{Forget Me Not} A Book Review

One of the things that is so fun about getting into the independent-publishing world is that you get to have sneak-peeks at many lovely books yet to grace the world. In January, my friend Rachelle Rea "introduced" me to author/editor Amber Stokes and Amber, in her turn, introduced me to Forget Me Not: her brand new inspirational historical romance. Amber published her debut novel, Bleeding Hearts, last year but Forget Me Not is actually the prequel which means I jumped onto the Amber Stokes bandwagon at just about the right time! It is now available for purchase so make sure you snag a copy! I am honored to be participating in the blog tour for Forget Me Not for this new friend! That being said, let's get along with the actual details of this pretty book:

Prequel to Bleeding Heart
Old hurts, new betrayals, and a love that survives them all...

Summer 1885

A startling revelation sends Elizabeth Lawson escaping into a stormy night - and tosses her into the arms of a young mountain man with secrets of his own. When he offers to take her to the Nevada mining town where her long-lost brother lives, she accepts. Suspicions and uncertainties are pushed aside as she struggles to forge a future for herself by meeting her past.

David has been hiding from his painful memories for years. The solitude and wildness of the Rocky Mountains are challenge and comfort enough for him - until Elizabeth's arrival. Fueled by anger and a sense of obligation, he strives to take control of his new situation...only to find control slipping from his grasp with each new emotion Elizabeth evokes in him.

When their journey leads them on unexpected paths, can two lonely hearts find the strength to remember the good amid the heartbreak?Inspirational Historical Romance

What I Enjoyed About This Book:

Amber's setting is quite believable and well-researched. I'm not the hugest fan of western fiction but she drew me into Virginia City and kept me there with vivid descriptions. When I read her historical note at the back of the book and found she had actually been to her location, that explained much. Amber did a fabulous job portraying a precarious, immoral town that masquerades as something fabulous. I liked the men of the book and the fact that David in particular is such a gentleman. Even though he had me roiling mad at moments, there was still a humility about him I find precious. Plus, I fall hard for brown eyes. Besides David, I appreciated Joe and got rather fond of Myghal, the Cornish miner. In subsequent books we apparently get more time with both of them so that's something exciting to look forward to! 

Elizabeth is a peppy heroine that could easily have gotten sidelined with the reams of other high-spirited western fiction heroines except for the fact that she didn't. What I mean by this is that Amber Stokes managed to portray someone deeper than many characters of whom I've read. Yeah, she's headstrong and annoying in moments, but I found myself attributing this to the fact that Elizabeth truly is young and inexperienced...there is room and time for her to grow and for now her sweetness manages to win you past her flaws.

What I Didn't Enjoy About This Book:

I am admittedly not the biggest fan of love triangles and found myself frustrated for one character while at the same time dreamy-happy for the others. This is unavoidable in a love triangle and is thus only a quirk of my own personality. Amber played the triangle delicately and with a polished hand. Since this is a series, everything is not entirely resolved at the end and I can live with that, knowing the story goes on. :) 

The attraction begins at first sight in Forget Me Not and while this isn't my favorite manner of two people falling in love, it is undoubtedly honest (as I know from experience). I am, perhaps, idealistic and prefer people not taking into account physical appearance, but I think that's because I don't expect to win anyone myself by my ravishing beauty so I get a slight panicky feeling. ;)

All in All:

Forget-Me-Not is a beautiful story that takes delicate topics and weaves them into a web of forgiveness, mercy, and transformation. If you enjoy historical romance, you will definitely want to take a look at this brand new, precious story from Amber Stokes! 

Book Website: http://forgetmenotnovel.blogspot.com/

Series Blog: http://theheartsspringseries.blogspot.com/

About the Author (Bio picture attached to e-mail)

Amber Stokes has a Bachelor of Science degree in English and a passion for the written word - from blogging to writing poetry, short stories, and novels. After her brief time at college in Oregon, she is now back home among the redwoods of Northern California, living life one day at a time and pursuing her passion via freelance editing and self-publishing.

{This review is full of my honest thoughts and opinions. I was given a copy of Forget Me Not by the author to review under no circumstances but to give my honest opinion on the book.) 

Don't Waste Your Life

"You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body."

1 Corinthians 6:19

     I sit down to review Don't Waste Your Life by John Piper...

     How on earth is one supposed to review a book that is both fathoms deep and extremely practical in a manner that won't make a hash of it all? I have never been much good at reviewing things because I am no good at logic or logical thought processes. But I know that God spoke to me through reading this book and I know it's a book that every single one of you (yes, even you friends who wandered over from the link on Facebook and don't really feel like reading a book review) NEEDS to read. Per my recent fascination with underlining favorite bits in books, each time I sat down with this book, I did so with pen in hand. I am so glad I did--there was scarcely a page I didn't mark up in some fashion.

    This book is just that good.

     He starts out with the quotation from 1 Corinthians above and immediately jumps in:

  "If you are a Christian, you are not your own. Christ has bought you at the prince of his own death. You now belong doubly to God: He made you, and he bought you.  That means your life is not your own. IT is God's. Therefore, the Bible says, 'Glorify God in your body.' God made you for this. He bought you for this. This is the meaning of your life."

     Wham.

