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A Certain Man
Linda Dindzans’ A Certain Man is a strikingly heartfelt and vividly imagined piece of biblical fiction. It follows Mara, a Samaritan woman navigating the brutal constraints of her culture, her faith, and her heart during the time of Christ. Told through lush, poetic prose and an unflinching lens, the novel begins with a young love interrupted by betrayal and spirals into a gripping journey of survival, soul-searching, and transformation. With its backdrop of Roman-occupied Judea and familiar Gospel moments reimagined, the story weaves spiritual truths with deeply personal struggles, culminating in a powerful retelling of the woman at the well.
What stood out most to me was Dindzans’ writing. Her style is rich but never overdone, lyrical without losing clarity. She manages to make the ancient world feel immediate. There’s real grit in her characters, especially Mara, who is no porcelain saint. She’s bruised, desperate, fierce—and incredibly human. I felt every injustice, every small joy, every beat of her aching heart. The dialogue is often simple, but it hums with tension and longing. The scenes of violence, particularly those involving Mara’s forced betrothal, are hard to read but so crucial. They ring too true. You don’t just observe Mara’s suffering—you feel pulled under with her.
It’s the ideas that linger. The novel tackles faith, consent, justice, and freedom in a world built to deny those very things to women like Mara. And yet, there’s hope threaded through it all, not in neat resolutions, but in the idea of redemption. The figure of Yeshua appears in glimpses, each one filled with quiet power and startling gentleness. Dindzans doesn’t preach. Instead, she lays bare the deep hunger for mercy and lets the possibility of grace rise naturally. I was especially moved by how she links trauma with spiritual healing, not with platitudes, but through real, painful growth.
A Certain Man is for anyone who loves powerful women, deep questions, and stories that reach beyond their setting to hit something true. It’s especially for readers of biblical fiction who want more than sanitized retellings—this one is raw, brave, and beautifully unsettling. I’d hand it to fans of Francine Rivers or Mesu Andrews, or anyone longing for a story where faith doesn’t erase suffering, but shines all the brighter through it.
Pages: 415 | ASIN: B0D98K4BPT
Do We Really Trust God?
Trust on Trial explores the complexity of human faith, betrayal, and redemption by staging a trial where “Earnest Trust” is accused of fraud, betrayal, and breach of contract. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
Honestly, it started with a question that hit me in the gut: We all have trust issues and how often does our trust issues impact our ability to trust God? Do we really trust God…or just say we do? From there, the courtroom idea took shape. I imagined Trust not as a concept, but as a character. Tired, beat up, misunderstood; and then put him on the trial of his life. Because let’s face it: we all have trust issues. Not just with people. With God. And until we drag those doubts into the light and interrogate them, we’re stuck spiraling and repeating the same cycle of misplaced trust.
The legal drama was the perfect lens. It’s structured, intense, and emotionally charged; almost like spiritual wrestling. It gave me the space to let readers become jurors in their own faith journey. And it gave Trust a voice we rarely give him.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
Oh, we’re going deep. This book is about more than just faith; it’s about what happens when faith fractures. Themes like betrayal, disappointment with God, spiritual deconstruction, and church hurt are front and center. But more than that, I wanted to explore redemption. Not the clean, polished kind, but the messy, bloody, uncomfortable kind where people have to face their own reflections in the courtroom mirror. I also wanted to tear into the myth that doubt means failure. Because sometimes, doubt is just the doorway to deeper trust.
I find that, while writing, you sometimes ask questions and have the characters answer them. Do you find that to be true? What questions did you ask yourself while writing this story?
Absolutely. The entire book is one giant interrogation—of Trust, of faith, of myself. Every character is either asking or answering hard questions we usually avoid and lock away in the recesses of our minds.
Questions like:
What does it mean to trust when nothing makes sense?
Is God still good when the world isn’t?
Can I forgive the people who shattered my trust; and still trust again?
Am I holding onto control instead of trusting in the God I say I believe in?
