Review: Lady in Waiting by Susan Meissner

Apologies for the lack of review on Monday; I had an essay due at noon and updating my blog was unfortunately neglected. 

Love is a choice you make every day.
Content in her comfortable marriage of twenty-two years, Jane Lindsay had never expected to watch her husband,  rad, pack his belongings and walk out the door of their Manhattan home. But when it happens, she feels powerless to stop him and the course of events that follow Brad’s departure.

Jane finds an old ring in a box of relics from a British jumble sale and discovers a Latin inscription in the band along with just one recognizable word: Jane. Feeling an instant connection to the mysterious ring bearing her namesake, Jane begins a journey to learn more about the ring—and perhaps about herself.

In the sixteenth-century, Lucy Day becomes the dressmaker to Lady Jane Grey, an innocent young woman whose fate seems to be controlled by a dangerous political and religious climate, one threatening to deny her true love and pursuit of her own interests.

As the stories of both Janes dovetail through the journey of one ring, it becomes clear that each woman has far more infl uence over her life than she once imagined. It all comes down to the choices each makes despite the realities they face. (Waterbrook Press, September 2010)

RATING: 3.5 out of 5 (Good)

I chose to listen to this novel on audiobook based on my love of dual-time narratives and how much I'd enjoyed The Shape of Mercy by the same author. Perhaps I would have enjoyed this book more, had I not read The Shape of Mercy, but I'm afraid I couldn't help but compare the two novels. My biggest issue is simply that the modern-day narrative in Lady in Waiting is never directly related to the historical narrative. While the modern protagonist in Meissner's other novel actually connected with the historical protagonist through reading her diaries, Jane doesn't find out who owned the ring until about three-quarters of the way through the book in Lady in Waiting. I think this is what bugged me most about this book. While the reader knows so much about Lucy and Lady Jane Grey, modern-day Jane knows very little about the owner of the ring, even towards the end of the story.

I found myself preferring the historical side of the narrative in this book, if only for the fact that it progressed a lot faster than the modern story. At times it really felt like modern Jane wasn't achieving anything in the early sections of the story, just sitting around and brooding about her situation. Thus, the story of Lucy and Jane was much more appealing initially. It wasn't really until towards the end of the story when Jane decides to take control of her life and make an effort in her marriage that I really felt connected to the growth she had made as a character. 

It's hard to say whether this book was as compelling as other dual-time narratives or The Shape of Mercy since I listened to it on audiobook while cooking and cleaning, so it wasn't the sort of situation where I felt I could put it down and read another book if I wasn't enjoying it. I tend to follow through with an audiobook, and ultimately, I'm glad I did so with Lady in Waiting. It might have taken a while for the contemporary story to get interesting, and it was hard to care about both Janes equally, since their individual stories were told in such large chunks that I was liable to forget about the other character for a while. I do wish that their stories were more connected, and that Jane had discovered more about the ring earlier in the story and had more growth of character at an earlier stage. But despite this, Lady in Waiting was still an interesting story, and I liked the lessons the reader could learn from both of the protagonists' lives. Perhaps I was just getting stressed out with the cartons of chopped tomatoes that refused to open this morning while I finished this audiobook, but I felt that the letters at the end of the story were a bit superfluous. I know they were intended to show how the ring had been forgotten for so long, but I'm not sure if they were entirely necessary. Despite this, I'd still give the book 3.5* and will be looking out for more Meissner novels. 

Need You Now - Beth Wiseman

GENRE: CONTEMPORARY/WOMEN’S FICTION

PUBLISHER: THOMAS NELSON

PUBLICATION DATE: APRIL 10, 2012

RATING: 8 OUT OF 10 – GOOD

PROS: Approaches difficult issues respectfully and realistically; relatable characters

CONS: Some storylines and characters could have been developed further; one character took an unpleasant turn

For Darlene Henderson, life in Round Top, Texas feels much more safe and secure than it did in Houston. Her teenage son has been removed from the rough crowd he was spending time with in the city, and she and her husband are making plans to renovate their old farm house. Darlene’s so comfortable with her family life that she’s given up being a stay-at-home mum and started working at a school for disabled children. So she’s entirely unprepared when a series of catastrophes hit her family. Her seemingly perfect teenage daughter is revealed to have been self-harming for quite some time, a secret her brother was keeping from their parents. No one understands the enormity of what Grace has been going through, least of all Darlene. Her husband, Brad, is determined to sweep this situation under the carpet and deal with it without any outside help that might damage the reputation of their family. Brad’s reaction stuns Darlene, and his insinuations that Grace wouldn’t have been so destructive if Darlene spent more time at home drives an unexpected wedge between them. To complicate matters further, the father of a child at her school is starting to pay Darlene a lot of attention, at a time when she most needs someone to lean on. Darlene is struggling to stay strong and make decisions about Grace without the support of her husband, and needs all the help she can get to stay away from the open arms of another man.

