Monday, November 26, 2012

The River by Michael Neale

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Thomas Nelson through their BookSneeze program.  When Gabriel Clarke was 5 years old he watched his father drown in The River.  His whole life has been spent missing his father and reliving what happened that day.  He has nor really lived since that awful day.  When he is 20 a friend convinces him to go camping at The River.  While Gabriel is there he has a profound experience that changes how he views The River and allows him to start to heal.  This was an interesting story.  I found Gabriel an interesting character.  I felt sympathy for him and wanted him to find a way to thrive.  The supporting characters were interesting as well.  This book was written as an analogy and I felt like the story suffered a little because of it.  Some things didn't make sense as part of the story, but they did as part of the analogy.  Overall I enjoyed the book I would give it 3.5/5 stars.

Saturday, November 17, 2012

Twice A Bride by Mona Hodgson

I received a complimentary copy of this book from WaterBrook Publishing as part of their Blogging for Books.  Willow Peterson has just buried her father.  Her husband died four years previously and she descended into a deep despair.   With the help of God and her family she was able to come out of it and is now trying to start a new life.  She has decided to stay in Cripple Creek and start over.  When looking for work she comes across an add asking for a portrait painter to work with a photography studio.  She has always wanted art to be a bigger part of her life, and this is the perfect chance.  I enjoyed the characters in this book.  Willow is a very likable main character.  You can admire her for what she has been through.  She had a hard time, but she worked through it and is now stronger than ever.  She is surrounded by a lot of fun characters as well.   This is the fourth book in a series.  I hadn't read any of the other books.  Hints were dropped of what happened in the previous books, and they sound interesting.   The only problem I had with this book was that some things just seemed unrealistic.  At one point, one of the characters goes into labor.  Her labor lasts about 10 min, before she gives birth to twin girls, and she didn't even have to push either of them out.  She had gone into labor at a family dinner, and her brother-in-law, who is a Dr. is there.   The Dr. decides to wait in the living room and let the three sisters take care of the delivery.  After all, two of them have given birth before and one of them was in the room when someone else gave birth.  This just didn't seem realistic to me.  I would give this book 3.5/5 stars.