All the Lost Places by Amanda Dykes - A Book Review

 

This book touched the deepest parts of my heart and soul. I imagine that anyone fortunate enough to pick up a copy of All the Lost Places and to slip into its story will find a part of themselves in one or more of the characters. I also imagine that the truths imparted will resonate with their own personal story.

Any brief synopsis I included here about the story of All the Lost Places would pale against the beauty of the language, setting, and characters. So, I'm not even going to attempt to write one. Let it suffice to say that this novel is one that will live on in its readers' hearts and minds for time upon time. I am grateful to have received a complimentary copy of this novel from Bethany House via NetGalley without obligation. All opinions expressed here are my own. 

 

The Book Woman's Daughter by Kim Michele Richardson - A Book Review

  

This wonderful sequel to The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek will work as a stand alone read, but please don't deprive yourself of reading both books in order which will increase your emotional attachment to the characters in The Book Woman's Daughter. Honey Lovett is left to fend for herself after her parents are imprisoned for violating Kentucky's miscegenation laws, her father being white and her mother a Blue. The Blue people of Kentucky first arrived around 1820 when a French orphan who carried the gene for the rare blood disorder that causes a blue skin hue claimed a land grant there. The Blues suffered prejudices and unfair treatment for many years. It was not much different for our fictional Honey in the 1950s who was noted as being one of the last of the dwindling number of Blues. Fortunately there were those who embraced Honey and her mother before her as friends and contributing community members as they worked to provide books to those living in hard-to-reach areas of Appalachia.

This story of courage, sisterhood, survival, and respect for others is heart touching. While I usually read and review Christian fiction, and this book is not that, I am pleased that the author carefully handled scenes that others may have described in a more graphic manner. In my mind it is a thoughtful author that knows when to allow readers the opportunity to restrict or give rein to their mental images by providing just enough information to get the point across. Kim Michele Richardson is such an author. I highly recommend this book and its predecessor, and am grateful to have received a complimentary copy from Sourcebooks Landmark via NetGalley without obligation. All opinions expressed here are my own. 

The Cartographer's Secret by Tea Cooper - A Book Review

  

The Cartographer's Secret is a piece of clean, historical fiction, set in 1880 and 1911 Australia. In the latter setting, Letitia Rawlings learns of her aunt's disappearance thirty years prior. She sets about solving what we could call today a cold case. In doing so she discovers many things that she never knew about her family, as well as things about herself.

Tea Cooper has written over a dozen books, but she is a new-to-me author. I really enjoyed the original plot of The Cartographer's Secret and the diversity of characters in this story. I will definitely be looking for more of Ms Cooper's books. I highly recommend this book, and am grateful to have received a complementary copy from Harper Muse via NetGalley without obligation. All opinions expressed here are my own. 

Something Worth Doing by Jane Kirkpatrick - A Book Review

   

I have been a fan of Jane Kirkpatrick's novels since reading Mystic Sweet Communion. I've read ten or eleven of her books, and have reviewed seven prior to Something Worth Doing. I have always appreciated the depth of Kirkpatrick's character development. She selects strong female characters who have made a difference in our nation's history, often in the Pacific Northwest. I typically close her books feeling nostalgic about the main character, the challenges she has overcome, and the lives she has improved. In Something Worth Doing that character is Abigail Jane (Jenny) Scott Duniway, best known for her work in the suffragist movement. Abigail indeed had many challenges to overcome. She was blessed to be well-loved by her husband, Ben, and to have achieved many of her dreams. This book, however, did not leave me with that nostalgic feel. To me it lacked Kirkpatrick's typical character development, and read more like a report on Abigail Duniway. Even so, I am grateful to have received a copy from Revell via NetGalley and LibraryThing without obligation. All opinions expressed here are my own.

This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger - A Book Review

   

I typically review Christian fiction; while This Tender Land is a coming-of-age story of a young boy's desperate search for an accurate view of God, it is definitely outside the realm of Christian fiction. It did, however, give me a lot to think about as I share the love of God with those whose life experiences have caused them to view Him as uncaring and even cruel.

Odie and his brother, Albert, are orphans placed in the care of the Lincoln Indian Training School, although they were not Native Americans. There they were often beaten and isolated. Any glimmer of hope was almost immediately extinguished. Circumstances led them to flee from the school and the law accompanied by six-year-old Emmy and a mute Sioux named Mose. Their paths crossed those whose actions contributed to Odie's view of God, sometimes confirming, other times softening.

