Review: Soaring Through Stars by Rajdeep Paulus

Wow. Just Wow. 

Soaring Through Stars is the final book in a trilogy, following Swimming Through Clouds and Seeing Through Stones, and you really do need to read all three books in order. In fact, even giving an accurate book description will effectively give a spoiler for the first two books … but I’ll try.

The trilogy is the story of Talia and Jesse Vanderbilt, daughter and son of famous Chicago lawyer Gerard Vanderbilt … the man who killed their mother through control, abuse and neglect, and now controls his children through fear and pain. But Talia has a secret—Lagan, a boy at school who has befriended her. Her first friend. That’s the first book.

Even from the first book I could see there was a sinister side to Gerard, and while there are further hints in Swimming Through Clouds, it is here that we finally find out more about Gerard and what a piece of work he really is. But the really scary thing is how the years of abuse affect his children—it’s like they’ve been programmed, and they have to fight to break free of that programming and pursue what they believe in. This control illustrates why so many abused women don’t or won’t leave their partners, and that is frightening. It’s especially frightening to think that some women escape but are sent back to their abusers by well-meaning but deceived officials.

This isn’t a fun book, a light romance to download for your summer holiday (if that’s what you’re after, try Beth Vogt, Denise Hunter or Becky Wade). Rajdeep Paulus is more like Ginny Yttrup or Nancy Rue and Rebecca St James, in that she’s not shying away from the difficult topics, yet without being explicit or gratuitous. It’s well-written, sobering, and with subtle Christian undertones. Excellent.

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

Review: Finding Me by Kathryn Cushman

2015 Reading Challenge: Based on a True Story

When Kelli Huddleston’s father and stepmother die in an accident, she is left with nothing and no one—or so she thinks. When cleaning out the house before it sell, she finds an old envelope containing newspaper clippings about the presumed drowning of David Waters and his infant daughter, Darcy, from the small town of Shoal Creek, Tennessee. But the photo is of her…

Kelli travels from California to Tennessee to see if she can meet the surviving members of the Waters family, Alison and her two children, Max and Beth. She wants to know if there’s a reason her father left—and decide whether she introduces herself as their long-lost sister/daughter, or whether she leaves them to go on with their lives. She also meets her father’s ex business partner, Ken Moore, and his son, but finds the trip raises more questions than answers, and forces her to re-evaluate her life in more ways than one.

Finding Me is the first novel I’ve read by Kathryn Cushman, but it won’t be the last. I liked her writing, especially the subtle way she wove Christianity into the plot in a way that made it central and realistic without being intruding. I thought the plot was an excellent combination of mystery and romance, and the subplots did an excellent job of supporting the main story, Kelli’s dilemma.

Kelli was faced with a difficult decision where there was no right choice, which made her a fascinating character. I thought it was a convincing portrayal of how someone would act in such a situation, where everything they’ve been told while growing up turns out to be a lie, creating huge cracks in the memory of a perfect childhood. Going deeper, it also shows us how difficult it is to break those beliefs we are raised with—and the need for forgiveness. Recommended.

Thanks to Bethany House and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review.

Finding Me counts towards my 2015 Reading Challenge as a book based on a true story: Kathryn Cushman says at the end it is actually inspired by two separate true stories. I don't know what's inspired by truth and what is purely fiction, but the result is an excellent novel. Recommended. 

Review: Together with You by Victoria Bylin

Excellent!

Ophthalmologist Dr Ryan Tremaine has a problem. Not only has he promised his ex-wife that he’ll look after their two sons for the summer while she’s on a short-term missions trip, but he’s also recently taken custody of Penny, his five-year-old daughter from the affair that ended his marriage. And Penny is a problem: she has FASD, Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, and her behaviour has already run off three nannies.

Carly Jo Mason is working at the Animal Factory while completing a PhD specialising in the prevention of FASD. A chance meeting with Penny and Ryan leads to a job offer: as Penny’s new nanny. Carly is initially reluctant to get involved because of her own personal history of working with FASD children, but is persuaded to take the job … and ends up more involved than even she had anticipated.

I thoroughly enjoyed Until I Found You, Victoria Bylin’s first contemporary novel for Bethany House, and I enjoyed Together With You even more. The plot, driven largely by Penny’s issues as a special needs child, was a unique combination of entertaining and educational. I also liked the way the Christian elements of the plot were dealt with, particularly the conflict between Carly and Ryan, and the sympathetic and non-judgemental way FASD was dealt with.

