Archive | January 2020

After You by Jojo Moyes

Jan31

Learning To Live Again

After You by Jojo Moyes is a contemporary novel about learning to live through loss. It follows on from Me Before You as the reader sees how Lou learns to live again.

Loss consumes and dominates. “Losing him was like having a hole shot straight through me, a painful, constant remainder, an absence I could never fill.” Lou refers to herself as a ‘doughnut’ and she wants to be a ‘bun’ to be whole again. When we lose someone we have to wade through the hurt we feel. “I’ve been waiting to feel normal again.” Normal as we know it has gone. We must learn how to adapt and live a ‘new normal.’

The reader witnesses a support group for the bereaved through Lou’s eyes. We see there is no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ way to grieve. We just have to do what we can to cope.

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Promised Land by Robert Whitlow

Jan31

Thrilling

Promised Land by Robert Whitlow is a marvellous contemporary Christian suspense that will totally consume the reader. It is the second book in the Chosen People series but can be read as a stand-alone.

The action is fast paced and thrilling. It concerns the CIA, Mossad and the sensitive relations between the Arabs and the Israelis. The situation in the Middle East is volatile as questions of trust arise. Due to the comprehensive descriptions the reader can almost ‘feel’ the hot, sandy atmosphere tinged with suspicion. The location comes to life.

In contrast there is a slightly calmer atmosphere in America but there is still the question of homeland security.

Family is important. New lives springing up as well as families expanding with new relations. Children, their well-being and happiness are at the heart as past traumas begin to heal.

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Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

Jan29

Regenerating Happiness

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes is the most beautiful contemporary novel about love and life. It made me laugh out loud and it made me cry. It is a book that will stay with me forever.

Love when it strikes, strikes hard. It consumes. It goes down deep and it is beautiful. With love comes choices, choices as to how we act, feel and live. We have to decide whether to hang on tight or whether we love enough to let go. However we love we need to do it well.

The novel is about two lives that seem poles apart – privilege versus poverty, health versus ill health, existing versus truly living. In Me Before You the reader sees a character bud, blossom and bloom as they learn how to really live life. A closed existence becomes a much more open one. We have one life and we need to live it.

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Broken Promises by Melody Carlson

Jan26

Not Alone

Broken Promises by Melody Carlson is a contemporary Christian novel for young girls aged nine years and above. It is the third book in the Being Zoey series.

In this series Melody Carlson tackles issues that are relevant in today’s society. In Broken Promises she presents the dynamics of female friendships. We have all been to school and suffered at the hands of other’s hate campaigns, Melody Carlson has the power in her words to send you flying back through the years, remembering just how you felt as the victim of others. Melody Carlson presents a realistic portrayal of the hurt and distress caused.

There is a wonderful two-girl friendship where the girls encourage, support and look out for each other.

The reader sees the pull of the secular to tempt us away from church. The reality is that the secular is not as good as it appears, (isn’t that just like sin, all that glitters is not gold?) whereas church is amazing, fun and safe.

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