Tag Archives: book review

Under a Summer Sky Makes a Warm, Tender Summer Read

03 Monday Jul 2017

Posted by in books, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , ,

I received a copy of Under a Summer Sky by Melody Carlson from Revell Books in exchange for an honest review.

Once again I got a third in a series, but this one also didn’t require knowledge of the previous books for me to enjoy this novel. This time I had the added pleasure of reading a sweet summer love story during the summer months. Overall, I enjoyed the story and the characters, especially the protagonist Nicole.

Nicole, a high school art teacher, moved from Seattle, Washington to Savannah, Georgia to run a family friend’s art gallery for the summer. She agreed to the arrangement with the hope of not feeling stuck in her job and relationship status. While there, she encountered new career experience, difficult co-workers, friendships, and a budding romance. She even took one of her friend’s children under her wing.

I appreciated Nicole’s character since her experiences and time of life resembled my own. She showed strength in trying a new angle to develop her career and skills, moving to gain perspective and allowing a nice gentleman to pursue her for a relationship. I too made a faraway move to gain perspective and job experience and could relate to the uncertainty. It felt hopeful to read about someone else doing it and overcoming the obstacles.

My only knocks on the book were that some of the dialogue seemed contrived. The content still made sense; they just didn’t flow as naturally as real dialogue usually would. However, the situations and characters still maintained their authenticity and relatability. In a way the story had a certain simplicity, but I enjoyed it and appreciated the positive outlook.

Wings of the Wind book review

28 Wednesday Jun 2017

Posted by in books, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , ,

I received a copy of Wings of the Wind by Connilyn Cossette from Bethany House in exchange for an honest review.

This book indicated it was the third in the Out From Egypt series, but it was the first one I read and still made sense without the context of the other books as it seemed those revolved around other characters. Generally, the story gave a greater insight into the biblical time period when the Hebrews fled Egypt as they traveled to the Promised Land. This brought it to life in a greater depth in my mind. Hearing the characters discuss the manna falling from the sky and their various thoughts on it made it more real. It also gave a greater context to the interaction and culture of the Hebrews and Canaanites.

As Alanah and Tobiah got to know each other in the marriage they arranged for Alanah’s safety, despite her being an enemy discovered by Tobiah, I learned how the cultures honored their beliefs. I saw how they respected God and the Torah as well as each other. The background of war showed how tough the times must have been for all involved. Both Alanah and Tobiah lose people close to them and must grapple with the loss as they move on in their significant relationship to each other as strangers.

I enjoyed the book overall. The war descriptions didn’t excite me as I don’t particularly care for war scenes, but the war itself does give a context for the struggles in the story. It also gives the characters opportunities to show their mental and spiritual strengths in addition to their physical strengths. These characters showed a lot of all as they faced several difficulties on their hopeful road to the Promised Land.

The Ebb Tide Book Review

17 Wednesday May 2017

Posted by in books, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I received a copy of The Ebb Tide by Beverly Lewis from Bethany House Publishers in exchange for an honest review.

This book introduced me to Beverly Lewis as well as Amish fiction, and I’ve enjoyed my first encounter with both. Twenty year old Sallie made a good protagonist to demonstrate a healthy curiosity for the wonders of the world around her. Her situations in the story served as good examples for people exchanging culture and living peacefully together.

Sally’s background differed from mine a lot, ranging from her having ten kids in her family while mine had two to her family living the Plain lifestyle while mine lived a pretty Christian and mainstream one. However, I could relate to her wanting to experience more than what she knew. I too spent my young adult years reading books to learn more about cultures and places. We both also got to reach our dream locations, hers being the beach and mine being London. Then it seemed like those trips led to beginnings of a greater enlightenment of the world and other cultures.

Sally lived with a family for the summer who did not live the Plain lifestyle, and she got to see more modern tools like iPhones, Google and a washing machine. She noticed how the family who hired her didn’t look at her or treat her differently because of her attire but also noticed how they had more material goods at their disposal. Later, she met a nice young man who shared a similar family background but differed. Sallie’s life really flourished in many ways through her experiences as a nanny in a beach area summer home.

Overall, I enjoyed the book. I liked learning more about Amish culture, and I appreciated how it showed a positive way to learn about other cultures through genuine interactions with others. Sallie also demonstrated a healthy yearning to learn and experience those cultures and learn about the world and its people.

The Garden of Small Beginnings book review

08 Monday May 2017

Posted by in books, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , ,

I received an advance reader copy of The Garden of Small Beginnings by Abbi Waxman through a Goodreads giveaway.
Overall, I enjoyed this mostly light hearted and sweet story. Waxman took a heavy topic of a widow’s loss and showed her progress through grief. We see Lilian learn how to raise her young children on her own as well as glean some insight into her discovery that her loss also affected everyone else in her family, ranging from her sister to her overly critical mother. This realization seemed like a turning point for her embracing community rather than isolation in her loss as she got closer to her sister and the friends she made in her gardening class.
Having pointed out these insights, I still thought they could have had more depth. This story gave a cursory glance and kept the story at a fun, girly angle. It may seem nit picky, but I also found some of the phrases and descriptions forcefully crass. That detracted from the sweetness as well as the depth of the story.
The book kept my attention and provided a cute story with likeable characters and enough depth to gain some insight into widows and grief.

See Me Sparks a Last Place Spot

10 Saturday Dec 2016

Posted by in books, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I recently finished reading Nicholas Sparks’ second newest novel See Me. Though I consider myself a big Sparks fan, I did not enjoy this story nearly as much as his other books. Seeing him write a story with a greater thriller aspect showed a range in his talents, but the story didn’t get as deep as usual.

The characters were in their mid twenties like me, and I wouldn’t have guessed that. Colin attending college classes gives him a younger aspect, but Maria didn’t seem to hold many similarities to me or any of my friends my age. Unlike most of us, she got right into a good career track and in law, a tough field. To top off the two dimensional characters, the suspense had hit and miss elements. The mystery itself for the stalker had its strength and would have fit into the thriller genre as far as I can tell since I don’t read many books in that genre. However, it took multiple paragraphs to get to an assailant sneaking up to Maria. Even I knew the forthcoming action and didn’t feel added suspense waiting those extra descriptive paragraphs just for the actual event.

I still enjoyed the book and still love Sparks. This book just might rank last in all the ones I’ve read. I suppose one has to land there. It shows Sparks can flex his writing muscles in genres outside love stories, and it demonstrated the power of a close knit family (Maria’s) and how people and look out for and comfort each other.

The Little Paris Bookshop and The Big Structure Workshop

09 Monday May 2016

Posted by in books, Essay, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Yesterday I finished reading Nina George’s novel The Little Paris Bookshop, and for the first time I gave fewer than three stars to a book on Goodreads. While the story had some insight into loss and the healing power of books, it had no strength. This came from a lack of structure. I pointed to Jean finding Manon, additionally letting go of his lost love in the process, as the overarching story goal. Yet even he didn’t seem to pursue that objective very strongly. He went on a mostly aimless adventure and made friends along the way. The added characters provided some color, but the lack of transition from scene to scene did not. Those poor people had no foundation upon which to stand.

This reminded me of how I ought to adjust the pursuit of some of my goals. Not having set times and strategies for tasks like job hunting and novel writing made it take even longer to get started, let alone see my desired progress. If I tightened my strategies with definitive times rather than as soon as I can, I could see better results. My high aims for my routine, my writing, my career and my life can stand better on a solid structure. It also would make it easier for others to grasp beneficial ideas and insight from my structure and what’s built into it.

20160417_175439