The characters were excellent, and it was good to see the stuffy and barely competent Dr Tremaine loosen up a bit as the plot progressed. The minor characters were also excellent, even Penny’s Aunt Denise, who wants to have custody of Penny for herself. It’s clever writing when the viewpoint character dislikes another character, yet the writing manages to get across a degree of sympathy for that ‘unlikable’ character.

One word of warning: if the cover puts you off because it’s a little too cliché romance, think again. While Together With You definitely has a strong romance plot, it’s just as much a story about the consequences of bad choices, the difficulties in raising a child with special needs, and truly understanding God’s forgiveness. Recommended.

Thanks to Bethany House and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review. You can find out more about Victoria Bylin at her website.

I'm Reviewing at Australasian Christian Writers

One Last Thing by Rebecca St James and Nancy Rue

Today I'm reviewing One Last Thing over at Australasian Christian Writers. Click here to read my review.

Here's the book description:

Tara had always imagined her happily ever after. But her fiancé’s secrets are changing this story into one she doesn’t even recognize.


Tara Faulkner and Seth Grissom grew up next door to each other in Savannah’s historic district. Their parents are best friends. They finish each other’s sentences all the time. Their fairytale wedding is a foregone conclusion . . . until Tara discovers another side to Seth three weeks before the wedding.

Reality has crashed in on Tara’s fairytale—but hope will lead her to a future she couldn’t have planned for herself.

This isn't an easy read, but I think it's the best book I've read so far this year. One Last Thing does an excellent job in sensitively fictionalising a growing problem in society. It’s not easy reading, and it’s not nice. But it is real. Unfortunately.

Review: Heaven Help Heidi by Sally John

A Sequel with Heart

Heaven Help Heidi is the second novel in Sally John’s Family of the Heart Series, although you don’t need to have read Between Us Girls first (although—as with most series—it is best to read them in order to avoid spoiling the storylines relating to the recurring characters). The series is set in San Diego, in the Casa de Vida Cottages in the fictional Seaside Village. As with Between Us Girls, the story starts with a young woman who needs a new start moving into Casa de Vida, befriending one of the existing residents, and finding the answers to questions she didn’t know she had.

Heidi Hathaway is a successful real estate salesperson, but horrific injuries sustained in a car accident mean she can’t drive and she can’t navigate the stairs in her beautiful three-story condo. Piper, a business acquaintance, invites her to move into a vacant cottage at the one-level Casa de Vida. Heidi accepts, mostly because she has no other options. Her ongoing health issues mean she can’t work to the capacity she used to, which means Val, her friend and boss, is having to take on more and more—but Val has problems too. Piper has her own issues. Her fiance died four years ago, and although she still misses him, she’s finally learned to cope without him.

What I thought lifted Heaven Help Heidi above Between Us Girls was the hidden linkages between the characters. Heidi moving into Casa de Vida is the catalyst that forces some of the minor characters to reconsider their perceptions of the past, and to look for reconciliation, and I enjoyed this aspect. The novel has underlying Christian themes, but while several of the characters (especially Liv) are Christians, it’s not in-your-face preachy Christian fiction (in fact, the Christian aspects felt a bit understated at times).

There is also a touch of romance in the novels (well, perhaps more than a touch). Part of me would like to see more on-page development of the relationship, but I think I see the point Sally John is making by keeping the romance low-key. We can’t rely on a man to come in and “fix” our lives. We have to sort through things with God first, and then we can come to a place where we are ready to share our lives with someone else. It’s not that we’re “fixed” (are we ever?), but that we know who we are in ourselves and in God. That knowledge and security allows us to open ourselves to new personal and professional possibilities. Thought-provoking.

I really enjoyed Heaven Help Heidi, and I’ll be looking forward to the next book in the series.

Thanks to Harvest House and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review. You can find out more about Sally John at her website.

Review: Still Life by Christa Parrish

In Two Minds

I’m not sure what I think about this book. It had good points and not-so-good points, aspects which worked for me and some which didn’t. The story follows two main characters: Ada, whose husband has just been killed in a plane crash, and Katherine, who gave up her seat on the flight so Julian could get home in time to celebrate Ada’s birthday … and so she could spend another day with her lover.

The main character, Ada, grew up in a stifling fundamentalist sect (I’d hesitate to call it Christian, as it didn’t appear to offer any of the grace of the gospel, merely the fear of punishment). Her sections feel distant, which feels odd at first because we don’t really understand why she is distant, and why she seems to have no friends and know so little about anything. It’s hard to understand why, although this does become clearer as the story progresses (mostly through the use of flashbacks).

