BOOK REVIEW ~ COTTAGE BY THE SEA By Debbie Macomber

Annie Marlow has been through the worst. Rocked by tragedy, she heads to the one place that makes her happy: Oceanside in the Pacific Northwest, the destination of many family vacations when Annie was a teenager. Once there, Annie begins to restore her broken spirit, thanks in part to the folks she meets. [from front flap]

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Debbie Macomber’s Cottage by the Sea drew me in at my first glance of the title. Most of my life I’ve dreamed of living in such a place. And it invited me into the tender story of Annie Marlow who is trying to reorient her life in this small town with happy memories after a terrible tragedy.

We are with Annie when she learns a horrific incident has struck her family. The telling is frustratingly slow, but that may be completely realistic. Having not experienced such a thing, I can’t say. But I did want to tell the speaker to spit it out. The devastation to Annie is clear and compelling.

The cast were all interesting characters, some with enjoyable, unusual quirks. And their interactions, for the most part, helped Annie take steps toward healing. Some of Macomber’s descriptions are delightful and bring the story alive:

~ Disapproval dripped from her words like melting wax.

~ “What do you want?” he demanded in a voice that rattled from years of tobacco use.

But a few issues slowed the story’s unfurling. In some spots character motivation either wasn’t clear or seemed contrived. Another issue for me was the author often repeated things in the first quarter of the book, explained something from a character’s past in an awkward way/time, and told us things that we’d just read the character doing.

I wanted to love this book. And there were many things I did like, but enough of the other to make reading at times trudging, not sailing, and prevent me from giving it 5 stars. I’m not sorry I read it, and the story is memorable. I just wish reading it had been smoother.

Book Review – CONFESSIONS OF AN IMAGINARY FRIEND by Michelle Cuevas & Jacques Papier

Jacques Papier is a charming new voice in fiction ~ whimsical and philosophical by turns, making his memoir the perfect book for any age reader. CONFESSIONS OF AN IMAGINARY FRIEND makes me wish I still had littles around to read stories to.

JACQUES PAPIER Memoir by Michelle Cuevas

As the book says on the back cover, poor “Jacques has a sneaking suspicion that nobody like him. Teachers ignore him when he raises his hand, he is never chosen for sports teams, and Francois the family dog won’t stop barking at him! Thank goodness for Fleur, his sister and constant companion, who knows what he’s thinking even before he does. Then Jacques discover a devastating truth: He isn’t Fleur’s brother; he is her imaginary friend!”

This shocking discovery sends Jacques on an existential, life-changing journey of discovery to learn what makes us us? What is important? Braided with simple yet clever observations and naïve interpretations are mature insights.

As I share a few of my favorite morsels, I don’t have to worry about spoiling your experience when you read the story. This book is chock full of delight, whimsy, and wisdom.

Jacques says our world has a deficit of words. He gives us a list of things he’s observed that have no word. Like Jacques, they exist but somehow they are also lacking identification. Such things as “a square of light on a floor made by the moon … secret messages in alphabet soup … ships that want to stay sunken.” And this snippet shows just how much he loves his sister (despite his being imaginary): “There also is no word for … when someone has a smile that looks so lit up, there must be a lightning bug caught in their head. (For the record, I would petition this word be called Fleur.)”

BK REV - JACQUES - Red Roses 407 crop copyIn chapter 53 Jacques ponders what makes people different and/or valuable. He comes to the conclusion that every person is amazing ~ and most people don’t realize that about themselves because of their perspective, “like a flower that looks down and thinks it is just a stem.”

This story is delightfully creative and filled with things we adults, busy with important stuff as we are, don’t take time to notice. Sounds, for instance. Jacques remembers “the hum of Father’s lawnmower, ticking of clocks, sizzling pans and clicking spoons … the sound of my parents’ voices through the floorboards.” And light, “the shapes of the sleeping furniture.”

Kudos to Michelle Cuevas for bringing readers this book (and humbly taking second billing to Jacques). The cover so aptly portrays the essence of the story. Probably the best I’ve seen! CONFESSIONS OF AN IMAGINARY FRIEND is captivating. I enjoyed it twice: Once as I read it and another as I shared story and quotes with my husband. Jacques may be imaginary, but he has come to live at our house.

I was going to bundle the review of this short book (168 pages) with a couple others, but it is too good for that, It deserves its own space!