Outside of frequent vulgar language, the story is very well written, and I am grateful to have had the opportunity to read it. I was provided a copy from Atria Books via NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion. I was under no obligation to provide a positive review and received no monetary compensation.

Stars of Alabama by Sean Dietrich - A Book Review

   

I found myself fully engaged with each of this story's three story lines and the unique, memorable characters whose stories were unfolding. I could feel the stories converging, but it was never obvious as to how they would finally intersect. As the characters traveled from the dust bowl of Kansas to the Gulf shores of Alabama, through the depression, a war, and peacetime, their stories drew ever closer. Stories of hard times, people who matter, putting aside the past, and creating a future; stories of right and wrong, and opportunities lost and found held my attention as if it were grasped in the author's hand.

The feelings generated as I read Stars of Alabama were reminiscent of those I had while reading The Secret Life of Bees and The Memory Keeper's Daughter. I would recommend this book to anyone who was touched by those. It is a book that will haunt your memory for years to come.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Bethlehem by Karen Kelly - A Book Review

    

Bethlehem is set in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in the 1920s and the 1960s. It is the story of relationships within and among two prominent families, and the lengths they would go to to maintain those relationships. It is a story of loss, of secrets, and of forgiveness. Karen Kelly paints the story with masterful strokes deepened by the beauty of the language with which she paints. The painting has a darkness to it, but the colors are rich, and the final strokes bring light to her canvas.

While this book differs from the Christian fiction I typically review, the language is not offensive and, while there is great passion, there are no passionate scenes that one would take offense to. The book, though not Christian fiction, points to Jesus by demonstrating how attending church out of duty or to meet societies expectations without coming to know Jesus as Lord and Savior is often self-destructive.

I would recommend Bethlehem to my friends, and am grateful to St. Martin's Press for providing me with a copy in exchange for my honest opinion. I was under no obligation to write a positive review and received no monetary compensation.

Gone for a Soldier by Marsha Ward - A Book Review

     Marsha Ward is a new to me author, having only read one of her short stories prior to this book, and I was happy to be asked to read and review this Civil War novel as my reading has focused on this era a lot lately. Based on a wonderful monolog by a docent on a recent visit to the Lotz House in Franklin, Tennessee, I believe Marsha Ward did a marvelous job of capturing the horrors of the sights, sounds, smells and privations of the Civil War. I must admit, while not at all inappropriate in her word choice, the intensity and frequency with which Ward dealt with the desires of young, unmarried men was a bit over the top. Nevertheless, I did enjoy and would recommend the book with that caveat.

     The Owen family is blessed with both strong maternal and paternal characters, and a wealth of love within the family. Julia and Roderick Owen of Shenandoah County, Virginia have nine offspring, ages eight to twenty as the story begins. Father and five sons will serve on the side of the Confederacy during the war; not all are destined to return. Rather than focusing on the issues for which they fought, Ward concentrates on the toll military service in the Civil War took on relationships, on those on the front lines, on those left behind, and on the communities devastated by the invading troops.

     I thank Marsha Ward for providing me a copy of Gone for a Soldier in exchange for my honest review. I received no monetary compensation. I do look forward to reading her novella, That Tender Light, which tells the story of how Rod and Julia met. 

Freedom's Price by Christine Johnson - A Book Review

     I carried my Kindle around with me, room to room, in the car, almost everywhere I went, reading every spare minute, compelled to find out what was going to happen to Catherine Haynes as she traveled from England to Louisiana to meet the family who had disowned her mother following her marriage to an Englishman. An adult, but orphaned nonetheless, Miss Haynes seeks to reconnect with her mother’s family, only to find that her mother’s beloved plantation, Chêne Noir, has been left in the hands of an unscrupulous property manager. Will she have the strength of mind and body to reclaim her place within the family and her rights to her share of the plantation, or will she fall prey to the villainous DeMornay? The answer seems to lie within her budding relationship with a Key West sailor, Tom Worthington, but things are not always what they seem.

