 6








Monday, 24 April 2023

The Stations of the Cross - Vincent Sherlock

The Stations of the Cross
ISBN 9781910248577
eISBN 9781788122405
ASIN B087NV4Q8F


This is the eleventh book published by Messenger Publications that I have read in as the last few years. This was the second volume I have read by Vincent Sherlock. I have also read his volume Telling the Rosary, which I enjoyed. This was one of several Stations I did for the first time in 2023. Some much older like a couple from Fulton Sheen that we published nearly a century ago, and this one was published just 5 years ago. This edition has a length introduction and then the 14 stations it does not have the more recent 15th Station, or a concluding prayer. 

The description of this booklet is:

“The text is complemented by beautiful reproductions of the Belvedere College stained glass Stations by artist Harry Clarke. This is a booklet which will both challenge and inspire you in your worship.” 

The chapters in this volume are:

The Camino of the Cross: Calvary Way
Walk The Way Of The Cross With The Woman Found Committing Adultery
Gospel Passage (John 8:1-11)
The Response
Stations 1-14

In the introduction Vincent states:

“A well-accepted method of praying on the mysteries of the life of Christ has been with the imagination. This was popularised in the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius Loyola. Staying close to the scripture meaning, we imaginatively pray on the life of Jesus and maybe other mysteries encased within it. In making the Stations of the Cross we might put ourselves into the mind of those who watched or followed Jesus on his way. In this book, we follow with the woman who was found in adultery, imagining her watching Jesus on the way to Calvary.

This is a way of entering into the mystery of the event; while it may not be historical (though she could have been there, living in Jerusalem), it is faithful to the meaning of the event, and to the people we call on in imagination. It also engages us powerfully in the mystery of Christ’s life that we contemplate.”

A sample station is:

IX A Third Fall for Jesus

We adore you O Christ, and we praise you.
Because by your Holy Cross you have redeemed the world. 

Simon said this one was down to him. He lost his footing and as he fell he pushed Jesus to the ground. He said he felt badly about this but wondered if maybe it was a reminder that when a man falls he brings others with him. It was to be the final fall on the way, but led to the refinding of feet, and to facing the road that was necessary on that Friday. Jesus, Simon recalls, ‘Looked back at me and sort of nodded. It’s as if he was saying, “I’m with you always Simon – I know you didn’t mean to fall or bring me down. We can, we will, we must get up again.”’

The name of God is Mercy”

This Stations is short and sweet. Of all the versions of the Stations I have and use regularly this is the second shortest. That being said it is still a great stations. I have some versions that it takes a few hours to read the long reflections. This one is excellent for days when you are pressed for time and want to still complete this devotion. It is one I can see myself using often. Sherlock has also written a volume called, Celebrating Holy Week, that I have picked up to use this year. I try and pray a Stations of the Cross each Friday throughout the year, and one each day during Lent. This is a great addition to my collection. 

I can easily recommend this station for personal or family use. I was blessed for the reading and praying through it and I am certain you will be as well.


Note: This book is part of a series of reviews: 202 Catholic Reading Plan! For all review of Messenger Publications books and booklets click here

For all other reviews of Stations of the Cross click here.

Books by Vincent Sherlock:
Let Advent be Advent
The Enchanted Way: Reflections on the Way of the Cross














Sunday, 23 April 2023

On the Way of the Cross with Saint Paul - Father Eugene LaVerdiere, S.S.S.

On the Way of the Cross with Saint Paul
Father Eugene LaVerdiere, S.S.S.

On the Way of the Cross with Saint Paul Eugene LaVerdiere, S.S.S. Cover

This was a Stations of the Cross that we did during Lent in 2023 at our church on a Friday evening. It was a wonderful edition to pray corporately and it is one I will continue to pray privately. I tray and pray a Stations each Friday of the year, and I strive to pray a Stations each day during Lent. While researching this volume for this review I discovered it is one of 5 written by Father Eugene LaVerdiere, S.S.S., they are:


