by Jason Joyner | Apr 29, 2009 | Blog, CFBA, christian fiction, reviews
The latest book for the CFBA Tour is A Vote Of Confidence by Robin Lee Hatcher.
In A Vote of Confidence, the stage is set for some intriguing insight into what it was like during 1915 to be a woman in a “mans’ world.”
Guinevere Arlington is a beautiful young woman determined to remain in charge of her own life, For seven years, Gwen has carved out a full life in the bustling town of Bethlehem Springs, Idaho, where she teaches piano and writes for the local newspaper. Her passion for the town, its people, and the surrounding land prompt Gwen to run for mayor. After all, who says a woman can’t do a man’s job?
But stepping outside the boundaries of convention can get messy. A shady lawyer backs Gwen, believing he can control her once she’s in office. A wealthy newcomer throws his hat into the ring in an effort to overcome opposition to the health resort he’s building north of town. When the opponents fall in love, everything changes, forcing Gwen to face what she may have to lose in order to win.
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This is my wife’s type of book, so she provided her opinion. She enjoys Hatcher’s writing, and this romance novel didn’t disappoint. The characters are very believable, as they are developed well. She had a hard time getting into it at first, but after a little while it was one she couldn’t put down. She thought it was pretty straightforward for a while, but some unexpected twists delighted her, leaving her surprised at how the ending comes about. Overall it was a fun story and didn’t disappoint her expectations of one of her favorite authors.
If you would like to read the first chapter of A Vote Of Confidence, go HERE.
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unpredictable with good twists, enjoyed the characters- developed well. fun story
by Jason Joyner | Feb 27, 2009 | Blog, CFBA, fiction, reviews
To end the week, I’m featuring Daisy Chain, the latest book by Mary DeMuth. I reviewed her parenting book, Authenitic Parenting in a Postmodern World, last year. When I saw this book on our review list for the CFBA, I was eager to read it. I appreciated her insights into parenting, so I wanted to see what her fiction was like.
The book is the start of a three book trilogy set in Defiance, Texas in 1977. Fourteen year old Jed Pepper is best friends with a vivacious young girl, Daisy Marie Chance. When she goes missing one summer night, he is convinced that it is his fault. He deals with his thoughts tormenting him on what he could have done differently, even as he battles personal demons that threaten his own family.
The book is labeled a “coming-of-age” story, and that description works for Daisy Chain. It has an authentic feel of a small Texas town. The reader feels the hot, sticky heat, can almost taste Hixon Jones’ fresh lemonade, and lives the trials that Jed wrestles with throughout the book.
The book is deeper, with more to the story than a little synopsis like the one above can provide. I also don’t like giving away too much of a story in a review. The book raises some challenges to the reader regarding family secrets and small town life. Just when you are convinced who the “villain” of the story is, Mary takes that character and shows a human side to them.
Sometimes the book was a little frustrating, because there are different plot threads that are introduced at various points of the book, and I didn’t feel enough resolution at the end of the book. I understand that it is a trilogy, and some threads are being introduced to carry through the whole project, but to me there should have been a little more closure, or some points perhaps introduced in book 2 rather than here. I came away a little disappointed in the way the book ended. I had too much emotional investment to be satisfied. I know a good suspense series should leave one hanging, waiting for the next book, but I didn’t feel a good enough set-up for book 2. The ending came rather abruptly, I guess.
I think Mary has created some very interesting characters, with flaws and a definite unique touch to each of them. No one is the stereotype here. Sometimes the viewpoint gets a little confusing, but otherwise I enjoyed most of the people we meet in Defiance (except for the ones you root against-you’ll see soon enough).
Daisy Chain is not the typical book I would pick up at the bookstore. It is not my favorite book, but Mary DeMuth is a talented author, and I enjoyed much of her writing. If you like the psychological drama or a Southern-tinged coming of age story, then this should be a book that is well worth your time.