     The title of this book holds the key to its theme. I read this book following Memorial Day when our nation focuses on the price of freedom, and the heroes who pay that price. John 15:13, “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends,” tells us the price of freedom. Readers of Freedom’s Price will witness someone willing to pay that price. Who will it be?

    I recommend Freedom’s Price; it is even better than the previous books in this series, and I had given them quite positive reviews. I thank Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group and NetGalley for providing a copy of Freedom’s Price in exchange for my honest opinion. I received no monetary compensation for writing this review.  

The Lady Bornekova by Sara R. Turnquist – A Book Review

        

     I met Sara Turnquist at a recent writers’ conference, and was happy that she offered me the opportunity to read and review her debut novel. Life had a way of getting in the way of completing The Lady Bornekova as quickly as I would have liked, and appreciate Sara’s patience with me. I did enjoy this novel, as I have an interest in historical novels set in the Czech Republic. While I have not searched for books of this type, I have had the fortune to stumble upon them, and was indeed fortunate to receive a copy of this novel.

     The theme of this book, standing up for one’s beliefs even when doing so places one in extreme danger, continues to speak to Christians in this day and age of both political correctness and religious persecution throughout the world. The heroine, Karin Bornekova, and her friend, Pavel,  adhered to the ideas put forth by Jan Hus, an early Christian reformer and predecessor of the Protestant movement, something that threatened the nobility as well as the church. They had to make a choice, how far would they be willing to go, what risks would they be willing to take, in order to remain faithful to their faith, to their beliefs. We must also make that decision before trouble arrives.

     This author’s strengths, as displayed in her debut novel, include her ability to pace her story to maintain reader interest, her skill at creating mental images without lengthy descriptions that cause the story to drag, her placement of information that helps the reader to infer and desire to confirm these inferences without giving away too much too soon, and sentence structures and vocabulary that, for the most part, respect the reader’s intelligence.  As a debut author, we anticipate that there will be areas in which the author can hone her craft. In this case, that would be to avoid the trap of inserting current day, Western civilization vocabulary and phrasing (e.g. tough love, active cases, making real time notes) and social norms into other periods of time or cultures. Since Sara posed questions in the reader’s mind at the end of the story, she will likely have the opportunity in future books to demonstrate a closer adherence to the culture revealed in her research. This author’s talent makes her one to watch for in the future.  

Love's Rescue by Christine Johnson - A Book Review

     

     I selected Love’s Rescue to review mainly due to its setting, Key West, Florida.  Having spent a lot of time in south Florida, and being interested in the history of the area, I found this book very appealing.  Well, I got way more than I bargained for.  This book really drew out my metacognitive side, making me think about the way I was thinking as I read.  (Okay, maybe I’ve been reading too much about comprehension strategy instruction, but it did make me appreciate this book even more!)  This book has characters you will cheer for as well as those you will love to hate.  At one point I wondered to myself how I was enjoying the book so much even though I was gritting my teeth with frustration at the turn of events, and while I hate to admit it, I did take a peek at the last few pages just to make sure all was going to end well.  The author gives just the right amount of information for the reader to make inferences without feeling like they came too easy, and without throwing in some new information or character from left field, allowing the reader that pleasant sense of accomplishment as the pieces of the story begin to fit together. The sights and sounds of the 1800s Key West come alive with the author’s wonderful word-smithing, backed by sound research. 

     Elizabeth Benjamin returns to Key West after a four year absence.  Having fended off all potential suitors, she anxiously waits to see what type of reception she will get from Rourke O’Malley, captain of a wrecker ship.  She just didn’t anticipate her ship’s colliding into a reef being the event that would bring her face to face with Captain O’Malley.  Elizabeth also has to wonder about how her father will react to her returning unwed and unbetrothed.  As Elizabeth struggles to meet her obligations while remaining true to herself, she uncovers family secrets that will impact the lives of everyone within her home, and many outside of the family as well.  She is faced with hard decisions and the possibility of great sacrifice. While multi-themed, the central theme that winds itself throughout the story, and brings it to a climax, is forgiveness.  The author deals with the struggle we all face at one time or another, the desire to forgive in the face of a stronger desire to withhold it.

     Fans of historical romantic fiction will enjoy this book, even those who may not have selected a book within this genre that focuses on Christian themes.  I thank Revell Publishers and Christian Fiction Blog Alliance for providing Love’s Rescue for my honest review. I did not receive any monetary compensation for a favorable review and the opinions expressed here are strictly my own.

