Book Review: Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers

It wasn't the most amazing book I've ever read, but I enjoyed it thoroughly.

Redeeming Love is a "modern" retelling of Hosea.  It's modern but set in the 1800s.  We wouldn't normally think of that as modern, but that is more than 2,200 years after the original Hosea.  It's closer to today than to Hosea's time.

Hosea is a book of the Bible in the Old Testament and Hosea is a man who God told to marry a harlot named Gomer.  He marries the harlot.  She gives him children.  She leaves him.  He wants her back.  He still loves her. She's having affairs, but he still loves her, and he does get her back.  He shows her what unconditional love is.

Set around the California Gold Rush in the 1850s Redeeming Love tells the tale of Michael Hosea and Sarah or should I say Angel.  Angel is her prostitute name.  She never speaks of her real name, Sarah, for she throws that name away when her old life is thrown away.

Angel's story is a sad one.  She was born illegitimately to a dad who was having an affair.  He never wanted her and he never wanted to be acknowledged.  He eventually left her mother for good because of her.  She never forgot that.  When her mother died she got "adopted" by Duke, a man who is into children, a pedophile.  He renamed her Angel and created the person she grew up to be.

The only problem I have with this story was Michael's love for Angel.  I know the story of Hosea.  I know what it represents and I know that is what Rivers is trying to portray with this story, but it didn't quite come off that way.  It didn't so much feel that Michael wanted Angel because he loved her deeply and couldn't see his life without her.  It more felt like he was going to be with her so he could be the one to redeem her.  I didn't feel quite that the message intended got through.

However, I did love the story.  I do recommend it.  I don't give it four stars for nothing!

I read this book for pure pleasure.  All opinions are my own. I was not compensated for this review in any way.

Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.  Anyone can playing along!  Just do the following:

Grab your current read

Open to a random page

Share two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page

Be careful not to include spoilers! (make sure that what you share doesn't give too much away!  You don't want to ruin the book for others!)

Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR lists if they like your teasers.

It is comforting to look away from the windows and towards the kitchen fire, near where my sister Rose is ironing--though she obviously can't see properly, and it will be a pity if she scorches her only nightgown.  (I have two, but one is minus its behind.)
P. 3 I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith

Book Review: Boy, Girl, Wise One by Anthony Coleman

Teenagers face many problems growing up.  This book's purpose is to help answer some of those questions.  Written in conversation style, the Wise One answers questions posed to him first by the Boy and then by the Girl.

The questions and answers are very simple.  I was not impressed.  The answers given are answers I felt teenagers would already know.  It's not about knowing the answers but about applying them to every day.  This book doesn't deal much with that aspect.

The Wise One is good at reassuring kids and letting them know things don't have to be bad.  I will say in a sense he is a comforter.  Some teenagers will need that and this book can be good for them.

I read this book as a review request via PDF on my laptop.  All opinions are my own.  I was not compensated for this review in any way.

Book Review: Gifted Hands: Sainoo No Aru Te by Kenneth Fenter

Charlie and Keiko are deeply in love.  They are in college but they are sure they want to spend the rest of their lives together.  One night Keiko gets devastating news that her father is ill and she must go take care of the family.  Not a problem, right?  She's Japanese and her family lives in Japan.  She must return to Japan and leave Charlie behind.  In the process, she seems to have disappeared, not answering Charlie's letters.

Charlie marries Carla, a friend of both Keiko and his.  They have a happy life together and raise two beautiful children.  However, twenty years after they married, Carla dies of an illness.  I do not believe it's mentioned in the story what it is and if it is it was briefly that I do not recall what it was.  Grieving, Charlie decides to take a world wide trip, starting in Japan.

Do Charlie and Keiko reunite?  I'm not going to spoil it for you, but what do you think? It's a sweet romance novel deeply imploring into Japanese culture.  One problem was they infuse Chinese culture into some of their stuff that I would get confused on if I was reading a story in Japan or in China.

The story is very dialogue heavy.  Instead of setting scenes, each one feels like a bunch of people sitting around talking. Characterization?  I had a hard time remembering who was who.  Well, I mean, I did know who the Americans were, the Japanese, and a Mexican, and so forth, but it was hard to recall their characters.  Why were they in Japan?  Why were they at the Center?  How did Charlie meet them?  There was no development to make each person unique.  Overall, I don't think it was a very well written story.  It has promise, but promise can only get you so far.

I read this book as a review request using the Kindle app on my laptop.  All opinions are my own.  I was not compensated for this review in any way.