     A page later: "It was becoming clearer and clearer that if I wanted to come to the end of my life and not say, 'I've wasted it!' then I would need to press all the way in, and all the way up, to the ultimate purpose of god and join him in it. If my life was to have a single, all-satisfying, unifying passion, it would have to be God's passion. And...God's passion was the display of his own glory and the delight of my heart."

 And this is only the beginning of one of the most revolutionary books I've ever read. Revolutionary not because John Piper is making up a new system of "How to Live a Full Life". Revolutionary because he simply digs into God's word and pulls out the thing that has been lying there forever: God's passion. And when you get a sense of that passion and what it means, your life will never be the same again. My life can never be the same again. I suppose the thrust of the book can be simplified in Piper's words on page 38:

"God calls us to pray and think and dream and plan and work not to be made much of , but to make much of him in every part of our lives."

    I'm finding it hard to put into words how much the message of this book excites me. I am gripped with a passion to not waste my life. I want to be the person who lives recklessly for Christ. A person who sees the cost, knows the cost, and delights in paying that price so she can bring glory to the One who rescued her soul from death.
       "Won't it hurt?" you might ask. Oh, I know it will sometimes. I might even die for living recklessly in pursuit of His glory. But here again, Piper addresses the fundamental misunderstanding that causes so many people to waste their precious, short lives:

"Death is a threat to the degree that it frustrates your main goals. Death is fearful to the degree that it threatens to rob you of what you treasure most....(when we treasure) Christ most, (our) goal (is) to magnify Christ. And (we see) death not as a frustration of that goal but as an occasion for its fulfillment." 

     When you are living for any other reason than to bring glory to God, death is terrifying. But isn't that quote beautiful? THIS is why Christians can be joyful in the face of any and every terror. THIS is the glorious mystery of Christ! Living is Christ. Dying is gain. In every situation we are more than conquerors through His mercy and grace.
     I wish I could get you to see the amazing thing this ultimate goal is: how the passion for it shines so brilliant a light over history, current events, and the world that all other voices are drowned. I really can't describe it...just read this book. It will change the most mundane task into a service of praise. It will cause you to risk all because you know the loss of each thing for Jesus' sake only serves to show the world how highly we value him. It will give you a passion for telling everyone else of the Glorious Lord, and a raging hunger to be more like him. I can't help but think of the words to "Let Your Kingdom Come":

"Your glorious cause, Oh God,

Engages our hearts

May Jesus Christ be known

wherever we are.

We ask not for ourselves

But for your renown.

The cross has saved us so we pray:

'Your kingdom come.'

Let your kingdom come

Let your will be done

So that everyone might know your name.

Let your song be heard

Everywhere on earth

Till your sovereign work on earth is done

Let your kingdom come!

Give us your strength, O God,

And courage to those who speak

Perform your wondrous deeds

Through those who are weak.

Lord, use us as you want,

Whatever the test.

By grace we'll preach your Gospel

Till our dying breath.

Read this book. It's going to change you into something different, I warn you. You'll never be able to view your life the same way. You'll never want to view it the same way. My heart is full and still while at the same time beating like a caged bird to be allowed to dart forth and set the minds of men ablaze to His glory. I can say little but this:
Oh, Jesus, let me live and fight and die in the pursuit of Your glory! This is all I want. This is the service I am giving my life to. Let everything I do be to this end. Because your love is better than life, my lips will praise you. Jesus, please, let me do this: let me live recklessly for Your name. Give me the courage and the tenacity, and use me as your image-bearer in the way your created me to live this precious, heart-beat life.
Piper rightly says "a life devoted to making much of Christ is costly." But it's a beautiful cost, and one I am going to fight for night and day, moment by moment, from now till His kingdom comes. Will you give Him your life--quite literally--so when the end has come you can look back and know it was a life well-spent?

"And they sang a new song, saying, 'Worthy are you (O Christ) to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.' " -Revelation 5:9-10

The Reckoning of Readables

I am pretty much fully recovered from all the graduation madness. Do you notice what I just said? And that I mean it? I cannot take credit for that miracle--the Lord has been very gracious with me the last few days. :D

Earlier this year I created a "Summer Reading List"  in the hopes that I'd get some of it accomplished. Although my year has consisted of several campaigns, a camp, extensive wedding prep, several huge family events like a thirteenth birthday and a double-graduation, I've managed a fair amount of reading. What did I get through? Well, of course it's not the end of December yet so the list will likely grow, but here's what's up so far. I've linked to all the books I have reviewed.

Historical fiction:
Crispin: The Cross of Lead by Avi
Return to Zion by Brodie Thoene
The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff
Sarah Bishop by Scott O'Dell
With Fire and Sword by Henryk Sienkiewicz
The Silver Branch by Rosemary Sutcliff
The Lantern Bearers by Rosemary Sutcliff
The Shadow Things by Jennifer Freitag

Classics:
Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
Pudd'nhead Wilson by Mark Twain
The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James
Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte


Children's Lit: 
Rufus M by Eleanor Estes
Daddy-Long-Legs by Jean Webster
Rascal by Sterling North
Freddy Goes to Florida by Walter R. Brooks


Fantasy:
The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner
The Queen of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner
The King of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner

Romance:
The Princess by Lori Wick
With Every Letter by Sarah Sundin
The Sound of Diamonds by Rachelle Rea

