Postcard Poems

Forever Friday by Timothy Lewis

The concept of a a love poem on a postcard from a man delivered every Friday to his wife for sixty years sounds so incredibly romantic, you want to know more. I loved the idea of a realtor finding the album of postcards tucked among the other books forgotten, unclaimed. The story flips back and forth between the couple, Gabe and Huck Alexander, and Adam Colby, the realtor. Pearl Garnet Huckabee, nicknamed Huck was a impulsive woman with unconventional actions. The realtor recently divorced himself, set out on a quest to discover the formula for the couple’s long romance and marriage. With much effort, he traced down the last person with any knowledge of the couple and the puzzle of the postcards.

The author has a very detailed way of writing. Sometimes it seemed laborious and I had to take a break. The aging Huck loses touch with reality. Forgetting that her husband is dead, she drives the nurses crazy by calling 911. All in all it was a good read, funny at times, heartbreaking other times.

This book was given to me by Waterbrook Multnomah publishing for my review.

Amaizy Grace

I picked this book for the title: Faking Grace. Tamara Leigh has written several books Splitting Harriet and Perfecting Kate. Although I have not read either book, Tamara seems to write to the younger crowd.

I really enjoyed the antics of the main character Grace as she tries to fake being a Christian to get a job at Steeple Side Christian Resources.  Some of her thoughts about Christianity were so ridiculous that it was funny. In the first chapter she had a check list of things to do to look and sound like a Christian. Throughout the book, Maizy Grace, a part time reporter ties to hide her real identity by dropping her first name and going by Grace. In the parking lot before the interview, Grace meets handsome British Jack. He happens to notice her “Jesus is my Co-Pilot” bumper sticker (taped with scotch tape for easy removal) beginning to fall off and her fish (Icthyus) is on crooked with its nose in the air. The biggest laughs came from her efforts to hide her prime resource DBGC-Dumb Blondes Guide to Christianity. Truth be told the advice credited to the DBGC was pretty good. It was humorous to hear what some folks think of Christians. In the end Grace learns that Christians have the same temptations and problems as everyone else. It is not what you go through, but Who you go through it with! It was not a preachy book and did not present the plan of salvation. But it was good clean humor and an interesting read.

This book was given to me by Waterbrook Multnomah publishing for my review.

Francine Rivers Redeeming Love is even  better the second time around. Re-reading the 20th anniversary edition, biblical truths she desired to display were more clearly evident to me. The last five chapters made my heart sing, when Mrs. Hosea finally hears God's voice and recognizes a love so true it can never be bought or earned-a Redeeming Love, paid in full by Jesus on the cross.

As an immature Christian my relationship with Christ was not deep enough to read past the first few chapters. Song of Solomon  and other sexual parts of the Bible made me blush.now that I am in love with my Savior and secure in His love alone. I understand God's great sacrifice for us and recognize the many inferences Rivers makes in Redeeming Love. The violence of the cross made visual by recent movies, causes me to realize the depth of pain and sacrifice Jesus gave to redeem us.

The prologue introduces the early childhood of a beautiful young child, Sarah, born to the well kept mistress of Alex Stafford, a rich married man who scorned the child and demanded she be sent away. The sale of the innocent child when she was the tender  age of eight to Duke for his personal use was horrifying to me. He was the personification of Satan himself. I had to put the book aside and read another book until  I was able to receive the lessons Francine Rivers intended behind each purposeful action of hero, Micheal Hosea.

Taking the storyline from the Book of Hosea in the Old Testament, Rivers had created a  masterpiece which is as relevant today as it was twenty years ago. Even more so with the worldwide focus on the increase of Human Trafficking as a major business, especially now seen so frequently in the United States. It is time for all women to read Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers. If you read it twenty years ago, it merits reading again. For every woman who has been abused or involved in sex for hire needs to find self worth through Christ. It is time for women everywhere to open their eyes to the continuing trafficking of our most precious commodity in the US, our children.

This book was given to me by Waterbrook Multnomah publishing for my review.

