The Children And The Blood Review

This time I’m going to review The Children and The Blood by Megan Joel Peterson.

Ashley lived her life comfortable on a farm with her sister, Lilly, and her father. She never left the farm, but she didn’t feel the need. Everything changes when bad men come and burn down the farm and kill everyone. Ashley and Lilly barely escape with the help of a random boy named Cole, who is on the run for different reasons. Those men will stop at nothing to capture Ashley or Lilly. The police won’t help. All their family is dead. They have nowhere to turn to, but they have to keep running.

It took me awhile to actually get into this book. The biggest thing that bothered me is the writer kept switching between third person limited (where the narration is closely connected to only one character’s perspective) and third person omniscient (where the narrator knows the thoughts and feelings of every character). Mostly, I think this book was supposed to be third person limited, but every so often there would be lines or paragraphs that didn’t fit. For example, with third person limited, when Ashley’s dad would be referred to, he should have always been ‘her dad,’ ‘her father,’ etc. but constantly he is referred to as ‘Patrick.’ Now if she actually called her dad ‘Patrick,’ then it would be okay for him to be referred to as that.

Getting past all that, the writing was pretty good. The descriptions were excellent and the flow was really nice. Sometimes it might have gotten a bit wordy, but it wasn’t a huge deal. Once I got into the book, the writing seemed to pick up even more.

Character-wise, I thought Ashley was a bit of a flat character. I liked her, but she didn’t really seem to have much of a personality. Sure, her situation could account for some of that because she is in ‘run for your life’ mode most of this book, so she’s mostly running on impulse.

I really liked Lilly, but at some points I thought she almost acted a bit older than she was. This partly could do with the fact that Cole thought she was six when we later find out that she is eight. She’s so adorable though.

I also thought Cole was a great character. He definitely had more personality that Ashley and I found myself enjoying the chapters about him more than the ones about Ashley. I am glad that he wasn’t smarter than he should have been. By this, I mean he didn’t all of a sudden know how to survive when thrust into this situation, while he had no prior experience with being on the run.

I really like that the author did include chapters that were in the perspective of others besides just Ashley and Cole. This helped add more depth to the book. It also gave just enough snippets of information to keep me satisfied until everything starts to become clearer.

Once this book got going, I started to enjoy it more, but I really struggled with it at first. I mostly just kept reading because I hate to not finish a book and I just need to get through it so I could start another book. I am still debating if I want to continue with the series. There were a bunch of interesting aspects to the backstory and I really think the next books could be interesting, but I don’t know if I’m willing to risk it quite yet.

At Every Turn Review

This time, I’m going to review At Every Turn by: Anne Mateer.

It’s 1916 and missionaries serving in Africa come to Ally’s church. She’s struck by the little faces presented in pictures. She wants to help and ambitiously pledges three thousand dollars. However, getting the money isn’t as easy as she expected, so she hatches a plan and secretly competes in her dad’s racecar. No one can find out she is actually a girl and keeping the secret becomes increasingly difficult. To top it off, she’s doesn’t know if she’d lost sight of God’s will in her excitement for the races.

This book was a really refreshing read for me. Originally, I picked it up in a time that I wasn’t really in the mood for Christian Fiction. (As you can see by my many other reviews prior to this one, I have been going through a bit of a YA faze.) This book was left stranded on my ‘currently reading’ list for weeks and I was stuck in the first few chapters. This is not at all a reflection on the book because once I picked it up again, I was really pleasantly surprised by it.

The characters in this book really felt like real people that were struggling through their real problems. The main character, Ally, struggled through indecision and trying to follow God’s plan. Like so many of us, she didn’t take the time to really wait on God, but forged ahead. Her journey felt so real to me.

I really enjoyed that Ally was a Christian from the beginning. Many of the Christian Fiction books I read deal with people finding God throughout the book, but it’s nice that she struggled through many of the things I struggle though. It’s really refreshing to find a book that really showed a girl with her heart in the right place still making the mistakes that we as Christians can often make.

The romance in this book was really sweet, but not overdone. It really was in the background and the book dealt more with Ally’s growth. Ally really felt like a real person through the relationships she had. She was just oblivious enough that I could identify with her innocence, but she wasn’t so ignorant that I got annoyed. Anne Mateer did an amazing job writing characters that really came off the page and felt like they could be people I would meet in life.

This book also had some moments that really resonated with me. There was a lot of good Godly wisdom in this book. Here are some of the lines I couldn’t help but read a few times over.

“Do you think the Lord takes note of us only after we turn to Him? No, He woos us through our whole lives.”

“But even when we love the Lord we won’t live a sinless life, though we try. The key is recognizing our wrong. Repenting, as you have done. Then moving forward with a lesson learned.”

“We all have a call from God. And it will always seem a strange call to some. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t our purpose and calling. And it doesn’t mean it isn’t a valid occupation.”

“But be very sure that is the Lord’s direction and not your own desire, Alyce. Sometimes our motives get so tangled up it’s hard to discern the difference.”

The Faerie War Review

Next up on the review-agenda is The Faerie War by: Rachel Morgan.

The world has fallen apart and destruction is all that remains. Everyone is in hiding, but Violet can’t remember anything about what happened to cripple the world. Actually, she can’t remember much of anything. She finds herself at the mercy of the reptiscillas, who all seem to hate her for being a guardian – whatever that means. Through it all, she has to find a way to figure out her role in the fight to save the world.

