Bookworm Banquet

On a Summer Tide by Suzanne Woods Fisher
Hannah's Rating: 4.5 out of 5 bookmarks

I haven't read anything by Suzanne Woods Fisher before because she's mostly written Amish novels, and I'm not a lover of "bonnet" fiction. So I really had no clue what sort of story I was about to read, but let's be honest: I chose this one for the cover.

Book Summary:

Sometimes love hurts--and sometimes it can heal in the most unexpected way.
Camden Grayson loves her challenging career, but the rest of her life could use some improvement. "Moving on" is Cam's mantra. But there's a difference, her two sisters insist, between one who moves on and one who just keeps on moving.
Cam's full-throttle life skids to a stop when her father buys a remote island off the coast of Maine. Paul Grayson has a dream to breathe new life into the island--a dream that includes reuniting his estranged daughters. Certain Dad has lost his mind, the three sisters rush to the island. To Cam's surprise, the slow pace of island life appeals to her, and so do the locals. One in particular: Seth Walker, the scruffy island schoolteacher, who harbors more than a few surprises.

This book is the first in the Three Sisters Island series and as soon as I opened that cover, I was swept away into the good kind of family drama: Mr. Greyson is ready to astound his three daughters with news that he has bought an island resort in Maine and will be moving there right away. He may be just getting to retirement age, but the three young women are very sure he's lost his mind and come down with early dementia. His health hasn't been great, and now it seems his mind is going. What are they to do?

Because of sudden job demands, it's Cam, the eldest, who ends up in Maine first. She's just planning on a short time there before heading off to her next assignment, but things are worse on the island than they ever dreamed. The Pepto-Bismol pink old house that greets them is in disrepair, and the electricity only works for a fraction of the day. That fact about the electricity was a funny one; I can't think of the last time I read a contemporary novel where the electricity hardly works like that--not just for their property, but for the entire small town, to the extent that it's a local joke. The lack of TVs and cell phones (no service) lent a neat retro feel to the modern story.

Suzanne Fisher Woods
Photo Credit: © Dan Davis Photography

On a Summer Tide has one of the most colorful casts of local characters that I've read about in a while. Peg Legg, who runs a diner and can't fix palatable food to save her life, was my favorite! I also really enjoyed Seth, the local schoolteacher, and loved his unorthodox methods of teaching (which, to my amusement, was almost like he'd followed an old novel about schooling that I read last year). He's not easily offended, and I loved that character trait.

It isn't a suspense novel, but with all the little daily things that happen, I almost felt the pace was similar: trying to fix up a camp on a deadline for the first guests and allay the worries of the locals at the same time; the sisters trying to figure out where life goes from here; and so on. I also loved that the romance wasn't the primary goal of the story, but that the sisters' complicated relationship with each other and their father was the main driver.

You'll be sure to enjoy this tale of a broken family who might just find healing in a battered town half-forgotten by time.

Content Advisory: There are tactful references to someone having a child out of wedlock and regretting the affair; nothing explicit at all.

Do I recommend it? Yes! Mainly a women's-interest story, it's great for lovers of family stories, contemporary novels, and outdoor tales.

Check out On a Summer Tide on Amazon

Hannah Gridley has been a dedicated bookworm since the age of 4. By day she works for a local nonprofit; in her spare time she works in a bookstore, teaches music, plays violin in two local orchestra groups and in her church, and enjoys hiking. Favorite reading genres include Christian, historical fiction, suspense, and vintage/classic novels. When she isn't working, writing, or reading, she spends money adding books to her home library or collecting fountain pens and fancy inks.

Disclosure: The publisher provided us with a free copy of this book for promotional purposes. This post contains affiliate links.

A Bound Heart by Laura Frantz
Hannah's Rating: 3 out of 5 bookmarks

Overall, it was a good read. The characters are solid and the plot progresses well. The cover is absolutely dreamy, and I especially loved the unique touch of Lark's name.

Summary:

Though Magnus MacLeish and Lark MacDougall grew up on the same castle grounds, Magnus is now laird of the great house and the Isle of Kerrera. Lark is but the keeper of his bees and the woman he is hoping will provide a tincture that might help his ailing wife conceive and bear him an heir. But when his wife dies suddenly, Magnus and Lark find themselves caught up in a whirlwind of accusations, expelled from their beloved island, and sold as indentured servants across the Atlantic. Yet even when all hope seems dashed against the rocky coastline of the Virginia colony, it may be that in this New World the two of them could make a new beginning--together.

I've always been fascinated by old Scottish settings and early American indentures, and this book features both, so I had my hand out for a copy long before publication rolled around. I just knew I was going to love it, and I also really enjoyed the details about Lark's occupation as an herbalist.

