Adrienne's review of "Love Comes Softly"

This is actually an eight book series written by Janette Oke that I stumbled upon at my library in the DVD section. Michael Landon, Jr. has directed a movie series based on the books and I started checking them out for something to watch while I worked on sewing and ended up checking out the books.

The first book is about 19 year old Marty Claridge, who just after arriving in the west with her husband Clem is left alone when he is killed in an accident. Marty has no money to get back home and doesn't know anyone. After her husband's funeral she is approached by Clark Davis. He's a young widower with a small daughter. He proposes a marriage of convenience. She would be a mother to his little Missy and he would give her a place to live. If she wanted to still go back home in the Spring he would pay her way if she would take Missy with her. Seeing no other way to survive she accepts his offer.

These books have a very similar feel to Little House on The Prairie (the show, I haven't read the books). It's set on the frontier and while it's about Marty and Clark, the story is also about those in their community.

I've only read the first two books in the series, Love Comes Softly and Loves Enduring Promise, but I really enjoyed both of them. I actually enjoyed the second book a little bit more than the first.

(Just an FYI, Janette Oke is a Christian author so there is a strong Christian influence to the books, which I really enjoyed.)

Adrienne's review of "Freckles"

This was a book recommended to me by Mom's friend Lee when we were driving to the put-in for Cat. It is written by Gene Stratton-Porter in 1904. Apparently Stratton-Porter was a pretty big author around the turn of the century and has written quite a list of books. She grew up in Indiana next to some woods called the Limberlost (which have long since disappeared) and became a lover of nature and was a pretty influential environmentalist for her day. Many of her books are about nature and most of the fiction books have a very strong nature theme in them as well.

Freckles is about a one-armed orphan who becomes the limber guard for the Limberlost. He is a wonderful character, full of courage and integrity. Because of the kind of person he is, those around him are drawn to him and grow to love him. While guarding the Limberlost he falls in love with a beautiful girl he calls the Swamp Angel.

This book took me a long time to get into, mostly due to the language and writing style that I'm sure was common for the time it was written. The ending didn't seem to really fit with the rest of the book. I found out later it was not the original ending, but her publisher made her change it to appeal more to the audience.

I give it 3 stars. I loved the story, but the style and language are a little difficult for me to get into. Enough so that I can't decide whether or not to start one of the other 2 books of her's that I have sitting on my desk waiting for me to read.

Adrienne's review of "Confessions of a Shopoholic"

We read this book for my book club last month, and I thought it was a fun and quick read. There is some language and sex, but I don't remember it being very bad. (The other ladies at book club seemed to remember more than I did.) The thing that I had the hardest time with in this book was the out of control shopping. It was making me a little stressed out at first.

Still, I thought it was a cute story and although Becky Bloomwood (the main character) is selfish and lies all the time, she's kind of endearing in a way and the situations that her lying puts her in are very humorous. The story line is completely different from the movie, so don't let that stop you from reading the book.

I give it 3 stars. - written by Sophie Kinsella

Shannan's Review of "The Red Tent"

This was our book club book for this month. I originally wasn't going to read it because of some reviews from other people, but then some other people told me that it was okay, as long as you get through the beginning. Let's just say, it wasn't my favorite.

This book is a fictional account of Dinah, the only daughter of Jacob in the Old Testament. It is written from her perspective and the author uses the Bible lightly as an outline for the story. That is one of the things that bothered me about the book. The way she portrays some of the people, especially the prophets like Jacob and Joseph were not accurate at all, at least the way that I have always thought of them. Because Dinah is telling the story, you never seem to get a very good idea of what kind of person she is. You never read a description of her or get a sense of her personality. Because of this, I never really felt a connection with her.

The Red Tent is a place where all the women in the camp spend their periods together, away from the men. The book focuses a lot on cycles and women giving birth. It reminded me a little of Snow Flower and the Secret Fan with the separation of women and men and the bonds the women form together.

I would only give this book 2 stars. My interest died out at the end. The author is a proclaimed feminist and seemed like a manhater to me. I didn't care for her depictions of a lot of the characters. Although I do have to say that after I went back and read some of the chapters in the Bible, I was amazed that some of the things she had written were actually true and really did happen. So, there you go! :)

Shannan's Review of "Hallelujah"

This book was recommended to me by a friend. It is written by J. Scott Featherstone, and is about Handel and his writing of the "Messiah". While it is based on actual history, there are many characters that are fictional. The author does a good job of explaining what is based on facts and what is not.

It is a long book, over 550 pages, and not an easy read. There is a lot of descriptions, and the plot just does not move quickly. My friend told me it took her half of the book before she got into it, but I never felt like I ever became attached to any of the characters or had a desire to know about anyone other than Handel. I did like it for that reason, and it did make me want to listen to "Messiah" with a new outlook on that amazing work. That was the only reason I kept reading this book. I would give it 2 1/2 stars and wouldn't really recommend it unless you wanted to get some insight into Handel.