Archive | November 2021

Sisters Behaving Badly by Maddie Please

Nov26

Really Fun

Sisters Behaving Badly by Maddie Please is a most delightful contemporary novel that made me chuckle throughout and left me smiling.

The main characters are two sisters in their sixties. Life has dealt them some hard knocks along the way. Maddie Please shows that you are never too old to have a new beginning. It is refreshing to read a book where the characters are not in the first throws of youth.

The action takes place in France as the sisters renovate their late aunt’s house. As the house is brought back to life, we see this mirrored in the two main characters. A grey Britain seemed to have knocked the stuffing out of them. In contrast, a sunny France breathes new life into the sisters.

Maddie Please has created a warm and witty novel with some highly amusing scenes which had me literally laughing out loud. Growing old does not have to mean growing up. No matter how old you are, you can still have fun in life. New possibilities and experiences are there to be grabbed.

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Where Treetops Glisten by Cara Putman, Sarah Sundin and Tricia Goyer

Nov25

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas by Tricia Goyer

Trust Him

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas by Tricia Goyer is a heartfelt historical Christian novella set in the Netherlands during Christmas 1944. It is part of the Where Treetops Glisten book.

The characters are realistically drawn and easy to empathise with. We see lives that practice sacrificial love as they help the weak and vulnerable.

The lead character is a nurse, ministering to all soldiers. “She knew this soldier was also German… With their bloody, torn uniforms cast aside, the men all appeared the same. They bled the same.” There is no place for hate in the hospital as all soldiers need love and care. We witness the strength needed to treat without bias.

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Where Treetops Glisten by Tricia Goyer, Cara Putman and Sarah Sundin

Nov25

I’ll Be Home For Christmas by Sarah Sundin

Learning To Trust

I’ll Be Home For Christmas by Sarah Sundin is a heart-warming Christian novella about trust and letting go and letting God. It is part of the collection called Where Treetops Glisten.

The story is set in America in 1943 and already there have been casualties of war. A hurting heart has been locked up but it needs freeing.

Grief consumes. There is guilt. There is anger. There is pain. Somewhere and somehow we need to learn to live again and to trust.

We can trust God. Each one of us has a God-shaped hole that only He can fill. If we try to fill it with anyone or anything that is not God, we will always be empty.

When we come to the end of ourselves, we come to the start of God. When we feel empty, we need to ask God to fill us up. “If Pete gave in faith out of his nothingness, God would replenish.” As we give of ourselves, so we are filled.

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Where Treetops Glisten by Tricia Goyer, Cara Putman and Sarah Sundin

Nov25

White Christmas by Cara Putman

Warmth On A Winters Day

White Christmas by Cara Putman is part of the three novellas that make up Where Treetops Glisten. It is a most charming historical Christian Christmas story that will warm your heart on the coldest of days.

The story is set in the autumn of 1942 in America where there have already been heartbreak and losses in World War II.

A character decides the only way to protect her heart is to wall it up but this does not protect. It risks loneliness and bitterness if all we focus on is our losses. God asks us to be a beacon and not a prison. He wants us to shine His light in a dark world at war. “God wanted her to be the light pointing to Him.”

As a heart comes back to life, we witness the huge capacity for kindness and love. Tentative baby steps at first, become bigger.

We all have our fears. We can choose to cower or we can face them. God asks us to face our fears – but never alone, for He has promised to walk beside us.

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