"The Last Day" Book Review & Giveaway!

This week, the
Christian Fiction Blog Alliance
is introducing
The Last Day
Steerforth; 1 edition (September 1, 2009)
by
James Landis

MY REVIEW:
I finished "The Last Day" today and I cried. James Landis got me so emotionally attached to the main character, Warren Harlan Pease (War and Peace, I just got that!) that when the end came, I cried. When I was explaining the gist of the book to my parents tonight, I bawled - seriously. That's how emotional I was. There are a lot of really good things about this book... obviously strong characterization, the premise (Jesus meeting Warren on the beach to spend one last day with him, going around and seeing all his loved ones) was very interesting and much of the content really made me think. Very thought provoking.

There are a few things that bothered me, a couple theological issues that popped up (Jesus ordering a beer and changing Warren's driver's license so he could too for instance - not sure that set right with me) and then of course this is a smaller publisher and so there are some editing issues that might have been smoothed out with a larger publisher (some transition issues as we follow Warren skipping around between the far past - when he was a kid, the present - today visiting his loved ones, and the close past - in Baghdad, Iraq where he was a sniper... it was difficult to follow sometimes).

Overall the good outweighed the issues to make this a very thought provoking book that will make you pause for a moment. I am including the links to a couple gals that reviewed this book as well and absolutely loved it, I want you to have the chance to see what they have to say so click here for Tina's review and click here for Christy's review.
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GIVEAWAY - To give you a chance to read this book for yourself, leave a comment here telling me what intrigues you about it (and be sure to include your email address!) and I will enter you to win a copy! Good luck!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:


James Landis lives in New Hampshire.


ABOUT THE BOOK

Warren Harlan Pease, the young narrator of this spellbinding novel, returns to his native New Hampshire from the Iraq War and spends an entire day with Jesus visiting and contemplating his own life with fresh eyes, and a willing heart. He examines his relationships to those he loves─his girlfriend, his best friend, his father, his dead mother, his daughter ─ and grapples with the pain he has been carrying since the death of his mother when he was still a boy.

While in Iraq, armed with his sniper’s ‘s rifle and his deeply held faith, Specialist Pease traveled across ideological borders and earned an appreciation for his enemy’s culture and for what connect us all as human beings. He also learned how to kill and taught others to do the same. “War doesn’t test your faith in Jesus,” Warren comes to realize. “It tests your faith in yourself.” The Last Day answers some questions and asks many more. It’s a powerful meditation on religion and war, love and loss.

This work of compassion and healing grace will resonate with skeptics and believers, be shared and discussed between friends and among families. It is a book for our time, and forever.


If you would like to read an excerpt from Chapter one of , go HERE