So yes, the characters were answering questions I didn’t always have the courage to say out loud. That’s what made the courtroom setting so powerful. It gave me permission to go there.
What were some goals you set for yourself as a writer in this book?
I had two goals, and neither involved playing it safe.
Tell the truth, even if it’s ugly. I didn’t want to sanitize doubt or pain. I wanted readers to feel seen in their mess, not shamed by it. I wanted them to be confronted head on with the various ways they have had their trust broken in their lifetimes and examine if they have been misplacing their trust.
Start a conversation that keeps echoing after the last page.
I wanted readers to walk away wrestling with their own verdict. This isn’t a book that gives you answers on a silver platter. It asks you to decide. To confront your trust issues and look at broken trust, trust itself, and faith through a fresh, unfiltered lens.
My mission has always been to blend chaos with meaning, comedy with conviction, and absurdity with truth. Trust on Trial is all of that…and then some.
Author Website
What if Trust were dragged into court, charged with fraud, betrayal, and breach of contract? What if your own experiences with broken promises, lost faith, and second chances became the evidence? Trust on Trial isn’t just a book. It’s a courtroom battle for the ages, where Trust himself is on trial and readers hold the power to decide his fate. Through witness testimonies from history, the Bible, and real life, this gripping narrative challenges everything you believe about Trust, faith, and redemption. Can Trust be restored, or is he beyond saving?
As the prosecution and defense build their cases, readers will wrestle with questions like:
•Can Trust ever be fully rebuilt after betrayal?
•Is Trust dangerous, or is he necessary?
•What does it mean to put Trust in something greater than yourself?
The evidence is presented. The testimonies are compelling. Your verdict will define what Trust means in your life. Step into the courtroom, examine the evidence, and render your verdict. The stakes have never been higher.
Johnny’s War – Volume Two – Storm Clouds Over Africa
Johnny’s War – Volume 2 picks up where the first left off, following the ever-changing and ever-challenging journey of Johnny Pink, a young RAF officer during World War II. The book dives deep into his evolving experience, from the highs of promotion and love to the brutal lows of combat and loss. We follow Johnny as he boards a Sunderland flying boat bound for North Africa, reconnects with old friends, and gradually descends into the heart of war’s emotional chaos. It’s not just a tale of battles and bombers, though. It’s a story about growing up too fast, about finding courage in the unlikeliest places, and about the lasting scars—visible or not—that war carves into people.
Reading this was like being dropped straight into the 1940s, with all its smoke, salt, fear, and tea. The writing is unapologetically immersive. That first vivid attack on the Sunderland—my stomach actually turned. What caught me most, though, were the quiet in-between moments: Johnny’s chats with his mates, his unspoken grief, his longing for home. The author doesn’t just want us to know the facts of war. They want us to feel it. The fear, the camaraderie, the occasional absurdity of army life—it all came through loud and clear.
At times, the pacing slowed with heavy detail, especially in technical sections, but then it would slam you with a gut-punch of emotion or action that left you breathless. And I felt Johnny’s emotional shifts, while often believable, occasionally moved too quickly without enough inner reflection. But those are small things. What really stayed with me was how the war slowly changed him, not in a dramatic, movie-style way, but in that creeping, quiet erosion of innocence. It’s those little truths, told plainly, that make this book more than just historical fiction. It becomes personal.
Johnny’s War – Volume 2 is not just for military history buffs or fans of wartime dramas. It’s for anyone who wants to understand the human side of war—what it costs, how it twists people, and how, sometimes, even in the darkest places, you find light. I’d recommend this book to readers who love character-driven narratives, rich historical detail, and emotional truth. It’s not a page-turner in the thriller sense, but it sticks to your bones.