Still Life has an original yet intriguing plot with lot of interweaving between the two main plot lines. The characters are interesting, with more faults and idiosyncrasies than normally seen in Christian fiction—with the possible exception of Julian, who seems to be a candidate for sainthood. The Christian message was understated, yet definitely there, and the title was a play on words on several levels, which become clearer as the novel progresses.

All of these things usually combine to a book I love, yet I didn’t love Still Life. I’m not sure why not. I think it’s because I didn’t relate to Ada and I didn’t understand how she came to be married to Julian (and even when this became clear, I wasn’t convinced). Her voice was authentic to her upbringing and personality, but it made it difficult to truly engage with her, and therefore, made it difficult for me to engage with the story as a whole.

Thanks to Thomas Nelson and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review. You can find out more about Christa Parrish at her website.

Review: A Thing of Beauty by Lisa Samson

Bittersweet Beauty

Fiona (Fia) Hume was a Hollywood child star who famously divorced her actor parents, Jessica and Brandon, when she was sixteen, citing financial mismanagement. But that wasn’t the real reason, and she’s never forgiven them for it. She’s spent the last ten years holed up in a mansion in Baltimore collecting antiques to repurpose into artwork. But Jessica is about to release a tell-all autobiography, and Fiona needs some money to fund a trip to New York to tell her side of the story even though she wants to stay in her closed world out of the public eye.

A Thing of Beauty is a book of bittersweet beauty. It’s written in first person present tense, and that brings a sense of poignancy and immediacy to the writing, as Fia comes to realise that some of the “truths” she believes about her family and her life aren’t actually true.

A Thing of Beauty isn’t typical Christian fiction—in fact, it’s not made explicitly clear whether any of the characters are Christian, and God isn’t even mentioned. It’s not pretty fiction—Fia had an unusual childhood and traumatic teenage years, and still hasn’t reconciled herself to the truth about that time. Yet the book is filled with grace, love and beauty, sometimes in unexpected people and places.

Women's fiction with a touch of romance, recommended for people who like fiction with complex issues from authors such as Christa Parrish, Angela Hunt and Penelope Stokes.

Thanks to Thomas Nelson and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review. You can find out more about Lisa Samson at her website.

Review: Lizzy and Jane by Katherine Reay

Excellent Foodie Fiction

Elizabeth is the head chef at Feast, a chic New York restaurant. But she’s losing her touch, and when her boss brings in a celebrity chef/marketing expert to restore Feast’s reputation, Elizabeth decides it’s time for a break. She heads to Seattle, Washington, to a home and a father she’s barely seen since she left sixteen years ago. And she heads to an older sister who’s undergoing treatment for breast cancer, the same cancer that killed their mother during Lizzie’s senior year in high school.

Katherine Reay’s debut novel, Dear Mr. Knightley, was nominated for a Christy Award, nominated for two Carol Awards, and won the 2014 INSPY Award for a Debut novel. I read it, and while I thought the writing and characterisation was excellent, I did wish Reay had written an original story (Dear Mr. Knightley is a contemporary retelling of the Jean Webster classic, Daddy Long Legs).

Like Dear Mr. Knightley, Lizzy & Jane has links to Austen, in that sisters Jane and Elizabeth are named for the heroines of their mother’s favourite novel. Unlike Dear Mr. Knightley, Lizzy and Jane is a fresh story, not a retelling of a classic (or if it is, the retelling is unobtrusive enough that I couldn’t see what was coming in the way I did with Dear Mr. Knightley. As a result, I enjoyed it a lot more. It wasn’t that I didn’t enjoy Dear Mr. Knightley, more that I always found the ending of Daddy Long Legs a little contrived, and the ending of Dear Mr. Knightley was even more so.

Lizzy & Jane was different, in a good way. It had all the strong writing and characterisation of Dear Mr. Knightley, with the added bonus of an original and compelling plot. Elizabeth has some deep-seated resentment towards Jane, who was never around while their mother was dying. While Elizabeth is in Seattle helping Jane face her health crisis, Elizabeth is also facing her own personal crisis, a crisis of identity and self-belief around her cooking. It’s the one thing she’s always excelled at, yet even that talent seems to be failing her.

There are touches of romance and an underlying Christian theme, but Lizzy & Jane is very much women’s fiction, Lizzy’s story of personal, professional (and spiritual) rediscovery. Recommended.

