christianreader | My March reads

Laura Frantz – Love’s return 4/5
Rowena Ballantyne and her father Ansel live happily in a small town in Kentucky when Ansel gets word of the failing health of his father Silas. Ansel and Rowena move to the Pennsylvania, a world far removed from everything Rowena knows. She feels out of sorts among her rich family and the high society they move in. She finds a friend and confidante in one of her grandfather's employees, steamship pilot James Sackett.

This is the third book of a series, but the first that I read. I think it might be wise to read them in order, so you get to know the Ballantyne family better before you dive right into it with Rowena in this novel. But, despite that, I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. It had a hint of a 19th century classic with Laura Frantz' lovely lyrical writing style and Rowena as a typical 'classic' heroine trying to find her place in the world.

Kim Vogel Sawyer – What once was lost 3,5/5
At the end of the 19th century, Christina Williams manages a poor house in rural Kansas. She loves helping the people who count on her leadership. But then a fire leaves the house uninhabitable. Christina is able to find a temporary place for all the inhabitants, but feels her mission slip away when 'her' people start building new lives and stop needing her. And then there's the fire, which doesn't seem like an accident after all and the mission, who doesn't want to sent Christina money to rebuild the poor house.

I can always trust Kim Vogel Sawyer to write a nice historic novel. Nothing to deep or profound, but with interesting settings nonetheless. What once was lost was one of those stories, and even a cut above the average Vogel Sawyer because of the many interesting side stories. Although I could relate to her, I was a bit annoyed by the heroine Christina at times, by how certain she was of how other people's lifes should be.

Dana Bate – A second bite at the apple 3,5/5
Sydney Strauss always wanted to be in food journalism. So when she is let go from her 'second-best' job in prime-time television, it seems like the perfect opportunity to find the career she really wants. But this proves harder than she thought and Sydney finds herself working at a Farmer's Market stand to earn her keep. Then Sydney gets whiff of a scandal and writing about this could land her her dream-job. But it might also cost her her relationship and her reputation.

I requested this novel on a whim from NetGalley. I'm not sorry I did, though it won't become a top favourite. I'm quite fond of books revolving around food. Sydney was easy to relate to with her insecurity and search for 'what to do' with her life. I really liked her blossoming relationship with Jeremy and the message of giving people second chances, though I was annoyed by the very casual attitude to sex this book had. But, that's 2015 culture for you. Why I gave the book 'only' 3,5 stars was because Sydney was so naïve in breaking the big scandal. How could she ever have thought that would work out? Multiple times I wanted to shout at my book: 'Don't do it!' Also, there was a scene at the end of the book which felt completely over the top and would be more at home in a slapstick movie.

Lisa Wingate – Larkspur Cove 4/5
Andrea Henderson is trying to start over after her painfull divorce. She lives in her family's holiday home on Moses Lake and has found a job as a social worker. When a little girl is found living in the backwoods in poverty, Andrea has to solve this situation with the help of the infuriating game warden Mart McClendon.

I have a bit of a difficult relationship with contemporary Christian fiction. It's been quite a while since I found an author in this genre I'm not dissapointed in. A blogger who I know has similar reading tastes to myself mentioned how fond she was of Lisa Wingate, so I decided to give her books a try. And I'm glad I did, because I really liked Larkspur Cove. It all felt very real, not romanticized like in so many books of this genre. And still there was hope, it wasn't all bleak either! There were touches of faith, but they were not overwhelming, but felt fitting to the story. I liked the setting, the descriptions of nature where very evocative and really made me feel as if I knew Moses Lake. And I loved Mart, he was a great hero, one of the most realistic I've read in Christian fiction for quite a while.

Books read in March: 4
Books read in 2015: 13