In the good old simple days, when boys did chores instead of play video games and parents could be efficiently disposed of in farming accidents…Ten-year-old Joshua Jones is perfectly content living with his grandpa, great-uncle, and teenaged aunt “Auntie Lou”. Continue reading
Romance
“The Gifting” by K.E. Ganshert
Young adult juv. fic. ‘Nough said. There are other elements to this book – such as family relationships, sibling affection, paranormal visions, prophetic dreams, fantastical life-and-death struggles, romance – but in the end the teenage angst largely overshadows the more mature touches. Continue reading
“The Girl From the Train” by Irma Joubert
This is a story of differences – cultural, national, lingual, ecclesiastical – and how they can be overcome. This is also a book that delves into the era at the tail end of World War II and afterward to explore the dark tendrils of war that affected an unusual time period. Continue reading
“Falcon” by Ronie Kendig
From the desert night combat zones of Afghanistan to the intricacies of interpersonal interaction, come on an adventure where the international stakes run high and the emotions run higher. Continue reading
“Rules of Murder” by Julianna Deering
Entertaining Tribute
Rich, well-dressed English gentlemen, indefatigably discreet butlers, coy yet conspiratorial society girls, and plenty of fresh corpses populate this period piece where no one is as they seem. Continue reading
“Blind Dates Can Be Murder” by Mindy Starns Clark
I wasn’t really raised reading “romance” novels, so even though Blind Dates Can Be Murder contained mystery elements this book proved to be a new genre experience for me. When read in the context of the other “Smart Chick” books, it’s my least favorite of the three.
In the first book, The Trouble With Tulip, photographer Danny Watkins realized he was in love with his childhood friend Jo Tulip. However, when she decided to set romantic relationships aside to focus on God, he secretly consented to wait for her.
Now, though, he’s going to take the plunge: he’s going to tell her he loves her! Jo, however, has no idea. Continue reading
“The Trouble with Tulip” by Mindy Starns Clark
Characters That Won’t Easily Let You Go
Josephine “Jo” Tulip is an independent, take-charge kind of young woman. Her house is organized and spotless, and she’s considered an expert of household tricks, partly because of the newspaper column she writes about everything from removing stains from clothes and carpets to getting more use out of your cleaning supplies.
About some things, however, she’s woefully clueless. Continue reading
“Dreamlander” by K. M. Weiland
Characters You Will Fight For
I liked it. Then I didn’t like it. Then I liked it again. I’ll explain.
Chris Redston grabs you from the very beginning. Ever since a fatal car crash in his immediate family left him virtually on his own, he’s done his best to move on and get over it. And as much as he regrets the way his deadbeat father buried his own pain in a bottle, he hasn’t completely written him off, repeatedly going downtown to bail his father out of jail for this or that minor thing. Continue reading