Snippets from 2011
In order to deal with a backlog of finished but unreviewed books, as well as some I didn’t finish (DNF), I’m going to do a first ever “snippet review” on Hardkover. Get ready, here they come!
The Betrayal: A Novel on John Calvin
by Douglas Bond. 383 p. Published by P&R Publishing in June 2009. Received through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
Verdict: ★★☆☆☆
This is one of my DNFs – I got half way through and was uninterested and unimpressed. This historical fiction about John Calvin is told through the eyes of his frenemy, Jean-Louis Mourin. I don’t know if it was the forced feeling of the “old English” style of speaking (which doesn’t make much sense, given that the story is set in France), the slow plot, or the heavy-handed characterization of the narrator (I felt constantly bludgeoned with foreshadowing) – this book was not for me. I liked the concept, as my favorite way to read about historical people is through historical fiction (I find them much more engaging than biographies). I saw many good reviews for it on Amazon, so give it a try if you find it interesting. Just wasn’t my cup of tea.
Debt: The First 5,000 Years
by David Graeber. 544 p. Published by Melville House Publishing in July 2011. Received through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
Verdict: ★★★★☆
This is my other DNF. I got about one-third through this monster – it was actually a very interesting and fascinating read. It’s only downfall was that it felt like one of those books where you get the gist after the first couple chapters and the rest are just repeats with different examples (I could be wrong . . . but I guess I’ll never know!). Graeber’s discussion on our concept of debt is definitely worth reading – and if you’re really into anthropology, sociology, or economics, you might make it to the end! (And if you want someone to blame for the “Occupy Wall Street” Movement, Graeber just might be your man.)
Long Trail Home (#3 in the Texas Trail Series)
by Vickie McDonough. 304 p. Published by Moody Publishers November 2011. Received through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
Verdict: ★★★★☆
Picked this one off NetGalley because I liked the first two in the series, Lone Star Trail and Captive Trail. It was as good as the first two and I’m looking forward to the remaining three. This book featured the story of a young man who went off to fight in the Civil War and came home to find his parents dead and his fiancée married to someone else; the female protagonist is an abandoned child who managed to survive by pretending to be blind (so she could stay at an orphanage for the blind). As was true with the first two books, the interesting historical setting was my favorite part about the story. The romance was a little predictable, but its hard to escape that in this genre.
The Winters in Bloom
by Lisa Tucker. 288 p. Published by Atria Books September 2011. Received through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
Verdict: ★★★☆☆
Half mystery, half drama – this reminded me in ways of Diane Chamberlain’s The Midwife’s Confession in genre and style. A couple’s only child goes missing and each one thinks that it is someone in his/her past that is to blame. The story flashbacks to previous relationships and how the couple met to explain their fears and eventually introduce the kidnapper. This book has decent character development (although I didn’t think the characters were quite as realistic as in The Midwife’s Confession) and a good plot – I found myself fairly hooked all the way through. However, I thought it petered out at the end; the denouement was very anti-climatic and you don’t get the satisfaction of participating in the inevitable reunion.
The Promised One: Seeing Jesus in Genesis
by Nancy Guthrie. 288 p. Published by Crossway Books July 2011. Received through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
Verdict: ★★★★★
This was a FANTASTIC bible study! I love the format – each chapter begins with a list of questions and scriptures to read and contemplate before Guthrie “lectures” in the teaching section. The chapter concludes with a pointed description of how that chapter’s topic points to Jesus and discussion questions for facilitating a group study. The chapters highlighted primarily Creation, Fall of Man, Noah, Babel, Abraham, Jacob, and Joseph. I used this book for my own personal devotion time and found it very enriching. I liked it so much that I’ve talked my small group into using it for our next study! Highly recommended.
Rules of Civility
by Amor Towles. 352 p. Published by Viking Adult Books July 2011. Checked out from my local library using my Kindle!
Verdict: ★★★★☆
I vacillated on whether to give this book 3 or 4 stars – when I think about the writing, I want to give it 4 and when I think about the plot I give it 3. Overall, the characters are pretty decent, so I think it deserves the higher rating. I wasn’t blown away by the plot of this book; however, when Amor Towles puts together words, he doesn’t just make a sentence — he makes magic! I found myself stopping to re-read parts aloud, just to see if they sounded as beautiful out loud as they did in my head. He manages to find that perfect balance of writing vivid prose without it being flowery or ridiculously over-the-top. The book itself is very Great Gatsby-ish – not only because it is set in Manhattan in the 1930s as people are struggling to recover from the Great Depression, but the writing has that older Fitzgerald style. I liked the female protagonist and thought she had an interesting narrative voice for this time period. If the plot had been more poignant, it would have ranked 5 stars. Definitely recommended.
The Princess Curse
by Merrie Haskell. 336 p. Published by HarperCollins September 2011. Checked out from my local library in old-fashioned hardback binding. Recommended by the BookSmugglers.
Verdict: ★★★☆☆
I loved the idea of this book – the tale of the Twelve Dancing Princess, with the heroine being an apothecary‘s apprentice who tries to lift the curse. The book just never quite lived up to its potential, however. The imaginary world Haskell created didn’t seem to materialize and charm me the way other fairy tale worlds have (I’m thinking of Ella Enchanted and The Princess Academy in particular). Perhaps that is why the plot felt a little choppy and the characters just a little too far from reach to join my cast of literary friends – it was hard to truly fall under the magic of living in another world and allowing them to be real. Although I don’t think this one will join Ella and The Princess Academy on my classics shelf, I would still give it to middle graders or young adults who like a good fairy tale.
Mine is the Night (sequel to Here Burns My Candle)
by Liz Curtis Higgs. 464 p. Published by WaterBrook Press March 2011. Checked out from my local library on my Kindle!
Verdict: ★★★★☆
This was the first book I’ve picked up in months that I simply could NOT put down! I’ve long owned and loved Higgs first Scottish trilogy beginning with A Thorn in My Heart, which is based on the biblical story of Jacob, Rachel, and Leah. Mine is the Night is the sequel to her second Scottish series, this time adapting the story of Ruth, Naomi, and Boaz in the setting of the Scottish Jacobite rebellion. Each one is well written, engrossing, and always pointing to underlying story of faith and redemption from the original biblical version. Not only is this a great time period to read about (Scotland! Rebels! Bonnie Prince Charlie!), but Higgs’ amazing depth and breadth of research combines with her clever writing to bring the heather hills and thick Scottish brogue alive. Highly recommended!
Has God Spoken?
Reviewed by Brittney
Just the Facts: by Hank Hanegraaff. 380 p. (Actually, 290 without the appendix, endnotes, and index). Published 2011 by Thomas Nelson. Advanced review copy provided by Thomas Nelson’s “Booksneeze” program in return for my honest opinion.
Verdict: ★★★★☆
Who Cares? Adult Christian Non-Fiction / Religious Apologetics
Short Bio: Once of the most frequently voiced criticisms of Christians is that they believe a book written some 3500-2000 years ago is not only divine revelation given to man at that time, but that it has remained virtually unchanged since then.
The “Bible Answer Man” responds to these criticisms with four main categories of evidence: the reliability of the manuscripts we have, archeological finds that corroborate biblical accounts, the fulfillment of prophecy, and finally the “art and science of scriptural interpretation”. He presents his evidence in the form of pneumonic devices that help the reader remember the main points of each (i.e., for “Manuscript C-O-P-I-E-S”, one has a device to remember that Copyist practices, Oral tradition, Papyrus & parchment, Internal evidence, External evidence, and the Science of textual criticism are the supporting facts for how we know we can rely on the biblical manuscripts we have today).
Eyewitness Account:
Overall, I thought this was an extremely interesting book and a good read. This is the second book I’ve read this year that appears to be written mainly as a response to some vociferous opponents of the authors and both are about the Bible (See “The Book That Made Your World”, responding to criticism that Christianity was an imperialistic and oppressive force in India, for the other). Hanegraaff’s book contains numerous rejoinders to several Biblical critics (most often to Bart Ehrman, who is a religious studies professor at UNC Chapel Hill). It contains a wealth of information about the science of manuscripts, archeology, history, and whether the skeptical arguments against the veracity and authenticity of the Bible hold any weight. It’s organized fairly well, and the pneumonic devices he gives are actually very useful (I found myself trying to recall them at the end of each section to cement the points in my memory).
A few weaknesses are that the book could have used some better editing (I repeatedly had a feeling of “deja vu” as I read sentences that had been used almost word for word in an earlier section – you really can’t use phrases like “the story is interesting as well as instructive” or “the land vomited out the children of the promise just as it had the Canaanites before them” more than once without someone catching it) and that Hanegraaff gave too much text to his opponents. Its one thing to briefly mention an opposing viewpoint that you want to counter, but to give whole paragraphs or pages to their writing makes it seem like the author is obsessively aggravated. Overall, you get the feeling that Hanegraaff was writing more of a reference resource than a book designed to be read straight through, as there were not only exact phrasings that were repeated, but also examples and evidence used in multiple sections that are introduced as if for the first time.
However, I found that I could dismiss my irritation at those points for the meat of the book. The manuscripts and archeology sections were really fascinating (and gave me a HUGE appreciation for how God has preserved the Bible over time). The prophecy section dragged a bit for me, but did have some gems; my favorite part of the book was Hanegraaff’s discussion of types in the bible, particularly “typological prophecy” in which the event that you are connecting to the prophecy is not the “predictive fulfillment” but the successive and more complete antitype to the first fulfillment (as in the case of Isaiah’s virgin birth prediction). Having heard of types and antitypes before, it was new information to me that this idea applied to prophecy as well as people and events.