 

Book Review – MIRAMAR BAY by Davis Bunn

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When Connor Larkin boards a late night bus in downtown L.A., he’s not sure where he’s going or what he’s looking for. Putting his acting career—and his fiancée—on hold, he’s searching for a part of himself he lost on the road to success. Now, with his wedding day approaching, Connor finds himself stepping into the sleepy seaside town of Miramar Bay—where one remarkable woman inspires him to rethink all of his choices . . .

Unlike the pretentious starlets back in Hollywood, Sylvie Cassick has had to work hard for everything she has. When Connor hears familiar music drifting out of her restaurant, he can’t escape a feeling of finally coming home. Sylvie isn’t sure what to think when this impossibly handsome stranger applies for a waiter’s job. Yet once he serenades her customers—and slowly works his way into her heart—she realizes there’s more to him than he’s letting on. But as the world outside Miramar begins to threaten their fragile bond, Connor will have to risk losing everything to gain the life he longs for—and become the man Sylvie deserves.

Miramar Bay is the story of mid-list actor Connor Larkin, who’s escaping Los Angeles, and restaurateur Sylvie Cassick, who’s hanging on to her last thread of hope after someone uses her historic eatery as a cover for illegal activity. These two people must find the courage and community to live out their true selves.

The story pulled me in immediately. Bunn is a true craftsman who makes his stories come alive. His settings unfurl before our eyes such that we can almost step into the story, be it a glitzy Hollywood world or the sleepy coast town of Miramar Bay. “The light held a cathedral quality, spilling through the ocean mist like heaven’s own stained glass.” Who would not pause at such a place?

BUNN - SUNSET over oceanOr describing a place near sunset: “There was a breathless hush to the air, neither any wind nor the faintest ripple to mar the ocean’s surface. The Pacific stretched out in blue-gold majesty to join with the cloudless horizon. The air was a mix of sunlit heat and the water’s biting chill. The result was a champagne headiness.”

Bunn’s enchanting way with words continues throughout. He draws clear and complex characters who exhibit courage and spunk in the face of opposition, life-altering opposition, with their freedom and lives on the line. And he displays a tenderness that respects his characters, making it easy for readers to have compassion toward them even when they make choices we’d prefer they don’t.

I love Davis Bunn’s novels. He is equally skilled whether writing contemporary or historical, romance or suspense. His stories are captivating and rich in detail while flowing right along, never lagging or lacking. Miramar Bay is another in a long line of successes and I highly recommend it.

Book Review – THE ART OF LOSING YOURSELF by Katie Ganshert

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Every morning, Carmen Hart pastes on her made-for-TV smile and broadcasts the weather. She’s the Florida panhandle’s favorite meteorologist, married to everyone’s favorite high school football coach. They’re the perfect-looking couple, live in a nice house, and attend church on Sundays. From the outside, she’s a woman who has it all together.  But on the inside, Carmen Hart struggles with doubt. She wonders if she made a mistake when she married her husband. She wonders if God is as powerful as she once believed. Sometimes she wonders if He exists at all. After years of secret losses and empty arms, she’s not so sure anymore.
 
Until Carmen’s sister—seventeen year old runaway, Gracie Fisher—steps in and changes everything. Gracie is caught squatting at a boarded-up motel that belongs to Carmen’s aunt, and their mother is off on another one of her benders, which means Carmen has no other option but to take Gracie in. Is it possible for God to use a broken teenager and an abandoned motel to bring a woman’s faith and marriage back to life? Can two half-sisters make each other whole?    [from back cover]

In The Art of Losing Yourself, Katie Ganshert has crafted an interesting story with clearly delineated characters who careen into each other’s stories like orbs in a pinball machine. (And both main characters have cracking-good inciting incidents.) Her characters are relatable, drawing the reader deep into their world. They are drenched with troubles, and every thought and reaction rings with authenticity.

Carmen has endured six miscarriages and is walking wounded. Her teen-aged half-sister Gracie’s been wounded by an alcoholic mother’s neglect. Enduring is a fact of their lives. It’s also a coping strategy. The journey with the women trying to cope with disappointment and to risk trusting again definitely draws you in, but Ganshert brings it so alive that at times you may wish for a breather.

PURPLE CLOUDS Sunset cprt copy hueRespite comes from fun, quirky characters and the pithy observations of Aunt Ingrid, the girls’ aunt who loves when she can but disappears into Alzheimer’s fog more and more often. Respite for the reader also comes from Ganshert’s skill with words. The grief she pens is achingly real, but so are the joy, faith, and encouragement that characters offer each other. And beautiful, evocative images such as this: “The clouds were dark purple bruises that stretched to the horizon.”

