Review: The Innkeeper of Ivy Hill by Julie Klassen

Great Start to a Series

As I was reading The Innkeeper of Ivy Hill, I was reminded of The Gresham Chronicles by Lawana Blackwell. Then I got to the note from the author at the end, where Julie Klassen mentions The Gresham Chronicles, and says:

If you’re anything like me, you probably love village series set in England, whether in books or in film or television. Series like Lark Rise to Candleford, Cranford … close-knit communities with quirky characters, which create an idyllic place to retreat from the hectic modern world.

Well, if that quote resonates with you (as it did with me), then you’re the right person to be reading The Innkeeper of Ivy Hill.

Here’s the book description from Amazon:

The lifeblood of the Wiltshire village of Ivy Hill is its coaching inn, The Bell. But when the innkeeper dies suddenly, his genteel wife, Jane Bell, becomes the reluctant owner. Jane has no notion of how to run a business. However, with the town's livelihood at stake and a large loan due, she must find a way to bring new life to the inn.

Despite their strained relationship, Jane turns to her resentful mother-in-law, Thora, for help. Formerly mistress of The Bell, Thora is struggling to find her place in the world. As she and Jane work together, they form a measure of trust, and Thora's wounded heart begins to heal. When she encounters two men from her past, she sees them--and her future--in a different light.

With pressure mounting from the bank, Jane employs innovative methods to turn the inn around, and puzzles over the intentions of several men who seem to have a vested interest in the place. Will her efforts be enough to save The Bell? And will Thora embrace the possibility of a second chance at love?

Those who have read The Gresham Chronicles will see parallels with some of those stories—the widow left in charge of the inn, the overbearing older woman, the class system, showing that ‘gentlemen’ aren’t always gentlemen. But the plot and writing are all Klassen’s own take on some of these traditional tropes, and it’s excellent.

I will admit that I haven’t especially enjoyed the last couple of Julie Klassen novels I’ve read (I may have unfavourably compared one to the movie Footloose, and that one ‘impressed’ me so much I’ve yet to read the next, even though I bought the paperback close to two years ago).

The Innkeeper of Ivy Hill is, in my view, a return to the kind of form Klassen showed in her earlier novels such as The Apothecary’s Daughter and The Lady of Milkweed Manor—she’s back to addressing social issues in a genteel almost English way. She also points out how everyone in the village is dependent on everyone else:

Village life is like an ivy vine climbing a great oak. You cut off the vine at the root, and all the way up the tree, the leaves wither. We’re all connected.

Yes, it is still obvious from some of the vocabulary that she’s an American writing about a foreign country (although a foreign country she’s familiar with, having visited beautiful Wiltshire several times). But that’s something most readers wouldn’t pick up on unless they too had a very correct English Army officer for a grandfather (back in his day, cute meant sharp. Not pretty).

So if you’re looking for a gentle wander through the pretty villages of 1820’s England, you’ll enjoy a visit to Ivy Hill. For myself, I’m already looking forward to the next book in the series.

Thanks to Bethany House and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review. You can find out more about Julie Klassen at her website, and you can read the opening to The Innkeeper of Ivy Hill below:

Book Promotion: Hannah's Journey by Barbara M Britton

It's common knowledge that authors find their muse in many different places, but one author found her muse while teaching Sunday school.

Author Barbara M. Britton recently was featured on the Books of the Month TV program. Today we host the episode, now available online, on demand, courtesy of Preach the Word Worldwide TV Network. Learn how teaching Sunday school to children helped to spur Barbara's story ideas for her now-popular Biblical fiction series "Tribes of Israel."

(if you can't see the video, click here to visit the Preach the Word Worldwide Network TV station page.) 





Purchase Providence: Hannah's Journey today

Pre-order Building Benjamin: Naomi's Journey

Introducing Pursuing Gold by Cynthia L Simmons

PURSUING GOLD BY CYNTHIA SIMMONS

Author: Cynthia Simmons

Take a trip back to the Civil War raging around Chattanooga while Peter and Mary Beth struggle to keep C&R Bank afloat in the midst of political pressure in Cynthia Simmons’ new book, Pursuing Gold. Can Peter and Mary Beth find the forger who created counterfeit money before the bank fails? The two friends must pursue gold on behalf of their business, as they learn to pursue their heavenly Father to find hope and peace.

