Archives

Wildflower Haven by Lin Stepp

Mar7

Not ‘Either’/’Or’ – But Both

Wildflower Haven by Lin Stepp is a very beautiful contemporary Christian novel that I loved and read it in just two sittings. It is part of A Mountain Home series and can be read as a stand-alone.

Here, the reader is submerged in nature. We see the beauty in the flora and fauna, as well as the fruits, berries and bees. Lin Stepp educates the reader as there is a vast amount of plant, bees and location knowledge. The author ‘paints’ the scenery in a myriad of colours. “The world around us is charged with the grandeur of God.” There is nothing quite so beautiful as God’s handiwork.

The worlds of a botanist and a teacher collide. Both enjoy the natural – one is preserving it for generations to come. The other is educating the next generation so that they can look after planet earth.

We witness faith growing in the heart of the one who had put science above his need for God. He moves from being vaguely aware, to having a heart that knows God. Along the way, people have educated him about God as the designer of our world. “The grace of faith illuminates not only things that are spiritual but things that are natural.”

There is the debate of faith or science – we see that it is not an ‘either’/’or’ but it is both existing in harmony. “Many of the greatest scientists… were strong men and women of faith.” We are introduced to some of these within the novel.

Science tells us ‘How.’ Faith tells us ‘Who.’ “Faith enhanced their [scientists’] scientific studies, ideas and discoveries.” Behind everything that is created, there is a Creator.

Continue reading →

What Happens Next by Christina Suzann Nelson

Feb20

Heartbreakingly Beautiful

What Happens Next by Christina Suzann Nelson is a most beautiful and heartbreaking Christian dual timeline novel that consumed me from the start. I never wanted it to end.

The action is set in 1987 and then thirty-five years later. We hear the events in the third person from several different points of view. We get to know the characters intimately from ten-year-old Heather in 1987 to her best friend and her mother thirty-five years later. It is love and memories which link the lives.

Since 1987 Heather has been missing. Her mother has been unable to grieve as she is keeping hope alive. “Hope was life-giving… Could she survive without hope?”

The loss has torn the family apart. The love of God and each other is the glue needed to help them all to live again. We hear “she’d turned her back on God… But that didn’t stop Him from being there, still waiting on His lost child.” God, our Father lovingly awaits the prodigal returning home.

Heather’s mother, Dora, held everyone at arm’s length since her daughter’s disappearance. “Her heart battled to keep a barrier between herself and the kind of love that could end in devastating loss.” To love and to lose hurts too much to do again, so it is easier to wall up a heart. “The world kept spinning, no matter how much Dora needed it to stop.” We can never fathom why life continues when our hearts are broken.

Continue reading →

The Best Summer Of Our Lives by Rachel Hauck

Feb11

Coming Home

The Best Summer Of Our Lives by Rachel Hauck is the most beautiful Christian dual timeline novel that I savoured and never wanted to end.

This is a book about friendship. It is a coming-of-age novel. It is about love, which is the glue that binds people together. We see four eighteen-year-olds as they are determined to have the best summer of their lives. After a prank gone wrong, they find themselves as councillors in a summer camp for eleven-year-old girls. “What if the best summer of our lives isn’t about parties or shopping… but giving these girls a summer they’ll never forget.” It is a summer that will be pivotal. Lives will be shattered and new paths forged but the summer of 1977 will be in the minds of them all. “8 weeks, 8 Saturdays, and the summer of ’77 still defined her.” Everything hung on that summer. For the friends, and the reader, there is a gap of twenty years before the tale resumes in 1997.

The novel is written in the two alternating time periods and in four different voices. The teens are all easy to empathise with, easy to picture, and they all lodged in my heart.

Rachel Hauck includes a real-life murder event that rocks the girl’s world as the camp goes on lockdown for the summer in order to protect the innocent. They must all look out for each other. The reader can ‘feel’ the fear and apprehension.

All four teens are carrying secrets that are burdening them down. They need to open their hearts to each other, no matter what the consequences.

We all need God, whether we recognise it or not. There are some beautiful scenes with The Preacher. We see that He calls us each by name – will we answer His call? “ ‘You feel like you’ve been in a desert.’ She turned at the sound of His voice. The Preacher walked towards her… Part of your journey is to draw you to Me.” Jesus waits patiently for us to answer His call.

There is a beautiful moment when a character asks why there are so many empty chairs in the large tent. “Hundreds of empty chairs, waiting for the hurting, the sick and the lost, the broken to come.” God calls us to come just as we are.

Continue reading →

Yesterday’s Tides by Roseanna M White

Jan28

God’s Faithfulness

Yesterday’s Tides by Roseanna M White is a powerful dual timeline novel that I thoroughly enjoyed.

The action is set during both world wars, and is linked by the generations of a family. The chapters alternate between the two time periods. Much of the action is set on Ocracoke, a small American island.

All the characters were well drawn and believable. I loved the fact that there were cameo appearances of characters from other Roseanna M White’s books. This added to the feeling a familiarity for the reader.

Lies and suspicion happens within a family as well as during times of war. Characters in both time periods are cruelly treated and time with children is snatched away. As is the time with a spouse.

There is the theme of forgiveness. When there is much to forgive, it does not come easy – but forgiveness is a s much for the welfare of the giver, as it is for the receiver.

There are several generations of strong women. They have had to rise above their circumstances. They are overcomers. The reader’s heart breaks for the abused wife who tells her small daughter: “You hear him [her father] coming, and you run, baby girl. You run to Lulu and spend the night with her.”

Many of the women have grown up under the Jim Crow laws, shunned because of their skin colour. The prejudices remain. The women are so much more than the colour of their skin. They are hardworking, and full of goodness, serving others where they can.

Continue reading →