Thanks to Thomas Nelson and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review. You can find out more about Katherine Reay at her website.

Veil of Secrets by Shannon Ethridge and Kathryn Mackel

Out of the Christian Rut

Publisher’s Description

Melanie and Will Connors are the perfect power couple. Will is the chief campaign strategist for a rising presidential candidate; Melanie is a prominent advocate for protecting children in an over-sexualized culture. Their devotion to one another is admired, even envied.

But their marriage isn’t what it appears to be.

Will maintains an apartment in Washington, DC, and over the years his visits home have grown fewer and farther between. The long-distance marriage has enabled Melanie to avoid intimacy—and has only increased her shame about her secretive past. But then Will issues an ultimatum: We work on the marriage . . . or we work on the divorce.

The Connors commit to marriage counseling in the most brutal of environments—snowy New Hampshire, a tiny state that is first in the nation for presidential primaries and a prize to be won at any cost . . . and the price of victory keeps rising.

As Melanie sifts through the debris of her past, she obsesses over the fear that she hasn’t done enough to protect her teenage daughter. When Melanie sees her facing some of the same temptations, she knows she must intervene . . . but how can a woman with so many veiled secrets guide a
daughter honestly?

While the country struggles with threats to its integrity and security, Melanie can no longer ignore the dangers looming in her own world. She can never undo the mistakes of her youth, but perhaps she can still save her marriage and family—if she can surrender her guilt and learn to open herself to her husband once again.

My Review

There is a sameness about a lot of Christian novels. The characters are “good” Christians, whose main faults are emotional, not physical. Veil of Secrets is different. To be blunt, it’s about sex (not that there are any sex scenes. It’s more about the consequences of bad decisions around sex). These are characters who live in the real world, where otherwise intelligent people still sometimes do stupid things, and then have to work out how to live with the consequences. I liked that. Not that the characters did dumb things, but that the authors showed a realness not often seen in novels from Christian publishers.

Veil of Secrets was a more complex book than most I read. There were a lot of characters, and it probably took longer than it should have for me to work out who was related to whom and how. This might have been a bit easier if I’d read the first book in the series (To Know You), but reading the first book isn’t necessary for the story—Veil of Secrets can be read as a standalone novel.

The other layer of complexity in Veil of Secrets was the plot. As well as the obvious political background of the beginning of a presidential campaign, there was the issues plots: the “good Christian” career woman who finds herself pregnant after a one-night stand, and the broken marriage of a Christian couple. Shannon Ethridge has an extensive background in ministry around healthy sexuality and spirituality, and this comes through in the counselling scenes.

Recommended for mature audiences (meaning that a lot of Christian fiction appeals to a wide age group, from teens to grandparents. This won’t. The target reader is probably people like me: young professionals, married women, or parents of teens).

Thanks to BookLookBloggers and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review. You can find out more about Shannon Ethridge at her website, and more about Kathryn Mackel at her website.

Review: My Mother's Chamomile by Susie Finkbeiner

Women's Fiction Touching Real Issues

My Mother's Chamomile is written in the first person from two alternating points of view: Olga and Evelyn, Olga’s oldest granddaughter. It’s an unusual and ambitious choice (in that it’s hard to do well without constantly reminding the reader that it’s only a story), but it works. That’s a testament to the quality of the writing, and the strength of the individual character voices.

The family operate the only funeral parlour in a small town, which means they are an odd combination of essential and pariah. Essential, because it puts them at the centre of local tragedies, and pariahs, because most people are uncomfortable around death, which makes it to make friends, especially for Evelyn.

The first part of the book establishes the location and the relationships, but it takes a while for the actual plot to become apparent. In that respect, I’d classify My Mother's Chamomile as women’s fiction (and possibly a saga), because it’s more about the development and change of relationships than it is about actual events (although events, particularly deaths, do play a significant role—which shouldn’t be a surprise in a novel about a family of funeral directors).

This is a slight spoiler, so skip to the next paragraph if you don’t want to know. I’ve recently read The Fault in Our Stars, which has several support group scenes featuring the unintentionally hilarious Patrick (hilarious because he was someone no one would want to be). My Mother's Chamomile has a similar scene, with Debbie as the unintentionally funny character, particularly with her interactions with Stacy.

Overall, I enjoyed My Mother's Chamomile. It has strong characters, and a poignant plot which examined some of the more difficult aspects of family relationships. My one complaint was around the writing of the passage of time: in some cases, days or weeks passed between chapters, but this wasn’t immediately apparent.