I do not recount encountering the works of Father Eugene prior to this devotion. But looking at the list of volumes he published I have added several to my wish list. I discovered that Father Eugene LaVerdiere, SSS, was a distinguished lecturer at Fordham University in New York and an adjunct professor at the Catholic Theological Union. He published numerous books and articles, he published works on Scripture are Luke from the New Testament Message series, The Eucharist in the New Testament and the Early Church, and The Beginning of the Gospel: Introducing the Gospel According to Mark Volumes 1 and He was also the senior editor of Emmanuel magazine. The publishing company that produces this and the other Stations composed by him. The description of this volume is:

“Paul’s very life was a real Way of the Cross, from his conversion on the Damascus road, onto Jerusalem, and finally to his Martyrdom at Rome. Paul the persecutor of Christians became Paul the persecuted. In baptism, Paul died to Christ and was buried with Christ. Let us follow with Paul as he takes up his cross and follows our Lord and Savior on the Way of the Cross.”

A sample station is:

Third Station

Leader: Third Station: Jesus Falls the First Time
Cross bearer: We adore you, 0 Christ, and we praise you.

All: Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.

You may be seated.

Leader: For Paul, too, there would be many a fall. The first came in the moment of his conversion. When Christ appeared to him, as a brilliant flash from the sky, Paul fell to the ground. He stayed there until Jesus told him to get up. He was to go into the city. There he would be told what to do (Acts 9:4-6).

Saint Paul: I was on the way to Damascus, certain I was doing the right thing. I had "progressed in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries among my race," and "I was even more a zealot for my ancestral traditions" (Gal 1:14). That is when God revealed his Son to me (Gal 1:16).

A Corinthian: Paul kept reminding us of our tradition: Christ died, was buried, was raised on the third day, and appeared to Kephas, then to the Twelve (1Cor15:3-5). A few years later, Christ appeared also to him (1 Cor 15:8). That is when God revealed his Son to him (Gal 1:16), transforming his life.

Leader: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

All: He destined us to be his adopted children through Jesus Christ."
Ephesians 1:3a, 5

Please stand.

Leader: Let us pray.

All: Christ Jesus, obedient unto death, God greatly exalted you (Phil 2:8b-9a).
We thank you, Lord, and we bless you. Dying on a cross, you received from God the name above every name (Phil 2:8b, 9b). For this we praise you, our Lord and Savior, living and reigning for ever and ever.
Amen.”

I hope that sample station give you a feel for this version of this devotion. It was Wonderful to do this at church with a few different people playing the different roles. And it was just as wonderful to pray and reflect upon it on my own. This is another great Stations of the Cross. I look forward to tracking down other editions by Father Eugene and some of his other books. I just wish this and other volumes were available electronically, with my dual form of dyslexia I prefer eBooks so I can change the font, font and page colour to make books more accessible and easier to read.

This is a great resource for personal, family, or parish use. An excellent version of this devotion, I can easily recommend this volume.



Note: This book is part of a series of reviews: 2023 Catholic Reading Plan

For all other reviews of Stations of the Cross click here.

Books by Eugene LaVerdiere, S.S.S.:
A Church for All Peoples: Missionary Issues in a World Church
Acts of the Apostles
Dining in the Kingdom of God: The Origins of the Eucharist According to Luke
Fundamentalism: A Pastoral Concern
Invitation to the New Testament, Epistles II
Luke New Testament Message 5
The Annunciation to Mary: A Story of Faith, Luke 1:26-38
The Beginning of the Gospel: Introducing the Gospel According to Mark - Volume 1 (Mark 1-8:21)
The Beginning of the Gospel: Introducing the Gospel According to Mark: Volume 2 (Mark 8:22-16:20)
The Breaking Of The Bread: The Development Of The Eucharist According To The Acts Of The Apostles
The Eucharist in the New Testament and the Early Church
The Gospel of St. Luke
The New Testament in the Life of the Church: Evangelization, Prayer, Catechetics, Homiletics
The Psalms
The year of Luke
When We Pray: Meditation on the Lord's Prayer

Stations of the Cross:

The Way of the Cross According to Mark -  Eugene LaVerdiere, S.S.S.