General Fiction:
Home to Holly Springs by Jan Karon
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
Something Fresh by P.G.Wodehouse
Thank You, Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse
Monster by Mirriam Neal
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
ASHBURN by Julia Erickson


Non-Fiction or Christianity:
A Severe Mercy by Sheldon Vanauken
The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis
Bud & Me by Alta Abernathy
One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp
A Chance to Die by Elisabeth Elliot
Just Do Something by Kevin deYoung
Surprised by Joy by C.S. Lewis
Great Souls by David Aikman (in progress)
The Narnian by Alan Jacobs (in progress)

Goodreads (which I caved and joined this year, much to my contentment) assures me I have read 12,037 or so pages this year. Ho-ho! That's rather a good job, I should say! It informs me that my longest title at 1,463 pages was Les Miserables. With Fire and Sword was a close second at around 1,143 or so pages. I can only say WHOOSH! It also says I have read 35 titles this year. UNTRUE! Just because four of the titles I read are yet unpublished, and the fifth unlisted on Goodreads does NOT mean I have not read the 40 books I lay claim to. ;) Come, come! Let's be friends and Goodreads and compare notes on all sorts of stories!

{From My Bookshelf}: A Severe Mercy by Sheldon Vanauken

"Oh, Rachel. A Severe Mercy again? Won't you ever stop harping on it?"

I beg leave, my friends, to trespass on your patience at least once more and give you a full review of this fascinating book. I suppose the best way to go about it would be the manner of the Spanish Inquisition likely simmering in your brains since I've talked about this book so much:

"What is it about?" I will reference the very helpful "back of the book" blurb to explain:

This celebrated story traces the idyllic marriage of Sheldon and Jean (Davy) Vanauken, their search for faith, their friendship with C.S. Lewis, and the tragedy of untimely death and love lost.

Right there. ^ That's it. This book is part biography, part romance, part philosophy, and part beauty. Mama had long told me I ought to read it, but the title kind of threw me off. Did I really want to read something called about a severe mercy? But from the opening chapter, written like a novel, this book captured something of my attention and held it all through.

"Who is it by?" Sheldon Vanauken...with many pop-ins and letters and quotes and wonderfulness from C.S. Lewis.

"Why did you like it?" Ye gods and little fishes! What was there not to like about it? I loved the romance and the image of the Shining Barrier--the fence around their love that Van and Davy had been so careful to put up. I loved the gentle breaking-down of the Shining Barrier as God penetrated it and turned them from Us to Us-and-God and, ultimately, God-and-us. I loved the nuances like the one above--the gentle philosophizing that is so impacting but so small and soft you would not notice it unless you were taking time to be still. Think about those three states of thought...so different just by a rearranging of words! Beautiful.

I loved the "Oxford years" and the image of cozy hearth and fireside, intelligent conversation, books loved and read, Christian fellowship in The Studio...England. Haha.

At intervals during the Oxford years, in the vacs, we went off on visits to friends or on longer exploring journeys. There were many one-day or two-day trips to London. There was a jolly Christmas in Yorkshire, full of family games and carolling in the misty streets, at the home of a college friend, Trevor. And a fort-night in Wild Wales with Bee and Peter, and Geraint part of the time, mainly climbing Cader Idris when it was fine, and reading John Buchan in the farmhouse when it was wet.

The people shared my love of a good book, witty, worthwhile conversation...naming every house they lived in. And of course, by the end, they were Christians and therefore we are bonded together in a special way.
I know this sounds strange, but sometimes I feel that I really don't know how to think. By that I mean I don't know how to think in the way other people think--in a way that lends itself to philosophy and conversation and the forming of the beautiful thoughts I love to read so well. At any rate, I suppose that is one of the purposes of reading much--you begin to recognize the path of such thoughts and to think them yourself. That is one of things I also loved about A Severe Mercy. It took quite a few elusive feelings I'd had about things and wove them into tangible words that I will now be able to point to and say "That! That is what I am talking about!"

"What did you learn from this book?" I learned how sadness is different from bitter grief and angry sorrow. I learned how obviously eternity is implanted in the hearts of men--I'd not seen it so clearly and undeniably before. I learned that it is possible to stay in love your whole life long and that quality time together is the glue cementing two people into one. I learned more about C.S. Lewis. I learned about Sheldon Vanauken. I learned that A Severe Mercy is a book I'll return to again and again. I learned a toast, ("If it's half as good as the half we've known, here's Hail! to the rest of the road.") and, to quote Lewise that "Christians NEVER say goodbye!" ;)

Get thee a copy as soon as possible! You will not regret the reading of it.

{From my Bookshelf:} The Help by Kathryn Stockett

"I listened, wide-eyed, stupid. Glowing by her voice in the dim light. If chocolate was a sound, it would have been Constantine's voice singing. If singing was a color, it would have been the color of that chocolate."

The Help. It's a book I'd heard a deal about, a movie trailer that intrigued me, and a subject I personally love: the life of colored maids in the 1960's. Perhaps it is the stories of Mama's housekeeper, Laura Bullock, that always put me directly in sympathy with this sect of people. 

Mama's family loved Laura and Laura was always an integral part of their lives as children. I'll always remember the famous story of Grandmama coming home to find Laura dressed out in a helmet and jacket with a gun over her shoulder, doing drills with Uncle David who was only 5 or 6 at the time and had asked her to play army. And I'll never forget what Laura told Uncle David as a little boy:

"She's yo vanilla mama..." (nodding at Grandmama) "...but I's your choc'late mama."

