Minding Molly - a review

I had planned to not take on any more reviewing tasks for a while since I've been so horribly slow at actually getting my reviews up but when I saw a book about a girl named Molly trying to take control of her life which keeps going end-over-teakettle I felt like I was supposed to read this book.

 This is the third book in the "Courtship of Lancaster County" series. I have a friend who lives in Lancaster County, PA and she takes some beautiful photos of the occasional Amish thing she sees (this one is a favorite) but when I started to read this book I realized how I know absolutely nothing about the Amish and just kept hoping the author wouldn't lead me astray with what I was "learning." There were several words that were unfamiliar (do you know how long it's been since I've even heard the phrase "Pennsylvania Dutch"? Probably high school?) but through context hoped I was getting it. To be fair, most of the words weren't so foreign I couldn't figure most of them out. Dat and Mamm, denke and jah were no brainers but there were others like youngie (which I am still just assuming but...a group of young people? I should google that.) and rumschpringe that left me curious. Sometimes a book will have a glossary explaining words, phrases etc. in the back but this one did not include something like that. Possibly because it was already the third in the series and they figure if you don't have it figured out by now why are you still reading?

Other things like how Molly wore flip flops and carried a cell phone threw me. The arranging for drivers for transportation to places was new to me. Personally I think that sounds great, I hate driving and would love to have a person I could call up that would drive me into the city. The final thing that threw me was a youngie camping trip the characters planned. Instead of being able to concentrate on the story I just kept thinking the Amish go camping? I know people who are not Amish but regular farmers and camping is really rare for them. Especially the dairy farmers I knew because who would milk all the cows? I was halfway through the camping scene before I decided to give up figuring out of that was a real thing or not. When I read in the author's note at the end of the book that she uses Shakespeare as a starting point for her stories and that this one was A Midsummer Night's Dream the camping bit (ie a night in the woods) made just slightly more sense.

Now that my musings are out of the way let's get on to the review.

Minding Molly is the story of Molly Zook who, I believe, is in her early twenties? Maybe twenty? She's currently taken charge of the family farm which grows flowers and nursery stock and hosts a weekend market ever since her dad passed away suddenly (and recently) and it looked like they might lose the farm. Her mom doesn't do well with making business decisions and has been acting so strangely they arrange a CT scan for her, she has a half-brother creeping around trying to buy the place out from under them, her sister doesn't seem interested in helping out around the place and sits around staring into space or writing into a mysterious journal. Then her mom starts pressuring her to marry the neighbor boy who works for them but her best friend is in love with him so she can't do that to her no matter to save their farm or not. Plus she doesn't love him and she wants to at least love whom she marries. The boy working for her best friend's family is from out of state and instantly catches her eye but everything seems to come between them as they try to court.

At home Molly is the organizer, the hard worker, the boss and people respect her authority, decisions and planning. When they decide to go camping everyone suddenly hates her for the same personality/skill set. And everyone - and I mean everyone - groans out their words. I've never read a story where every single page had so and so groaning or so and so moaning. Used appropriately I can understand but this was obviously enough use to catch my attention.

During the camping scene I honestly felt like another story or maybe even another author had taken over the book and plopped it into the plot. Everyone devolved into whining, conniving children. Speaking of children there was a whole thing about a toddler whose parents could not attend so they sent it along on the camping trip with all these young people and their chaperoning couple. Is that an Amish thing? Who in their right mind would actually do this?

Granted, the woods in A Midsummer Night's Dream changed people while they were there but Shakespeare was at least able to put it eloquently. This made me want to bash my head into a wall while they all tramped around the woods glaring at each other and fighting over imagined schemes of stealing boyfriends. I actually reached a point where I thought this was YA fiction (based on the character's behavior) but I don't think it is.

The big question here is will Molly's tumultuous relationships work themselves out? I do feel there was a satisfying ending to the story but I won't be giving away more than that.

There were a few moments in this story that I did like. I connected with Molly in name, in having a father die suddenly, in having a mother start behaving all strangely and in losing the place you loved living and working, There were a few moments with people talking out issues and problems that I thought "yeah that's some good stuff right there." but they were so lost in the rest of the story I just don't feel it was worth slogging through to find them.

