Bogormen

Title: A Place to Belong (Sister Circle #4
Author: Vonette Bright & Nancy Moser
Genre: Christian fiction
Rating: 4/5
# pages: 338 pages
Date read: July 2017

Evelyn Peerbaugh is worried. Once again she has taken in new boarders, but this time she's opened the doors of Peerbaugh Place to women who can't pay a cent for her services. But the bonds of sisterhood are as strong as ever. As Evelyn reaches out to these sisters in need, she discovers that God has a whole new plan for the Sister Circle - and for her. Evelyn could not have predicted the shock in store for her and Piper.


Like with all the others, the book comes across as naive and too good to be true at times, so I cannot recommend the series without a disclaimer.... but I wish I could, because I absolutely loved the entire series. Right book at the right time I guess, but it was exactly the type of book / series I was in the mood to read - a thought-provoking comfort read. And as such, it fit the bill perfectly.

I found it funny how Piper went from only being a minor character in the first book, to almost being the main character in these last few. But all the sisters seem like people I'd love to meet in real life.

I sat up until past midnight to finish this, and am sad to have reached the end of the series.

Title: 'Round the Corner (Sister Circle #2)
Author: Vonette Bright & Nancy Moser
Genre: Christian fiction
Rating: 4/5
# pages: 322 pages
Date read: July, 2017

Evelyn is not so sure she likes the new dynamics of Peerbaugh Place, her impromptu boarding house. Even though it had been hard adapting to strangers living in her home, she and the other women from The Sister Circle) had found a calm cove of sisterhood. Now Evelyn is forced to start over with a new set of boarders - with more challenging personalities and problems. Evelyn fears that the bonds of sisterhood may not come as easily this time.


As much as I loved the first book in the series, I knew I had to pick up the sequel straight away. I was slightly disappointed to see that most of the Sisters had moved away from Peerbaugh Place (and again - the timing was way off. This would have been more realistic if it had been set 2 years after the first book instead of less than one), but fortunately most of them turned up on a very regular basis, so I didn't get to miss them too much.

Not quite as good as the first book - some aspects were too unrealistic for me to be able to entirely refrain from rolling my eyes - but even so I ended up enjoying it almost as much. I grew really fond of Heddy, and Summer is just a delight! (I've meet girls her age who are exactly as precocious as she is, so never felt she acted too old for her years). And again, the book seemed to have exactly the right message for me, spurring me on in my own walk with God.

Title: Grounded (Windy City Neighbors #1)
Author: Neta Jackson & Dave Jackson
Genre: Christian fiction
Rating: 4/5
# pages: 320
Date read: August 2015

Grace's fiance bothered by her outspoken stance on purity and her near-constant travel, has broken off their relationship. Exhausted and unwilling to continue her current tour, she books a flight home. Traumatic events result in a paralyzing fear of flying. Stuck at home due to a major snowstorm, Grace begins, for the first time, to connect with the residents of Beecham Street. Will she recover her faith and overcome her fears, or will she give up her career?


Slow to get moving, and at about 110 pages I found myself thinking "Hmmm... this is a decent enough book, but it's a far cry from what I've generally come to expect from Neta Jackson!"

50 pages later, I was totally caught up in the writing and couldn't bear to put the book down. So yeah - though it takes awhile to get off the runway, I'd say she delivers, and I ended up absolutely loving the book and grew really fond of both Grace and Sam. For awhile there I was a tad worried about where Neta was going with the ending, but I should have known better than to doubt her :) I still think it ended just a couple of chapters sooner than I would have liked, but since it's the first book in a series, she may yet follow up on Grace in the later books.

Title: Stand By Me
Author: Neta Jackson
Genre: Christian fiction
Rating: 5/5
# pages: 383
Date read: April, 2012

Avis Douglass and her husband, Peter, have dreamed of a two-year mission to South Africa. But when the economy crashes, they're suddenly faced with the real possibility of bankruptcy. When one of the co-pastors of SouledOut Community Church passes away suddenly, Avis and Peter are asked to step in and assist with the leadership of the church in the interim.