Or what she would say when Mama was a little girl:

"Honey--you's fat, but you's purty!"

Bright in my imagination, too, is the family-legend of Laura's rooster. How it'd drown itself every rainstorm by looking up at the sky with his mouth open, and how Laura would shove it in the oven, heat it up till it started flapping around, and let it back outside again.

I had the honor of meeting Laura several times as a little girl. I remember being slightly intimidated by the warm pressure of her wrinkled, leathery hand and her intent gaze, but I do remember liking her a deal despite my fears.

All that to say, when a copy of Kathryn Stockett's The Help came into my hands and Sarah read it and told me I really needed to read it (High praise from Sarah!) I was ready. The general plot as described by the back of the book is as follows:

Aibileen Clark is a black maid in 1962 Jackson, Mississippi, raising her seventeenth white child. She's always taken orders quietly, but lately it leaves her with a bitterness she can no longer bite back. Her friend Minny Jackson has certainly never held her tongue, or held on to a job for very long, but now she's working for a newcomer with secrets that leave her speechless. And white socialite Skeeter Phelan has just returned from college with ambition and a degree but, to her mother's lament, no husband....Together, these seemingly different women join to work on a project that could forever alter their destinies and the life of a small town--to write, in secret, a tell-all book about what it's really like to work as a black maid in the white homes of the South...

What is there to say about this book except... Wow. I found myself laughing and crying alternately and sometimes simultaneously. As a writer I was astonished that this was Ms. Stockett's first novel. As a reader I connected deeply and intimately with the characters. As a white woman, I blushed over the treatment the black maids received and prayed that, had I grown up in that era, I would have been different than Hilly and Elizabeth and the other Jackson women.

This book is so full of emotion, so full of complex relationships, so full of truth and goodness and a realization of the common-ness of humanity that I found myself marveling that any author could boil it down and smash it between two covers.

"I don't know what to say to her. All I know is, I ain't saying it. And I know she ain't saying what she want a say either, and it's a strange thing happening here cause nobody saying nothing and we still managing to have us a conversation."

The characters are alive, the events poignant, the realizations touching and sharp-edged. I enjoyed the choice of "first-person, now narrative" for a fresh reading experience as well. I love the immediacy of it. The novel took me from looking at The Help as a historical-fiction and brought me winging back to 1960, and it flighting forward to 2012 and we met somewhere in the middle and had a heart-connection rare to find in today's helter-skelter thriller-fiction-craze. Kathryn Stockett tells it just like it was. She didn't assign all evil or all goodness to one side of the racial argument or the other. But she didn't sugar-coat anything. And I mean anything.

That's the only complaint I had about The Help. The author included quite a lot of language which--if it did help the ink-people come alive--presented lots of words in my mind that aren't usually there for good reason. One of the main characters is definitely not a Christian and speaks rather mockingly of it sometimes. There are two scenes I can think of that could have been toned down. One, I actually liked the raw, pithy emotion and horror of--the other I thought was a little graphic. That--along with the fact that the whole subject of the plot is a little weighty for younger readers--puts my recommendation for The Help at 18+. If you are 18 years of age or older and want a book that'll take your by the shoulders with warm, brown hands and shake you gently with strong, supple fingers that smell of dryer sheets and cake frosting, read this book. You'll never regret it. Never-ever.

*WARNING* In Chapter 24 there is a really creepy part that is described too graphically. Really, you'd not miss it if you skipped it. So read with caution or skip pages 360-365 entirely. :)

A teaser-taste for you:

"We go on in her room, where we like to set. I get up in the big chair and she get up on me and smile, bounce a little. 'Tell me bout the brown wrapping. And the present.' She so excited, she squirming. She has to jump off my lap, squirm a little to get it out. Then she crawl back up.That's her favorite story cause when I tell it, she get two presents. I take the brown wrapping from my Piggly Wiggly grocery bag and wrap up a little something, like a piece a candy, inside. Then I use the white paper from my Cole's Drug Store bag and wrap another one just like it. She take it real serious, the unwrapping, letting me tell the story bout how it ain't the color of the wrapping that count, it's what we is inside."

{From My Bookshelf}: With Every Letter- Sarah Sundin

With Every Letter

 (Book One in Wings of the Nightingale Series)

By Sarah Sundin

If you've stuck around this blog for any length of time you'll have come up with the quite accurate idea that I'm a romantic. I don't need anyone to teach me how to dream, how to propose (or help him propose) or how to make a match. I count it one among many "severe-ish mercies" in my lifetime that I have gone through my girlhood years knowing next-to-no eligible young men. Honestly, I didn't need the distraction. Which is why, as a general rule, I stay away from romance novels. It isn't that I think they are bad, or harmful. (though some might fit the bill) It's just that my poor little fluffy mind doesn't need help imagining or longing for that All -Elusive Someday. On occasion, even an over-abundance of BBC films can throw me into a slight state of discontentment that I'd do better to avoid.
But when I won Sarah Sundin's latest book, With Every Letter, in a giveaway, I knew I had to take a whack at it. First of all, it was free. Second, it had a beautiful cover. Third, it was set in WWII. Fourth, I could tell she'd done her research. Fifth, it had to do with a romance conducted through letter-writing. I was hooked. When the book came in the mail I ambled over to the picnic table we've somehow neglected to remove from the roadside the past several winters, and started to read. Once started, there was no going back. This gal is good.

