![The Words between Us: A Novel by [Bartels, Erin]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51nB4SMVQGL._SY346_.jpg)
About the Book:
Robin Windsor has spent most of her life under an assumed name, running from her family's ignominious past. She thought she'd finally found sanctuary in her rather unremarkable used bookstore just up the street from the marina in River City, Michigan. But the store is struggling and the past is hot on her heels.
When she receives an eerily familiar book in the mail on the morning of her father's scheduled execution, Robin is thrown back to the long-lost summer she met Peter Flynt, the perfect boy who ruined everything. That book--a first edition Catcher in the Rye--is soon followed by the other books she shared with Peter nearly twenty years ago, with one arriving in the mail each day. But why would Peter be making contact after all these years? And why does she have a sinking feeling that she's about to be exposed all over again?
With evocative prose that recalls the classic novels we love, Erin Bartels pens a story that shows that words--the ones we say, the ones we read, and the ones we write--have more power than we imagine.
My Comments:
The cover is what drew this bookworm to this book. As noted above, books were an important part of Robin and Peter's relationship back in high school and they are the way he brings himself back into her life today. Back in high school Peter used to give her books that had belonged to his mother, an English teacher who had died recently. The books had is mother's highlights and notes; all were sad an all included women whose lives were unhappy. To "pay" for the book, Robin would write poems for Peter.
When Robin left town suddenly, she returned the books to Peter, leaving them on his doorstep. Now he is sending them back, one at a time, and inside the books, he wrote her poems. Why?
Besides the Robin/Peter plotline there is the question of what happened all those years ago that landed her parents in jail. Her dad is supposed to be executed but receives a last-minute stay.
Erin Bartels' writing is lyrical, the prose is practically poetry. The descriptions are lush without being overdone. It is one of those books where I can read a paragraph out loud just to hear the beauty of the words. That's the good.
Robin runs a used book store and during the course of the book is engaged in building a dinosaur out of used books. She also daily gives her parrot an old book to tear up. She notes that there are some books that stand the test of time; their characters become part of reader and the reader's life whereas in other books, like those used for the parrot or the dinosaur, readers don't remember them after they have read them. For all the beauty in the writing of this book, it falls squarely in the second category. Basically, none of it rings true. Knowing what I know about law (and which I'll admit most people do not), the story of her parents has too many holes in it. Robin's finds that convince her to leave town seem improbable at best. What she does when she leaves town? Nope, doesn't sound real either. How the problem of her parents gets solved? Farfetced to say the least.
The book is published by Revell, which is a Christian imprint, but two thirds of the way through the book I had no idea why it was considered "Christian". Robin's grandmother went to church but about all that was said about it was that Robin refused to go. In the last third of the book Robin meets a minor character at church and we hear the sermon, and later get some advice from the minister's wife, but I didn't find faith to be a major factor in the book and if it otherwise appeals to you, I wouldn't let a dislike of faith-based literature dissuade you from reading this.
I got the book from my library via Hoopla. It is available at no addtional cost if you are a Kindle Unlimited member.
I'm going to keep a running list of books I review in 2010, along with some very short comments about each.
Mass-Market fiction. Clean. Grade: C. 
Christian Fiction. Moderately religious. Grade B-. 
Mass Market fiction. Sex scenes, but not real vivid. What happens to the family when a middle-aged conservative policy wonk leaves the family for a homosexual lover? Grade: B- 
Pretty much a formula Christian romance about an oncology nurse who gets cancer and her boss/doctor. Faith elements get pretty strong at times. Grade B-. 
Cute Amish romance novel. She is a newspaper reporter. He is the son of Amish parents but has left the church. Grade B- Review to be published 2/25.
A wealthy society girl from Boston loses her parents and has to move west with relatives. Being a good sweet Christian, she goes without complaint and through her goodness coverts the guy she falls for early on. Overly sweet, sappy, too good to be true Christian fiction. Grade D-.
The story of an abandoned child who grows up to be a famous Christian singer. I love Samson's writing, and this is a story about how grace can help us when we are in pain, but not a story of faith curing all ills of this world. Grade: B+. 
DNF page 42. Badly written Christian romance. Grade: F. 
. A fun mass-market romance in which the toxins from a vintage dress re-ignite an old flame. Moderate bedroom scenes, quick pacing. Grade: B 
A well-written Christian romance about two high school sweethearts who have both suffered since that time. Grade B+ 
Three high school chums, now in their forties, reunite and deal with the changes in their lives. Mass Market fiction, Grade B-. 
Three overly sweet, Scripture quoting Christian romances. Grade D+ . 
Christian YA about teen girls who go to Florida for Spring Break. Unfortunately no adult really takes charge. Grade: C 
An Old-Order Mennonite girl attends a modern American public high school Grade: B- 
Mass market romance, a fun read but nothing that you woudn't expect just looking at the cover. Grade: B-
Christian romance in the mold of one of them needs to find God before they can live happily ever after. Not one of Bedford's better books. DNF half way through. Grade D.
Part travelogue, part girlfriend chat. A forty-something woman gets an abnormal mammogram and runs away to Holland to visit a long-time pen-pal. Grade B-
A charming children's story about a father's love for his daughter and her compassion toward others. Grade B+. 
Great resource for Bible study. Great historical and geographic background. 
A terrific Christian novel about pain, sorrow and reconciliation. Great treatment of Catholicism. Grade A. 
Christian romantic comedy. Not badly written, just not my thing. Grade D. 
A charming memoir about an autistic boy and his dog. Grade: A. 
Christian romance, but more clean than Christian. 
Mass market western romance. 
Mass-market contemporary romance. She and he have both sub-let the same apartment from two different people. Neither has anyplace else to go for a few weeks, so they end up sharing. Language is on the crude side, story is kind of cute. Grade: B-
is a Christian hospital romance, long on romance, short on Christian. Grade B+. 
Christian romance set in the Texas Hill Country. The female lead is raped at the beginning of the book, and this, of course, colors her relationship with the male lead. Not a bad story, but religion is poured on a little heavily. B-
Mass-Market romance set in London. She is the owner of an orphanage that takes in children from the St. Giles area (kind of a red-light district). He is a duke who is pained by human touch. He meets her when hunting the St. Giles area for the killer of his mistress. Neither feels worthy of love. Good Story. Vivid bedroom scenes, including bondage. Grade B
Christian romance, heavy on the religion, about the wife of a small-town minister in Illinois in the 1840's. B-
Mass-market romance about one of three cousins who inherit their grandfather's ranch, and his quest for buried treasure. Grade B+
Mass-market romance about second of the three cousins. Moderate bedroom scenes.
Cute children's book A little girl is afraid of monsters until one day she wonders if maybe the monster is afraid of her. Grade: B-
Politically correct anti-hunting anti-rainforest destruction book about a family of orangutans and some humans. Grade C
Charming children's book showing babies all around the world born on the same day. All of them have moms who hug them, count their fingers and toes, and sing lullabies. Each on has a family who celebrates his/her arrival. Grade B+
A Christian detective novel. Beautiful writing. Grade A-. 