If you would like to read the first chapter of Daisy Chain, go HERE
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by Jason Joyner | Feb 27, 2009 | Blog, CFBA, fiction, reviews
To end the week, I’m featuring Daisy Chain, the latest book by Mary DeMuth. I reviewed her parenting book, Authenitic Parenting in a Postmodern World, last year. When I saw this book on our review list for the CFBA, I was eager to read it. I appreciated her insights into parenting, so I wanted to see what her fiction was like.
The book is the start of a three book trilogy set in Defiance, Texas in 1977. Fourteen year old Jed Pepper is best friends with a vivacious young girl, Daisy Marie Chance. When she goes missing one summer night, he is convinced that it is his fault. He deals with his thoughts tormenting him on what he could have done differently, even as he battles personal demons that threaten his own family.
The book is labeled a “coming-of-age” story, and that description works for Daisy Chain. It has an authentic feel of a small Texas town. The reader feels the hot, sticky heat, can almost taste Hixon Jones’ fresh lemonade, and lives the trials that Jed wrestles with throughout the book.
The book is deeper, with more to the story than a little synopsis like the one above can provide. I also don’t like giving away too much of a story in a review. The book raises some challenges to the reader regarding family secrets and small town life. Just when you are convinced who the “villain” of the story is, Mary takes that character and shows a human side to them.
Sometimes the book was a little frustrating, because there are different plot threads that are introduced at various points of the book, and I didn’t feel enough resolution at the end of the book. I understand that it is a trilogy, and some threads are being introduced to carry through the whole project, but to me there should have been a little more closure, or some points perhaps introduced in book 2 rather than here. I came away a little disappointed in the way the book ended. I had too much emotional investment to be satisfied. I know a good suspense series should leave one hanging, waiting for the next book, but I didn’t feel a good enough set-up for book 2. The ending came rather abruptly, I guess.
I think Mary has created some very interesting characters, with flaws and a definite unique touch to each of them. No one is the stereotype here. Sometimes the viewpoint gets a little confusing, but otherwise I enjoyed most of the people we meet in Defiance (except for the ones you root against-you’ll see soon enough).
Daisy Chain is not the typical book I would pick up at the bookstore. It is not my favorite book, but Mary DeMuth is a talented author, and I enjoyed much of her writing. If you like the psychological drama or a Southern-tinged coming of age story, then this should be a book that is well worth your time.
If you would like to read the first chapter of Daisy Chain, go HERE
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by Jason Joyner | Feb 16, 2009 | Blog, CFBA, fiction
Jason sez: My wife was going to read this book to review, but alas, Real Life Intervenes (TM) once again. Here’s the official CFBA blurb.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Mary’s writing journey is similar to a lot of others. Boil it down to persistence, oh, go ahead and call it stubbornness. She just kept typing away. She think the reason she did it was because she was more or less a dunce around people—prone to sit silently when she really ought to speak up(or far worse, speak up when she ought to sit silently).
So, Mary had all these things, she want to say, in her head; the perfect zinger to the rude cashier, which you think of an hour after you’ve left the store, the perfect bit of wisdom when someone needs help, which doesn’t occur to you until they solve their problems themselves, the perfect guilt trip for the kids, which you don’t say because you’re not an idiot. She keep all this wit to herself, much to the relief of all who know her, and then wrote all her great ideas into books. It’s therapeutic if nothing else, and more affordable than a psychiatrist.
So then a very nice, oh so nice publishing company like Barbour Heartsong comes along and says, “Hey, we’ll pay you money for this 45,000 word therapy session.” That’s as sweet as it gets.
Mary’s journey to publication is the same as everyone’s except for a few geniuses out there who make it hard for all of us. And even they probably have an Ode to Roast Beef or two in their past.
There are two other books in this Lassoed In Texas Series: Petticoat Ranch and Calico Canyon
ABOUT THE BOOK
All aboard for a delightful, suspense-filled romance, where a Texan is torn between his attraction to a meddlesome schoolmarm and the charms of a designing dressmaker. When Hannah Cartwright meets Grant, she’s determined to keep him from committing her orphans to hard labor on his ranch. How far will she go to ensure their welfare?
