Welcome to the 12 Pearls of Christmas - featuring Sibella Giorello!

Enjoy these Christmas "Pearls of Wisdom" from some of today's most beloved writer's (Tricia Goyer, Suzanne Woods Fisher, Shellie Rushing Tomlinson, Sibella Giorello and more)! Please follow the series through Christmas day as each contributor shares heartfelt stories of how God has touched a life during this most wonderful time of the year.

AND just for fun ... there's also a giveaway! Fill out this simple form and enter for a chance to win a beautiful pearl necklace and earring set ($450 value). Contest runs 12/14 - 12/25 and the winner will be announced on 1/1. Contest is only open to US and Canadian residents. You may enter once per day.

If you are unfamiliar with Pearl Girls™, please visit www.pearlgirls.info and see what we're all about. In short, we exist to support the work of charities that help women and children in the US and around the globe. Consider purchasing a copy of Pearl Girls: Encountering Grit,Experiencing Grace or one of the Pearl Girls products (all GREAT gifts!) to help support Pearl Girls.

*** 

Advent By Sibella Giorello

Consider the bride's walk down the aisle. We all know where that woman in the white is going but somehow waiting for her to arrive at the altar is an essential part of the ceremony. In fact, the waiting is so essential that even cheapskate Vegas chapels include wedding marches.

Why?

Because the wait adds meaning to the moment.

At Christmas time, we tend to forget this essential truth about anticipation. We're lost to shopping malls and checklists, rushing toward December 25th so quickly that we forget the quiet joy of the month's other 24 days -- and then we wonder why we feel so empty on the 26th, amid ribbons and wrapping paper and our best intentions.

Because the wait adds meaning to the moment.

And that is why Advent is so important to Christmas.

I'm as guilty as the next harried person. This Advent was particularly tricky because just six hours before it started, I was still trying to finish a 110,000-word novel that was written over the course of the year -- written while homeschooling my kids, keeping my hubby happy, and generally making sure the house didn't fall down around us.

It's an understatement to say my free time is limited. But waiting adds meaning, and Advent is crucial to Christmas, so I've devised several Advent traditions that are simple, powerful and easy to keep even amid the seasonal rush.

When my kids outgrew the simple Advent calendars around age 7, I stole an idea from my writer friend Shelly Ngo (as T.S. Eliot said, "Mediocre writers borrow. Great writers steal." Indulge me.)

Here's how it goes: Find 24 great Christmas books, wrap them individually and place then under the tree. On the first day of Advent, take turns picking which book to open. When we did this, we would cuddle under a blanket and read aloud -- oh, the wonder, the magic! We savored "The Polar Express," howled with "How Murray Saved Christmas," and fell silent at the end of "The Tale of The Three Trees" (note: some of the picture books I chose were not explicitly about Christmas but they always echoed the message that Jesus came to earth to save us from ourselves and to love us beyond our wildest imagination. In that category, Angela Hunt's retelling of The Three Trees definitely hits the Yuletide bull's eye).

This Advent tradition lasted for about five years. It gave us rich daily discussions about the season's real meaning, without being religious or legalistic, and it increased family couch time. But like the lift-the-flap calendars, my kids outgrew the picture books.

Because the wait adds meaning, and Advent is crucial, I prayed for another way to celebrate anticipation of Christmas. By the grace of God, last year I found an enormous Advent calendar on  clearance at Pottery Barn. Made of burlap, it has large pockets big enough to hold some serious bounty.

But my husband and I didn't want the kids focusing only on the materialist stuff for Advent -- we already fight that on Christmas day. We decided to fill the daily pockets with simple necessities and small gift cards. We also printed out the nativity story from Luke 2:1-21 in a large-sized font and cut each verse out. From Day 1 to Day 21, there is one verse to read aloud. The kids memorize it, then get to open their present (again, on alternating days for each person). Then we tape the verse to the wall in order. By Day 22, all the verses are on the wall, in order, and the kids now try to recite the entire nativity story from memory. That's not as difficult as it sounds because they've been memorizing one verse each day. Still, the entire recitation -- verbatim -- usually requires Day 23 and Day 24. Whoever does memorize the entire thing -- without mistakes --  earns a bonus gift of $25.

Does that sounds extravagant?

It is.

Because we want our kids to understand that God came down and humbled himself and taught us about love right before He suffered and died on behalf of the undeserving -- which is every one of us.

"That's" extravagant.

And in the waiting, we find even more meaning.

