Christine Blevins
417 pages

Maggie Duncan is the only survivor of an attack on her village in Scotland. Because of this she is thought to be cursed by the superstitious people of the village where she resides after she is taken in by Hannah, the Midwife. Despite this, Maggie grows up and learns to be a gifted midwife at Hannah’s side. However, upon Hannah’s death, people revert to their superstition and don’t want Maggie to treat them.

Unable to provide for herself, Maggie sells herself into four years of indentured service for passage to America. When she arrives there  she learns that she has only exchanged on set of problems for another.

I found Midwife of the Blue Ridge to be pretty engaging from the beginning. The fact that the beginning takes place in Scotland caught my interest immediately and then the fact that it was also set in Colonial America was another plus. I like Maggie, Tom, Seth and many of the other characters that populate the book.

There were some things that I have to count as negatives too though. There were elements of the story that remind me of the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon. I have read the first three of the series and am not really a fan. I LOVE the time travel element and the historical element to the stories but I don’t tend to be a huge fan of the romance genre. It’s not that I don’t enjoy romance so much as I get bored with the formula:

• Man and woman are attracted to each other
• Man and woman can’t resist the physical attraction to each other and give in to sex, always with regret.
• Tragic elements align to keep them apart.
• Man and women realize how much they love each other and can overcome anything( different times, indians, crazy villians, hurricanes etc.) to be together.

It’s hard to find something really original. That was my beef with Midwife of the Blue Ridge. The romance seemed a bit formulaic to me.

Another thing that I didn’t like about  was that some of the violence committed in the book is pretty graphic. I wasn’t really expecting that. I don’t have a problem with violence, necessarily, if I can understand the point in it’s being there. I couldn’t understand it in this instance though.

I also  detested the villain, Julian Cavendish. I suppose that’s the point since he is the villain but he is so creepy that he reminded me a lot of Jonathan Randall from the Outlander series and I really disliked the Jonathan/Jamie storyline.  I guess I was hoping that both Maggie and I would feel some sympathy for Julian at the end. She didn’t but I did. It made me like her less because she left him to a fate so horrid that I can’t imagine leaving anyone to that. Maybe I am a sucker. I dunno.

At any rate, I did enjoy Midwife of the Blue Ridge, just not as much as I was expecting. I would recommend it if you enjoy historical romantic fiction. I would caution that I found some of the violence disturbing. (3/5)

Colleen Gleason
353 pages

The Bleeding Dusk is the third book in The Gardella Vampire Chronicles. I have enjoyed this series so much that I have actually delayed reading them. I am so not ready for this series to end but I just bought the last book in the series, As Shadows Fade, this past weekend. Now I am not sure I will be able to wait any longer. It is total comfort and escapism for me. Historical Fiction…Vampire Fiction…perfect fusion.
In this installment we find Victoria still in Rome. She is in mourning for her beloved Aunt Eustacia as well as her husband. She must step into her aunt’s role as the leader of the Venators and lead them on in their quest to fight the evil vampires. She barely has time to adjust to her new role and recover from her recent losses when sinister events begin swirling during Rome’s Carnivale.

This is pure fun for me and even though I am not normally a big fan of the romance genre, I love this series. Victoria, Max and Sebastian continue to be likable characters for me as well as Wayren and the rest of the Venator family. I hope to have time to devour the last two books in the series next week. I am dying to know who Victoria chooses. I know who I’d choose. (5/5)

Jennifer Donnelly
389 pages

Mattie Gokey is 16 years old in 1906 and she is growing up in Adirondack Mountains(she calls them the North Woods) of New York. Her life is hard because her mother has died and she is the eldest of four girls so she bears a lot of responsibility for her sisters and helping her father run the family farm. She loves words, reading, and writing. She looks up a word every day and plays word games with her friend Weaver as they both struggle to keep up their chores and their hard life. They need to do well in school so they can go to the city for college. Both have shown incredible promise and have scholarships to prestigious universities.

Along the way, Mattie, who is very lonely and feels unloved since her mother’s death, dares to believe that her handsome though singularly-focused neighbor, Royal Loomis, actually notices and cares for her. Intertwined through Mattie’s story is the tragic but true tale of Grace Brown and Chester Gillette. Grace had given Mattie a stack of letters to destroy, which Mattie intended to do. However, when Grace turns up dead Mattie begins to read the letters and the course of her life begins to change.

