Five Memorable Reviews From My First Year of Blogging

 

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I started my review blog in 2010, which is a nice round number that is easy to recall. However, it was December of 2010, so there wasn't much review action until 2011. That said, here are five reviews that were meaningful from 2011, listed here in chronological order. I'll explain a bit about them as we go along, and you can click on any title if you'd like to read the original full review.


  "When the Hurt Runs Deep" by Kay Arthur
This was the first non-fiction book I ever reviewed, and it was a good one! Longtime friends may remember that this review also won a contest that WaterBrook Multnomah was running, and the prize was my first personal laptop. That was a big deal!

  "A Heart Most Worthy" by Siri Mitchell
I've always loved historical fiction, and it was a happy day when I read my first Siri Mitchell book. She's an excellent author, and I'm excited that after a few years away from writing she'll be releasing a new suspense novel in August. Though I don't read much suspense, I'll check this one out!

  "When Sparrows Fall" by Meg Moseley
This is such a unique story, and I wish there were more like it out there. This story focuses on a young widow coming out of extreme fundamentalist Christianity. It hit close to home for a number of reasons, and is full of grace and truth. It is as pertinent today as when it released!

  "Fierce Beauty" by Kim Meeder
If you talk about Disney princesses, I am a Mulan kind of girl. Show me where the action is, and that is where I want to be. This book is about the warriors in the kingdom of God, and how beautiful it is to fight for what matters most.

  The "Mars Hill Classified" series by Austin Boyd
I love this Christian science fiction series. This review is memorable not only because it's about some favorite stories, but also because the author found it and left a comment on the post! You can find it in the link above. If you're wondering why I didn't reply to him, it's because on the same day he left a comment on another of my reviews, and I replied to both there. I still periodically check to see if Austin has released anything new, hoping for more intriguing fiction that focuses on social and ethical issues with a Christian worldview.


Find more Top Ten Tuesday posts at That Artsy Reader Girl.

"The Secrets of Paper and Ink" by Lindsay Harrel

 


Women's therapist Sophia is well-trained and attuned to the needs of her clients, but all her knowledge did not help her when she found herself in an abusive relationship. Although a car accident took her boyfriend's life and ended the physical torment, she still hears his voice in her head every single day, as well as the weight of her own failure in falling prey to him. 

Ginny Rose left everything to follow her British husband to his home country. Now he's left her to "find himself," and Ginny is stuck running a bookstore in Cornwall. It was his dream, but now it's all she has, and she's going to fight with everything she's got to keep the struggling business afloat.

When returning to work proves disastrous for Sophia, her boss sends her on a lengthy sabbatical. With nothing to lose, she takes off to England to immerse herself in the land of her favorite authors. Sophia ends up renting a room from Ginny, and the two women begin a journey of friendship which will prove pivotal to their futures.

On one of the first days assisting Ginny at the bookstore, Sophia finds a notebook full of journal entries written by a Victorian woman. Something about Emily grabs Sophia and sets her on a quest to find the full identity of this woman and how life played out beyond the entries in the notebook. Emily's story is given to us in chapters interwoven with those of Sophia and Ginny, and is a vital part of the narrative.

Hands down, this is the best split-time novel I've read. I was equally invested in the lives of the modern women and in Emily from the 1850s. The heartbreak that each of them faced, their struggles to go on when people and circumstances left them disappointed, the brokenness in their journeys -- they mirror the real emotions we see when we look inside ourselves. This book was deeply captivating yet also one that I wanted to read slowly to savor as I processed emotions with the characters. Though some resolutions to the storylines were easily foreseen, there were a few twists and turns that took me by surprise, and for once I actually enjoyed a bit of predictability because it gave a feeling of security to me as a reader when so much seemed weighty and close to home. 

This was a truly beautiful story that I would recommend to everyone who loves thought-provoking fiction. Be watching for The Secrets of Paper and Ink to be on my Best Of list at the end of 2019!