"Before I start this letter, I must be clear that I'm searching for friendship, not romance. I don't want to mislead you or toy with your affections. I do apologize if you hoped for a romantic letter from a perky beauty..."

Thus runs Lt. Mellie Blake's first letter to her anonymous correspondent. Gotta love her frankness! This is what tipped me off to the fact that this book would be different than a lot of romance novels. It was going to actually be pure.
With Every Letter follows the young, insecure, but compassionate and loving Lt. Philomela (Mellie) Blake--a young flight nurse in WWII. But because I'm never that great at synopsisises...synopsi? Whatever. Since I'm not that great at those, I'll give you the blurb on the back of the book. It's enough to grab anyone's interest!

        Lt. Mellie Blake is looking forward to beginning her training as a flight nurse. She is not looking forward to writing a letter to a man she's never met--even if it is anonymous and part of a moral-building program. Lt. Tom MacGilliver, an officer stationed in North Africa, welcomes the idea of an anonymous correspondence--he's been trying to escape his infamous name for years.
        As their letters crisscross the Atlantic, Tom and Mellie develop a unique friendship despite not knowing the other's true identity. When both are transferred to Algeria, the two are poised to meet face-to-face for the first time. Will they overcome their fears and reveal who they are, or will their future be held hostage by their pasts?

Isn't that interesting? I thought so. This book did not disappoint me in any way, shape, or form. In fact, I ended up falling way harder for the characters than I thought I would. Here, therefore, is a list of my favorite things and my thoughts about With Every Letter...

1. Lt. Mellie Blake: Perhaps I identified with Mellie because of her heart for Christ and loving spirit, but I will also admit that Mellie's insecurities and doubts sometimes about whether a man could think her attractive enough to see her and only her sound an awful lot like some of my doubts and fears when I take my eyes off Christ. The way the Lord {and Sarah Sundin. haha!} bring Mellie through this is beautiful and humbling. I also appreciated the fact that she is definitely not looking for romance. Actually, she resists officially meeting Tom to the point of exasperation for me--sitting back here knowing Tom loved her and how...AHHH!

2. The setting: WWII is a great enough setting...but Sarah Sundin set the book in North Africa, Algeria, and the lower Mediterranean which was just really neat. I mean, who has read a book set in those places? Not me. Plus, Lt. Blake is one of only 500 flight nurse to serve the US during WWII! Really neat.

3. Sarah's research: As an author, I know it's tough to do your research thoroughly--and she has done it. By George, she's done it! You feel like you're in Algeria during the 1940's. Seriously!

4. How Mrs. Sundin portrays Christianity: there comes a point in the life of your book when you've got to determine how your relationship with Christ and your world-view will come out in the story. Some books/authors turn preachy and unrealistic with that OSS (Obligatory Salvation Scene) we all cringe over. Others omit all mentions of religion and Christianity. But both Mellie and Tom and Christians and their personal relationships with Christ are a huge part of the story, which I really liked.

5. The romance: You were waiting for that, weren't you? ;) Unlike many stories, I felt like Mellie and Tom's romance was realistic, beautiful, and pure. They begin with a mutual desire for only friendship and therefore their relationship is built upon encouraging one another in the Lord, learning the heart of the other...discussing important things...all of that. Then you get the romantic tension building. Tom's struggle (which I can't discuss at length here, not wanting to spoil the plot for you) with physical attraction toward an "acquaintance" is portrayed so honorably I wanted to cheer. Without being inappropriate {which a lesser author would default to}, Sarah let us know that Tom felt attraction toward this one woman (not lust, mind you.), and described and played out his struggle for honor in so great a way that you like this guy a lot. A whole lot. Ahem. So much that you kinda-sorta-wish-he-was-real-and-not-confined-to-the-page.

And the last scene? Great Snakes. I didn't see such an "AWWWW!" moment coming and it totally made my day when I read it. That, darling, is how I want to be loved. That is the kind of man I want to marry. That is what love is supposed to look like. *sniff*

In conclusion: Not having read any other "Christian historical romances" and not knowing how much actual history they put in amongst the kissing, I am sticking my neck out and saying Sarah Sundin has it down pat for the perfect formula of romance and actual historical plot. I found myself enjoying this book an actually thinking that my brother might enjoy it--Tom's side of the story is strongly supported and written so the book is an even split between guy and girl. Because of the fact that this is a romance and the author does deal with their increasing physical attraction toward one another (though in a very mild, gentle, innocent way) and because of high danger/action/emotional tension in the rest of the plot, I would recommend With Every Letter for ages 18+, though mature, younger readers would enjoy it as well. I say 18+ merely because it's my personal opinion that younger girls don't need to be focusing on romance just yet. ;)

But trust me. You'll love it. I know you will.This is how historical romance ought to be written!