Well worth reading.
Notable Quotes:
Amazing but true, today in the city of David you can step into the very Pool of Siloam in which the blind man “washed, and came back seeing.” (John 9:7 NKJV). You can traverse the Siloam tunnel that almost three thousand years ago provided the precious commodity of water to the inhabitants of Jerusalem during the siege of Sennacherib. You can see the Siloam inscription in the Istanbul Archaelogical Museum commemorating one of the greatest engineering feats of ancient history. You can rest your arms on the guard rail overlooking the excavated ruins of the Pool of Bethesda, where Jesus cared for the physical and spiritual needs of a man who had suffered the ravages of sin for thirty-eight years. And you can be amazed at the grace that what was once secreted in soil accurately reflects what which is sealed in Scripture.
Other Books Read by This Author: none
What are other people saying? Shades of Intrigue, Finding Jesus, God-lovin’ Mama
Rating:
★★★☆☆ Writing Style
★★★★★ Organization
★★★★☆ Original Idea
★★★★☆ Page Turner
Overall ★★★★☆
Captive Trail
Reviewed by Brittney
Just the Facts: by Susan Page Davis. 272 p. Published Sept 2011 by Moody Publishers. Advanced copy provided for review in electronic format, courtesy of the publishers (through NetGalley) in return for my honest opinion.
Verdict: ★★★★☆
Who Cares? Adult Inspirational Historical Fic
Short Bio (from Amazon):
The Captive Trail is second in a six-book series about four generations of the Morgan family living, fighting, and thriving amidst a turbulent Texas history spanning from 1845 to 1896. Although a series, each book can be read on its own.
Taabe Waipu has run away from her Comanche village and is fleeing south in Texas on a horse she stole from a dowry left outside her family’s teepee. The horse has an accident and she is left on foot, injured and exhausted. She staggers onto a road near Fort Chadbourne and collapses.
On one of the first runs through Texas, Butterfield Overland Mail Company driver Ned Bright carries two Ursuline nuns returning to their mission station. They come across a woman who is nearly dead from exposure and dehydration and take her to the mission.
With some detective work, Ned discovers Taabe Waipu identity. He plans to unite her with her family, but the Comanche have other ideas, and the two end up defending the mission station. Through Taabe and Ned we learn the true meaning of healing and restoration amid seemingly powerless situations.
Eyewitness Account:
I picked this up because I liked Lone Star Trail. The sequel is written by a different author, but had all the same elements I appreciated about the first – interesting historical setting (this time dealing with the Comanche, Texas settlers, and French nuns who had set up a “mission” and school for girls), decent plot, and empathetic characters. Many children were captured and raised among Native Americans during Westward Expansion, and this story is a compelling snapshot of what such a situation must have felt like to a captive.
Still loving this series, and would recommend it to anyone who likes historical fiction and interested in this era!
Other Books Read by This Author: None.
What are other people saying? Reviews from the Heart, This That and the Other Thing, Sandra Ardoin
Rating:
★★★☆☆ Plot Development
★★★★☆ Characterization
★★★☆☆ Writing Style
★★★★☆ Original Idea
★★★★☆Page Turner
Overall ★★★★☆
The Book That Made Your World
Reviewed by Brittney
Just the Facts: by Vishal Mangalwadi. 464 p. Published May 2011 by Thomas Nelson. Advanced copy provided for review in electronic format by the publisher (through NetGalley) in exchange for my honest opinion.
Verdict: ★★★☆☆
Who Cares? Adult Non-Fiction (History, Christianity)
Short Bio:
Discover how the Bible became the West’s source of human rights, justice, heroism, optimism, compassion, capitalism, family, and morality.
In the 1960s many from the West went to the East in search of spiritual wisdom. The Book That Made Your World reverses the journey. Vishal Mangalwadi, an Indian philosopher, takes readers on a historical journey through the last millennium, exploring why and how the Bible reformed Europe and made the West a uniquely thinking civilization: technical and tolerant, scientific and free, just and prosperous. Readers will learn:
- Why an American president puts his hand on the Bible to take the oath of a secular office
- What forced British monarchs from Henry VIII to James I to submit to the Bible’s authority
- Why Bible translators Wycliffe, Luther, and Tyndale became history’s greatest revolutionaries
- How the Bible globalized western education
Eyewitness Account:
This book was a fairly interesting treatise on how the Bible has influenced all aspects of our civilization (for the better). You’d expect something like this to be written by a someone of Western Judeo-Christian background, but the author is actually a native Indian who writes the book as a response to a national Indian movement claiming that the Western Christian influence impacted India negatively rather than positively. Mangalwadi juxtaposes the kinds of behavior, motives, and priorities that result from the Christian faith with the mindset of those from Buddhist/Hindu faiths. He covers a rather diverse set of subjects to explore his theory that the best parts of all civilization are the result of Christian influence – the development of science and education, the protection of life and the rights of women, and the liberty and prosperity that characterize the West.
This is one of those books that you kind of get the gist of within the first couple chapters – I found it hard to keep my interest past the second half of the book. However, it is very well written and very thought-provoking. Mangalwadi includes some personal anecdotes to make his point about the effect that other worldviews have on a society that are very provocative; the most poignant is one in which a neighbor girl is not only neglected to the point of death, but her parents refuse to let Mangalwadi and his wife offer their free help and resources to nurse her back to health (as a result of a worldview that says life is suffering and everyone has the life they deserve).
If you like history and broad discussion of civilizations, you’ll probably love this book.
Other Books Read by This Author: None.
Notable Quotes:
“When a husband is forbidden extramarital affairs, taking a second wife, or divorcing a difficult wife; when he is not allowed to hate or be harsh with her; when he is required to love and honor his wife; then his wife is empowered. She has the security to seek her dignity and rights.”
“When we believe truth is unknowable, we rob it of any authority. What is left is brute power wielding arbitrary force. Whether a person or an ethnic minority is guilty or innocent becomes irrelevant. Their right to life depends exclusively on the whims of whoever has power. Any nation that refuses to live under truth condemns itself to live under sinful man.”
What are other people saying? Christianity Today, The Biblical Bookshelf, BreakPoint
Rating:
★★★☆☆ Writing Style
★★★☆☆ Organization
★★★★☆ Original Idea
★★★☆☆ Page Turner
Overall ★★★☆☆
Speaking of Jesus
Reviewed by Brittney
Just the Facts: by Carl Medearis. 187 p. Published 2011 by David C. Cook. Advanced review copy provided by Speakeasy in return for my honest opinion. (Book excerpt read by Carl here).
Verdict: ★★★★★
Who Cares? Anyone who loves Jesus but finds Christianity frustrating.
Short Bio: Carl does his best to offend just about anyone who is attached to all the trappings of Christianity – but he does it with a sense of humor, a touch of reality, and with the obvious filter of being one of Jesus’s number one fans. He challenges the traditional ideas of evangelism and salvation by pointing out not only their lack of scriptural foundation (especially when looking at Christ’s example) but also by laying out what most of us know to be true – they are terribly ineffective and often get the opposite result!
Carl makes the case that our current idea of “evangelism” is the result of believing we “win” people to Team Christian by convincing them logically that all the elements of Christian doctrine are true, but in the process end up having to defend a whole history of sinful and misguided actions committed in the name of Christianity. He advocates that we have moved away from the heart of the gospel - that Jesus said he himself was the only way to come to God (relationship, not logical belief). If you simply and joyfully point to Jesus rather than try to defend man’s religious version of Jesus’s message, you’ll witness some amazing things.
Eyewitness Account: I LOVED this book. I’m ashamed to admit that I could relate all to well with Carl’s many examples of how we can we get so distracted with Christianity (ooh, shiny!) that we sometimes miss Jesus. In fact, although I would call myself a Christian, I found that Carl was definitely “evangelizing” to me – because I needed the reminder that it always boils down to how you respond to Jesus’s call to “Follow me”.
I loved how accessible and readable this book was – I could give it to a 5th grader, to my grandpa, or to my pastor. Carl’s humor and humility are sugar that helps the medicine go down (I’m sure I annoyed my fellow bus passengers at several points by laughing out loud). Ultimately, I finished the book excited and energized to know Jesus more and follow him more closely – which I think Carl would appreciate! (Apparently Carl and I are BFFs and on a first name basis – try reading his book and see if you don’t feel the same way).
Highly recommended, and I think that people of other faiths would also like this book!
Notable Quotes:
“When we preach Christianity, we have to own it. When we preach Jesus, we don’t have to own anything. Jesus owns us. We don’t have to defend Him. We don’t even have to explain Him. All we have to do is point with our fingers, like the blind man in the book of John, and say, “There is Jesus. All I know is that He touched me, and where I was once blind, now I see.”
“We have an unfair advantage. We know the Creator. We’re friends with the King. We know where truth is found and its name. We know what brings life and what gives life and where eternal life resides. It’s not fair. While others are explaining and defending various “isms” and “ologies,” we’re simply pointing people to our friend. The One who uncovers and disarms. The beginning and the end of the story.”
“There is a place for doctrines and dogma and science and history and apologetics, but these things are not Jesus—they are humanly manufactured attempts to make people think that having the right ideas is the same thing as loving and following Jesus.”
” . . . Jesus can go toe-to-toe with anything. There is no person in human history who holds a candle to Jesus. When we make sharing our faith a war of ideals, we create casualties on both sides of the boundary. We fight an “us versus them” campaign trying to show that our religion, our logic, our reason, our theology is better than everyone else’s.”
Other Books Read by This Author: None, but Tea with Hezbollah is on my list.
