A Tree, A Book, and A Breeze

Between the Lines Jodi Picoult & Samantha Van Leer Simon and Shuster Okay, so wow. When I discovered  this book and found out what it was about, I seriously just gaped and wondered, why didn’t I think of that ?! It’s a truly out-of-the-box story: it’s about a character in a book who falls in love with a reader of his story. Yes, it sounds strange…but it was also kind of cool, and I was a little jealous that I hadn’t come up with the idea myself. The book is a mix of the hero’s original story and then narration by both him and the heroine. On top of that, it has illustrations! It was such a novelty of a book it was hard not to enjoy it. Of course, like any story (especially a non-Christian one) there were a few cons (in this book's case, several). Though from a secular perspective this book didn’t have anything too terrible in it (it’s not steamy or riddled with language or violence) from a Christian perspective there were several small things that added up: mai...

this is the cover of the book I had, but I thought this cover was really pretty! Before Midnight Cameron Dokey Simon and Shuster I’ve heard of this series for a long time now, but I hadn’t gotten a chance to read any of the books until just recently. I really did enjoy this retelling of Cinderella, although there were things about it I didn’t care for. However, it was one of those books whose flaws you don’t notice until you’re done reading and sit back and reflect on the story. One thing I did like about this book was the way it was written, and that it really drew me right in. The twists on the story of Cinderella were interesting, and a few were unexpected. Another thing I liked was that the main character was called Cendrillon , the original French version of the name Cinderella , and that her nickname was Rilla. However, the romance wasn’t really as great; it felt like almost an afterthought. The Prince was barely in it, and their relationship wasn’t given ...

Summerset Abbey TJ Brown Simon and Schuster I don't normally read secular adult fiction, but I had seen this book on the internet, and when it caught my eye on the bookshelf of our library, I subjected it to my "judge of appropriateness" test (which includes a quick prayer and then flipping through the book to see if anything unacceptable catches my eye) and since it passed, I decided to check it out. This book was...okay. I had the feeling whilst I was reading that it was written specifically geared toward a certain market: the "fans of Downton Abbey" market. (Although it was actually cleaner than the miniseries itself). It wasn't that I hated the book, but sometimes the characters' actions and ideas just didn't make sense to me- maybe because personality-wise I was so different from them. I think a 6 on my scale rating is about perfect- it's a passable novel, but it could have been better. The ending seemed abrupt and was a compl...