If you enjoy historical fiction, C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien & the Inklings, 1940s England, or Arthurian legend, you just might like this new book. I enjoy everything on this list, surprise, surprise. (When I recently told a friend about my interest in ethnomusicology, she said she wasn't surprised because, in her words, "you're interested in everything!" Ha! It's a blessing and a curse, let me tell you!) So anyway, I guess I don't really need to say how happy I'd be find a copy of this book someday.
Showing posts with label Christian Fiction. Show all posts
I loved this fun interview with Rachel Hauck, the author of Dining with Joy, which I finished reading last week:
Description: Joy Ballard has a secret: she's a cooking show host who can't really cook.
When her South Carolina-based cooking show, Dining With Joy, is picked up by a major network, Joy Ballard's world heats up like a lowcountry boil.
Joy needs help. Then she meets chef Luke Davis who moved to Beaufort after losing his Manhattan restaurant. A cook at the Frogmore Cafe, he’s paying debts and longing to regain his reputation in the elite foodie world.
Luke and Joy mix like oil and water…until Joy is exposed on national television. With her career and his reputation both under fire, they’ll have to work together to fix the mess. Is it possible that they can learn to feast on God’s love and dine with joy?
Yes, Dining With Joy is a lighthearted and humerous romance, and yes, it's about food which automatically makes it fabulous because I'm a foodie-wanna-be. But this time it's the deeper themes that really stood out. This book came at the right time for me, because I relate to a couple big things about the main characters, Joy and Luke. Both have loving yet imperfect relationships with their parents, and both come face-to-face with their parents' mortality. Joy is close with her Mom and she's struggling to find closure on the troubled relationship she had with her now-deceased Dad. Meanwhile, Luke's Mom passed away years ago, and his Dad faces a serious health crisis. My Dad is somewhere in between, diagnosed with a terminal illness while we've watched bits and pieces of him die for the last six years. The book didn't really delve into the grief I feel for my Dad, but the affection between parents and their grown-up children still seemed quite tender and nicely accented in the story.
But the most palpable struggle in this story, for me, was Joy's haphazard career path which she almost stumbled onto by accident. It wasn't in her plans, but she adapted to it nonetheless. It was originally her Dad's small 'empire' so to speak, but when he suffered a fatal heart attack his dying wish was for Joy to save it. Out of her love for him she sacrificed her dreams and her reputation to keep his wish alive. (I related to this quite a bit, given the dreams I've let go or postponed for the sake of my Dad's well-being.) But time after time Joy is haunted by the disconcerting sense that she's drifting aimlessly in life. (Very much like me.) She's also nagged by periodic reminders of her true passion, which is to write. (Also like me.) But she despairs that at the end of her 20s she's too old to start a new career. (You guessed it.) I began to look forward to the way Ms. Hauck would shape Joy's journey toward a meaningful career, and the ending really did give me a better perspective on my own recent decision to pursue a writing-related path.
On another note, the spiritual themes in the book felt very easy-going, as opposed to Christian novels that are more heavy-handed with these things. But in Dining With Joy there's no force-fed gospel message. Joy is just your average already-Christian girl facing average single-young-woman challenges. The author's expression of her faith feels natural, honest and relaxed, and that's what I hope to find in the Christian fiction I read.
Anyways, there's always more I could say, but these are the things that mattered the most to me personally. I enjoyed Dining With Joy and recommend it to fiction lovers, whether or not you're foodie, or a wanna-be like me. Rating: 4/5
A complimentary copy of "Dining With Joy" was provided to me by Booksneeze as part of the blogger review program. My thanks to Thomas Nelson for giving me this opportunity.
Stephen Lawhead gives a convincing argument for placing Robin Hood in Welsh country, as opposed to the much more familiar Sherwood Forest. I've been drawn to Welsh history ever since I watched Sir Derek Jacobi play a medieval monk in the Cadfael mystery series, so Robin Hood's relocation to that time and place was a lot of fun for me.
In this story, Robin Hood actually goes by the name Bran. He's the reckless and self-serving son of an angry Welsh King, whose lands are about to be invaded by murderous, yet extremely religious Norman conquerors. With his father soon dead, Bran, Iwan (Little John), and many of their people flee to the forest for safety. As more Welsh kingdoms fall to the Normans, Bran struggles to find his destiny, especially as his own plans don't always coincide with the well-being of his people.
Did I find the story suspenseful? Let me answer that with another question: Was I blissfully exhausted after realizing I'd stayed up till 4am to finish the novel last night? The answer is a resounding "yes!" After really getting to know each of the major characters I was happily drawn into the drama.
The plot moved along a little slowly for part of the novel, but what was sacrificed was made up in character development. I was happy with it. And besides, there was plenty of action throughout to keep the overall story riveting. I also truly love Lawhead's descriptions in this story, especially of the landscape, the lifestyle, and the action scenes. At some points his writing seemed exquisite to me. Love love love!
I loved "Hood" and I highly recommend it. Definitely worth 5 out of 5 stars. And I can't wait to read book two in the series: "Scarlet."
--- Review ---
Dear Nancy,
This was the first book of yours I read, and it's definitely made me a fan. I feel a little sheepish admitting this, but the cover threw me off at first. In fact I almost passed on the chance to review it, because I expected a simplistic romance without much historical detail or character growth. But I picked it up anyway and I'm so glad I did! (Yes, I should've remembered that trustworthy saying about not judging books by their covers!)