The idea of these stories being based on Shakespeare really appeal to me and I want to like it. I've heard the first two were actually pretty good, and the one that's supposed to come after this is a Much Ado About Nothing story line which actually appeals to me and I may give that one a go. Maybe by then I'll have brushed up on my Pennsylvania Dutch.



I received a digital copy of this book for the purposes of review from Bethany House Publishers. Opinions and words are mine.

I really hate writing reviews of books I don't like...this makes me sad.



 

Stranded - a review

Another belated review. This time because I was in the middle of packing, trying to find somewhere to live and then moving. Blech. But in contrast to my previous book review, I quite enjoyed this one!

This third in the series follows a few  of the McKennas - a ridiculously talented and wonderful family from Alaska that I would dearly love to hang out with. The people are flawed but loving and I feel the realism in that at the same time it helps me see the flaws in some of my own behaviors towards people. Helpful.

 I actually read the first in the series and reviewed it some time ago and when I saw this was available for review, I bought the second book so I wouldn't miss out and then read this one in proper order. There is character set up for the next pair (as in 'oh yeah they are so getting together') in each previous book so I suggest to start at the beginning and work your way through.

In this story we follow Darcy St. James (a side character from previous stories) investigating the mysterious disappearance of a friend who had taken a job on a cruise line. Darcy then uses her skills from her old position of undercover investigative journalism to get a job on the cruise line and see what happened as not only does no one seem to care, but they seem to be covering up the disappearance.

She runs into Gage McKenna at some point and there's a series of mistrust, semi-trust, life-saving, man anger, etc. I did not enjoy his constant well you're "undercover" so no matter your reasons for doing so you're just a lying liar pants from Liarstown. But they work out their issues in a realistic way, as opposed to I-hate-you-for-most-of-the-book-just-kidding-I-love-you-the-end. Which I have complained about MANY times regarding Christian fic.

There is a lot of outdoorsy adventure and suspense (near-death kayaking! corpse discoveries! Sketchy "romantic" walks with possible murderers!) as in the previous two which I love and seriously I just love all these people can we be friends already?

There's a 4th book on the way. I am going to be all over that.


I received a copy of this book from Bethany House for the purposes of review.

Sidenote: I got my review copy as an ebook and I can't remember which specific thing it was, double f's maybe? Some letter combination was left out of the entire story. Is that a normal thing so you don't feel all fancy that you got a free book? I found it super distracting and am impressed I was able to read the story without it. Anyone else experienced anything like that?

Rules of Murder - a review

This is extremely belated but...I find this type of review difficult to write. I'm an encourager and I like to find the merit in everyone's writing but I just did not like this book. And if I don't like a book, I have extreme difficulty saying so in a review, I just prefer to put it away and never speak of it again. And if I saw someone reading a book I really hated, maybe slap it out of their hands as I walked by. I was super excited to see it on the list of books I could choose to review as I had heard about it previously and really wanted to read it which just made my dislike all the more sad.

I do really like the cover artwork and I do applaud the author for writing something other than an old west mail order bride or Amish something which seems to be the bulk of Christian fiction last time I checked, so yay?

Drew Farthering, the hero, ends up with multiple murders on his country estate in 1930s England. He loves mystery stories and uses his "knowledge" of them to aid he and his friend Nick (who I kinda liked best of the pair) along with Madeline Parker (love interest/a guest from America and niece to his step-father) as they try to solve the case before the actual detectives do because everyone knows that detectives don't know what they are doing.

 There are some nice twists but I found it difficult to keep track of some of  the who was who and I felt the love portion of the story was a bit silly. As in, I just met you and this is crazy, but here's my number so please never leave I'm in love with you and we should be together forever. There were some odd character encounters that totally threw me like a breakfast scene where they were talking about eating some wonderful food and "Oh you'd eat this forever if you were stranded on a desert island? You must be reading ---" at which point the other character replies the equivalent of , "Nope." and just moves on. I felt like 'what just happened? Is that coming into play later?' It never did. So odd.

I see there are a couple more books in the series, or at least in the works and premises of those are totally drawing me in and making me want to read them so maybe there is hope yet that I will like this series.

This book was provided by Bethany House Publishers for the purposes of review. Obviously they did not dictate what my review would be like or it would not have been this.

