Category Archives: By Age Range

Q&A with Martin Hospitality Author Abigayle Claire

Author Interview, Christian World-View, Coming of Age, Contemporary, News and Fun, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , ,

One of the books that caught my attention lately is Martin Hospitality by Abigayle Claire. It’s about a pregnant teenage girl who finds refuge with the Martin family. I love the sweet premise and couldn’t resist learning more about what inspired the story. Abigayle has graciously taken time to answer my questions, and I’m sharing her answers here. First, let me tell you a little more about the book.

Martin Hospitality by Abigayle ClaireAbout Martin Hospitality

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Gemma Ebworthy is eighteen, pregnant, and alone. Now that she’s been evicted, she finds herself sleeping in a barn, never dreaming that tomorrow could bring kindness of a life-changing magnitude.

The Martins aren’t a typical family—even for rural Kansas. With more kids than can be counted on one hand and a full-time farm, Gemma must make a lot of adjustments to fit in. But despite their many differences, Gemma finds herself drawn to this family and their radical Christian faith.

When Gemma’s past collides with her yet again, she must begin revealing her colorful history. With every detail Gemma concedes, she fears she will lose the Martins’ trust and the stable environment she desires for herself and her unborn child. Just how far can the Martins’ love and God’s forgiveness go?

Q&A with Abigayle Claire

I find that a story was often inspired by a question. Was there a question that inspired you to write Martin Hospitality?

A crazy dream I had inspired Martin Hospitality, so I’ve never really thought about it from the question standpoint! But I suppose one of the questions I sought to answer was what would  a family similar to mine look like to someone completely foreign to the faith and how might they be influenced.

Who is your favorite character? Were there things about him which couldn’t be included in the novel?

My favorite character in book 1 is actually Mr. Martin, a controversial character. (Although Gemma and Josiah are of course close seconds as the MCs.) I think about his past and future in relation to book 1 all the time, so yes! Lots not included that still shaped him as a character.

Is there a scene or moment in your novel that really sticks with you? Can you tell us a little bit about it?

Chapter 12 was actually the first chapter I wrote and takes place during a fall festival which makes me very happy. I also really love Gemma’s strength and all the tiny developments in that chapter with the drama.

In Martin Hospitality, Gemma wrestles with judgment and forgiveness. What made you want to write about these themes?

I think the themes came along easily with Gemma being a lost, pregnant teen. I wanted her to glimpse God through unexpected kindness long enough for her to stand up for herself and seek the God behind it in her own right. Plus, I think both judgment and forgiveness are things that both nonbelievers and believers alike deal with during their lifetime.

What do you most hope that readers take away from Martin Hospitality?

Tough question! One of the big things is God’s sufficiency. It sounds simple, but it’s so easy to forget. Gemma has to reach her own end over and over again and decide whether or not to trust God each time. But He is worth trusting, He is always there, and He is always capable. And often He’s just waiting to be asked.

What is one question about your novel you are often asked by readers?

“How did you write it?” The answer is that it wasn’t me. It came through a dream and developed a depth and intricacy that no amount of planning or editing on my part could have produced. Soli Deo Gloria.

I also get “Mr. and Mrs. Martin are your mom and dad, right?” from people who know me. While there are general similarities, I don’t consider them the same people by any means.

What have you read recently that you loved, or what’s one book on your reading list that you’re super excited about finally getting to read?

I just finished reading Fawkes by Nadine Brandes in September. I loved her other books, so I expected to like it, but the expansive themes and intense reality of the internal turmoil (with plenty of outside turmoil to make a great story of course!) really blew my mind. I’m already hoping to reread it soon which I don’t do often. Talk about changing people with your fiction! It’s wonderful to see characters grapple with their idea of God in a way that deepens your own faith.

About Abigayle Claire

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Abigayle has been a writer ever since her mother taught her how to hold a pencil. However, she devoted more time to reading words with her green eyes than penning them with her left hand. Inspired by a crazy dream at the age of sixteen, she set off on a journey to self-publish her first novel, Martin Hospitality. Since then, Abigayle has devoted herself to sharing what she has learned through the mediums of freelance editing and her blog theleft-handedytpist.blogspot.com … when period drama films are not calling more loudly. None of her successes, including winning a 2017 Readers’ Favorite Award, would be possible without the support of her Savior, large family, and online community.