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Pursuing Gold (Elk Lake, October 2016)

With his father dead and his business partner incapacitated, Peter Chandler inherits the leadership of a bank in economic crisis.

With only a newly-minted college degree and little experience, Peter joins his partner’s daughter, Mary Beth Roper, in a struggle to keep C&R Bank afloat while the Civil War rages around Chattanooga. Political pressure for unsecured loans of gold to the government stirs up trouble as tempers and prices rise. Their problems multiply when Mary Beth discovers counterfeit money with Peter’s forged signature. Can they find the forger before the bank fails? The two friends must pursue gold on behalf of their business, as they learn to pursue their heavenly Father to find hope and peace.

Learn more and purchase a copy.

{MORE ABOUT CYNTHIA SIMMONS}

Cynthia L Simmons and her husband, Ray, have five children and reside in Atlanta. She has taught for over thirty years as a homeschool mother and Bible teacher. She’s a columnist for Leading Hearts Magazine and she directs Atlanta Christian Writing Conference. Cyndi has a heart for encouraging women in today’s crazy, upside-down world. She loves history and peppers her speaking and teaching with fascinating vignettes from the past. Her first book, “Struggles and Triumphs,” was nominated for 2008 Georgia Author of the Year. She co-founded Homeschool Answers and hosts Heart of the Matter Radio.

Find out more about Cynthia at http://clsimmons.com.

Review: For the Record by Regina Jennings

Should have Read the Earlier Books First ...

It could be just me, but I didn’t find this as compelling as I’d hoped. There was nothing wrong with it in terms of the writing, the plot, or the characters. It just didn’t have the zing I’d hoped for and I found the beginning somewhat awkward.

I think part of the problem might be that it felt like I was supposed to know some of the characters and their histories, and I didn’t. (I later found this is the third book in a series, and I haven't read either of the earlier books, A Most Inconvenient Marriage, and At Love's Bidding). Anyway, that gave me the feeling I’d been dropped in the middle of a social function where everyone else knew each other and I was left trying to infer relationships from what wasn’t being said.

And that’s exactly how Deputy Puckett feels when he arrives in Pine Gap to sort out the problems with the Bald Knobbers who have taken it upon themselves to be the law. It seems the people of Pine Gap want him about as much as he wants to be there – not that either he or the town of Pine Gap have any choice.

Meanwhile, Betsy Huckabee wants to succeed as a writer so she can be financially independent and not have to live with her uncle and his growing family. Her attempts at writing real news stories haven’t paid off in the city paper she’s submitted to, but the arrival of the handsome new deputy gives her a new inspiration … a fiction serial in the women’s section of the paper.

I did enjoy the story once it got going, and there were some excellent lines:

Overall, a solid historical romance novel, but probably more enjoyable if you've read the first two books in the series.

Thanks to Bethany House and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review. Click here to find out more about Regina Jennings at her website, and can read the introduction to On the Record below:

Review: Activate by Adele Jones

Excellent End to Series

This is the third and final novel in Adele Jones’s trilogy about mitochondrial disease patient Blaine Colton, and I don’t recommend you read this without reading the other two books first: Replicate and Integrate.

Activate has the same fault as the final book in many other Young Adult series: you’re desperate to read it to find out what happens to characters you’ve come to know and love (or not!) through the previous books, but at the same time you don’t want it to end because that means saying goodbye to those same characters.

And while you’d like to believe it’s going to have a happy ending, the previous novel killed off a major character, which means you’re not entirely sure if Blaine is going to get his happy ending … after all, he has an incurable degenerative disease. Odds are, this isn’t going to end well.

I’m not going to say too much about the plot. Suffice to say it met expectations (which were high, given how much I enjoyed the earlier novels). Yes, there is a lot of science stuff. No, I didn’t understand it all, but that didn’t matter. Yes, there is plenty of suspense—not just in the main plot, but in the underlying race against time to find a cure for Blaine.

Overall, Activate and the other books in this series are fast-paced Young Adult thrillers with a male protagonist—so great options for any teenage boys you know who love reading but don’t want novels with any of that silly romance stuff (although Blaine does have a romantic relationship, it’s not the focus of the plot). The series is also unique in that it’s set in modern-day Brisbane, Australia, not some dystopian future version of the USA, and it reflects a Christian world view.

Thanks to Rhiza Press and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review. Click here to find out more about Adele Jones at her website, and you can read the introduction to Activate below: