The Gratitude Journal for Women

The Gratitude Journal for Women

 The Gratitude Journal for Women

Illustrated by Katie Vernon with Text Written by Katherine Furman

The cover is beautiful, like a coloring page done in lovely, muted colors. These illustrations continue inside on each page’s edge, so there's continuity. Since this a book for women, I like that beautiful touch. It especially speaks to me as one who enjoys coloring and creating.

The beginning of the book includes an introduction, which helps set the tone of the rest of the book. Then, there are quotes written by Katherine Furman on pages with several lines for personalizing the journal. The idea is to contemplate the positive aspects of one’s life and watch how that changes one’s life. The introduction makes a case for how science has proven that focusing on positive aspects in life can lead to happiness and a sense of contentedness, (which is what I think is meant by "peace" in the subtitle).*

I think this journal can lead to a new way of thinking, and that in itself sounds positive. There’s value in that. The pages are thick for writing.

Two things I’d like to see are 1) scriptures from a modern translation that uses inclusive language (especially since this is a women’s journal). And 2) less “you” language in the introduction and writing prompts. Sometimes the use of second person can feel accusatory and condescending. It’s more inviting to let folks find themselves in the pages rather than point a “you” index finger, in my opinion. Also, since I have not heard of the woman who wrote the text, I question the prompts. I may not be alone in this. Using positive scriptures would solve this aspect. (Anything that makes the participant resistant/defensive may cause them to not even use the journal, like “you” language, unknown author, lack of independent and authoritative text, etc.)

When I saw the cover for this journal, for some reason, I guessed it was a Christian resource. So, my expectations were that there would be scriptures included. I trust scriptures more than someone’s opinion. On the other hand, I like the explanation of the science of gratitude (minus the second person address) in the introduction and may end up using some of the prompts in this journal in my own personal journal. Who couldn’t use a little more happiness and contentedness in their lives?

This book is ideal for readers who’ve found their lives could benefit from what this book promises (a sense of happiness). The book feels good in one’s hands. The materials (cover and pages) are substantial, making the book heavy. The fact that the journal is personalized (as one uses it) to one’s own likes and positive experiences, could make for a highly individual and satisfying experience that also helps one keep others in mind. That said, I believe Christian users may feel the void of the lack of scriptures, which they could research and pen in as the verses come to mind, adding a separate, and spiritually satisfying, element. 

* to know true peace, one must know the Prince of Peace personally. 

I received a complimentary copy of this journal in exchange for my honest opinion.  

Colors of Christmas by Olivia Newport

Colors of Christmas by Olivia Newport

Let’s begin with the summary for each of the novellas in this compilation:

Christmas in Blue
In the wake of a personal loss deeper than anyone realizes, Angela plans to bypass as much of the season as possible and get through her duties as the church organist by going on autopilot. Instead, she finds herself in charge of the town’s celebration. After a mysterious young man arrives, townspeople suspect he is the reason that one set of plans after another disintegrate until little is left of their traditions. Yet Angela warms to Gabe because she suspects they share a secret—his real reason for coming to town. Even when all they have to work with is a garish supply of blue Christmas decorations, Gabe helps Angela discover the hidden beauty of hope.

Christmas in Gold
After eighty years, change is nothing new for Astrid. By the time she was twenty, she survived the destructive Nazi regime, caring for her family under brutal circumstances, moving to America, and losing her husband. At forty she was widowed again and left to build a new life with her children. Now, when she faces a move into an assisted living community and meets a young woman on the brink of despair, she resolves to stir up hope through tragedy one more time.

And now, my review:

I enjoy reading Christmas books/novellas at Christmastime. I was hoping I had found two Christmas romance novellas, written by an author I respect. Unfortunately, I found two women’s fiction novellas (or if there was romance, I didn't see it in the pages I read), which didn’t interest me. The story is full of redundancies and I didn’t feel the pacing worked, probably due to the repeated information. 

These two novellas weren't for me, but I plan to read more books by this author in the future.

