Hope By the Book Reading Challenge Pt. 3

So I’ve been periodically giving reviews for books I’ve read for the Hope By the Book Reading Challenge, and today I’m bringing you more mini-reviews. If you’re unfamiliar with this challenge, you can check it out here. And if you haven’t read Part 1 and Part 2, I encourage you to check those out as well.

Today I’m featuring 5 books plus 2 I’ve already done reviews on. Some of these I liked more than others, but if one of them interests you, I highly recommend you read it.

One-word Title: Belonging by Robin Lee Hatcher

This book is the first in a trilogy. The prologue sets up the premise of the series: three children are orphaned when their mother succumbs to illness and are separated. That in itself was enough to pique my interest. Unfortunately, it wasn’t kept.

It’s not that it was necessarily bad. The premise itself is interesting: a new schoolteacher arrives in town, but one of the students’ parents isn’t convinced that she takes the job seriously. Colin Murphy is convinced Felicia Kristoffersen will marry and leave the school without a teacher again. Felicia just wants a job and a place to belong. Of course this leads to some misunderstanding, and at times I found the conflict a bit tiring. It was also a bit slow at times.

One thing I did enjoy was Felicia’s relationship with Colin’s daughter Charity. It was endearing to see Charity so excited for a new teacher, and I loved seeing Felicia’s efforts to help Charity learn to read. And it was obvious Colin loved his daughter. That relationship was also endearing.

A secondary character, Kathleen, had some scenes from her perspective, and I found myself rooting for her and her romance. At times I enjoyed her storyline better than Felicia and Colin’s. But all in all, this book was just a pleasant diversion for a weekend.

I may change my mind and read the other books later, but I don’t know right now. I’m not giving up on Robin Lee Hatcher, though. This was my first book by her, but I’ve heard her other books are really good. I may check them out in the future.

By or About Pastor/Pastor’s Wife: Blue Skies Tomorrow by Sarah Sundin

I’m not sure if this prompt was supposed to be for a real pastor, but I counted Blue Skies Tomorrow because the hero is a pastor. I’m sure it counts. It counts for me at least.

This book is the end of the Wings of Glory series. Though not as not as her Waves of Freedom series, this series is still phenomenal. Also, apparently, it’s her debut series, which shows that she’s only gotten better. And she was good to start with, so there’s that.

Featuring a pastor in the Army Air Corps that’s trying to find courage and a war widow trying to raise her son, this book is filled with several emotional moments as the characters try to find themselves. There’s also some really good spiritual takeaways about trusting God and the true meaning of courage.

Even though it can be read as a standalone, I would really recommend that you read the other books in the series first. You’re introduced to both characters in the first book and see more of Raymond in the second, allowing you to better understand Raymond and Helen before you read this book. The romance is kind of quick, and I kept worrying about it crashing and burning, but because I’d already been acquainted with the characters, I understood why they rush in and why they respond to the consequences the way they do.

Really, you can’t go wrong with anything written by Sarah Sundin. This book was no exception.

Based on a True Story: With This Pledge by Tamera Alexander

This book is based on an actual couple who met at Carnton Plantation, and the whole novel is filled with the descriptive narrative I’ve come to expect from Alexander. The gripping tale of the aftermath of the Battle at Franklin and heroine Lizzie’s conflicted feelings about the South she grew up in brought the Civil War to life in a way few authors can master.

Alexander even includes actual letters written by Lizzie and Roland, and I love the way she weaves in real people from the plantation. The fruits of research make this already compelling writing even better.

(I featured this novel in a Just Read post. To see my full review, check out my post here.)

Classic or Fairy Tale Retelling: The Warrior Maiden by Melanie Dickerson

(I featured this novel in a Just Read post. For my full review, you can check out my post here.)

I loved that this wasn’t just a rehashing of the Disney version. Dickerson truly took this story and made it her own. Although I was a bit disappointed at the moment Mulan’s identity is revealed, I did appreciate that Dickerson was being realistic about Mulan’s ability to keep her gender a secret for long.

