Distant Shores - Kristin Hannah

READ: FEB 09 - 21, 2O12
RATING: 9 OUT OF 10
FORMAT: AUDIOBOOK

Elizabeth and Jackson Shore married young, raised two daughters, and weathered the storms of youth as they built a family. From a distance, their lives look picture perfect. But after the girls leave home, Jack and Elizabeth quietly drift apart. When Jack accepts a wonderful new job, Elizabeth puts her own needs aside to follow him across the country. Then tragedy turns Elizabeth’s world upside down. In the aftermath, she questions everything about her life—her choices, her marriage, even her long-forgotten dreams. In a daring move that shocks her husband, friends, and daughters, she lets go of the woman she has become—and reaches out for the woman she wants to be.


I really, really enjoyed this book. I thought it would end up being a 8/10, but the ending pushed it up to a 9. I loved how it showed that you can rediscover who you are deep inside and invigorate your life without giving up your marriage or family. Yes, Elizabeth made mistakes in letting her family take over who she was and lost herself in the process, but she was able to reawaken herself without giving up her husband and daughters. My only real difficulty with this book was that Jack and Birdie didn't exactly have a "normal" family life, and while I'm sure many couples go through similar struggles, Jack's job and fame presented a lot of issues that other families wouldn't have to deal with. Plus, I'm really not a sports fan at all, and I found a lot of the aspects of his work to be pretty pretentious. His job alienated me a little. Otherwise, I thought that the book was a very realistic presentation of what can happen to a couple once their children have left home and they realise that they've forgotten why they got married in the first place. I didn't find this at all depressing, as one might expect since I'm getting married in five months. It didn't make me scared for what might come in twenty years time. Instead, it encouraged me to pursue my hobbies and talents and not let them get pushed aside. Even if my main dream in life is to be a wife and mother, children don't stay in the home forever and I wouldn't ever want to end up like Birdie, married for twenty-four years yet having no idea of who she is. And while I want to encourage my husband's own dreams and aspirations, I learned from Jack and Birdie that it's important to have a balance; Jack's dreams cost Elizabeth hers, and this isn't at all fair. As you can see, this book was very thought-provoking, even for someone who is in no way in a similar situation to Elizabeth. This was my first Kristin Hannah novel and I imagine that it'll stay with me for a while. I'll definitely be reading more of her novels.

On the narration for the audiobook: Amazing! The narrator managed to give each character distinct voices without being over-the-top about it, and I'm not sure how they managed it, but at certain parts of the recording the audio company had used affects to make it sound like someone was talking down a telephone line or shouting from a different room. It definitely brought the characters of this novel to life. Highly recommended.

Song of My Heart - Kim Vogel Sawyer

GENRE: HISTORICAL ROMANCE 
PUBLISHER: BETHANY HOUSE 
PUBLICATION DATE: FEBRUARY 01, 2012 RATING: 7 OUT OF 10 – GOOD 

PROS: Good moral lessons; sweet romantic story 

CONS: Secondary characters seem caricatured; mystery isn’t much of a mystery; romance is a bit predictable 

Sadie Wagner would do anything to help support her family financially, but her true dream is to sing. When a job opportunity opens up in the small town of Goldtree, Kansas and comes with the possibility of being able to sing in an opera house, Sadie can’t help but think that God has answered all of her dreams. Her initial experiences of working at the mercantile in Goldtree and singing in the luxurious yet bizarrely-located basement opera house run incredibly smoothly, and there’s the added bonus of the new sheriff, Thad McKane, who always seems to be around to lend a hand. Sadie has no idea that Thad has been hired specifically to track down the bootleggers who are manufacturing and selling illegal alcohol and could potentially destroy the town’s reputation. Thad’s struggling to find a lead, but it looks like the crime could be more closely tied to Sadie than either of them expect. When Thad starts to get an inkling of what’s truly happening in Goldtree, both of them are tested. Sadie has to decide how far she’s willing to go to support her family, and Thad begins to question what calling God has truly placed on his life; is he meant to be preaching or protecting? 