Pages: 325 | ASIN : B0F9X715VC
With Mercy’s Eyes
With Mercy’s Eyes is a raw and emotionally charged novel that follows Lane Harris, a gay actor navigating grief, spiritual trauma, and identity after the sudden death of his husband, Stephen. Set against the backdrop of Hollywood and faith communities, Lane’s journey unfolds through a string of gut-wrenching losses, unsettling confrontations, and tentative spiritual rediscovery. Powell doesn’t flinch from heavy themes—suicide, sexual assault, domestic violence, and faith-based rejection—and she handles them with a steady hand and an unwavering desire to show the heart of God without watering down the pain of real life.
Powell’s writing is lyrical and fierce and filled with dialogue that feels lifted straight from a real argument or heart-to-heart. There’s a deep, aching sadness in Lane’s life that never feels manipulative or preachy. His grief is suffocating, but it’s honest. The way Powell lets faith trickle in, not with neon lights or loud salvation moments, but through quiet, broken interactions, is powerful. I don’t often find Christian fiction that’s willing to sit with the tension and not rush to a clean ending, but this one does.
A few of the side characters, particularly the ones in conflict with the main cast, didn’t feel as fully developed as I hoped. And some of the redemptive turns happened a little faster than expected, especially after such heavy events. Still, maybe that’s intentional. Life has a way of offering hope at unexpected times. As for the spiritual themes, not every reader will interpret them the same way, but Powell approaches them with grace. She gives her characters room to question, to stumble, and to search, and that openness is something I appreciated.
With Mercy’s Eye is messy and brutally honest. But if you’ve ever struggled with feeling outside the reach of grace—especially within Christian circles—it’s a healing balm and a challenge. I would recommend With Mercy’s Eyes to readers who aren’t afraid to have their worldview shaken a bit. To those who’ve been hurt by the church. To those who want to believe in mercy again, even if it comes through tears.
Pages: 564 | ASIN : B0F2SQXC8M
Obligation To The Family
The short mystery thriller novels in this series can be read as stand-alone books but we would recommend following the sequence and feeling the intense build-up as each of the murderers are introduced in Mr Davies, 1A Penn Road and Jay Deux. They all then meet up in the final book, The Gentleman.
The three murderers are tasked with an assassination and must work together to kill the target for the good of the family. But things do not go as planned. The target reveals a secret about the family and as a result… one of them ends up dead!
Finitude and Beyond
Finitude and Beyond is a collection of nine science fiction short stories that explore the edges of human existence—where time, identity, love, and mortality converge in strange and often heart-wrenching ways. The stories dive deep into themes of isolation, transformation, grief, and survival, blending speculative technology with painfully real emotional experiences. From the quiet awe of a child witnessing space travel to the unrelenting ache of a love that time itself cannot contain, Adams spins tales that are both cosmic in scale and intimate in feeling.
Adams doesn’t go for flashy sci-fi gadgets or action-packed battles. Instead, he writes stories that feel like they’ve been quietly fermenting for years, steeped in emotion and restrained power. “The Captain and the Sower” absolutely wrecked me. The way he built that decades-long relationship between Adlei and Captain Nkosi—a love story stretched across revolutions of time and biology—was heartbreakingly beautiful. I caught myself rereading paragraphs just to let the ache settle in deeper. It’s rare that a book makes me sit in silence after the last line, just thinking. But this one did.
The prose occasionally tipped toward melodrama, and some characters leaned into archetypes. But honestly, those flaws felt relatable. The book doesn’t try to be perfect—it tries to be true. And in that, it succeeds. Adams has a knack for rooting massive, mind-bending sci-fi concepts in very personal, very relatable pain. Whether it’s a grieving husband at the edge of the solar system or a synthetic scout grappling with her fading memories, each story carries a kind of quiet urgency that feels universal.
This isn’t a book for someone looking for fast-paced action or happy endings. But if you’re the type who wants to feel something, this book will hit you in the chest. I’d recommend Finitude and Beyond to anyone who loves character-driven science fiction, fans of Ken Liu or Ted Chiang, or just readers who aren’t afraid to stare down the existential questions we tend to shove aside.
Pages: 263 | ASIN : B0F9R473LB
LITERARY TITAN 