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Clock Tower Bound (Bookstrings #2) by Chautona Havig
Milton, the bookstore doctor, travels to Berne, Indiana, to see if he can save two bookstores and restore the friendship of the store owners.
Genre: Contemporary Christian Romance | Age: Adult (17+) | Buy: Bookshop.org
Personal Review:
There were a lot of great things about this book. I’m going to start with my one dislike first and get it out of the way: I thought the friends were super hard on Anne involving the “conflict” and it was kind of weird how her 2 best friends (plus the bookstore doctor) talked, messaged, and texted about her. I was not a fan of that part (and it reduced my rating), even though it all worked out in the end.
But there was so much I DID love. Including the bookstore setting and the character of Anne. Anne was delightful. She was determined to embody the spirit of Anne of Green Gables and it was adorable, right down to painting freckles on her face. The Clock Tower bookstore was also a delight. I especially loved the ambient sounds and the kids who came through who loved books.
When Anne’s friends Gage and Nadia were acting normally, I loved their interactions and the silliness they engaged in together. I really liked all of the gatherings involving food – that made things seem very realistic and made me nostalgic for college days when we could drop everything like they did just to eat and hang out.
Overall, the characters were lovely and the bookstore was paradise. The thing with the “conflict”, why it happened, and how they handled it, was all a little strange to me, but didn’t hinder my enjoyment of the book!
Katie (The Orphan Train #3) by Wendy May Andrews
Katie and Dr. Jeffries cross paths more than they would both like. Their assumptions of each other are based on the previous spouses’ actions and they must learn to see each other for who they truly are.
Genre: Historical Clean Romance | Age: Adult (17+) | Buy: Bookshop.org
Personal Review:
I enjoyed this book better than the previous one in the series. Similarly to the last book, though, I enjoyed the parts involving an orphan more than the romance. But the romance in this book was more believable and the hero was more likable.
Katie, our main lady, has a bit of a chip on her shoulder when it comes to men. I don’t blame her, and I actually thought there was a good balance in her character and the growth that happened in her was slow and hard work for her; I appreciated that quite a bit. I loved her relationship with the orphan girl she adopted as well.
I really enjoyed our main guy, Dr. Jeffries. He had some poor assumptions about Katie in the beginning but he was shown the errors of his thinking by a sweet old patient of his. I enjoyed how his internal world matched his external interactions with Katie. He seemed like an honest man from the beginning and a great match for Katie.
The ending was also super duper sweet. I maybe would have liked that drawn out a little more but it was cute like it was, too.
The Pillar of Light (The Milana Legends #1) by Anna Travis
Nani has been living with her adoptive parents for the last two years. When a group of teens come for a mission trip to help them take care of the nearby village, the teens and Nani are unexpectedly transported to the world of Milana where they have to learn who they can trust and who is trying to imprison them.
Genre: Christian Fantasy | Age: Middle Grade (10+) | Buy: Bookshop.org
Personal Review:
What an interesting story. I’m not entirely sure how to describe what I just read. I thought it was going to be a young adult adventure but I would definitely put this in a middle grade category – especially because the writing was simple and straight-forward (much like Chuck Black’s Kingdom Series – if you like that you’ll probably like this). The simple style is not my personal favorite but can be a great way for younger readers to get into fantasy without the emotional tugs that other writing can have.
Malcor is our main hero – a teen in the world of Milana – and I really liked him. The writing style fit his personality very well because he is kind of a simple and straight forward sort of guy. I liked following his character.
Nani is our main heroine who has returned to her home world of Milana and I’m not sure how I feel about her character. While most of the other 6 teens who “accidentally” made it to Milana with her have distinctive qualities to their characters, Nani is just kind of two-dimensional. I couldn’t tell if she was passionate about anything one way or the other, if she was nervous about anything, or if she embraced the adventure. There was really no description of hers or others’ emotions in ways that stuck, even though I liked the roles that each of the characters had in the story.
Even though I enjoyed the story greatly, I felt like the magic system was underdeveloped and things would suddenly be explained to make the story work. I also have to say that the point-of-view writing was so confusing. I don’t think it was omniscient POV exactly, but it kept changing among the characters and I wasn’t a huge fan of that.
I haven’t decided if I’ll continue the series. I liked it but I have other fantasy I want to read right now. My kids might enjoy this one soon, so if they are interested I would continue reading it too!
A Daring Sacrifice (An Uncertain Choice #2) by Jody Hedlund
A concise and helpful guide to explain the answers to many questions that kids have.
Genre: Clean Medieval Romance | Age: Young Adult (16+) | Buy: Bookshop.org
Personal Review:
I enjoyed venturing back into this medieval world and meeting some old beloved characters! Lord Collin was very entertaining to follow. I enjoyed how he grappled with his wealth and how he slowly changed from his wealth being a source of frivolity to a way to help others.
Lady Juliana was a typical strong female character who learned to live on her own and had to break down her strongholds so that she could allow others to care for her again. I thought her character was well done and I didn’t get too frustrated with the “I don’t need a man” trope.
As for the story, I really liked the premise. I loved that they made a deal to live in each others’ worlds for a week. I thought that was excellent! However, I feel like I missed a lot of moments with the couple that would have helped me believe their quick-to-love story. There were more sensual moments in this book than the first one and fewer moments of playfulness and candidness. We’d be told they spent the day together working on a project or enjoying something specific in one sentence and the physical scenes would last for 2 pages and were a little too descriptive for my taste (for a YA book).
So even though I really enjoyed this book and I plan to keep reading through the series, I thought the romance was a little unbalanced in its ratio of getting-to-know-you moments and I-can’t-breathe-with-you-here moments. I needed less physical nearness and more banter and daily fun.
Happy reading!
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