I love when my mom recommends books to me! She has such a talent for finding good books, especially series, and she always shares her books with me when she is done. Thanks Mom! :) One of the more recent series that she shared with me is the "Shadows of Brierley" series by Anita Stansfield. There are four books in the series, but the last book (which is my favorite) is told from a different person's perspective. So, I am going to talk about the first three books in this post, then I'll go over the last book in my next post.
"The Wanderer" is the first book and starts off in 1838, with Ian Macbrier trying to find himself. He is wandering about through London, drinking his days away and spending most nights in an alley, when he stumbles upon two men preaching about a book. He is directed by something other than his own will to buy a copy of the book and this starts him on the path back home. He doesn't actually read the book, and ends up throwing it in the bottom of his closet, but it comes in to play later in the story. Ian makes his way back home and tries to win back the heart of the woman he left. There are a lot of trials that both of their families have to go through, but love and family keep them strong. The same force that told Ian to buy the Book of Mormon also inspires him to go to America.
Which leads to the next book, "A Far Horizon." Ian has decided to take his family to America to search out the religion associated with the Book of Mormon. Their journey to New York leads to new life long friendships as well as incomprehensible heartache. The sorrow that they endure is outweighed by the blessings they receive, but nothing comes easy. It is a long and hard journey, but eventually they make it to Nauvoo.
The third book, "A Distant Shore," picks up in Nauvoo with Ian and his family making a home for themselves and settling in with the other Mormons. Then quite unexpectedly, Ian and his best friend Ward, get called to go back to England to serve a mission. Both have a wife and children and neither one of them knows what to do. They know that this is a calling from God, but how can they leave their families not knowing when they would return? The blessings that come from their willingness to serve are beautiful and Anita Stansfield does a wonderful job of weaving spiritual experiences into the story.
Truth be told, I don't usually like to read fictional books with characters who find the gospel. In fact I almost put this book down once I realized that's where it was going. I'm glad that I didn't. Anita Stansfield writes a beautiful story that has so much raw emotion in it. The characters feel real and the story will speak to your heart. These books will definitely give you a greater appreciation for what the early members of the church went through. You will be laughing on one page, then crying on the next and you won't be able to put it down. 5 out of 5 stars. These books are appropriate for young adults and up, so check them out and then let me know what you think!
"Luther and Katharina", by Jody Hedlund, was an unexpected delight. I love when I pick up a book, not really knowing what it is about, and get swept off my feet by a wonderful story. This story is about Martin Luther and Katharina von Bora and the unlikely love between them. Katharina is a nun of noble birth who risks everything to escape the Abbey with a group of other nuns. Her life is turned upside in a changing world and, with the help of Martin, she finds herself serving in a home that is a lower social class than herself.
Her pride prevents her from accepting these changes and she is continually looking to marry and raise herself back to the noble class she was born into. She wants a life of riches, not necessarily love. Luther, on the other hand, would only be convinced to marry by the deepest kind of love and he has absolutly no riches. He lives on what others are willing to donate and his life is in constant danger. Throughout the book the attraction and chemistry between the two is obvious, they are both just too stubborn to acknowledge it. They go through some life threatening challenges and are finally worn down enough to let go and act on the budding love between them.
As I said at the beginning of this post, this book was an unexpected delight. I was in the mood for a little romance, so I picked this book out and got way more than I expected. The fact that the characters are real just makes the story that much more rich. I was sucked into the book and found myself smiling when Katharina and Luther were inadvertently flirting and then groaning when they would pull away from each other and act like nothing was going on. I couldn't put the book down. You'll find yourself being ripped back in time and feeling like you're washing clothes in the river right there next to the characters. It's a good easy read, plus it's completely clean. I can't think of a single reason for you to not read this book. It is coming out on October 6th. I recieved this book from "Blogging for Books" for this review. You can pre-order your copy here. Or click here to check out the author. And of course, don't forget to let me know what you think!