I loved the lush settings and the bits of the Scots language. I'm used to reading books with much more Scots in my addiction to "kailyard" novels, but for the casual reader there's just enough to add some flavor without being terribly off-putting, and there's a glossary to help with the few terms included.

Magnus's inability to lead his household started the book off with me not liking him much. He's really honestly not a very good laird! But I also know that not a lot of the lairds were very good. It's just that he seems portrayed as a larger-than-life hero, but when you actually look at the events it doesn't add up to the perfection it seems to be. I didn't know if that was unintentional, or if it was a portrayal of Lark's view of him.

Laura Frantz

It's hard to say this without spoilers, so I'm going to leave out character names. There is a character who has an attraction to a married person, and the married person has a preference for them as well. The book gives all the reasons that the married person's spouse is bad and annoying and sometimes plain crazy, and at times the married person wants to keep the single person close by, literally employing them for a job, and derives emotional comfort from the single person's completion of tasks. This idea was almost a deal-breaker for me but I did push on and finish the book. Forbidden love is a theme I've often enjoyed and have eaten up with a spoon in other novels. However, the way this married person behaves shows them straying over the line of emotional infidelity to a partner they pledged to love and honor, and no repentance ever occurs. In fact, it is suggested at one point that the married person had remained in love with the single person during their entire marriage. This is not an appropriate action for a married person, and if they struggle with feelings toward someone who is not their spouse I strongly believe that they should "flee temptation" and get far away from the one they are unduly attracted toward. Marriage without love does not mean you can "love someone else as long as you don't have sex with them"--marriage binds you to emotional fidelity as well. I don't think the author thought through all the implications of what these characters were thinking/feeling, because I don't think it was deliberately written to be an example of emotional infidelity, but the characters' thoughts, longings, and preferences are portrayed all too well. Emotional fidelity matters no matter how shoddy your spouse is.

I loved the second half of the book much more and my heart was stolen by a certain young boy, Larkin, who Lark reaches out to. I also loved the dear lady who was Royal Hundred's housekeeper, the picturesquely-named Mistress Flowerdew, who is Lark's closest overseer in her indenture. I also began to like Magnus better as he struggled to bring about some slavery reforms in the harsh Jamaican conditions on the sugar plantation his master owns. I wish this section of the book had been a much larger part of the story as a whole, instead of barely half, because this was the most interesting part to me.

Overall I would recommend it with the caution that it should be read by spiritually mature young folks or only over eighteen because of the marital fidelity issue.

Check out A Bound Heart on Amazon

Code of Valor by Lynette Eason
Lilian's Rating 4 out of 5 bookmarks

What an extremely riveting suspense tale! Although I have never been a face-right-on-the-cover type of person, the cover did intrigue me enough to draw me to it and Lynette Eason is definitely a suspense author you often hear about, so I'm glad I read it!

The main characters, Brady St. John and Emily Chastain, were each very relatable characters. Throughout reading the book, I did notice that Brady's character profile seemed rather shallow and not super complex at all, but I did like him as a character. Emily was a different story though. I loved how she approached and dealt with her insecurities about herself, and how unique and complex her background was. However, her personality wasn't very attracting for me personally, so I didn't really like her as much. I did feel like there were too many characters--not all of them played a role as well, so I did get lost at times with which character was which.

The plot turned out to be such a wild ride! I'm a little more used to plots where I can feel the way it's going, but this plot was wild! It really twisted and turned and at the end, I had given up on trying to guess where it was going. I really admire Eason's talent to write, and it really showed in the plot. Eason's writing style also flows easily and really allows me as a reader to focus on the story instead of the writing, which I applaud her for!

Overall, I really enjoyed this story! It didn't have noticeable Christian themes (thinking back on it I honestly don't remember more than one or two references to Christianity -- I didn't find any as I flipped through the book either, but don't take my word on it). The plot and writing style definitely made the book for me and I would strongly recommend it for lovers of suspense!

Check out Code of Valor on Amazon

Lilian S. has been a hardcore bookworm since the tender age of 7 and a book reviewer for a couple of years. She is currently a student and in her spare time enjoys singing, graphic designing, and interacting with other Christ-minded readers. A couple of her favorite genres in both books and movies are: Christian contemporary, fantasy, and dystopian. She occasionally enjoys science and historical fiction and likes a good suspense novel as well. Lilian is also an athlete (Ultimate Frisbee, anyone?), a blogger at Green Tea With Books, and founder at reviewer site Stellae Books.

Disclosure: The publisher provided us with a free copy of this book for promotional purposes. This post contains affiliate links.