I’ve only read a couple of Kim Vogel Sawyer’s novels, but I can already tell why she’s so popular in the Christian historical fiction genre. While I’ll be the first to admit that she tends to follow what some would call “predictable” romantic plots, her novels never fail to entertain and always leave me feeling content. Song of My Heart is the epitome of the “feel good” novel. I knew where the romance was going from the first page and figured out the mystery early on, but that didn’t make me want to quit reading. I still wanted to see how the characters reached their inevitable happy ending. A good novel isn’t all about the conclusion, but rather the journey that the characters take to reach this ending. After all, if this wasn’t the case, then why would publishers continue to publish romance novels? 

Although I enjoyed reading about Sadie singing in the opera house, I’d have to say that my favourite character in Song of My Heart was actually the hero, Thad. Sadie didn’t really have much to overcome as a character, but Thad certainly had a lot to deal with. His tough childhood led him to believe that he should be a preacher in order to atone for his father’s sins, and he glorifies the work of ministers. I was cautious initially about this storyline as I do think that a lot of Christians feel that they should be called to work in ministry, and that being a minister or doing mission work is more important to God than being a doctor or a high school teacher. Thad is just as confused about this. He enjoys working as a sheriff, and really feels productive in helping people out around the small town of Goldtree, but it takes him a while to realise that perhaps this is the job he’s been called to, and not the traditional sense of “ministry”. I was really pleased with the way Kim approached this topic, as I thought for a while that this might be another book that glorified church ministry above all else, but Kim very tactfully demonstrates how different occupations can equally bring glory to God. She doesn’t belittle the work of ministers, but nor does she suggest that being a minister is more worthy than being a sheriff. I’m sure Thad’s lesson will strike a chord with many readers and make them consider what God has truly called them to do. 

While Song of My Heart has a strong hero and an endearing heroine, the secondary characters felt quite caricatured at times. Initially I found them quite amusing, but after a while the humour seemed to wear off. Melva and Shelva, the sisters who run the mercantile, were two characters that I particularly found more annoying than amusing by the end of the book. I think that all of the side-characters did have the potential to be engaging, but the traits that made them stand out became too exaggerated to truly be realistic. And if believability is what you’re looking for, you may find the mystery aspect of this novel a bit disappointing as well. I’m not sure about other readers of this novel, but I certainly figured out who was behind the illegal alcohol as soon as his character was introduced. I didn’t mind this too much as none of the other characters in the novel knew who was behind the illegal activity, so it was entertaining to witness the mystery unfolding around them. 

While Song of My Heart isn’t one of the strongest historical novels I’ve read, it won’t disappoint in providing Kim’s signature blend of romance, mystery and endearing protagonists. Long-term fans of Kim Vogel Sawyer will definitely be satisfied with this offering, and even if the romance and mystery were a bit predictable, this book is sure to put a smile on your face. 

Review title provided by Bethany House. 

Pamela - Samuel Richardson

READ: FEB 06 - 20, 2012
RATING: 6 OUT OF 10
REASON: REQUIRED READING FOR ENGLISH LIT. CLASS

One of the most spectacular successes of the flourishing literary marketplace of eighteenth-century London, Pamela also marked a defining moment in the emergence of the modern novel. In the words of one contemporary, it divided the world "into two different Parties, Pamelists and Anti-pamelists," even eclipsing the sensational factional politics of the day. Preached for its morality, and denounced as pornography in disguise, it vividly describes a young servant's long resistance to the attempts of her predatory master to seduce her. Written in the voice of its low-born heroine, Pamela is not only a work of pioneering psychological complexity, but also a compelling and provocative study of power and its abuse.

When I finally finished this book I truly felt like I'd achieved something. It's certainly not Richardson's longest work, but in places this book just dragged on and on. I found it particularly tedious towards the end when Pamela had resolved all of her issues with Mr B., his family members and the servants and there honestly wasn't anything else to happen in the book, other that have every secondary character compliment Pamela on how wonderful she was. The first Mary Sue? Perhaps. 