Review: Louisiana’s Way Home by Kate DiCamillo

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Louisiana’s Way Home
Kate DiCamillo
Candlewick Press
Published on October 2, 2018

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About Louisiana’s Way Home

From two-time Newbery Medalist Kate DiCamillo comes a story of discovering who you are — and deciding who you want to be.

When Louisiana Elefante’s granny wakes her up in the middle of the night to tell her that the day of reckoning has arrived and they have to leave home immediately, Louisiana isn’t overly worried. After all, Granny has many middle-of-the-night ideas. But this time, things are different. This time, Granny intends for them never to return. Separated from her best friends, Raymie and Beverly, Louisiana struggles to oppose the winds of fate (and Granny) and find a way home. But as Louisiana’s life becomes entwined with the lives of the people of a small Georgia town — including a surly motel owner, a walrus-like minister, and a mysterious boy with a crow on his shoulder — she starts to worry that she is destined only for good-byes. (Which could be due to the curse on Louisiana’s and Granny’s heads. But that is a story for another time.)

Called “one of DiCamillo’s most singular and arresting creations” by The New York Times Book Review, the heartbreakingly irresistible Louisiana Elefante was introduced to readers in Raymie Nightingale — and now, with humor and tenderness, Kate DiCamillo returns to tell her story.

My Review

Confession: I haven’t read Raymie Nightingale, but when I got the chance to review Louisiana’s Way Home by Kate DiCamillo, I couldn’t pass it up. My family listened to Flora & Ulysses on our summer vacation a few years ago, and we all enjoyed it so much. I’ve also read Because of Winn Dixie and absolutely adore it, too. Kate DiCamillo is one of those authors where you just want to buy everything with her name on it because you know it’s going to be good.

And Louisiana’s Way Home is no exception. It’s packed with the same rich, unforgettable characters and incredible heart as the other stories I’ve read by her. I love Louisiana’s voice. You absolutely get the feeling a particular girl is telling every line. I love the way her relationships with each other character impact the story. The walrus-like minister is one of my favorites. In one scene, he cries, and it’s not at all the focus of the scene, but it so revealed the kind of person he is without making a big show. I loved it and wholeheartedly recommend Louisiana’s Way Home. And now I definitely have to read Raymie Nightingale!

Recommended for Ages 10 up.

Cultural Elements
Major characters are white or not physically described.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
Louisiana’s granny tells her there is a curse on her family ever since her great-grandfather (a magician) sawed her great-grandmother in half and refused to put her back together again.
Louisiana seeks advice from a pastor whose office door sign says he offers healing words because she reasons that healing words are like a spell, and therefore, maybe he can lift the curse she believes is on her family. The pastor tells her that no, he can’t perform magic, but that telling her story to someone who listens to her can be a healing thing.
She sings at a church funeral.

Violent Content
This isn’t really violent, but Louisiana makes friends with a boy who steals items from a vending machine.

Drug Content
None.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Top Ten Tuesday: 10 Books Over 600 Pages That are Totally Worth Reading

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600 Pages is a LOT

Do you like long books? Even though I’m a fairly quick reader, I tend to avoid long books whenever possible. I like a book I can finish in a single sitting. But occasionally I come across some exceptions, though it’s admittedly pretty rare. (Even my review guidelines make note of this.)

This week, as part of Top Ten Tuesday hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, I’m sharing ten of the longest books I’ve ever read with a bit of a caveat. Obviously more than one of the Harry Potter books is over 600 pages. I only included the longest book in any of the series mentioned, but with the exception of Lady Midnight and Gemina (only because I haven’t gotten around to Obsidian yet), I’ve read the whole series.

The Deed of Paksenarrion by Elizabeth Moon – 1040 pages

Okay, this is a bit of a cheat, since The Deed of Paksenarrion is really a repackaged paperback with three books put together. It’s a whopper, though, and I devoured this mammoth novel in three days. I don’t know how exactly that happened, because at the time, my first daughter was just a few months old. It’s got some intense violence (read: torture) scenes but has a really cool spiritual tone to it, which is what really drew me to the story.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J. K. Rowling – 870 pages

This might be my favorite book in the Harry Potter series, but if you ask me tomorrow, I might say my favorite is Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. I don’t know. True story: Harry Potter was not allowed in my house growing up, so I didn’t read them until probably my mid- or late-twenties when someone was like, wait, you review young adult books and you haven’t read these? And I was like, oh. Yeah. I suppose I should do that. And I did, and yay!

