Monday, January 18, 2010

Review: Screen Play by Chris Coppernoll (FIRST Wild Card Tour)

It is time for a FIRST Wild Card Tour book review! If you wish to join the FIRST blog alliance, just click the button. We are a group of reviewers who tour Christian books. A Wild Card post includes a brief bio of the author and a full chapter from each book toured. The reason it is called a FIRST Wild Card Tour is that you never know if the book will be fiction, non~fiction, for young, or for old...or for somewhere in between! Enjoy your free peek into the book!

You never know when I might play a wild card on you!


Today's Wild Card author is:


and the book:

David C. Cook; New edition (January 1, 2010)
***Special thanks to Audra Jennings of The B&B Media Group for sending me a review copy.***
.
Review:

Rating: 4.5/5.0


I thoroughly enjoyed this book.  Chris Coppernoll has magic with his plot, characters and writing.  Harper is a very likable and realistic character.  I loved getting to know her in this book.  I also liked her friend Avril and hope there is a book about her in the future.  The events of the book are magical.  They didn't feel too contrived or unrealistic.  I went through all of my emotions reading this one, happiness, sadness, anger and so much more.  This book makes you feel and relate to the characters. 

I loved the way Harper is also a struggling Christian.  She is not painted as perfect.  She has doubts but she is working through them and trying to do what God wants her to do with her life.  It is amazing and uplifting to watch her in this book.

Chris Coppernoll has a winner of a book with Screen Play - it has wonderful writing, a well-thought-out plot and characters that feel like your friends from the first page of the book.  I know I say this often and when I say it I mean it - I didn't want this book to end, it was just that remarkable.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:



Chris Coppernoll has authored six books including A Beautiful Fall and Providence. A national speaker to singles, Chris is also the founder of Soul2Soul, a syndicated radio program airing on 800 outlets in 20 countries. Chris holds a Masters degree from Rockbridge Seminary and resides outside Nashville, Tennessee.

Visit the author's website.


Screen Play, by Chris Coppernoll from David C. Cook on Vimeo.


Product Details:

List Price: $14.99
Paperback: 352 pages
Publisher: David C. Cook; New edition (January 1, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1434764826
ISBN-13: 978-1434764829

AND NOW...THE FIRST CHAPTER:



I absolutely had to be in New York by 1:30 p.m. Did my life depend upon it? Yes, as a matter of fact, it did. Just the thought of calling Ben or Avril with bad news from O’Hare churned my stomach and made my face prickle with a dizzying fear. I joined a sea of travelers bundled in parkas, hoods, hats, and gloves; they stretched out in front of me, pressing in and wresting me through a queue of red velvet theater ropes.


All of Chicago wanted to flee the blizzard they’d awakened to. Sometime after midnight the sky exploded with snowflakes. Icy white parachutists fell from their celestial perch as innocently as doves. The year’s last snowstorm tucked the city in with a white blanket knitted through the long winter’s night.


When I reached the American Airlines check-in, I hoisted one of my two black canvas bags onto the scale for the ticket agent.


“Harper Gray?” she asked, confirming my reservation.


“Yes.”


She returned my driver’s license, dropping her gaze to the workstation and tapping my information into the system. At the kiosk next to me, a large Texan with a silver rodeo buckle typed on his iPhone with his thumbs, mumbling something about checking the weather in Dallas.


Computers, I thought. What don’t we use them for?


It was obvious how many of my fellow travelers were heading somewhere for the New Year’s Eve festivities. I couldn’t help but eavesdrop on a cluster of merry college students reveling in their Christmas

break. They joked and chattered, mentioning Times Square, unbothered by long lines or the imminent threat of weather delays. At thirty, almost thirty-one, I could no longer relate to their carefree lifestyle. Too much water under the bridge, most of it dark and all of it numbing.


“Here you are,” the ticket agent said, handing me a boarding pass still warm from the printer. I fumbled with my things, stuffing my photo ID into my wallet as a mother and her young son squeezed in next to me. The crowd current swept me away from the ticket counter, denying me a chance to ask the agent the one question I most wanted answered.


Is anyone flying out of here this morning?


I rolled my carry-on through the main concourse. I’d used the small black Samsonite for so many trips, I thought the airlines should paste labels on it like an old vaudevillian’s steamer trunk. A row of display monitors hung from a galvanized pipe, cobalt blue icicles glowing all the brighter in the dark and windowless hallway. I joined a beleaguered crowd of gawkers studying the departure screens. Their collective moans of frustration confirmed what I already knew. My flight—indeed, all flights out of O’Hare—was:


DELAYED


I pinched my eyes shut. This was not what I needed. Not today, not today of all days. I absolutely had to be in New York by 1:30 p.m. Did my life depend upon it? Yes, as a matter of fact, it did.


©2010 Cook Communications Ministries. Screen Play by Chris Coppernoll. Used with permission. May not be further reproduced. All rights reserved.



What Are You Reading Monday - January 18


Come post weekly and see what others are reading too just so you can add to your tbr - I always do! For more information see J.Kaye's Book Blog and join in!

Books Completed Last Week:

Reading Now:
  • Smash Cut by Sandra Brown (audio)
  • Poseur by Rachel Maude (library)
  • Seduced by a Rogue by Amanda Scott

Next:
  • Us: A User's Guide by Dan Tocchini
  • Denise's Daily Dozen by Denise Austin
  • The Choice by Suzanne Woods Fisher
  • Bed of Roses by Nora Roberts
Reviews to do:

  • Don't You Forget About Me by Cecily von Ziegesar
Summary -

A great reading week and my last week at home before going back to work.  I went in for a half day on Friday and will start back full-time (hopefully) on Tuesday.  I plan on reading as much as I can and love that I can read while working out.  Lots of good books to read this week across different genres.  Definitely an interesting week.  Favorites of the week were Deadly Codes, Screen Play and Becoming Lucy - all wonderful books.