Having read both The Tea Rose and A Winter Rose by Jennifer Donnelly, I was really looking forward to A Northern Light.  Mattie is a very likable character and I related to her quite a bit. When I was a child I used to enjoy looking words up in the dictionary just like Mattie did  and finding unique ways to use them in a sentence. This probably cements my first class dork status but there you have it.  

I did find myself getting frustrated with Mattie at times because I was so rooting for her to accomplish her dreams. She is gifted with talent and insight and at times it annoyed me because I wanted more for her. Can you tell I was a wee bit invested in the story? There is a section at the back of the book that tells about the real Grace Brown and Chester Gillette.

This was a very enjoyable piece of historical fiction which I recommend. I understand why this is a Printz Honor Book.(4/5)

Hillary Jordan

336 pages

I had heard a lot of buzz about Mudbound on other book blogs. I was interested in reading it but when it became an Alex Award Winner earlier this year, I moved it right to the top of my list.

On the Flap:

When Henry McAllen moves his city-bred wife, Laura, to a cotton farm in the Mississippi Delta in 1946, She finds herself in a place both foreign and frightening. Laura does not share Henry’s love of rural life, and she struggles to raise their two young children in an isolated shotgun shack with no indoor plumbing or electricity, all the while under the eye of her hateful, rascist father-in-law. When it rains the waters rise up and swallow the bridge to town, stranding the family in a sea of mud.

My Thoughts:

I usually try to write up my own little synopsis of a book but this one just had me flustered. I couldn’t figure out how to describe it in a succinct fashion so I decided to take a hand from the publisher rather than re-inventing the wheel.

It’s hard to say that I loved a book that deals with such tough subject matter as prejudice, hatred, and violence but when the author is so skilled in evoking emotion, you gotta love it.

When Laura McAllen’s husband Henry drops the bombshell on her that they are leaving her city home and all of her family behind and moving to the Mississippi Delta in a week, I was angry at his lack of consideration for her feelings and sympathetic to Laura and her difficulty in adapting. I’m not sure I could go from having a shower in my home to bathing once a week and then having it be such a chore that it is turned into something that must be done rather than an enjoyment.

The profiles of the racism and prejudice are difficult but they are moving. It’s a sad journey back into our past where these events took place but, as with other painful historical facts, it is necessary to revisit them to keep the memories alive so that the learning continues.

I was really drawn in by Mudbound, much more than I expected to be. I would recommend this to lovers of historical and/or southern fiction. There are also WWII elements to this story but they are played out to a lesser extent. (4.5/5)

It’s been a while since I had time to post anything other than a book review but I have been indulging myself in some YA Fiction reading lately. Since I have an on-going project where I am slowly reading my way through the Alex Award Winners and since I am participating in The Book Awards II Challenge, I decided to make it count for that.

I am currently reading The Whistling Season by Ivan Doig. This 2007 Alex Award Winner is about a vanished way of life on the Montana prairie. I am about halfway through it and have really enjoyed it so far. I also have Mudbound by Hillary Jordan waiting for me. This one won the Alex for 2009. Plus, I also have A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly which is a 2004 Printz Honor Book. I read and loved both The Tea Rose and The Winter Rose by Donnelly so I am especially looking forward to that one.

On the challenge front, I haven’t completed any yet. I have been pretty good about not over-committing myself even though there are a couple out there that I would really love to join. I am resisting the temptation because I hate not finishing things. I am reading for enjoyment and trying to fit my challenges around it.

I apologize for being a bad blogger lately. I have been horrible about responding to comments, commenting on other blogs and I have been ignoring Twitter completely. Hopefully, I can be more active since things seem to have slowed down around here a bit. However, with three teenagers in the house, you just never know.

So, what have you been reading?

Susan Meissner

305 pages

You are the girl in between. You are young like Mercy, a writer like Mercy and the sole daughter like Mercy. And you’ve lived a life of privilege like me. You’ve seen its every side, just like I have, and you are the heir to an accomplished man’s legacy, as I was. You, like me, will always have choices to make because of it.- The Shape of Mercy, pg 298

Lauren Durough has always had money.  Since she has grown up with wealth and privilege, she decides that when she goes off to college she wants to make her own money. To do this she takes a job transcribing a diary for retired librarian Abigail Boyles. The diary belonged to a distant cousin of Abigail named Mercy Hayworth, who was caught up in the events of the Salem witch trials.

