Booksneeze Review: Sweet Olive

Sweet Olive (Trumpet & Vine)

About the Book:

Camille Gardner is trapped in the middle when a unique Southern town collides with the 'outside world' and big oil.

A talented negotiator, Camille Gardner agrees to take on one last field assignment for her uncle before she settles down to pursue her real passion---working at an art gallery. But she'd rather be anywhere than Samford, Louisiana, the small southern town where she once spent the worst weeks of her life.

To fulfill the obligation she feels to her uncle, Camille needs to entice a group of rural landowners to sell their mineral rights---and allow use of their precious water for the drilling of natural gas. Instead, she finds herself drawn to the local folk art created by those same landowners and attracted to Marsh Cameron, the attorney representing the landowners.

The charming residents and the traditions of this small community leave Camille conflicted about her family obligations---and her own plans for the future. Perhaps she needs to give Samford a second chance.

My Comments:

How many of us end up in careers or other positions because it is what family wants or expects of us?  Camille never wanted to be in the oil business but that was the family business and since her uncle's money was paying for college, she learned about oil (and art) and went into the business.   She wants to get out and is asked to do one more job, a job where her love of art puts her in direct conflict with the needs of the business.  In trying to make everyone happy Camille has to consider what is important in life and how that is not always the easy or pleasant thing to do.  

I loved the setting and in a lot of ways it reminded me of the town in north Louisiana where my daughter is going to college right now (not that I am aware of any artists' colonies in the area).  

This is a sweet charming book that should appeal to most fans of women's fiction.  While it has religious aspects, they are not overwhelming or out of place. 

I'd like to thank the publisher for a complimentary copy of this book through BookSneeze®.  Grade:  B.

You can preview the book here, or on the Amazon page linked above.  Judy Christie's website is here.

Cherished by Kim Cash Tate: A Review

About the Book:

Kelli London once dreamed of being a songwriter. As crazy as it seemed, she hoped that God would use the lyrics that came to her even while she slept. She dreamed about Brian too, that the love they shared as high-school students would grow into marriage. But choices that still haunt her destroyed those dreams. Until now-when a series of love letters reawakens her hope for the future.

Heather Anderson's life has spun out of control-first, an affair with a married man, then a one-night stand with the drummer of a popular Christian band has left her devastated. Broken and alone, she cried out to the only One able to save her. He met her there, but it was just the beginning. Because now she must take a different path. And the one God has planned for her looks nothing like the one she envisioned.

My Comments:

If you like your Christian fiction on the religious side, this is the book for you.  It starts off in church, at a wedding.  We meet women who are in a Bible Study/Accountability group together.  One character is a Christian rapper.  Not long after the book opens we visit a conference for those who hope to sing Christian music, and there we learn that not all Christians are as Christ-like as we would hope.  I read 87 pages and I don't think there was a paragraph that didn't involve religion in one way or another.  It just didn't seem realistic and as I don't really care for the sermon dressed up as a novel type books, I'm marking it DNF and moving on to something else.

I'd like to thank Thomas Nelson publishers and the BookSneeze program for providing a complimentary hard copy of the book.  I also received a NetGalley.  I was not obligated to provide a positive review.  

The King's Christmas List by Eldon Johnson, Illustrated by Bonnie Leick

What do you get a King for Christmas?  That is the question Emma and her dog Shu-Shu have to answer in The King's Christmas List.  One day, not long before Christmas they were decorating her playhouse for Christmas when the mailbox began to shine like a star.  Emma looked inside and found an invitation to the King's (King is always capitalized in this book) birthday party, His Christmas celebration.  Upon arrival of the invitation, things changed; Emma was now able to talk to and understand Shu-Shu.  

Having been invited to a birthday party, Emma's first question was what to take as a gift.  She decides to take a Christmas cake that she and her mother just baked, even though it is her favorite.  She puts on her Christmas cloak, grabs the cake and her favorite bear and she and Shu-Shu get into the carriage sent by the King.  On the way to the castle they meet a boy and he grandmother.  The boy is under-dressed and the  grandmother says he is cold. Emma gives him her cloak, and, since he looks hungry, the cake.  Next they meet a little girl and her  parents.  They appear to be poor and the little girl is crying because her teddy bear fell in the river and was gone.  Emma wonders if that is the only toy the girl had, and decides that, even as much as she loves Cherry Bear and goes nowhere without him, that this little girl needed him more.

When she gets to the party Emma notices that the guests are exchanging gifts but that no one is giving gifts to the King.  She asks why and He shows her that the people she met on the road were actually angels, sent to see if she had the real spirit of Christmas.  The King told her that by doing for others, particularly those in need, you give a gift to Him.

The pictures of the King are kind of "Jesus-ish", guy with long hair and a beard, wearing a long white robe and a small crown on His head.  My six year  old figured out quickly who the King was.  She enjoyed the story and has been trying to take it from me as I'm writing this review.  I found the story to be a charming rendition of "Whatsoever you do".  While set a Christmas, it could be used year-round.  However, while you can lead a horse to water, you can't necessarily make them give treasures away.  My daughter's "security blanket" is my old nursing pj shirt.  She adopted it even before I quit wearing it, and after it was obvious that it was her choice of objects, it became hers.  It is a rag, but to her it is a treasure.  I asked if she'd give "Shirtie" to someone who lost a toy, and she looked horrified.  Luckily, I'm sure  no one would want it.

I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

A Christmas Prayer by Amy Parker, Illustrated by Marijan Ramljak

A Christmas Prayer is a charming board book that tells about the characters in the Christmas story via the prayer of a small child. It opens with the family, including two little ones, gathered around the tree. The child's Christmas prayer is one of thanks, not for toys and dolls. First, he gives thanks for his family, and then, on succeeding spreads, for Gabriel, Mary, Joseph, the donkey, the manger, the shepherds, the star, and then, for the perfect Christmas gift, Jesus. As the child thanks God for each of these gifts, a toy is added to the sofa. The final words are 

                            God, I know that Christmas 

                            Is more than toys or lists.

                            Thank You for loving me so much

                            And for these Christmas gifts.

My first grader and I read this tonight for our bedtime story and she enjoyed it.  I liked the fact that the Annunciation got mentioned; it isn't always in non-Catholic children's Christmas stories.  The child figures are cute and the way they are drawn, I don't really think you can say whether they are girls or boys, (though they do have a pink doll cradle and dolls).  I think six is about the upper end for this book though.  

Grade:  B+

I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”