What struck me at first was Lottie's fascination with Sense and Sensibility, Little Women, and Wuthering Heights, and her opinion about Charles Dickens. It felt surreal to see what a girl from 150 years ago might have said about the same classic books and authors that I've read and enjoyed. This raised my hopes that the rest of Masquerade would have more of 19th century culture and social issues woven into it, which it did. I truly love historical fiction that pulls back romanticized visions of history and sets its characters right into the heart of the gritty, multi-layered, paradoxical reality of their time period, which your book does so well. It helps me, as a Christian reader, reflect on my own complicated times where the 'right' answers and decisions are rarely as straightforward as I wish they were.
I found myself emotionally connected to Lottie and Dora, whether I was cheering for them or upset with them for making particularly immature choices, as inexperienced and idealistic young people often do. The struggles you brought Lottie and Dora through, in a way, are also not very different from the struggles young women face in our time. This is another huge strength I appreciate about Masquerade. Your characters were three-dimensional from the start because their challenges didn't only force them to survive in the world, but also to survive inner conflict. Painstakingly they struggled with God, with social norms and pressures, with their dreams, their consciences, their baggage, and their calling. I could relate! And through it all they changed and were sharpened and became more nuanced, wiser, more grounded, and deeply beautiful grown-up young women.
I was especially impressed that you chose to focus on two young people who were born into a familiarity with religion yet lacking a dynamic personal relationship with God, as so many Christian young people are today. Lottie accompanied her parents to church all her life, yet she was still in a spiritual wilderness of sorts. Her personal encounter with God probably mirrors that of many churched kids today. It's a gradual, almost snail-paced, but also very intentional splicing of our identity from our parents', realizing we've been riding their spiritual coattails, so to speak, and have to decide if we want to plant our own two feet on our own journey of faith. It's a different kind of spiritual story to find in Christian fiction, and it's definitely one that needs to be told because of how many of us can relate.
In a way I wish the end of the book hadn't been wrapped up as quickly as it was, because I wanted to know what both women, and all the men in their lives, were thinking and feeling when the last events unfolded and final decisions were made. But overall the story kept me glued to the book, and I loved it. As I wrote above, I'm a fan and I'll be keeping an eye out for your work from now on!
--- ~*~ ---
I want to express my sincere thanks to Bethany House Publishers for the opportunity to review Masquerade. I received a complimentary copy of this book from Bethany House in exchange for writing a review, and I was free to express my honest impressions of the book, whether positive or negative.
If you're interested in signing up to receive review copies from Bethany House, visit www.bethanyhouse.com/bookreviewers!
This novel is a pleasure to read, partly due to Lawhead's imaginative storytelling, and partly to his choice of interesting cultural settings. Here in Canada, our entertainment is usually presented through an American lens; so reading The Skin Map from the lead characters' British perspective was a refreshing change. Discovering colourful British slang was also part of the fun. In chapter one, for example, I spiced up my vocabulary with "skint" (having no money), "up sticks" (to relocate), "sprogs" (children) and "old-timey" (old-fashioned).
The characters are entertaining, quirky and enjoyable to watch along their journey. If I have one complaint, it would be minimal character development. The leads, namely our amateur ley travelers, don't exhibit any compelling inward struggle given the mind-bending nature of the experience--especially without a map to point the way home. Kit only begins to rise from the page in three dimensions near the story's end. The villain, meanwhile, is also not a dynamic force, as he doesn't appear to have a motive besides pure, self-serving evil.
I rate the book as 3 out of 5 stars for two reasons: 1) minimal character development, and 2) the story doesn't give me the feeling of an epic, when compared to some of Stephen Lawhead's other books. Still, I recommend "The Skin Map" to Lawhead fans and anyone else who'd enjoy an easy-to-read adventure through space and time. I look forward to the next Bright Empires novel.
A complimentary copy of "The Skin Map" was provided to me by Booksneeze as part of the blogger review program.
This is a great plot. It started a little slow, but I was hooked by chapter two, and shortly thereafter the suspense kept the book glued to my hands. I couldn't wait to know what clues (or bodies) would turn up next. Dee Henderson also opened my eyes to the politics of labour negotiations, the cutthroat business of illicit drugs, and the thankless job of fighting crime. I was a fascinated student from beginning to end.
They say conflict keeps a story moving, but it was Rae, Bruce and Nathan's gentle friendships, with relaxed dialogue and realistically-paced personal growth, that drew me in. Dee fashioned the characters as normal people with challenging relationships, troubled pasts, and tough questions about God, making the story reminiscent of real life without feeling mundane.
Some of the book's spiritual questions are left open, allowing readers to pursue their own answers about God's sovereignty in the midst of tragic circumstances. Some questions are too complex to ask and answer in a single book, and I'm grateful when Christian fiction acknowledges this.
The only point on which I'm left wanting is the romantic tension between Rae and the two men. Attraction is clearly alluded to throughout the novel, but the characters seem slightly too passive and the story-telling feels too ambiguous on this dimension. I also wonder why Nathan's parents aren't more involved in the conflict between him and his grandfather, but that's a minor point. Overall, I felt inspired by the characters' relationships.
Some people like ratings, so I'll give Before I Wake a solid 4 out of 5, and I gladly recommend it.
Note: This review is not part of a blog review program.
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