Robin Jones Gunn: Tea with Elephants

By Kelly Bridgewater

Ever since they met as teenagers volunteering at a conference center in Costa Rica 20 years ago, Fern Espinoza and Lily Graden have shared a close friendship, even though they live in different states. They can hardly believe it when their teen dream of traveling to Africa together becomes a reality. It's the trip of a lifetime--but life sure isn't what they thought it would be back when they were young.

Along with their suitcases, each woman brings along emotional baggage that weighs heavily on them. Yet the people they meet and the places they experience have the power to change their hearts--but only if they surrender to the lessons God wants to teach them in this unexpected land of emerald tea fields, graceful giraffes, and rambunctious elephants.

Pack your bags and get ready for adventure as Robin Jones Gunn invites you on a safari of the heart in this vulnerable exploration of how to move forward in faith even when the future is uncertain.

 

My Thoughts:

Tea with Elephants by Robin Jones Gunn reminded me a lot of her Sisterchicks series. I have loved Gunn's writing since I picked up True Friends with Christy and Katie back in high School. Now almost an empty-nester myself, there is a lot of changes coming to my life soon. It is nice to see Gunn create characters who are teenagers and handling that part of their life, then she moves into young adults, then adults, then late thirties adults. With Tea with Elephants, I enjoyed the concept and the characters, but the story really did not capture my attention. It read more like Fern's opinions on her trip. A journal entry of every day. Her thoughts. Her actions. Her descriptions. Once in a while, Gunn would thrown something to move the plot along, but I wanted more in-depth. Sometimes we had discussions between Lily and Fern, but since they were good friends, it took them a long time to allow their own walls to come down and be honest with each other. I found that odd. If they had been such good friends for a long time. Why didn't they share their woes on the plane to Africa or as soon as they entered their first cabin. Why keep it hidden from each other? Gunn does a wonderful job at describing the setting. If readers are interested in Africa, this might help hold the thirst at bay. For me, I have no desire to visit Africa, so it did not seem like a place I wanted to visit. Overall, Tea with Elephants by Robin Jones Gunn is a good friendship story, but the story lacked the movement of what I wanted to see when two friends are spending time on the side of the world.

I received a complimentary copy of Tea with Elephants by Robin Jones Gunn from Revell Publishing, but the opinions stated are all my own.

My Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Purchase Tea with Elephants

Election Woes

By Kelly Bridgewater

I know I have said this before, but please vote for a better president than Joe Biden.

He has raised the cost of living, house costs, gas / energy costs, taxes, grocery costs, etc . . . where the average American can not keep up.

All working for less than $20 an hour.

Do NOT say go to college and get a degree.
I have a Bachelor’s and a Master’s Degree, and I do NOT earn $20 an hour.

But this is the best job that I could find. Pension plan. Retirement plan. Paid sick and vacation time. Time off during Christmas to New Years. Don’t have to work weekends except in June.

Most jobs around me are offering less than $15 an hour, and they want you to sell your soul to the company.

No more 9 – 5 with weekends off.

No more pension plans.

No reasonable health care costs. If I added my family to my work’s health care, it would cost me $700 a month. That is almost one entire paycheck. I can’t live off the same amount for the other half.

Older Boomers have it made. Yes, I know this does not apply to everyone. But still.

They have houses paid in full that they paid $15,000.

They worked for 40 plus years at one company that gave them a very NICE pension to retire with.

Now their houses are worth at least half a million.

They want our generation to purchase these houses at 15 times or more of their actual value when we make next to nothing.

I have heard it said that we are in a Great Depression, but most young kids don’t realize it because they make payments and have credit cards. It will catch up with them one day.

Should not be drinking NASTY Starbucks.

Not going out to eat.

Or having a eight bedroom house when they are just married with granite countertops and a brand new car in the driveway.

You have to save and slowly build what you have. Just like my grandparents did.

Luckily, no debt except the house, which is ONE year away from being paid off. Thank GOD!!!

We need to remove the 99 percent of the people in the White House and start over.

Stop allowing old people that are wealthy taking away our futures.

We need men and women who represent the hurt that we are feeling as a look over generation. Even though, they want us to fund Urkaine’s war and give out small amount of money to the illegal immigrants that need to GO HOME!!!!!!

What about you? Feeling the squeeze and depression that you have nothing? Then prove it!

Vote for someone else better in office this November.

Kara Swanson: Ignite

By Kelly Bridgewater

About the Book

Book: Ignite

Author: Kara Swanson

Genre: YA Fantasy

Release Date: August 20, 2024

Can Mara survive in a world where the fire in her veins is worth killing for?
 
In a frozen wasteland suffocating beneath a dying sun, Mara is a young phoenix raised by her father to explode at his command. He’s the only one who can help her control her fire, and Mara desperately follows his orders to protect their phoenix family from relentless human hunters.

Her sheltered existence is shattered when her family mysteriously vanishes, thrusting Mara into a perilous quest to find them. Along the way, she unravels a devastating truth: her people may not be the innocent victims she's been taught to believe.

When she comes face-to-face with the kindhearted Eli, she begins to wonder if the humans aren’t the monsters she's always feared. What if the greatest danger doesn’t lie in the icy world outside—but in the truth of who Mara really is?

Fire and ice collide in this thrilling tale of a phoenix girl born with the power of a dying sun.

