Wish upon a star (by Trisha Ashley)

(Amazon UK link)

I'm slightly surprised to learn that it's six years since I first came across Trisha Ashley. I've read five of her books in the intervening years, most of them courtesy of The Bookbag. I find the stories good, if lightweight, with a sometimes humorous touch, and the great benefit of being entirely PG rated. There's no violence, no extreme language, and bedrooms doors - when even mentioned - stay firmly closed.

So when I spotted 'Wish upon a star', complete with Christmassy cover on the Bookbag shelves recently, I jumped at the chance for a little light reading in the festive season.

The book is mostly narrated by Cally, a single mother with a little girl who has a serious heart condition. Her only hope of normality is an expensive operation in the US. It’s a serious subject for a this kind of book, and I suspect it might be uncomfortable reading for anyone who has a child with health problems.

However there's also plenty of everyday life, baking - a regular theme in novels by this author. There's plenty of interaction with a rather overwhelmingly large cast of villagers, and, of course, a light romance. Although the book stands alone, it helped that I had read ‘Chocolate Wishes’ and ‘Chocolate Shoes and Wedding Blues’, since some of the people in those reappeared in this one.

It was a good book to read in a busy period; it took me a while to get into it, but I found myself more and more interested in the various subplots, and thus reading for longer and longer stretches. As always with this author I was mildly irritated by inconsistent use of tenses, but this is less pronounced in this book than in some others. I also felt that some of the day-to-day discussions and repeated activities could have been shortened somewhat - but I don't mind skimming, and I know many readers enjoy this kind of down-to-earth detail.

Overall I enjoyed this book, and would recommend it to anyone who likes light women’s fiction with a more serious undercurrent and a satisfying (if predictable) ending. Available in both paperback and Kindle form, on both sides of the Atlantic.

My longer review of 'Wish upon a star' is now available at The Bookbag.

21 days of faith challenge (by Shelley Hitz)

(Amazon UK link)

I had never heard of Shelley Hitz. Apparently she's a young and entrepreneurial writer in the US who self-publishes a large number of inspirational and devotional books.

I came across this book, which was free for my Kindle, a few months ago and have read it over the past month or so. '21 days of faith challenge' consists of twenty-one short chapters, theoretically to be read one per day, on the subject of faith, from a Christian perspective. It actually took me about a month to complete as I didn't get to it daily.

I thought that it was quite interesting in places, nicely structured and clearly written, although each section was really very brief. It didn't contain anything particularly new or inspiring, but was gently encouraging and - on occasion - thought-provoking.

There are quotations from the Bible as well as descriptions of the author's personal struggle with issues of faith over the years, and brief challenges to ponder.

I was supposed to keep a record of my journey. But although I liked the idea at first, I didn't really find that there was much of a journey. It was light and friendly, but not in fact very challenging, although overall I enjoyed reading it. The end of the book has an introduction to a '21 days of gratitude challenge', but I didn't download that one... although I might at some point.

I would recommend this book in a low-key way to anyone wanting a boost to their faith, or even a fresh look at what it means to have faith in God. It's no longer free, but still fairly inexpensive in Kindle form. It is also available as a paperback, and the Amazon link above is to that version, but note that it really is a very short book. 

Review copyright Sue's Book Reviews

Wannabe a writer? (by Jane Wenham-Jones)

(Amazon UK link)

The author Jane Wenham-Jones has apparently published four novels. I have not read any of them. However, I came across several reviews of her non-fiction book 'Wannabe a writer?' some years ago. It was recommended in a writing magazine, and also on various writing blogs which I follow. I added it to my wishlist and then almost forgot about it.

Browsing another site, I spotted the book 'Wannabe a writer we've heard of?', at an excellent price, second-hand. I assumed it was an updated version and bought it. I discovered, rather rapidly, that it was not what I expected. While full of helpful advice about publicity and networking, it wasn't the general guide to being a writer which I had expected. Disappointment set in - shortly followed by relief as I found the book I actually wanted, on special offer (free) in Kindle form. It was the work of a moment to download it, although it's taken me many months actually to finish reading it.

Rather different to this average book about writing, 'Wannabe a writer?' is full of anecdotes, humour - some of it rather risqué - and a great deal of advice to drink heavily and eat a lot of chocolate. Clearly not all to be taken seriously, but I found it very readable and quite inspiring in places.