Side note: I don’t think the ban on Hogwarts hurt me, honestly. I was so busy with so many other things and always had plenty of books to read that I didn’t really feel the loss. And the truth is, no matter what limits parents set during our growing up years, at some point we get to make decisions for ourselves. I repeat this to my daughter now when she’s irritated at boundaries. These are temporary. Someday you get to set your own boundaries. But for now, it’s my job to do what I think is healthiest for you. And I know that’s what my parents were doing.

Other side note: Harry Potter is allowed in our house. Also, my mom has read the books now, and loves a lot of things about them, like the message about the power of love.

End side notes.

Inheritance (#4) by Christopher Paolini – 849 pages

I kind of had to read this book. It took forever to come out, and I’d followed the story of Eragon all the way to this point, so I wanted to know how it ended. The book felt long to me, though. It’s not a hard read, but it’s definitely one of those where some of the length comes from the sheer volume of minute descriptions of things. That’s not my favorite writing style, but in the fantasy genre, sometimes it works.

Winter by Marissa Meyer – 832 pages

This book wrenched my heart. Oh, man. All the storylines from earlier books collided in this massive epic drama, and just… Wolf and Scarlet, y’all. That’s all I can say. I cried so many tears. I still love this series so much.

Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer – 756 pages

So… here’s another funny story. At the time that the Twilight books came out, I was in a large Christian writing group made up primarily of romance writers, and one of the bigger authors in the group wrote an email to everyone talking about how as writers, we needed to read this series and study what things about it made it so successful. So, okay, I read the series. And it was super addicting. I remember feeling like the descriptions of Bella’s depression when Edward left her in book two were so on point for bad breakup feels. I don’t think I’d read another book at that point which made me feel that way.

Later of course, I feel like I had a “hey, wait a minute” moment about Edward’s creepy watching-Bella-while-she-sleeps thing. And every time I watch this spoof about Twilight and Call of Duty (there’s some profanity and violence, sorry), I find myself nodding along to the character’s ridiculous sounding summary of Breaking Dawn. Because OMG RIGHT?! Also it makes me laugh. Every time.

Nevertheless, I’ve never been sorry I read those books, even though I have some issues with them.

To Darkness Fled by Jill Williamson – 681 pages

This series. Jill Williamson is one of the authors I discovered through the Christian organization I mentioned above, and she’s so awesome, y’all. This is the sequel to her debut novel By Darkness Hid, and it’s a great series. I love the fantasy elements and the vaguely King Arthur feel to it. If you haven’t read this series, please check it out.

Glass (Crank #2) by Ellen Hopkins – 681 pages

Crank was the first novel-in-verse I’d ever read, and I ate it up. I’ve gone on to love other novel-in-verse authors like Sarah Crossan, Kwame Alexander, and Linda Vigen Phillips, but there’s something really special about the first time you encounter a style like this. If you don’t know already, Ellen Hopkins wrote Crank and Glass after going through the heartbreak of her own daughter’s addiction to methamphetamines. Her writing is gritty, and often goes to some dark places, but always has a strong message.

Gemina by Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman – 659 pages

THIS SERIES IS SO FUN! This is definitely the kind of sci-fi novel that doesn’t take itself too seriously. It’s sort of like the hipster version of Star Trek? Maybe. Actually, I probably shouldn’t say that because some hipster will school me on the truly un-hipster-ish nature of the role cows play in the story or something. Anyway. Gemina made me laugh so much. I loved Illuminae for its quirkiness and the use of instant messages and descriptions of video feed as scenes. And the banter between characters! I’m a total sucker for great banter. So this one was a win for me.

Dreams of Gods and Monsters by Laini Taylor – 613 pages

Before I read this series by Laini Taylor, it had been a long time since I’d read a fantasy series which felt truly epic to me. The love story swept me away, but the minor characters – Raz and Ziri – absolutely stole the show for me in this book. It’s another one where the finale absolutely met every expectation I had and more. I keep stalling on reading Strange the Dreamer because I’m afraid I won’t like it as much as Daughter of Smoke and Bone. I know that’s silly, but there you go. So if you’ve read Strange, tell me how awesome it is.

(I just realized I somehow never reviewed the books in this series, and that’s… crazy. So I’m going to have to go back and reread them so I can post the reviews here.)

