AAR reviewed Carla Kelly’s My Loving Vigil Keeping when it first came out. Our reviewer was not happy (you can see that review HERE), and it put me off of trying this book for a long time. Recently, I realized it was included in my Kindle Unlimited, and gave it a shot. Oh, I’m so…
Orson Scott Card’s Saints is an unusual book – written by a devoutly religious author about devoutly religious people, but never coming across to me as inspirational fiction. While it wasn’t a perfect read, I not only enjoyed it but actually teared up once or twice. The story is a sprawling historical epic which begins…
I stayed up late to read this book. I woke up early to read this book. I was late to appointments because I was reading this book. I read it in the car (while waiting on someone), and if I could have read it in the shower, I would have read it there. Can you…
I once said that I’d happily read anything Carla Kelly wrote. Unfortunately, this book convinced me what works for her at around 200 pages doesn’t seem as compelling and interesting when the page count more than doubles. No one who’s a fan of Kelly’s expects her stories to be seat of the pants exciting, but…
My favorite Jane Austen novel isn’t Pride and Prejudice, but Persuasion. Recently there’s been a trend in writing modern-day retellings of Austen’s works, so when I saw one featuring Persuasion, I had to read it even though I realized that the setting included Mormons in today’s Northern Virginia. I went into the book thinking I…
It’s easy to forget that just a scant hundred years ago people all over this country lived under rough, primitive conditions. That in 1910, the West was still being won. And it is painful to be reminded that for many centuries people of all kinds faced prejudices in this great melting pot of ours. Some…
I’ve often said I’d read anything that Carla Kelly writes – including a laundry list if it was the only thing available. Her new books are auto buys for me, and I’ve worked at picking up copies of her older Regency romances. Now Kelly begins a new path as a romance author, switching continents, time…
Chamomile Winter is the sequel to Terracotta Summer, a Mormon inspirational novel I reviewed last year. But it’s not so much a sequel as the second half of the story; neither book is really complete on its own. That said, this one is a slight improvement over its predecessor. Although I still don’t think either…
When Terracotta Summer arrived for review, I could see immediately that I was the obvious choice to review it. It’s a religious novel with mostly Mormon protagonists, and I am the lone Mormon at AAR. I wasn’t too far into the book before I realized that I was also the only person on the staff…