TINY SUNBIRDS, FAR AWAY (CHRISTIE WATSON)

Story Description: 

Other Press|May 10, 2011|Trade Paperback|ISBN: 978-0-159051466-5 

Winner of the 2011 Costa First Novel Award. 

When their mother catches their father with another woman, twelve-year-old, Blessing, and her fourteen-year-old brother, Ezikiel, are forced to leave their comfortable home in Lagos for a village in the Niger Delta, to live with their mother’s family.  Without running water or electricity, Warri is at first a nightmare for Blessing.  Her mother is gone all day and works suspiciously late into the night to pay the children’s school fees.  Her brother, once a promising student, seems to be falling increasingly under the influence of the local group of violent teenage boys calling themselves Freedom Fighters.  Her grandfather, a kind of misguided man, is trying on Islam as his new religion of choice, and is even considering the possibility of bringing in a second wife. 

But Blessing’s grandmother, wise and practical, soon becomes a beloved mentor, teaching Blessing the ways of the midwife in rural Nigeria.  Blessing is exposed to the horrors of genital mutilation and the devastation wrought on the environment by British and American oil companies.  As Warri comes to feel like home, Blessing becomes increasingly aware of the threats to its safety, both from its unshakable but dangerous traditions and the relentless carelessness of the modern world. 

TINY SUNBIRDS, FAR AWAY is the witty and beautifully written story of one family’s attempt to survive a new life they could never have imagined, struggling to find a deeper sense of identity along the way. 

My Review: 

This was an extremely well-written book with lots of character detail.  I fell in love with Blessing and her grandmother who became such good friends and shared a special bond.  The family struggled through such difficult times that their ability to continue on in the face of such dire adversity was illuminating. 

Blessing and her brother, Ezikiel were very close and shared every story, every happening of every day together until Ezikiel started to become interested in a group of local bad boys who seemed to have an undesirable effect on him.  Blessing missed their conversations and closeness and eventually ends up losing him altogether which devastates her.  Ezikiel had such high aspirations.  He loved school and was going to study to become a medical doctor until being shot and missing so much school that he failed his exams.  After that he lost his passion for school and became one of ‘the boys’. 

Thankfully, for Blessing, her beloved Grandmother decided to teach her the old ways of becoming a mid-wife and at this time Blessing was introduced to the horrors of genital mutilation, which unfortunately, still does go on in today’s age. 

At over 400 pages, TINY SUNBIRDS, FAR AWAY was a novel that captured the characters and place so very, very well that I felt like I was there.  I could even taste the horrible “magic cube” soup Blessing made the first time!  I will be highly recommending this book to friends.



CHAI TEA SUNDAY (HEATHER A. CLARK)



Story Description:

ECW Press|April 1, 2012|Trade Paperback|ISBN: 978-1-77041-082-4

Explore the true resilience of the heart – and one woman’s determination to find hope in a world fraught with adversity

Thirty-something Nicky Fowler has it all – a rewarding career, a loving husband and the perfect home.  But when she and her husband suffer a complicated tragedy, the strain of two people dealing with an impossible situation in different ways breaks up their marriage.

Emotionally lost, Nicky travels to Kenya to volunteer at an orphanage.  Amidst the violence and abject poverty, Nicky discovers the one thing that keeps Kenyans moving forward: hope.  Over steaming mugs of chai, the country’s signature drink, Nicky opens up to her host mother, Mama Bu, and finds understanding, love and strength.  And with that strength, Nicky realizes what she needs to do to save the endangered children she’s grown to love.  Based on a true story, CHAI TEA SUNDAY is a glorious portrayal of the power of the human spirit.

My Review:

Heather Clark’s debut novel CHAI TEA SUNDAY is going to be a big hit!!  Tender, startling, filled with sadness, violence, yet hope, goodness and the Kenyan spirit teaches Nicky some major life lessons that she will apply to the rest of her life.

Nicky and her beloved husband, Eric, suffer a terribly devastating and sad loss that would knock the wind out of any parents.  Each encompassed in their own grief and dealing with it in different ways their marriage falls apart and they separate after some thirteen very happy years together.

Eric throws himself into his job as a lawyer and Nicky heads off to Kenya, Africa to volunteer as a teacher in an orphanage after her school principal in the United States suggests she take some time off to get her grief in order as it was having a profound effect on her Grade three students.

What Nicky finds in Kenya in her host family is, Mama Bu.  An intelligent and wise woman who teaches Nicky what holds Kenyans together in the face of such abject poverty and starvation – hope, chai tea and a forever friendship!  However, Nicky is sickened when the current director of the orphanage is less than kind to the children and she strives to find ways to cope with the injuries these young children suffer while at the same time trying not to interfere to the point she is kicked out.  The last thing these kids need is to lose Nicky, their only source of love and hope.

