Review: True to You by Becky Wade

By Iola Goulton

A Top Pick for 2017

I discovered Becky Wade had free novella available—Then Came You—the prequel to her new series. I downloaded it, and read it, and discovered my review copy of the first book in the series was already sitting on my Kindle. So I read that as well, and now I have to wait months for the next in the series. Yes, True to You was good. Excellent. The best romance I’ve read so far in 2017.

The prequel novella, Then Came You, is the story of Garner Bradford and how he ended up with three daughters. It’s told in a combination of journal entries, telephone call transcriptions, and letters. True to You introduces Garner’s three adult daughters, Willow, Nora, and Britt, and is told in a more traditional third-person style, with the occasional telephone call or letter thrown in for good measure, along with Facebook direct message and text message conversations.

Strange, perhaps, but it worked.

True to You is Nora’s story. 

She’s a bookish librarian-researcher-genealogist who is a devotee of a certain British period drama, and one of the minor actors (the way she describes him, I see him as a slightly more foppish version of Benedict Cumberbatch). Nora also happens to own a historic village (as you do). She meets the handsome John Lawson when her sister volunteers her as a hostage for a training exercise run by John’s company, and the attraction would have been immediate if it wasn’t for the existence of Allie, John’s perfect girlfriend.

John is adopted and wants to find his birth parents. 

Nora seems the perfect person to help him. Only she’s too perfect … and he’s too much of a Christian and a gentleman to be able to do anything with that perfection when he already has the perfect girlfriend in Allie. Allie, who knows his secret and still wants him.

The plot was excellent, with the perfect (!) combination of predictable and surprising. 

There were several plot points that I didn’t see coming, but which made perfect sense. The characters were excellent—intelligent, funny, and quirky, and I’m already looking forward to the next two books in the series, to find out how Willow and Britt get their happy-ever-afters (the who has been pretty well identified already. The how … that’s going to be fun to watch. And I don’t know which I want to read more—the story of the ex who’s back in town, or the story of the boy next door who’s been in love with her forever).

The writing was outstanding. There were so many great lines, but I can’t quote most of them because *spoilers*. I especially loved the faith thread. Both Nora and John are Christians, and while the plot never makes a big deal about it, it is central to both their characters and both their stories. It comes across as entirely natural, and that’s tough to pull off.

I think you’ve figured by now that I loved this book. Recommended for all contemporary Christian romance fans.

Thanks to Bethany House and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review. You can find out more about Becky Wade at her website.

Review: Long Way Gone by Charles Martin

Review by Iola Goulton

Well, that’s a great first line—I don’t know who is speaking, but by the end of the first page I know he’s a musician. Who else would describe the worn-out guitar as “an old Gibson J-45”? And then he goes on to say:

The residue of musical genius. That’s strong writing—writing I want to read more of. I’m not going to bore you with all the quotes I highlighted in Long Way Gone, but there were a lot. But I hope you’ll forgive me one more, because it’s a great example of how to get a lot of setting across in one short sentence:

But you’re here to read a book review, not a commentary on the writing.

Long Way Gone is a retelling of the story of the Prodigal Son, set in high-country Colorado and among the ups and downs of the Nashville music industry. It’s written in first person from the point of view of Cooper O’Connor, an evangelist’s son with a gift for music.

The writing is outstanding, the plot is excellent, the structure close to perfect.

I was fascinated by the musical information—the Ryman theatre, the Nashville Notation System, the whole music vibe. Anyone who watches Nashville or who has ever visited (or wants to visit) the home of country music will appreciate that side of it (and will be able to relate to the characters). I was impressed with the way so much research and setting was dropped in without it ever getting in the way of the central story.

I only found one fault with Long Way Gone, the recurrent misuse of an old saying: “if I thought x, I had another thing coming”. No. It’s “another think coming”. Thought, think. Not thing. Ask Goggle. I don’t know if that’s the fault of the author or the editor, but it’s the one thing which took me out of the story. Because writing this good shouldn’t be spoiled by silly mistakes.

The story spans decades.

So while we see Cooper’s mistakes through his eyes, we see them through the eyes of a man who has matured enough to realise they were mistakes—mistakes he’s repented from, even if he’s still not fully reconciled to the consequences of those mistakes.

It’s a story about a man (who loves a woman—yes, there is a romance element), and his love for music. It’s a story of a man who makes mistakes in his pursuit of happiness. And it’s a story about how sometimes those mistakes can be made right again, and sometimes they can’t.

Recommended for music fans, romance fans, or anyone who appreciates good writing.

