Tidewater Bride

 

Laura Frantz is one of those historical fiction authors that readers just love.  She does her research well and brings new perspectives to the history of the time.  The time of this novel is the seventeenth century and the location is James Towne, Virginia Colony.  The situation is a shipload of "Tobacco Brides," coming to marry the tobacco growers who have plantations, but no wives to help run them.  

Selah is the daughter of the town merchant, and really has no desire to marry any of the growers in the area, except one... 

Xander Relnick is a tobacco grower who uses indentured servants to run his plantation at a time when African slaves are being brought into the colonies for cheap labor.  Xander's opinions were not often popular in the township, especially his desire to forge peace among the native tribes who lived in the area.  One of his ideas was to allow the native children come to live with the colony's families while children of the colonials lived with the native tribe. Through this exchange, Selah's family became guardians of a young girl, Watseka, while Selah's brother, Shay, goes to live with the tribe. 

I really enjoyed this book.  There is so much going on that keeps the reader involved in the plot from the beginning to the end. There are despicable men, honorable men, shifty women, and Naturals (as the natives were called during the times) who wanted nothing but peace and a place to call their own.  There are parts of the plot that moved slower than others, but all the parts come together to make a cohesive whole.  This is a strong Four-Star book.  

Revell Publishing and NetGalley.com provided the copy I read for this review.  All opinions expressed are my own. 

Whip Poor Will

 

The era is the early forties to the beginning of World War II, the place is No Creek, North Carolina.  The principal players are Celia Percy, Lilliana Swope, Hyacinth Belvidere, Jesse Willard, a few other characters who populate No Creek, and a couple of characters who live in Pennsylvania.  The circumstances include wife abuse (physical, emotional, and spiritual), KKK activities, moonshining, and rape.  Cathy Gohlke has treated these societal ills with her usual high quality style.  Night Bird Calling is one of those novels that you don't want to put down, but you don't want it to end; it's like seeing a train wreck--you don't want to watch it but you can't look away.  

After Lilliana's mother's funeral, Lilliana falls asleep in one of the pews of the church waiting for her husband to take her home. She overhears her husband and her father, both elders in the church, discussing how her husband can get rid of her to marry someone else.  She knows she can't go home to her husband or her father, so she walks to the train station and gets the first train out of Philadelphia to No Creek.  Her great-aunt Hyacinth will take her in, she hopes.  

I found this book to be engrossing, compelling, and wholly intriguing.  The only problem I had with the book is that the author bounces back and forth between first person--Lilliana telling her own story, and third person narration to fill in the gaps between Lilliana's parts.  It is still a five star book, with two thumbs up, and a whip-poor-will singing at night.  

I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write a Letter

 

The Lost Manuscript is one of the most unusual books I've read so far this year, and it was a great introduction to Cathy Bonidan's writings.  I do feel the title is a bit of a misnomer; I think I would have called it The Found Manuscript.  

Anne-Liese is on a vacation without something to read (sacrilegious, to be sure), but she found a manuscript of a novel in the night stand of her hotel room.  She reads this story and cannot remain untouched by the plot, but since it is obviously a manuscript, she feels she must find the original author and return it to him.  

The entirety of this novel is written in letters to various people involved with the manuscript: one in finding out who wrote the book in the first place, two in finding out the circuitous route it took to get to Anne-Liese's motel room, and three in finding out who wrote the last half of the story.  In all the letters new friendships are forged and old friendships are strengthened.  

The book itself is a satisfying tale that ties up all the loose ends and brings closure to the story.  At times, the plot dragged for me, but in the end, it became so compelling that I stayed up way too late to finish reading it.  This is a strong Four Star Book.  

St Martin's Press and NetGalley.com provided the copy I read for this review.  All opinions expressed are my own. 

If Only I Could Become a Sparrow

 

Kathryn has a past that she can't seem to leave there. It is the driving force in this novel about grace and redemption. The book begins with a fight between Kathryn and her husband, Robert, that is the last interchange between them before Robert is killed due to a car accident. This book goes into great detail about some very foundational Christian tenets, one of which is not being "unequally yoked" with a non-believer. The other main one is salvation by grace alone. Karen Malley has used an illustration that works with Kathryn's mental state, one that was broadcast by Paul Harvey many years ago:

One snowy Christmas Eve, during an especially harsh Midwestern blizzard, an old farmer was sitting in his comfortable chair by the fireplace, book in hand, when he heard a thumping sound against his kitchen door. He didn’t think much of it at first; after all it was a cold, windy night, so he returned to his reading. But when the thumping sound continued, the farmer put down his book and decided to investigate. When he entered the warm kitchen, he discovered that the thumping sound was being made by tiny sparrows that were flying into the glass in the kitchen door. At first the farmer could not understand the small birds’ strange behavior; but then he realized that the tiny birds were attracted by the light and warmth coming through the window pane in the kitchen door. The farmer assumed that the sparrows would eventually realize that bumping their heads against the window pane was not going to get them anywhere, so he went back to his warm fire and continued with his book. Yet, the thumping sound did not stop. In fact, it seemed to increase in frequency. So the farmer returned to the kitchen, and sure enough, the sparrows were still flying into the window pane, hoping to escape the freezing snowy night and find the warmth of the light inside.

Being a kindly and compassionate old man, the farmer was saddened to think of the little sparrows suffering in the cold; therefore, he felt compelled to do something. So he bundled up in his heavy coat and scarf, put on his cap and earmuffs, and stepped into the bitter, windy cold outside. Slowly he tramped through the deep snow to the barn and pulled the huge barn doors wide-open so the sparrows could fly into safety. He even lit a lantern inside the barn so that the sparrows could more easily see the way in. Then he returned outside into the blizzard and began to wave his arms, trying to herd the sparrows in hopes that they would fly into the barn, where they would be safe from the wintry storm. Well, of course, that didn’t work; that only seemed to scare the little birds further away from the barn. Next, he went back into the kitchen and grabbed a hand full of crackers from a canister in the cabinet. He went back outside and began to sprinkle a trail of crackers along the ground to try to lure the birds to the safety of the barn. Yet even that didn’t work. Finally, in exasperation, the farmer went back inside the house and watched through the kitchen window as the sparrows huddled on the frozen branches outside, shivering in the freezing cold. Then, a thought occurred to him: “If only I could become a sparrow, just for a moment. Then they wouldn’t be afraid of me, and I could show them the way to the barn.” At that moment, the farmer realized he had grasped the true meaning of Christmas. God became one of us in order to lead us into the barn.

Adam is another character in the book with a past, although his is undeserved.  He got caught up in doing the right thing and it backfired in his face.  So, to cope, he ran to Africa for a couple of years and now he's working with a construction crew on the new mall in Pine Springs.  When he first sees Kathryn she is running into the hospital emergency entrance to see Robert.  Adam hears the voice of God telling him to pray for her.  He keeps running into her without ever meeting her and he keeps hearing God's voice telling him to pray for her.  

I enjoyed this book in all its sweetness.  The characters are believable, although a bit too sweet at times, and then there are other characters who are just plain mean.  The setting is small town America, regardless of the state, even though the town is set in Pennsylvania.  Karen has brought together a group of personas to make a full cast that are full of flaws, and sometimes blind to the beams in their own eyes.  This book reminded me of a couple of other books I've read, but that did not detract from the enjoyability factor in the book.  Four strong stars.  

The Pelican Group and NetGalley.com provided the copy I read for this review.  All opinions expressed are my own.