Recommended for those looking for something a little different in terms of plot, and who don’t mind reading a novel that’s a little sad.

I don’t want everyone to remember me for the way I died.

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

Review: Driftwood Tides by Gina Holmes

Something Special

Libby Slater is planning her wedding when a routine medical test reveals a secret from her past: that she’s the daughter of a stranger named Adele Davison, not Caroline and George Slater. Libby hasn’t seen her father since he left over twenty years ago, and her relationship with her mother has always been difficult. She determines to find Adele, if only to find a father to walk her down the aisle, but her attempt to reconnect with her birth family doesn’t go according to plan.

Holton Creary is a talented artist, but is also still grieving the loss of his wife in a car accident five years ago. His grief drove him to gin, and despite the help of his assistant, Tess, he’s about to go bankrupt. However, out of respect for his late wife, he grudgingly agrees to give Libby a summer internship … although he has no idea of the real reason she wants to work with him.

Driftwood Tides is the first Gina Holmes book I’ve read, and I was impressed. She’s an excellent writer, with the ability to create a cast of flawed but likeable characters (with the possible exception of the over-controlling Caroline), and to have them react in realistic ways to the challenges they are presented with. She has also managed to develop a plot with a strong Christian theme of forgiveness, yet keeping the Christian themes light and not at all preachy (if I had one complaint, it would be that I would have liked to have seen more of Libby spiritual development).

Driftwood Tides is more than a story of forgiveness. It’s the story of one man struggling to overcome grief with gin, of the woman who loves him enough to stick by him even when he barely acknowledges her existence, of another woman who changes both their lives, and of a young couple attempting to plan for a future together. It’s a plot with layers of complexity, and one with an element of unpredictability that turns it into something special.

Thanks to Tyndale House and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review. You can find out more about Gina Holmes at her website, or at Novel Rocket, the website for writers.

Review: Between Us Girls by Sally John

Good Points and Not-so-good

Waitress Jasmyn Albright lives in the tiny town of Valley Oaks, Illinois, in the same house her mother and grandmother lived in. She’s stuck in a rut and knows it, until a catastrophe forces her to makes some life changes—one of which is a vacation in sunny San Diego. But even that doesn’t go according to plan, and she finds herself in the care of Liz, and a temporary resident of the Casa de Vida Cottages, just a few block from the beach.

There were parts of Between Us Girls. I liked, especially the slightly offbeat character of Liz, the intelligent yet shy engineer Samantha, the mysterious Keagan, and Beau, the gentle giant. I also liked the way both Jasmyn and Samantha were able to better come to terms with their family backgrounds, and to begin to develop relationships with God.

But there were things which detracted from my enjoyment, like the way the beginning was rally providing background rather than getting into the story, the way the story moved from Illinois to San Diego with no warning, and the list of residents at the Casa de Vida Cottages—there were a lot of characters to keep straight, and I got lost more than once. I also wasn’t especially keen on Jasmyn. I didn’t know why she’d stayed in Valley Oaks all those years when she said she never fitted in there. I understood why she left (and why she loved San Diego—who wouldn’t), but if she was that unhappy, why hadn’t she left years earlier?

I’m in two minds about Between Us Girls
. The writing was excellent, there was a solid underlying Christian message, and I loved the San Diego setting, but overall I felt it took too long to get going, it was too easy to put down, and the complexities of multiple character relationships made it hard to pick back up again. I can usually finish a novel in a day, or two at the most, but this took me a week.

I’d be interested in knowing what happens next for Jasmyn, Sam and the other Casa de Vida residents, but next time I’d like it to get straight into the story rather than having the first few chapters feel like an extended prologue.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review. You can find out more about Sally John at her website.

Review: Last Family Standing by Jennifer AlLee

Brilliant

I’ve read a couple of novels recently set on or around reality TV shows—I suppose that tells you something about contemporary TV (I wouldn’t know. I’ve usually got my nose to my Kindle). Last Family is something a little different, and that’s what makes it special.

Getting a phone call from your best friend to say they’ve just seen your daughter on TV isn’t an everyday happening, but it’s something Monica Stanton never expected to hear. She gave her daughter up for adoption the day she was born, twenty-five years ago. Now her daughter wants to reunite—on a reality TV show.

