Recent Reads

Here, Home, Hope, by Kaira Rouda

One2One Networks recently provided me with a copy of Here, Home, Hope to read and review. I've just finished it today. Can I tell you about it?

First, a short synopsis, taken directly from the book's website:

Kelly Mills Johnson becomes restless in her thirty-ninth year. An appetite for more forces her to take stock of her ordinary middle-American existence and her neighbors’ seemingly perfect lives. Her marriage to a successful attorney has settled into a comfortable routine, and being the mother of two adorable sons has been rewarding but exhausting. Meanwhile, Kelly’s own passions lie wasted. She eyes with envy the lives of her two best friends, Kathryn and Charlotte, both beautiful, successful businesswomen who seem to have it all. Kelly takes charge of her life, devising a midlife makeover plan.

My thoughts? First, the good: Here, Home, Hope is well paced and entertaining. It's characters are generally likable and easy to relate to, without being too steeped in drama, or too perfectly normal. It speaks to women who may feel burdened, yet unfulfilled by their many responsibilities and empowers women to make the changes in their life to find happiness themselves. I also like that the main character's husband, Patrick is a decent, responsible, devoted man. It's easy to vilify men in books that focus so wholly on empowering women. I'm glad the author chose to keep Patrick a stable, encouraging force for good throughout the book.

The bad? The writer in me has a really difficult time ignoring typos. I get that they happen, but in a published novel? It hurts to find grammatical errors. (I found three.) Now, because I'm a writer myself, I tend to read with a slightly higher filter, so I may over analyze a bit. But as I promised to give my honest opinion, I must mention their presence. What else? I occasionally found myself distracted by long passages of dialog that felt a bit unrealistic, so much so that I was pulled from the story enough to ask myself the question, "Would someone really say all that?" 

My only other complaint is a little more personal. See, for me, my purpose, my joy in life comes from a deeply personal relationship with God. The message of this book is positive - women can take charge of their own lives and create an environment of happiness and joy. That IS a great message, but I guess at the root of it all, I feel like successful businesses and beautiful homes can only go so far if one doesn't have a firm grasp on Divine worth and on a woman's role in God's eyes. This book says women can have it all. And they can. And if they want it, they should. But I would add that women don't have to have what the world considers all in order to feel fulfilled and have true joy in their lives. 

If you'd like to see how you feel about the book, you can pick up a copy here, at Kaira Rouda's website. If you click through to Amazon, the Kindle version is available for just $2.58.

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Lady in Waiting, by Susan Meissner

Lady in Waiting follows the parallel stories of two women, both named Jane. 

Jane Lindsay is a modern day antiques dealer, twenty years into her marriage and completely unsure of what she wants for the rest of her life.

Lady Jane Grey is a young woman caught in the middle of political scandal and intrigue in 16th century England. 

How could these women's lives ever intertwine? 

When Jane Lindsay finds a ring in the spine of an old prayer book and  digs further and further into the ring's history, she finds herself asking that very question. Could the ring have possibly belonged to Jane Grey?

Here's the thing. I love me some historical fiction. I enjoyed this story because I learned a great deal about Lady Jane Grey, a real person that really WAS caught right in the middle of political intrigue and scandal. After reading this book, I was compelled to do a bit of research and learn even more about Jane Grey's ultimately tragic existence. I also found Jane Lindsay to be a likable and relatable character. By the end of the story, I really cared about how things turned out for her, and was happy with the choices that she made. 

Susan Meissner does a great job moving from story to story and weaves the two Jane's together in a way that is compelling and entertaining. While I wouldn't place this book in the category of books that have changed me, challenged me, or compelled me to be better (It's a hard category to join. I'm picky, see, and often hard to please when it comes to the written word.), it is a good book, a book I enjoyed while I was reading, a book I'm not sorry I read. 

(And there wasn't a single typo.)


*Waterbrook Multnomah provided me a copy of this book for free, as a part of their blogging for books program. They did not pay me for my opinion. When it comes to books, ESPECIALLY with books... I can't be bought.