Tag Archives: books for young women

The Bridge to Belle Island Book Review

3 Mar

Synopsis:

Lawyer Benjamin Booker has just been publicly humiliated by a beautiful woman. Vowing never to be taken in by a pretty face again, he is relieved to turn his attention to another case. One involving the murder of the law offices senior partners old friend. Both unsatisfied by the progress by Bow Street, Benjamin agrees to start his own investigation, which takes him from London to Belle Island. While he’s glad to be free of London for a while, he finds that the island – isolated on the Thames and veiled in mystery – is home to the beautiful Isabelle.

Isabelle claims to have never left the island in ten years. She’s created a full and productive life in her small world, one that she’s proud of, even if she is ashamed of her fear keeping her trapped. When the handsome lawyer shows up on her doorstep to tell her of her uncle’s death, she’s shocked. But when evidence points to her, Isabelle isn’t sure what to do. Can she trust her own mind? Can she trust the friends surrounding her, or should she trust the handsome Benjamin?

After having read some reviews that were all over the place on how good this book was, I was unsure if I would enjoy it as much as I’ve enjoyed her other books that I’ve read. (for links to those that I’ve reviewed here, they’re at the bottom of this post!).

My review on Goodreads right after I finished it :
Klassen did it again. This murder mystery was so engaging and kept me guessing right up til the end. I liked Benjamin Booker – just out to do the right thing and not get misled again by a pretty face. And while I didn’t understand the given reasons by some of the characters (Isabelle included) held back information about the night in question, it did add to the suspense of it. I admit – I found myself wishing I could live on Belle Island.

This made it on to my FAVORITE Reads of 2020 book list! So even though there were bits that I was scratching my head on, I liked the differences of Klassen’s story line for this murder mystery. I would recommend this for pretty much anyone – although I’d suggest pre-reading it before handing it to a younger teen reader.

Here are links to the other books by Klassen that I’ve reviewed here on SGL!

The Painter’s Daughter

The Secret of Pembrooke Park

Book Review – The Silent Governess

While covering different genres, I do not read anything that has blatant sexual content. I will tell you if there is any sort of such (typically very mild and delicately put) in them and if I don’t think they’d be appropriate for young/teenage readers.

Thanks for stopping by SGL! If you’d like to see what I’m up to on a -slightly – more regular basis, check out my Instagram page.

~Laura

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Book Review – Stepping Heavenward

19 Oct

Stepping Heavenward by Mrs. E. Prentiss is, I feel, a book that every woman should read – no matter their age or where they are in life. It was given to me by some dear friends when I graduated from culinary school and I thoroughly enjoyed  it, and learned from it then. But this time reading it as a wife and sufferer of chronic illness, I feel like I gained so much more from it.

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(side note: I’m currently trying to learn a new image editor… bear with me as I figure it out) 

We watch as Katherine grows from a sixteen year old girl, in the year of 1831, to a woman of God with a husband and children. The trials of life beat against her as she seeks to live her life honoring God.

I marked a few sections that I wanted to share in this review:

“I see now that my first desire has not been to please God but to please myself, for I am restless under His restraining hand and find my prison a very narrow one. I would be willing to bear any other trial if I could only have health and strength for my beloved ones. I pray for patience with bitter tears.”

“The scenes of sorrow through which we have been passing have brought (husband) nearer to me than ever… Besides we have modified each other. (He) is more demonstrative, more attentive to those little things that make the happiness of married life; and I am less childish, less vehement- I wish I could say less selfish, but here I seem to have come to a standstill.”

Trying not to give anything away by taking out the name of her husband!

“Bishop Wilson charges us to bear all things ‘as unto God’ and “with the greatest privacy’. How seldom I have met them save as lions in my way that I would avoid if I could, and how I have tormented my friends by tedious complaints about them! Yet when compared with the great tragedies of suffering I have both witnessed and suffered, how petty they seem!”