The author doesn't try to inflate her experiences or suggest that getting published is just a matter of hard slog and brilliance; nor does she focus much on layouts or grammar or even how to construct plots. Instead she looks at reasons why people might become writers, and suggests pretty much any outlet (greetings cards, film strips, restaurant critiques...) rather than producing a novel.

There's a tongue-in-cheek quiz that attempts to separate the wannabes from the real writers (I scored right in the middle, with potential but not much more), a serious recommendation to surround oneself with friends called Lynne, and plenty of discussion about how to get organised - or not, how to find a time and place to write, how to cope with family life and keeping a house... and so on.

Then there's some general good advice to those who are determined to go ahead, including the standard recommendations for what a novel is about, punctuated with more anecdotes and suggestions. Then towards the end there is a brief overview of how to get published. Perhaps.

I read the first half of this book in just a few days, thoroughly enjoying the lightweight style and ironies, before getting a bit bogged down in the final chapters. I did not realise (a disadvantage of a Kindle freebie) that the end of the book is simply pages and pages of quotations about writing, from other writers. So eventually I read the first twenty or so then got bored, and skipped through the rest, only to discover that I had reached the end of the book.

This is worth perusing by anyone who is interested in an honest, often self-deprecating account of the life of a writer, with some frivolous humour, some moderate bad language, and much that should undoubtedly be taken with a huge pinch of salt. Available in book and Kindle form on both sides of the Atlantic; the Kindle version is much better value but no longer free.

Review copyright Sue's Book Reviews

The unquenchable worshipper (by Matt Redman)

(Amazon UK link)

I don't know how long I've been aware of Matt Redman. He's a well-known contemporary Christian song-writer and worship leader in the UK, living with his family near the south coast. Nor do I remember how I first heard of this book, or how it ended up on my private wishlist. All I know is that I spotted it, used, at an excellent price on play.com and ordered it along with a few other items a while ago.

'The unquenchable worshipper' is a short book written in 2001, although it's not the kind of book that will go out of date. The subtitle is 'Coming back to the heart of worship', a line from one of Matt Redmond's better-known songs. The book has just ten chapters, none of them more than ten pages long,  so it was quite an easy read. I could have finished it in an hour or two if I had read it in one sitting.

Each brief chapter looks at different aspects of worship and what is meant by the word, with titles such as 'the undivided worshipper', 'the unveiled worshipper', and so on. The author writes from his heart, recounting some of the struggles he has experienced over the years. He also describes some of the changes he has seen in his life, despite always feeling that he has a long way to go.

In each chapter he looks briefly at some Biblical examples of worship. These include singing sometimes, but also a variety of other expressions. He does this in the context of what he means by each of the different adjectives to describe worship. It's not heavy teaching, but general reference.

There wasn't anything particularly new to me. But overall I thought the book was quite encouraging and inspiring, in a low-key kind of way. Interestingly, while it no longer appears to be in print in the UK, it's available currently both in paperback and Kindle form in the US.

Review copyright Sue's Book Reviews

The daily walk Bible NLT: 31 Days with Jesus

(Amazon UK link)

I am always interested in free ebooks for the Kindle, and peruse the offers from time to time. I thought this looked interesting when I spotted it in the Christian section on Amazon UK, and the Amazon US reviews were mostly positive.

'The daily walk Bible NLT: 31 Days with Jesus' is - as I discovered when I started it - published by the people responsible for the 'Walk thru the Bible' program. That is a great way of encouraging people to remember key points from either the Old or New Testament. It has actually taken me rather longer than 31 days to read this book, because I didn't remember on several days.

Overall, I thought it a good idea. It covers all four gospels with 3-4 chapters each day, in the New Living Translation, plus 'insights', notes and and an overview at the beginning of each day's readings. There isn't anything particularly different or new in them, but it was good to read the gospels in chunks like this. It meant covering one account after another, over the run-up to Christmas.

This ebook is apparently taken from a full 'Daily walk Bible' which covers the entire Bible in a year, and is - in a sense - an advert or taster for it. The idea, in my opinion, is good.