On the Way of the Cross with Saint Paul Eugene LaVerdiere, S.S.S. Cover

Saturday, 22 April 2023

Season of Mercy Lent and Easter - Catherine de Hueck Doherty - Seasonal Customs Vol. 2

Season of Mercy: Lent and Easter 
Seasonal Customs Vol. 2
Mary Bazzett (Editor)
ISBN 9781897145128
ISBN 9781897145197
ASIN B00JXZ41GC


This is the third volume I have read from Catherine de Hueck Doherty. It was a new volume I picked up for Advent in 2022 and it carried over until 2023. I spent a few days at Madonna House in the early 1990’s. I am familiar with her name but had yet to read much from her pen. After reading this one I have already added a few of her other books to my wish list, and easily could have added a dozen. The eBook was released in 2012; the book was first published in 1996 and a revised edition released in 2012. This volume from Doherty was compiled from her works and talks. The description of this volume is:

“A guide to entering into the mystery and celebration of Lent and Easter. Catherine Doherty leads us into the riches of God s boundless mercy as she teaches us the spirit, the liturgy, and the customs of the Lent and Easter season, including: Practical guidance on preparing for the internal spiritual pilgrimage that is Lent. Meditations on the meanings of the many holy days preceding and following Easter. Traditions and customs which will help your family live the holiness of the Easter season. After-dinner talks by Catherine Doherty, spiritual readings around the dining room table on the spirit, liturgy and customs of Lent, Holy Week, the Easter Triduum and Paschaltide. 

Catherine speaks on such topics as how to Prepare for Lent; Why Fasting; The Motive is Love; Sin, Repentance, Conversion. Also on Palm (Passion) Sunday; Holy Week; Holy Thursday: Priesthood and Eucharist; Good Friday; Holy Saturday: Christ s Descent into Hades; and Christ is Risen! Then Paschaltime and Christ's Ascension, Pentecost. A rich tapestry of scriptural reflections and Customs and Traditions to bring it all to life! Excellent for personal and group study. A wonderful resource for preachers and teachers! Volume one of this series is Donkey Bells: Advent and Christmas Meditations and Traditions by Catherine Doherty also available.”

And the sections in the book are:

Introduction
Preface
1 Reflections for Lent
     God Loved Us First
     Begin with Desire
     Ash Wednesday
     The Lenten Atmosphere
     Seek God’s Will
     Learning to Love
     I Give My Life
     Atonement
     The Sea of God’s Mercy
     Repentance and Forgiveness
     To Fast
     My Heart is Ready

2 Thoughts in Holy Week
     Take Off Your Shoes
     Palm Sunday
     Holy Thursday
     Good Friday
     Holy Saturday

3 The Easter Season
     The Feast of Feasts!
     Christ’s Ascension

4 Pentecost: The Holy Spirit
     Who is the Spirit?
     The Fire and the Wind
     Gifts of the Spirit
     All Made New
     Pain and Unity

5 Madonna House Customs and Traditions
     The Season of Lent
     Holy Week Customs
     We Celebrate Easter!
     The Supper of the Lamb

About the Author

The layout of the book made it difficult. Some reflections have specific dates, or feasts in the church Calandar, most do not. Because of this I ended up jumping around a bit. I highlighted numerous passages when reading this volume, most in the first half of the volume. Some of them are:

“Catherine often began preparing the community for Lent immediately after the Christmas season. She understood well that we need to prepare to prepare—prepare for Lent, which is itself a preparation for Easter, which reminds us of our final passover at death. Her enthusiasm made other hearts catch fire; no one in the community wanted to miss Lent, let alone Easter!”

“These talks span a 25-year period from the late 1950s through the early 1980s and reflect changes occurring in the world, the Church, Madonna House, and in Catherine herself during those years.”

“Lent is a most important liturgical season, a time of preparation for the main event in the life of the Church and her members: the resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord, the event on which rests our whole faith.”

“Why did this man—who is also God—go forth preaching, when he knew that at the end of his preaching he was going to die a horrible death? Because he loved his Father, and for love of us, he obeyed his Father.”

“Lent is a spiritual journey. It has a particular spirit, quite different from any other time of the liturgical year, a spirit that tells you quietly and simply where you are going: to the Passover, the resurrection. You follow Christ across his whole life, you die with him, and you are buried in him, so to speak.”

“Preparation for Lent begins with desire. We exist to desire God. As St. Augustine says, “My heart is restless until it rests in Thee.” In this is the preparation for Lent: touching a desire for God that is deep down in the heart. Desire is like a flame, it starts small and it grows. Lent should fan our desire for God into a bonfire.”