For those who enjoy tales of families forging through messy issues and finding gems amid the tangles, this is a must-read.

 

Enjoy Vast Horizons in WHERE WE BELONG by Lynn Austin

WHERE WE BELONG - Lynn AustinWHERE WE BELONG by Lynn Austin is an engaging story about Rebecca and Flora Hawes, two wealthy young ladies living in 19th century Chicago. They are determined people with boundless energy and optimism who go out of their way to evade the conventions of Victorian society. While seeking adventure and God’s will for their lives (some would say recklessly), they gather books, needy people, and ancient relics and manuscripts. At times Rebecca appears mischievous, but the misadventures she leads Flora on result from their high spirits, intelligence, curiosity, and belief that God wants them to use their talents and that He holds their days.

These young women seem to attract problems and hapless people like gum on a shoe grabs street debris. Readers enjoy accompanying them on their escapades because of their good cheer and good hearts. In doing so, we travel across vast expanses of history, perspectives, lands, and cultures ~ from Chicago to Paris to Cambridge to Egypt.

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Austin’s writing skill is certainly on display. Her ability to choose an apt detail and convey it in a crisp, powerful way brings her characters and settings into focus. For instance, Rebecca pondered the other girls from her class and decided “Being dainty was boring. Climbing trees … and skipping stones … was much more fun.” Aboard ship she watches other passengers and Austin draws them for the reader: “…the elegant French woman who was as tall and languid as a greyhound…”

cropped_clothes_hanging_out_of_tenement_building_windowsThe sights, sounds, and smells of Chicago streets come alive under Austin’s pen. “These homes are where families live and children play … gesturing to the rickety tenements webbed with strings of flapping laundry … a pen with live sheep and pigs … a group of ragged children playing in a mud puddle beneath the community’s water spigot…” We learn about the railroad station. “The vast, rumbling space shook with … the locomotives thundering in and out; the air smelled of coal, and steam, and hot iron rails.”

And I’ve never been a fan of the desert—real or in fiction. (Perhaps I spent too many  long, hot days crossing them with only 4/40 air conditioning—4 windows down, driving 40 miles per hour.) But in Austin’s hands, the desert is an intriguing, arid backdrop that perfectly fits the adversity and surprises the Hawes girls encounter there.

Austin immerses us in her characters so expertly that the events of their lives and views of the world seem completely natural to us ~ whether through the eyes of the non-conformist socialites or hard-luck young adults who’ve taken to the rough street life in order to survive.

Her writing makes the characters, their experiences, the settings pop off the page. The goals tenaciously sought become important to the reader. And as I mull over the story, every episode of the girls’ lives ends in my mind with this thought: “…. Just like Jesus.”

Rebecca and Flora are raised by a father with seemingly unending patience, love, and resources. This results in young women who want to be unbound by convention, society, and corsets; but unwavering in sharing their gifts and showing love to others. Without a moment’s hesitation they reach out to those less fortunate, “the least of these,” metaphorically providing a cup of cold water to barefoot girls working in a sweatshop, thieves and prisoners, orphans, the homeless—as were many Chicagoans after the great fire.

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Journeying with Rebecca and Flora has been a memorable experience. As iron sharpens iron, Rebecca and Flora not only have that effect on each other, they do the same to us, the fortunate readers.

Photo credits: St. Catherine’s Monastery panorama from Wikipedia, no photo credit given; laundry, Shorey; Chicago Fire, Currier & Ives, 1871.

Book Review of GALLERIES OF STONE by C. J. Milbrandt

Statues on the legendary Moonlit Mountain have a life of their own.

c Roger Mosley

c Roger Mosley

Oh, my … Statues, a life of their own? How? What will they do? Should I be afraid?

And the adventure begins.

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Book 1

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Freydolf, keeper of Moonlit Mountain, lives alone on the upper slope and needs someone to help tend the fires and carry water so he can focus on his work as Master Sculptor. When he descends to a hamlet on the plain, his choices are slim ~ because the villagers have heard terrorizing tales of a monster who reigns on the mountain. He selects Tupper, a small lad who doesn’t even stand as tall as Frey’s waist.

