Tag Archives: Christian Fiction

When Sparrows Fall by Meg Moseley

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Synopsis:
A homeschooling widow with six kids finds her life thrown into chaos when her pastor announces the whole church is moving to another town–and she doesn’t want to go.

Review:
I just loved When Sparrows Fall. It’s the rare book about Christians that manages to portray a life of faith while still remembering that the characters are people, too. It was critical of things that are wrong in certain sectors of Christianity without condemning the faith as a whole. And the details brought to Miranda’s life were just spot on–I really felt like I knew her and came to really love her and wish that we could be friends.

I’m a Christian homeschooling mom myself, albeit an urban one who isn’t involved in a patriarchal church or marriage. We don’t use corporal punishment and we wear regular clothes. We’ll probably stop at just 2 kids–no quiver-filling here. Yet I’m oddly protective of the women who get laughed at for their old-fashioned ways. Their earnestness and sincerity appeals to me. I loved seeing how Miranda was able to wake up to the things that were holding her and her family back from following God while still remaining fundamentally the same.

Her pastor was clearly a guy to be wary of, yet Meg Moseley held back from making him a full-on wicked villain. He was just a man, with flaws and sins and errors. Sure, he’s dangerous–very much so–but he’s not a cartoon character. I appreciated that, too. And there were some great surprises hidden in that storyline.

Love love love this book.

Arena by Karen Hancock

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Synopsis:
After signing up for a psychology experiment, a young woman finds herself in a dangerous “arena” where she may lose her life trying to find her way out.

Review:
Arena is an allegory for the Christian walk of faith, something I knew when I bought the book but then forgot until about halfway through. I think that’s a pretty good sign that the book mostly escapes being on-the-nose and heavy handed in its plot execution and character development.

Callie is an ordinary girl who wants more from life but doesn’t know how to get it. Her best friend signs them both up for a psychology experiment where they’re told they will have their decision making abilities tested. Callie is then dropped unceremoniously into a harsh, dangerous, deserted landscape with nothing but a backpack filled with strange objects and an instruction manual she can’t comprehend. Told to stay on the white path, Callie falls off and finds herself menaced by a frightening monster. She’s rescued by Pierce, a handsomely grizzled man who says he’s been in the Arena for five years and doesn’t think there’s any way out. He warns her of the many dangers in the Arena and takes her to meet his band of allies. As Callie and her new friends/enemies make their way through the Arena, they are tested, threatened, and challenged beyond all imagining.

What surprised me about Arena was that it was not afraid to get dark, much darker than Christian fiction usually does. I really appreciated that. The risks all felt real and dangerous and I did question whether the characters would make it out of the Arena. The second half got a little didactic but I still felt that the author pushed the envelope in a surprising way.

The Grace of Guilt by Gareth Young

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Synopsis:
In a town dominated by an oppressive, judgmental church, a girl pregnant by rape, a homosexual boy, and an out-of-touch family man become united by a violent act.

Review:
I think The Grace of Guilt is aiming to be The Shack only with enough plot for at least three books. At first, I thought, “This person really hates Christianity.” The so-called Christian characters were so, so, so awful–prejudiced, hateful, and hypocritical. And then the savior-figure, an enigmatic hermit named Sam, just went around spewing pseudo-Eckhart Tolle nonsense about feeling God within you. I really got upset when he said he could never enjoy heaven so long as there was anyone left in hell for him to rescue. The arrogance of that statement–assuming that Christ’s work of salvation was insufficient and casting aspersions on the holiness of the God who punishes sin–really rubbed me the wrong way. At that point I basically assumed that this was a secular book.

But then the book ends with a key character preaching the gospel message, so I’m guessing that this author really is a believer. He doesn’t articulate his theology very clearly, not that I think that it’s the place of fiction to make those kinds of arguments. Either way, his mystical view of the Christian life is not one that I subscribe to, true-hearted Reformed woman that I am.

Even if I were to agree with his theology completely, I would still take issue with the plotting of the book. There’s so much going on and it’s all given the same level of dramatic power. Young doesn’t take the time to build suspense or tension–he just gives us everything at full voice starting at page one. His characters don’t have the kind of shading and nuance that I really need in order to care.

As a reader, I love that there are so many inexpensive books available for the Kindle. I’m growing more and more fascinated by the possibilities of e-publishing. Because of the growing democratization of content creation, I think it’s important that we remember to keep the quality bar high. So many e-books don’t have the benefit of an editor to polish them, something that The Grace of Guilt could have really used. The onus is on the writers themselves to study the craft of prose and story creation, and not to be hasty when putting a book out there. As an old roommate of mine used to say, “If you do it and it’s done, that’s good. If you do it and it’s good, that’s better.”

