Forever, Lately by Linore Burkard

Forever, Lately

Let’s begin with the summary:

Maine, Present Day

Author Claire Channing is desperate to write a bestseller to save her failing career. She moves into her grandmother’s abandoned cottage to write the book, but a local resort baron wants to raze the place. Without the deed, the clock is ticking on how long she can stay. She thinks she’s writing St. John’s story. But when she discovers an old prayer shawl and finds herself in his Regency world, she falls in love with him, a man she thought she invented! Miss Andrews, however, is also real—and she’d rather see Julian dead than in another woman’s arms!

Claire must beat the clock to prevent a deadly tragedy, but can love beat the limits of time itself?

And now, my review:

I liked the time-travel element in this book. In this way, it’s a contemporary, a Regency, and a speculative fiction novel—something for almost everyone. The heroine is a writer, which was fun to read about.

Since the historical part of the story takes place in England, the author uses British English spellings. That took some getting used to. Words like: connexions, jewellry, grey, and realise(d), etc. She does a good job of immersing us in the Regency time period. I loved the language/prose she used.

One of the issues I had, and this may be a genre-specific preference, is what editors (and writers) call “head-hopping.” Moving from one point-of-view character’s thoughts/feelings into another POVC’s perspective from paragraph to paragraph was dizzying at times. That's why writers generally avoid it. When they change POVs, they wait until a scene break or a chapter break. Acquisitions editors prefer this "purist POV" approach. There were other POV missteps as well, including instances of omniscient POV where the author told us what was coming before showing us—unnecessarily.

I liked the escape to a cottage to work on her novel. One other element I loved was how short the chapters were. The pace stays strong much of the first third to half, urging you through the story. Unfortunately, the story lagged in the middle after a false ending, and it lost my interest.

I would have liked to see the heroine stand up to the obnoxious neighbor and wondered why she didn’t.

By visiting the other time, the heroine has an opportunity to live a fantasy and escape all her modern-day problems. That premise is interesting, and I think readers will enjoy pondering that aspect.

The Chosen devotional by Amanda Jenkins, Kristen Hendricks, and Dallas Jenkins

The Chosen devotional

Whether or not you’ve watched the on-line series, readers will still find this devotional insightful and valuable.

Let’s begin with the summary:

Encounter Jesus the way his followers did.

Every follower of Jesus in the Gospels had a not-so-great ''before.'' A brash fisherman. A pious religious leader. A demon-possessed woman. A thieving tax collector. Christ's love saw beyond their brokenness and forgave. Jesus revolutionized the lives of those who followed Him.

And He's still doing it today.

Each of the forty devotions in The Chosen contains a Scripture, a unique look into a Gospel story, suggestions for prayer, and questions that lead you further in your relationship with Christ. See Jesus through the eyes of those who knew him best, and explore the backstories of people like Mary Magdalene, Peter, Matthew, Nicodemus, and more.

It's hard to relate to the sinless Son of God, but we can all identify with the sinners. You too can be transformed: Jesus sees past your ''before'' to the person He is creating you to be.

And now, my review:

I generally don’t review non-fiction, but I was grateful to receive this ARC (advanced reader copy). These authors take turns writing on different topics, using a Scripture for their base text. (Common for devotionals.) They share their insights with interesting writing voices. A lot of times with devos, the writer or publisher will include a prayer for readers to pray. That always seems controlling and presumptive. But with The Chosen devotional, the authors include possible prayer topics. That honors readers who can then consider the list of topics and approach God in their own words. I much prefer this method.

The authors use mostly gender inclusive language, which was ideal for a devotional about Jesus, considering how He treated women in the first century, not to mention how He relates with us today. I appreciated this choice so that no reader needs to feel left out.

I read this over weeks rather than the forty days the title alludes to. Readers won’t have to feel they need to finish it in forty days. These devotionals are “meaty” and readers may want to contemplate what they’ve read for more than a day before moving to the next one.

Overall, I highly recommend this devotional. Very well done.

The Curiosity Keeper by Sarah E. Ladd

The Curiosity Keeper by Sarah E. Ladd

Let’s begin with the summary:

Camille Iverness can take care of herself. She’s done so since the day her mother abandoned the family and left Camille to run their shabby curiosity shop. But when a violent betrayal leaves her injured with no place to hide, Camille must allow a mysterious stranger to come to her aid.