Last Family Standing is close to perfect. Excellent opening. Solid writing. Well-paced. Great characters. Plenty of conflict, both internal soul-searching and the external conflict of attempting to establish a relationship with a complete stranger while participating in an elimination-style reality show on a tropical island with not enough food. A twist in the middle and another towards the end which gives it that real “wow” factor. And even a little romance (that’s the one failing. Perhaps not enough romance …).

The entire story is told by Monica in first person point of view. That’s sometimes a weakness, but Monica is a strong character, one with plenty of hidden secrets (like the identity of Jessica’s father), and a character who is well able to hold the novel without it getting boring. And the single viewpoint works well, because that way the reader is just as surprised as Monica when the twists come.

Recommended. I’ll certainly be looking out for more books from Jennifer AlLee.

Thanks to Abingdon Press and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review. You can find out more about Jennifer AlLee at her website.

Review and Giveaway: Home to Chicory Lane by Deborah Raney

The first book in Deborah Raney's new Chicory Inn series, Home to Chicory Lane, introduces us to Audrey Whitman, a mother who has launched all her children into life and now looks forward to fulfilling some of her own dreams during her empty-nest years. However, not all of her children are ready to stay out of the nest quite yet.

Deborah is celebrating the release of her new series with a $200 B&B Weekend Getaway and a Facebook author chat party.

 One winner will receive:

• A B&B Weekend Getaway (via a $200 Visa cash card)
• Home to Chicory Lane by Deborah Raney

Enter today by clicking one of the icons below. But hurry, the giveaway ends on September 9th. Winner will be announced at the Home to Chicory Lane Author Chat Party on 9/9. Deborah will be hosting a heartfelt book chat, giving away prizes, and answering questions from readers. She will also share an exclusive sneak peek at the next book in the Chicory Inn series!

So grab your copy of Home to Chicory Lane and join Deborah on the evening of September 9th for a chance to connect and make some new friends. (If you haven't read the book, don't let that stop you from coming!)

Don't miss a moment of the fun; RSVP today. Tell your friends via FACEBOOK or TWITTER and increase your chances of winning. Hope to see you on the 9th!

My Review

Romance fiction is a huge genre, and takes the reader through those early stages of a relationship and usually ends with an engagement or a wedding and the promise of happy-ever-after. But we all know that’s not the end. That’s only the beginning, and there’s more to marriage than roses and candlelit dinners. There’s life, and it’s not always happy. Home to Chicory Lane explores this from different perspectives, and it’s good to see fictional characters exploring real issues without it becoming angsty.

Audrey and Grant Whitman have spent the last year renovating their family home to turn it into a B&B, and it’s opening weekend. Landyn, the recently-married youngest of their five children, turns up on the doorstep needing a place to stay—she’s left her husband, Cory, because he made a major decision without consulting her—because he was sure God told him to do it.

My initial feelings towards Landyn were frustration. Yes, I could see what Cory had done wasn’t good, but immediately running home to Mommy and Daddy didn’t show Landyn in a good light. She came across as selfish and whiney (never attractive qualities), but this was the basis for her personal growth, both as an individual, as a Christian, and as part of a marriage. While I didn’t like her at first, I did by the end, and I could see how the youngest of five could be that way. Home to Chicory Lane did a good job of showing how she learned that there is more to a good marriage than, well, you know.

Cory was a good character. He never thought he was good enough, because of his family upbringing, so he had that to deal with, along with a flighty wife. His background meant he felt inferior to the Whitman family, and this came across in the way he interacted with Audrey and especially Grant. Meanwhile, Audrey and Grant had their own issues, with the financial stretch of starting a new business and Landyn’s unexpected arrival.

Home to Chicory Lane was a little confusing in the beginning, with Audrey, Grant, five children, spouses and grandchildren. But it soon settled into the main story: Landyn and Cory, and Audrey and Grant. It’s definitely a book written for the Christian market, as there is a central spiritual issue around Cory’s desire to be obedient to God despite Landyn’s uncertainty and frustration. There are a lot of lessons in here for newlyweds, and perhaps those with more established marriages. I'll be looking forward to future books in the series.

Thanks to Abingdon Press and NetGalley for providing a free

 ebook for review. You can find out more about Deborah Raney at her website. 

Review: A Woman of Fortune by Kellie Coates Gilbert

Outstanding! (And you know how often I say that)

Claire Massey has it all. The mansion, the Maserati, the Jimmy Choo’s. The billionaire husband, the perfect son, and the daughter who is engaged to the man poised to become Texas’s youngest senator. Then it all goes wrong, when her husband is arrested as the mastermind behind a Ponzi scheme, a fall to rival that of Bernie Madoff.