The Bookery

I have decided I need to name my library The Bookery--you know, like the Rookery? Only not? :P
Goldberry (among the rest of you) read my blog post a while back about my Summer Reading List. And then, being the spontaneous woman that she is, took it upon her generous self to hijack that Summer Reading List. She really did. She apologized, but I think we were both glad she hijacked anyway. ;)

You see, Goldberry (who, if Abigail and Daniel get married will be my sister-in-law's sister-in-law.) lent me quite a few books, and bought me a couple. Here is her official hijacking list...long may my former list live in antiquity. I've renovated. ;)

The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner
The Queen of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner
The King of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner

^ These books are not written by a Christian author, but I really really enjoyed them. They are adventurous, intriguing, and amazingly well-written. Since Turner is a modern-day writer they've also been a marvelous research-tool for me as I rummage up modern-day-style tips for my own writing. :)

A Voice in the Wind by Francine Rivers
An Echo in the Darkness  by Francine Rivers
As Sure as the Dawn by Francine Rivers

The Silver Branch (no hijacking here! This one was on the list. :) by Rosemary Sutcliff
The Lantern-Bearers by Rosemary Sutcliff

^ More modern-day-style research for me! Can't wait to read these!

Dombey & Son by Charles Dickens. This is probably my favorite of the gift-books, because:
1. It came from England
2. It's hard-bound
3. It's illustrated
4. It's unabridged
5. It's Dickens
6. She wrapped it in brown paper and string and sent it off to me <3

And Abigail pressed into my hands a book to read...a Polish book. More specifically With Fire and Sword by...oh...get ready for this: Henryk Sienkiewiczk. I haven't the foggiest notion how to pronounce any of these names. I think they'll get some coughs-and-sneezes-sounds in my brain. Do any of you ever do that? Just make up some gibberish as you read along?

So these books make up the next set of books that now make up most of the reading that will get accomplished this summer! Thank you so so very much, dear Goldberry! I love you forever and always. (Even if you hadn't done this magnificent hijacking for me. :)

Movie Night: My Favorite Wife (1940)

After spending the weekend with the Taylors, I have come home with a pocketful of memories such as:

• Trying not to be dumped off my raft in the pool
• Picking blueberries
• Looking at BJ's awesome blue truck
• Experiencing a growing fondness for country-music
• Singing at the piano with Abigail playing
• Staying conveniently out of the way while Abigail and Daniel enjoy tete-tetes
• Watching fireflies
• Eating plums off the tree
• Playing badminton
• Being gifted with a whole bag of books to read this summer! (Thanks Goldberry! :)
• Laughing late into the night

And lots more. But one amazing thing we were introduced to this trip was the 1940 romantic comedy: My Favorite Wife.

I give you the plot, as described by Wikipedia:

After seven years, lawyer Nick Arden (Cary Grant) has his wife Ellen (Irene Dunne), missing since her ship was lost, declared legally dead so he can marry Bianca (Gail Patrick). It turns out however that Ellen was merely shipwrecked on a deserted island, and has been rescued. When she returns home, she learns that Nick has just left on his honeymoon with his second wife.

Dunne and Grant--cue the happy sighs

I love old movies, but I seldom have a chance to see them. Mostly because we don't own any. But that's a nuance. I laughed my head off all during this movie. The plot is just too absurd, the acting adorable, the ending perfect. I had always had the impression that Cary Grant was a heart-throb, dramatic, tall-dark-handsome sort of actor. Maybe he is in most of his movies (is he?) but in My Favorite Wife, Grant comes across as lovably confused and dithered.

Nick Arden (Cary Grant) does not love his new wife, Bianca, but after 7 years he figured it was time to remarry. His new wife, Bianca, is cold, haughty, beautiful, and affected. You've gotta feel for him, and no one can suppress an "Awwwww!" when Nick catches sight of Ellen in the lobby of the hotel he's just checking into with Bianca. It's adorable. And awkward for poor Nick. He's in ecstasies over finding his wife again after 7 years, but he's also just married another woman. So why doesn't he just tell Bianca his first wife has come back? Well, it's not quite that simple...and that's where the comedy comes in. I promise you'll laugh really hard.

That awful leopard robe! :D

Why I love this movie:

The good, old-fashioned, 1940's values. While a modern filmmaker might have had good chances to turn this into something scandalous, the directors of this film kept it funny, clean, and heart-warming. They played the awkward scenes of Nick having to hold two rooms at the hotel (one for Bianca, one for Ellen) lightly and playfully without going into all the things a modern movie might have.

The children in the film, too, are so cute and precocious, and at the end...well...I can't tell you. But it's very very heart-warming indeed. :)

Any Cautions?

The hotel manager comes to reprimand Nick for staging an intrigue in his hotel, obviously inferring that Nick is doing double-duty with two different women.

After Nick grows suspicious of the man Ellen was shipwrecked with for 7 years, Ellen pretends she is going to marry him after all, and leave Nick for good. (This is null and void, however, because all the time it was just a ploy to get Nick to assure her he stills loves and wants to marry her.) The classic values bit is played sweetly in the scene between "Adam" and "Eve" (the shipwrecked man and Ellen) when he asks Ellen to marry him and she replies: "I did not wait seven years only to lose my resolve in three days." :) *points for Ellen*

Quotables:

Ellen: "Oh, by the way, how was my funeral?"Ma: "Lovely. Doctor Blake preached a wonderful sermon."
Ellen: "Oh, I wished I'd been there."

Nick Arden: "I came here with my wife..hum...my bride, really. Now my wife, not my bride...my wife...why should I bore you with details?"
Hotel Manager: "I won't be bored."
Nick Arden: "Listen, it's just as simple as A,B,C."
Hotel Manager: "Don't tell me you got someone in B too?"

