Archives

The Words We Lost by Nicole Deese

Apr23

United By Love

The Words We Lost by Nicole Deese is a most beautiful contemporary Christian novel that I just could not putdown. It is A Fog Harbor Romance book.

There are some books that just speak to your soul, and this is one such book. It is a book about friendship, love and loss. The grief found within its’ pages is palpable. “Postponing grief may not be the healthy approach… but sometimes it feels the only approach a person can handle.” This is a grief that paralyses, consumes and is obviously, never ending. “There are no winners in grief – only survivors.”

There are two huge losses within the novel – her father and her friend. “She carried his [dad] absence with her everywhere she went.” There is no recovery program for loss. One just has to navigate the best that we can.

There are two stories within the book – present day, and earlier in the form of a manuscript telling the tale of three friends. It is a gift from beyond the grave. Secrets have been kept in order to protect. Now the truth needs to come to light. We release the burden that has been carried. “Practice letting go of the guilt that’s not ours to hold on to.” Guilt will sink us if we do not surrender it.

God walks beside us in our grief, whether we ‘feel’ Him or not. He is there. She hoped “for a miracle from a God I so desperately wanted to believe had heard my prayers.” God always hears our prayers but doesn’t always answer in the way we want Him to. It is at these times that we have to cling to God and believe that He is good even when life isn’t. “I’m simply trying to focus on having faith enough for today.”

Continue reading →

The Sicilian Inheritance by Jo Piazza

Apr5

Intertwining Lives

The Sicilian Inheritance by Jo Piazza is an enthralling dual timeline novel that I just could not put down.

The action is set in present day and from 1908-1925. We begin in America and travel to Sicily in present day and backwards through the years as a character searches for the truth as to what happened to her Great Grandmother. Stories have traveled down the years. But what is the truth? We all need to know where we come from.

This is a book about the roles of women. In both time periods, men like to think they are in charge as they bully those around them… but the women have a tough inner core, and prove to be resourceful.

As we, and a character in present day, uncover the Great Grandmother’s story, we find a woman ahead of her times. She is very intelligent and has been held back by the conventions of the time. Women, with knowledge about medicinal herbs, were often seen as witches and shunned. They were, in fact, healers and often proved to be life-savers to those who came to them for help.

Continue reading →

A Letter From Italy by Rose Alexander

Mar28

Searching

A Letter From Italy by Rose Alexander is a marvellous dual timeline novel that totally consumed me.

The action is set during World War II in both Yorkshire and Italy, and also on the south coast in 1972. Each chapter alternates with the time periods as the reader connects the dots.

A shock surprise, following her mother’s death, totally rocks a young woman’s world. All she thought she knew about herself and her family is shaken to the core as the foundations of her life wobble. She seeks answers, as she searches for her identity. The search takes her first to London, and then to Italy.

During World War II we start off in Yorkshire as we follow a young telephonist until her papers, at aged twenty, see her sign up and posted to Italy.

Also, in Yorkshire we meet an Italian POW based at Eden camp. The locals realise that the young Italian men are no different from themselves, they just want to see the end of the war. Once Italy joins the Allies, the young man joins the partisans in Italy.

Continue reading →

The Vanishing At Castle Moreau by Jaime Jo Wright

Mar26

All The Broken Pieces

The Vanishing At Castle Moreau by Jaime Jo Wright is a fabulous dual timeline novel that totally consumed me. I always love Jaime Jo Wright’s books. They entertain me and always leave me wanting more.

The action is set in present day, 1870 and 1801. We slip seamlessly between the three periods. 1870 and present day have parallel action and themes. 1801 sets the scene.

Castle Moreau has been in a family for a couple of centuries. It has always had an air of mystery. It is a place of foreboding that the locals avoid. What goes on behind closed doors, remains there. Secrets are contained within the very bricks and mortar.

We see the bonds between grandparents and their grandchildren. The bonds are there to protect and to nurture.

There is the theme of nature versus nurture. Are we destined to repeat the sins of our ancestors? If they were monsters, do we have monsters lurking within?

Continue reading →