Book Review: Catch a Falling Star by Beth K. Vogt

I'm just going to admit the most interesting thing in this book to me is that it opens up with a birthday gathering at On The Border.  This does not mean the rest of the story sucks or anything, I did give it 3.5 stars, but it just caught my attention.  How many stories have an important scene set in this Mexican restaurant?  My sister works as a waitress and bartender at the one in our area.  I know it sounds lame to get excited over something like this, but I did.  "Yea, Guac Live, On The Border, woo-hoo!"

Now that I have let my nuttiness out of the bag I will go on to give a proper review.

From the book:

Successful career gal Kendall Haynes is tired of wishing on stars for a home and a family. Can God’s dreams for her be even better than her own?

Kendall is a doctor with a private practice in her own home.  How about that?  As she suffers from asthma she treats kids who suffer from allergies and asthma. It looks like she has a lot of things going for her.  When her younger sister asks for the engagement ring Kendall was given from her Mina (grandmother, I suppose), reality hits her.

In comes Griffin Walker, a man with the same Jeep love as Kendall.  She met him under unfortunate circumstances as his brother was having a severe allergic reaction to avocados and at an unfortunate time as she was dating a prominent doctor.

I like that Vogt makes the characters unique.  It's not a just a man and a woman, not just a doctor and a patient sort of thing.  Kendall is a Jeep aficionado and Griffin is a fighter pilot who has been grounded, lost both his parents, and now the legal guardian of his adopted brother.

If you're a fan of Christian romance you will most likely enjoy this book.  It may not become your favorite book, but it should be one you enjoy and may revisit.

I read this book as a review request from Netgalley using Adobe Digital on my laptop.  All opinions are my own.  I was not compensated for this review in any way.

Book Review: Almost Heaven by Chris Fabry

2011 ECPA Christian Book Award Winner for Fiction and 2011 Christy Award Winner for Contemporary Standalone Novel.

This book has been on my wishlist for a while and when I came across it as a free Kindle ebook I had to take it.

Set in Dogwood, West Virginia, this is the story of Billy Allman, a mandolin player and radio enthusiast, and his guardian angel.  Billy has been dealt many blows in his life and his guardian angel has been there to help him along the way, except for one very important time which shapes Billy tremendously.

Most chapters are from Billy's point of view, but a few here and there are the Angel's.  The first time it switched to the angel I thought we would be stuck with the angel for the rest of the book. I was unhappy as I wanted to read Billy's point of view.  Fortunately, next chapter was Billy's.

Billy's had his hardships in life, losing friends, family members, and other stuff that needs to be read instead of me telling you, but he does not let that turn him away from God.  In fact, it brings him closer.  It brings him to the ultimate goal in the story.

Chris Fabry was inspired to write this story by reading about the passing of a real life man named William "Billy" Allman. That man's story is the shadow for this story.  This is not a memoir or non-fiction piece.  As Fabry puts it,

"Good stories come from real people and real life...This story was inspired by the life of James William "Billy" Allman, who died in 2009...there are only shadows from Billy's life in this novel...but I hope to have captured a little of his heart in the story as well."

I don't know that Billy Allman, but I like to think he did.

I read this book for pure pleasure using the Kindle App on my laptop.  All opinions are my own.  I was not compensated for this review in any way.

Book Review: Silent Night (Rock Harbor #6) by Colleen Coble

I have not read any of other Rock Harbor stories, but I was presented with the opportunity to review this one.  It seemed interesting so I thought I'd give it a shot.  Listed as Rock Harbor #6 it is a short Christmas novella for the series.

I don't know much about the series or the characters.  I have to be honest when I'm writing my review.  You want me to be honest.  I still feel I don't know much about the characters or the series after reading the novella.  A novella is shorter than a novel, but this felt really short.  We skimmed the surface of every plot, every point in this story.  Every point could have been developed really well and really big.  I think the whole story would have made a fabulous novel sized book.

This story is set at Christmastime, but Christmas plays no role in the story except maybe as an excuse to get certain characters together.  For everything that happens the events could take place in the summer, spring, winter, or fall.  Not to be harsh, but I feel if it is going to be labeled a Christmas novella Christmas needs to play a part.

If you are a fan of Colleen Coble and/or read the Rock Harbor series you will enjoy this book.  You will probably wish there was more meat to the story, but you will enjoy it.  Good things happen.  A surprise.  I'm not going to tell you!

I will tell you that this story is about Bree and Kade as well as their dog, Samson, getting entangled in a mystery involving someone they think is Laurie's friend.  I know Kade is a boy's name.  I know this, but for some reason when I first start reading I would get him confused for the female in the relationship even though I knew Bree was that female.

I read this as a review request from Book Sneeze using the Kindle App on my laptop.  All opinions are my own.  I was not compensated for this review in any way.