***

Sibella Giorello writes the Raleigh Harmon mystery series which won the Christy Award with its first book "The Stones Cry Out." She lives in Washington State with her husband and children, and often wishes there were 36 hours in a day.

‘The Mountains Bow Down’ by Sibella Giorello – Book Review

One of my favorite book genres is Christian suspense. The latest book I have read in that category is ‘The Clouds Roll Away’ by Sibella Giorello.

Here is the synopsis of this wonderful book:

Everything’s going to work out. Time away always makes things better…. That’s what FBI special agent Raleigh Harmon believes as she boards a cruise to Alaska. A land of mountains and gems and minerals, the Last Frontier is a dream destination for this forensic geologist who’s hoping to leave behind a hectic work schedule and an engagement drained of romance.

But when a passenger goes missing and winds up dead, Raleigh’s vacation suddenly gets lost at sea. The ship’s security chef tries to rule the death a suicide, but Raleigh’s forensics background points to a much darker conclusion: Somewhere onboard, a ruthless murderer walks free.

Engulfed by one of her toughest cases yet, Raleigh requests assistance from the RBI and receives her nemesis – handsome Special Agent Jack Stephanson. As the cruise ship sails through the Inside Passage, Raleigh has five days to solve a high-profile murder, provide consultation for a movie filming onboard, and figure out her increasingly complicated feelings for Jack – who might not be as arrogant as she originally thought.

And that’s only her work life. Family offers even more challenges. Joined on the cruise by her mother and aunt, Raleigh watches helplessly as disturbing rifts splinter her family.

Like the scenery that surrounds the cruise ship, Raleigh discovers a mystery so daunting that even the mountains bow down before it.

Here is the biography of this extremely talented author:

Sibella Giorello grew up in Alaska and majored in geology at Mount Holyoke College. After riding a motorcycle across the country, she began writing as a features writer for newspapers and magazines. Her stories won numerous awards, including two nominations for the Pulitzer Prize. Her novel The Stones Cry Out won a Christy Award. She lives in Washington State with her husband and family.

Here is an Oasis Audio excerpt of this novel, wonderfully interpreted by Cassandra Campbell:

I love Sibella’s way with words! The book is written from Raleigh’s perspective. Here she is describing her mother, who is on the Alaskan cruise with her, as well as explaining why she ended up as an FBI agent:

Nadine Shaw Harmon, authentic Southern belle, might be politely described as “a bit touched.” Her bouts of paranoia struck with the sudden fury of August thunderstorms, and the torrential aftermaths kept me from telling her the truth about my job. Before becoming an agent, I spent four years in the FBI’s forensic lab, and both my dad and I agreed she didn’t need to know everything. My forensic work was in mineralogy; we told her I was a geologist. The was true. True enough. But one day somebody decided to shoot my dad, cutting him down in cold blood. His murder had never been solved, and I decided the most productive way to fill this gaping hole in my heart was to join the hunt for bad guys. When I graduated from Quantico, fatherless, with no mother in attendance, my personal life became one long covert op. (p. 26)

Raleigh seemed to have a love/hate relationship with her colleague, Jack Stephanson. This passage shows their relationship, as well as Raleigh’s at-times tricky relationship with herself:

         

       “Harmon, what’s going on?”

       “Just stick to the story, okay?”

       “But your mom thinks---”

        I picked up the pace.

But he stopped.

When I turned, he was standing in the hallway, looking genuinely

shocked.

“She doesn’t know,” he said. “Your mother. She doesn’t know you’re an FBI agent.”

Unable to speak, I headed for the elevators and kept my head down, sending more desperate prayers for forgiveness, wondering when God would get as tired of me as I was. (p. 67)

It is clear from Mrs. Giorello’s writing style that she has a background as a reporter; her attention to detail is keen. Here is an example; it also showed her sense of humor:

Possibly it was the best bread I’d ever tasted. The light golden crust melted on my tongue, followed by the bread interior that was light as a marshmallow yet as rich as butter. I wanted to hum as we walked down a long tunnel. The ship’s employees rushed past us in various stages of hurry. Some carried bags of rice the size of toddlers. Others pushed steel carts stacked with folded tablecloths and napkins – fresh from the laundry room, no doubt – while men in coveralls wheeled small Dumpsters, trailed putrid odors. (p. 150)            

I also loved her descriptions throughout the book of the beauty of Alaska. Here is one that was particularly touching to me:

The mile-wide tongue of blue-and-white ice stretched five miles back, reaching up to a mountain peak that pointed straight to God. I heard Jack gasp, then gasp again as the front of the glaciers snapped and a falling block of ice the size of an office building plunged straight down into the water. In the bright sun, the ocean glistened like jewels. (p. 186)