Tupper has been sent to work with the guidance, “Be brave and do your best.” Then he’s plunged into a foreign and unpredictable world, his only company a man with a beast-like appearance who gets so immersed in sculpting that he forgets everything ~ and everyone. Learning how to navigate his new job and environment is a massive challenge for the “slow” lad. While Tupper is parsimonious with words, he’s lavish with kindness. That, along with his courage and astonishing insight deliver to us readers a thoroughly entertaining and satisfying journey.

STONE Burial statue 2 - horizontalMilbrandt weaves a marvelously creative, whimsical world where mountains have moods and some people can discern those moods, even hear the mountain. Where mountains have keepers to protect their hearts. And stone statues can be woken. This is a tale brimming with love, loyalty, and delight ~ where every person and thing is valuable.

While the Galleries of Stone series may be labeled YA, the stories are chocked full of fun, mystery, and life lessons. Well worth reading as a family.

HARROW

Book 2

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TreviFountainFromLeftSide - crop -wiki HORSEYou might think a story about statues who come to life would be frightening and morbid with people being tossed about like rag dolls until crushed. But when I finished reading Harrow, I was left amid a cloud of warmth and delight.

Milbrandt expands her cast of intriguing and engaging characters ~ stone and otherwise. She tells a lovely tale in which characters face challenges from prejudices, peas, and powerful adversaries and grow their talents, courage, faithfulness.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAI’m absolutely crazy about young Tupper. Such a sensitive soul, he hears the needs of others ~ stone and otherwise ~ before they even make them known. Then, with utmost creativity and kindness, he finds solutions and adds abundance to all who live on Moonlit Mountain. Growing from child to teenager, he spends some time considering what characteristics he wants in a wife when the time finally comes. Having watched many silly, idle girls, one thing he’s decided: “He didn’t want a girl who didn’t pick her own lettuces.” The boy is practical as well as compassionate! And he is devoted to Freydolf, the master sculptor who hired him.

SCULPTURE - figures in fountain fr Scotland -Pla crThere isn’t much I don’t love about these stories. The characters and setting come boldly to life. And why shouldn’t a magic mountain and the varied, charming characters come to life. I mean—if statues awaken … And I’m fascinated by the varied ways in which the statues wake.

The story overflows with creativity, heroism, love, and joy. Though the Galleries of Stone trilogy may be labeled YA, these are family-friendly stories along the line of C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia, and are equally good for reading by any age, aloud to little ones, or as a family. I couldn’t have summed up any better than a Goodreads reviewer Megan Williamson: “Love, wonder, and laughter grow in all who are fortunate enough to be welcomed onto the Moonlit Mountain.”

Milbrandt is a master craftsman of creative story-telling. I recommend this book to all who want more light and joy in their day.

RAKEFANG

Book 3

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Rakefang reunites us with beloved characters from the series ~ mystified Freydolf, taciturn Tupper, flamboyant Aurelius, darling sweetpea-of-a-girl Dulcie who says “I luff you, Unca Doff” at every encounter with Frey. Indeed, all the varied cast of characters is here and they, with a few new ones, have formed a lively community atop Morven.

One of my favorite elements in Milbrandt’s engaging, fast-paced series is watching as each citizen’s strengths and talents are mobilized to resolve challenges, face threats, vanquish foes. They form a close-knit society, one most of us would love to join.

This charming tale brims with self-sacrifice, courage, loyalty, and bountiful love and creativity.

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Milbrandt’s Galleries of Stone stories are wonderful, and as good for all ages as The Chronicles of Narnia or The Lord of the Rings. Don’t pass up these classics-in-the-making.

Postscript ~ Putting this review together over the past week ran into Easter. I described in my previous post (April 17) how the song “Arise, My Love” touched me. It so clearly showed a heart full of love tenderly expressed. And it reminded me of the little family headed by Freydolf in the Galleries of Stone series. Please don’t be put off by fantasy elements or reference to magic. I cannot put words in the author’s mouth, but the “magic” in these stories to me represents miracles we see in Scripture. Like the Narnia stories, you’ll see representations of God in every chapter.

The author shares interactive activities and fun background information on her website here. And all manner of story art on her Pinterest page!

Note: Photo credits:

The misty mountain that leads us off here is really titled “Striped Peak across Freshwater Bay” by Roger Mosley. You can see more of his stunning work or contact him here: https://www.facebook.com/RogerMosleyPhotography

Horse sculpture, section of Trevi Fountain by Paul Vlaar – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=46580

Last photo, gallery of 3 statues, also section of Trevi fountain by Livioandronico2013 – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=45365468