Archive | November 2022

Never Forget You by Fiona Lucas

Nov7

A Beautiful Love

Never Forget You by Fiona Lucas is a powerful contemporary novel about love. It is a love that just sinks into your heart and soul. It is also about grief and finding yourself.

There is a great love that is selfless and just keeps on giving. Sometimes you meet a person and you just know that they are your soulmate.

With grief comes guilt. There is a guilt about things left undone. This guilts blindfolds a soul to all the good they have done.

We see characters who have unique gifts that need nurturing and not squashing. We see that these gifts can make a soul feel really alive.

Family is important. Family loves us and sometimes knows us better than we know ourselves.

There are the difficult themes of gaslighting and love bombing. The reader recognizes these from the outset, and our heart breaks for a character. We are crying out for an already fragile soul as the person becomes even more lost.

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The Cellar by John Nichol

Nov7

Very Creepy

The Cellar by John Nicholl is a horrifying contemporary psychological crime suspense.

This is not a read for the faint-hearted. There were scenes that I had to skip over as I found the detail too much for me. I do recognize that this was for realism and some readers may prefer the gruesome details.

The plotline was well thought out and executed. The action made my heart race. As the clock was ticking down, I was hoping for a positive outcome – what happened next, I never predicted!

All the characters were well drawn and realistic. The leading lady was a mixture of physically weak but mentally strong. She was courageous in her desire for all or nothing. The perpetrator was definitely a character with a black heart whose head had been influenced in a previous line of work.

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Grace Immeasurable by Gina Holder

Nov5

A Child Of God

Grace Immeasurable by Gina Holder is a marvellous contemporary Christian crime suspense. It is the third book in the Shadows Over Whitman series but can be read as a stand-alone.

There are the dual themes of repentance and redemption. Our actions always have consequences. We always have the choice to choose our paths in life. It is never too late to choose to repent of our bad choices and to finish strong.

God is the God of restoration. He longs to restore the years the locusts have eaten. No matter what we have been facing or going through, God never leaves us to walk alone. He walks beside us. He renews and He restores. Great is His faithfulness.

We need to be careful as to the voices we are listening to. “You’re not good enough. You’ll never good enough.” This is a lie from the enemy. We need to listen to the life-affirming voice of God who says we are enough and we are loved.

A character is crumbling under lack of self-worth. “Why did God create someone like me? I’m such a mess … I just want to be loved. I just want to be seen.” The character needs to see the face in the mirror just the way God sees it. God sees us as priceless. He paid for us with the blood of Jesus. We are children of God.

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The 3am Shattered Mums Club by Nina Manning

Nov5

A Network Of Care

The 3am Shattered Mums Club by Nina Manning is a charming contemporary novel that had me captivated from the start.

An eclectic mix of new mums were very easy to empathise with. Although it is nearly thirty years since I had my youngest, I was immediately transported back to the early days of motherhood!

3am is definitely the loneliest hour when everyone else in the whole world seems to be sleeping. It is a brilliant idea to set up a WhatsApp group in order to connect with others who are awake at that time.

Being a new mum is not always a bed of roses. Bodies need time to recover but babies are high maintenance. I found the problems faced by the new mums were universal – tiredness, leaking milk, soreness etc. It always helps to talk with others who are in the same boat.

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