As she did in ‘The Clouds Roll Away,’ Sibella writes about God’s creation in a thought-provoking – and beautifully written - way:

Deep inside, I could sense the unfathomable certainty that life did not rise randomly. By its own laws of mathematics and physics, the natural world disqualified itself from statistical accident. Planetary splendor above and atomic structure below, a world operating with breathtaking genius and design, all of this implying necessarily a designer. Chaos came in the moment, from my paltry human perspective, and most important of all, when the monsters roared, when I flailed haplessly through swamps, forever asking outsized questions, somebody stood ready to provoke comfort. (pp. 226-227)

I really appreciated this novel for so many reasons, many of which I previously reviewed above. Mrs. Giorello writes with intelligence, humor, and suspense; she keeps her readers turning the pages. I certainly did not get many other things done after I started reading this captivating book!

A couple other side notes: 1) the book cover is simply stunning; that alone makes me want to make a trip up to our 50^th state; 2) I love the name ‘Sibella Giorello;’ how could she have not been an author with that name?!

I had the pleasure of reading the second book in the Raleigh Harmon series, ‘The Clouds Roll Away’ also; you can read my review here. I haven’t read the first book in the series, ‘The Rivers Run Dry,’ but, based on my enjoyment of these last two novels, I’d like to. Maybe someday I’ll have the time to go back to it!

The fourth book in the Raleigh Harmon series, ‘The Stars Shine On,’ will be released in April, 2012. There is no question that I will be reading that one, and hope the year passes quickly!  

You can order this book here.

This book was published by Thomas Nelson Publishers and provided by Thomas Nelson and the LitFuse Publicity Group for review purposes. I am happy to be participating in the blog tour with these others bloggers.

‘The Clouds Roll Away’ by Sibella Giorello – Book Review

One of my favorite book genres is Christian suspense. The latest book I have read in that category is ‘The Clouds Roll Away’ by Sibella Giorello.

Here is the synopsis of this suspenseful book:

Raleigh Harmon’s life seems as impossible to solve as the high-profile case she’s pursuing. Closing her assignment with the FBI’s Seattle office, forensic geologist Raleigh Harmon returns to her hometown of Richmond, Virginia, expecting a warm welcome. Instead she finds herself investigating an ugly cross burning at a celebrity’s mansion and standing in the crosshairs of her boss at the Bureau. And the deeper Raleigh digs into the case, the murkier the water becomes…until she’s left wondering who the real victim might be.

To make matters worse, Raleigh’s personal life offers almost zero clarity. Her former confidant is suddenly remote while her former boyfriend keeps popping up wherever she goes. And then there’s her mother. Raleigh’s move home was supposed to improve Nadine’s fragile sanity, but instead seems to be making matters worse.

As the threads of the case begins crossing and double-crossing, Raleigh is forced to rely on her forensic skills, her faith, and the fervent hope that a breakthrough will come, bringing with it that singular moment when the clouds roll away and everything finally makes sense.

Here is the biography of this author:

Sibella Giorello grew up in Alaska and majored in geology at Mount Holyoke College. After riding a motorcycle across the country, she worked as a features writer for the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Her stories have won state and national awards, including two nominations for the Pulitzer Prize. Her novel The Stones Cry Out won a Christy Award. She  lives in Washington State with her husband and sons.

Sibella is a wonderful writer. The book is written in the first person. Here is Raleigh describing her boss at the FBI, Victoria Phaup. It is a wonderful combination of a physical description and character study:

She was a stocky woman with short brown hair threaded with gray. She must have been pretty at one time, but twelve years of clawing her way through Bureau management had compressed her small features into a persistent expression of defensiveness, her eyes like fractured gray pebbles. Thin mouth locked, loaded for counterattack. And her office smelled like dry ice. (p. 15)

It seems as though most people that are members of the FBI grow cynical. In contrast, Raleigh is a devoted Christ follower. Here she is discussing her faith with Hale Lasker, a member of the Ku Klux Klan who is serving a sentence at Meckleburg prison:

         “Do you care what’s next?” I asked.

         “What?”

         “Heaven. It exists.”

         He almost laughed. A dry sound at the back of his throat.

“Eight years I been in here, eight years with nothing but questions. You’re not going to hear my answers.”

“But your group believes in God.”

“My group? The Kiwanis?”

“I thought those crosses were supposed to put the fear of God in a man’s soul.”