Changing Seasons

Mona Hodgson continues the saga of families in Saint Charles with book three in the “Quilted Heart Series,” Ripples Along the Shore. Book two introduced us to Caroline Milburn, newly widowed, as we discover the ravages of the Civil War on other Missouri families; her sister Jewel and her quilting friends Harriet and Anna. 

Caroline has softened her attitude toward the wagon master, Garrett Cowlishaw, with the Boone’s Lick Wagon Train Company. She can almost forgive him for being on the other side of the fighting in the war which killed her husband. Half of the families in the Quilting Circle are planning to travel west to California. Caroline can no longer tolerate her sister’s husband and takes his advice to join the wagon train.

Conflict ensues once more when Mr. Cowlishaw explains that single women may not travel alone on the treacherous journey. God’s providence steps in to work all things to the good of those that love the LORD. 

  

Mrs. Brantenberg, the widow who holds the quilting circle on her farm, says, “The LORD has quilted our hearts together in those seasons of love and loss, sorrow and joy.  Life’s changing seasons are as persistent as the ripples along the shore.”

Two quilts will serve to keep the friends connected as one quilt will remain in Saint Charles and the other will go out west. A circular letter written by the ladies will keep in touch with the changes in their lives.

The third book is a bridge into the new series, “Hearts Seeking Home.” Each book celebrated the romantic relationships of the ladies in the quilting circle. Book two has several weddings. While the novellas of first series are short in length, Prairie Song is a full length novel.

I received this ebook from Waterbrook Multnomah for review.

Wagons on the Prairie

Mona Hodgson continues the story of Maren Brandenburg, her new husband and her step-daughter, Gabi from Dandelions on the Wind. As they join the other friends from the “Quilted Heart Series” in Prairie Song.  This novel depicts friends and strangers together battling the elements and human fragility as wagons heading westward to the Promised Land of California. 

Anna Goben is the main character throughout the novel, but Caroline Milburn, newly widowed, and nanny to the many Kamden children fills much of the story. I believe it is Caroline on the cover, but there is no mention of her character or her love interest on the back cover.

Anna Goben is eighteen years old and much too young to shoulder the burden of leading her aging German Grossvater and depressed mother to California. Hoping the new frontier will snap her Mutter out of her miserable condition and weakness for alcohol. A condition plaguing her Mutter since news that Anna’s beloved brother Derrick, her mother’s only son, died in the war.

Sometimes strong emotions such as anger, passion, fear, or grief, lends themselves to love. The Garrett Cowlishaw, the wagon master with the Boone’s Lick Wagon Train Company, and his group of trail hand offer many opportunities for romance.  God’s providence and grace is once again forefront in Hodgson’s novel. Caleb Reger learns from Isaac the depths of God’s love and forgiveness.

 The author seems to offer an unusual nickname in both novels that I have reviewed; Woolly, the curly headed character of Maren’s husband to be  from Dandelions on the Wind and Boney, close friend of the Goben family in this novel returning from the war with news of Derrick’s death.

The company of wagons includes a group of folks from many nationalities. The Frenchman Dr. Le Beau and his family, Isaac a freedman from Georgia, along with the Zanzucchi boys will give Hodgson much to expound on in the next books of the “Heart Seeking Home” series.

I received this paperback from Waterbrook Multnomah for review.

Grace cannot be earned.

The cover of Mona Hodgson's book was the first thing that drew my attention. The title, Dandelions on the Wind was so enchanting. Dandelions are coming up everywhere I look in book titles, jewelry, etc. This was my first time I have read this author, but I enjoyed the easy read.

This is a sweet sensitive story of a young immigrant girl from Denmark coming to America for a prearranged marriage. Maren was slowing going blind and the marriage fell through. She gratefully acquires room and board working for a poor widow and her young grandchild. Mrs. Brantenburg’s granddaughter was Gabi, whose mother had died in childbirth and her father left immediately to go to war. The three females live a companionable existence enjoying their friendship. When along comes Woolly, causing a change in the arrangement.

The ending is predictable but as an avid reader of Amish novels, I enjoyed the German sprinkled throughout the conversation. If you always pull for the underdog you will really enjoy this short book portraying forgiven. One of the quotes from the book still stays with me. “Grace cannot be earned, only given.”  I received this eBook from Waterbrook Multnomah for review.