Many thanks to Dog Ear Publishing for the review copy.

Love Will Keep Us Together by Anne Dayton and May Vanderbilt (Miracle Girls)

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Synopsis:
It’s senior year for the Miracle Girls, and thank to Ivy League pressure, the return of an ex-boyfriend, and a pregnant girl in youth group, golden girl Riley McGee is having a serious crisis of identity–and faith.

Review:
I’ve been following the Miracle Girls from the beginning, thanks to my friendship with co-writer Anne Dayton. Love Will Keep Us Together is a worthy conclusion to a fun series that really speaks to the tough issues facing Christian girls in today’s culture. I highly recommend them!

Many thanks to Hachette Book Group for the review copy.

A Little Help From My Friends by Anne Dayton and May Vanderbilt (Miracle Girls)

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Synopsis:
Shy girl Zoe can’t handle her parents’ separation and looming divorce, and she doesn’t know what to do about the attention she’s getting from hot new guy Dean.

Review:
A Little Help From My Friends was more plot-lite than the previous installments, which I kind of liked. Nothing super dramatic happened, and instead the drama focused on Zoe’s burgeoning independence. The writing is breezy and accessible, as usual, though God played a much smaller role than in previous books. At one point, Ana tells popular girl Ashley not to call her “God Girl,” because it’s mean. I found myself wishing she’d stood up for her faith instead. Looking forward to what senior year will bring for the Miracle Girls!

Many thanks to Hachette Book Group for the review copy.

Tidings of Great Boys by Shelley Adina (All About Us)

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Synopsis:
Lady Lindsay MacPhail tries to blend her new friends from fancy Spencer Academy into her old life in Scotland, over a Christmas holiday that spirals out of control.

Review:
Tidings of Great Boys is another breezy addition to Shelley Adina’s young adult series about a group of Christian teens in a tony boarding school. It’s a cute story, and I enjoyed Mac’s energy and spunk. The plot was a bit far-fetched, but I’m okay with that. YA doesn’t always have to be realistic.

A Morning Like This by Deborah Bedford

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Synopsis:
When David learns that he has a daughter from an affair, and that she needs a bone marrow transplant from his son, he confesses all to his wife and tries to put his marriage back together.

Review:
I really did not care for A Morning Like This. I felt like David expected cheap grace just because the child from his affair had cancer, and didn’t think he needed to do any real work of repentance. He was just awful to Abby, not allowing her the space to grieve the loss of the marriage she thought she had. He didn’t seem to have any sense of the depth of his sin, nor sorrow over wronging God. Where is the fear and trembling?

You Make Me Feel Like Dancing by Allison Bottke

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Synopsis:
Dancing hairdresser Susan loves disco and dreams of opening a Disco Hall of Fame, but secrets from her Studio 54 past may ruin everything.

Review:
I’m totally the wrong demographic for “boomer lit,” and I never really connected with the characters in You Make Me Feel Like Dancing. I felt like the Christian aspect didn’t go very deep, with much of the God-talk feeling like Oprah-theology, not orthodox Christianity. It just was not for me.

Breaking Up Is Hard To Do by Anne Dayton and May Vanderbilt

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Synopsis:
As her father’s wedding approaches, Christine needs help more than ever to process her grief over her mother’s death, but her friends are all fighting with each other.

Review:
The second book in the Miracle Girls series, Breaking Up Is Hard To Do has a darker tone than Miracle Girls, and as a result goes a lot deeper. Angsty Christine is angrier and sadder than any of Anne & May’s protagonists to date, and in her pain she’s eminently relatable. They also do a good job showing how even the best of friendships can go sour, and present a good model to girls for how to mend broken relationships.

Before the Dawn by Carolyne Aarson

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Synopsis:
After the sudden death of her daughter, a farmer’s wife finds herself raising her teenage grandchildren, who are used to urban life.

Review:
I don’t ordinarily read books like Before the Dawn, but a good friend of mine recommended it, and I always check out recommendations.

The setup of the book is quite simple, nothing very innovative, but I did find Charlotte’s dilemma affecting. Perhaps it’s because I’m a mom, and anticipating the kinds of struggles Charlotte is facing, that I was intrigued by the storyline. Before the Dawn is a light, diverting read, so if you like farms and family conflict, it’s perfect for relaxing on a rainy day.