Monthly Archives: August 2017

Audiobook Review: From This Moment by Elizabeth Camden

Title: From This Moment
Author: Elizabeth Camden
Print Publisher: Bethany House
Audio Publisher: Tantor Audio
Narrator: Justine Eyre
Published: June 2016
Genre(s): Historical Romance, Christian Fiction.
Length: 9 hours, 56 minutes. Unabridged.

About the Book: (from the publisher’s Web site)

Stella West’s artistic talent made her the toast of London, but when her beloved sister dies under mysterious circumstances she abandons everything and heads for Boston. With single-minded determination she fights to pierce the ring of secrecy surrounding her sister’s death. Upon meeting Romulus White, a publisher with connections into every important power circle in the city, she quickly realizes he could be a valuable ally in navigating Boston society.

Romulus has been pursuing Stella for years to create art for his magazine. Her luminous illustrations are the missing piece he needs to propel his magazine to the forefront of the industry, and he will stop at nothing to get her on board.

Sparks fly the instant they join forces, but Romulus is unsettled by the unwelcome attraction he feels toward Stella, fearing she might be the one woman who could disrupt his hard-won independence. He may have finally met his match in Stella, but is helping her solve the mystery of her sister’s death worth the risk to his publishing empire?

My Thoughts on the Book:

Romance, history, suspense, and mystery – what’s not to love? I’m a big fan of Elizabeth Camden’s novels, and From This Moment delivers on the features I’ve come to look for. We’ve got a strong heroine with a goal, an intriguing hero with whom to team up, and a plotline filled with suspense and danger. Oh, and romance, of course. :)

Stella and Romulus are believably flawed characters, and clash with each other in a big way at times, which can make for some fascinating moments. They both learn some valuable lessons and change over the course of the story. Meanwhile, Clyde and Evelyn’s subplot brings a great deal of substance to the book, as they work to repair a broken relationship. And the historical context of the Boston subway’s construction makes for a vivid backdrop, with intriguing details that made me curious to learn more. And I think my favorite part of the story is how the ending plays out, but I don’t want to spoil that for you!

Specific to the Audio Edition:

I have mixed feelings about the audio performance for this book. I liked the characters’ voices – how they were differentiated, and how the voices fit the characters. I also appreciated the emotion portrayed in Justine Eyre’s performance, which I found to be spot on. What I found distracting, was a persistent quirk in the reading style, most noticeable in some of the narrative portions in between character dialogue. There seemed to be an extra vowel sound attached to the end of the last word of each sentence as if for added emphasis. I still enjoyed listening to the book, and while I wouldn’t go out of my way to seek out this narrator’s work, I also wouldn’t let it stop me from listening to a book I was interesting in.

The book itself I highly recommend. The audiobook I recommend with the caveat that you’d do well to sample a brief passage before purchasing. Actually, I think that’s a good idea before purchasing any audiobook, as the things that bother one person may go completely unnoticed by another, and vice versa.

I borrowed this audiobook from my local library via Hoopla. I was not expected to write a review, but wanted to share how much I enjoyed the story.

Quick Links: About the Book | About the Audiobook | Author’s Site | About the Narrator

Book Review: Life After by Katie Ganshert

Title: Life After
Author: Katie Ganshert
Publisher: WaterBrook
Published: April 2017
Genre: Contemporary Christian Fiction

About the Book: (from the publisher’s Web site)

It could have been me.

Snow whirls around an elevated train platform in Chicago. A distracted woman boards the train, takes her seat, and moments later a fiery explosion rips through the frigid air, tearing the car apart in a horrific attack on the city’s transit system. One life is spared. Twenty-two are lost.

A year later, Autumn Manning can’t remember the day of the bombing and she is tormented by grief—by guilt. Twelve months of the question constantly echoing. Why? Why? Why? Searching for answers, she haunts the lives of the victims, unable to rest.

Paul Elliott lost his wife in the train bombing and wants to let the dead rest in peace, undisturbed and unable to cause more pain for his loved ones. He wants normalcy for his twelve-year-old daughter and young son, to see them move beyond the heartbreak. But when the Elliotts and Autumn are unexpectedly forced together, he fears she’ll bring more wreckage in her wake. 

In Life After, Katie Ganshert’s most complex and unforgettable novel yet, the stirring prose and authentic characters pose questions of truth, goodness, and ultimate purpose in this emotionally resonant tale.

My Thoughts:

Katie Ganshert has a way of incorporating weighty topics into her novels without weighing down the story or the reader. She makes you think and feel, intersperses fun and light moments amidst the challenges, and ultimately ends on a hopeful note. At least that’s what I’ve observed in the three stories of hers that I’ve read so far. That’s A Broken Kind of Beautiful, The Art of Losing Yourself, and now this one if you’re counting. Frankly, I love that combination of elements in a story.

In this one, there’s grief, there’s guilt, there’s surviving, there’s brokenness, and there’s picking up the pieces. Not necessarily in that order. In some ways it’s about two broken people helping each other put things in perspective and move on. It explores searching for the why behind tragedy, and it explores where comfort can be found. And there’s a tender, subtle, and emotionally satisfying love story in there too, along with a whole host of other relationships among a lifelike cast of characters.