What are other people saying? CNN Article on Carl’s Book (and its 73 pages of comments), Will’s Blog, Sister Chat, Rick Love
Rating:
★★★★★ Writing Style
★★★★★ Organization
★★★★★ Original Idea
★★★★★ Page Turner
Overall ★★★★★
River’s Song
Reviewed by Brittney
Just the Facts: by Melody Carlson. 288 p. Published August 2011 by Abingdon Press. Advanced review copy provided courtesy of the publisher, through NetGalley, in exchange for my honest review.
Verdict: ★★★☆☆
Who Cares? Inspirational Fiction
Short Bio: Anna Larson journeys through a mid-life crisis of sorts when she returns to her hometown for her mother’s funeral and takes care of her late parents’ estate. She finds that living by the river helps her to deal with the disappointment of wanting a deeper relationship with an uninterested teenager daughter and the trauma of living under a manipulative mother-in-law. In her old hometown, she rediscovers her Native American heritage through the research of a doctoral student, Hazel, and gains the help of Hazel’s contractor son to transform her parents’ local mom-and-pop store into a riverside inn.
Eyewitness Account: Although I have been a Melody Carlson fan in the past, this book was a bit of a disappointment. It just might not have been my particular brand of tea, but I thought that the plot moved very slowly, the main character seemed oblivious and wimpy, and the relationships rather stereotyped (teenage daughter who is bratty and disinterested, overbearing and manipulative mother-in-law, etc.). Anna’s relationship with her mother-in-law is complicated by her dependence on the woman, and that situation is resolved much too quickly and easily. Similarly, for such a shy mouse of a person, her new romance blooms into marriage far too quickly. However, I did like a few things – at the top of the list, I really enjoyed the emphasis on Anna’s Native American heritage and exploring the idea that we often come to value later in life what we despised when we are younger. Anna’s mom and grandmother were the most interesting characters in my opinion, but got much less development than the other living characters. If the book had been centered around them, I probably would have liked it more. Anna was just a hard person for me to like since she just came across as a naive doormat to me. I thought this series would have the same warmth and charm that Carlson’s older Whispering Pines series, but it didn’t have the same feel to me.
Other Books Read by This Author: These Boots Weren’t Made for Walking, Whispering Pines Series
What are other people saying? A Mom with a Blog, Emmegail’s Bookshelf, Book Nook Club,
Rating:
★★☆☆ Plot Development
★★☆☆☆ Characterization
★★★☆☆ Writing Style
★★★☆ Original Idea
★★☆☆ Page Turner
Overall ★★★☆☆
Lone Star Trail
Reviewed by Brittney
Just the Facts: by Darlene Franklin. 272 p. Published August 2011 by Moody Publishers. Advanced review copy provided in electronic format by the publisher in exchange for my honest review, courtesy of NetGalley.
Verdict: ★★★★☆
Who Cares? Adult Historical/Inspirational Fiction
Short Bio:
The six-book series about four generations of the Morgan family living, fighting, and thriving amidst a turbulent Texas history spanning from 1845 to 1896 begins with Lone Star Trail. Judson (Jud) Morgan’s father died for Texas’ freedom during the war for independence. So when the Society for the Protection of German Immigrants in Texas (the Verein) attempts to colonize a New Germany in his country, he takes a stand against them. After Wande Fleischers’ fiancée marries someone else, the young fraulein determines to make new life for herself in Texas. With the help of Jud’s sister Marion, Wande learns English and becomes a trusted friend to the entire Morgan family. As much as Jud dislikes the German invasion, he can’t help admiring Wande. She is sweet and cheerful as she serves the Lord and all those around her. Can the rancher put aside his prejudice to forge a new future? Through Jud and Wande, we learn the powerful lessons of forgiveness and reconciliation among a diverse community of believers.
Eyewitness Account:
The last four fiction novels I’ve read have not been page turners, so it was nice to finally pick something up that I didn’t want to put down! Not only did I love the setting (Texas settlers, both “American” and German, just after the state joined the U.S.), but I loved the characters and their own personal journeys. I felt like the relationship conflict was more realistic, with just the right amount of communication struggle vs attitude hang-ups (pride, anger, jealousy, insecurity, bitterness, etc.). Some books make relationship conflict all about a lack of communication, but the characters in Lone Star Trail acted much more like my own friends and family do. I admired the way Franklin perfectly wove in the themes of prejudice and forgiveness. I finished it the day I picked it up – very well done!
Other Books Read by This Author: None
What are other people saying? Reader’s Roundtable, Along the Way, Ausjenny
Rating:
★★★★☆ Plot Development
★★★★☆ Characterization
★★★★☆ Writing Style
★★★★☆ Original Idea
★★★★★ Page Turner
Overall ★★★★☆
The Week-By-Week Vegetable Gardener’s Handbook
Reviewed by Brittney
Just the Facts: by Ron and Jennifer Kujawski. 200 pages. Published in 2010 by Storey Publishing. Received as a gift on my birthday this year.
Verdict: ★★★★★
Who Cares? Adult Nonfiction – Home & Garden
Short Bio:
“Timing is everything,” they say, and vegetable gardening is no exception. Knowing exactly when to start seeds indoors, what day to transplant them into the ground, when to pinch off the blossoms, and when to pick for peak flavor is the secret to enjoying bountiful harvests all through the gardening season.
In Week-by-Week Vegetable Gardener’s Handbook, authors Ron and Jennifer Kujawski take the guesswork out of gardening with weekly to-do lists that break gardening down into easily manageable tasks. Suitable for all gardening zones, the book offers easy instructions for setting up a personalized schedule based on your last frost date. The Kujawskis are an inspiring father– daughter team who share their own triumphs, mistakes, and misadventures over many years spent together in the vegetable patch. Readers will enjoy the friendly direction and advice these veterans offer. Easy-to-read boxes, bulleted lists, charts, and detailed how-to illustrations make each week’s activities clear and doable. Spots for record-keeping encourage readers to track their own successes and fine-tune their weekly schedules from year to year. Inch by inch, row by row, week by week, gardeners will move confidently through the gardening season. Whether it’s planting the strawberries, pinching off the pumpkin blossoms, checking for tomato hornworm, or harvesting the carrots, they will know exactly when and how to do it for the most bountiful harvests and the most enjoyable vegetable-growing experiences ever.
Eyewitness Account:
My husband and I ventured out into the great world of gardening this year, planting squash, tomatoes, peppers, cantaloupe, beets, radishes, artichokes, and herbs. We stumbled through the internet looking for advice on when to plant, which seeds to start inside and which to plant in the ground, what kind of soil they need, how often to water . . . OVERWHELMED! If you can relate, then GRAB THIS BOOK!
The book is organized into small, bite-sized clips of information and steps to take each week of the year. You start in the winter by planning your garden, researching and ordering seeds, and sharpening/repairing gardening tools. The book tells you when to start indoor seedlings, when to harden and plant, what diseases to watch for, when to fertilize . . . all in digestible chunks! I actually didn’t mean to just sit down and read it (it’s supposed to be weekly, right?) but I got sucked in (and finally discovered what the leathery brown stuff was on the bottom of my tomatoes and how to prevent them!). This book is invaluable, and I plan to re-read it at least twice more as well as use it as a reference. I can’t wait until winter to start planning next year’s garden!
Other Books Read by This Author: None
What are other people saying? The Retro Housewife, Publisher’s Weekly
Rating:
★★★★☆ Writing Style
★★★★★ Organization
★★★★★ Original Idea
★★★★★☆ Page Turner
Overall ★★★★★
Lonestar Sanctuary
Reviewed by Brittney
Just the Facts: by Colleen Coble. 320 p. Published in 2008 by Thomas Nelson. Listened to audiobook narrated by Aimee Lilly, borrowed from my local library.
Verdict: ★★★☆☆
Who Cares? Adult Inspirational Fiction
Short Bio:
In the quiet safety of the Bluebird Ranch, old promises resurface and unexpected love brings new hope. Though tragedy has wrecked her life, Allie Siders holds on to the hope that her five-year-old daughter, Betsy, will speak again. But with a stalker out for revenge, all Allie can think about now is their safety. She must sever all ties and abandon life as she knows it. She heads to the peaceful Bluebird Ranch, nestled deep in Texas hill country, and to the only person who can help them. The ranch is a sanctuary for abused horses, and also for troubled youths: the perfect place for Betsy to grow and recover. Ranch owner Elijah DeAngelo eagerly welcomes the duo. But Rick Bailey—the ranch foreman and DeAngelo’s right hand man—hasn’t decided to let his guard down… yet. Promises made long ago soon force Rick and Allie to work together to escape danger. Will they discover love along the way?
Eyewitness Account:
I’ve been grabbing audiobooks from our library to listen to on my phone while commuting to work, and this was the second one I picked up. Texas ranch, single mom stalked by a murderer . . . sadly, it wasn’t quite as gripping as I thought it would be. If it hadn’t been something I was listening to while doing other things, I probably would have had trouble finishing it. It was a little too predictable to be really engaging – the characters were okay, but not terribly distinct from most Christian Fic heroes and heroines. It would make good summer beach reading for those who like Christian romantic fiction, seems like there are a lot of other readers out there who appreciated it more than I did.
Other Books Read by This Author: None
What are other people saying? Cindy’s Book Club, Kel Mel Blog, Romance Readers Connection
Rating:
★★☆☆☆ Plot Development
★★★☆☆ Characterization
★★★☆☆ Writing Style
★★★☆☆ Original Idea
★★★☆☆ Page Turner
Overall ★★★☆☆
Lit! A Christian Guide to Reading Books
Reviewed by Brittney
Just the Facts: by Tony Reinke. 208 p. To be published Sept 30, 2011 by Crossway Books. Advanced review copy provided in electronic format by the publisher in return for my honest opinion, courtesy of NetGalley.