Unfortunately the Kindle version of this book has rather poor formatting problems. There are enormous, page-sized letters at the headings of the different sections, and (at the other extreme) little overview tables that are too tiny to read. It also has what appear to be hyperlinks within the text to other parts of the Bible. But they do not work, as it's just an excerpt. Unfortunately, the editor did not think of removing these, which was a bit annoying.

So while I would recommend the concept and content in a low-key way, the formatting lets it down quite badly. I imagine that the full version as a printed book would be a great deal better. This 31 days version is, as far as I can tell, only available as an e-book.

Review copyright Sue's Book Reviews

Clover (by Susan Coolidge)

(Amazon UK link)

I first came across Susan Coolidge when I was six (and given one of her books). But I had no idea, until recently, that her classic series about the Carr family (beginning with 'What Katy Did') had more than three books. Since they were written at the end of the 19th century they are all out of print, and thus available free from Project Gutenberg (and elsewhere) for the Kindle and other devices.

'Clover' is the fourth in the series,. Following on from 'What Katy Did Next' it begins with the preparations for Katy's wedding to Ned. Katy wants everything as simple as possible, and her family are willing to comply.

However, this book is about Clover, second in the family, and after Katy's wedding the oldest 'Miss Carr'.  The bulk of the book is about Clover travelling to Colorado with Phil, youngest of the family. He is a teenager but quite sickly, and his father wants him to have some good mountain air.  So the two travel into the unknown - albeit accompanied initially by friends - and take up residence in a small town called St Helen's.  

There's a lot of observation of scenery which I skimmed, but I particularly enjoyed a few amusing passages with Mrs Watson, a querulous elderly lady who was supposed to be helping the two young people... but who turns out to be more of a burden than a blessing.

It's (unsurprisingly) rather dated by now, so it makes good social history; even when written it would have been quite educational, describing as it does the features of Colorado that are so new and exciting to Clover and Phil, as seen through their eyes.

I have no idea why it was not in print when I was younger as it's a pleasant read, even though Katy does not feature heavily, but she appears more than once and I liked catching up with her, so to speak. I quite enjoyed getting to know Clover in her own right too, and was pleased when several young men start to pay attention to her, later in the book.

I assume that this was originally intended for teenagers, but suspect that nowadays it's of more interest to adults like me who grew up reading the 'Katy' trilogy and always hoped for more.

Definitely best to have read the 'Katy' books first. But for anyone who has read and liked them, I would certainly recommend this. Note that the link above is to a paperback version - it has at last been reprinted in book form - but there are several editions of the e-book of 'Clover' available at Amazon and elsewhere, mostly inexpensive or free.

Review copyright Sue's Book Reviews.

Christmas at Rosie Hopkins' Sweet Shop (by Jenny Colgan)

(Amazon UK link)

I hadn't read anything by Jenny Colgan until earlier this year, when I read - and enjoyed - 'The Loveliest Chocolate Shop in Paris'. So when I spotted another of her novels on the Bookbag shelves, it was the work of a moment to ask if I could review it. I was delighted to receive a very attractive hardback, just the thing to read in the run-up to Christmas.

The story is about Rosie Hopkins who lives with her boyfriend Stephen in the village of Lipton. Rosie is a town girl who came to look after her great aunt Lilian a year or so previously. Lilian has moved to a lovely care home, and Rosie runs her traditional sweet shop. Chocolate and sweets seem to be a theme in Jenny Colgan's books.

This book is actually a sequel to one with an equally unwieldy title, ‘Welcome To Rosie Hopkins' Sweetshop Of Dreams’. However, as the author tells us in a prologue, it doesn’t matter. She gives a quick overview of the first book, explaining all that needs to be known, and indeed it proved to be sufficient - mostly. I could get right into the story immediately, but there were some moments when I felt a bit like a newcomer in a room of old friends.

The story moves forward apace, balancing Rosie’s worries with her day-to-day work, and Stephen’s early days as a teacher in the local primary school. The small village setting means that everyone knows everyone else, and it was easy to feel almost as if I were a part of Rosie’s life for a few weeks.

While most of the minor characters are somewhat caricatured, and the plot is full of dramatic, even clichéd situations - including: a nerdy child whose ‘earth mother’ is about to have a new baby, a lovely gay doctor, , a confused elderly man, a threat to the school - it’s a very readable book with one or two quite moving sections.