Submerged by Dani Pettrey - a book review

From the back: Bailey Craig vowed never to set foot in Yancey, Alaska again. She has a past, and a reputation - and Yancey's a town that doesn't forget. She's returned to bury a loved one killed in the place crash, but then dark evidence emerges and Bailey's expertise becomes invaluable for the case.
Cole McKenna can face dangerous rescue dives. He can face the fear a murderer may be threatening his town. But facing the reality of Bailey's reappearance is a tougher challenge. She broke his heart...but doesn't seem to be the same girl who left Yancey ten year's ago. And he's not the same guy she left behind.
Racing against the clock and a rising body count, Bailey and Cole must move beyond the hurts of their pasts to work together until the truth of what's hidden in the depths finally surfaces.

Submerged was not my usual fare and that's why I chose it. Lately I've had a hard time finding books I truly enjoy. I will pick up a book and it will take me ages to read it because I just can't get into it. Is it a mood thing or are the books really not that great? I don't know. But I finished this book in just a few days which is something I haven't been able to do for quite some time.

This book is called a romantic suspense and I have to say it wasn't all that suspenseful for me. Was there an interesting mystery? Yes (it involves Russian history and royalty) but I felt like it was definitely second fiddle to the real story which was about forgiveness. I like the newer trend of characters in Christian fic not being so perfect. Bailey left town because during high school she acquired the colorful epithet of "Easy Lay Bay" - when you've completely changed who you are why would you want to return where people won't let you forget that? That part of the story and how she has to really put on a brave face and ignore the sneers of men she formerly...er....knew....was awkward and heart breaking but not necessarily in a bad way (if that's possible). The other aspect of that is Cole whom she ditched to gain this nickname and breaking his heart in the process. He realizes that he walked away from someone who was drowning in trouble and wonders what he could have done to help her then so he helps her now by choosing to go by what she is in the now instead of what she was. I'm babbling but this is what the book really was to me. It was true friendship and forgiveness (and made me want to be a better more forgiving person). And romance of course. Some of it made me literally roll my eyes. Man: let me stand behind you and wrap my arms around you while I teach you something. Guh. Not that I would protest if some smart, attractive man did this to me, but I will still roll my eyes if I see it in a movie or read it in a book.

There was actually a second romantic possibility in this book and that one really piqued my interest so of course it was never completed but was promised to another book. Argh! Which is why I'm glad there's a sequel for these secondary characters (and what spawned my silly intro).

The setting of Alaska was one I enjoyed although I frequently found myself confused by all the board shorts and surfing talk. Maybe I don't know anything about Alaska but when I googled surfing in Alaska every photo I saw had people in wet suits.

In any case, Submerged was an excellent title and theme for this story. There was the diving elements as well as the emotional submersion so Dani gets points from my literary heart for making that flow throughout (water pun totally intended).

In all:
Russian (Alaska) history? Yes!
Men of integrity? Yes!
Flawed main character you could maybe relate to (in one way or another)? Yes!
Amazing forgiving and accepting and loving people? Yes!
Characters you want to know more about? Yes!
Hokey moments? Yes.
Suspense? yes.
Mildly creepy cover that doesn't totally fit? yes.
Recommended? Yes, with the warning that the story doesn't get completely resolved.

This book was provided by Bethany House for the purpose of reviewing. Opinions are entirely my own.

Pattern of Wounds book review

A brutal murder.
An unraveling conviction.

To catch the killer, Roland March must decipher the
PATTERN OF WOUNDS

Bodies left in the water, strange stab wounds in seeming pattern and Roland March connecting them like dots - the answer of which leads him to a killer already behind bars.

After reading countless "chick books" I chose one that seemed to say "dude book" or at least was more gender neutral than what I usually read. I actually love mysteries and have a few series filling my bookshelves.

The front cover says this is "A Roland March Mystery" and I learned it was part of an apparently ongoing series and that may be when I should have grabbed the first one and read it...you know...first.

As a result I felt like I was constantly playing catch up with the long list of secondary characters and I never could keep them all straight.

I think because I wasn't familiar with the characters and what was going on from the first book that this book didn't seem to go much of anywhere until partway through - until the "power point presentation" scene. But after that the pace was quick - pages were loaded with action, clues, and reveals. There were a few moments the hairs on the back of my neck were tickling from the intense creep-out.  Maybe I should warn you that this really is a murder mystery and they cover lots of crime drama subjects including stabbing, voyeurism, rape and various ways to kill and maim people.