It’s natural to not want to like Claire. After all, she has everything, yet it was all built on smooth talking. That mind of success just isn’t normal. How could she not have known? Yet she doesn’t come across as the spoilt little rich girl (although her daughter, Lainie, certainly is). She’s honest, sincere, and hard-working, and believes in her husband against all the odds. Claire is one of the strengths of A Woman of Fortune. It’s tempting to not feel any sympathy for a woman who is left with a mere half million, yet somehow I did.

Another strength is Margarita, Claire’s housekeeper. While the Massey family are churchgoers, none of them show any evidence of a real Christian faith. Margarita does. In fact, all the characters are strong (they’re not all likeable, but that’s kind of the point).

A Woman of Fortune is a fascinating insight into the problems faced by a family who lose everything – money, reputation, friends – and have to navigate a range of unimaginable personal and social situations. It's a strength of the novel that I actually sympathised with Claire, and even with her spoiled daughter, despite all the reasons not to.

Recommended.

Thanks to Revell and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review. You can find out more about Kellie Coates Gilbert at her website or watch the trailer:

Review: A Table by the Window by Hillary Manton Lodge

Wow. And Yum.

Juliette D’Alisa is the youngest of five children born into a foodie family in Portland, Oregon. Her mother is French, her father Italian, and the whole family is involved in the food business in some way, either as a restaurant owner, chef, or in Juliette’s case, as a food writer for the local newspaper.

A Table by the Window is narrated in the first person, by Juliette, who is currently going through a tough time. Her grandmother has recently died, she’s lamenting the she’s 28 and doesn’t have a boyfriend, and she’s not happy at work. Juliette is a great character. She’s real, and I enjoyed reading about her family, the food, and all the cultural references (although I was a little disturbed to read the reference to the Top Gear presenters as “middle-aged”. Hamster is less than a year older than me. Surely not …).

I loved the writing. Lines like “my pantry had grown to resemble an elitist food bank” appealed to me, as did Juliette’s comments on restaurants:

“The best restaurants [add] … an element of delight. Of surprise. And the worst restaurants do the opposite of that. So I want to guide people to the good ones.”

That reflect my beliefs about book reviews. I want to find books that have that element of delight, to recommend to others who are searching for a good novel that’s a little different to the usual offerings. A Table by the Window certainly passes that test. It’s a mixture of women’s fiction, mystery and romance, and the added recipes only add to the appeal.

I’m looking forward to the sequel which will (I hope) show us a little more about Juliette, Neil, and the family secrets. And hopefully some more recipes. Recommended for fans of authors like Christa Parrish and Meg Mosseley.

Thanks to WaterBrook Press and Blogging for Books for providing a free book for review. You can find out more about Hillary Manton Lodge at her website. 

Review: How Sweet the Sound by Amy K Sorrells

Excellent Debut

Anni’s childhood comes to an end the day her uncle rapes his sister, then witnesses her uncle murdering her father in a confrontation about the attack. Sunny and her mother move in with her grandparents, who are themselves grieving the loss of their two sons, but in different ways. Vaughan tries to comfort Anni and her mother, but Princella seems to think everything is the fault of Anni’s father.

The story is told from the viewpoints of Anni and Comfort, Anni’s aunt. It’s written in first person, but the two viewpoints are so different there is no chance of confusing them. Anni is thirteen, so her scenes are filtered through her adolescence and first love, while Comfort’s scenes are bleak to begin with, but thaw as the novel progresses, as she begins to hear from God and accept his healing.

How Sweet the Sound isn’t a light read. It moves between the present and the past, and as we read, we learn more about the histories of the characters and the events that have shaped them into the people we see. I have to say that I didn’t think a teenager (Anni) should be exposed to some of these facts, but she’s had to grow up fast. Princella was a fascinating character, one I find difficult to understand even now.

This is the debut novel from Amy K Sorrells, and I’ll certainly be keen to see what comes next. Her writing is excellent, particularly the feel of her words and her use of imagery, and she dealt with some difficult subjects in a sensitive manner. Worth reading.

Thanks to David C Cook and NetGalley for providing a free book for review. You can find out more about Amy K Sorrells at her website.