Predictably, I was disturbed that Pamela agreed to marry Mr B. But after my lecture on this book I began to reconsider the way in which I'd read into both the main characters and wonder whether a) Mr B.'s "rape" attempts had really been serious (particularly considering his reaction to Pamela's fit in the scene where he dresses up as a maid) and b) Pamela is truly a reliable narrator, or if she read into things wrongly or exaggerated. Plus, she must have actually had some feelings for Mr B. before she received his letter, otherwise she wouldn't have returned to him. I don't think she's a stupid girl in any way, but perhaps just a bit young and naive, causing her to present events in the letters to her parents in a skewed view at times. So while their marriage initially shocked me, it also made me think quite seriously about the way this book is read by a twenty-first century audience, and the ways in which our perceptions of this book warp our perspective of it. I knew what was going to happen to Pamela - but the eighteenth century audience didn't. 

This book had a lot of food for thought about class relations and romantic relationships in the eighteenth century, as well as the changing face of fiction. But it was also quite tedious in places, and repetitive. My entire seminar class bemoaned the number of times that Mr B. hid in a cupboard in order to spy on Pamela. This book is long, over 500 pages, and the repetitive nature of the scenes and conversations can simply make the story drag on. Trust me, if you need to read this for a class - give yourself two weeks to read it in. I gave myself a week and didn't manage it, partly because I was ill for two days and couldn't focus to read anything more intellectually stimulating than a Sweet Valley High novel, but even if I hadn't been ill it would have taken me more than a week. At the start of the book you'll be like, "I can read 100 pages a day, this is pretty compelling and entertaining." Then you get to Volume II and realise that 200 pages of the novel focus on Pamela and Mr B. AFTER they get married, in which there is exactly ONE conflict. And seriously, that conflict actually dragged on longer than necessary. A classmate told me to look forward to the conflict in Volume II since the start of the volume is pretty uninteresting, but by the time the conflict had been going on for quite some time I was honestly getting bored with it. 

I did quite enjoy this book when I started it, but given the points I've mentioned above (Pamela's perfectness, the tedious nature of many of the scenes, the length of the novel itself) it isn't one that I'd particularly recommend, unless you're interested in eighteenth century fiction or the development of the novel. It provides a lot of good discussion points, but isn't the book for you if you're looking for an entertaining classic akin to Jane Austen or the Bronte sisters. I'm sure I'll be musing over this book for weeks to come, but I did have to force myself to finish it, so I'm rating it 6/10.

Secrets - Francine Pascal

READ: FEB 11 - 12, 2012
RATING: 6 OUT OF 10

Beautiful and ruthless, Jessica Wakefield is determined to be chosen queen of the fall dance at Sweet Valley High. If she can win the contest, she's sure to win Bruce Patman, the most sought after boy in school.

The only person standing in Jessica's way is Enid Rollins. When Jessica discovers the truth about Enid's past, she knows the crown is within her grasp. She doesn't care that Enid is her twin sister Elizabeth's best friend—or that revealing the secret may cost Enid both her reputation and the boy she loves.

Only Elizabeth can save Enid from Jessica's vicious gossip—but can she stop her scheming twin in time?

Another one that I didn't read as a teenager. This one didn't have nearly as much drama as the first book, or maybe it was because most of it surrounded Enid and not the Wakefield family that I didn't find it quite so fun. It was also a good 60 or so pages shorter than Double Love, which made it shorter than some of the BSC books! I didn't realise the SVH books didn't have a standard page-length. 

As usual, this book revolved around Jessica being jealous over the possibility of someone (Enid) getting something she had her eye on (being crowned queen of a high school dance) and scheming to get it, and ultimately upsetting a lot of people in the process. Most scheming goes on in this book in a sub-plot as Lila (jealous that her dad is spending all his time with a young teacher and not her) spreads a rumour that her French teacher is having an affair with a student. But everyone gets what they deserve in the end as Jess is forced to dance with Winston, as he is crowned king of the dance, and Lila has no date as Ken realises she initiated the rumour about Ms Dalton. Nothing is really concluded about Ms Dalton so I hope that's cleared up in later books, it would be horrible to have that sort of rumour on your academic record!

An entertaining enough book while I was ill in bed, and plenty of cute scenes between Liz and Enid and Todd to combat Jessica's scheming. Oh, to be semi-innocent in 80s Sweet Valley! There's a strange mixture of sweet naivety in these books with Liz and Enid having pillow-fights and baking cookies, versus Jess drinking wine at Lila's party and cars parked at Miller's Point with steamed up windows. Plenty of hints at what teenagers really do, but no explicit details. Looking forward to reading #3! 