“He who desires God already possesses him. The way to desire is to enter into Lent, to begin fasting not only from food, but from whatever leads us to run away from the new life God offers.”

“You can find him in books; you can find him in all kinds of things. But the simplest way is this: stillness of body, stillness of heart, stillness of mind, and one thought: “Lord, come!” And you wait. The “wings” of your intellect are folded; your heart is wide open. You wait. And suddenly, when you least expect it, he is there! Now you have met, because he met you.”

“Ah, but what dust! You are dust that is going to be one with God. Isn’t that enough to make you dance, right in the middle of this ash business? We are not an ordinary dust—we are a dust that is going to be eternal, a dust that is going to be glorified, a dust that is going to be with God. So, let us prepare ourselves to receive that “dust” with joy—a joy based on discipline—and let us enter the corridor of Lent.”

“Seven weeks are set aside every year for us to let go of the old and to enter into the new, because God is merciful. Now we can pass over from the old life that we led before Lent, into the new life after. This “passover” is a daily occurrence; it is not only during Lent. But Lent enhances it and makes you think. It concentrates you. It brings you into the heart of God.”

“Lent is you and I, like St. John the well-beloved, putting our head on the bosom of Christ and hearing the heartbeats of God (John 13:21-25). When you hear the heartbeats of God, you change.”

“There is something very important that we can pray for, for each other. We cannot really get it by reading, but we can get it from our family or Christian community, through the Holy Spirit. It is a Lenten “atmosphere”, which is created and into which we are immersed, as into the water in baptism. Faith comes by hearing, and the Holy Spirit must use somebody to speak. God has made us vehicles of the Holy Spirit for each other. The Lenten climate that someone creates in a family deeply affects its members. This means that one has to be very alert and awake, because we are in a secular society. In Madonna House, which I consider a family, I have tried to create a Lenten atmosphere.”

“I suggest you drastically reduce your use of TV, radio, computers, and other media. What is involved here is the experience of Lent as a time for a silence created by absence of the world’s noises to be filled with positive content. We need a break from the ceaseless hammering of the media. I suggest you feed your intellect by spiritual reading and feed your soul by prayer.”

“When we are silent and recollected, we are mysteriously visited. That is the moment when Christ reveals himself to us. And then he tells us about himself, his Father, and the Holy Spirit. Then we receive our knowledge from God himself because we have broken our heart open, and we have interiorized ourselves. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit have entered into us, and dwell there. And we have prostrated ourselves before the Trinitarian God that dwells within us. In recollection, we listen, and God comes. And that is when we can begin to be a person of peace.”

“Just sit down some time and write what Christ asks you to do—and what you are doing. I do that periodically, and I am utterly surprised how completely I fail in what God wants me to do. And I am trying, I am honestly trying to live and do God’s will. Yet always I have an excuse, always there is something where I say, “Oh well, God didn’t mean that.” God meant it, but we do not want to accept it.”

“Let us begin Lent with a firm resolution to do just one thing: abolish the walls of our self-centeredness and selfishness.”

“If you allow sloth to come into you, you are not going to proclaim anything. Sloth is dissipation of our energy. It is also not being able to see the whole; it is the inability to have broad vision. How many people understand sloth in this way, have been given the real meaning? They think it is just laziness, whereas it is the negation of a whole vista of spiritual life into which we must enter.”

“Only to the humble does God reveal himself in the Holy Spirit. If we do not humble ourselves, we shall not see God. Humility is the light in which we may behold the Light, which is God. As the psalmist says: “In your light, we shall see light.””

“God is all-merciful. He does not ask me to atone because of fear. No. He asks me to atone because of love. He atoned for you and me on the cross. As St. Paul says, “You can make up what is wanting in the sufferings of Christ.” Nothing is wanting in the sufferings of Christ, but because I am in love with God, I can pick up others’ sufferings and carry them.”

This is a good volume and one I know I will return to again. I might read this again next year or allow a skip year. Many of the pieces in this volume are moving. They will inspire, encourage and challenge readers. They are well written. It is a book any Catholic would benefit from reading over the Lent and Easter season. A book I can easily recommend.

