'Beauty for Ashes' - review

'Beauty for Ashes', by Dorothy Love, tells the story of Carrie, a woman living in post-Civil War Tennessee. Carrie has big adjustments to make in her life when her beloved brother Henry marries. He brings his wife and her 2 sons to the home that he and Carrie had previously shared since the death of their parents. Of course, the main plot of the book revolves around the handsome stranger, Griff Ruttledge, who comes to town. Carrie somehow falls in love with Griff almost as soon as they've met, despite Carrie having a long-running 'understanding' with the local bookstore owner. 

I found this book a little sweet and charming, but I have to say that I was not excited by the quality of writing. I found the character development lacking, the plot lines predictable and unbelievable, and even the mentions of Carrie's faith in God lacklustre and uninspiring. If you're someone who loves a good romance novel for the 'happily ever after' at the end, you may enjoy this book. However, for me, I appreciate exceptional writing in any genre more than the happy ending in a romance novel, so 'Beauty for Ashes' didn't really grab me. 

Another comment I'd like to make is about historical fiction. Often I enjoy an historical romance novel, even just for the fact that I learn a little more of the era and get a feel for the atmosphere of the time. 'Beauty for Ashes' didn't really teach me much at all. Maybe because I'm an Aussie I don't have enough prior knowledge about the civil war in general...but it's hard to really lose yourself in a book when you can't get a feel for the time and place of the story. 

I would rate 'Beauty for Ashes' 2 out of 5 stars. Despite its shortcomings, I still managed to get to the end OK, so it deserves more than 1 star. 

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://BookSneeze®.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

"my seventh monsoon"

Naomi Reed is a physiotherapist/missionary turned author.  "my seventh monsoon" is the story of her and her family's missionary journey. She describes a little of her childhood, and conversion to christianity, and the events the led her and her husband to be serving as missionaries in Nepal with International Nepal Fellowship.  The book also describes an extended furlough period, where they dealt together with multiple pregnancy losses, the potentially fatal health problems of her husband, and the accident that crippled her father. After this time, and with 3 children in tow, they ended up in Nepal for a further term, when she clocks up monsoon number seven.

I found this book to be quite unlike any missionary biography I had read to date.  Reed describes many of events and circumstances that they went through, but not in the standard 'show and tell' manner that many of this style of biography use.  She uses the Ecclesiastes passage about seasons to interpret the many things that they experienced.  She then draws parallels that any reader could relate to and learn from; observations about how we all go through 'seasons' in our relationship with God.

I enjoyed this book immensely.  Reed's way of putting words together to evoke powerful images and emotions, together with her explorations of season of faith, made for an excellent read.  I hope to read the sequel "No Ordinary View" very soon!

"I am David"

 I picked up this one, mainly because I have seen it used in the library at school - for the Grade 6's reading list, I think. 

"I am David", written by Anne Holm, tells the story of a boy who escapes from a war time camp.  He has no memories of the outside world, so must learn many new things while he fends for himself as he makes his way through much of Europe.

I found the internal monologue of David to be really fascinating.  The author has done a wonderful job of articulating some very profound thoughts from David that help him to decide on his actions.  He thinks through things like "What makes a person truly free?" and "In what way am I responsible for my own action?"  Holm still gives these thought processes with a child-like quality, which is quite enchanting to read. 

I would gauge the book ideally to be for an audience of 9 to 13 years old.  Of course, not only that age, I'm in my 30's and I enjoyed a great deal. I must say, I found the lack of details [we are never told where the camp was] to be a little frustrating.  And the plausibility stretched a little thin in places [he travels through Greece, Italy, Switzerland, Germany and Denmark, but never a single mention of the war!].  But I would think to a child audience, this lack of context would not be very worrying.

I will certainly be strongly encouraging my kids to read this, I think it's a great one for them.

"Between Sundays"

I'm not sure just how to sum up my impressions of "Between Sundays".  On the one hand it had so many plot cliches, really I could predict much of the ending after just reading the blurb.  And because I am an Aussie, all the football references and the whole NFL culture was really wasted on me.  

But then again, Karen Kingsbury's quality writing kept me wanting to get to the end.  So much so that I locked myself in my room to finish the final few chapters.  I would compare the experience to watching a sweet romance movie - even though you know how it's going to end, it's still pleasant enough to finish it anyway! 

I have enjoyed my little Kingsbury fest, but I will be happy to move on to something new next.

"Ocean's Apart"

This is not the first Karen Kingsbury novel I've read, so I was anticipating a pleasant and easy read - just how it turned out.

"Ocean's Apart" tells the story of Connor Evans, airline pilot, and his family.  A woman he had a one night stand with years ago dies in a plane crash, and the novel tells of the events that follow as he has to take responsibility for his actions.  He meets and quickly adores the son he never knew about, and in typical Kingsbury style, his family eventually forgives him and adopts the boy.

Despite predicting the ending from quite early on in the piece, this was still an enjoyable read.  Nothing genius about the plot, but the writing is engaging enough to keep you wanting to continue.  Great for relaxing over the Christmas holiday!

“The book that made your world”

“The book that made your world”, by Vishal Mangalwadi, describes how the bible and its values have shaped the way we see our world today.  It is thoughtful, discussing the more profound values in any culture, for example, what characteristics make a “hero”, views on education, views on truth and being, and the use and value of  literature.  I really liked and learnt from Mangalwadi’s long-term view of history, going back to the middles ages and earlier, to really get a broad overview of how today came to be as it is.  Mangalwadi also writes from an Indian perspective, giving examples from India’s past that underscore his point.

I have to be honest and admit that reading this book was a struggle at times.  It was very long, with quite complex ideas presented.  To me, it had the tone of a very scholarly discussion, more of a textbook that one might refer to when writing a university paper.  I felt that if I had a little more knowledge of church history or Indian culture I would have ploughed through it a little easier.  I am also really not in a stage of life to be reading scholarly tomes; I need a quick easy read, so this one was just not right for me.

Despite this book not being suited to my preferences, I still give it 4 stars for being a well written and insightful read. I would recommend it to confident and experienced readers who love an intellectual discussion.

The complimentary copy of this book was provided to me by the Thomas Nelson Booksneeze program in exchange for an impartial review.

Movie Review - "The Way Home"

Great production, not-so-great plot...

“The Way Home” is a movie billed as the inspirational story of  a family in crisis.  Randy Simpkins is a man who is obviously dedicated to his work, but one day while preparing for a family holiday, he allows himself to become distracted instead of watching his son.  The movie follows the consequences of this momentary distraction.

I was impressed with the quality of this movie.  The production and acting were good enough to be invisible and let the story speak for itself.  Unfortunately I couldn’t see enough in this story to warrant the making of an entire movie.  I felt it was a story that was far from unique, and hence a little boring.  At the end of the movie, there is some written information telling the viewer that Randy Simpkins changed his life around quite dramatically from this day forward.  I must suppose that this is the inspiration that prompted the movie-makers to go with this story.  But from my point of view that movie didn’t portray the powerful nature of such a life change.  Maybe if we had seen a wider period of time instead of just one day this might have been achieved?

I still rate this movie 3 stars for the great acting and production.

I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”