Double Love - Francine Pascal

READ: FEB 11, 2012
RATING: 7 OUT OF 10

Will Jessica steal Todd from Elizabeth?

Elizabeth and Jessica Wakefield are identical twins at Sweet Valley High. They`re both popular, smart, and gorgeous, but that's where the similarity ends. Elizabeth is friendly, outgoing, and sincere — nothing like her snobbish and conniving twin. Jessica gets what she wants — at school, with friends, and especially with boys.

This time, Jessica has set her sights on Todd Wilkins, the handsome star of the basketball team — the one boy that Elizabeth really likes. Elizabeth doesn't want to lose him, but what Jessica wants, Jessica usually gets... even if it ends up hurting her sister.

I have a truly terrible confession to make. While I consider myself a Sweet Valley fan, have joined a LiveJournal fan club for the series and own the much-awaited sequel, I had never read Double Love until last month. I read Sweet Valley books in the early 2000s, when most of the early books in the series were out-of-print or just not stocked at my local library. So as a result, when I graduated from the Babysitters Club on to the Sweet Valley series I ended up reading the horrible 90s add-ons, such as Jr. High and Senior Year, and the reissues of the later books in the SVH series, where the twins work as au-pairs in France and get jobs at a fashion magazine. Not REAL Sweet Valley, I know. So when I read Sweet Valley Confidential last year, I felt horribly guilty that I considered myself a fan and had never read the original, early-80s books. So I bought a used, 3-in-1 collection of the first three books from Amazon Marketplace. And there it sat on my shelves until yesterday, when I was stuck in bed all day with a stomach bug and really could not face reading any more of Pamela. So, instead, I devoured this book. 

I kind of expected that I might hate this book. I've read some Babysitters Club books recently that I missed out on as a child and they just don't measure up to the ones that I have nostalgic memories of. While Double Love isn't going to make it on to my list of favourite Sweet Valley books of all time, I do wish I'd had the chance to read it as a teenager as I'm sure that I would have loved it. SO MUCH DRAMA! Especially for such a short book. It follows the typical pattern of all the SVH books: Jessica schemes to get something, Elizabeth takes ages to figure out what she's done and then tricks her into some lame revenge plot. Of course, being thrown into a swimming pool makes up for spreading lies about your twin sister and accusing a boy of attacking you! Jessica pretty much gets away with murder in these books. But I can so see the appeal. What girl hasn't dreamed about having a twin sister? Or, if you're not American, isn't this the perfect image of what every teenager imagines American high school to be like? 

I know that these books gave me totally unrealistic ideas of high school when I read them when I was 11, and convinced me that life just wasn't worth living if you didn't have a boyfriend. But they're a lot of fun and it's kind of sad that teenagers today don't have a similar series to be obsessed over. Sure, I'd rather my daughter was ploughing through the entire works of Louisa May Alcot than Francine Pascal, but if these sorts of books actually get teenagers interested in reading then I'm not going to complain. They do have some sort of moral values, the 80s references (Liz having a typewriter on her desk!) are brilliant. I don't think the updated versions will be anywhere near as good. So, for nostalgic fun I'm giving this 7/10. 

Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen

READ: JAN 15 - FEB 08, 2012
RATING: 7 OUT OF 10
REASON: REQUIRED READING FOR ENGLISH LIT. CLASS
FORMAT: AUDIOBOOK FROM LIBRIVOX.ORG

Marianne Dashwood wears her heart on her sleeve, and when she falls in love with the dashing but unsuitable John Willoughby she ignores her sister Elinor's warning that her impulsive behaviour leaves her open to gossip and innuendo. Meanwhile Elinor, always sensitive to social convention, is struggling to conceal her own romantic disappointment, even from those closest to her. Through their parallel experience of love—and its threatened loss—the sisters learn that sense must mix with sensibility if they are to find personal happiness in a society where status and money govern the rules of love. 