Fluffy chick-lit? Undoubtedly. It was well-written, and mildly amusing in places, with a bonus of no explicit intimacy, despite a bit more bad language than I’m comfortable with. All in all, it was a pleasant read which I enjoyed, with the added bonus of some simple sweet recipes at the back.

Recommended if you enjoy this kind of light women's fiction. Available in Kindle form as well as hardback; it will be released in paperback too at the end of 2014.

You can also read my longer review of 'Christmas at Rosie Hopkins' Sweet Shop' on the Bookbag site.

Church: Why Bother? (by Philip Yancey)

(Amazon UK link)

Looking for something relatively light-weight on our Christian shelves, I picked this book up. I like Philip Yancey's writing, and this is a short book - only 100 pages. It's on a topic that really doesn't go away - how important is 'the church' (whatever we mean by that word) in the life of a Christian?

It's nearly eight years since I first read 'Church: Why bother?' which is subtitled, 'My personal pilgrimage.' I don't think I've come to any conclusions or found any answers to the underlying large question, and hoped this book might help me focus better, perhaps providing some straightforward and Biblical solutions.

Unfortunately, it really didn't. Not that I had any problems with the book; it was very readable, with some personal anecdotes charting the author's upbringing in a fundamentalist and racist church, his move right out of church life for a while, and his gradual return and increased commitment. He gives plenty to think about too: the importance of support within the Body of Christ, and the necessity for being part of a community for all kinds of good reasons, even when one is an Introvert.

He also demonstrates how important it is to accept each other as the flawed individuals we are, to love rather than criticise those who make mistakes, or sing out of tune, or give boring monologues. And I totally agree with almost everything he says... except that he doesn't answer the question that torments so many: is it important - or indeed necessary - to attend a particular congregational meeting on a Sunday morning every week (or as often as possible).

If it's possible to experience Christian community in small groups, and other activities, and if we feel closer to God on our own, or with just one or two people and if we can contribute to the life of the Body without actually being present on a Sunday morning, is it actually constructive for those who find the whole structured service thing tedious and irrelevant?

This question really isn't answered; the author makes what felt to me like an illogical assumption, that 'going to church' was synonymous with 'being part of the church'. For many, the two are quite different.

Still, the writing is good, and there are many good points made so I thought it still worth re-reading. Recommended in a low-key kind of way for anyone interested in this topic.

Note that this book, first published in 1998, is still available on both sides of the Atlantic, and can now also be bought in Kindle form.

Review copyright Sue's Book Reviews

Gemma (by Noel Streatfeild)

(Amazon UK link)

I discovered Noel Streatfeild as a child, and collected as many of her books as I could. They are mostly heart-warming stories about ordinary families, usually including at least one exceptionally talented child. Her best-known book is probably the classic Ballet Shoes, but the ones I liked best, and re-read most frequently, were the four stories about the Robinson family.

The first of these is ‘Gemma’; my copy tells me that I acquired the book when I was 11, in 1971, and that I last read it (along with its sequels) in 1984. I was startled to find that it was so long ago, but I read it so many times in my teens that I still recalled most of the story. It was written as a contemporary novel in 1968, and it very much reflected everyday life as I knew it, as a child in that era.

The Robinson family, when we meet them, are struggling financially. Philip, the father, has had to give up his position as first violin in a top orchestra, due to rheumatic pains in his fingers. His wife, Alice, has started a part-time job, and his three children are told that they must give up their various ‘extras’. Lydia, the middle child, is a typical Streatfeild ballet dancer with a great deal of determination and considerable ‘promise’. Robin, the youngest, tries for a scholarship with a cathedral choir school and Ann, the 11-year-old sensible eldest, sighs as she realises that she must put off her dream of singing and piano lessons until her father is better.

Into this family arrives cousin Gemma, who has had a very different lifestyle so far as a child film star. She has no siblings and her parents are divorced; she has never been to school, and has been showered with every luxury. Now her mother is going abroad and Gemma is at the wrong age for films… so she feels very low, and has no desire at all to fit in with the cousins she has never met, in the house which she perceives as small and poky…

Of course, things work out; Gemma, at heart, is much nicer than she first appears, and the Robinsons are a warm and mostly contented family who do all they can to welcome and accept her. It’s a nice tale of maturing friendships and self-discovery, as Gemma finds that there are more important things in life than money and nice clothes. Not that any of them despise money: there’s a delightful interlude in the middle of the book, which I had forgotten about, when Gemma’s mother pays for them all to take an idyllic three-week holiday on a farm in Devon.