Nick Arden: (discussing with Ellen how to tell the children she's their mother and isn't drowned after all.) "Would it help if I wrote them a letter?
Ellen: "Oh, that would be nice, yes. 'Enclosed, please find your mother.'"

Nick Arden: (Making excuses as to why he wants to stay at the cabin with Ellen and the children instead of "thinking it over.") "I had a flat tire...I was just driving along and...ssssssss!"

Summer's a time for reading

"I am simply a 'book drunkard.' Books have that same irresistible temptation for me that liquor has for its devotee. I cannot withstand them." ;)

-Lucy Maud Montgomery

 Inspired by a post on Living on Literary Lane, I thought I would give you girls a peek into some of the books I hope to add to my Have-Read list this summer. Unlike a lot of families, summer has never been a season where we do what we want when we want it all season long. There have always been projects to do and places to be. But there are some moments quiet enough for reading. And today, when the world is mad and merrily blue and green; when I thank the Lord there is such a thing as June; when the temperature hovers perfectly around 74 degrees; I begin to think of the poet's wish:

"Oh for a book and a shadye nook ayther in a'doors or out!" :)

That being said, here is my prospective library:

The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien

I read the whole Lord of the Rings series when I was about 11, and since have re-read The Hobbit and bits of The Fellowship several times. However, I don't remember all the little details and I thought it high time I re-read the series in its entirety. After all, the Hobbit movie comes out December 12, and I want to be well-up on my lore.

The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Funny, that of all the Sherlock stories I've read, I've never actually read this book. Doubtless because of its great length and I always seem to already be in a book when I think of it. But as soon as I finish The Fellowship of the Ring (which I'm half-way through) I plan to start reading it. I feel like being "deliciously scared" as one friend put it, and I must set myself straight on the true details, after having watched "The Hounds of Baskerville" from the BBC's Sherlock series, in which they took numerous liberties.

The Railway Children by E. Nesbit

This is one of my all-time-favorite books for children, and I have a great interest to read it for the third (or fourth) time, as I am writing a children's book and wish to be re-inspired. :) I also hope to read The Treasure Seekers, Five Children and It, and several of her other books. We only own the first title, however, so though I put all of them on my birthday list, I'm not certain if I'll get a chance. (And our library is ridiculously empty of all good titles.)

A Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

I have heard so much about this book (so much that is hilarious and laughable and amazing) that I am bent on reading it. Sarah has long tried to hold it at our library, but for some reason the person who has it out has not returned it for months on end, and even after we get hold of it, Sarah will have to read it first. :P

Hard Times by Charles Dickens

The only Dickens book I own that I have not read. It is not thick, and therefore I think I can manage it fairly quickly. I haven't heard much about it and therefore am not expecting it to be the most amazing example of Dickens I'll ever read, but it is a goal of mine to read all of Charles Dickens' books, and so I will read it and enjoy it, I'm sure. :) I also want to read Our Mutual Friend and Martin Chuzzlewit, and Dombey & Sons, but again, our library is negligent in the care of classics-loving people like myself.

The Silver Branch by Rosemary Sutcliff

I've heard so much about this book too, and it seems it helped teach Jenny Freitag how to write as she does. I don't know where I'll get hold of a copy, but I would love to read this book this summer. :) I read The Eagle of the Ninth by Ms. Sutcliff and really enjoyed that, so I have high hopes for The Silver Branch.

Revision and Self-Editing by James Scott Bell

This title is a re-read, and strictly to help along with my writing, which I'm still pegging away at. I have  found this book to be a must-have for all aspiring writers, and I am interested to read some of his other titles in his series of books for writers, including The Art of War for Writers and Conflict & Suspense. 

In other news as to Can't Tell Where I'll Find It, I would love to read Arthur Ransom's Swallows & Amazons. I know you can read it on projectgutenburg.com, but I hate reading on a computer. I will never own a Kindle. Well, now from my book-list, you can tell what you can get me for my birthday (pssst! July 20, people!) if you want. I also accept Barnes & Noble and Amazon.com gift cards. ;)

What titles are on your Summer Reading List?

The Improvement of my mind by extensive reading... :)

I haven't had a lot of time to read recently...too much going on. :) But this week I have indulged because we've had an abundance of thunderous days and not too many projects going on. *Yay* So what have I been indulging in?

Pieces of The Hobbit--all my favorite bits just for kicks and giggles and happy-sighs-in-anticipation-of-the-movie. :)

Daddy-Long-Legs by Jean Webster--a new-found favorite and one of the sweetest, more cheerful (and satisfying) books you'll ever read. :) Plus it features a handsome, millionaire-benefactor. The sort I'm always on the look-out for. After all, doesn't someone want to adopt a Rachel? No? No takers? Sheesh. I'm not that bad. And I make a mean cheesecake. ;)

The combination of quaint little illustrations and confidential, pert letters makes for laughter every other sentence. I really do love this book. :)

Bud & Me--I was so intrigued by the true story of Bud and Temple Abernathy's cross-country rides (and they were only 9&5!) that I was sad to finish it. I mean, I've always been a sucker for frontier adventure: wolves, Indians, cattle rustlers, Teddy Roosevelt...can you get any better than that? I was sad to close the covers. Still, it made another title on my "Have Read in 2012" list that I was glad it only took an afternoon to read. :)

Oliver Twist--easily one of the simplest, easiest-to-understand Dickens books I've ever read. (And I've read at least ten) I am about half-way through now (not quite, actually) and loving it. Mr. Brownlow is simply adorable and I don't like Mr. Bumble. I love the Artful Dodger too! Fagin is just plain creepy, as is Sikes.

