Archive | September 2015

Reclaimed by Jennifer Rodewald

Sep25

Religion or Relationship?

reclaimedReclaimed by Jennifer Rodewald is an amazing read. Only the second novel by this author, but I am sure it will not be long before Jennifer Rodewald is a household name.

Following the death of her father, Suzanna moves into his ranch. She is still mourning the death of her husband Jason two years earlier. Suzanna is afraid to love because to love is to open oneself up to potential loss and pain.

Paul is Suzanna’s nearest neighbour, a mile or so down the road. He views her as an injured puppy who needs healing. He wants to know what in her past has hurt her so badly that she shrinks from company. Suzanna will ‘snap’ out of fear, which doesn’t win her friends easily.

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Hungry For Home by Brenda Anderson

Sep19

Searching To Belong

Hungry-for-HomeHungry For Home by Brenda Anderson is the third and final book in the Coming Home series. It can also be read as a stand-alone. It was a cracking end to the series, and a very compulsive read. I felt like I was saying goodbye to dear friends as opposed to finishing a novel.

Brenda Anderson clearly demonstrates her passion for some of today’s teenager’s problems. The novel deals with the themes of teenage homelessness which may lead to crime for desperate and hungry youngsters. As well as teenage pregnancy and the resulting pressures and problems that are associated with that. She opens the eyes of the reader to these needs in society which pricks ones conscience as the reader wonders what they can do to help.

Hungry For Home also deals with the theme of families. Some people are fortunate to be born into a loving family, others are not. Various problems may exist within blood families, but a family does not have to be made up of blood relatives. A family can be made up of people who love each other, care for each other, and who open up their homes and their hearts to others. Brenda Anderson shows families within the novel reaching out and offering grace to people who at first glance may seem undeserving. Within God’s family we are all offered grace, and as members of God’s family we are to never judge one another but we must dispense love and grace at all times. No-one is more or less deserving than anyone else. We are all equal.

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Sophie’s Bakery For The Broken Hearted by Lolly Winston

Sep15

A Study of Grief and Survival

Sophies Bakery For The Broken HeartedSophie’s Bakery For The Broken Hearted by Lolly Winston follows a year in the life of newly widowed thirty six year old Sophie Stanton. You may think at first that this will be a gloomy novel, but far from it. There were moments in the book when I literally laughed out loud.

Lolly Winston has written a very sensitive, moving and realistic novel, and it was easy to empathise with Sophie.

Sophie had been married to Ethan for just three years when he died from cancer. Her mother had been killed when Sophie was a teenager. She has no children and feels alone in the world. Life holds no purpose for her. The reader follows Sophie during those painful first twelve months as she tries everything to fill the empty void. Sophie journeys from raw grief to acceptance.

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Book Review: How To Make Victoria Sponge by Margaret Kazmierczak

Sep11

Beautiful And Life Changing

How To Make Victoria Sponge 2As soon as the first page is read, you can usually tell if you are going to like a book. I read the first page of How To Make Victoria Sponge: a journey of faith  by Margaret Kazmierczak, and I knew that I was going to love the book.

Victoria Sponge is a wife, daughter and mother to four children. She lives an ordinary life, and shares just one week in the book. The book is split into chapters, one for each day. Each day is split into morning, afternoon, evening and night.

The novel is written in the first person from the perspective of Victoria Sponge. It is a very clever book, with each part of the narrative divided into present action, Victoria’s prayers and God’s words to her. These are all very clear as each is shown by a different print. The whole novel flows perfectly, and leaves the reader with a feeling of calm and great beauty.

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