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Releasing Janet by Alex Banwell

Oct10

Of Love & Life & Loss

Releasing Janet by Alex Banwell is a powerful and heart-wrenching contemporary Christian novel that consumed me from the start. This book is incredible. It is so good that it is hard to know just what to pick out. It is all excellent.

This is the follow-on book to Just Benny. It can be read as a stand-alone but I recommend reading the books in order for character progression, development and understanding.

Releasing Janet is such a beautiful novel. It is about love, and loss, and a family who lost their way, each living isolated lives but under the same roof. A tragic event tore the family apart. Grief and guilt set in. Everyone stopped talking. Healing halted. Life as they knew it was ripped apart. “She stole our joy, and without her, we only existed.”

It may seem strange to declare a book about loss, ‘beautiful’, but it is. The beauty comes from the love that is found in the purest of hearts – namely children – young Janet and Beth. Their zest for life is infectious and makes the reader smile.

Benny is another character who sees life very much in simplistic terms. He is a sixteen-year-old who has battled epilepsy his whole life. He knows just what he likes and just who he loves. He is a character with a huge hear. He is a gentle soul. It is beautiful to witness his interactions with, and love for, two-year-old Beth.

The focus of this book is Benny’s mother Janet. She has lived life under a cloud since aged eleven. Following a devastating event, Janet has piled guilt on herself. Her guilt has dominated her whole way of thinking and behaving. If only someone had told her the truth when she was eleven, her life would have been so mush easier. As Benny says, we must tell the truth even if it is hard.

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Kalahari Passage by Candi Miller

Oct9

Powerful

Kalahari Passage by Candi Miller is a powerful historical novel. It is the second book in the Koba & Mannie series but can be read as a stand-alone.

The story is set in South Africa during the 1960’s It was a dreadful period with Apartheid. There was so much violence, inequality and prejudice. Persecution and corruption were rife as the white South Africans continually put down the black South Africans. Nowhere was safe from corruption. Candi Miller has captured the horrors of the time.

Kalahari Passage was not an easy read but a necessary one. We must never return to that time, and learn the lessons of history.

Love between the races was prohibited. We follow what can only be described as a Romeo & Juliet romance. Their love is forbidden but the pair fight to be together. There is both a determination and a hope for the future.

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A Sea View Christmas by Julie Klassen

Oct2

Sharing An 1820’s Christmas

A Sea View Christmas by Julie Klassen is a perfectly wonderful Christian Christmas historical novel that I adored. It is the fourth and final book in On Devonshire Shores series but can be read as a stand-alone. I recommend reading the books in order for character development and a linear storyline. However, this is a charming Christmas story, should you only want to read one book!

Each book has focused on a different sister. For this offering, it is hard-working Sarah who puts her family above her own happiness. She is very much a ‘Martha’ character, busy working and life is passing her by. The reader delights as we watch Sarah bud and blossom as she realises that her family is held in God’s hand and her self-sacrifice is not necessary.

There is the theme of taking care of the widows and orphans as extended family open their hearts and homes to those in need.

People arrive as guests to stay at Sea View but quickly become family members as the lost, the lonely and the hurting are given a seat at the table.

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Roxie Applesauce by Tonya L Matthews

Oct1

Dancing In The Light

Roxie Applesauce by Tonya L Matthews is the sequel to Treasures Atop The Mountain but can be read as a stand-alone. I enjoyed reading the books in order for character development and progression.

Roxie Applesauce is a contemporary Christian novel. It is about faith and a God who answers prayer. We are called to pray without ceasing. God will always answer us. Sometimes the answer comes just as we are on the verge of giving up. God will never forget us or our prayers.

The novel is a heartbreaking read as we follow a young girl through her life to the end. We drop in on her over the years. We see the power of the imagination to lift her beyond her circumstances. Raised by cruel grandparents, the reader’s heart just breaks. Every time something good happens to her, her grandparents squash it with unbelievable cruelty. Still, the character maintains her sunny disposition in childhood.

We see she bounces back from the continual knocks until one day, hurt is all she expects. “She wasn’t hallucinating… She hadn’t expected kindness.” Her ending is far nicer than her beginning.

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