Thanks to Thomas Nelson and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review. You can find out more about Charles Martin at his website, and you can read the introduction to Long Way Gone below:

Book Review: No One's Bride by Nerys Leigh

Review by Iola Goulton

Mail Order Bride—from a British Author 

I was immediately intrigued when Nerys Leigh emailed me asking if I’d like to review No-One’s Bride, a Christian mail order romance story set in the American West in 1870. I do love a good mail order bride story—but it’s not something I typically see from British authors. Actually, I don’t get a lot of review requests from British authors at all, and I think Nerys is my first from someone with Welsh origins. Okay, I’m making that assumption because my daughter is Cerys (also a Welsh name), and the only Nerys I’ve ever met had Welsh parents. It’s possible her parents named her for Star Trek character Kira Nerys …

Anyway, onto the review

I was initially impressed because the email was exactly targeting on the kinds of books I like to read: Christian fiction, specifically, Christian romance. And I do like a good mail order bride story. Almost as much as a good marriage of convenience story …

I asked Nerys if she could send me a sample so I could decide whether or not No-One’s Bride was something I’d like to read and review. She obliged by sending me the whole book (hey, that was easier than the first couple of chapters), and I’m grateful she did because I read the whole novel in an afternoon, interrupted only to feed the family (who can be positively unreasonable sometimes. Expecting me to feed them).

Orphan Amy Watts lies when she agrees to become a mail order bride. She has no intention of marrying Adam Emerson, the bank and post office clerk from a tiny town in Northern California. She only knows she wants to go to San Francisco—as far away as possible from her rich, influential and lecherous New York employer.

Adam has prayed for God to bring him a wife, and he is overjoyed at his first sight of Amy—she is beautiful. He’s also pleased to find out she’s a likeable person—until she confesses that she doesn’t want to marry him. But she’s going to do the honourable thing and stay in town long enough to pay him back the money he spent in bringing her here.

While Amy was a great character and I fully understood her motive for her inappropriate behaviour, it was Adam who caught my attention. He’s the perfect gentleman, the perfect romance hero (if he has a fault, it is perhaps that he has no faults. Hey, it’s 1870 and the guy can cook and do laundry!).

I very much liked the Christian content—Adam and Amy each had a strong Christian faith, and this showed consistently throughout the book. I thought the writing was strong, especially for a debut author, and I especially liked the humour sprinkled throughout:

Amy was one of five mail order brides delivered to the tiny town of Green Hill Creek, and I think the remaining novels in the Escape to the West series will be the stories of the other four women.

Overall, No One’s Bride is an excellent debut novel, and I’m now looking forward to the next book in the series—Sara’s story. And waiting for Jo’s story because of what wasn’t said …

Recommended for fans of Christian historical romance from authors such as Mary Connealy, Karen Witemeyer, Regina Jennings, Carol Cox, Jen Turano and Lucy Thompson.

Thanks to the author for providing a free ebook for review. If you'd like to learn more about Nerys Leigh, pop over to Iola's Christian Reads tomorrow for an interview.

It's release week and I'm feeling generous ... leave a comment today, and I'll pick one commenter to win a Kindle copy of No One's Bride. Winner will be chosen 10:00 am Monday 5 September, New Zealand time. 

About Iola Goulton

I am a freelance editor specialising in Christian fiction. Visit my website at www.christianediting.co.nz to download a comprehensive list of publishers of Christian fiction. 

I also write contemporary Christian romance with a Kiwi twist—find out more atwww.iolagoulton.com.

You can also find me on:
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Book Review: Get to Me by Lara Van Hulzen

by Iola Goulton

San Diego Police Department Detective Dane Scott meets artist and photographer Aimee Jansenn when his best friend marries her sister, and the sparks fly right from the very first chapter where Dane gives Aimee a toe-curling kiss. The two are brought together again when Aimee witnesses a stabbing and her sketch identifies the culprit as a notorious San Diego drug lord . . . which places her life in danger.

I thought everything about Get to Me was excellent. The characters (edgy and real), the plot (fast-paced), the kissing (steamy without ever being inappropriate for a Christian novel), the Christian message (subtle but a key element), and the writing—some of the lines were simply brilliant. But I’ll let you discover that for yourself. Get to Me isn’t typical Christian fiction, in that it’s a little on the edgy side: imperfect characters with issues, but that’s the kind of Christian fiction I like best.

Get to Me is the second book in the Men of Honor series, although it can easily be read as a standalone novel--although once you’ve finished, you’ll want to download and read the third in the series, Rescue Me, immediately. Rescue Me is the story of Keith, Dane’s brother, and Torie, Aimee’s roommate, and promises to have all the suspense of Get to Me, as well as the hot romance. Lucky me: the author has already sent me a review copy. Guess what I'm doing tonight?

Recommended for romantic suspense fans.

(For those who are interested, I also reviewed the first book in the series, Remember Me. Click here to read my review - recommended for fans of romantic suspense, or amnesia stories.)

About Iola Goulton

I am a freelance editor specialising in Christian fiction, and you can find out more about my services at my website, or follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest or Tsu.

Book Review: Feast for Thieves by Marcus Brotherton

By Iola Goulton

I was asked to review Feast for Thieves months ago, and for some reason never got around to reading it. I was reminded of it again when I saw it was a finalist for the 2015 Christy Awards in the First Novel category, so thought I’d better open it up and see what I was missing.

I was hooked from the first page. And I don't say that often.