I also liked how she changed Mulan’s heritage just a bit to fit the fictional world she’d already created while also keeping true to Mulan’s Asian roots. A lot of imagination went into this novel, especially the battle scenes, and I enjoyed the chance to read this latest installment so much, I want to go read the others in the series.

Author’s Surname Begins with M: The Messenger by Siri Mitchell

I’m a bit conflicted about this one.

On the one hand, the premise is interesting. Exciting. Riveting. I mean, a spy who refuses to lie. A Quaker actually picking a side. That, along with the fact that Revolutionary War fiction seems to be rare for some reason, made me grab the book on the library shelf. And in the premise, there’s no disappointment. There was intrigue, conflict, and plenty of soul searching. And the potential dangers kept me reading much later than I should’ve.

The drawback for me was the point-of-view. That’s really the only criticism I have of Mitchell’s writing. Both Hannah and Jeremiah were POV characters, and I did appreciate Mitchell giving each character equal space in the book, but the book was in first person, which is not my favorite. With one character’s perspective, it may have worked, but I found myself feeling confused whenever I picked the book back up because it took me a minute to remember who the POV character was in that section.

But it was still a good book. I don’t know if I’d go reread it anytime soon, but it was an interesting story with characters I could root for, even grumpy Jeremiah. And the way Mitchell weaves Hannah’s and Jeremiah’s backstories into the action made me connect with the characters even more. So while not my favorite, this book is still something I would recommend.

Features Missions or Missionaries: My Heart Belongs in the Blue Ridge: Laurel’s Dream by Pepper Basham

This book was SO good! Pepper Basham is my latest author obsession, and I’ve been doing my best to get my hands on her books. When I picked up this one, I about fan-girled when I read the names. No, actually, I did fan-girl a little. Because I recognized the names from the Pleasant Gap series. (If you haven’t read that series, you may not understand. But I highly recommend you read this before Just the Way You Are and When You Look at Me, because those contemporary stories mention Laurel and Jonathan. I reviewed these books earlier on the blog, so if you want to check out that post, click here.) I love when books occur in the same universe, and when I realized that was the case with this one, I about flipped.

While some may complain about the lack of action, I am not one of them. This book had plenty of conflict for me. I mean, the presence of a British missionary in the Appalachian mountains is conflict in itself. The clash of cultures was entertaining, and the juxtaposition of the world Jonathan came from with the world Laurel introduces him to had me cracking up at times.

Now, fitting the missionary category may feel like a stretch, but Jonathan comes as a missionary to teach students in the Appalachian mountains. He’s even called a missionary by the residents. So it counts. At least to me. And I found the concept of a missionary in America incredibly interesting. You usually hear of missionaries leaving America to go to other countries, so this was an interesting concept that I enjoyed.

Written in 2000-2010: Within My Heart by Tamera Alexander

Okay, I love Tamera Alexander’s books. This was no exception. While the previous installment in the series, Beyond This Moment, is the best in my humble opinion, Within My Heart is still amazing. This may be partially due to the build-up because, as the last of the series, these characters have been around for a while. Dr. Rand Brookston was already a favorite of mine, and I was well acquainted with Rachel Boyd’s heartache.

I was also tired of them not being together.

This book has typhoid, nightmares, danger, and enough tension to keep you turning the pages. I mean, Alexander did not skimp on the drama. While the main storyline was compelling, I enjoyed revisiting characters from the previous novels. Not only do we catch up with the former main characters, but we also see some minor characters from former subplots. Alexander manages to give them enough time on the page without usurping Rachel and Rand’s story. In fact, all these minor characters enhance the main plot.

She’s a master, I tell you. You cannot go wrong with any of her books.

That’s it for today’s post. I’ll have one more in December when I (hopefully) have completed the challenge. If you haven’t yet begun the Hope By the Book Reading Challenge, you’re not too late! You’re probably a lot further in than you think, especially since the challenge has different levels. If any of the books I mentioned interest you, you can click the book cover to go to Christianbook.com.