I was really enjoying this to begin with but I got a bit bored halfway through and while it did pick up again, the ending was so sudden and everyone was happily married off in a way that didn't seem in keeping with the tone of the story. I was really hoping that Elinor would get together with someone else, who had been constant throughout the story and seemed like a good match, so I was surprised and a bit disappointed with how the book ended. This is Austen's first published work, but I'd have to say that I probably even prefer Northanger Abbey to this, and that's the first novel she ever optioned to a publisher and was not in a finished state when it was eventually published in 1817. I'm still not sure how I feel about this story. I loved the social satire, which was even more prevalent in S&S than it had been in P&P. But Elinor was the typical cardboard-cut-out Austen heroine who had no flaws and reformed everyone around her. Marianne was much more interesting, mainly because she was so inherently flawed, but even she was reformed in the end, along with Willoughby. If everything hadn't been so perfect and if there had been different pairings I would have enjoyed this book more, but as it is, I'm giving it 7/10.

Like Dandelion Dust - Karen Kingsbury

READ: JAN 31 - FEB 03, 2012
RATING: 6 OUT OF 10

Jack and Molly Campbell enjoyed an idyllic life in their small hometown outside Atlanta with their adopted 4-year-old, Joey. Then they receive the phone call that shatters their world: a social worker delivers the news that Joeys biological father has been released from prison and is ready to start life overbut with his son. When a judge rules that Joey must be returned to his father, the Campbells, in a silent haze of grief and utter disbelief, watch their son pick a dandelion and blow the feathery seeds into the wind. Struggling with the dilemma of following the law, their hearts, and what they know to be morally right, the Campbells find that desperation leads to dangerous thoughts. What if they can devise a plan? Take Joey and simply disappear....LIKE DANDELION DUST.

It's not often that I say this about Christian fiction, but this book was just too preachy for my tastes. I proudly say that I'm a born-again Christian and lover of Christian fiction, but the way that the Christian aspect was woven into this story came across as forced and unrealistic in places. I really wanted to enjoy this book as I'd read glowing reviews of it and cried when I'd watched the movie trailer. I've only read one of Karen Kingsbury's books before, a Christmas novella, and while I'd found it incredibly cheesy I'd blamed that on the shortness of the book and the subject matter. Kingsbury is massively popular in the Christian genre, and while a lot of her storylines appeal to me I just haven't got around to reading any of her other books until now. But when I noticed that this one was in my local library catalogue I requested it and was determined to read it over my intersemester break. The plot really did have a lot of potential, but the way that Kingsbury went about the spiritual parts of the book really left a bad taste in my mouth, and there were a couple of other part of the story that bugged me. 

I didn't hate this book but I didn't particularly like it either. Comparing it to other novels in the Christian market, it's a pretty average story. It could have done a lot more with the subject matter, but unfortunately I found that most of the book revolved around the main characters coming to believe in Christ and not their custody battle for their adopted son. Conversion stories always rub me wrong, especially ones like this that don't seem entirely believable. And in all honesty - I'm already a Christian, and I don't need to read books about other people coming to Christ in order to remind me of Christ's saving grace and how I'm sanctified through my belief in him. I much prefer reading books about Christians who use their faith to overcome difficulties. So perhaps my distaste for conversion stories is why I wasn't so keen on the subject matter of this book, since all three main characters came to Christ during the book. Joey's sections were the most believable, to be honest. And very cute. But his parents' sudden belief in God didn't entirely convince me. 

I also got annoyed at the ways that Beth and Bill kept trying to witness to Molly and Jack, who were clearly uncomfortable with it, and that they wouldn't change their methods of showing their friends Christ's love for them when they realised that their friends just weren't in the right place for receiving God's good news. Sometimes the best way to witness to someone is to show God's love through your actions (especially if the people in question are uncomfortable with you talking openly about God), not preach the gospel every five minutes and refer to everything in life as "God's will". I was particularly annoyed when Beth told her son to share his toy because "That's what Jesus wants". She never explained WHY Jesus wanted people to share their belongings, just that that was how life was. One day, this little boy is going to grow up and go to high school, and when someone asks him why he will or won't do anything, all he'll be able to say is "Because Jesus says I should" and when questioned further he'll realise that he doesn't know WHY Jesus commands such things. I've seen so many children grow up to be disillusioned with the church because their entire lives are ordained by "This is what the Bible says we should do" without any deeper understanding of why God wants us to do such things. 

