"Posed for Murder" by Meredith Cole

"The only thing that could possibly be worse than having her friend murdered was the knowledge that another friend could be twisted and evil enough to have done it."
- Meredith Cole, Posed for Murder

I'm not one to read mysteries, simply because I get so sucked in to that mushy, girly, lovey-dovey type storyline. I'm a 21-year-old girl. I can't help it! Anyway, I realized I really wasn't appealing to a male audience, so I asked a few guys what they would prefer to read. Every single one of them said a mystery novel. So, with that, I went to the library, went to the mystery section, and literally picked up a random book to check out. I'd never heard of Meredith Cole before, but the inside flap seemed interesting, and I was excited to discover a new author!

Lydia McKenzie is a photographer trying to get discovered. Her current project is re-creating actual death scenes of girls that were never identified. She had read about them in a book and wanted the girls to have some sort of recognition. The night Lydia had been waiting for had finally come: opening night of her very own show at a gallery. She is beyond nervous before the show even begins, but when two detectives come inside to question her, her nerves go through the roof.

Apparantly, someone was so fond of her photographs that he/she decided to re-create them again. For real. Someone murdered a girl and posed her just like in Lydia's photograph. She was dressed almost the same and it was even in the same location. How can this be? The detectives are shocked to hear that Lydia took her photo over a year and a half ago. The body was found tonight. To add to Lydia's horror, the girl that was murdered was the actual girl that modeled for Lydia's photograph. Not only was she the model, but she was Lydia's friend. Who would do this and why would they try to frame Lydia?

I really enjoyed reading this mystery! It makes me want to read more mystery books! I loved how Cole would leave me hanging at the end of every chapter so I HAD to keep reading! It was fun being on edge with every page turn. There is a great twist at the end! The book is a quick read and very enjoyable! Typically, I like books to go deeper and last a little longer, but I still really liked this novel!

Is the killer after Lydia, or just her friend? Will he/she kill more of her models/friends? What does he/she want? What will happen to Lydia? Find out in Meredith Cole's Posed for Murder. Also, check out her follow-up novel about Lydia, Dead in the Water.

Other than the mention of some characters drinking a beer here and there, I don't think there is any material that is not suitable for young readers!

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"The Following" by Dale Roberts

"The most formidable foe you will ever have to face...is you."
-Dale Roberts, The Following

This is the first book I've reviewed written by a male author, so I finally didn't read a mushy love story! I thought it was time to mix things up a bit. The Following was not suggested to me by anyone I know or anything like that. I discovered this book through Twitter. The author, Dale Roberts, followed me on Twitter one day, and I took a look at his profile. It said, "NYT, Bestselling Kindle author." WOW!! I'm not sure how he discovered my name, but I was honored to be followed by him. Naturally, I looked for his books on Amazon, and I picked The Following. It had been quite a while since I had read a thriller, so I was excited to read this book.

The main character, Tyson Palmer, was a young journalist. Of course, that gave me an instant connection to this man. There had been a house fire, possibly arson. Tyson wanted to investigate the scene to see if there was a story there, but he was not wanted there. He made his way to the ambulance where a man was wearing an oxygen mask. Questioning the man, Tyson discovered that there might be a hard news story behind the fire. The injured man claimed that there was a group that had been after him for quite some time, and they most likely started the fire. He described the group to be a self-help organization that suck people in and brainwash them into doing their own missions.

Tyson wanted to dig deeper to find a story there. Pulitzer, maybe? He decided to join the group to strictly research and get the story from the inside. His boss, his friends, and even his mother warned him otherwise. They insisted that he didn't know what groups like that were capable of. Tyson was confident that he would not be brainwashed.

So what's the story behind this self-help group? What happens to Tyson? Who started that fire?

Find out for yourself in Dale Robert's The Following.

Honestly, when I began this book, I didn't know how it was going to turn out. It kept me interested, no doubt, but that self-help group was creeping me out! I believe that was the intended effect, because it went with mood of the story. My thoughts of the group went back and forth. One moment it seemed as though they were the manipulating types as Tyson suspected, but at other times I wasn't sure what to think about them. Roberts had me guessing until the very last page. I loved reading this thriller!

This week for my journalism class, I am supposed to "build a case" based on my own opinion. I wanted to do something relative to the book to tie everything together. It needed to be something I could research, so my opinion on the book doesn't suffice. I decided to feed off of a quote in the book:

"If God is all powerful, can he make a rock so big he can't move it?"
-Dale Roberts, The Following

This was spoken in one of the training sessions with the self-help group in the story. I'm not assuming that this is Roberts' point of view. I understand he was writing in the point of view of the trainer. The following argument does not reflect the view of Dale Roberts or his novel. It is strictly my own opinions and research.

Being a Christian, I did not like this statement. I firmly believe that God IS "all powerful" as the quote says, but his power should not be questioned. Isaiah 26:4 states, "Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock." God is described as a rock in this passage, an everlasting rock, at that. Nothing can be greater.

The trainer in the book only said this to make the participants believe that he/she was his/her own god. I believe this view is reflected in many aspects of the world today. Our country was built on Christian beliefs, but it is not practiced as it should be.

“It is about the greatness of God, not the significance of man. God made man small and the universe big to say something about himself.”
— John Piper

John Piper is the founder and teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College and Seminary.

God did not make us small or powerless to make us feel insignificant or worthless. He created us this way to show how powerful He is. Everyone in the group believed those words from the trainer. They all fell for his taunting.

There will always be temptation in the world and people telling us that God isn't real. I will never believe that. I have faith in my Father. His love is what gets me through each day. I try to show His love in everything I do, including writing these blogs.

Everyone can appreciate sun-power.  The sun lights our days so we can see nature all around us.  (Even a blind person can feel the warmth of the sun.)
-Institution for Creation Research

http://www.icr.org/power-of-God/ 

 God's power can be seen EVERYWHERE! We just have to open our eyes! I love how it states that "even a blind person can feel" it! It's not the physical things we see. It's all about faith!

For more scientific proof of God's power, watch Louie Giglio speaks on some of the physical aspects of the universe that shows just how powerful God is in this video: (There are a total of five videos; this is the first). All of the videos can be accessed on YouTube.