Review: A Fragile Hope

A Fragile Hope

About the Book:

Josiah Chamberlain's life's work revolves around repairing other people's marriages. When his own is threatened by his wife's unexplained distance, and then threatened further when she's unexpectedly plunged into an unending fog, Josiah finds his expertise, quick wit and clever quips are no match for a relationship that is clearly broken. 

Feeling betrayed, confused, and ill-equipped for a crisis this crippling, he reexamines everything he knows about the fragility of hope and the strength of his faith and love. Love seems to have failed him. Will what’s left of his faith fail him, too? Or will it be the one thing that holds him together and sears through the impenetrable wall that separates them?

My Comments:

Josiah is a famous writer of books about relationships, but his primary relationship, his marriage, is very broken, and he doesn't even realize it.  One night his wife has had enough, and she is found in a coma in a car with her best friend's husband, who is dead.  Josiah has reason to believe she has been unfaithful and is, of course, hurt by this.  It takes him a long time to realize that he is the one who has been unfaithful--no he has never been with another woman but he hasn't given himself to his wife in a long time.

Josiah's wife is in a coma for a long time and there are serious doubts that she will ever recover.  In the end, she does and so does their marriage.  In realizing what he has to lose, Josiah learns how hard it is to forgive, and how necessary it is. 

The book is Christian fiction, but Josiah isn't the most religious guy on the planet.  He and his wife belong to a church and the church members help them through the  ordeal but there are no sermons in the book and faith doesn't solve all the problems in the world.

I like Cynthia Ruchti's writing and I really enjoyed the book  Maybe the happily ever after was a tad unrealistic, but I'd much rather be left smiling at the end of a book than crying.  Grade: B+

Thanks to the publisher for making a review copy available via NetGalley. 

Restoring Christmas: My Review

Restoring Christmas 

About the Book:

Alexis Blake has one chance to land her own show on the Home Project Network and nothing, not an uncooperative client, a job site without indoor plumbing, or a challenging videographer, is going to stand in her way. Elsie, at seventy-plus, is far from the ideal client, but she knows exactly what she wants her fieldstone house to look like, and no designer can tell her otherwise. Gabe Langley, the man with the camera, is caught in the middle and it is his wisdom and warmth that just may be the bridge that will bring these two women together. Can they restore more than just a house and bring about special, almost lost forever Christmas memories?

My Comments:

As noted above, nothing goes as planned when Alexis wins a spot on a decorating show.  She's an interior designer who is trying to make a name (and business) for herself.  Unlike some reality shows that have producers adding drama and cameras from the show watching the participants at all times, Alexis has to provide her own video.  The show provided the client and the budget; she has to provide everything else.  I like that because frankly I think most reality show drama is silly, and home renovation projects have enough problems without adding more.

The first problem is that the professional videographer she hired has to bail on her because of an injury--luckily his handsome young son is available.  I loved watching Alexis and Gabe get to know each other and I loved the way Cynthia Ruchti compared the redemption and Light brought by Christmas to the redemption of the house, of the lives of her characters and light brought into their worlds by each other.  

As a novella, Restoring Christmas is a short easy read, however Ruchti has a way with words that gives the story additional beauty and depth and makes it a bit more than the typical heartwarming Christmas romance.  

I'd like to thank the publisher for making a review copy available via NetGalley.  Grade:  B+

Cynthia Ruchti’s ‘Song of Silence’ Music-Themed Giveaway and Book Review

About the Book:

Charlie and Lucy Tuttle are committed to each other for life, but that life isn’t turning out quite like they expected. Charlie retired early, but Lucy planned to continue in her position as a music educator in a small Midwestern K-8 school indefinitely. And then the day came when she was forced to retire. Lucy was devoted to the program her father started years ago and now she can only watch as it disintegrates before her eyes. The longer she is separated from the passion of her heart, the more the music fades from her life and she wonders if her faith’s song is fading too. When a simple misstep threatens to silence Lucy forever, a young boy and his soundless mother change the way she sees—and hears—everything.

As the music fades and a chasm separates her from the passion of her heart, will Lucy's faith song go silent, too? Find out in Cynthia Ruchti's new book, Song of Silence. The musical score of her life seems to be missing all the notes. When a simple misstep threatens to silence Lucy forever, a young boy and his soundless mother change the way she sees—and hears—everything.

My Review:  

Cynthia Runchi's main character in Song of Silence is a woman in her late fifites (a few years older than me) who was laid off from her beloved job as a music teacher when the program was the victim of budget cuts.  Her husband has recently retired from a job that was just that--a job, not a passion.  He was looking for a passion and when she was laid off, he assumed she'd join him at it.  She feels smothered, and yet she sees her husband's irritating actions for what they are--expressions of love.  He wants to spend more time with her and to do things together; she feels smothered and seems to want to be left alone to wallow in her grief.   