The Lord knew what He was doing when He put Neta Jackson's book in my line of sight. I've been putting off reading this most recent instalment about the "SouledOut Sisters", because I worried that it wouldn't live up to my expectations. It did, and my soul lapped it up like a parched plant does water. Writing a proper review is pretty much impossible, as reading one of Neta Jackson's books usually turns out to basically be one long worship session and thus not relevant for a literary review. Suffice to say that as usual she made me look up and take stock. I'd love the kind of fellowship these girls have at church and at the Yada Yada prayer group.

I'm very interested in seeing where Neta Jackson takes Kat, Nick and Bree in this spin-off series.

Title: At Home in Mitford
Author: Jan Karon
Genre: Christian fiction
Rating: 5/5
# pages: 446
Date read: November, 2011

Father Tim, a cherished small-town rector, is the steadfast soldier in this beloved slice of life story set in an American village where the grass is still green, the pickets are still white, and the air still smells sweet. The rector's forthright secretary, Emma Garret, worries about her employer, as she sees past his Christian cheerfulness into his aching loneliness. Slowly but surely, the empty places in Father Tim's heart do get filled. First with a gangly stray dog, later with a seemingly stray boy, and finally with the realization that he is stumbling into love with his independent and Christian-wise next-door neighbor.

I was in the mood for a comfort read, and so picked up the first Mitford book for a reread. It's been 8 years since I read this series last, and I had forgotten how amazingly feel-good it is. Visiting Mitford is like visiting a group of old friends whom you haven't seen in years, but whom you know will always welcome you with open arms. I realize that sounds sappy, but the feeling of content I had while reading the book actually surprised me with its intensity.

There's not much of a plot, but that doesn't matter, because all I really want from this book is just to spend time with the characters. Books like this are balm to my soul.

Title: Divine
Author: Karen Kingsbury
Genre: Christian fiction
Rating: 2.5/5
# pages: 384
Date read: August, 2011

Mary Madison was a child of unspeakable horrors, a young woman society wanted to forget. Now a divine power has set Mary free to bring life-changing hope and love to battered and abused women living in the shadow of the nation's capital.

Emma Randall is a single mother fleeing an abusive relationship, wondering whether there is hope for her and her young daughters. She is desperate, broken, and unloved, tempted to commit the unthinkable. Then Mary Madison introduces Emma to the greatest love of all, greater than any either of them has ever imagined.

I started off really liking this book, but unfortunately it ended up going way over the top, and I ended up only finding it okay. The bad parts were really, really, bad; the good parts were toothache-inducing saccharine; every Christian was a wonderful person, and every non-Christian was an evil, evil monster (or, at the very best, neutral). All in all, it was just so black and white that it just got annoying.

I loved the relationship between Mary and Emma, but didn't buy the relationship between Terrance and Emma at all, and the relationship between Mary and Nigel just bugged me. Karen Kingsbury means well, but I think she tries too hard to give her books a Christian message, that it comes out as being unrealistic and stylized. I have read one amazing book by her though (Halfway to Forever) so I'm willing to not quite give up on her yet.

Title: The Penny
Author: Joyce Meyer & Deborah Bedford
Genre: Christian fiction
Rating: 1.5/5
# pages: 235
Date read: October, 2010

Jenny Blake has a theory about life: big decisions often don't amount to much, but little decisions sometimes transform everything. Her theory proves true the summer she's 14, when she makes the decision to pick up a penny embedded in asphalt and consequently ends up stopping a robbery, getting a job, and meeting someone who changes her life forever...

If this had been a memoir I think I would really have liked it, because the style and story would have fitted a memoir well. Being a fictional story, however, it utilized a number of my literary pet peeves - lots of foreshadowing, stereotypical characters and very, very heavy-handed preaching. The book suffered greatly from having the story told rather than shown, and the testimony would have been so much stronger if the events of the story had been allowed to speak for themselves, rather than be constantly spelled out to the reader.

I know this is the lowest rating I've given in a LONG time, but I pretty much only finished it because I got stubborn.

Title: Who Do I Lean On?
Author: Neta Jackson
Genre: Christian fiction
Rating: 5/5
# pages: 358
Date read: June, 2010

Gabby expects a fight from her husband over custody of their boys, but she is taken aback when he leans on her for a loan to cover his gambling debts. When she turns him down, Philip makes a desperate move that puts Gabby, her friends at the shelter, and even the House of Hope at risk.