I did figure out whodunit before the end but that's okay, sometimes I like feeling smart. So while the mystery itself was good, I just didn't love this book. I think I might like it better if I'd read the first and had a history with the main character.


Bethany House provided this book for the purposes of review. The opinions are entirely mine.

Book Review - The Sweetest Thing by Elizabeth Musser

When I chose this book, I admit I thought the soft colored cover and promises of 1930's Atlanta sounded too good to pass up. What I didn't expect was a story about a girl who loses her father and the full gamut of emotions she and her family go through to right their upside down world. Having lost my father not quite five years ago I spent most of this book crying. And I'm crying even remembering it as I type this which is why I put off writing this for so long. It was hard for me to read, yet I didn't want to stop reading. In fact I think there may have been a little divine intervention in my choosing of this book because now that I'm finished with it, I think I needed to read it.

Anne "Perri" Singleton, despite The Depression lives a good life, goes to an excellent girl's school and even had 1,000 "dates" in a single year (dates are not quite the same in this world as they are in ours). The day she meets Mary "Dobbs" Dillard she thinks they'll never be more than acquaintances. Dobbs is unfashionable, poor, and speaks about faith as if it was as natural as breathing. But when Perri's father suddenly dies and mysterious circumstances lead to more questions than answers, Perri and Dobbs form a deep bond.

While Perri's life is tipped end over teakettle, so is Dobbs' life completely different from what she knew and both girls fight very emotional struggles finding the balance between self and fitting in.

I loved that Perri was into photography - because so am I. She was also into sky watching for a bit, and so am I. I also really enjoyed the feel of the era and place, despite the dire circumstances. Some of Musser's descriptive areas reminded me a tad of Sarah Addison Allen which endeared this book to me as well.

Yes, there is plenty of heartache, but there is also romantic love, true, deep friendship, following your dreams and a grand scale mystery to boot.

Does it help all that talk about crying if I tell you it has a satisfying conclusion?


Bethany House provided this book for the purposes of review. The opinions are entirely mine.

Decorating & organizing bookshelves

I like to decorate and I don't have a lot of space. I also, however, have a TON of books. So what if you have a lot of bookshelves, a lot of books, but want to decorate too?

Whatever you do, please don't do this. This makes me want to crawl into a fetal ball and sob softly.

What if you use books as your decorations? Or as your room color? I recently discovered this:

Source

I got big puffy hearts in my eyes. I LOVE the way it looks but again...I'm too much of a librarian to break up series or genres to do this everywhere. Thankfully I have no less than five bookshelves in the space I was working in.

Atop a bookcase makes a great space for a few books and mostly accessories. I have a lot of historical books in the first shelf so a natural theme felt like the thing to do on top.

Once you get to the actual shelves though, don't be afraid to accessorize them too! I usually add things that deal with the book subjects.

This is my "scholarly" shelf. Some are leftover school books and others are just because I'm a nerd. :)
Pottery from my grandmother, a painted turkey feather quill and ink go along with the scholarly feel. See where I'm going with all this?

This candle belonged to my grandmother as well, it's one of the weirdest candles I've seen but seems to fit this book grouping.
(Not so much the Fanny Crosby book - haven't found the right home for that one yet!)

My largest bookshelf hangs above my desk and gives me plenty of space for non-book decorating...if only I'd quit buying books.

This carved wooden chest filled with dried flowers and seeds seemed the perfect companion for my Brother Cadfael books.

And this horse head bookend sits next to my Margeurite Henry books and my copy of Traveller by Richard Adams.

I have to admit I haven't read any of the books in this next photo excepting the one on the far right. I'm working on remedying that, but my exotic looking candle holder goes next to my exotic sounding books.

I have a huge collection of Breyer horses and this one wouldn't fit in storage. He goes in my horsey vignette with this vintage print I bought at an antique sale years ago (I just love it!) and a pinback button that belonged to my mom; Ginger was the name of her horse. I'm bugging her to get me a photo of her and Ginger to add to this spot.

I have a decent collection of classic literature on the lowest shelf. A pair of...things? given me by a friend from Okinawa and a photo I took in Israel (and put in a thrifted frame) make good companions for these books which span both history and the globe.

Also, have you read the Amelia Peabody mysteries (to the left)? Or the Mary Russell series? They are both fantastic.

