Tag Archive | Michele Olson

Being Alice: In A World Lost In The Looking Glass by Michele Olson

May18

A New Beginning

Being Alice: In A World Lost In The Looking Glass by Michele Olson is a very charming Christian historical novel set in 1981 on Mackinac Island. It is the third book in the Mackinac Island series but can be read as a stand-alone.

I am enjoying reading this series in order as each book is set in the following year, starting in 1979. The reader knows the back story to the characters. Each book focuses on a new leading couple.

This is a book that tells the reader the importance of knowing Jesus and how to draw near to Him. “Their experience is not about religion, but about relationship.” Jesus is not interested in knowing how well we can follow rules. He just wants us to let Him into out hearts. “He [Jesus] asks everyone to come as you are.” We do not need to change and then come to Jesus. We need to come to Jesus and then change will follow.

We all have a Jesus-shaped hole in our heart that only He can fill. “No person can ever fill up that hole in the heart.” Stuff will never satisfy. Only Jesus satisfies.

When we know Jesus, we want to live lives that reflect His heart. “Act like people who follow Jesus and practice kindness and love in our lives.” People will be drawn to Jesus by watching how we live.

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Being Dorothy: In A World Longing For Home by Michele Olson

May1

Coming Home

Being Dorothy: In A World Longing For Home by Michele Olson is a most delightful Christian tale. It is the second book in the Mackinac Island Stories but can be read as a stand-alone. I would recommend reading book one first for character continuity and progression.

Once more, the reader journeys to the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island. The year is 1980 and there are references to the filming of the movie Somewhere In Time in 1979 (one of my favourite movies of all time), which was the focus of book one. We meet Piper and Cam, the leading characters in the first book.

In Being Dorothy, the focus is on another couple, Gideon and Dorothy. They are special agents running from an unknown threat, and have a marriage that is in trouble.

The couple do not know God. They have been running from Him but God is relentless in His pursuit of His children.

God uses people to accomplish His will. We need to have lives that are in tune with Him. “Thank you, Piper, for your boldness… I felt the nudge.” Sometimes God will ask us to do things that requires us to step out in faith, in order to help others in their faith walk. When God says ‘do it!’ Do not question, just do it! The fate of others may rely on our faithfulness.

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Being Ethel: In A World That Loves Lucy by Michele Olson

Apr26

So Delightful

Being Ethel: In A World That Loves Lucy by Michele Olson is an absolutely charming Christian novel that I adored. It is the first book in the Mackinac Island series and I cannot wait to read the rest.

As the series title suggests, the book is set on Mackinac Island in 1979. The Grand Hotel takes centre stage as a new movie, Somewhere In Time is being filmed. This, as it happens, is one of my all-time favourite movies. I, therefore, found the location easy to picture.

The leading lady has experienced a huge loss. Her emotions are conflicting as she experiences, guilt, anger and grief. Her walk with God has been damaged. “Being mad at myself, and God.” She feels that her father, an evangelist, escaped justice by dying (before the book opened.) “It’s quite a trip to see a person ooze love and acceptance in the pulpit yet act the way he did at our house.” Her father did not walk the walk in private, only when he was in the spotlight.

There is anger at God too, for allowing the deaths of her mother and twin sister (before the book opened.) The leading lady views God as a God of wrath. An encounter with a godly nun, opens her eyes. “I don’t want to fall into a religion trap, I just want to know Him [Jesus], His Father and the Holy Spirit.” It is all about relationship and not religion. After years of living in the shadows, “my self-worth comes from who I am to the Lord.”

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