My Review: A Rush of Wings

Rush of Wings, A: A Novel

About the Book:  When fragmented images and unfocused panic force Noelle St. Claire to flee her wealthy, sheltered life in New York, she gains sanctuary on a ranch in the Rocky Mountains. There Noelle finds solace in the breathtaking scenery she paints. But as the attentions of two brothers, Rick and Morgan Spencer, breach the wall she hides behind, the past she yearns to escape becomes a menacing threat from which she can no longer hide. Award-winning and bestselling author Kristen Heitzmann has skillfully created a story resonating with emotion and depicting a poignant spiritual journey.

My thoughts:  This book is billed a Christian romantic suspense and it lives up to all three parts of that billing.  While at first I thought this would be one of  those Christian novels where "Christian" meant blessings before meals and a mention that they attended church on Sunday, but the end of the book it was very much one of those where the characters had to make their peace with God before they could live happily ever after.  It is romantic, well because there is a girl and three guys who want her.  Suspense--why is she running?  What happened. 

Kristen Heitzmann drops hints about what happened long before the total truth is revealed, and while I guessed a little wrong, in general, the outcome of the book was no surprise.  I think Heitzmann did a great job of creating a heavy mood throughout the book.  

I enjoyed the book and will look for the next one in the series.  Grade:  B+

Thanks to Bethany House for providing a complimentary review copy.  I was specifically told that negative reviews were acceptable.  

Mild Spoiler

By the end of the book the Christian elements become the center of the story.  Both the hero and the heroine were baptized Catholic.  Her mom died when she was six, and her father wasn't a believer so she never went to church again.  She does find her faith through speaking to a Catholic priest.  He lives in Colorado in a small town and attended a small chapel there where a visiting priest made the rounds once a month, and "Pastor Tom" held services the other weeks.  Once they decided to marry, the priest instrumental in her conversion marries them within hours.  The hero always prays before they eat, but he never makes the Sign of the Cross. In short, while this book is by no means critical of Catholicism, it's depiction of Catholicism isn't accurate.  

Christmas at Harrington's

Christmas at Harrington's

Don't you just love that cover?  I think there is a part of many of us that at least thinks it would like to go back to a small town, back to a time when towns had downtown department stores rather than  chain stores out at the mall, back to a place where people cared about each other--back to a place and time that probably never existed in quite the way we imagine it.  

Lena, the main character in Christmas at Harrington's doesn't want to go back--back to the town where her condemning parents lived; back to the town where her husband abandoned her when she was accused of a crime (a crime he committed); no, she wants to start over somewhere new.  The prison social worker sets her up in New Haven Minnesota--tells her there is a job waiting for her at Harrington's Department Store and gives her a bus ticket, a little cash, and pays her rent for a month. 

Like the sweet Christmas story you would expect by looking at the cover, Lena befriends those in need and is befriended by someone who sensed her need.  She gets a job as Mrs. Santa and for a while things look good.  Then her past catches up with her, but it is a sweet Christmas story so...

I could tell you about the wonderful character development, deep-seated themes or amazing plot twists, but this book doesn't have any of those things.  It is a feel-good Christmas story that leaves plenty of room for a sequel or two if Melody Carson decides she wants to do more with these characters, but the book does have a happy and satisfying ending.  Grade:  B.

I received a complimentary copy of his book for a Revell Blog Tour.  Christmas at Harrington's is available November 2010 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.  

Book Review: Amy Inspired

Amy Inspired

About the book: Amy Gallagher, aspiring writer, has an unabashed obsession with words. She gave up a steady, albeit unexciting, job to pursue a life of writing. However, two years and one master’s degree later, she finds herself almost exactly right back where she started. Discouraged by the growing pile of rejections from publishers and afraid that she has settled, Amy knows something has to change.  

Then she meets the mysterious, attractive, and unavailable Eli. Amy finds herself struggling to walk the fine line between friendship and something more with Eli, even as she tries to cope with the feeling that her friends and family are moving on without her. When the unexpected begins pouring in, Amy doubts the love and fulfillment she seeks will ever come her way. Forced to take a close look at who she has become, the state of her faith, and her aspirations for her life, she must make a choice: play it safe yet again or finally find the courage to follow her dreams.

My thoughts:  I have mixed feelings about this one.  I found myself skimming some pages just because I really didn't care about the characters, and this is one of those books where the characters, not the plot, were the real focus.  Amy is now 30, she dreams of being a writer, but does little to achieve that gol but catalog rejection notices.  She lives like a graduate student--sharing a small apartment,focusing her life on a college campus, and living on a small paycheck.   She has friends who are as immature as she is.  We learn about the sorrows in their present and past lives that make them who they are, but it seems to me (and in some ways I think it seemed to the characters) that there is a time when you decide to grow up, to focus on the life you have rather than pining for one that doesn't seem likely to happen.  The ending is meant to be happy, yet I can't help but wonder if it will be happy down the road.  

Amy Inspired is marketed as Christian fiction. Several of the Amazon reviews took issue with this.  Amy attends church regularly, and even invites one of her students to come to church.  We hear one of the pastor's sermons.  Amy however, does not exude this saccharine-sweet love for and confidence in God that is often seen in Christian novels--and her spiritual life really doesn't seem to mature or change in the book. Amy was raised in the "First Fundamentalist Church",which didn't believe in drinking or dancing.  Amy does both.  Amy's parents are divorced, and Amy's mom is now dating a Catholic--though nothing is said about Catholicism, good, bad or otherwise. In one scene Amy recalls a date where she ended up in her date's apartment wearing nothing put her panties and bra,telling her date that she was a virgin.  As someone who spent her dating days wanting to be good, but not a goody two-shoes, I could relate to that situation.  Later in the book, her male roommate (with whom she had not been involved) crawls into her bed one night (with her consent), though no sex takes place. In short,while some complain the book isn't Christian enough, I think there is too much religion to market this as a mass-market book.  

I'd like to thank the folks at Bethany House for providing a complimentary review copy.  I was specifically told that negative reviews were acceptable.  

Sunday Snippets--A Catholic Carnival

I'd like to welcome you to Sunday Snippets--A Catholic Carnival.What did you post about this week?  Create a post entitled "Sunday Snippets--A Catholic Carnival and in it highlight your posts from this week.  Include a link to this post.  Then, sign Mr. Linky so we can all check it out.  Don't forget to visit other folks.  If you'd like a weekly reminder to post, join our yahoogroup. 

I've been a busy reader/writer this week:
Life from Scratch:  About a women who blogs as she learns to cook and live on her own after a divorce

1022 Evergreen Place:  The latest episode in Debbie Macomber's Ceder Cove soap opera.

'Twas the Night:  Christmas romance anthology

The House:  A woman about to divorce takes back her ex when she learns he is dying.  Kindle giveaway.

Hatteras Girl:  Christian romance.