Lauren is immediately captivated by Mercy’s story and she begins to see the world around her differently. As “the middle girl” between the history of Mercy and the past and present of Abigail she has a unique understanding of both points of view and both ladies have much to teach her as well.

When I first began reading this book, I somehow expected Abigail to be a crotchety old lady. She is not ornery or mean.   She is just reserved because she is used to being taken advantage of and she is haunted by many things from her past. She is still a very likable character.

Lauren was not at all what I expected either. I thought she would be spoiled and self-centered since that is usually the lesson given to us in stories about people of privilege. She’s not. Lauren marches to the beat of her own drummer. She is a bookish introvert(a girl after my own heart) and doesn’t really follow her family’s expectations. She is also a very likable character.

The story of Mercy is tender and heartbreaking from the beginning because we understand where it will inevitably end. However, before it’s all over Lauren, Abigail and the reader will learn lessons about forgiveness, misjudging others, sacrifice, and love.

I preferred the Salem portions of the book to the present day portions but that’s just how it always works out for me. Both portions were equally well-written. This is a poignant story that I highly recommend for lovers of historical fiction. (4/5)

Julie Klassen

304 pages

Lillian Haswell works with her father in his apothecary shop. She has a wonderful memory and things seem to come much easier for her than they do for Francis Baylor, her father’s apprentice. Lilly doesn’t particularly like working there though and when she is offered the chance to go to London by her wealthy aunt and uncle, she is thrilled. She  has hopes of finding a husband, being educated and perhaps tracking down the mother who abandoned the family some years before.

Just as she begins to fit in with London society, Lilly is forced to return home when she receives a note that her father is “not quite himself.” She must once again take up her position at Haswell’s Apothecary. However, her father’s illness puts Lilly in a precarious position. Women are not allowed to be apothecaries and there is a doctor in town who would like nothing more than to see Haswell’s close it’s doors.

The Apothecary’s Daughteris a moving story which covers a large amount of territory. Through Lilly’s character we experience life as a person of trade, life in a small English village,  life in London society and some history of the apothecary profession.

We experience the ridiculousness of all of the social jockeying to attain a “good match.” As with Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, I understood why this was so important for women of that time. Without a good match they were powerless.  And Lilly does enjoy the hustle and bustle of the London social scene. She enjoys the people she meets and as she begins to turn heads and rub elbows with the upper crust, she begins to envision herself as the wife of a gentleman.

But then reality comes crashing in and she must return to Bedsley Prior to help her father and like all of us, Lilly learns the best lessons in the trials of life. She learns about faith, family, friends,  health and home. This Christian novel is beautifully written. Lilly’s faith is natural and is a part of her life which never makes that aspect of the story feel forced.

I did not want to put The Apothecary’s Daughter down. I loved the characters, the settings and the history. There are even some elements of suspense. At one point in the story there are several different men interested in gaining Lilly’s favor and the author does a really good job at not tipping her hand as to who wins her heart.

I loved this book and look forward to reading Lady of Milkweed Manor, also by Julie Klassen, very soon. (5/5)

Jack Riggs
300 pages

Cassie Johnson has been married for 15 years to Peck Johnson. After discovering she was pregnant at the end of her summer romance with Peck, Cassie is forced to give up her dreams of attending college, is disowned and cut off from her preacher father and her beloved mountain home, and she is left with little choice but to marry Peck and move to his home in the low country. Their marriage has been rocky and Cassie has never been able to get over the loss of her dreams or the fact that her father never let her back into his life and died without knowing his grandchild.

The book is set in the summer of 1970. Cassie is about to go to the mountains to spend time with her mother as she always does. However, this time she is unsure if she is coming back. Peck, the new fire chief of the Garden City Beach Fire Department, can’t really take the time off work to chase her. The area is in the midst of a drought and fires are threatening the area.  Besides, Peck knows he loves Cassie and that he needs to give her the time to figure things out.

The Fireman’s Wife is a beautiful story that is about shades of gray. It’s about hearing both sides of the story and being able to understand both points of view. Both Cassie and Peck are sympathethic characters so I didn’t really end up taking sides.

Cassie has mourned all of her losses for fifteen years and has never truly engaged in her life with Peck. Peck loves his wife and daughter tremendously. He just doesn’t know how to give Cassie whatever is missing from her life and feels he needs to let her go to figure it out.