I discovered this book at my local library when I was in high school. Since then I have read this book at least once a year, I just finished it again for the umpteenth time and it's just as good as the first time I picked it up. I've put off sharing "The Crown Rose", by Fiona Avery, because I didn't know what to say about it. It kind of makes me nervous to put this book on here because it's almost like putting my own child out there for the world to criticize. "The Crown Rose" follows the true story of princess Isabelle of France, but the author takes some creative liberty of course. Isabelle is an amazing young woman who decides that the life of a princess is not the life she really wants. She doesn't want to get married off to whoever her mother chooses and play the part of a proper royal. She has bigger plans. She wants to help people, and do good. She wants to take people off the streets, help them get back on their feet, and start a new better life.
Her family doesn't take her seriously. To show them just how serious she is, she decides to join the church. This puts her family in an uproar, but there is one person she knows who would understand and possibly be proud of her. Him. The man that saved her from a rabid dog when she was a child. He had so much raw power about him, yet seemed so in control and at peace. Neci, her governess, knew about Him, yet she had made Isabelle promise never to speak of him. Just because she can't tell anyone, doesn't mean that she doesn't think about him. No man in her eyes could ever live up to that. He made her feel so safe.
Then, years later, Jean Adaret Benariel comes into the royal family's lives. There is something about him that is so familiar to Isabelle. It couldn't be Him, could it? He wouldn't have aged a day. Yet he has that same peaceful power to him. Jean stays with the royal family and helps them through many trials, including the war with England. He has a great influence on the royal family, especially Isabelle.
This book has some religious content in it, which is part of why it's so dear to my heart. This is the type of book that makes me want to be a better person. The characters are inspiring and they will stick with you for a long time after you have finished the book. I'm not saying what is in this book is true, that's for the reader to decide. Whether it's true or not doesn't change the fact that this is an absolutely amazing book. It is written incredibly well and will suck you in and won't spit you out until you have finished it and pondered it for a few days. It is a thicker book and will take a few days to get through, and I wouldn't recommend it for anyone younger than high school age simply because some of it is hard to understand. All in all this is an amazing book and I very highly recommend that you read it.
My mom gave me this book for Christmas. I always get at least one, she knows she can't go wrong with a book. This year the book was "Extraordinary Comfort", by David C. Asay. It's a book that I most definitely would not have picked up on my own. The cover says it's about a mother's near-death experience meeting her stillborn son. I've never had a stillborn, or miscarriage, so I probably would have walked right past this one. It is written by one of her children that was there in the hospital when she had this experience. She is an old woman by this time and is lying in a hospital bed in a coma that the doctors think she will never wake up from. Her room is full of family when she suddenly opens her eyes, sits up, and starts talking as if they are all just there for a nice visit. She tells a beautiful story about what she has been experiencing while she was in her coma and tells her husband that their fifth son is named Shawn. He died before they had picked out a name for him. She also met her grandson, a miscarriage that her daughter had years earlier.
I won't go into more detail because I wouldn't be able to get the words right. It's a beautiful story and I think it would be very beneficial to someone who has lost a baby. Especially if they don't believe that there is in afterlife. Their child is simply waiting on the other side for his/her parents to get there. The author isn't LDS, but his views on this matter are the same as most church members. It's just an honest heartfelt story. You might not be able to connect with this if you haven't lost someone, but I still recommend reading it. Or perhaps you could give it to someone who is going through a similar experience right now. Anyways, here you go. Let me know what you think!
Prepare yourself, for I am about to share with you another book secret of mine. I previously shared my favorite series, now I am about to unveil my favorite author... Pause for suspense... His name is Clair M. Poulson, and I have yet to encounter a book by him that I did not enjoy. He writes LDS suspense novels, and in my opinion, he is AMAZING. The first book of his that I want to introduce you to is "I'll Find You". This was the first book of Poulson's that I read, and it's what got me hooked.
