It’s another month our challenge: Unlocking Ecclesiastes 3. I’m so excited to join you again this year with guest reviews from our reading challenge participants. If you want to submit a review for upcoming months, feel free to email me using my contact form. If you are looking for reading suggestions, I’ve cultivated a page just for that. (Note that it is still being updated throughout the year, so feel free to message me with suggestions.) I recommend you also checking Inspirational Historical Fiction Index or the Facebook Group Avid Readers of Christian Fiction or my Facebook group Crystal Caudill’s Reading Friends. I’ll also include a short list at the bottom of this post.
Don’t forget to comment at the bottom of the post for your chance to win a book off my prize shelf. *The list of prizes available from my prize shelf can be found here.*
Unlocking the Past: Ecclesiastes 3
Just as Ecclesiastes has two opposites in each verse, most months will leave you with two options to choose from.
August Verse: A time to search and a time to quit searching.
Challenge Theme: A mystery or a theme of someone searching for family
September Verse: A time to tear and a time to mend.
Challenge Theme: A Tailor/Seamstress character
The Lost Melody
by Joanna Davidson Politano
Review by: Crystal Caudill
Joanna Davidson Politano has long been a blow-my-mind-away, favorite author. Her gothic-feeling novels are always so steeped in God that I cannot help but sit in awe and wonder for long moments after. This book was no different, and yet so different. With a plot that takes place mostly in an insane asylum, the setting was unique. While heavy, it also had a beauty to it that I would never have expected. The characters were heart-rending, memorable, and cherished. Every person seemed so real, and each character gave a wholeness of understanding that I’d previously lacked. I’ve grown up surrounded by mental illness, treated and untreated. I know that people are so much more than the labels and struggles they face, but this also brought a new understanding and almost healing to some areas where I still struggle. I had to take the book slowly, but I cannot say enough about just how absolutely beautiful and human each character is–no matter their struggle. This is definitely a book that will stick with me for a long time. No wonder it won a Carol Award. I highly recommend this book to anyone I meet.
Genre: Historical, England 1885
Plot Overview:
When concert pianist Vivienne Mourdant’s father dies, he leaves to her the care of an adult ward she knew nothing about. The woman is supposedly a patient at Hurstwell Asylum. The woman’s portrait is shockingly familiar to Vivienne, so when the asylum claims she was never a patient there, Vivienne is compelled to discover what happened to the figure she remembers from childhood dreams.
The longer she lingers in the deep shadows and forgotten towers at Hurstwell, the fuzzier the line between sanity and madness becomes. She hears music no one else does, receives strange missives with rose petals between the pages, and untangles far more than is safe for her to know. But can she uncover the truth about the mysterious woman she seeks? And is there anyone at Hurstwell she can trust with her suspicions?
Purchase Links:
Amazon | Baker Bookhouse | Barnes & Noble | Christianbook.com
Giveaway
For your chance to win a print copy, comment with what book YOU read for this month. Use the Rafflecopter below for extra entries and to mark that you left a comment. Entries end on the 7th of each month at midnight EST, and the winner will be drawn sometime that week and notified by email. The winner will be announced on the Rafflecopter widget.
*Open to all residents of the contiguous USA, legally able to enter, and an e-book format or Amazon Gift Card will be awarded to those outside that range who are legally able to enter.
Recommendations for September:
- The Seamstress of Acadie by Laura Frantz
- The Paris Dressmaker by Kristy Cambron
- Love from Afar by Penny Zeller
- After a Fashion by Jen Turano
- A Tailor-Made Bride by Karen Witemeyer
- A Heart Most Worthy by Siri Mitchell
I read Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate. It was an interesting book.
I read without a trace by Colleen Coble. I loved the search and rescue dog Samson and the suspense while searching for the missing characters.
I read The Silver Shadow by
Liz Tolsma. It was a mystery & part of the True Colors series, which I’ve been enjoying. 🙂 I’d recommend!
I read Design on a Crime by Ginny Aiken. I’ve had the book for a while and am glad I decided to finally read it! It wasn’t my favorite, but it wasn’t bad either. I’m in the middle of the second book in that series and am liking it more than the first.
I read Footsteps by Diann Mills. It’s about a mother whose husband kidnaps her children. I also just finished Shadows of the White City by Jocelyn Green, which would also fit this theme because the main characters daughter is looking for members of her birth family. I enjoyed both books!
For August, I read Carrie Turansky’s newest book, A Token Of Love. The book had a dual timeline, with the past focusing on one woman’s search for her niece, who disappeared from the London Foundlings’ Hospital, and the present focusing on a woman who works for the Foundlings Hospital Museum. The search is on to make a documentary that will stir the hearts of donors to fund the next year of the museum’s day to day programs for children.
and it was her best book yet! The themes resonated with me because I am adopted. I love how she wove the present and past together to make one cohesive story. She dealt with some very delicate issues with grace and mercy and they were gently and beautifully done. The historical pieces woven in were amazing. Gives you a glimpse into history.
I read A Lady’s Guide to Marvels and Misadventure by Angela Bell. It’s a debut book by the author and she quickly became the type of author who will probably become an auto-buy author for me. The book was so sweet and quirky, I highly recommend it!
I read Murder Goes Caroling by Malissa Chapin.
I’m not sure what I am reading for Sept. The book I am reading right now is When Hope Sank by Denise Weimer and the main female character is shown to be sewing clothes and talks about working for a friend who owns a seamstress shop. I’m only partway through the book though, so I’m not sure if it will count.
I just finished The Berlin Letters, by Katherine Reay. It fits the searching for family prompt, and there’s some mystery as well. Dual time/POV, interesting setting, and I admit that it changed my view of punks in Eastern Europe. I definitely recommend!