 

See how I stack books this way and that? I am able to fit way more books on a shelf this way, and it makes it a bit more interesting to look at.

I already showed you my gorgeous shell treasure bottle (visit her shop here) which made the perfect accessory to my collection of nautical books (next to my American lit - yeah...it made sense to me). I was also gifted that ceramic pirate treasure box.

 

And this shell "box" which I filled with foreign coins. Sometimes I just have too much fun with this stuff.

All those bookshelves I've got under a "system" with series and genre all together and making sense, but I really wanted to try the rainbow bookshelf thing. Luckily I have a random assortment of older books I can try this with on a small scale.

It's actually a bit of a challenge to match the shades properly! And I didn't care about making this one in proper rainbow order - I just wanted like colors together.

And do you know how many older books are blue? Most of mine are.

I found another shelf to play rainbow games on. Had been wanting to change this one for a while yet anyway. And yes there are unicorns. More Breyer collectibles that also won't fit in storage and I'm afraid they are going to get broken. I won that large unicorn for getting straight A's in grade school, go me! :)

Unicorns go with books, right? ;)

The blue/green end. I don't have any purple books, what is up with that?





When changing this shelf I found some really fun books that I forgot I had.

This one belonged to a great aunt who was a ballerina.

So....are you feeling motivated to make your bookshelves interesting? I should warn you that if I come to your house, I might feel compelled to move books around. It's not a mean thing or even something I can control. I'm a crazy book person and I can't help it. Pity me.

The Girl in the Gatehouse by Julie Klassen

I don't normally flip to the back of a book when I read but lately several of the books I've read have author's notes and whatsits there that I find interesting. I happened to flip to that page on this book where the author mentions that her story's hero was based on Captain Wentworth from Jane Austen's Persuasion as well as C.S. Forester's Horatio Hornblower. I blinked, looked up from the page and did something very much looking like this:

Two of my favorite (albeit fictional) nautical heroes smooshed into one man? This is going to be the best book ever.

In The Girl in the Gatehouse, set around the year 1813-1814, twenty-four year old Mariah (because Americans don't know the British pronunciation when it is spelled Maria) Aubrey - a secret author - is banished from her family and home and is sent away to an aunt's estate. She finds she's not really welcome at her new residence either but is at least given somewhere to live as she takes over the dirty, forgotten gatehouse with her former nanny, Dixon. We get the idea that she has done something terribly wrong, but we're not exactly told what and during that time, any social gaffe could have brought about a result like this. Was it the novel writing or something far more serious?

Mariah lives a somewhat pinched life on her small annual income and the gracious free rent provided by her aunt but life becomes even more of a challenge when Mariah's somewhat evil step-cousin Hugh takes over the estate, makes her pay rent, and then leases the main estate to a Captain Matthew Bryant. Captain Bryant is fair and good-hearted but new to money and intent on winning back the girl who rejected him for his lowly stature before he was heroic and rich and this goal is the end all to every action he does.

To pay for her sudden expenses and the addition of Martin, her aunt's hook-handed former servant, Mariah takes up the quill once again and begins publishing novels - under a pseudonym so as not to bring further shame to her family.

With a cast of interesting characters provided by the nearby poorhouse (run by a woman Miss Hannigan would quail under)  including two aged sisters, Mariah begins to learn that there is hope in life no matter what you've been through.

But when Mariah keeps seeing a man running along the rooftop of the poorhouse (sending her messages in semaphore no less) and no one is allowed to recognize his existence...paired with cousin Hugh's dogged search of the entire estate and gatehouse for "something" - the mystery really gets going.

Each chapter begins with a relevant quote, the story of Mariah unfolds slowly, little clue and crumb bit by bit, as well as the real thoughts and feelings about women as authors at that time. Even women in general and how little they could really do for themselves. I almost feel schizophrenic when I try to describe all the elements that come together in this book but it certainly isn't written that way - it's put together very smoothly, everything unfolding at just the right time.

A touch of gothic novel and a touch of Jane Austen this story has enough mystery, romance, hardship and redemption to intrigue you, keep you guessing, and then warm your heart.

And if you haven't read or seen Persuasion - what are you waiting for? While you're at it, the Horatio Hornblower books by C.S. Forester and the films by A&E are also excellent.



This book was provided by Bethany House for the purposes of reviewing, the opinions, however, are entirely mine.