     I do have to share a picture from a 2014 trip to Tarpon Springs that this book reminded me of, even though it doesn’t fit the time frame in which this book is set.  You’ll have to read the book to discover my connection.

 

Surprised By Love by Julie Lessman – A Book Review

     This is the third book in Lessman’s The Heart of San Francisco series.  The first book found true love for Cassie McClare, the second for her cousin Allie.  This third book focuses on Meg, Allie’s sister, who underwent an amazing transformation while spending her senior year in Paris both in her physical appearance and in her self-confidence while also discovering God’s call to serve women living in poverty doing whatever it took to survive.  Matron of this clan, Caitlyn McClare, also comes to grips with her ability to trust or not to trust her deceased husband’s brother, Logan. A quandary whose storyline spans this trilogy.

     The theme of this book is forgiveness, forgiving those who have wronged us as well as forgiving oneself.  Bram, loving known as Padre by his closest friends, is wise beyond his years;  explaining the importance of forgiveness, “‘ People don’t realize just how much energy it takes to hate and hurt someone who’s wounded them, nor how destructive that hate can be….It’s like a gun aimed at themselves instead of the offending party….It can destroy them and those they love.’”  He also explains how, through prayer, to rely on God’s power to be able to forgive; something that isn’t always possible under our own power.  The theme is well developed, and Biblically grounded. 

     I was excited to see this third book of the series on the list of books available for review. I’d enjoyed the first two books, and was anxious to read the third.  What I found when I started reading the book was that I was tired of the characters, tired of reading about Cassie’s smelly lasso and Allie’s stick both of which they supposedly used to keep the man in their life in line. I was tired of reading about Blake being a rake and family game nights. There seemed to be a lot of redundancy of events and in dialogue. On the other hand, wondering which man Meg would be interested in, even though it was fairly obvious which one she’d end up with, kept my interest in the story, as did pondering how Caitlyn and Logan would work out their differences.

     The heavy emphasis on the importance or impact of physical beauty was a concern while reading this book.  There were a few instances like when Meg reflected on the lesson that, “although the naked eye admires outward appearance, it’s in the mind’s eye where true beauty and confidence begins,” and when Devin states that, “For once I’ve met a girl whose beauty on the inside is so powerful and deep, the surface beauty is almost secondary,” when the author acknowledges the greater importance on\f inner beauty.  For the most part, the reader encounters evidence that the transformation from ugly duckling to beautiful swan was what inspired men’s ardor and admiration for Meg. 

          I thank Revell Publishers and Christian Fiction Blog Alliance for providing Surprised By Love for my honest review. I did not receive any monetary compensation for a favorable review and the opinions expressed here are strictly my own.      

A Light in the Wilderness by Jane Kirkpratrick – A Book Review

     The thing that most impresses me about Jane Kirkpatrick’s writing is her meticulous research and the care she takes with the authenticity of her story.  Any assumptions that she makes are logical and supported by research.  The author’s note in A Light in the Wilderness provides information allowing the reader to differentiate between known facts and details added for the benefit of the story.  Ms Kirkpatrick provides the logic behind assumptions that were made, supporting the added details. 

     In this story I learned about Oregon’s exclusion and lash laws.  At a time when existing and potentially new states had to decide whether to be slave or free states, these laws attempted to eliminate choosing by excluding people of color from the population.  While the laws were not consistently enforced and were repealed and reinstated in a variety of versions, there were times when people of color were to be lashed twice a year until they left the territory.  Oregon entered the Union as a free state, but had an exclusion clause in its constitution until 1926, although it was largely unenforced. 

     After moving from Kentucky where she was most likely a slave to Missouri where she was likely given her freedom, our heroine, Letitia, married, in a private ceremony and without the benefit of a license or an official, Davey Carson, a white widower.  Through mutual consent and inspiration they traveled the trail to Oregon, enduring many hardships, and making a life together.  While Davey did not always understand Letitia’s needs, especially her need to feel safe as a free black woman, and was not always able to reconcile her needs with his own desires, he did truly care for her and probably took her opinions into account more than many husbands of the day. 