To be completely honest, my feelings on this book are mixed. I’m just getting off the high of the amazing last two thirds of the book, but I really struggled with the start of this book. It’s really frustrating to go into the book with the main character knowing nothing. I think stories with the amnesia aspect can be really great, but when I have read through two whole books and know a whole lot about the character and her experiences, it gets kind of frustrating to have her be so ignorant. So many times I wanted to scream at her to fill in the blanks to her memory, but of course that wouldn’t work.

Once you get past Part 1, it gets a lot better. I’m so glad Rachel Morgan decided to give Ryn his own time to shine (Part 2 was in his point of view). Things really started picking up later into the book and I couldn’t put it down, but I really had to force myself to get through the first of it. I even had to put it down and pick up another book before I felt I could continue with this one.

Getting past that first part, the book is definitely worth it. There was a really satisfying conclusion to the book and it didn’t seem cheesy, or like it was too easy for what happened to actually have happened. Sorry if this is a bit confusing, I’m trying to be vague.

I still really love Violet as a character, even though she can’t remember anything. She is still true to herself and she may not remember why she is the way she is, but she doesn’t drastically change, which I really like. I’m really glad Rachel Morgan decided to handle Violet’s case of amnesia this way. She really did an excellent job writing Violet without her memory. I think it was just my personal preference that made it more painful to read Violet without her memory.

Ryn is such an amazing character and I love him so much! Going into this book series, I really hated him at first, which is what you are supposed to do, but I really enjoyed seeing him grow and change throughout this series. He is just so good for Violet as well. I am so glad that Rachel Morgan didn’t make him push Violet too hard when she didn’t remember him. It’s a terrible position that he was in, but Rachel Morgan did an excellent job with writing the new dynamic to Ryn and Violet’s relationship.

This book series is really worth the read. I really loved it. Sadly, each book had a piece that bothered me, so they couldn’t rank as high as my absolute favorites, but it came pretty close. I’m excited that this world will be continued on in the next book series arch about Calla. I just might have to finish decompressing from this one before I start the next.

The Reckoning Review

Today I am going to review The Reckoning by: MaryLu Tyndall (my favorite author, by the way).

Morgan Shaw just learned she has liver cancer and to make matters worse her boyfriend broke up with her because he couldn’t deal with it. Stuck at a tall-ship festival and trying to avoid her ex, she scurries down to the bowels of the ship, only to reemerge 300 years in the past. Can she come to terms with time travel? Will the hansom rouge Rowin steal her heart? Will she let him? As everything spins out of Morgan’s control, she has to find the strength to let go and allow God to lead her.

MaryLu Tyndall doesn’t disappoint. I really loved this book. I love how MaryLu can add so much depth to the story by her detailed descriptions. Everything flows amazingly well and I can always get so wrapped up in the story.

I loved how MaryLu really worked hard to mesh the two times together. So many times, no one could understand what Morgan was saying because she would talk about something from the 21^st century or use our language. To me, what she said seemed so natural, but it definitely wouldn’t have to someone from 1694.

I really found myself identifying with Morgan. The message in this book about trusting God really resonated with me. More than any of MaryLu’s other books, this one really stuck me and made me take a closer look at how little I am willing to relinquish control to God. Morgan and her control issues were beautifully written.

Rowin was a great bad-boy. I really enjoyed seeing him change throughout this book, but I almost wish I could see more of his transformation later on in the book. I could see him growing all along, but then he seems to go the last mile in his character growth so suddenly. Regardless of this, I still loved him as a character and his role in the book.

I totally understand why it took so long for Moran to come to grips with being transported in time, but I almost wish she got over it a bit more quickly. I liked her as a character from the beginning, but I felt my patience for her whining wearing a bit thin. However, if she came to realize she was actually in 1694 earlier, she wouldn’t be able to brave nearly as much and I absolutely loved seeing this side of her from the beginning. It showed the potential of what she could become if not for her OCD and anxiety.

Lastly, my only real problem with the book is the time travel aspects. This isn’t really a complaint of how MaryLu tackled it because she did an excellent job combining the two worlds, but it has more to do with the theories of time travel. I was going to try and write out some of my thoughts on how the timeline would be affected with Morgan’s traveling back, but that would take way too much time and it would probably be more confusing than helpful. Let’s just say, I feel like some things couldn’t have happened as they did based on some of the theories of time travel, but that could just be because of how I think time travel should work and what theory I get behind.

Oh! Also, I was so ecstatic when Charlisse and Merrick made an appearance in this book! Having loved them ever since I read The Redemption years ago, I couldn’t be any happier to see that they are still doing well. It really was like getting to catch up with old friends.

Here are some of my tweets from right after I finished the book, just to show a bit of my initial thoughts shortly after I read the last page.

I just finished The Reckoning by @MaryLuTyndall and it was amazing! I cannot put to words how this book has already impacted me.

— Savannah Rohleder (@smrsis248) June 22, 2015

I totally burst with excitement when Charlisse and Merrick made an appearance in The Reckoning! It was like old friends came to visit.

— Savannah Rohleder (@smrsis248) June 22, 2015