Offerings: A Love Story is a book I found surfing around Amazon one night. It had the "Look Inside" feature, so I read a few pages and it didn't turn me off as many self-published books do. I decided to give it a try. I'm not sorry I did. It is a Catholic faith-based novel about Jack, a 30 year old bachelor who proposes to a recent high school graduate who works in the diner in his farm town. The proposal came before the courtship, not after, because she was pregnant with another man's child, and that man (boy really) didn't want anything more to do with her or the baby. Offerings: A Love Story
is the story of how their relationship grows from one of convenience to one of love.It is a self-published novel, and like many self-published books, it could use a good editor. Including elements of the Catholic faith was important to the author, and since the characters are Catholic and preparing for marriage and the baptism of a baby, there are plenty of opportunities to work Catholicism into the plot naturally. However, I think Williams went overboard on at least a couple of occasions. There were some details revealed at the end of the book that I think could have been worked into a more effective opening for the book--as it was, Jack just didn't seem real in his decision to propose. It was understandable why she accepted, but not why he asked. By the time we learn, it really doesn't matter.
Still, for a self-published novel it isn't bad and if you are looking for a novel that shows Catholic characters acting Catholic, this is one. Grade: B-
Sounds like an interesting book.
ReplyDeleteHave a happy Fourth!
this sounds good
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your balanced review! This sounds like an interesting book.
ReplyDeleteIt was interesting, and it certainly held my interest. As a Catholic who spends a lot of time reading about Protestants in Christian fiction, I'd really like the chance to pick up something similar and read about people like me
ReplyDeleteI was skimming your books reviewed and smiling at your realistic grades...I, too, appreciate the fair shake. I've had a real problem getting into Christian literature b/c it always seems, as you say, heavy-handed. I will say that I read the book "Five for sorrow, Ten for Joy" recently and it absolutely knocked me off my feet. There's an old Sci-fi book that I think does a good job depicting Catholics respectfully, too--Canticle for Leibowitz. It's about an order of post-nuclear holocaust monks who are preserving knowledge, even though they don't know what it says. (It's a shopping list, which is ironic, but the point is that despite the pointlessness of what they're preserving, they are portrayed respectfully and as faithful people.)
ReplyDeleteI loved Five for Sorrow http://rannthisthat.blogspot.com/2007/08/book-review-five-for-sorrow-ten-for-joy.html
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