Apparently this novel is based on a true story and I was mesmerized and read it in one sitting.  I just couldn’t put the book down and didn’t want it to end.  This is one novel I won’t soon forget and it has earned a spot on my “permanent” book shelf!  Congratulations Mrs. Clark on a wonderful debut novel!!!  I will certainly be spreading the word about this new and wonderful Canadian author.



NIGHT ROAD: A NOVEL (KRISTIN HANNAH)

Story Description: 

St. Martin’s Press|February 29, 2012|Hardcover||ISBN: 978-0-312-36442-7 

For a mother life comes down to a series of choices.  To hold on, to let go, to forget, to forgive.  Which road will you take.  Night Road? 

For eighteen years, Jude Farraday has put her children’s needs above her own, and it shows – her twins, Mia and Zach are bright and happy teenagers.  When Lexi Baill moves into their small close-knit community, no one is more welcoming than Jude.  Lexi, a former foster child with a dark past, quickly becomes Mia’s best friend.  Then Zach falls in love with Lexi and the three become inseparable. 

Jude does everything to keep her kids on track for college and out of harm’s way.  It has always been easy – until senior year of high school.  Suddenly she is at a loss.  Nothing feels safe anymore; every time her kids leave the house, she worries about them. 

On a hot summer’s night her worst fears come true.  One decision will change the course of their lives.  In the blink of an eye, the Farraday family will be torn apart and Lexi will lose everything.  In the years that follow, each must face the consequences of that single night and find a way to forget…or the courage to forgive.  

Vivid, universal, and emotionally complex, NIGHT ROAD raises profound questions about motherhood, identity, love, and forgiveness.  It is a luminous, heartbreaking novel that captures both the exquisite pain of loss and the stunning power of hope.  This is Kristin Hannah at her very best, telling an unforgettable story about the longing for family, the resilience of the human heart, and the courage it takes to forgive the people we love. 

My Review: 

Night Road was a page-turner!  I felt warm and fuzzy at the friendship that Mia, Lexi, and Zach held onto so dearly.  They were thick as thieves and loved and respected each other in ways that a lot of us wish we had with our friends.  They knew how to love and respect each other and they knew how to have fun.  Then one night, in one moment it all ended and blame was to be laid at everyone’s feet. 

Jude, the everything mother; the father the surgeon; Zach; Mia; and Lexi all were to blame in one way or another but it was unfortunate that Lexi was the loser in this tragedy.  She spent 5 years of her life in jail for a crime that was everyone’s fault but someone had to pay the price and she did in more ways than one. 

After going to prison, she found out she was pregnant and had to give up her baby to be raised by Zach. Everyone in this family lost something but Lexi lost the most and would she ever gain back what was lost?  That remains to be seen.  I cried, I sympathized and I empathized throughout this novel.  The emotions the story provoked were amazing and I’ve never felt more sorry for a family than I did this one.  Kristin Hannah has done an awesome job in evoking all kinds of emotion and teaching us some good lessons about life along the way.  I would highly recommend this book!



THE LIFEBOAT: A NOVEL (CHARLOTTE ROGAN)

Story Description:

Little, Brown And Company|April 3, 2012|Hardcover|ISBN: 978-0-316-18590-5  

Grace Winter, 22, is both a newlywed and a widow.  She is also on trial for her life .   

In the summer of 1914 the elegant ocean liner carrying her and her husband, Henry, across the Atlantic suffers a mysterious explosion. Setting aside his own safety, Henry secures Grace a place in a lifeboat, in which the survivors quickly realize is over capacity.  For any to live, some must die. 

As the castaways battle the elements, and each other, Grace recollects the unorthodox way she and Henry met and the new life of privilege she thought she’d found.  Will she pay any price to keep it? 

The Lifeboat is a page-turning novel of hard choices and survival, narrated by a woman as unforgettable and complex as the events she describes. 

My Review: 

The Lifeboat is a page-turning account of 21 days adrift in the Atlantic Ocean narrated by 22-year-old Grace Winter.  The lifeboat is overloaded and some people are going to have to die, jumping overboard to their deaths to drown in the sea.  Asking for volunteers there is utter silence so straws are drawn and those 3 who choose the shortest must go overboard.  Who could feel right about playing God in this way? 

The personalities of the men and women in the lifeboat are as different as night and day.  There are those who are trouble makers, those who are afraid of their own shadow, those that feel ‘they’ must be in charge, and those that vacillate between the combination of learning to go with the flow so as not to be centered out by anyone. 