Jonathan Gilchrist never wanted to inherit Kettering Hall. As a second son, he was content to work as the village apothecary. But when his brother’s death made him heir just as his father’s foolish decisions put the estate at risk, only the sale of a priceless possession—a ruby called the Bevoy—can save the family from ruin. But the gem has disappeared. And all trails lead to Iverness Curiosity Shop—and the beautiful shop girl who may be the answer to his many questions.

Caught at the intersection of blessings and curses, greed and deceit, these two determined souls must unite to protect what they hold dear. But when a passion that shines far brighter than any gem is ignited, they will have to decide how much they are willing to risk for their future, love, and happiness.

And now, my review:

Sarah’s writing has strong prose and this story had good pacing, generally.

The heroine has a lot to overcome. She's lost her mother, which makes us sympathetic toward her, especially as we see her strengths. Someone she trusts is a selfish, greedy, neglectful person who isn't against putting her in harm's way.

The hero has to rise to challenges he hadn't expected to face. His was a subtle characterization, compared to the heroine's melodrama, which I appreciated. He was also noble, a highly respectable trait.

Unfortunately, as I mentioned above, I found quite a bit of melodrama in this historical. This begins with telling phrases and exaggerated words, like “lungs starved for air” when the story didn’t call for it, which means readers may not feel it. Or verbs like “ripped” and “wrenched.” Or when the heroine beats the man’s chest with “all the strength her frame could muster,” which felt contrived. Those examples of overboard wording turned me off several times. However, when the author toned down the melodrama, and allowed us to feel the emotions of the characters, there were some poignant passages. I understand some characters may be melodramatic, so if this was an intentional choice, I can respect that. Unfortunately, I’ve seen melodrama in several historicals lately and these instances pull me out of the stories. If you read the summary above, you'll find melodrama there as well.

The romantic thread in this story was well done, overall.

There were several instances of the “could not help but” cliché. And when the heroine glanced at someone it was written she “cut her eyes.” Eeks.

I found myself skimming parts of this story. I wish the author and publisher well, even though this novel didn't appeal to me.

Ladies of Intrigue by Michelle Griep

Ladies of Intrigue by Michelle Griep

Let’s begin with the summary of this compilation:

The Gentleman Smuggler’s Lady
Cornish Coast, 1815
When a prim and proper governess returns to England from abroad, she expects to comfort her dying father—not fall in love with a smuggler. Will Helen Fletcher keep Isaac Seaton’s unusual secret?

The Doctor’s Woman
Dakota Territory, 1862
Emmy Nelson, daughter of a missionary doctor, and Dr. James Clark, city doctor aspiring to teach, find themselves working side by side at Fort Snelling during the Dakota Uprising. That is when the real clash of ideals begins.

A House of Secrets
St. Paul, Minnesota, 1890
Ladies Aide Chairman, Amanda Carston resolves to clean up St. Paul’s ramshackle housing, starting with the worst of the worst: a “haunted” house that’s secretly owned by her beau—a home that’s his only means of helping brothel girls escape from the hands of the city’s most infamous madam.

And now, my review:

The description may not be clear because it doesn't include previous publishing dates, but these are all repackaged books, so you may have read them in the past. I've noticed this pattern—repackaging older novellas into one volume, but not telling readers. That said, thankfully I hadn’t read any of these stories, so it was a good way to learn about her writing.

Full disclosure, I only read the first two in this novella collection. I found myself growing weary of the voice—the fact that there were a lot of overly told emotional reactions without the opportunity for readers to feel them along with the characters. Repeated melodramatic descriptions of cries “tearing from her throat,” etc. (cliché; melodrama; telling) There were POV issues as well. I noticed these issues in a more recent novel I read by this author, so I may not read more of her work for a while.

On the positive side, there were moments of strong, insightful prose. Some relatable conflicts—will the hero choose the future or the past? If he chooses vengeance, he is choosing to focus his energy on the past. If he chooses his future, he can focus ahead. Those are choices everyone must make.

I write and prefer reading contemporary romance, but sometimes it's fun to immerse myself in a historical world of formality and different customs. That's what I was hoping for with this collection. Though these stories didn't appeal to me, perhaps other readers will enjoy the escape these stories offer.