Grant Cooper is determined to provide a home for the two kids brought in by the orphan train as runs head-on into the new school marm, who believes he’s made slave labor out of eight orphaned children. He crowds too many orphans into his rickety house, just like Hannah Cartwright’s cruel father. Grant’s family of orphans have been mistreated too many times by judgmental school teachers. Now the new schoolmarm is the same except she’s so pretty and she isn’t really bad to his children, it’s Grant she can’t stand.
But he is inexplicably drawn to Hannah. Can he keep his ragtag family together while steering clear of love and marriage? Will he win her love or be caught in the clutches of a scheming seamstress?
If you would like to read the first chapter of Gingham Mountain, go HERE
by Jason Joyner | Feb 16, 2009 | Blog, CFBA, fiction
Jason sez: My wife was going to read this book to review, but alas, Real Life Intervenes (TM) once again. Here’s the official CFBA blurb.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Mary’s writing journey is similar to a lot of others. Boil it down to persistence, oh, go ahead and call it stubbornness. She just kept typing away. She think the reason she did it was because she was more or less a dunce around people—prone to sit silently when she really ought to speak up(or far worse, speak up when she ought to sit silently).
So, Mary had all these things, she want to say, in her head; the perfect zinger to the rude cashier, which you think of an hour after you’ve left the store, the perfect bit of wisdom when someone needs help, which doesn’t occur to you until they solve their problems themselves, the perfect guilt trip for the kids, which you don’t say because you’re not an idiot. She keep all this wit to herself, much to the relief of all who know her, and then wrote all her great ideas into books. It’s therapeutic if nothing else, and more affordable than a psychiatrist.
So then a very nice, oh so nice publishing company like Barbour Heartsong comes along and says, “Hey, we’ll pay you money for this 45,000 word therapy session.” That’s as sweet as it gets.
Mary’s journey to publication is the same as everyone’s except for a few geniuses out there who make it hard for all of us. And even they probably have an Ode to Roast Beef or two in their past.
There are two other books in this Lassoed In Texas Series: Petticoat Ranch and Calico Canyon
ABOUT THE BOOK
All aboard for a delightful, suspense-filled romance, where a Texan is torn between his attraction to a meddlesome schoolmarm and the charms of a designing dressmaker. When Hannah Cartwright meets Grant, she’s determined to keep him from committing her orphans to hard labor on his ranch. How far will she go to ensure their welfare?
Grant Cooper is determined to provide a home for the two kids brought in by the orphan train as runs head-on into the new school marm, who believes he’s made slave labor out of eight orphaned children. He crowds too many orphans into his rickety house, just like Hannah Cartwright’s cruel father. Grant’s family of orphans have been mistreated too many times by judgmental school teachers. Now the new schoolmarm is the same except she’s so pretty and she isn’t really bad to his children, it’s Grant she can’t stand.
But he is inexplicably drawn to Hannah. Can he keep his ragtag family together while steering clear of love and marriage? Will he win her love or be caught in the clutches of a scheming seamstress?
If you would like to read the first chapter of Gingham Mountain, go HERE
by Jason Joyner | Feb 6, 2009 | Blog, CFBA, fiction
This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing Word Gets Around Bethany House (February 1, 2009) by Lisa Wingate.
My friend Rhonda read this book. She noted some nice spiritual points that were encouraging, but she found the plot slow and overall it was hard to get into the book.
ABOUT THE BOOK
When Romance Is In the Air, Word Gets Around Lauren Eldridge thought she’d wiped the dust of Daily, Texas, off her boots forever. Screenwriter Nate Heath thought he was out of second chances. Life’s never that predictable, though. Cajoled by her father, Lauren is back in town helping train a skittish race horse set to star in a Hollywood film. But the handsome screenwriter gives her more trouble than the horse. And Nate is realizing there’s a spark of magic in the project–and in the eyes of the girl who is so good with horses. Daily, Texas, has a way of offering hope, healing, and a little romance just when folks need it most.
If you would like to read the first chapter of Word Gets Around, go HERE
What people are saying:
“Lisa Wingate writes engaging stories that strike the heart. God has gifted her with a marvelous talent and I, for one, am most grateful.”
—Debbie Macomber, New York Times #1 bestselling author