The emotions that these poor people go through are horrendous to say the least and the lack of food and water doesn’t help but when your lips are swollen to twice their normal size, split open and bleeding and your tongue so dried out and swollen that it’s cracking and drinking the salty sea-water is not an option for it would only worsen their condition. 

In the end, three of the woman, including the quiet narrator, Grace Winter, are on trial for murder.  Having been forced to make a decision at sea brought them to the point of out and out murder, however what transpires in the courtroom will surprise you. 

As a debut novel, this was well-written, well thought out and left you feeling hopeful that you yourself are never put in the same position as these people found themselves.  Charlotte Rogan has written a compelling, page-turner that should not be missed.



A THREAD OF SKY (DEANNA FEI)

Story Description:

Penguin Press|E-Reader Edition|KOBO|ISBN: 978-1-101-19767-7 

Looking to reconnect with their ancestral home and with one another, three generations of women tour mainland China on a journey that will change their family forever. 

A stunning debut, A Thread of Sky is the story of a family of women and the powerful thread that binds their lives.  In following the paths chosen by six fiercely independent women, A Thread of Sky explores the terrain we must travel to recognize the strength and vulnerability of those closest to us. 

When her husband of thirty years is killed in a devastating accident, Irene Shen and her three daughters are set adrift.  Nora, the eldest, retreats into her high-powered New York job and a troubled relationship.  Kay, the headstrong middle child, escapes to China to learn the language and heritage of her parents.  Sophie, the sensitive and artistic youngest, is trapped at home until college, increasingly estranged from her family – and herself.  Terrified of being left alone with her grief, Irene plans a tour of mainland China’s “must-sees”, reuniting three generations of women – her three daughters, her distant poet sister, and her formidable eighty-year-old mother – in a desperate attempt to heal her fractured family. 

If only it was so easy.  Each woman arrives bearing secrets big and small, and as they travel – visiting untouched sections of the Great Wall and the seedy bars of Shanghai, the beautiful ancient temples and cold,  modern shopping emporiums – they begin to wonder if they will ever find the China they seek, the one their family fled long ago. 

Over days and miles they slowly find their way toward a new understanding of themselves, of one another, and of the vast complexity of their homeland, only to have their new bonds tested as never before when the darkest, most carefully guarded secret of all tumbles to the surface and threatens to tear their family apart forever.  A Thread of Sky is a beautifully written and deeply haunting story about love and sacrifice, history and memory, sisterhood and motherhood, and the connections that endure. 

My Review: 

I really don’t have a lot to say about this novel other than the description above give enough detail for you to know and understand what the book was about. 

However, as for my take on the book, I didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought I would.  I found it boring and rather mundane to be quite truthful, but that doesn’t mean you won’t enjoy it so don’t allow my dislike to this book deter you from giving it a try.



IINESCAPABLE (BOOK 1 in the ROAD TO KINGDOM Series) NANCY MEHL

Story Description: 

Baker Publishing Group|July 1, 2012|Trade Paperback|ISBN: 978-0-7642-0927-7 

Page-turning romantic suspense set against the backdrop of a small Mennonite town Lizzie Engel is used to running away.  At eighteen she left her Mennonite hometown, her family, and her faith with plans never to return.  Five year later, Lizzie finds she’ll have to run again.  False accusations at her job, a stalker, and a string of anonymous threatening letters have left her with no other options.  This time, however, her escape is back to Kingdom, her hometown.  As Lizzie becomes reacquainted with Kingdom, she realizes she may not have left her Mennonite roots and her faith as firmly in the past as she thought.  She draws on the support of Noah Housler, an old friend as she hides out and attempts to plan her next steps.  When it becomes painfully clear that the danger has followed Lizzie to Kingdom, suspicions and tension run high, and she no longer knows who to trust.  With her life and the lives of those she love at risk, Lizzie will have to run one last time – to a Father whose love is inescapable. 

My Review: 

Lizzie Engel and her six-year-old daughter, Charity, live alone in a comfortable apartment but for the third night in a row, a strange man wearing a red baseball cap driving an orange car has been standing under a street light staring up at their window.  Lizzie is terrified not knowing who this man is or what he wants. 

Lizzie has worked at harbor House for the past four years, a shelter for abused women but has been accused, falsely, of stealing over a thousand dollars by, Reba, one of the other workers there.  Lizzie and Reba are the only two who have access to this money making it next to impossible for Lizzie to prove that she did not steal the money and Reba is temporary director so who is everyone going to believe – the director or a general worker?  The only one who believes Lizzie is her friend, Meghan.  The difficult thing is that Reba showed Lizzie the bogus withdrawals from petty cash that all seem to mysteriously have Lizzie’s initials on them, but she knows she did not steal that money.  The fact that Reba used to an accountant might go a long way in proving she’d had years of practice doctoring records, at least that’s what Meghan believes.  Lizzie is worried that as a single Mom she could lose her daughter, Charity, if Reba goes to the authorities. 