I'm hoping to finish this book by the end of the week so I can boast three books in one week! That'll be a record for the rate I've been going recently. :) Ahhhh....I love reading so very very much. :) So what have you been reading?

In Which I Become a Teacher :)

For some time I have been thinking about starting some classes...as in teaching some classes for my younger siblings. Something I love that they aren't already doing right now. A fabulous idea was percolating for some time in the back of my mind and at last I asked Mama and secured her permission. In addition to my Butcher, Baker and Candlestick maker duties, I am taking on the position of an English Literature teacher. I am so excited about this and have grand plans! I'll be teaching two of my younger sisters, Leah and Anna. (Grades 9 and 6, respectively)
In my last two years of high-school, Sarah and I went through a literature-based unit study called Where the Brook and River Meet. We loved it. The author of this guide went through a very thorough study of the Victorian Era based off of Anne of Green Gables. Rabbit-trails were followed and explored, I gained a love for the amazingly beautiful poetry of that era, I learned about customs, fashion, culture, history, and more. I am seeking to do rather this style of teaching for my English Lit. class.
I decided to start with Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. My younger sisters already love this movie and I figured that reading the book would be perfect because it would retain their attention while at the same time accustoming their ears to the voice of finer literature. After we go through P&P, we'll continue onto something a bit more challenging, then even more challenging, and so on. I can't wait to begin classes, for English literature is so dear to my own heart, I can't wait to help my sisters love it too!

Here is a sample lesson-plan. (I intend for our lessons to be amusing and entertaining. :)

Pride and Prejudice

(Chapters 1 & 2)

Reading Comprehension:

Chapter One:

1. How much money per year is Mr.Bingley entitled to? (4 or 5,000 pounds)
2. When did Mr. Bennet say he would visit the young men of the neighborhood? (When there were twenty of them.)
3. What was the business of Mrs. Bennet's life? (To get her daughters married)
4. What was the solace of her life? (Visiting, and news.)

Chapter Two: 

1. What do we know of Lydia Bennet, thus far? (She is "good-humored", "The youngest," and "the tallest" of the girls.)
2. Who was the woman Mrs. Bennet despaired of being generous enough to introduce the Bennet Family to Mr. Bingley? (Mrs. Long)
3. How many nieces had Mrs. Long? (two)
4. What was Mrs. Bennet's excuse for vowing to "dislike" the making of new acquaintances every day? (She and her husband were advancing in age)

 

Vocabulary:

Define these words in the Webster's 1828 dictionary*:

chaise

design (in its more abstract sense. i.e. "He had a design to visit them.")

scrupulous

solace

circumspection

deign

conjecture

*I am choosing this dictionary because the definitions will be closest to those during Jane Austen's time of life.

Culture:

In Chapter Two it is mentioned that Elizabeth Bennet was trimming a hat. Research the kinds of hats popular during the 1790's. (Jane Austen began writing Pride and Prejudice in 1796) What sort of materials might Lizzy have been using to trim her hat? Which of the styles would look best on you? :)

In Chapter Two Mr. Bennet and Mrs. Bennet have a discussion over the importance of being introduced to a stranger by someone who was already acquainted with the person. Why could they not introduce themselves as we do today? Read about introductions on page 55 of What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew.

That will be their first lesson, and I hope to include more and more activities to do...too bad we haven't any Regency-Era estates in our corner of VA... ;) There are so many possibilities with this sort of study...we could expand into music, art, history, sewing, fashion, grammar, etc. It's quite astonishing what one can pull out of a period-novel. :) I will also be letting the girls read the chapter aloud and instructing them on how to read aloud properly. (Some people bull through, oblivious to all punctuation. It results in mayhem. Believe me. :)

How does this new plan sound? I'll keep you updated on how they're liking me as a teacher, and the lessons as a whole. :D

I'm off in book-land...again.

Hello girls! I hope you are enjoying this blessed reprieve of the summer! Now I will abruptly change subjects and admit another of my "One Weaknesses" ;)

*checks room to make sure none of my family is here...only they already know.*

Get ready for it....

Books.

Yes. Some of my best friends, most beloved men, deepest dreams, are found in the pages of literature. So is it any wonder that I am often lost to the world with my nose buried between the leaves? My family knows I am perfectly useless in those moments. I walk around during chore-time with a dreamy smile on my face, my mind occupied in book-land. And oh, what a lovely sensation when I discover the books are based off of fact!
Would you like to peek onto my recent bookshelf for a moment?

Christy by Catherine Marshall

The Gates of Zion by Brodie Thoene

David Copperfield by Charles Dickens

Behind the Scenes--30 years of slavery, 4 years at the White House by Elizabeth Keckley

Joyfully at Home by Jasmine Bauchum

Vilette by Charlotte Bronte

Surprised by Joy by C.S. Lewis

Got my hands full? I'd say so. But it's blissful. :) What beautiful books are captivating your hearts?