Summer At Rachel’s Pudding Pantry by Caroline Roberts

Jul31

Delightful

Summer At Rachel’s Pudding Pantry by Caroline Roberts is the most delightful contemporary novel that will leave you smiling and feeling good. This was my third visit to the pudding pantry and I have loved all my visits. It was so good to catch up with old friends.

All the characters are wonderfully drawn. The reader feels welcomed into the story as we, along with the characters, bond over food. Once more Caroline Roberts has included recipes for you to salivate over and have a go yourself.

Summer is in full swing as the whole community looks forward to Rachel and Tom’s wedding. With comprehensive descriptions from Caroline Roberts we can ‘see’ the preparations.

Continue reading →

Piece By Piece by Laura Bradford

Jul31

Always

Piece By Piece by Laura Bradford is the most beautiful contemporary novel about love and loss. You will definitely need tissues.

Love does not die when we lose someone. Love remains for all eternity. When we love deeply, we hurt deeply. The novel shows just how painful grief is. It reveals the stages of grief from tears to anger to acceptance. We need support and time to learn to live again.

There is guilt. “Guilt over being the one still alive.” There is guilt associated with beginning to laugh again.

The reader feels the despair over loss, as we constantly run a ‘do-over- in our heads. There are things we wish we’d done and things we wish we had not done.

Continue reading →

The Neighborly Thing by Wanda Brunstetter

Jul29

Healing

The Neighborly Thing by Wanda Brunstetter is a charming contemporary Christian novel and part of A Heart Warming Romance Collection. It is the second book in the Washington series.

Over the whole novel there is an atmosphere of love and care. One of the characters repairs dolls for a living. This reminds the reader that when we are broken and hurting, God tenderly bends down and heals us if we let him.

Some people who go to church misrepresent God. They are like the Pharisees who liked to be seen to be being religious but the behaviour in private was a different matter. Going to church will not make you a Christian. It is a relationship with God that is important.

Continue reading →

In Spite Of Ourselves by Jennifer Rodewald

Jul28

Messes Into Masterpieces

In Spite Of Ourselves by Jennifer Rodewald is a most delightful Christian contemporary novel about the power of love. It is part of the Potter’s house series and book two in the Murphy Brothers series but can be read as a stand-alone.

The central theme is about love – learning to love like God, learning to give and receive love. A life starved of love is just a half-life. Not everyone who loves has a motive behind their love. The novel shows how we are loved unconditionally for just who we are.

Sometimes we need to break out from the lessons of our upbringing. Our childhood shapes the adult we become but sometimes we have learnt the wrong lessons. A character has been taught to be independent, that love is not needed, to be strong is to live emotionally isolated. This is flawed thinking. We need others. We need love and we need God.

Continue reading →