Shadow Scale by Rachel Hartman – 602 pages

I actually read the first book in this series (Seraphina) because I was able to get an ARC for this book. So I pretty much read them both back to back, and I think that was a huge advantage. There’s such a broad cast and so much storyworld and culture that I feel like I would have lost some of it if I’d had a long gap between the books. It was definitely a fun read and well worth the time it took to get from one cover to the other. I liked the unusual take on dragons in this series, and Serafina’s development as she realizes the dragon part of her, which she’s always tried to hide and has been ashamed of, is exactly what her people need.

What’s the longest book you’ve ever read?

If you use Goodreads, there’s an easy way to figure this out. Simply go to your “Read” list. At the top, click the “settings” option and check the box next to “number of pages.” That will add a column to your list showing the number of pages in each book. You can then sort your list by that column and viola!

So which book is it? Let me know in the comments, and leave a link to your own Top Ten post. I’d love to check it out.

 

Review: Before I Knew You by Beth Steury

Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , ,

Before I Knew You
Beth Steury
Life Matters Publishing
Published on March 9, 2018

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About Before I Knew You
After a series of bad choices rocked his world, seventeen-year-old Preston charts a new course as far from his ladies’ man ways as he can get. He distances himself from the dating scene and avoids his party-loving friends—the things that once dominated his life. Then he meets Maggie, the new girl in town, the first day of their junior year. She’s beautiful on the inside and out, knows nothing of his past, and he can’t get her out of his mind.

When a disastrous first date leaves her skeptical about the guys at Madison High, Maggie slows down her pursuit of a guy to trust with her white-wedding-dress future. She wants a boyfriend, sure, but he’d have to be nothing like the jerk who forced her first kiss. Someone more like Preston, who’s been nothing but sweet and helpful, not to mention, easy on the eyes. But he is so out of her league.

Can Maggie afford to let her guard down around the charming Preston? Will Preston’s past jeopardize his chances with the one girl who could anchor his future?

My Review
Before I Knew You has a strong message. At its heart, the story is about two teens who make a commitment to abstain from sex before marriage. Both have made the decision independently and because of their faith.

I worried a little bit that the story would be message-driven or dominated by the agenda of promoting abstinence. But honestly, I felt like it had a great balance between the message and the story. The message elements were pretty effectively integrated into the story, so that it didn’t feel preachy. It felt like observing two people as they try to navigate how to have a healthy dating relationship which includes these moral values.

Preston feels pressure to hide the fact that he used to drink and has slept with a past girlfriend from Maggie, which creates lots of problems and tension. Maggie is new to dating relationships and has never had a serious relationship at all before she begins dating Preston. Her struggle is much more emotional. Her feelings for Preston dominate her thought life, and sometimes her value depends a lot on his behavior and how he feels about her.

Maggie’s feelings about Preston were sometimes a little much for me. She’s a realistic teen character—I remember feeling consumed by relationships the way she is in the story. I kind of wished that someone at some point told her she needed to find her value in other things besides Preston. It also kind of rubbed me the wrong way when Preston decides to handle a past situation by planning to confront someone else’s parents about it. At the time, he is dead-set on hiding the whole situation from his own parents, and I kept hoping someone would call him out on that hypocrisy or encourage him to be honest about it with his parents. It didn’t happen, but the conflict did get resolved. (Sorry to be so cryptic… I don’t want to give too much away.)

Another thing I did like about Before I Knew You was that as the relationship between Preston and Maggie deepens, Preston rekindles a mentoring relationship with a sports coach. He and some other guys his age start spending time together and talking about how to maintain their commitment to abstinence. This was another point where I felt like the message could have overtaken the story, but it didn’t. In fact, I liked that the characters were pretty real about how they needed to have a plan and boundaries in place if they were going to have a successful and lasting commitment to wait until marriage to have sex, and how the story showed those playing out.

This book may not appeal to everyone. But especially for teens interested in waiting to have sex, it’s a great “you’re not the only one” kind of story with some practical examples of things to do that can help support the choice to wait to have sex.

Recommended for Ages 13 up.

Cultural Elements
Major characters are white.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
Both Maggie and Preston are Christians. Their faith comes up now and again in mostly small ways – references to church or prayer or Bible verses. The biggest faith element in the story is Maggie and Preston’s commitments to wait until marriage to have sex.

Violent Content
None.

Drug Content
Preston goes to a party where teens are drinking alcohol. He only drinks Mountain Dew, as he’s made a commitment not to drink alcohol anymore. Maggie attends a similar party but doesn’t drink alcohol either.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Review: Born Scared by Kevin Brooks

Book Review and Content, Contemporary, Middle Grade 8-12, , , , ,

Born Scared
Kevin Brooks
Candlewick Press
Published on September 11, 2018

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About Born Scared
Elliot is terrified of almost everything.