Verdict: ★★★★★
Who Cares? Adult Nonfiction – Christian Growth
Short Bio:
A call for Christians to reclaim the priority, privilege, and practice of reading.
Christians are identified as people of the Word—submitted to the authority of God’s written Word, called to center our lives on it and not on the image-driven world that vies for our gaze. But how do we build such lives, and what do they look like?
Tony Reinke’s answer is that we are to be readers of the Word of God and of the many other books that reflect God’s truth, goodness, and beauty in the world. In Lit!: A Christian Guide to Reading Books, Reinke lays out a theology of reading built around the gospel, developed from Scripture, and corroborated by church history. He offers guidance for exercising discernment in what we read, and practical advice on how to read regularly and well. Reinke also explains how to foster a culture of reading in our churches and homes. The book stresses that we may find truth, help, insight, or beauty in many different forms of literature, from theology to fiction to fantasy to business. Reinke reminds us that God is the author of all knowledge, and we read every book under his illumination.
Eyewitness Account:
The book blurb on NetGalley immediately intrigued me – someone wrote a whole book on why Christians should read (and written by an admitted “non-reader”)? I snatched it up quick and wasn’t disappointed. Reinke has a great writing style that is engaging, yet succinct (I didn’t do a whole lot of skimming because he moved from point to point fairly quickly himself). The content was great; the first half of the book is Reinke’s “theology of reading”, his own thesis on why any Christian (or any person, really) who wants to grow and mature should read. I was most struck in this section by Reinke’s discussion of how when we rely more and more on visual media to communicate, we lose out on the precision of meaning found in words.
The second half is pure nuts and bolts – how to find time to read, how to highlight and annotate so that you get a lot out of your reading, how to make personal priorities for choosing what to read, and how to pass on a love and discipline of reading to your kids (to name just a few). His chapter on priorities was so timely for me – I have been feeling overwhelmed these last few months with the sheer volume of what I want to read and how little time I have to read it in (as my backlog of NetGalley manuscripts can attest to!). I took his advice and made a list of the goals I have for reading and it was so helpful to approach my TBR list with actual priorities and criteria for picking the next book!
The only thing that seemed odd about this book is the fact that he is really writing to people who don’t read – and it made me wonder how on earth he would get his message out to such people using a book? (Christmas present from those who do read? My spouse just might get this one in his stocking . . .!) However, they aren’t the only people who can find some juicy nuggets in this book – I loved it, and would highly recommend it to anyone.
Notable Quotes:
My priorities help me determine the value of a book. My priorities set the highest value on the rarest books (like theologically sound books on the person and work of Christ) and place the lowest priority on the most abundant literature (like best-selling secular fiction). This prevents me from allowing the abundance of literature in a category to dictate my reading diet. The categories prove valuable when I walk into a bookstore.
Literature is life. If you want to know what, deep down, people feel and experience, you can do no better than read the stories and poems of the human race. Writers of literature have the gift of observing and then expressing in words the essential experiences of people . . . The rewards of reading literature are significant. Literature helps to humanize us. It expands our range of experiences. It fosters awareness of ourselves and the world. It enlarges our compassion for people. It awakens our imaginations. It expresses our feelings and insights about God, nature, and life. It enlivens our sense of beauty.
This is a matter of conscience for each believer. And while there are no rigid rules for what Christians should or should not read, we must each be sensitive to our own conscience and the consciences of those around us. As we establish our own understanding of what books we will and will not read ourselves, we must respect the parameters that other Christians have chosen to set for themselves and for their children.
“Literature and art are God’s gifts to the human race,” writes literature scholar Leland Ryken. “One of the liberating effects of letting ourselves ‘go’ as we enjoy literature is to realize that we can partly affirm the value of literature whose content or worldview we dislike. If God is the ultimate source of all beauty and artistry, then the artistic dimension of literature is the point at which Christians can be unreserved in their enthusiasm for the works of non-Christian writers.”14 This point is critical for book readers. Our freedom to enjoy the aesthetic beauty of non-Christian literature does not require us to first endorse the author’s worldview or personal ethical choices.
Other Books Read by This Author: None.
What are other people saying? The Biblical Bookshelf, Tom Farr’s Blog, Thoughts on Theology
Rating:
★★★★☆ Writing Style
★★★★☆ Organization
★★★★★ Original Idea
★★★★★ Page Turner
Overall ★★★★★
The Postmistress
Reviewed by Brittney
Just the Facts: by Sarah Blake. 336 p. Published 2010 by Amy Einhorn Books/Putnam. Listened to audiobook published by Penguin Audiobooks and narrated by Orlagh Cassidy.
Verdict: ★★★★☆
Who Cares? Adult Historical Fiction
Short Bio (from publisher):
Those who carry the truth sometimes bear a terrible weight…
It is 1940. France has fallen. Bombs are dropping on London. And President Roosevelt is promising he won’t send our boys to fight in “foreign wars.”
But American radio gal Frankie Bard, the first woman to report from the Blitz in London, wants nothing more than to bring the war home. Frankie’s radio dispatches crackle across the Atlantic ocean, imploring listeners to pay attention–as the Nazis bomb London nightly, and Jewish refugees stream across Europe. Frankie is convinced that if she can just get the right story, it will wake Americans to action and they will join the fight.
Meanwhile, in Franklin, Massachusetts, a small town on Cape Cod, Iris James hears Frankie’s broadcasts and knows that it is only a matter of time before the war arrives on Franklin’s shores. In charge of the town’s mail, Iris believes that her job is to deliver and keep people’s secrets, passing along the news that letters carry. And one secret she keeps are her feelings for Harry Vale, the town mechanic, who inspects the ocean daily, searching in vain for German U-boats he is certain will come. Two single people in midlife, Iris and Harry long ago gave up hope of ever being in love, yet they find themselves unexpectedly drawn toward each other.
Listening to Frankie as well are Will and Emma Fitch, the town’s doctor and his new wife, both trying to escape a fragile childhood and forge a brighter future. When Will follow’s Frankie’s siren call into the war, Emma’s worst fears are realized. Promising to return in six months, Will goes to London to offer his help, and the lives of the three women entwine.
Eyewitness Account:
Although this was simply the next book that appeared on my audiobooks hold list from the library, it is strikingly similar to the last book I read – the main characters are women, set during World War II, full of rich historical detail, narrated by Orlagh Cassidy . . . the titles are even similar, each the occupation of one of the main female characters. However, I was struck by the fact that where The Piano Teacher had a very strong plot with weak characterization, I felt like The Postmistress was the opposite with incredibly sympathetic characters and a slightly weaker plot (though still not bad!). The pages didn’t turn quite as easily for me this time as the story seemed to drag a bit. Overall, though, Blake’s writing style was more than eloquent and a pleasure to read (or listen to, as the case may be!).
I loved the three women who formed the core of the story, each one so vividly constructed with personality and strengths and struggles; they held the story together for me, because even when the plot seemed to drag and I wondered when Emma would ever get her deserved news, I held on because I cared about them. Perhaps I cared less about the plot because the overarching setting of Americans in pre-World War II is something I’ve read a lot about and didn’t give me something new like The Piano Teacher did. Those who don’t mind a slower moving plot if they get great characters in return, or who haven’t read a lot of WW II fiction, will probably enjoy this book.
Other Books Read by This Author: none
What are other people saying? New York Times, She is Too Fond of Books, Literary Corner Cafe
Rating:
★★★☆☆ Plot Development
★★★★★ Characterization
★★★★★ Writing Style
★★★★☆ Original Idea
★★★☆☆ Page Turner
Overall ★★★★☆
The Piano Teacher
Reviewed by Brittney
Just the Facts: by Janice Y. K. Lee. 328 p. Published 2009 by Penguin Publishers. Listened to the audiobook published by Penguin Audio and narrated by Orlagh Cassidy.
Verdict: ★★★☆☆
Who Cares? Adult Historical Fiction
Short Bio (from the publisher):
In the sweeping tradition of The English Patient, a gripping tale of love and betrayal set in war-torn Hong Kong
In 1942, Will Truesdale, an Englishman newly arrived in Hong Kong, falls headlong into a passionate relationship with Trudy Liang, a beautiful Eurasian socialite. But their love affair is soon threatened by the invasion of the Japanese as World War II overwhelms their part of the world. Will is sent to an internment camp, where he and other foreigners struggle daily for survival. Meanwhile, Trudy remains outside, forced to form dangerous alliances with the Japanese—in particular, the malevolent head of the gendarmerie, whose desperate attempts to locate a priceless collection of Chinese art lead to a chain of terrible betrayals.
Ten years later, Claire Pendleton comes to Hong Kong and is hired by the wealthy Chen family as their daughter’s piano teacher. A provincial English newlywed, Claire is seduced by the heady social life of the expatriate community. At one of its elegant cocktail parties, she meets Will, to whom she is instantly attracted—but as their affair intensifies, Claire discovers that Will’s enigmatic persona hides a devastating past. As she begins to understand the true nature of the world she has entered, and long-buried secrets start to emerge, Claire learns that sometimes the price of survival is love.
