Little Men Review

Little Men by Louisa May Alcott is the sequel to Little Women and Good Wives. We follow the boys at Jo & Professor Bhaer’s school at Plumfield. 

I gave this book 3.5 out of 5 stars. I love Alcott’s writing style. It is warm, charming and engaging. Her characters are interesting, funny, sweet, varied and realistic. Reading this is like stepping back in time and experiencing life with people of a different age in the best possible way. The faith element and life lessons are still so beautiful and helpful to read.

This book isn’t as well done as it’s predecessors and I think it has to do with how many children we are trying to follow. In LW & GW we stick to 4 main characters, but here we are following anywhere from 7-15 kids and that leaves very little time to really get to know each one or feel invested in their individual stories. Furthermore, I would have liked to see some of the old familiar characters for an update on their lives, but we don’t get that. It probably didn't help that there is no overarching plot to the book. I found, with no particular destination for the story, it rambled.
Overall, it was an interesting read, if slow and less gripping.

Warrior Maiden Review

The Warrior Maiden by Melanie Dickerson is the eighth book in her Christian historical fairytale retelling Hagenhiem series. This book is a retelling of the Legend of Mulan. 

I gave this book 3 out of 5 stars. It was a quick and interesting read. The writing style is strong and engaging, just as I have come to expect from Dickerson. The characters are well developed, and I enjoyed getting to know them. I still enjoy how she builds the historic setting and weaves her tale into it. I just wish we had seen some of the previous characters and heard a bit of where they are at this point.

Generally, I love retellings, but this one didn’t really do anything for me. It felt too forced, specifically to fit in with the rest of the series. I feel that the story of Mulan is too rooted in its Asian setting to try and move it into another one. Furthermore, I have read a really strong Mulan retelling and this one just wasn’t anywhere near as good.

Overall, I am glad that I read this book, but it just didn’t work for me.

January Overview

Poetry:

Great Poems by American Women edited by Susan Rattiner



Classics:

Little Men by Louisa May Alcott

Jo’s Boys by Louisa May Alcott



Christian Non-fiction:

The Life Giving Table by Sally Clarkson

The Get Yourself Organized Project by Kathi Lipp

Emptied by Wynter & Jonathan Pitt



General Non-fiction:

The Life Changing Magic of Tidying up by Marie Kondo

Decluttering at the Speed of Life by Dana K White



Christian Fiction:

The Wedding Season by Deborah Hale & Louise Gouge (historical)

The Wife Campaign by Regina Scott (historical)

The Husband Campaign by Regina Scott (historical)



General Fiction:

Beneath the Sugar Sky by Seanan McGuire (young adult fantasy)

In an Absent Dream by Seanan McGuire (young adult fantasy)

Supernova by Marissa Meyer (young adult fantasy)

Dreamer’s Pool by Juliet Marillier (adult fantasy)

Fellowship of the Ring by J R R Tolkien (adult fantasy)

How to Date Your Dragon by Molly Harper (adult paranormal)

House Rules by Chloe Chloe Neill (adult paranormal)

How to Run with a Naked Werewolf by Molly Harper (adult paranormal)

Scandal in Spring by Lisa Kleypas (adult historical)

A Diamond for a Duke by Collette Cameron (adult historical)

Little Women Review

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott is a classic book about 4 sisters. It is sometimes divided into two books “Little Women” and “Good Wives”, but I read a copy where these two portions were put together. We follow Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy as they grow up and face life during and after the Civil War in the United States.

I gave this book 5 out of 5 stars. This is simply a wonderful book. I’m not sure there is anything that I would change about it or wish was done differently. For a classic, this is a very easy read. The language and writing style are beautiful yet approachable and easily understandable. I would recommend this for anyone who is just starting with classics.

The characters are all well developed and interesting to follow. They each felt so real that I wished I could meet them in person. I don’t have a particular favorite of the sisters but enjoyed each of their stories immensely.

I love the family dynamic of the story, how different the sisters each were and yet they all had the same strong family and moral foundation that carried them through their lives. It was also nice to see the sisters grow from childhood into adulthood and watch how they dealt with the events of life. The story was funny, heartwarming, sad and beautiful. A must read.

My Foolish Heart Review

My Foolish Heart by Susan Warren is the fourth book in her Christian contemporary Deep Haven series, but can be read as a standalone. We follow Issy, the anonymous Miss Foolish Heart, host of a radio talk show on love and, in reality, a young woman struggling with PTSD and agoraphobia resulting from a car crash that killed her mother and permanently injured her father. When Caleb, a veteran who lost his leg in Iraq, moves in next door and seeks to get his dream job coaching the high school football team (all without people finding out about his injury and avoiding their pity), their lives will collide and neither will be the same again.