From the moment he was born, his life has been governed by acute fear. The only thing that keeps his terrors in check are the pills that he takes every day.

It’s Christmas Eve, there’s a snowstorm and Elliot’s medication is almost gone. His mum nips out to collect his prescription. She’ll only be 10 minutes – but when she doesn’t come back, Elliot must face his fears and try to find her. She should only be 400 meters away. It might as well be 400 miles…

My Review
I wanted to read this book because the premise sounded really intriguing. Right away, there are high stakes and it has that man versus himself thing going on that I really love in stories.

Some of Elliot’s experiences made total sense with his fear issues and the way people would normally react in those situations. But as the story progressed, some of the experiences Elliot had got more and more extreme, and I couldn’t decide if he was hallucinating or imagining the worst-case outcome in a given situation and reporting it as if it happened, or if bad things really were happening to him.

Other characters have short scenes from their points of view, and those seemed to support Elliot’s version of events, so I guess that’s what happened? Unless those were imaginary people he created? I don’t know. That seems farfetched.

As Elliot continued the search for his mom, he found a boldness and courage that was inspiring. I liked the way the story followed multiple threads which converged in a single scene.

On the other hand, I struggled with some of the events. I feel like either Elliot must have imagined certain parts of the story (because his actions seemed so out of character and because so many things seemed like the worst-case scenario playing out) or they were real events that seem too farfetched for me to believe.

Fans of A. S. King would probably really like this story. While I found it really interesting and liked Elliot’s character, I find I’m left with this feeling that I didn’t really get the story somehow.

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Cultural Elements
Major characters are white or not physically described.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Mild profanity used infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
Elliot talks to his twin sister, Ellamay, who died during their mother’s pregnancy.

Violent Content
Strong fear-based images. Two men tie up two women. The women have bruised faces, like they fought their attackers. A man with a gun and knife threatens a kid. Someone attacks a man with a rock, hitting him in the head. A car accident startles several witnesses.

Drug Content
A man drinks alcohol at a bar, and a woman he met there drugs him without his knowledge. He experiences some hallucinations and behaves in a way out of his normal character while on the drugs.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Review: The Echo Room by Parker Peevyhouse

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The Echo Room
Parker Peevyhouse
Tor Teen
Published on September 11, 2018

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About The Echo Room
Rett wakes on the floor of a cold, dark room. He doesn’t know how he got there, only that he’s locked in. He’s not alone—a girl named Bryn is trapped in the room with him. When she finds a mysterious bloodstain and decides she doesn’t trust Rett, he tries to escape on his own—

Rett wakes on the floor of the same cold, dark room. He doesn’t trust Bryn, but he’ll have to work with her if he ever hopes to escape. They try to break out of the room—

Rett and Bryn hide in a cold, dark room. Safe from what’s outside.

But they’re not alone.

My Review
I feel like this book should be an episode of Black Mirror. (Disclaimer: I’ve only seen two episodes of Black Mirror because I’m waaaaaay too much of a fraidy cat for things that qualify as horror-ish.). The Echo Room definitely had that otherworldly, spooky, outside-the-box feel to it. I loved that!

While some parts of the story are simple—a boy, a girl, a quest to find an item—other parts are not so simple. Rett and Bryn have really fractured memories. They make assumptions from the clues around them, but we start to piece things together almost before they do, which creates all sorts of interesting nail-biting tension.

The beginning has a kind of repetitive rhythm to it (on purpose), but the way it’s written, you notice different things each time a repetition happens, so it feels like peeling back layers of the mystery, and that feeling kept me reading page after page.

I found Rett and Bryn both really likeable. There’s a good balance between the plot with its sci-fi elements and the characters, which is a must for me when I read sci-fi. So The Echo Room definitely satisfied there.

Though this is a very different kind of story, I think The Echo Room would appeal to readers who like Hayley Stone or Claudia Gray. I highly recommend it.

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Cultural Elements
Major characters are white or not physically described.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Fewer than ten instances of profanity.

Romance/Sexual Content
Brief kissing between boy and girl.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. A man receives a head injury from another person. At one point, a boy discovers a mutilated dead body. Description is brief. A flare gun is used as a weapon.

Drug Content
None.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.