Eyewitness Account:
While the story gets kudos for having a complex, engaging plot and diverse characters, it was overall a “meh” for me. I’m finding that I like stories with firm endings, and this one just kind of petered out for me. I liked how the story was actually two stories, 10 years apart, told parallel with the narration switching from one time period to the other (although its odd how the older story is told in present tense and the more recent story told in the usual past tense.) My favorite part of the book was the time period and setting of Hong Kong during the Japanese invasion of WWII – all the war literature I’ve read, and not one has been there! It’s always nice to find something totally new to learn about.
In some ways, this novel felt a lot like The Great Gatsby to me, with all the high society parties and Claire being a newcomer who doesn’t feel like she belongs. However, even though the characters were unique and different, I had a hard time really empathizing with them. I couldn’t relate to their thoughts or actions or feelings, they always seemed to think or act or feel differently than I would have. I probably would have liked this book more if I had connected with the characters more deeply. The writing style and plot were really above par, so I would definitely try other books by this author.
Other Books Read by This Author: none.
What are other people saying? New York Times, A Girl Walks Into a Bookstore, S. Krishna
Rating:
★★★★☆ Plot Development
★★☆☆☆ Characterization
★★★★☆ Writing Style
★★★☆☆ Original Idea
★★★★☆ Page Turner
Overall ★★★☆☆
Sweet Sanctuary
Reviewed by Brittney
Just the Facts: by Sheila Walsh and Cindy Martinusen-Coloma. 352 p. Published August 2011 by Thomas Nelson. Advanced review copy provided by the publisher in electronic format through their BookSneeze program in return for my honest review.
Verdict: ★★★★☆
Who Cares? Adult Contemporary Fiction
Short Bio (from the publisher):
“Without the storm, how would we know the sweetness of shelter?” -Ruth
Out of the clear blue, Wren’s Grandma Ruth arrives on her doorstep, dreaming of a grand party to celebrate her 95th birthday. Wren and her young son Charlie love the idea, but it quickly gets complicated: Ruth wants Wren’s estranged siblings to attend and she wants Wren to sing her all-time favorite song: “His Eye Is On The Sparrow.” It’s the very song Wren sang one fateful day during her childhood . . . and Wren hasn’t sung a note since.
Though she’s glad to have Grandma back in her life, Wren’s sleeping on the couch in her own house now . . . and worried about the expenses piling up. After all, her job at the community library is in jeopardy after budget cuts, and the fancy music program she wants for her son is getting farther and farther out of reach. What’s more, Paul—the guy she’s drawn to yet avoids—ends up being a major part of an important library project.
With family arriving and old wounds resurfacing, Wren’s about to fly when she discovers something special—a gift of grace beyond her wildest dreams.
Eyewitness Account:
Sweet Sanctuary is the story of a single-mom who fights all the usual battles – bringing home the bacon for her little family of two, delving into the ultra-emotional question of what role her ex-husband should have in their lives, moving beyond the relational failures of the past for new dating opportunities, and carrying the great burdens of parenthood alone. Because no (wo)man is an island, Wren faces all of this on top of the emotional scars of her childhood. The family tragedy of long ago not only created deep psychological wounds, but has left Wren without the support and presence of her mother and siblings.
Wren’s story is engaging and real, relatable even to those who aren’t in her particular situation. She’s easy to empathize with, partly because she makes the same mistakes that we probably would. I liked that her struggles were the usual daily life ones of figuring out how to help her son when he has trouble with his friends, how to handle the difficult family relationships in her life, and how to make life-changing decisions like where to live and what job to take. I also liked that her journey of faith was authentic – there were times when she remembered to turn to God in faith and times when she didn’t. Wren’s story emphasized the importance of having faithful friends to remind us to look toward God in all things instead of worrying.
I really loved the writing style throughout (see the excerpt below!) but the plot development at the end felt a little heavy-handed and was followed by a tidy wrap-up. However, the characters and topics covered made it a worthwhile book to read. This book had the definite plus of not being a solely “romance” novel – although Wren has a love interest, her potential relationship with a guy is not the crux of the story and blends in much more realistically than many contemporary fiction novels. I’d recommend this anyone who likes contemporary Christian fiction.
Sweet Sanctuary was not an incredibly original, fantastic, or mind-bending book – but it was definitely an enjoyable escape and a good reminder that God is into the fixing-up-our-messed-up-lives business.
Notable Quotes:
(Excerpt)
Working in a library was similar to bartending or sitting in the confessional box. She’d see library patrons at the Friday film nights or around town and many treated her as if she knew all their secrets, based on the books they read, the ones they hated and the ones they loved.
Wren especially enjoyed when a child carried off a new library card, holding his or her head high as if some rite of passage had just occurred, which was exactly how she saw it. The books the patrons borrowed told their stories for them. Wren wondered how the changing of the library would change the people who came searching for books.
In one year at the Cottage Cove Public Library, she had fallen in love with the community like they were the family she longed for.
There were layers here, stories alive in the patrons who visited the library and stories through the characters of the books. The books breathed love, places, stories, cultures, mysteries, evils, beauty, the divine, the humble . . . everything of life was found here.
Other Books Read by This Author: None.
What are other people saying? Small Kucing, Christian Fiction Addiction, Maria’s Handmade Love,
Rating:
★★★☆☆ Plot Development
★★★★☆ Characterization
★★★★★ Writing Style
★★★★☆ Original Idea
★★★★☆ Page Turner
Overall ★★★★☆
Hyperion
Reviewed by Brittney
Just the Facts: by Dan Simmons. 481 p. Published 1990 by Spectra. Listened to audiobook, narrated by Marc Vietor , Allyson Johnson , Kevin Pariseau , Jay Snyder , Victor Bevine.
Verdict: ★★★☆☆
Who Cares? Adult Science Fiction
Short Bio (from publisher): On the world called Hyperion, beyond the law of the Hegemony of Man, there waits the creature called the Shrike. There are those who worship it. There are those who fear it. And there are those who have vowed to destroy it.
In the Valley of the Time Tombs, where huge, brooding structures move backward through time, the Shrike waits for them all. On the eve of Armageddon, with the entire galaxy at war, seven pilgrims set forth on a final voyage to Hyperion seeking the answers to the unsolved riddles of their lives. Each carries a desperate hope – and a terrible secret. And one may hold the fate of humanity in his hands.
Eyewitness Account: I tend to the enjoy the Fantasy end of the Sci-Fi/Fantasy spectrum, so my review of this book is a bit colored by the fact that I don’t find as much enjoyment out of the advanced technology-cool gadgets side of Sci-Fi. I liked this book, but not enough to rave about it (perhaps I’d like it better if I finished the sequel, Fall of Hyperion, as these are really one long book published into two novels).
Thumbs up: the frame story format in which each person tells their own story (very Canterbury Tales-like), the gradual unravelling of mystery surrounding the Shrike and the motivation behind each character’s trek toward doom, the beautiful writing style, and the haunting nature of each individual story. The strength of this book is that it’s composed as six short stories that fit together like a puzzle. The stories in and of themselves are each beautiful in a bleak, melancholic way. This is no happy tale; each story is one of tragedy and sorrow. However, they all explore (in the great Sci-Fi tradition) the ideas of what it means to be human – to love, to suffer, and to have hope.
Thumbs down: the book opens with a BARRAGE OF TECHNO GOBBLEDY-GOOK that left me wondering when the narrator would get around to speaking in English (this feeling drops off fairly quickly though, but not the best first impression), the first pilgrim’s story was agonizingly slow to get into (I finally looked up a synopsis on Wikipedia and read just the summary of the first pilgrim’s story before deciding it was worth ploughing through), and all the stories have a rather lengthier-than-they-need-to-be feel to them. Not sure if the characterization really depended on the amount of detail that Simmons goes into.
If you like imaginings of our universe in the 30th century and all the cool techno-gadgets we’ll be using as well as the great lengths we will have exerted ourselves to destroy our limited resources, then you’ll love this book. If you like Sci-Fi that explores the deeper underpinnings of our humanity through melancholic tales, then you’ll appreciate this book. If you can’t stand Star Trek, then try Connie Willis instead.
Warning: this book includes offensive language and some adult content (both violence and mild sex scenes).
Notable Quotes:
“For those who do not write and who never have been stirred by the creative urge, talk of muses seems a figure of speech, a quaint concept, but for those of us who live by the Word, our muses are as real and necessary as the soft clay of language which they help to sculpt.”
“I now understand the need for faith–pure, blind, fly-in-the-face-of-reason faith–as a small life preserver in the world and endless sea of a universe ruled by unfeeling laws and totally indifferent to the small, reasoning beings that inhabit it.”
Other Books Read by This Author: none.
What are other people saying? Keeping the Door, Sandstorm Reviews, Inverarity is not a Scottish Village
Rating:
★★★☆☆ Plot Development
★★★☆☆ Characterization
★★★★★ Writing Style
★★★☆☆ Original Idea
★★☆☆☆ Page Turner
Overall ★★★☆☆
Doc: A Novel
Reviewed by Brittney
Just the Facts: by Mary Doria Russell. 416 p. Published May 2011 by Random House. Bought from Amazon.com for my Kindle because I LOVED The Sparrow.