Review: True North by Susan Johnson

Poignant Tale of Loss and Love

Lisa and Joe Kendall’s marriage falls apart after their ten year old son dies in a car accident. Joe spends all his time at work and is considering a divorce so Lisa can move on with her life. Lisa wants to save their marriage, so convinces Joe to take the Alaskan cruise they had booked and paid for as a treat for Cody, who loved orcas. Joe agrees, on condition that Lisa doesn’t come too. But she does …

True North is a poignant and bittersweet story of two people lost in grief. Not only of their inability to share and work through their grief and how that has destroying their relationship, but how their loss has also affected their relationship with God.

Losing a child must be one of the toughest challenges a parent ever has to face, and True North shows that anguish well. It’s a different kind of romance, the story of two damaged people learning how to cope, how to reconnect.

It’s a difficult subject, and one that is handled well. The two main characters are frustrating in how believable they are, while the minor characters provide both some light relief and impetus for some decisions. The writing is very good, and while this isn’t a subject everyone is going to be comfortable with, True North is worth reading.

Thanks to Susie Johnson for providing a free ebook for review. You can find out more about Suzie at her website. 

Review: Stones for Bread by Christa Parrish

Outstanding Christian Literary Novel

Liesl McNamara is the owner of Wild Rise, a specialty bakery in a small town in Vermont. The story is told on three different levels. This should be distracting, but somehow it isn’t (that could be because I’m a fact and history nut). The main story is that of Liesl, an only child who has inherited a love of breadmaking from her German mother and Oma (grandmother).

This main story of Stones for Breadis interspersed with stories from Liesl’s past—happy stories about her learning the art of breadmaking, and sadder stories of grief and loss. The third story is the place of bread in history—the labour required to produce a single loaf of bread is astounding, as is the role of bread in history. All are written in the first person, from Liesl’s viewpoint. There are also recipes linking to the story.

Our initial impression of Liesl is of a competent professional woman, but as the stories progress, we start to see her as a damaged individual with deep issues. She makes bread, in part, because that’s something she is able to control—unlike life. There are some painful and poignant insights into Liesl, into humanity, and into why we find it difficult to submit to God.

Christian fiction mostly stays within strict genre definitions. A novel might be a romance or romantic suspense or a thriller or Amish, but it’s definable. This is less so, and with a focus more on the internal journey of Liesl. This, combined with the threefold plot, the recipes and the beautiful use of language is why Stones for Bread doesn’t sit comfortably in any genre.

It is not romance, although there is a romantic element. It is not action or suspense. The closest definition is women’s fiction, but even that runs the risk of missing something. Sure, this is the story of one woman and there are elements all women will find familiar, but there is something more, and it’s that something that raises this book above average, above what I normally find in Christian fiction.

I didn’t read the recipes. I read the first one and thank God I don’t have to put this level of effort into putting bread on the table for my family. Sure, even the fresh baked in-store bread from my local supermarket or bakery doesn’t match up to what Liesl sells at Wild Rise, but I know I’m never going to put that level of effort into baking a loaf of bread. Maybe that’s my loss. Recommended.

Thanks to Thomas Nelson and Booksneeze for providing a free ebook for review. You can find more about Christa Parrish at her website.

Review: Gone South by Meg Moseley

Tish makes an impuse decision to leave her home in Michigan and buy the old McComb house in Noble, Alabama, the house the original Leticia McComb lived in with her husband in the 1870’s. But she hasn’t bargained on being the town pariah the minute she arrives—it seems that her father’s telling of the family history has missed a few things out. And things get more difficult when she takes in the homeless Mel Hamilton, the town bad girl who has been kicked out by her parents. Tish soon meets George Zorbas, owner of the town antique store and a dog who believes she still lives at the McComb house.

There is a romance, but it’s slow and not the main focus of the story, which is the relationship between Tish and Meg, who both felt ostracised and alone in their growing-up years and are both now struggling to be accepted in a town that doesn’t want them (it seems that the idea of the ‘welcoming South’ only goes so far).

While Gone South is published by WaterBrook Multnomah, a Christian publisher, the story isn’t outwardly Christian. Meg and Tish pray occasionally, neither go to church (and the churchgoing townspeople could do with learning a little about the concept of Christian forgiveness). I usually like my Christian fiction to be a little more Christian, but this worked for me.

I liked the fact that the characters were real people with faults and worries (including financial worries). I liked the fact that the romance took a back seat to the other relationships: Tish and Meg, Meg and George, George and Stu. I especially liked the fact that although Gone South wasn’t overtly Christian, the underlying prodigal son theme was definitely Christian. Recommended.

Thanks to the WaterBrook Multnomah and Blogging for Books for providing a free ebook for review. You can find out more about Meg Moseley at her website.