Having recently become a fan of Beth Wiseman’s Amish fiction, I couldn’t help but be intrigued when I heard that she was releasing a contemporary novel, and a non-romantic one at that. Contemporary women’s fiction is a genre that is slightly lacking in the Christian market. There are some writers who approach this genre very well, but I’ve yet to encounter anyone who can rival Barbara Delinsky or Diane Chamberlain in their complex plots and family dynamics. While Beth’s debut into this market didn’t excite the same reactions in me that Barbara’s most recent instalments have, I will admit that it was incredibly compelling. I devoured it in two days straight, and I honestly think I need to go back and reread the last few chapters as I was struggling to keep my eyes open at the end, but determined not to go to sleep until I’d finished the book!

I didn’t have any major expectations for Need You Now, as I imagined it would be very different from Beth’s Amish fiction. But she has lived up to her trademark of complex, realistic characters with believable struggles, even in a contemporary setting. I was even more impressed by the way that she approached her teenage protagonists. Some brilliant authors have let me down in their portrayal of teenagers – notably, Jodi Picoult’s The Pact, which I repeatedly wanted to throw across to the room when I read it as a sixteen-year-old – but Beth does not join their ranks. While I never suffered to the extent that Grace did, I did struggle with unexplained feelings of depression throughout my teen years, which has now been diagnosed as Seasonal Affective Disorder. Even now, I can’t put my emotions from this stage of my life into words. Somehow, Beth has managed to explain how overwhelmingly confusing teenage depression can be, making Grace an incredibly relatable teenage character. Grace’s older brother, Chad, was equally realistic, although I felt that Beth could have developed his character a little more. There are hints that Chad is possibly going to head down the wrong route, like he did in Houston, and although he makes some positive choices towards the end of the novel, his character never had the depth that Grace’s did. Likewise, I did mostly enjoy the storyline about their neighbour, Layla, but she sometimes felt a bit caricatured. Her relationship with Darlene was very touching, but I think the fact that this novel attempted to focus on so many different characters meant that some of them – particularly Layla and Chad – were a little neglected and didn’t seem quite as fleshed out as Darlene and Grace.  

Some readers may find it difficult to read about the struggles Darlene and Brad’s relationship faces, and the temptations that Dave presents her with. Need You Now illustrates how dangerous a seemingly innocent relationship can become when it starts to provide that which your marriage cannot. I will admit that I got a bit annoyed at Darlene towards the end of the novel. She overhears a phone conversation with her husband and makes several assumptions, but takes a long time to confront him about it. I know that this is probably the way that many women would react, but I’m not that kind of woman. But although I couldn’t relate to Darlene in this particular incident, I will say that for the majority of the situations she found herself in, I could emphasise with her. I do wish that Dave’s character had taken a different turn. He was painted so sympathetically at the start of the novel – a widower with a challenging daughter who just wanted to find love again – but I felt he almost became somewhat of a villain, and Darlene the victim. Of course he was wrong in coveting a married woman, but if Darlene can be forgiven for her mistakes, so can he. I wanted some hope for Dave at the end of the novel, but there wasn’t any. Perhaps Beth will write another novel about Dave’s redemption?

Beth’s debut into the contemporary market is strong, and hopefully a sign of better things to come. Her characters are just as realistic and relatable as those in her Amish novels, and she continues to address controversial issues that some authors shy away from. While perhaps the number of topics that come up in this novel might seem a little overwhelming – self-harm, adultery, death – the novel ended on a hopeful, uplifting note. I think the only major pitfall of Need You Now is that the novel has a large cast, and some of the characters seemed less credible than others. A few characters could have benefited from some further development, but perhaps this had to be sacrificed for the sake of the main storylines. But hopefully this is something that Beth can improve on in later novels, of which I’m sure there will be many. Fans of Beth’s Amish fiction will likely enjoy this foray into a new genre, and those who can’t bear to pick up a novel with the bonnet on the front will now also get the chance to enjoy Beth’s challenging yet uplifting stories.

Review title provided by Thomas Nelson.

An Accidental Woman - Barbara Delinsky

READ: JANUARY 28 - 31, 2012
RATING: 8 OUT OF 10
REASON: OFF THE SHELF CHALLENGE


Lake Henry, New Hampshire, is buzzing over the annual maple syrup harvest as well as the shocking revelation that longtime resident Heather Malone has been led away by the FBI, which claims the devoted stepmother and businesswoman fled the scene of a fatal accident in California years before. Poppy Blake, her best friend, is determined to prove Heather's innocence, while facing past mistakes of her own: she has never overcome her guilt from the snowmobile accident that killed her partner and left her paralyzed. Playing an unlikely role in both women's lives is investigative journalist Griffin Hughes, whose attraction to Poppy keeps him coming back to Lake Henry, even though he is secretly responsible for drawing the law closer to Heather. To redeem himself, Griffin sets out to solve the mystery surrounding Heather and becomes the key to freeing Poppy from her own regrets and showing her a rich new future.