Re-reading it in the last couple of days, I realise again that what matters most to me in any book is the characterisation. I could picture the whole family in my mind; I could almost hear their voices in my head. Streatfeild doesn’t weigh down her readers in descriptions, but the interactions between people feel realistic, and perhaps evocative of my own childhood. Admittedly such an excess of talent in three siblings - with a very ordinary mother - is unlikely, but that’s a premise we are given in the first chapter. The rest follows.

I know most modern children want faster-paced books with lots of excitement and suspense; but for those who are eclectic readers, enjoying the classics and mid-century novels of my own childhood, i would highly recommend this book. Ideal for fluent readers of about eight and upwards, or as a bedtime read-aloud. Or, indeed, for adults like me wanting a bit of nostalgia.

Highly recommended.

The 'Gemma' series was republished in 1999 in rather garish colours, with a change of name for the two final books of the series. While not currently in print, they can often be found second-hand in a variety of different covers.

Review copyright Sue's Book Reviews

Can you keep a secret? (by Sophia Kinsella)

(Amazon UK link)

I discovered Sophie Kinsella relatively recently; after many years of disparaging this classic ‘chick-lit’ writer, I was finally persuaded to read one of her books - and loved it. Gradually I’ve collected and read almost everything else she has written, thanks to charity shops and church bookstalls. 

While Kinsella's books are undoubtedly fluffy and somewhat unbelievable, she has a great writing style with a lot of ironic humour. She doesn’t get bogged down in descriptions or detail, and her bedroom scenes, thankfully, are usually behind closed doors.

So when I saw ‘Can you keep a secret?’ in a charity shop a few months ago, I had no hesitation in buying it. This is the story of Emma, a young assistant in a fictional organisation known as Panther, which produces soft drinks, chocolate bars and more. In the first chapter we find her at a business meeting where she is supposed to be bringing closure to a deal that can’t possibly go wrong, only to have it fall apart as she watches. She doesn’t actually have any idea what’s going on…. and then she makes it worse.

A friendly and sympathetic air hostess offers her an upgrade to business class on her return flight, but despite her comfortable seat, there is serious turbulence, so much so that Emma is convinced that the plane is going to crash. She panics and starts talking randomly to the man sitting next to her, spurting out all her secrets. Nothing major… just faked exam results, posh label clothes bought at charity shops, pretences about her weight... and many more intimate details that would not normally be disclosed even to a close friend.

Then the plane lands, and Emma assumes that she will never meet this man again. But then, if that happened, there would be no story.

The majority of the plot revolves around a slow and very tentative friendship that develops when they do in fact meet again, and discover that they are perhaps the only two people around who are honest about their feelings. Although even he seems to be keeping a lot of secrets…

It’s nicely done, with some amusing caricatures amongst the minor characters in this novel, and some interesting friends and relatives. Emma’s confessions return to haunt her in more ways than one, and the growing relationship is, inevitably, hindered in a variety of ways, most of them unexpected. 

Of all the books I’ve read by Sophie Kinsella this is the one that most closely resembles a classic boy-meets-girl story with a predictable ending, even though much of what happens during the story is far from predictable. And while Emma reminded me more than once of Kinsella’s most famous heroine, Becky Bloomfield of Shopaholic fame, she is far more careful with her money and less inclined (other than when flying) to make spontaneous decisions that she later regrets.

It’s not great literature but it was an amusing book to read at bedtime over a few days, and I found myself reading several chapters at a time towards the end, eager to know how things would pan out. There’s more bad language than I’m comfortable with, but not enough to be seriously overdone. And while the inevitable intimate scenes take place, as expected, off the pages of the book, there’s what seems to me a rather exaggerated amount of discussion about sex, and a rapidity about embarking on it which surprised me, despite my familiarity with modern fictional heroines who seem to have little else on their minds.

There’s an underlying theme about the importance of honesty in relationships, which raises this somewhat above the level of typical chick-lit. On the whole I’d recommend it if you want something light and undemanding and don't object to the somewhat 'adult' nature of much of the dialogue.

Review copyright Sue's Book Reviews