Fans of the author’s earlier books will love this one. And if you haven’t read her earlier books? Please do. Book discussion groups, and readers who appreciate a well-crafted story with complex characters, written in beautiful lyrical language, will especially want to give this one a try.

Thank you to the publisher for providing a complimentary copy of the book for review purposes.

Quick Links: About the Book | Author’s Site

Book Review: A Cup of Dust by Susie Finkbeiner

Title: A Cup of Dust
Author: Susie Finkbeiner
Publisher: Kregel Publications
Published: October 2015
Series: Pearl Spence Novels
Genre: Historical Christian Fiction

About the Book: (from the publisher’s Web site)

Where you come from isn’t who you are.

Ten-year-old Pearl Spence is a daydreamer, playing make-believe to escape life in Oklahoma’s Dust Bowl in 1935. The Spences have their share of misfortune, but as the sheriff’s family, they’ve got more than most in this dry, desolate place. They’re who the town turns to when there’s a crisis or a need–and during these desperate times, there are plenty of both, even if half the town stands empty as people have packed up and moved on.

Pearl is proud of her loving, strong family, though she often wearies of tracking down her mentally impaired older sister or wrestling with her grandmother’s unshakable belief in a God who Pearl just isn’t sure she likes.

Then a mysterious man bent on revenge tramps into her town of Red River. Eddie is dangerous and he seems fixated on Pearl. When he reveals why he’s really there and shares a shocking secret involving the whole town, dust won’t be the only thing darkening Pearl’s world.

While the tone is suspenseful and often poignant, the subtle humor of Pearl’s voice keeps A Cup of Dust from becoming heavy-handed. Finkbeiner deftly paints a story of a family unit coming together despite fractures of distress threatening to pull them apart.

My Thoughts:

This tale of the dust bowl made vivid to me a place and time in history I previously knew little about. I read this one what feels like a long time ago and never got around to writing a review. But since I’ve recently been reminded just how much I enjoyed reading it, I’ve gone back over my notes and decided it’s time to share.

This is a young girl’s story, told in her own uniquely quirky voice. Readers are taken on an emotional journey, in turns heartbreaking, terrifying, and humorous, by a character who is somewhat paradoxically both naïve and wise beyond her years.

Our young heroine Pearl makes some great observations every now and then. For example, early in the story (pages 24-25) she notes: “That was when I learned that kindness could break a heart just as sure as meanness. The difference was the kindness made that broken heart softer. Meanness just made the heart want to be hard.”

Pearl’s story touches on some big and discussable themes like love and sacrifice and the true meaning of family. But the aspect that stood out for me was the way the author used different characters’ competing views on the nature of God and His role in their situations. Through these different viewpoints, readers are challenged to consider what we believe and why. This is a story that could foster some great discussion in a book group setting. Highly recommended, particularly to readers up for a literary coming-of-age story with a touch of mystery and suspense.

Thank you to the publisher for providing a complimentary copy of the book. I was not required to write a review, but I wanted to.

Quick Links: About the Book | About the Series | Author’s Site

Christian Fiction Book Club Connection, August 2017

Book Club Connection

Welcome to the August 2017 edition of the Christian Fiction Book Club Connection. Thanks for stopping by! Whether you’re a pastor or ministry leader thinking of forming a book discussion group at your church, a current member of a book club, or simply a fan of Christian fiction hoping to connect with other readers, you’re in the right place. Please consider subscribing to my blog so you won’t miss future posts.

Today I’m providing information on Christian fiction discussions scheduled to take place around the web this month. I’m also featuring a handful of recently released Christian fiction titles for which a discussion guide is available, either included in the book itself or on the author’s or publisher’s web site.

Online Discussions Coming Up This Month

The ACFW Book Club‘s August selection is Justice Delayed by Patricia Bradley. You can subscribe to the group’s e-mail list now, by following the instructions on their Web site, to be sure not to miss any announcements or discussion questions.

By the Book is an in-person book discussion club that has introduced an online Facebook-based discussion option. To join in online, like the By the Book Facebook page, and be sure to check back there periodically for any discussion that may not have made it into your news feed. August’s selection is The One True Love of Alice-Ann by Eva Marie Everson.

For August, the Christian Fiction Devourers group on Goodreads is discussing A Lasting Impression by Tamera Alexander AND Close to You by Kara Isaac. Grab your copies and head on over to the discussion forum to check in with others who are in the midst of reading these books.

The Fans of Amish Fiction Goodreads group discusses one Amish fiction title per month. The selection for August is The Courtship Basket by Amy Clipston. To join in, visit the group’s online discussion board.

Jamie of the Books and Beverages blog hosts a monthly Inklings discussion series for fans of J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. Sometimes fiction, sometimes non-fiction, the title for this summer is An Anthology: 365 Readings by George MacDonald. The discussion is planned for August 17, 2017.

Recent Christian Fiction Releases Featuring Discussion Guides

The Road to Paradise by Karen Barnett (WaterBrook, June 2017, Historical Romantic Suspense)

High as the Heavens by Kate Breslin (Bethany House, June 2017, Historical Romance)

Love Story by Karen Kingsbury (Howard Books, June 2017, Contemporary Romance)

The Divide by Jolina Petersheim (Tyndale House, June 2017, Amish Romance)

So, friends, what have you been reading lately? Any titles you’d recommend for book club discussions?