Lizzie has also been receiving strange notes and doesn’t know who they are from.  She wonders if the man with red baseball cap who watches her apartment is sending them, or is it someone else?  Between her trouble at work, the strange man, and the letters, Lizzie decides she needs to move, and she figures the safest place to go is back to Kingdom, Kansas her hometown of only 300 people.  She is going to miss living in Kansas City. 

Really, the last place Lizzie wants to move back too is Kingdom, a small Mennonite community.  Her memories of growing up there are far from happy.  She had a father: “…who did nothing but use terror and intimidation to control me – and a mother too timid to stand up for her only child.”  Her grandmother used to tell her: “…there isn’t anything too big for God, Lizzie Girl.  You gotta cast your cares on Him.  He loves you so much.”  Lizzie didn’t and doesn’t believe that for one minute, not after the way she was raised.  Now that Lizzie and Charity were moving back to Kingdom, and not leaving a forwarding address or telling anyone, where she was going, they would both be safe!  Or, would they? 

The evening before they were leaving, Lizzie ran downstairs in her apartment to retrieve the last of her mail.  Inside was a blue envelope, she ripped it open and read: “I’m watching you.  It’s just a matter of time before I get you and your little girl.  You’ll never get away from me.”  Absolutely irate, she sees the man in the red baseball cap standing across the road and bolts out onto the road and begins yelling at him and gets hit by a car and knocked to the ground. 

Ms. Mehl has done a great job in writing this story.  It held my attention from the first page until the last, the characters were likable and some I even despised!!  Great story. 

"Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc.

Available at your favourite bookseller from Bethany House, a division of Baker Publishing Group". 



THE GIFTED: A NOVEL (ANN H. GABHART)

Story Description: 

Baker Publishing Group|July 1, 2012|Trade Paperback|ISBN: 978-0-8007-3455-8 

By 1849, Jessamine Brady has been in the Shaker Village for half her life, but in spite of how she loves her sisters there, she struggles to conform to the strict rules.  Instead she entertains dreams of the world outside.  When Tristan Cooper seems to step out of those dreams to entice her into the forbidden realm beyond the Shaker Village, her life turns upside down.  Will Jessamine be able to survive the storms of the world?  Or will she retreat back to the peace of Harmony Hill?  The thousands of loyal fans of Gabhart’s Shaker novels will love this entrancing story of learning to trust the gifts God gives us and let him guide us through life. 

My Review: 

Nineteen-year-old, Jessamine Brady has been part of the Shaker Village at Harmony Hill since she was ten-years-old after her grandmother died and there was no one left to care for her.  Jessamine has difficulty conforming to the rules and regulations of the village and often dreams of the ‘outside’ world which gets her into trouble with the older sisters.  She is known for not being the most sensible sister in their village. 

Sister Jessamine and Sister Annie were given the task of berry picking in the woods.  Of course, with Jessamine’s natural propensity for seeing the more curious and unknown things in life, wanders further and further into the woods.  Sister Anne is beside herself with worry for she knew they’d wandered too far.  Suddenly they heard gunshots and something crashing through the bushes.  Frightened, they hid behind a tree expecting to see a bear and a man coming after it shooting.  Jessamine peeks out and sees a horse with a saddle but no rider.  She strokes the horses face and begins to walk back behind the hose where she finds an injured man with a large bleeding gash in his head and one of his arms is bent at an unusual angle, obviously broken.  Sister Anne is terrified and now knows they are going to be in a heap of trouble when Sister Sophrena finds out how far they wandered and what they’ve stumbled upon.  Sister Anne is so mad that she tells Jessamine she is never going berry picking in the woods with her again. 

The two sisters struggle to get the stranger up onto his horse with Sister Jessamine riding in the saddle in front of him for support and they set off to find help at Harmony Hill.  However, Sister Jessamine is going to be in a heap of trouble for the sins she has committed this day, especially sitting in a saddle with a man! 

Back at Harmony Hill the man is doctored and bandaged and given medication to help him sleep in order to aid with his pain.  Over the course of the three days he spends there, he and Jessamine realize they have a connection?  A connection that is more than just friendly. 

Will Jessamine, with her curiousness for the outside world leave this stranger for a whole new world, or will her teachings of God and the strict upbringing she’s had force her to stay at Harmony Hill? 

Ann Gabhart’s THE GIFTED is a beautiful story of growing up, innocence, and learning to trust God and appreciating the gifts He gives to us.  You won’t be able to put this one down.  

"Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc.

Available at your favourite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group".