Verdict: ★★★★★
Who Cares? Adult Historical Fiction
Short Bio (from Publisher’s Weekly): Russell (Dreamers of the Day) brings lethal Dodge City to life in a colorful group-portrait of famous frontiersmen years before many of them would pass into legend at the O.K. Corral. After a tense childhood in Civil War–torn Georgia and the loss of his beloved mother, young John Henry “Doc” Holliday moves west in hopes of ameliorating the tuberculosis that would eventually kill him, relocating in the late 1870s to Kansas, where he divides his time among his poorly paying vocation of dentistry, lucrative gambling, and his fractious relationship with Kate Harony, a cultured, Hungarian-born prostitute. In a tale notable more for a remarkable cast than orderliness of plot, the rising tension between the corrupt, carousing, and well-armed inhabitants of Dodge and the forces of law represented by the moralistic Wyatt Earp and his brother, Morgan, makes a spectacular background to a memorable year-in-the-life tale of a fiery young Southern gentleman whose loyalty to his friends and love of music outshine even his fragile health and the whiskey-soaked violence of the western
Eyewitness Account: The only criticism of this book I can truthfully give is that it ended too soon! Russell managed to do what she did so expertly in The Sparrow - she introduced me to a cast of characters that I did not want to say goodbye to. Forget your brawny Fabio romance heroes; I’ll take Doc over them any day! Doc Holliday was the epitome of a southern gentlemen driven to survive his debilitating tuberculosis – and he has the wittiest and most charming lines in the whole book. Wyatt Earp steals your heart with his illiterate sincerity and desire to serve unilateral justice. Kate Harony, Bessie Earp, and Belle Wright are, each one, very different and yet very independent women trying to tame a wild country full of unreliable men. I even fell in love with a young black boy who would have been cast as an extra if the story were a movie set, he had so few of his own lines. And the writing – oh, the writing! There are some authors who make music with their words, and Russell leads the pack. Doc is one of the wittiest, engaging, and heart-breaking novels I have read all year. It’s a book that I’d recommend to my dad as easily as to my grandmother, the themes are so universal. This is one of the few books that I’ve actually bought this year and it was COMPLETELY worth it! I’m just sad I didn’t get a physical copy so I could start handing it out to my fellow book-junkies.
Notable Quotes:
“Yes, sir! Yes, they do,” Doc said, suddenly hot. “Every one of them has a story, and every story begins with a man who failed her. A husband who came home from the war, good for nothin’ but drink. A father who didn’t come home at all, or a stepfather who did. A brother who should have protected her. A beau who promised marriage and left when he got what he wanted, because he wouldn’t marry a slut. If a girl like that has lost her way, it’s—because some worthless no-account—sonofabitch left her in—the wilderness alone!”
Doc sat back in his chair and stared out of the window for a long time. “Bein’ born is craps,” he decided. He glanced at Morg and let loose that sly, lopsided smile of his. “How we live is poker.” Doc looked away and got thoughtful again. “Mamma played a bad hand well.”
Sit in a physician’s office. Listen to a diagnosis as bad as Doc’s. Beyond the first few words, you won’t hear a thing. The voice of Hope is soft but impossible to ignore. This isn’t happening, she assures you. There’s been a mix-up with the tests. Hope swears, You’re different. You matter. She whispers, Miracles happen. She says, often quite reasonably, New treatments are being developed all the time! She promises, You’ll beat the odds. A hundred to one? A thousand to one? A million to one? Eight to five, Hope lies. Odds are, when your time comes, you won’t even ask, “For or against?” You’ll swing up on that horse, and ride.
Other Books Read by This Author:
What are other people saying? Cleaveland.com, Washington Post, The Magic Lasso
Rating:
★★★★☆ Plot Development
★★★★★ Characterization
★★★★★ Writing Style
★★★★★ Original Idea
★★★★★ Page Turner
Overall ★★★★★
The Janus Stone
Reviewed by Cathy Peterson
Just the Facts: by Elly Griffiths 1-2011 Houghton Mifflin
Verdict: ★★★☆☆
Who Cares? mystery/suspense readers
Short Bio: when construction workers demolishing a large old house in Norwich uncover the bones of a child beneath a doorway—minus its skull—Ruth is once again called upon to investigate. Is it a Roman-era ritual sacrifice, or is the killer closer at hand? Ruth and Detective Harry Nelson would like to find out—and fast. When they realize the house was once a children’s home, they track down the Catholic priest who served as its operator. Father Hennessey reports that two children did go missing from the home forty years before—a boy and a girl. They were never found. When carbon dating proves that the child’s bones predate the home and relate to a time when the house was privately owned, Ruth is drawn ever more deeply into the case. But as spring turns into summer it becomes clear that someone is trying very hard to put her off the trail by frightening her, and her unborn child, half to death.
Eyewitness Account: Despite the stereotypical vilification of church leaders, this books gives an interesting mystery to unravel and a nest of intertwined relationships to figure out. The plot flowed nicely between character development and plot advancement. I’m looking forward to more from this author
Notable Quotes:
Other Books Read by This Author: The Crossing Places
What are other people saying?
Rating:
★★★☆☆ Plot Development
★★☆☆☆ Characterization
★★★☆☆ Writing Style
★★★☆☆ Original Idea
★★★☆☆ Page Turner
Overall ★★★☆☆
All Different Kinds of Free
Reviewed by Brittney
Just the Facts: by Jessica McCann. 274 p. Published April 2011 by Bell Bridge Books. Advanced review copy provided in electronic format courtesy of the publisher, through NetGalley.
Verdict: ★★★★☆
Who Cares? Adult / Historical Fiction
Short Bio: Jessica McCann weaves the untold story of Margaret Morgan and her family – a free black woman who, with her children, was abducted in Pennsylvania by a bounty hunter from Maryland – with the famous Supreme Court case that resulted from her kidnapping. Prigg v Pennsylvania became a case which highlighted the growing tension between the Northern and Southern states about the issues of states rights regarding slavery. This book focuses on Margaret’s story - the incredible injustice offered her and how she fought for her family and her freedom.
Eyewitness Account: I cannot for the life of me remember this particular court case from either my high school history and government classes, nor my college constitutional law class – so the events of the case, the Supreme Court verdict, and Margaret’s fate all kept me turning the pages of this horrific, yet inspiring story. Although it is at times a little difficult to keep track of the secondary characters, McCann brings Margaret to life in such a vivid way that I couldn’t help but relate to both the tragedies and triumphs she experienced. The author’s note at the back makes it clear that the details of Margaret’s story are sparse, so her personal account is mostly fictionalized. Given that, it was obviously true to the times and more than plausible – McCann definitely did her research! I highly recommend this story for anyone interested in the pre-Civil War era, abolition, and stories of individuals who fought for their families and freedom.
Note: Although I’d rate the age-level of readability for this book at 5th/6th grade, the content is definitely NC-17.
Notable Quotes:
“Oh, I know the place probably don’t seem like much of anything to the average passerby, not that we get many of those way out here. But our tiny home is so much more than its four ramshackle walls and lopsided roof would have you believe. Inside, it’s big, full of love. It’s a hospital where my babies can be born. It’s a schoolhouse where my children can learn. It’s a mansion where my husband and I can enjoy the riches of our life together.”
“Living my whole life in freedom in Mill Green and then in York, I often marveled at how there can be all different kinds of free. And yet, after hearing news of Mrs. Ashmore’s recent kindness to you and after living here at the plantation, I suppose now I’ve learned there are all different kinds of bondage, too.”
Other Books Read by This Author: None.
What are other people saying? Write For Me, Reads4Pleasure, Uniflame Creates
Rating:
★★★★☆ Plot Development
★★★☆☆ Characterization
★★★★★ Writing Style
★★★★☆ Original Idea
★★★★★ Page Turner
Overall ★★★★☆
Dirty Girls Come Clean
Reviewed by Brittney
Just the Facts: by Crystal Renaud. 160 p. Published April 2011 by Moody Publishers. Advanced copy provided in electronic format courtesy of the publisher, through NetGalley.
Verdict: ★★★★★
Who Cares? Self-Help/Christian Growth
Short Bio: Crystal Renaud shares her own personal story of pornography addiction, along with the stories of seven other women with similar struggles and her own adaptation of the 12-steps from Alcoholics Anonymous and Sexaholics Anonymous. Crystals steps form the acronym “SCARS” – Surrender, Confession, Accountability, Responsibility, and Sharing. Beyond an engaging narrative, the book includes many useful tools for anyone dealing with/in sobriety of a pornography addiction – from a personal inventory quiz to challenging application questions, as well as information on additional resources through other organizations, ministries, and websites (including Dirty Girls Ministries).
Eyewitness Account: This book is little powerhouse!! It is one of the fastest reads I’ve had in a while – yet still gave me quite a bit to think about. I struck by Renaud’s description of the problem (data from 2003 concludes that 17% of all women struggle with a pornography addiction and that 1 in 3 visitors to adult websites are women) and by the testimonials of other women (including Renaud) who claimed that they each felt like they were the only person who had this problem! It’s no surprise that Renaud’s SCARS steps heavily involve community - confessing to one another, being held accountable by someone else who is succeeding in their battle against addiction and sharing your story with others who need mentors and examples of standing strong.
Even though I wasn’t quite Renaud’s target audience, I did find some principles that are relevant to any Christian struggling against the power of sin and temptation in their life. Renaud makes a point that our resistance to confess our sins only to God and not to each other usually reveals our continued deception – to show the world our “good” side and, in doing so, claim that we are our own saviors (see quote below). I also appreciated Renaud’s statement that we can play the blame game (excusing our current addictions by saying they are the result of our messed up parents or lack of emotional intimacy growing up) all we want, but it will not produce any growth or change in our lives. We don’t actually move on and see different results until we take ownership of our own actions and choices and change them.
I requested this book to review on NetGalley because I’ve never seen another book like it. I’m very thankful I did because I plan on recommending it to any woman who struggles with sexual addiction!