Note: This book is part of a series of reviews: 2023 Catholic Reading Plan

Books by Catherine de Hueck Doherty:
Apostolic Farming
Beginning Again: Recovering Your Innocence through Confession
Bogoroditza: She Who Gave Birth to God
Dear Father
Dear Seminarian
Dearly Beloved: Letters to the Children of My Spirit (3 Vol.)
Fragments of My Life
God in the Nitty-Gritty Life
Grace in Every Season
In the Footprints of Loneliness
In the Furnace of Doubts
Light in the Darkness
Living the Gospel Without Compromise
Molchanie: The Silence of God
Moments of Grace (perpetual calendar)
My Russian Yesterdays
Not Without Parables: Stories of Yesterday, Today and Eternity
On the Cross of Rejection
Our Lady’s Unknown Mysteries
People of the Towel and Water, The
Poustinia: Encountering God in Silence, Solitude and Prayer
Re-Entry Into Faith
Sobornost: Unity of Mind, Heart and Soul
Soul of My Soul: Coming to the Heart of Prayer
Strannik: The Call to the Pilgrimage of the Heart
Uródivoi: Holy Fools


Friday, 21 April 2023

Bad Date - Declan Finn - A Love at First Bite Story

Bad Date
A Love at First Bite Story
Declan Finn
ASIN B06XKG7JSQ
 

Wow! This is the second short story in the Love at First Bite Series I have read. It is an excellent short story! It was so good I read it twice back to back. This is the first of the stories I had held off on reading them because of the series name, that was a mistake, a huge mistake. I should have known better based on how much I have loved Finn’s other series. The 4 novels in this series were out of print, but as of April 2023 they are back in print and available electronically. 

Over the last 10 months I have read 36 stories by Declan. I have greatly enjoyed books in several other series. There are three short stories and 4 novels in the Love at First Bite series that I am aware of. And I believe this is a prequel set in 1943 in England. This series was originally published a few years ago, After reading the first two short stories I am glad that Finn is working at getting the series back in print. I have loved the Saint Tommy and the White Ops , and I cannot wait for the Pius trilogy of 5 books to be back in print. It has been a few years since a vampire book or even movie really caught my attention. But these stories have really grabbed my attention and I am looking forward to the other 5 pieces set in this world. I am currently working through Finn’s back catalogue. Short stories are a very different art form than the novel, even than the novella. To read a short story set in a world I had only visited twice and to have it completely capture my attention shows Finn’s masterful craftsmanship.

The description of this story is:

“A serial killer is on the loose, and there's one more victim.

Perhaps she's bitten off more than she can chew.”

This story is listed as only 12 pages. I have now both listened to it using adaptive technology and read it. This story sets up so many possibilities I have been thinking about it since I finished it. It has a bit of a feel of Blade or John Carpenter’s Vampires. The two stories so far are very different and terribly intriguing. Wonderfully written, masterfully executed.

The novels in this series are:

       Formerly Murphy's Law of Vampires

The Short Stories are:

02 Bad Date (During the main story arc)
03 Mad Dog Moon (An Epilogue Story)

Declan has created another incredibly interesting world. I am hooked and I have only read two short stories twice each. I am thankful the novels are back in print. I look forward to the other shorter offering in the series that I have already picked up. But be warned once you take a bite out of this story you will be hooked.  A story with real bite. So I encourage you to pick it up and give it a read before diving into the 4 novels in the series.   

Note: This book is part of a series of reviews: 2022 Catholic Reading Plan

Books by Declan Finn:
Love At First Bite Series:
Short Stories:
Novels:

The Last Survivors Series:

Convention Killings Series:

Pius Series:
A Pius Legacy
A Pius Stand
Pius History
Pius Tales (Anthology)
Pius Trilogy Short Stories:
...

St. Tommy Series:

Top Secret Service Series:

Dances with Werewolves Series:

White Ops Series:

Land&Sea Season 2:
...

Other books:
...

Anthologies contributed to:
Luna: Planetary Anhtology Series Book 2
Supernatural Streets
Starflight: Tales From The Starport Lounge
Mercury: Planetary Anthology Series Book 4
Venus: Planetary Anthology Series Book 5
Mars: Planetary Anthology Series Book 7
Places Beyond the Wild: A Z-Day Anthology
Shoot the Devil: Ten Tales of Humans Defeating the Demonic
Fantastic Schools, Volume 6