Feast for Thieves begins with Crazy Ake and Rowdy Slater robbing the bank in the small town of Cut Eye, Texas, in the spring of 1946. It’s written in the first person, from Rowdy’s point of view, and right from that first line two things are evident. Marcus Brotherton can write. And Rowdy Slater isn’t your typical Christian fiction hero. After a near escape from death by drowning, Rowdy sees a vision …

Now, I’ve read other books with fantastic opening hooks which simply fizzled out after that one fast-paced and original scene. But Feast for Thieves just kept going. Rowdy decides to return the money, which causes the Sheriff of Cut Eye a few problems. Sure, it’s good that he solves the crime, but the expense of a trial is sure going to put a dent in the county budget, and his chances of re-election. And he’s got another problem: the town needs a preacher. So the Sheriff delivers Rowdy an ultimatum: spend a year as Cut Eye’s minister, or go to jail.

Rowdy knows nothing about God, preaching or running a church, but he knows enough about jail not to want to go back there. Besides, he’s got other problems, and he’s going to need a paying job to fix them. It’s an excellent plot, with lots of twists, yet all making perfect sense, and tied together with a cast of true characters.

Rowdy is an especially fascinating character. He’s a likable rogue, with a little too much rogue to make a good minister. But he has his own unique way of dealing with problems—serving in the Army during some of the toughest battles means he probably knows more about human nature than many preachers.

But what really made Feast for Thieves stand out from the opening line was the voice. Rowdy isn’t an educated man, and his language is earthy (but stops short of being vulgar). What makes him unique is his vocabulary and way of speaking—I could hear every word in that Texan accent, yet there wasn’t a single misspelled word to indicate accent.

There was an Author’s Note at the end in which Brotherton explained how he developed Rowdy’s voice, and it took extensive research and a deep knowledge of the time and place. It took a lot of effort to make Rowdy’s voice seem this easy and this authentic. Writers, if you are ever looking for a way of expressing dialect without apostrophes and misspellings, read Feast for Thieves.

Men, if you’ve been bemoaning the fact that too many Christian novels are sappy romances (especially Amish romances!), read Feast for Thieves. While I’m not a betting man (well, I’m not a man at all, not that you could tell based on the spam email I receive), I’d say even your non-Christian friends would enjoy this one.

But it’s not all manly stuff. There is a solid and real Christian message in here, and even whispers) a little romance. I can absolutely see why Feast for Thieves was nominated for a Christy Award. Recommended.

Thanks to River North fiction for providing a free ebook for review. You can find out more about Marcus Brotherton at his website (and make sure to read his article on why men need to read more fiction).

Book Review: One Last Thing by Rebecca St James and Nancy Rue

by Iola Goulton

Exceptional Tale of Contemporary Issues

Tara Faulkner is marring Seth Grissom: her brother’s best friend, the son of their pastor, and the guy she’s loved for ten years. But they have a strange argument three weeks before the wedding, and when she returns to discuss it with Seth, she finds him doing something awful. He promises he’ll change and never do it again, and she wants to believe him. After all, the alternative is cancelling the wedding. But when she finds he lied, she does just that—but he makes her promise not to tell anyone why, which leaves her dealing with all the fallout, not least two families blaming her for the cancellation.

One Last Thing is written entirely in first person point of view from Tara’s viewpoint. This normally only works for complex characters, and Tara wasn’t complex, at least not in the beginning. She was the perfect pampered Southern princess, and while she hasn’t lived an entirely sheltered life, her family is financially stable and she’s always been given the best of everything. She attends church with her family, but there was little indication she had any personal faith: something that’s normally a must in Christian romance.

At first I was a little frustrated that Seth, a Christian man who worked for a mission organisation, was planning to marry a woman who had little or no personal faith of her own. But as the novel progressed, Tara began to search for God … and it explained why Seth was prepared to be “unequally yoked”. The explanation was misogynistic, hypocritical (or possibly both), but it worked, and it worked without making me feel as though my emotions were being manipulated. That’s strong writing.

The more Tara digs into Seth’s issues, the more she finds out, and the more secrets she has to keep from her friends, her family, and from Seth’s family. The only person who has any sympathy for her is Seth’s younger sister—who’s seen as a troublemaker. She is helped in her troubled journey by a disparate group of ladies she meets while working in a local coffee shop—her first-ever job.

Tara slowly discovers Seth’s issues, and strangely, this allows us to move from repugnance to sympathy for his problems while still acknowledging Tara did the right thing. Seth acknowledges that he has to take responsibility for his own actions, especially when they have hurt others, and I see this as a positive thing.

Publisher Thomas Nelson has caught some criticism recently for publishing books with inappropriate content for a Christian novel. I suspect they’ll catch a little more over One Last Thing, from people who would like to believe this kind of thing never happens to “proper” Christians. I wish it didn’t, but it does, and One Last Thing does an excellent job in sensitively fictionalising a growing problem in society. It’s not easy reading, and it’s not nice. But it is real. Unfortunately.

Thanks to Thomas Nelson and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review. You can find out more about Rebecca St James and Nancy Rue at their websites.

About Iola Goulton

I am a freelance editor specialising in Christian fiction, and you can find out more about my services at my website, or follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest or Tsu.

I love reading, and read and review around 150 Christian books each year on my blog. I'm a Top 25 Reviewer at Christian Book, in the Top 1% of reviewers at Goodreads, and have an Amazon Reviewer Rank that floats around 2500