On the one hand I got a little impatient with her. Yes, she was laid off from a job she loved but on the other hand, she had spent previous summers giving private music lessons and presumably could have done so again this summer.  It is also not a reach to figure that with the school dropping music, there would be more demand more private lessons, not less.  Instead of teaching private lessons that summer, she waits tables where she did in high school.  She sees a counselor who refers her to a group of women in the same boat and it was interesting to hear them discussing the changes in their lives.  I have had some recent questions about the long-term viability of my job and have had to consider whether I should move on or stay--and possibly be told that I'd be moving on, whether I want to or not.  I get how hard change is at this stage in life.  I'm by no means ready to go out to pasture but I'm not striving to take over the world either.  I have my niche, I like it and frankly I hope to retire from this job.   

Two interesting characters in the book were her daughter-in-law and her step-grandson.  The daughter-in-law was deaf and the step-grandson suffered from Asperger's   I could relate to many of his issues, having raised an autistic son.   

I think Cynthia Ruchti is a fan of music in the schools as we heard a lot about how studies show that those who study music do better in academic areas than those who don't.  We meet a former student who credits her with putting him on the path to his current non-musical profession.   

The book is Christian fiction and mentions prayer and faith but unless you are anti-faith, I don't think there is enough religion in the book to turn you off.  There are no lectures or sermons and nobody has a great faith experience in the book.  Lucy is a woman of faith and and that does affect the way she deals with the world.   

One thing this book shares with much Christian fiction is its happily ever after ending.   

I'd like to thank the nice folks at Litfuse for providing a complimentary review copy for the purpose of this blog tour.  Grade:  B+ 

Celebrate the release of Song of Silence with a blog tour and giveaway. Two winners will be chosen!

 

One grand prize winner will receive:

• A copy of Song of Silence
• A $150 Visa cash card

One second place winner will receive:

• A copy of Song of Silence
• A music-themed prize pack filled with goodies hand-picked by Cynthia

Enter today by clicking the icon below. But hurry! The giveaway ends on May 9th. The winners will be announced May 10th on Cynthia's blog.

Blog Tour and Giveaway: An Endless Christmas

An Endless Christmas: A Novella

About the Book:

There's no getting out of Christmas now, despite Katie rejecting Micah's marriage proposal. Cozy up this holiday season with Cynthia Ruchti's new novella, An Endless Christmas. The Binder family celebrates every Christmas as if it were their last. Too many people, too much snow, and too little room should be a recipe for disaster. But sometimes too much is just enough. Especially when it’s Christmas.

My Comments:

I really enjoyed this sweet Christmas read.  As noted above, Micah's family celebrates each Christmas as if it may be their last together and this year a couple of things happen that remind everyone that this really COULD be it--and yet there is a new generation, so while things change, family remains.  Cynthia Ruchti managed to write an emotionally moving story while staying true to the Christmas novella genre.  

The book is Christian fiction, so we know it is Jesus' birth, not Santa's arrival that is being celebrated and there are evangelical moments in the story, so it is probably too religious for those who don't like religious fiction, but since I prefer Jesus to Santa, I had no problem with it.  

An Endless Christmas is a book of contrasts--Micah and Katie live in Florida, but are celebrating Christmas in Minnesota.  That Christmas season involves both death and new family members.  Katie is from a small family that was never close; Micah's family always spends time together at Christmas. I think we all have our dream of the perfect Christmas; I think Cynthia Ruchti is telling us that the perfect Christmas is the one we make perfect, not the one that goes the way we plan.  

One thing I really liked about the story is that the characters went through Bayport Minnesota, which is where my parents met.  

I'd like to thank the nice folks at Litfuse for providing a complimentary review copy.  Grade:  B+

Celebrate the holidays with Cynthia and An Endless Christmas by entering her $100 Target gift card giveaway!

 

One grand prize winner will receive:

• A copy of An Endless Christmas
• A $100 gift card to Target

Enter today by clicking the icon below. But hurry, the giveaway ends on November 30th. The winner will be announced December 1st on Cynthia's blog.

Review: As Waters Gone By

As Waters Gone By

About the Book:

Emmalyn Ross never thought a person could feel this alone. Sustaining a marriage with a man who’s not by her side is no easy task, especially since her husband currently resides behind impenetrable prison walls. His actions stole her heart’s desire and gave their relationship a court-mandated five-year time-out. What didn’t fall apart that night fell apart in the intervening years.

Now, on a self-imposed exile to Madeline Island—one of the Apostle Islands of Lake Superior—Emmalyn starts rehabbing an old hunting cottage they’d purchased when life made sense. Restoring it may put a roof over her head, but a home needs more than a roof and walls, just as a marriage needs more than vows and a license. With only a handful of months before her husband is released, Emmalyn must figure out if and how they can ever be a couple again. And his silence isn’t helping.