I gave this book 2.5 out of 5 stars. It was a “meh” read for me. I had such high expectations for the book and the premise sounded cute and sweet. There were some moments throughout the story that were what I was hoping for and it had a satisfying ending, but there was too much that diminished my enjoyment for me to feel it was worth it.

The secondary romance in the book I really didn’t like. Not only did I dislike the characters themselves, but their plot line. There was just so much wrong there and I don’t want to spoil anything, but it turned me off and pulled me out of the story every time we switched to them.

As for the faith content, it didn’t feel realistic. None of the characters accurately reflected a person walking in faith and all that entails. Some of them claimed to be Christians, but everything they thought and did was so opposite of what we believe. Yes, Christians aren’t perfect and make mistakes, but that is not what was shown here. There were no real differences made in this book between the thoughts and behaviors of these “believing” characters and the non-believers (at least for most of the book). It just felt so fake and like a very bad representation of the Christian life.

My next point is just a pet pieve of mine, so I know it really isn’t so big a deal and may not be a problem for many people. That being said, I really dislike it when people use paraphrases to quote and teach scripture. This bugs me to no end in all Christian literature (fiction and especially non-fiction). It’s not that I want everyone to use one specific translation either, I just want them to use a translation.

Overall, there was great potential with this story and the writing style and characterization are pretty strong, but it just didn’t come close to living up to that.

Shirley Review

Shirley by Charlotte Bronte is a Victorian classic telling the story of two women, Caroline and Shirley, in a country mill town during the Napoleonic war.



I gave this book 5 out of 5 stars. I loved this book. The writing style is wonderful. It does slow me down a bit and require extra focus, but it is absolutely lovely to read. My only problem with the writing is that there are sections of dialogue that are in French (apparently enough of Charlotte’s reading audience understood French for her to do that), but I don’t know French. I found the process of looking up a translation (there wasn’t one in my e-book) pulled me out of the story a bit and majorly slowed down my reading. However, that was only in the first few chapters and it was so worth the effort.

The characters are very well done. I felt invested in them faster than I expected to. They are interesting and endearing and flawed. I found myself eager to know their stories and to see what was going to happen next.

This book was also a fascinating look at the roles and expectations of woman in the early Victorian era. I loved that we got to see many perspectives of the topic: young rich and poor women, matrons and spinsters, as well as many of the male perspectives.

Bronte also gave interesting insight into the effect of the war on trade, both the trade masters and the lower-class workers, as well as the beginnings of industrialization coming at the same time.

This was an absolutely wonderful and captivating read. I can’t believe it has taken me this long to pick it up (especially since Jane Eyre was the first classic I ever read and loved).

Healing the Soldier's Heart Review

Healing the Soldier’s Heart by Lily George is the third book in her Christian historical fiction Brides of Waterloo trilogy. It follows penniless governess Lucy Williams who has resigned herself to a spinster life, her only dreams to maybe one day open her own small school, and Ensign James Rowland a veteran of Waterloo struggling with PTSD in the form of great difficulties in speaking along with guilt from the battle and seeing no purpose for his life. When they are brought together by the veteran’s society of Bath, new life and dreams start to awaken in both of them, but class, position, and disapproving family must be overcome in the battle for happiness.



I gave this book 2.5 out of 5 stars. This was quite the disappointment. I expected there to be a certain amount of instalove, but it was just too much for me. There have been times when I have seen instalove done well, but that was not the case here. Their feelings often baffled me and the unreality of it pulled me out of the story and prevented real connection to the characters. On top of that, the look at being a governess of the time was not authentic. There were hints of truth about what it meant to be a governess in those times, but it was never really shown in Lucy’s experiences (even if in her own perception).  Add to that the introduction of James with his PTSD which is basically cured through love and his beginning an apprenticeship in a craft/ trade where within a month he is building a name for himself. All of these unrealistic circumstances built on top of each other to diminish my enjoyment of the work.

I do like that this was a clean and sweet romance. And who doesn’t like a love that conquers all challenges placed in its way (even if a bit unrealistic)? There is a nice element of faith in it, if a bit less than I personally like to see. This is a quick and light read that might be good for a pick me up, but not when seeking quality writing.

Overall it is just a very predictable, unrealistic and bland historical love story.