Neta Jackson never fails to inspire me through her books, and thankfully this third book in the House of Hope series was no exception. Though I did still occasionally want to shake Gabby for her bad choices, she had come far enough to realize her mistakes herself, before they got her in too much trouble.

Phillip was at his most likeable here, and I was grateful for this glimpse into the person he used to be - until now it had been difficult to understand why Gabby ever married him in the first place. Here we got to see behind his ambition to the person he could be.

I did think the Lee story line was much too easily resolved though. It seemed a bit too convenient - I would have liked to see Gabby come to a decision by herself, rather than being forced into it by an ultimatum.

But as always Neta Jackson delivered an AMAZING story that made me ache to be part of that kind of Christian fellowship myself.

I read the book in one sitting, and stayed up until 2am to finish it. Unfortunately the next (and last) book in the series won't be out until March 2011.

Title: A Moment of Weakness
Author: Karen Kingsbury
Genre: Christian fiction
Rating: 3.5/5
# pages: 433
Date read: June, 2010

Jade and Tanner were childhood friends until scandal drove them apart. Then one golden summer they found each other again and shared dreams of forever. But in a moment of weakness they made a decision that would tear them apart for nearly a decade. Now, Jade's unfaithful husband wants to destroy her in a custody battle that is about to shock the nation. Only one man can help her in her darkest hour. And only one old woman knows the secret about that summer -- and the truth that can set them all free.

I honestly don't really know how to rate or review this book. There were parts of it I loved, and parts where I just wanted to throw the book across the room. I think I'll have to try something new, and do a review in bullet form.

Things I Liked
* The childhood friendship between Jade and Tanner. Very sweet.
* Jade's reaction to meeting God. Brought tears to my eyes.
* Jade and Tanner's friendship 'that summer'.
* Jade and Ty's relationship
* The 'conversations' with God. I always wish I could hear Him that clearly.

Things I Disliked
* The heavy, heavy, HEAVY forshadowing. It almost made me give up on the book already on page 70!
* The blatant moralizing.
* How the evil people were evil, with no remedying qualities.
* The unrealistic judge and courtcase (at least I hope both were unrealistic!).
* Worst of all - how things just got worse, and worse, and worse, and worse, and you could see that it was going to continue downhill (thanks to the lovely forshadowing mentioned above), until finally everything was resolved lickity-split and (as also mentioned above) in a very unrealistic manner. When you end up saying, "Oh, come ON!" as you read the final pages - it is not a good sign.

I don't know if this is standard for Karen Kingsbury, or just specific to this book, so I am going to give her a second chance, because as cringe-worthy as the bad things were, I LOVED the good things, so did end up finding it slightly more good than bad.

Title: Harry Bentley's Second Chance
Author: Dave Jackson
Genre: Christian fiction
Rating: 3.5/5
# pages: 336
Date read: January, 2010

Retired Chicago cop, Harry Bentley, was lying low. He'd blown the whistle on a gang of rogue cops and was awaiting the day when Internal Affairs would call him to testify and help put their leader, Lieutenant Matty Fagan, behind bars. His cover was working as a doorman in a luxury highrise on Chicago's lakefront. Then Gabby Fairbanks and her husband moved into the building's penthouse. She brought home a bag lady, got a job at the Manna House Women's Shelter, found her life falling apart, and managed to entangle Harry in the whole affair.

But there was an upside. Through Gabby, Harry meets the Yada Yada brothers and the classy Estelle Williams and envisions a second chance at romance. The Yada Yada brothers provide a new circle of friends to replace his old CPD cohorts. But when Harry discovers he has a grandson he didn't know about, will he find the faith to take on the boy as a "second chance" to be the father he'd failed to be to his own son-even when the boy creates new dangers in Harry's fight against corruption, and may derail his "second chance" at love?

An enjoyable book that unfortunately suffered from being compared to its compagnion novel.

Harry Bentley's Second Chance is a well-written Christian novel. If I'd read it as a stand-alone, I'd have enjoyed it greatly. It's an interesting story with believable characters and a sweet love story.

Unfortunately it just doesn't measure up to its companion novel ("Where Do I Go?" by Neta Jackson) in poignancy, and therefore unfairly falls flat, where it'd have been enjoyed more in its own right. If you haven't read either, I recommend reading this one first in order to do it justice.