“It’s right there in the Bible, God doesn’t want the races mixing.”

“And you believe the Bible.”

“Course I believe it. Heard of Job? That’s me. Festering wounds and all.”

“With one difference.”

“Job was a Jew.”

“God said Job was blameless.” (pp. 31-32)

This book is set in Raleigh’s hometown of Richmond, Virginia. Although I have never visited Richmond, Sibella provides so much detail that I felt as though I had been there. Here is an example, as she and her mother, Nadine, and housemate, Wally, head to St. John’s Church for the first time since her father’s death four year before:

He glowered out the side window as we passed downtown’s old department stores. Thalhimers and Miller & Rhodes, closed years before, abandoned for free parking and food courts at the suburban malls. On either side pawnshops sprouted up and furniture stores rented sofas for 20 percent interest monthly. Steel bars covered the windows.

But this was my city. Richmond. Noble and sad. Heroic and fallen. Forever on the verge of turning around. So much potential it hurt.

I glanced over at my mom. “You’re not nervous?”

“Whatever for?” she chirped.

For the memories, I wanted to say. For the anticipatory ache I already felt ten blocks away. My father’s church, the church for generations of Harmons, all the way back to 1775, when Patrick Henry stood up and delivered his ultimatum on liberty and death. St. John’s was also where we had his funeral.

After that, I couldn’t go back. Neither could she. (p. 45)

In addition to her mother, Raleigh had a sister. Here is our introduction to Helen and her partner, Sebastian:

Helen lived in bohemian splendor on Oregon Hills with an abstract artist named Sebastian Woodlief. Spawned by prestigious British boarding schools, Sebastian considered himself a passionate supporter of the workingman, despite never having a job himself. My dad prayed Helen wouldn’t marry someone like this. Unfortunately, his prayer was answered. There weren’t married; they lived together. (p. 67)

I love how Sibella intersperses Raleigh’s faith and worldview throughout the novel. Here is another example of that:

…[N]ot for the first time, I wondered about people’s attitudes, whether half the world’s agony would evaporate if each person discovered the talent God gave them instead of squandering days painting by numbers laid out according to someone else’s preference. Parents. Peers. Pastors. We read books bursting with self-help, about roads less traveled and finding bliss and all these so-called secrets to life. But they all left out the most crucial factor. We fought an enemy, invisible yet definite, who diligently worked to block us from our intended purpose, keeping us from the one thing that brought joy, that connected us from each other and to our Creator. Condemned and resentful, miserable and uncertain, we filled our minds with chatter from talk show hosts, always hoping for the answer, when all the while one simple supernatural prescription awaited: “Come to me.” (p. 105)

And here is how Raleigh interprets the theory of evolution:

When chimney smoke joined the darkening sky, I settled into the carriage house’s claw-footed bathtub for bubbles and Scientific American. Soaking in the suds, I read a good story about DNA, marred only by the author’s assumption that our double helixes of nucleic acid were the product of chance.

Quite an assumption. It was like saying blueprints could write themselves.

And not just any blueprints. Our DNA contained three billion complex sequences – for each living creature. The statistical probability of this happening by random selection was laughable. It was like saying tornadoes can rip through junkyards and create jumbo jets. Never mind that the second law of thermodynamics proved that over millions of years we grew closer to entropy than order, the opposite of what evolution claimed.

Scientifically speaking, evolution was whacked.

But try telling that to the smart people – the people who believed fish scales turned into feathers and sludge somehow squeezed out higher life forms. Try explaining the degree of planning and order and creative genius necessary for just one hundred working sequences, let alone three million.

Try it. They’ll call you delusional. Go figure. (p. 115)

That is a brilliant section of the book!

Although I have not focused on the plot to a great extent in this review, suffice to say that the storyline is suspenseful and wonderfully well-written.

I really loved this book; I read it in one day – I could not put it down! This is the first book I have read by Sibella. She is my friend on Facebook, and I had a feeling that I would love her writing; I definitely do! This is the second in the series featuring the Raleigh Harmon character. The first book is ‘The Rivers Run Dry.’ I have not read that one; this book stands alone from that book. I really loved this book, so it makes me want to go back and get the back story on Raleigh. The third book in the series, ‘The Mountains Bow Down,’ will be releasing March 1, 2011. I look forward to reading the continuing adventures of this strong and intelligent Christ follower!

You can order this book here.

This book was published by Thomas Nelson Publishers and provided by Thomas Nelson and the LitFuse Publicity Group for review purposes. I am happy to be participating in the blog tour with these others bloggers.