Notable Quotes:
“But why is it that confessing to others seems so much harder than confessing to God? . . . When we confess to God and not also to others, we cheapen God’s grace. Your sins are of no surprise to God. You won’t find a person on earth who isn’t carrying some piece of luggage they are ashamed about. When God talks about healing through confession, He is talking about healing from having to be our own savior. That’s why Christ died. It is okay to be a screw-up because there’s grace enough to cover it.”
“But I’ve learned something over the years . . . that blaming others for my choices would not produce much change in me. In fact, it would keep me in a holding pattern. One that says that no matter what goes wrong in my life, no matter how screwed up things get, no matter how badly I mess something up . . . I could just blame someone else and everything will turn out fine. We all know that doesn’t work in real life so it certainly won’t work for this. Unless of course I wanted to remain in an emotional prison.”
Other Books Read by This Author: None.
What are other people saying? Critty Joy, For What It’s Worth, For Such a Time As This
Rating:
★★★★☆ Writing Style
★★★★★ Organization
★★★★★ Original Idea
★★★★★ Page Turner
Overall ★★★★★
A Severe Mercy
Reviewed by Brittney
Just the Facts: by Sheldon Vanauken. 240 p. Published by Harper & Row, 1997. Borrowed from the San Francisco Public Library.
Verdict: ★★★☆☆
Who Cares? Adult Non-Fiction – Memoir
Not-so-Short Bio (from Amazon):
A Severe Mercy, by Sheldon Vanauken, is a heart-rending love story described by its author as “the spiritual autobiography of a love rather than of the lovers.” Vanauken chronicles the birth of a powerful pagan love borne out of the relationship he shares with his wife, Davy, and describes the growth of their relationship and the dreams that they share. As a symbol of their love, they name their dream schooner the Grey Goose, “for the grey goose, if its mate is killed flies on alone and never takes another.”
While studying at Oxford, Sheldon and Davy develop a friendship with C.S. Lewis, under whose influence and with much intellectual scrutiny they accept the Christian doctrine. As their devotion to God intensifies, Sheldon realizes that he is no longer Davy’s primary love–God is. Within this discovery begins a brewing jealousy.
Shortly after, Davy acquires a fatal illness. After her death Sheldon embarks on an intense experience of grief, “to find the meaning of it, taste the whole of it … to learn from sorrow whatever it had to teach.” Through painstaking reveries, he comes to discover the meaning of “a mercy as severe as death, a severity as merciful as love.” He learns that her death “had these results: It brought me as nothing else could do to know and end my jealously of God. It saved her faith from assault. …And it saved our love from perishing.”
Eyewitness Account: This was our April book club selection. The piece that was most interesting was hearing a guy so articulately describe his love for his wife – how rare is that? Also, it was extra-intriguing to hear his “pagan” philosophy on how to have a love/marriage that lasts forever, and then hear how that view was challenged when he and his wife became Christians while at Oxford. He concludes a beautiful love story by saying that he came to accept his wife’s death as a mercy wrought by God for his own best interest (pretty ballsy).
Unfortunately, those bits were wrapped up in too much slow-moving memoir for me to find it an overall engaging book. I’ll caveat that by saying that memoir is not one of my favorite genres, and those who enjoy reading bios or autobiographies will probably get a whole lot more enjoyment out of this book. Also, you might like it if you 1) read poetry, as Vanauken has his poetry peppered throughout the story, or 2) like reading anything by C.S. Lewis, as his letters to Vanauken are also scattered throughout.
A side beef – I thought the book would have been better if the guy hadn’t been pushing his relationship with C.S. Lewis to the forefront throughout it. Even if Lewis really was such an influence, I continually felt like Vanauken (or his editors) stressed it more than he would/should have in order to make it a selling point for the book. I’m an avid Lewis fan, but the constant interjection of the letters kept annoying me because this was not supposed to be Lewis’s story – it was Vanauken’s. Just my two cents 
.
Notable Quotes:
“Under the surface of the visible world, there is an echoing hollowness, an aching void — and it cuts one off from the beloved. She is as remote as the stars.”
“Considering the prayers and their answers and considering the events . . . I cannot escape the impression that Somebody was being very gentle with us. Perhaps she had to die — for me, for our dear love, for God. And I had to live with grief, for God. But He was, perhaps, as gentle with us both as He could be.”
Other Books Read by This Author: None.
What are other people saying? What’s Wrong With the World, Lisa Notes, Reading to Know
Rating:
★★★☆☆ Writing Style
★★★☆☆ Organization
★★★☆☆ Original Idea
★★☆☆ Page Turner
Overall ★★★☆☆
Camera Obscura
Reviewed by Brittney
Just the Facts: by Lavie Tidhar. 416 p. To be published April 26, 2011 by Angry Robot. Advanced review copy provided courtesy of the publisher in electronic format through NetGalley.
Verdict: ★★★☆☆
Who Cares? Adult Steampunk (Victorian Era Alternate History)
Not-So-Short Bio: There is no good short bio of this book out in the interwebs . . . probably because the plot is so quirky that it doesn’t distill well into a blurb! So, I’ll give it a shot myself: Milady de Winter (of Dumas fame) serves the “Quiet Council” of the French underworld as a secret agent in an alternate Victorian era full of familiar literary figures (Viktor Frankenstein and Quasimodo to name a few) as well as characters who are rather unfamiliar (unless you’ve read Tidhar’s previous novel, The Bookman). Milady’s directive is to track down a murderer and locate an object stolen from the scene of the crime. She quickly realizes that the Council must not be telling her the entire story as other factions begin to gather in Paris who hold the same objective. Milady must ultimately decide whether to fulfill her own personal quest for vengeance or complete the task set before her by the Council.
Eyewitness Account: So, personal caveat: this is my first “steampunk” novel – if you’re new to the genre, it describes a mesh of fantasy and historical fiction (usually set in Victorian-era industrial age) with the key element of including machines/automatons/robots that rival humans. Camera Obscura is actually the sequel to The Bookman, but it can be read as a stand-alone (it took me about half the book to realize that Vespuccia was the alternate name for America, which was probably introduced in the The Bookman.)
Added to the coolness factor: strong and mysterious female protagonist, literary characters galore, alternate history revisions, eastern oriental secret societies, and nuns with guns.
Didn’t quite float my boat: female protagonist didn’t sound or act female (most male writers seem to struggle with this, especially in action/adventure stories), most characters felt shallow/underdeveloped, and plot was too slow at the beginning and too fast at the end (now don’t I sound picky?).
This was a pickle of a review for me to write. For all the clever and creative pieces of the story I liked, there were an almost equal number of things that either annoyed me or just fell flat. Ironically, the closest books I can compare them to are not steampunk at all – Jasper Fforde’s Thursday Next series. Fforde also writes a female protagonist in an alternate history with a plot full of literary characters. However, where Fforde’s books are chock full of wit and whimsy in addition to evil villains and mass mayhem, Tidhar’s writing relies heavily on plot while skimping on dialogue and characterization.
So, if what you love is a good action film where lots of things get blown up and the superhero defeats all odds to save the day – definitely grab this book! You’ll be astounded by the unusual mix of plot elements that Tidhar throws at you, and he should really try to market it as a film script. If characters and writing style are really your thing, you should probably pick up The Eyre Affair instead.
Notable Quotes:
“The corridor was dark. As she ran ghostly figures materialised at the end.
Nuns.
Nuns with guns.”
Other Books Read by This Author: None.
What are other people saying? Traveler’s Steampunk Blog, Ramblings of a Borderline Misanthrope, Cybermage
Rating:
★★★☆☆ Plot Development
★★☆☆☆ Characterization
★★★☆☆ Writing Style
★★★★☆ Original Idea
★★★☆☆ Page Turner
Overall ★★★☆☆
Diagnosis Death
Reviewed by Brittney
Just the Facts: by Richard L. Mabry, M.D. 288 p. Published April 2011 by Abingdon Press. Advanced copy provided in electronic format courtesy of the publisher, through NetGalley.
Verdict: ★★★☆☆
Who Cares? Adult Medical Mystery / Inspirational
Short Bio: After the death of her husband, Dr. Elena Gardener finds herself struggling to find a job that will pay for her late husbands medical and funeral expenses – as well as escape the rumors that she euthanized him and another comatose stroke victim. She gets a seemingly golden opportunity to move away from the rumors in Dallas to a small family practice in Dainger, TX. However, picking up the pieces of her life in a small town isn’t as easy as it seems – as Elena discovers when she finds herself dealing with a tight-fisted hospital administrator who wants to strip her of ICU privileges, fending off the local womanizer, and tracking down the person who is stalking her with creepy phone calls. When yet another comatose patient dies and circumstantial evidence points to Elena, the doctor decides the only way to clear her name is to catch the perpetrator herself.
Eyewitness Account: This was a great book to sneakily read on my Kindle during an EXTREMELY BORING training class – a fast-moving plot, easily identifiable characters, and enough mystery to keep you turning pages. Even though it is the 3rd book in a medical mystery series, it works well as a stand-alone. I’d still categorize it as “mental cotton candy” though – a fun story to read, but not terribly thought-provoking or deep. Even though it is primarily a medical mystery, it includes the fairly typical romance and other overly coincidental circumstances (Elena’s love interest just “happens” to get a job in the same small town, Elena just “happens” to work at the same hospital as her dead husband’s long-lost sister, etc.). Given that blurbs often highlight this book being about the question of “mercy killings”, the book might disappoint you if you expect it to really delve into the meat of the question – rather, the narrative assumes that mercy killings are, in fact, wrong (unless you are the person authorized to pull the plug on a comatose patient’s life support) and the plot centers around discovering who did the killings.
Other Books Read by This Author: None, this is the first book I’ve read by Mabry.