Ah, typical Barbara Delinsky! Her books are such comfort reads to me, I always know that I'm going to enjoy the story no matter what the subject matter is. It's the way that she writes the development of her characters and their relationships with each other. I didn't connect with Micah quite as much as I did Poppy and Griffin, but I think this is because I wasn't entirely convinced by the way he rejected Heather from keeping secrets from him and then accepted her back so easily. Heather didn't have much character development of her own but was more of a catalyst for the events than how she dealt with her past. I wish there had been more about Cassie, as there seemed to be a lot of potential for a story about her and her husband their issues with her working too much. Perhaps some of this was covered in the previous book, Lake News, which I've yet to read as I'd forgotten that the books were linked. My only real complaint about this book would have to be that the Camille situation seemed to be revealed at the utmost convenient moment in the plot and that Thea took to Poppy a bit too easily, but perhaps that was natural for a teenage girl who is inquisitive about her past. Overall, another excellent saga from Barbara Delinsky. Whenever I read one of her books I wonder why I waited so long to read it! I must have at least ten of her books on my bookshelves so I'll have make an effort to read more of them this year. Perhaps one a month?

The Fine Art of Insincerity - Angela Hunt

Ginger, Penny and Rosemary Lawrence are all in denial. Ginger is convinced that she knows how to make a marriage work, despite the fact that her husband of twenty-seven years has started getting changed in the closet and hasn’t kissed her goodbye in weeks. Her younger sister, Penny, believes that the perfect way to deal with the lack of romance in her life is to move on to a new man, and is on the hunt for her sixth husband. And Rose still hasn’t recovered from the loss of her unborn child two years previously, but would rather leave this world than ask for help. None of them are aware that they’re heading down the wrong path, and it will take a weekend at their grandmother’s house to teach them new lessons about life, love and marriage. As the memories of the summers spent with their seven-times married grandmother resurface, the girls come to terms with the legacy that their beloved Grandma left them and wonder what they can learn from her life. As the weekend progresses, these three sisters soon discover that they have more to worry about than who gets Grandma’s piano. While Penny is having second thoughts about the new man in her life, a bombshell is dropped on Ginger’s perfect marriage and in the midst of it all, the two of them suddenly realise that something isn’t quite right with their baby sister. Is it too late for these women to realise how blessed they’ve been in life, and that some things are worth fighting for?

From the synopsis and cute cover, I assumed that this would be a light, chick-lit novel. But within a few chapters, I realised that the Lawrence sisters had much deeper issues to deal with than the average chick-lit heroine. I was quickly enveloped into the lives of this dysfunction group of women, all of whom had a lot to learn about love and marriage. Despite probably being her polar opposite, I found Penny the most relatable character. I loved her sassy, Southern flirtations and I could identify with her yearning to be loved and romanced. Although I hope that in twenty-seven years times I’ll be living a similar life to Ginger, living in a nice house in suburbia after having sent my kids off to college, Ginger’s “perfect” marriage didn’t feel right at all and I found myself hoping that she’s be taken down a peg or two and stop judging her sisters long enough to sort her own life out. While I longed for someone to notice that Rose was struggling, I found it hard to identify with her. Maybe it was her obsession with her dog – although I love my cats, I’m really not an animal fanatic – or simply the fact that I found her sections hard to read because of the strange choice in font, but I didn’t feel like I connected with her particularly well.

As the novel progressed, I came to understand the intriguing and heartbreaking legacy that the Lawrence women had received from their family. Their father, mourning the loss of his young wife so soon after the birth of his third daughter, had sent his daughters to live with their grandmother every summer because he never truly recovered from their mother’s death. And the sad truth behind their grandmother’s seven marriages, and insights into the life of a woman who had so many husbands snatched away from her in wars, in an age when women were vulnerable without a man’s protection. This book contained some really fascinating and heartfelt family dynamics. It probably has a thing or two to teach all of us about the true inheritances our families have given us.

Inspirational women’s fiction is slowly growing on me, and while I wouldn’t class this novel among my favourites I did enjoy reading it. The eclectic blend of characters made for a compelling read and I didn’t want to put this book down when I got to the final chapters. I’m a bit disappointed that I never truly felt that I connected with the characters, but that wouldn’t stop me from trying another of Angela Hunt’s books in the future. This is one that I’m sure fans of deeper chick-lit and women’s fiction would appreciate. 7/10

Review copy provided by Howard.