Perry Stone

Charisma House (Strang Book Group)

hardcover, 176 pages, $15.99

978-1-599-79752-6

In Angels on Assignment: God's Relentless Protection of You and Your Loved Ones, author and evangelist Stone places the spotlight on the issue of divine protection. He begins by discussing prayer and particularly intercession before addressing why bad things happen to good people and what can be done to prevent them.

Known for his Old Testament studies, Stone draws principles from the life of Jacob, particularly regarding what is known as the Mizpah Covenant between Jacob and his father-in-law, Laban.

The author stresses that biblical covenants can release the power of God's protection, which, in turn, brings the aid of angels. He also documents angelic visitations in other biblical stories—including a belief that the pre-incarnate Jesus appeared in angelic form—and his own personal experiences. Stone also instructs believers on how not to offend angels.

Angels on Assignment is an easy read with many bits of wisdom for life application. It will be especially helpful for readers facing doubts about God's power and compassion.

—DeWayne Hamby

Extraordinary

John Bevere

WaterBrook Press

hardcover, 240 pages, $22.99

978-0-307-45772-1

In Extraordinary: The Life You're Meant to Live, Bevere gives grace back its full biblical meaning and power. Not only does salvation come through grace, but it also provides the power to live a dynamic godly life.

Grace cannot be earned, and love comes unconditionally, but God is pleased with faith. True believers will desire to please God, not just want to escape hell, Bevere asserts.

The author believes that Christians need to stop seeing themselves as poor sinners saved by grace who will barely make it into heaven. Instead, they ought to see themselves as full citizens of God's kingdom with access to His power to overcome sin and make positive changes on Earth. Bevere also cautions that believers ought not to think of faith as means to selfish gain, but as empowerment to serve.

An effective discipleship resource for a small group or one-on-one mentoring, Extraordinary is an inoculation against unbelief for those who have never understood the overcoming power of faith and a booster shot for those that have.

—Deborah L. Delk

The Year of Living Like Jesus

Ed Dobson

Zondervan

hardcover, 304 pages, $19.99

978-0-310-24777-7

The title and cover of pastor Dobson's The Year of Living Like Jesus: My Journey of Discovering What Jesus Would Really Do immediately bring to mind its inspiration—A.J. Jacobs' The Year of Living Biblically—in part because Jacobs himself wrote the foreword to Dobson's book.

Dobson acknowledges the source of his inspiration in the introduction for his year-long journal. Whereas Jacobs, a nonreligious Jew, set out to chronicle what it would be like to live out what the Bible says literally, Dobson set out to live more intentionally the way Jesus, who was also a Jew, did.

The inevitable comparison to Jacobs' work ends there, however. Jacobs' writing was meant to be a humorous study in cultural oddities, but Dobson's is based on his own sincere attempt to live more like Jesus.

The book is helpful for those who want to learn more about the culture in which Jesus lived. And Dobson's personal reflections on living with a terminal, slowly progressing form of ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease) are especially poignant.

—Cara Davis

Shades of Blue

Karen Kingsbury

Zondervan

softcover, 336 pages, $14.99

978-0-310-26622-8

Kingsbury's Shades of Blue explores the harsh realities of abortion through the lives of her characters.

Brad Cutler and Laura James are engaged to be married in only six weeks when a secret from his past suddenly begins to affect the prospect of his future. Though he now follows Christ, Brad can no longer hide the truth about a previous relationship.

Emma Landon, his high school love, has been living broken and alone for nine years. As a teacher, she shows her students love, but her sadness tarnishes every day. With deep humility and strong faith, Brad seeks forgiveness from his first love for the worst decision of his life.

Kingsbury's bold handling of this difficult topic is fairly balanced, but charged with emotion. Mature readers will appreciate how God's grace and forgiveness are demonstrated in a tragic situation.

—Bonnie Bruner

Thirsty

Tracey Bateman

WaterBrook Press

softcover, 384 pages, $13.99

978-0-307-45715-8

Thirsty, the first thriller from romance fiction author Bateman, grabs readers with each turn of the page as recovering alcoholic Nina Hunt is forced to return to her hometown of Abbey Hills, Mo., even though she vowed she would never come back.

On the day Nina and her daughter, Meg, arrive with Nina's sister Jill, a dead body is found cut with occult markings and with its blood drained. While her sister—the town's sheriff—is solving murders, Nina struggles each day with the temptation of alcohol and works on restoring her estranged relationships.

Needing someone to talk to, she befriends Markus, the mysterious, handsome neighbor next door—who holds the secret to the unsolved murders and animal killings in Abbey Hills.

This well-written suspense tale will give readers an adrenaline rush that brings to life old folklore and vampires who thirst for blood in the night.

—Nicole Anderson

Master Leaders

George Barna with Bill Dallas

BarnaBooks (Tyndale House Publishers)

hardcover, 256 pages, $24.99

978-1-414-32624-5

Barna joins forces with Dallas to extract secrets from great leaders in Master Leaders: Revealing Conversations With 30 Leadership Greats. Barna initially prepared a series of 150 questions, spending one-on-one time with each leader. But instead of including a dry transcript of the results, he presents the content in a conversational setting—the fictional backstage or "green room" of Master Leaders conference.

Readers "listen" in on the dialogue and, at times, disagreement and debate. The roster includes pastors (Erwin McManus), college presidents (Sam Chand), CEOs (Jimmy Blanchard), clinical psychologists (Henry Cloud and John Townsend), military (Bob Dees), professors (John Kotter of Harvard), film producers (Ralph Winter), athletes (Tony Dungy) and politicians (Mike Huckabee).

Chapters focus on such issues as vision and values, trust, conflict and confrontation and building teams.

Master Leaders will reach a wide audience, including students and professionals, with readers learning the 16 key facets of leadership. Chock full of wisdom, this book will help existing or aspiring leaders take their skills to a higher level.

—C. Brian Smith

The Misunderstood God

Darin Hufford

Windblown Media (Hachette Book Group)

softcover, 224 pages, $13.99

978-1-935-17005-1

In The Misunderstood God: The Lies Religion Tells Us About God, the first new nonfiction release from the publisher of The Shack, Hufford confronts a skewed idea of the nature of Christ perpetuated by teachers, preachers and believers in general. The author addresses these misconceptions and then asks who would want to love a god that beats a person down, judges unmercifully, betrays or abandons if one wrong move is made?

Hufford, however, challenges readers to cast out the image they've been taught. He encourages them instead to open the Bible and read it anew to search out who Christ really is and to discover God's genuine love for His people.

The Misunderstood God provides a refreshing and quite freeing perspective as to the true identity of Christ and the love He has for His people, as Hufford expounds on 1 Cor. 13. This is a wonderful book for anyone who is ready to rediscover Christ.

—Heidi L. Ippolito