I fully admit that my uncomfortableness with the preachy sections of this stems from personal experience, but I imagine I'm not the only one who cringed when Beth brought God or church into every conversation with her sister even though it was pushing her brother-in-law away from them. Especially when she prayed for God to show himself to Molly and Jack in his own way, and then continued to pressure them about church and talked about God all the time rather than waiting for Molly to make the first step. I'm not entirely sure what it is, but something just didn't sit right with me in this book. I don't believe that this is the way that God calls us to witness to people, nor did I think that the way Bill and Beth brought church or God into every conversation or thought seemed realistic of Christian behaviour. A lot of what they said felt forced. 

But the same can be said for the non-Christian sections of the book, the ones that dealt with Joey's custody battle. So many times, Molly would be discussing something with Jack or thinking something over and then the text would include a phrase along the lines of "Suddenly, she realised that this would never work out." or "Suddenly, it all became clear to her." or "Suddenly, she completely understood Jack's point of view." Molly had a lot of moments of sudden clarity in this book, and every time she had one of these moments it jerked me out of the flow of reading and forced me to examine the style of writing that Kingsbury used. It's very simplistic, but not in a particularly bad way. But sometimes her simplistic style of writing also utilised simplistic writing devices, such as Molly's moments of clarity, which always came to her suddenly, when she needed them most, and about two lines after she'd been struggling with the issue. I wouldn't have minded if this came up once or twice but this was used frequently throughout the book and really irritated me as it never seemed entirely realistic that two sentences after she'd been worrying about something she'd be able to immediately discern the root of the problem. To be honest, this device was just weird. I'm not sure why Kingsbury constantly used it. 

I realised early into the book that I was meant to be convinced of Beth and Molly's strong friendship, which was constantly reinforced by flashbacks to their childhood and references to special events that they'd shared. These kept being brought up over and over, but when Molly and Beth were actually together, even early on in the book before the Joey situation came up, I didn't see any evidence of this relationship. They both seemed uncomfortable since their husbands didn't get on very well and Beth's faith seemed to have distanced them. And since their friendship was such a vital part of the plot, I think the fact that I wasn't convinced of their relationship stopped me from appreciating other parts of the plot. 

This book wasn't all bad. It definitely gets a star for wrenching my heart during the sections with Wendy and Joey. Wendy was the most convincing character in the entire book (even if I wasn't sure why she was so certain that she would take Rip back when he came out of jail, the social worker was clearly keen to help her there). Her love for her son that led her to want to protect him even though she was desperate to be a mother really touched me, and I even shed a tear in places. I felt much stronger emotions regarding Wendy than I did Molly, which I don't think was Kingsbury's intention. Wendy and Joey were definitely my favourite characters in the whole book, and I also liked Allyson, the social worker who understood the injustice of the situation but felt that her hands were tied. 

I have a lot of bones to pick with this book, and I can understand why some Christians swear off Christian fiction because of its preachiness if this is the sort of book they've read. This book had a lot of potential, even with just focusing on the stories of the two mothers and the decisions they had to make to protect their son. I'm not suggesting that Molly, Jack and Joey's coming to believe in Christ should have been taken out of the book, just that it could have been more subtly woven into the story. Likewise, other elements of the story telling could have been toned down, and others (like Molly and Beth's friendship) needed more work to be convincing. 

I imagine that I'm going to be offending a lot of Karen Kingsbury fans with my review. I totally came to this book with an open mind, but within the first five or so chapters I knew that it was too preachy for my liking. But I persevered as a lot of my friends enjoy her books, and I did enjoy this novel on some level, but sadly not as much as I'd hoped. But I'm not giving up on Kingsbury, and I plan to try another of her books in the future. If you have any recommendations of other Kingsbury novels that don't have such an overbearing message and don't feature conversion scenes I'd much appreciate it! Overall, I'd give this book 6/10 as I did enjoy the main story even if other factors took away from this enjoyment at times.