ARCBA Tour: Andrew Murray: Destined to Serve by Dr Olea Nel

6 - 10 April 2015

Australian Christian Readers Blog Alliance

is introducing

Andrew Murray Destined to Serve: A Biographical Novel 

(Clairvaux House (own imprint), 1 October 2014)

By

Dr Olea Nel 

About the Book:
For those who love Historical Fiction about Christian heroes of the faith"Historically accurate, and based upon Andrew Murray's letters and early biographies"

A boyish and fun-loving Andrew Murray arrives back in South Africa after being ordained at the Hague on his twentieth birthday. He soon discovers that his preaching lacks the power displayed by his heroes of the faith. He therefore decides to embark on a quest to become a powerful preacher filled with the Holy Spirit.

About the Author

Dr Olea Nel was born in Cape Town, South Africa. After
completing her training as a teacher in Andrew Murray’s heartland of Wellington, she relocated to Australia to further her studies. Besides attaining a PhD in Linguistics, she also has qualifications in Information Studies and Theology. Having now retired from her position as a senior librarian at the National Library of Australia, she is able to pursue her
passion for research, especially within the fields of church history and biography. Her aim is to share her findings with fellow Christians.

http://www.onandrewmurray.com/author

Review: Loathing Lola by William Kostakis

2015 Reviewing Challenge: Book by an author under 30

This Challenge was harder than I thought—most Christian fiction seems to be written by older authors (it’s a big clue that they are over 30 when their bio says they are a grandmother). No one actually comes out and says their age. Anyway, I was pleased to find Australian author Will Kostakis come up on my blog feed, because as well as making some interesting points about male authors, he also was under 30. Off to Amazon, where I picked up his debut novel, Loathing Lola, published when he was just 19.

It’s not Christian fiction, which means there is a little swearing and a cast of characters who don’t have any Christian beliefs (even though they all attend a ‘Christian’ high school). The one obviously Christian character, the school priest, was portrayed well—if only all general market fiction could write such positive Christian characters without getting cliché or preachy.

Fifteen-year-old Australian schoolgirl Courtney Marlow has auditioned for Real Teens, a new reality TV show looking to highlight the life of a real teenager. Applying wasn’t her idea, but she’s been chosen and a chance discovery means she has to go through with it. But no sooner is the show announced than everyone wants to get in on it, from her second-best friend to her father’s new wife and the President of the school Mothers’ Auxiliary (their equivalent of the PTA).

Loathing Lola is written entirely in the first person, from Courtney’s point of view, and she has a clear and convincing voice—it’s easy to believe she is an average Australian teenager (the accuracy of the voice is a little disturbing when I remembered this was written by an Australian teenage male). She’s smart, funny, sad, depressing, angry—in other words, real. Well, she feels real. Unlike the TV show, which we find out is nothing real at all.

I enjoyed Loathing Lola. There was a strong author voice, a cast of quirky and interesting characters (I can’t say they were all likeable, but that was the point), a well-constructed plot and a theme that will appeal to a generation fixated on reality TV. And a great end.

Review: From the Start by Melissa Tagg

First in a New Series

Kate Walker writes romance movies—not exactly her life ambition, but it pays the bills. At least, it used to, while her scripts were selling. She has a new opportunity: to take a short-term trip to Africa to cover projects managed by the charity her late mother set up, but a tornado in her home town changes her plans. It also introduces her to her brother’s college friend and ex-professional football player Colton Greene … who just happens to be looking for a writer to co-write his memoir. But Kate knows nothing about football, and Colton isn’t willing to open up about the family tragedy which led to him growing up in foster care.


I’ve read and enjoyed a couple of Melissa Tagg’s other books, and while I enjoyed this, I didn’t feel there was anything which made it stand out from the crowd. The main characters, Kate and Colton, were nice, even if their careers were a little cliché. They all live in a lovely town where everyone pulls together in times of adversity (like bad weather). Everything was nice, which made it all a little too bland for my taste. The most interesting character was the bad-tempered coffeeshop owner (who I can see having a major role in another book in the series).

Overall, From the Start was an enjoyable summer read in which everything happens just as it should, providing a fun read and a satisfying ending. Recommended for fans of authors such as Susan May Warren and Becky Wade.

Thanks to Bethany House and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review. To find out more about Melissa Tagg, visit her website.

Review: The Captive Imposter by Dawn Crandall

Excellent end to trilogy!

After the murder of her brother, heiress Estella Everstone goes incognito as Elle Stoneburner, paid companion to an elderly widow. But she doesn’t anticipate the job taking her to Everston, her favourite of her family’s hotels, where she meets Mr Dexter Blakeley, the hotel manager … and Jay Crawford, her ex-fiance.

The whole book is told in first person, by Elle/Estella. She’s an interesting character: people treat her differently as Elle Stoneburner, and she finds their attitudes quite different. It gives her the opportunity to find out who she really is, apart from the much-younger Everstone sister, the heiress. The first person gives it a gothic romance field, a little like Victoria Holt (for those old enough to remember her!).

This is especially the case with Mr Blakeley and his mother, both of whom seems to have a low opinion of society women. Elle/Estella is attracted to Mr Blakely, and he seems to be attracted to Elle, but will he have the same feelings for Estella, given she represents so much he appears to despise?

The Captive Imposter is the final book in The Everstone Chronicles trilogy, with each book telling the romance of one of the Everstone siblings. The Captive Imposter is a standalone novel, but features characters and situations from the earlier books—so if you plan on reading all the books, do start with The Hesitant Heiress.

I’ve read all three books, and they all have solid plots with excellent characters, feisty women with faith and attitude. The books are well-written, and I especially like the way they each include a strong Christian thread without being preachy. Having said that, I think The Captive Imposter is my favourite of the three books, because the plot is something a little different, and because the characters are so good--both well-imagined and well-portrayed. Recommended for fans of historical romance.

Thanks to the author for providing a free ebook for review.

Review: The Wedding List

2015 Reading Challenge – A book set in your hometown

You are no doubt thinking that I live in New Zealand, so why am I reading a novella set in London as “a book set in my hometown”. There are two reasons. First, I don’t really have a hometown in the way Americans refer to one, but I lived in London for longer than I have lived anywhere else, so I think it counts. Second, there simply aren’t a lot of books set in my part of the world. I can count on one hand the number of Christian novels I’ve come across set in New Zealand or by Christian authors (something Kiwi author Kara Isaac discussed in a recent blog post).

Anyway, on to my review. Beth Forrest works in the wedding department of staid London department store Pettett and Mayfield’s, where she spends her days serving posh clients and struggling to overcome her working-class background, something which has given her a serious inferiority complex. Beth is about to close up one day work ay when a piece of her past walks in: James Wetherton-Hart, the posh boy she once loved—until his mother found out James was seeing a servant, and had Beth sent packing from the estate.

The Wedding List was an enjoyable short novel that was a pleasant walk down memory lane of winter in London, particularly when it came to some of the locations, like Tower Bridge. It was also an enjoyable romance, even if I wasn’t entirely convinced by the emphasis on class distinctions, or the fact she was ashamed of her working-class heritage (I always saw the real-life English working class, as generally proud of their heritage. It's the middle class who seek upward mobility). I also would have liked to have seen more character development, particularly with James.

Overall, I liked the novel, but probably not enough to read more in the series.