     Letitia was a light in the wilderness to many as she comforted and coached mothers as their babies entered this world, and as their loved ones were birthed into the next.  As Letitia said, “Tending and mending used threads of many colors.”  Her candle was lit from the flames of those who loved, accepted and befriended her, those who nurtured her from being someone who tried not to stand out, to one who wanted to fit in, to being someone with the courage and faith to stand up for what was right. 

     The most amazing transition in Letitia was in where and how she found freedom.  Initially she longed to be free from slavery.  That granted, she longed to be free of the fear of being placed back into slavery and of being oppressed by a small minded majority.  Later she found freedom in how she chose to look at life, how she chose to remember things, how she chose to forgive and show grace.  She found a type of freedom many would be blessed to find today.

     For those readers who enjoy historical fiction, those who long to see good triumph over evil, and those who root for the underdog, I would highly recommend A Light in the Wilderness.  Letitia’s light will warm your heart.  I thank Revell Publishers and Christian Fiction Blog Alliance for providing A Light in the Wilderness for my honest review. I did not receive any monetary compensation for a favorable review and the opinions expressed here are strictly my own.  

Dare to Love Again by Julie Lessman – A Book Review

     When I read a book I usually form an impression of characters, and the opinions typically hold true until possibly a surprise is revealed near the book’s end.  That was not the case in Dare to Love Again.  Having read the first book in The Heart of San Francisco series, I had met the lead character in this book, Allison McClare, and remembered her as a compassionate, high spirited young lady of great faith.  In this, the second book of the series, Allison is multi-faceted.  One moment she is emotionally wounded and defensive, provoking sympathy from the reader; the next she is a spoiled, temper tantruming brat that the reader would like to take by the shoulders and shake!  There are times when she is a bright young educator, totally devoted to her job and her students, a young women yearning for independence and self-reliance.  Yet she is also capable of being manipulative, self-serving, and at times even cruel (although she eventually becomes remorseful and apologetic).  Her male counterpart possesses equally diverse character traits: handsome, harsh, humorous, easily perturbed, petulant, aggressive, honest, shady, compassionate, loving, angry, … I stayed engaged with the story in order to find out these two characters’ true character.

     One thing that I love about Julie Lessman’s books is the degree of research that goes into their historical accuracy.  Lessman is a master of weaving in interesting historical information that helps place her readers in the story’s setting. Allison’s excitement over the sites as she takes her first cable car ride causes her to take on the role of tour guide for the handsome policeman recently arrived in the city, allowing us a lens for viewing 1903 San Francisco. The horrors of life on the Barbary Coast are made evident as Allison, her mother, and her cousin work to improve the lives of the young girls who make their homes there.  By contrast Lessman paints a clear vision of the much different life among the residents of Nob Hill, the home of San Francisco’s elite.  Even the fine points of the dress and hairstyles of the day have been carefully researched and described.  The demands of morality during this time in the city’s history are clearly viewed in the lives of the McClare family, some who find them more easily met than others. The depths of debauchery, not so much different from today, are also evident in the circumstances found on the Barbary Coast, from which some in the McClare family may be profiting.  

     Trust is one of the major themes in this series of books.  The McClare women seem to be destined to having their hearts broken before finding true romance.  In the midst of these trials and heartaches, they learn the importance of trusting in God’s love, mercy and sovereignty.  They also learn the importance of trusting their hearts to men who also trust God.  I was reminded of the blessing of a husband who embraces the role of spiritual head of the household, a blessing I enjoy daily. 

      Julie Lessman is known for her ability to create sexual tension between characters while maintaining a storyline that does not compromise and using vocabulary that does not embarrass.  She has demonstrated that ability in Dare to Love Again.  While reading this book I also learned of a non-fiction book that Lessman has written in which she shares her secrests, and hopes to teach others as well.  Those reading this review who are interested in writing as well may want to check out [Romance-ology 101] Writing Romantic Tension for the Inspirational and Sweet Markets. 

In my review of Love at Any Cost I had expressed an interest in the continuing story of Caitlynn (Allison’s widowed mother) and Logan.  I was not disappointed in the way Lessman continued to develop their love story.  One of the nice things about this series is that the love story of each book’s main character is a stand-alone read with closure at the book’s end, but the story of Cait and Logan is a continuing thread throughout the series. 

     Thank you to Revell, the publisher, for sending me a copy of Dare to Love Again  for my honest opinion of the book.