Book Review: A Love to Last Forever
A Love to Last Forever
Brides of Gallatin County Series Vol. 2
By Tracie Peterson
368 Pages
Pioneer Historical Fiction (Christian)
Bethany House Publishers
Published April 2009
Growing up Beth Gallatin has only been able to put down short roots in a community before she was moved along by her father. Just as she fell in love with a place their father would move them on to the next stop, he did have legitimate reasons, work, a house, a better town, a safer place for his daughters, still she resented it. She has made a secret vow to stay in one spot, with one man and raise a family in one community for the rest of her life. A Love to Last Forever is a story of roots, love, lasting promises and forgiveness, and learning the lesson that you really don't always know what is best for you.
I can relate to Beth in this book and it was fun to go through the process that Tracie Peterson took me on. Her writing was good, the characters worked for me, but it was slow for me and it didn't capture my attention until the mid-point. I don't mind a good Christan fiction book from the pioneer days, but this just wasn't it for me. It is the second in a series and I think I will pick up the third book sometime, but I make no promises. It was okay, just not spectacular. I had high hopes as last year I read two really good books from Bethany House. A Love to Last Forever just didn't do it for me.
55/100
Here are two Christian Fiction books that I really enjoyed:
From A Distance by Tamara Alexander
Deep in the Heart of Trouble by Deeanne Gist
What are some Christian Fiction books that you have loved? How did they win you over?
Book Review: The Islands of Divine Music
The Islands of Divine Music
by John Addiego
256 pages
Unbridled Books
Fiction
A generational story of a little girl, Rosari, who has to flee with her family from Italy because of her collaboration in a crime. She wrote a kidnap note for some coins, a choice that would change her life forever. The Islands of Divine Music contains the history in her family from that day forward. Filled with deep character development, as each member of the family is a story by him/herself. The chapters are set up to narrate one individuals life, to share the choices they made, their thoughts and hopes. It is character development at its best! The Islands of Divine Music was truly a unique book. There are some minor twists and turns, but mostly it just isn't predictable enough to really even need them in order to keep the reader going.
John Addiego wrote a book in which the plot carries itself so well that it might as well be a non-fiction read. The story seams real, not made up. There is a family tree in the beginning, and as the chapters move through the reader can understand where each individual is being added in. I had no idea how much I was going to enjoy this John Addiego's novel. Each subject comes up out of the type and you think of them for days after the book is finished. John Addiego is an excellent writer. I highly recommend this read to people who like a good storyline, a great plot, with good detailing and history to back up the family and to those who enjoy superb character development, this is your read!
Have you read The Islands of Divine Music? What were your thoughts? Did you like how he did the chapters, having the reader get to know one family member at a time?
Some of my other recommendations for good books filled with character development and beautiful details, so make sure you check these out if you enjoyed The Islands of Divine Music:
The Vanishing Moon by Joseph Coulson
My Antonia by Willa Cather
The Wednesday Sisters by Meg Waite Clayton
Guest Post and Author Chat: Paul Harris, Author of The Secret Keeper
Yesterday I reviewed The Secret Keeper by Paul Harris, a novel that brings the conflict in Sierra Leone to a whole new level, one of the personal and human side to the chaos. I don't know if it is this way for you, but for me I love the novels that take me along to a place where I can feel the pain, and the anxiety of those citizens, even though it is only a fraction of the true feeling they experience, it is still a human bond, The Secret Keeper holds that gift for Sierra Leone.
Child Soldiers
By Paul Harris
The element of The Secret Keeper that many readers find most disturbing is
the child soldiers. Tragically they are not a fictional invention. The use
of child soldiers was a key feature of the civil war in Sierra Leone, as it
was in many conflicts in West Africa during the 1980s and 1990s. The
problem isn’t limited to that corner of the world during that time,
however. When I was emailing with Bethany about a possible topic she
mentioned that she had done research into the use of child soldiers by the
Colombian narco-guerrillas known as FARC. So neither Sierra Leone, nor
Africa, has a monopoly on using children as a weapon of war.
I do not pretend to know how to solve the problem of child soldiers. I wish
I did and I wish The Secret Keeper held the answers. But in the book I
sought only to reflect my own experience and my own emotional response to
encounters with them. That usually came from meetings at roadblocks, often
manned by rag tag soldiers, some of whom were barely taller than the rifles
they carried. To get past them was usually a careful negotiation, complete
with bribes of cigarettes, bread and booze. Alcohol, much demanded by the
soldiers, always made a return trip more unnerving as by then those manning
the roadblocks would be drunk. That they should have sought escape in
alcohol should be no surprise. They were caught up in wars not of their own
making. Their parents were likely dead. The rebels in Sierra Leone were so
brutal that they even stooped to forcing children to kill members of their
own families. The traumatised children then had no choice but to then join
their ranks.
The government side, and the various rag tag militia that lurked everywhere
were better than that. But not by too much. It was all brutish and nasty.
You prayed never to run into a rebel roadblock (I never did, thank God).
But government ones could be terrifying too, with guns pointed through
windows and, behind the trigger, the drugged-up stares of ten-year-olds.
But I do remember that these boys and youths, despite the horrors of their
situation, would sometimes respond to a simple smile and a joke. Just in
the same way any child or youth would. They would grin back and laugh at
some gesture or friendly shake of the hand. It was a reminder that no
matter what they had seen or done or endured, these children and teenage
boys were still somehow just that: children and boys. If a reader could
look through some of the horrors that The Secret Keeper describes and still
see those truths, then writing the book would have been more than worth it.
Chat with the Author: Paul Harris, The Secret Keeper
He won't be keeping too many secrets today!
Paul Harris has agreed to "lurk" around Dreadlock Girl today and respond to questions or comments about this guest post and his new book, The Secret Keeper. I can't wait to ask some myself. I hope you will take this opportunity as well!
Paul Harris will respond to comments/questions on both Dreadlock Girl and Dreadlock Girl Reads . If you want to follow the conversation along, make sure to check them both out!
Read more about The Secret Keeper:
Dreadlock Girl's book review of The Secret Keeper
The official book website: The Secret Keeper
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