Archive | June 2017

At Therapy’s End by Susie Flashman Jarvis

Healing Balm

At Therapy’s End by Susie Flashman Jarvis is a very beautiful and moving contemporary Christian novel. It deals with loss – a loss that deeply affects the whole family. The years pass by but all members remain locked seven years earlier, the pain is too deep and the guilt weighs too heavy to move forwards. “The grief was so huge and the trauma so awful that there was no way he could reach her.” No one could move forward from the loss. “They were both locked in their own version of the past.”

The novel is told in the third person from three different points of view. The reader becomes intimately acquainted with all family members and can understand their pain and their guilt. Everyone copes in whatever they can, clinging to the past in deep isolation.

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The Road To Paradise by Karen Barnett

One At A Time

The Road To Paradise by Karen Barnett is an absolutely wonderful Christian historical novel. It is the first book in the Vintage National Parks series and I cannot wait for the subsequent books.

Set in 1927, the reader is transported to a bygone age. Life is supposed to be simpler but the old enemies of the lust for money and power still ruled men’s hearts. “We must fight to protect it from unscrupulous forces that would simply develop the land for the sake of the mighty dollar.” In contrast there are pure characters who wish to preserve the land and its natural beauty for subsequent generations. Their joy and raison d’etre is to be found in the natural and not the power houses of Washington.

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One Way Ticket by Rachel Hargrove

Entertaining And Predictable

One Way Ticket by Rachel Hargrove is a contemporary murder mystery and the first book in the Detective Julia Sawyer series.

The story had all the traditional elements of a murder mystery – an off duty detective, mounting bodies, a train journey and a murderer on the loose! It was a quick little read that certainly had me guessing.

There were also elements of Miss Marple to it, as an elderly woman both pestered a policeman and took it on herself to become an amateur sleuth.

An entertaining way to wile away an hour.

I received this book for free. A favourable review was not required and all views expressed are my own.

JULIA WILSON

 

 

The Cherished Quilt by Amy Clipston

Finding Your Calling

The Cherished Quilt by Amy Clipston is a delightful contemporary Amish romance. It is the third book in the Amish Heirloom series but can be read as a stand-alone.

The main themes of the novel are guilt and grief. They are heavy burdens to carry and were never meant for us alone. “I’m tired of carrying this burden around… I… need a friend who will listen to me.” As well as friends, we also need God but in our grief, we may pull away from Him. “If only he remembered how to pray. His ability to talk to God had died the day Gabriel was killed.” God longs for us to return to Him.

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