What are other people saying? The Friendly Book Nook, Just One More Paragraph, Lis Carey’s Library
Rating:
★★★★☆ Plot Development
★★★☆☆ Characterization
★★★☆☆ Writing Style
★★★☆☆ Original Idea
★★★★☆ Page Turner
Overall ★★★☆☆
Ember and Ash
Just the Facts: by Pamela Freeman. 528 p. To be published May 1, 2011 by Orbit (Hachette Books Group). Advanced copy provided in electronic copy, courtesy of the publisher through NetGalley.
Verdict: ★★★★☆
Who Cares? YA / Adult Fantasy
Short Bio: Fire has unexpectedly shown Himself – and demanded a dangerous task of Ember, daughter of warlord Arvid. Together with small group of Arvid’s trusted family and soldiers, Ember embarks on a journey to bring fire back to her people before they perish from winter. Along the way, she and her traveling mates are confronted with the Great Powers that had, until now, remained aloof from the “new blooded” descendents of Acton. At the end of her journey, she faces an impossible choice – a future for herself with the one she loves, or a future of peace and prosperity for her people.
Eyewitness Account: Pamela Freeman can definitely spin a tale! Fantasy can be hit or miss – it’s usually either very clever or a cheap knockoff of some other popular idea. Ember and Ash was definitely in the former category. It was a little slow to get into at first, but that’s probably because I hadn’t read her Castings Trilogy, which precedes Ember and Ash and appears to cover events about 20 years prior to it.
I loved Ember – someone who not only had flaws, but also didn’t know her own mind half of the time! Her journey to the Fire Mountain is also her own personal journey to finding out who she is and what her place/purpose in the Eleven Domains is. I loved how she found herself out of her element at times, how she depended on her companions for their expertise, and how she boldly stepped up to take the consequences of tough decisions that she had to make. Ember makes some very wise observations through her journey – one of my favorite was the distinction between lust/desire and love. Most of all, I loved that the decision she made at the end of the book seemed true to who she was.
I also appreciated the way Freeman wove together so many people’s stories in with Ember’s – Ash, finding his own purpose and identity, Arvid and Martine dealing with the breach in their marriage, and Nyr looking for a better life for his people. I found that even the secondary characters who didn’t get much stage time were full of personality – of dreams, aspirations, emotions, and complicated motives. Lastly, the story of the Powers themselves was purely delightful – not at all predictable, and very clever.
Themes of unity, identity, and honesty are well-developed throughout the story. One of my favorite passages is listed below, as it talks about how we have a tendency to reject change – but that the growth that change brings is well worth it. It’s a book I’d love to give to teenagers, except for the overly graphic love scene at the end. Well done, Ms. Freeman!
Notable Quotes:
“Heavy, inimical, a brooding presence envious of and hating everything the braid contained: life, love, warmth, fellowship. Difference. She . . . understood what it was He wanted, could feel His desire for the unchanged, unchangeable permanence of Ice. For ice which never melted, for form which stayed, immutable. For an eternity of sameness, safe and solid and forever.
She knew that feeling. Every mother knew the feeling of wanting time to stop, wanting the child to stay a baby, wanting the youth to stay a child, wanting the moment when the little arms came around your neck to last forever. Every human knew that feeling, of wanting tomorrow to be the same as today, so that you could just go on being who you were, without the pains that age brought.
But as a mother, as a human, she knew the stupidity of that. Knew that the child could give more joy than the baby, as well as more grief; knew that age had its compensations; knew that growth always hurt.”
“. . .all he had was himself, the center of himself, which was, after all, just a single arrow in flight.”
Other Books Read by This Author: None, but I might eventually pick up Blood Ties (first in The Castings Trilogy), as I enjoyed Ms. Freeman’s writing so much.
What are other people saying? Thoughts of a Scot, Aurealis Xpress
Rating:
★★★★★ Plot Development
★★★★☆ Characterization
★★★★☆ Writing Style
★★★★☆ Original Idea
★★★★☆ Page Turner
Overall ★★★★☆
The Promises She Keeps
Reviewed by Brittney
Just the Facts: by Erin Healy. 352 p. Published by Thomas Nelson, February 2011. Electronic review copy provided courtesy of the publisher, through NetGalley.
Verdict: ★★★★☆
Who Cares? Adult Contemporary/Inspirational Fiction
Short Bio: Promise has made it her life goal to become famous as a singer, before cystic fibrosis finally claims her life and she is forgotten forever. A series of “accidents” and the suggestion of a local gallery owner lead her to believe that she might have the power to evade death within herself. She discovers the truth through an unlikely source – the powerful and self-sacrificing love of an autistic man. Read the first three chapters here.
Eyewitness Account: I’ll ‘fess up, I picked this book out because of the cover. I just loved the moment it captured – and unlike many covers, this moment plays a huge part in the book! There are three reasons why this book deserves some loud props and a hearty recommendation:
1) Healy developed very good characterization through multiple storylines that all managed to support and enhance her main theme. She easily balanced about 5 main characters and several additional supporting characters without sending me back through previously read pages for “who is that person again?” Not bad for a 350 page novel!
2) I can’t stick this book in a genre! It has elements of many – coming of age, the supernatural, suspense/thriller, mystery, romance – without any one dominating in my mind. Better yet, it was a story that, although defying the normal and natural, felt completely believable to me.
3) I fell whole-heartedly in love with Chase, the autistic guy. I loved his thinking process and his narrative voice in the book, and of course the message of truth he brings to Promise. He’s going down in my book of favorite non-real people (right under Fred & George Weasley)!
Healy definitely knows her way around a story, and I’m looking forward to seeing what else she publishes!
Notable Quotes:
“A longing fulfilled is a tree of life. Draw the longing, for time is short. Fill the heart, for days are full. All he could see were words, and then the meaning of the words disappeared and all he could see were strokes. He saw the movement of a man’s hand gripping a grease pencil and forming each symbol, the sweeping and swooping of lines, the tight angels, the free flowing tails. This was his father’s handwriting.”
“Can there be any greater accomplishment than saving a life? And maybe it doesn’t look like what we think it looks like — keeping the heart beating, keeping the brain alive. I’m talking about the intangible stuff. The reasons why a person gets up in the morning. Because she wants to sing for the people she loves. Or go to Paris with a friend. Or take care of someone.”
“The promises of love are the promises you keep. The promises of liars are worthless. Throw those promises away.”
Other Books Read by This Author: This is my first book by Healy – she’s written a few with Ted Dekker, and another on her own titled Never Let You Go.
What are other people saying? 5 Minutes for Books, Thoughts From a Princess, Beyond the Bookshelf
Rating:
★★★★☆ Plot Development
★★★★☆ Characterization
★★★★☆ Writing Style
★★★★★ Original Idea
★★★★★ Page Turner
Overall ★★★★☆
Before I Go to Sleep
Reviewed by Brittney
Just the Facts: by S. J. Watson. 356 p. To be published June 1, 2011 by HarperCollins. Advanced copy provided electronically, courtesy of the publisher through NetGalley.
Verdict: ★★★★★
Who Cares? Adult Suspense/Thriller
Not-so-Short Bio: (from Marketing copy) Every morning, Christine awakens beside a stranger in an unfamiliar bed. She sees a middle-aged face in the bathroom mirror that she does not recognize. And every morning, the man patiently explains that he is Ben, her husband, that she is forty-seven-years-old, and that an accident long ago damaged her ability to remember.
In place of memories Christine has a handful of pictures, a whiteboard in the kitchen, and a journal, hidden in a closet. She knows about the journal because Dr. Ed Nash, a neurologist who claims to be treating her without Ben’s knowledge, reminds her about it each day. Inside its pages, the damaged woman has begun meticulously recording her daily events—sessions with Dr. Nash, snippets of information that Ben shares, flashes of her former self that briefly, miraculously appear.
But as the pages accumulate, inconsistencies begin to emerge, raising disturbing questions that Christine is determined to find answers to. And the more she pieces together the shards of her broken life, the closer she gets to the truth . . . and the more terrifying and deadly it is.
Eyewitness Account: Reading this book was a little like watching Memento – I felt like I was literally on the edge of my seat the entire time! From page one, I couldn’t put Before I Go to Sleep down. Not only does the book have a complex, fascinating plot, but the author succeeded in making me completely identify with the main character. I distrusted characters, nearly clawed my eyes in fear and panic when things didn’t seem to add up, and felt deep despair when Christine realized that she’d lost precious pieces of her life.
Although this book is clearly a Suspense/Thrill ride (and well done, for that!), I liked how it allowed Christine to explore ideas of identity, self, and fulfilment – would anyone want to live a life in which your memories reset every morning? Is such a life worth living? What kind of price does your family pay for that? What memories are worth re-learning and which are better left forgotten?
Dang good job, Watson! Thou must publish more books! (And congratulations to him on already landing a movie deal for this one).
Notable Quotes: I simply loved this exchange between Christine and her doctor -
“Keep your journal, Christine,” he said. “You still have it?”
I shook my head. “He burned it. That’s what caused the fire.”
Dr. Nash looked disappointed. “That’s a shame,” he said. “But it doesn’t really matter. Christine, you’ll be fine. You can begin another. The people who love you have come back to you.”
“But I want to have come back to them, too,” I said. “I want to have come back to them.”
Other Books Read by This Author: None – I believe this is a debut from S. J. Watson
What are other people saying? Wading Through Treacle, Pop Tart
Rating:
★★★★★ Plot Development
★★★★☆ Characterization
★★★★☆ Writing Style
★★★★★ Original Idea
★★★★★ Page Turner
Overall ★★★★★
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