The Secret Life of Sarah Hollenbeck by Bethany Turner

The Secret Life of Sarah Hollenbeck

A fellow writer mentioned this book as the author, and she, and I were commenting on an FB post. This mutual friend mentioned loving Bethany’s writing voice, and that intrigued me. So, I was grateful to receive a copy to read for review.

Here’s the summary:

Becoming a Christian is the best and worst thing that has ever happened to Sarah Hollenbeck. Best because, well, that's obvious. Worst because, up to this point, she's made her very comfortable living as a well-known, bestselling author of steamy romance novels that would leave the members of her new church blushing.

Now Sarah is trying to reconcile her past with the future she's chosen. She's still under contract with her publisher and on the hook with her enormous fan base for the kind of book she's not sure she can write anymore. She's beginning to think that the church might frown on her tithing on royalties from a "scandalous" book. And the fact that she's falling in love with her pastor doesn't make things any easier.

And now, my review:

First, a note from me: generally, I do not include any spoilers in my reviews. If you haven’t read the book, consider reading it before reading my review, because this review is a little different—more like a one-sided book club discussion, though I still strove to avoid spoilers.

Our mutual writing friend is correct. Bethany (the author) has a strong writing voice. You’ll feel as if you’ve drifted back a few years to when Chick Lit was popular. The story is written in first person, but the tense keeps shifting from past to present. This is rather jarring and may have been worked out in the editing phase, along with multiple uses of the cliché “couldn’t/can’t help but.” (I read the ARC—advanced reader copy—version.) 

If you’ll take a moment and glance at the summary above, you’ll notice the MC (main character) begins the story as a writer of steamy romance novels. Then, she becomes a Christian. This is a great premise for a book, and it’s what kept me reading. If you’re a writer, you’ll relate to the writerly side of this story, in some ways. However, there were some unrealistic elements where publishing was concerned. The MC had zero experience in writing novels, but she instantly became hugely successful. Also, the MC bragged at being one to single-handedly revolutionize the CBA book marketplace with her writing. That hit me as self-serving.  

There are some offensive elements at the beginning of the story, before the MC is born again that had me checking on the name of the publisher because I couldn’t believe we’d see those elements in a CBA book. I wonder if they were reworked in the final version. Though those words may have been in keeping with a non-Christian character, those types of elements almost deterred me from reading on.

The MC is “falling in love with the pastor,” (see summary), so wouldn’t she be deeply ashamed of having written erotica? Wouldn’t she feel disqualified from having a relationship with a pastor and being taken seriously by his flock and/or his family, and especially himself? She might even feel humiliated after writing porn. At the very least, apologetic. Instead, her switch to writing a wholesome genre was treated with lack of believability, as if her erotica publisher, with whom she was still under contract, would permit a change in genre to something wholesome and less lucrative. Also, somehow the pastor knows exactly who she is as a porn writer... The fact that he knew her pen name seemed odd to me too. Why would he know the names of erotic fiction authors (and still be an honorable pastor)? And why wouldn't this stand between them? The book’s summary even mentions church members reading erotica and blushing. There seemed to be an assumption that all Christians read the type of books she wrote before she got saved, that there was no shame in that, and that readers would accept that as fact. This struck me as hard to believe.

The main character is a growing Christian, but we immediately read Christianese while in her POV, and we don’t get to witness her character growth/arc. Instead we have lip service about the Christian way to think. That seemed like another missing element.

Since we’re in first person, we had deep POV potential, but we were kept at a distance and ended up with some leaps in logic, which were jarring.

There’s a secret in the story and when we learn the answer we’d been left in the dark so much that we may not care. If there had been development of the involved party, we might have cared, but as it was, I didn’t recall mention of the involved person. So, it didn’t impact me.

Overall, the conflict and setup had big potential, but the follow-through had many missing elements, in my opinion. I respect the author, but this book (in its ARC form) wasn’t for me. Still, I wish this author and her publisher the best.