The leading lady, Jeri, watched her best friend get kidnapped when they were kids. She shouted "I'll find you" to the back of the car that drove away with him. Years later she is prompted to take a job at a prison far away from friends and family. One particular inmate makes an unforgettable impression on Jeri. His resemblance to her childhood friend is uncanny, and she can tell he doesn't quite fit the typical inmate stereotype. It couldn't be him...could it?
This book is full of not only romance, but mystery and suspense as well. It's one of those books that will make you talk out loud to the characters, trying to help them see what is so obvious to you as the reader. I would suggest making sure you have your chores done before picking this book up, because once you start, nothing else is going to get done until you are finished reading. Luckily it's not very long, and should only take a couple of days to get through. Enjoy! There will be more from this author to come!
Imagine falling in love with someone you know is going to die, and having them ask you to pick up the pieces of their life after they are gone. Now imagine that 'picking up the pieces' means taking care of his preemie twin babies. That's what happens to Jane in "Counting Stars", by Michele Paige Holmes.
Jane has nearly given up on love, but in a half hearted attempt to give love one last chance she decides to answer an ad in the wanted pages that simply says, "Seeking kind, loving woman to be the mother of my children". How bad could it be, right? By responding to that ad Jane throws herself into a new life where she instantly becomes a mother of two and the only support for a man who just lost his wife and is dying of cancer himself. She couldn't have known the love, loss, heartache and immeasurable happiness that she would find.
This book will make you laugh, will definitely make you cry, and will make you picture the story in your head even when you're not actually reading it. Don't miss out on this heart-wrenching love story. It's a fairly easy read, will probably take around a week (unless, like me, you can't put it down. In which case you will get through it in a couple of days). I also would go back and reread the page or two I just read, simply because it was so good that I had to go over it again. Plus it is a clean romance, with the main character, Jane, and her family being LDS. Don't wait to pick this one up! Then let me know what you think about it!
Anita Stansfield is a well known LDS author with a wide variety of books under her belt. "Passage on the Titanic" is one she recently came out with, and she says it's her first attempt at trying to tie real people into a fictional story.
She tells the story of Irene, an American who went to England for nursing school and took one of her patients, Ella, under her wing. The two become fast friends and end up traveling to America on the Titanic. I thought the whole book would be about their time on the Titanic, but there is so much more to the story. The author focuses on who they were before getting on the ship, and then goes in to great detail about their rescue and what their lives were like after surviving that great tragedy. She takes the well known story of the Titanic and makes it very personal for the reader as you try to put yourself in Ella's shoes. It's an incredible story and well worth your time. The book is fairly short and easy, so it should only take a couple of days to read. Enjoy :)
I would have had this post on here a while ago, but I didn't know that the series consists of five books instead of four. I got to the end of the fourth and went, "Really? That's how she ends it?", so I googled the series and that's when I became aware of the fifth and final book. The Jayson Wolfe Series, by Anita Stansfield, is definitely my new favorite series. The main character, Jayson, is a brilliant musician who overcomes all sorts of trials to get his music out to the world. This is one of the few series that I have read that spans a major part of the character's life, instead of just a year or two. It starts when Jayson is a teenager and ends when he is in his 40s, so you really get to know him. He has to overcome death, heartbreak, loneliness, drugs, infidelity, and many other trials during the course of his life, all while holding to his roots and core beliefs. In the middle of one of his worst trials he finds the gospel and the last couple of books show how he uses his testimony to help him stay grounded and positive while living the life of a temple recommend holding rock star.
I thoroughly enjoyed these books, mainly because it was so easy for me to relate to the main characters. Being LDS myself, I was really able to connect with Jayson and his family and I learned how truly important it is to apply the gospel to everything in our lives. These books are most certainly worth the small amount of time that it will take you to read them. They are uplifting and encouraging and may bring some peace into your life while you read them. They are a good clean read for all ages and I am sure you will enjoy them just as much as I did.