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I identified so often with Katherine in the struggles of life and seeking to do the right thing, that I ended the book encouraged in the path. It reminded me that we all grow and change, even if we don’t see that growth. That we are not meant to suffer through life but to thrive and to make our will aligned with His. As I said before, I recommend this book to anyone. Yes it’s written in an older style, as you can see in the sections I shared but how deep and rich a meaning of daily faith is weaved throughout this book.

Also – Elizabeth Elliot even recommended it to “men, who need to better understand the wives they live with, and to any woman who wants to walk with God.” 

~Laura

Have you read this book? what did you think of it? Have you read a book like this, that inspired you? 

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Book Review – Dec 2015

4 Jan

So I admit that I completely forgot about doing this post last month! Oy vay. And then I realized that I also have forgotten to do the Heart of India series review. Oy Vay times two.

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But! I completed my reading challenge on Goodreads! And just in the last few days of December too – click here if you want to see all that I read (and subsequently, all I reviewed here on SGL)

~I have added links to each book to amazon if you want to get one of these books for your very own! Thanks for supporting my blog. ~

God-Fearers – Gentiles and the God of Israel -by Toby Janicki – How do non-Jews participate in the modern revival of the Messianic Jewish? This book  brings together what is known on late Second-Temple Era Judaism and early Christianity to answer this question, and to introduce  those first non-Jewish believers, called God-Fearers.

I reviewed this last month, and my opinion stands now that I’ve finished it!

Chateau of Echoes by Siri L. Mitchell – Frederique Farmer owns her own castle that she’s turned into a bed and breakfast. She doesn’t know that the diaries of a fifteenth-century girl are about to upset her entire life.  Soon she hires a college student and agrees to an American writer being a long-term guest.What happens is more intrigue and possibilities than she ever imagined.

I’m not sure if there is Mitchell novel that I love more than this one. Seriously. I mean, put together reading, writing, cooking, mystery and medieval times? YES. There is some talk of intimacy throughout – it is very delicately put (i mean, come on, I’M reading it) but I do like to tell when it’s present. 

Beauty by Robin Mckinley – Beauty had never had the grace and beauty of her sisters but she tried to make up for it in other ways. Her father was a gentle soul and never noticed the differences between them. But when he came home one day with a story of an enchanted castle and its terrible owner, along with the promise he had had to make, Beauty knows that she is the only one who can go and fulfill the promise. She alone must go to the castle, and to the Beast.

I feel like I’ve been talking about this book for ages without actually having reviewed it here on SGL. I adore this book. Mckinley’s worlds are fantastic – when Beauty is with her family, and then in the castle with the Beast. I never get tired of it. In fact, I still demand quiet in certain parts of the book, savoring them as if it was the first time I’d read it. She wrote another version of this fairy tale and I like it as well but not near as much as this one.

To be a Jew by Rabbi Hayim Halevy Donin – This has been acknowledged as the classic guide – full of information and daily inspiration – to Jewish attitudes, law and philosophy. From Shabbat to Succot, dietary laws to family life, birth to death and mourning, this book shines the light on how to live a devout life.

I will admit that I’m struggling getting through this one. Nothing against the book itself, though. While it is ‘meatier’ than God-Fearers was, it is still very well written. I think it intimidates me a little bit, (yes, books can intimidate!!!) and that alone makes it hard to pick up. I do look forward to working my way through it though.

Under Eastern Stars  and Kingscote (Heart of India series books 2 and 3) by Linda Chaikin — I am going to review these as a whole series.  You do not want to miss it, I enjoy this series so so much.

I can’t believe that I read 5 (and started another) books during the crazy month of December! We made another trip to Powell’s bookstore (miles and miles and stories and stories of any type of book you could want!) so I have added these three books to my to-read list for January:

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien

Dragonhaven by Robin Mckinley (I just cannot get enough of her books!)

It’s always fun to have something new to read, and I now have a little pile growing.

Did you get any books for Christmas or Hanukkah? 

~Laura

 

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Little Blossoms for Jesus

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