My Comments:

What is it like to have a spouse in prison?  For many, the answer is "I don't have a spouse in prison;  I  have an ex-spouse in prison".  Emmalyn's husband is in prison for a crime he committed, but the action was not typical of his behavior.  Emmalyn, unlike many spouses of convicts, remains faithful and hopes to pick up the pieces of her marriage when he gets home.  Unfortunately, home as they knew it isn't theirs anymore due to financial problems, Emmalyn decides to move into a cottage her husband had used for hunting, a cottage far away from her critical and overbearing mother.  

When Emmalyn arrives on Madeline Island, she meets Boozie, the owner of the local bed and breakfast.  While Emmalyn has never really practiced religion, Boozie is a devout Christian and through Emmalyn's interactions with Boozie and other island inhabitants she comes to know Christ and to reach beyond herself to help those in need.  She also comes to see that God has answered her prayers, just not in the way she wanted them answered.  Emmalyn also learns that while in prison her husband has undergone a religious conversion too.

Obviously the book is Christian fiction, and if conversion stories aren't your thing, well, this book is one.  However, it is not just a story of finding Jesus and everything being perfect in life.  It is the story of a woman who was wallowing in self-pity, who in a lot of ways was in a prison of her own making, who by reaching out to others and by allowing others to reach her, broke through the bars in her life to the freedom God wanted for her.

Cynthia Ruchti is a talented writer who paints beautiful pictures both of landscapes and of the souls of people through her use of words.  This book is a winner and I give it an A.  

I'd like to thank the publisher for making a review copy available via NetGalley.

Litfuse Blog Tour and $200 Dollar Giveaway: All My Belongings by Cynthia Ruchti

All My Belongings

About the Book:

A new identity can’t protect Becca from a past that refuses to go away. Where do you turn when changing your name doesn’t give you the anonymity you want? When running hundreds of miles away isn’t far enough? When your search for a place to belong lands you right back where you began? One phone call destroys all the hope Becca Morrow has for a life beyond the shame of her past. Further discredited by the death of her elderly, ailing patient—the mother of the influential businessman, Isaac Hughes—Becca’s new life is shattered and her longing for love slips away. Working to clear her name, Becca must learn to see the beauty in the ugliness of dying, to accept the tenderness in forgiveness, and—at last—discover that where she belongs isn’t as much about her family history as it is about her faith in the One to whom she’ll always belong.

My Comments:

This was definitely one of those right book at the right time books for me.  About six weeks ago I watched my father die.  This book deals with the deaths of three people.  Like my father's death, these were expected.  Unlike my father's death, some of these were hastened.  We learn quickly that Becca was the one who turned her father into the authorities for killing her mother, who had ALS.  She changes her name and gets a job across the country, a job caring for an elderly woman who is dying.  She avoids talking about her past but the police become suspicious when the death of her charge has odd elements.  

I think the book does a good job of looking realistically at the problems we have caring for the infirm.  It is obvious that Isaac's mother's care was greatly enhanced because of his ability to pay for it.  Mention is made of multiple downsizings made necessary by Becca's mother's illness.  As families become separated by miles, as they become smaller, and as we live longer, more and more of us are going to have to deal with the financial reality of infirmity.  I have to wonder what part that financial reality played in the decisions made by Becca's father.

All My Belongings is definitely Christian fiction.  The characters pray.  They drink sparkling juice, not wine.  Isaac belongs to a men's group from church and they meet regularly.  The final moral is that forgiveness is necessary and freeing.  

I'd like to thank the publishers for making a review copy available for this Litfuse tour.  Grade:  B+

Cynthia Ruchti asks what it takes to overcome your past and become who you were meant to be in her latest novel, All My Belongings. Cynthia has woven a heart-wrenching tale of forgiveness, grace, and learning what it means to truly belong.

Cynthia is celebrating the release of her latest novel with a fun giveaway and a live webcast event!

 
One winner will receive:

• A $200 Visa cash card
• All My Belongings by Cynthia Ruchti

Enter today by clicking one of the icons below. But hurry, the giveaway ends on June 11th. Winner will be announced at the All My Belongings LIVE webcast event on June 11th. Connect with Cynthia for an evening of book chat, trivia, laughter, and more! Cynthia will also be taking questions from the audience and giving away books, fun prizes, and gift certificates throughout the evening.

So grab your copy of All My Belongings and join Cynthia and friends on the evening of June 11th for a chance to connect and make some new friends. (If you haven't read the book, don't let that stop you from coming!)

Don't miss a moment of the fun; RSVP today by signing up for a reminder. Tell your friends via FACEBOOK or TWITTER and increase your chances of winning. Hope to see you on the 11th!