The descriptions of the both of the landscapes in this story are beautiful. Whether describing Cassie’s beautiful and lush mountain home or Peck’s dry and drought-stricken low country marsh, the word pictures are vivid.

I loved this book. I thought it was poignant and gripping. In fact, I would have devoured it if I would’ve had the free time.

I would highly recommend this story to anyone who loves reading about relationships. Just make sure you have your tissues handy. (4.5/5)

Audiobook (Read by Michael Maloney)

Library Book

I knew only the basic premise of this book when I chose it for several challenges. I knew that it fit into the WWII category, that it is categorized as YA,  and that it was Jewish Literature about the Holocaust.

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is the story of Bruno, a nine-year-old boy, who comes home one day to find that his family is moving due to his father’s job. Bruno is the son of a German officer who will be the Commandant of the Auschwitz concentration camp. From his bedroom window he has seen people in “striped pajamas” behind a fence. Curious about why they are there as well as lonely, Bruno sets out exploring.  He goes to the fence and he happens to meet a boy named Shmuel who is very similar to Bruno in many ways. They even share the same birthday. However, their lives are obviously very different.

As I was listening to this book, I kept thinking that I was really enjoying the fact that I was hearing this from the perspective of a German child. I have read about concentration camps from the perspective of a Jewish child. The horrors are unimaginable. But to gain some insight as to how it is possible that people stood by and allowed this to happen is definitely different.

Bruno is pretty naive. He is just a little boy who counts on his parents to take care of him. He figures they know best and doesn’t worry too much about the rest. In fact, I thought that Bruno’s cluelessness was a bit unrealistic until I listened to the author’s interview at the end of the book. He spoke about the fact that The Holocaust is hindsight for us. We look back with the perspective that we know this happened. It is part of the landscape of our past. However, during the time that this was going on and when the concentration camps were liberated, even adults believed that the stories of the atrocities were just rumors and that something this monstrous could not be happening. He also talks about complacency and the fact that victims of the concentration camps were marched through neighboring villages and people did nothing. That is something that I hadn’t considered and changed my opinion. I do think that Bruno was immature for a nine-year-old by today’s standards. I did have a hard time believing that he couldn’t catch on to the names of Auschwitz(Out With) and the Fuhrer(The Fury). However, I concede that it’s possible that without some of the outside influences we have today in the picture, nine-year-olds were much more innocent sixty or so years ago.

At any rate, those things were minor for me as was the fact that I figured out what was going to happen pretty early on it the book. There were no shocks and though the convergence of the events seems improbable, stranger things happen every day and ultimately, I was willing to suspend disbelief for the message that was conveyed.

I am not sure if the author interview is available in the regular book. However, listening to John Boyne explain why he did what he did with his characters made a huge difference to me. The book and the writing are excellent. The thought process behind them make this book superior.

This is a must-read for anyone who is breathing so that we don’t become complacent again. (5/5)

Lynn Austin
428 pages

 The circumstances of life have dealt a tough blow to the Carlson sisters. First, their beloved mother dies. Next, their father dies under circumstances that ruin life for them in their Swedish village. Their uncle and his family come to live with them but rather than helping the situation it only creates new problems as their brother Nils, unable to get along with their uncle, abandons both the family farm and his sisters. The girls want to hold on to their only home but oldest sister Elin carries a dark secret. She decides that the only thing she can do to escape the stigma they carry in the village is to escape to America. So she writes to her mother’s favorite brother who lives in Chicago and asks him the help arrange for their passage. He obliges but once the sisters arrive in America they find that their new beginning is filled with hard work and deprivation.  All the girls want is to feel loved and to have a home of their own but they have many miles to go and many lessons to learn before they will find one.

One of the things that makes Lynn Austin one of my favorite authors is her ability to write characters whose lives mirror real life no matter what time period she is writing from. This book takes place in the late 1800’s but you still find flawed characters dealing with issues that still plague us. Hunger, poverty, neglect, poor choices, etc.

She also has the ability to present the message of Christ without making it feel forced. It flows with the circumstances in the lives of the characters and like it would in real life.  The characters in this story are not happy-go-lucky. They are angry with God for their circumstances and His apparent lack of care for their pain and we are present as they work their way through their grief.

My one complaint would be that I felt like the dialogue was strained in a few places. I still enjoyed this one a lot though and I would recommend it to readers of Christian Fiction and Historical Fiction. (4/5)