 

My Thoughts:

Ignite by Kara Swanson is an original, unpredictable tale of phoenixes. As the story starts, there is really nothing happening. Swanson sets up the setting and allowing Mara, the heroine, to show her storyworld. But of course, she has to do something that shoves her out of her comfort zone. She goes an adventure to find her true self and discover what her family actually is. After the first twenty percent of the novel, the story becomes interesting, and I wanted to see Mara succeed. Once Mara hits the climactic moment, it started to remind me of Satan and his followers and how they choose to leave such a beautiful place because of his pride. Not an exact re-telling just some hints of the familiar story. The fight is pretty detailed near the end of the story. Swanson does leave readers in a cliff-hanger that will leave the readers wanting to know if there is going to be a second book. Overall, Ignite by Kara Swanson is a unquie tale of discovery. Discovery of oneself's true identity. Discover of family. Discover of the lies and truths the characters live in. Plenty of action after the first twenty percent. I hope there is going to be a second book.

I received a complimentary copy of Ignite by Kara Swanson from Enclave Publishing through CelebrateLite Tours, but the opinions stated are all my own.

My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Purchase Ignite

About the Author

Kara Swanson writes stories about fairy tales and fiery souls. She spent her childhood a little like a Lost Girl, running barefoot through lush green jungles which inspired her award-winning Peter Pan retellings, Dust and Shadow.

She is also the cofounder of the Author Conservatory (authorconservatory.com) where she has the honor of teaching young writers to craft sustainable author careers.

You’ll find Kara with her toes in California sand as a SoCal resident, belting Broadway show tunes on weekend drives to Disneyland with her delightfully nerdy husband, or chatting about magic and mayhem on Instagram.

More from Kara

This story is one that has lived a hundred lives, a little like the phoenix it’s about —dozens of iterations and nearly eight years discovering Mara’s story. In this icy world beneath a dying sun, I was able to craft a story of a young phoenix girl who was more terrified of her own fire than the dangers of the frozen wasteland outside her underground hideaway. Who has been convinced by the father she loves that her flame is only capable of pain and damage — until suddenly, he disappears. And for the first time, she ventures out of her hideaway to discover that the frozen world outside is actually dying for her flame. And that the parts of herself that she has feared and run from…that there may be beauty, even there. That she can choose to rise from the ash of a world that doesn’t understand her, and use the fire in her veins to bring warmth and healing.

I hope you enjoy the adventure!

Blog Stops

Babbling Becky L’s Book Impressions, September 27

By the Book , September 27

Texas Book-aholic, September 28

Live.Love.Read., September 29

Inspired by Fiction, September 30

The Lofty Pages, September 30

Hannahbandanarama, October 1

Library Lady’s Kid Lit, October 1

Faery Tales Are Real, October 2

Locks, Hooks and Books, October 3

Min Reads and Reviews, October 3

Wishful Endings, October 4

Book Zone Reviews, October 5

Simple Harvest Reads, October 5 (Guest Review from Mindy Houng)

Tell Tale Book Reviews, October 6

Where Faith and Books Meet, October 7

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, October 8

Becca Hope: Book Obsessed, October 8

Book Butterfly in Dreamland, October 9

Blogging With Carol, October 10

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Kara is giving away the grand prize of a $50 Amazon card and a copy of the book!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/00adcf5450/

Reviewing vs. Purchasing Books

By Kelly Bridgewater

If you read my last post, I talked about how paperback books are not really being offered for reviewers anymore.

When I started reviewing books in 2014, there were not that many book reviewers doing book reviews on personal blogs and transferring them to Amazon, Goodreads, Christianbook, etc . . .

pinterest

Since then, everyone who reads a book has a blog and reviews books. Book publishing companies love this. Authors love this. Review sites love this.

But as a reviewer, it is hard to make a difference or have your review stand out when everyone who can read has an opinion. Whether good or bad.

Since the publishing companies are pushing to go completely e-books through Netgalley, I wonder if it is better to just pre-order the books through Baker Book House, which offers 40% the Bethany House and Revell books and FREE shipping.

If I do this, then if I am rushed or busy with life, I won’t feel obligated to write a review.

Not that I don’t like to help out authors. I have done TONS in the past 10.5 years.

But I enjoyed getting compensated with a physical book for my time. Then if I wanted to keep the book, it went on my shelf. If not, then I donated it to our church library or pass it along to friends who I know would like it.

What about you? Review books or just purchase them. What benefits the authors more? This is the whole reason I reviewed anyways.

Michelle Shocklee: All We Thought We Knew

 By Kelly Bridgewater

She was so sure she knew her family’s story . . . Now she wonders if she was wrong about all of it.

1969. When Mattie Taylor’s twin brother was killed in Vietnam, she lost her best friend and the only person who really understood her. Now, news that her mother is dying sends Mattie back home, despite blaming her father for Mark’s death. Mama’s last wish is that Mattie would read some old letters stored in a trunk, from people Mattie doesn’t even know. Mama insists they hold the answers Mattie is looking for.

1942. Ava Delaney is picking up the pieces of her life following her husband’s death at Pearl Harbor. Living with her mother-in-law on a secluded farm in Tennessee is far different than the life Ava imagined when she married only a few short months ago. Desperate to get out of the house, Ava seeks work at a nearby military base, where she soon discovers the American government is housing Germans who they have classified as enemy aliens. As Ava works to process legal documents for the military, she crosses paths with Gunther Schneider, a German who is helping care for wounded soldiers. Ava questions why a man as gentle and kind as Gunther should be forced to live in the internment camp, and as they become friends, her sense of the injustice grows . . . as do her feelings for him. Faced with the possibility of losing Gunther, Ava must choose whether loving someone deemed the enemy is a risk worth taking, even if it means being ostracized by all those around her.

In the midst of pain and loss two women must come face-to-face with their own assumptions about what they thought they knew about themselves and others. What they discover will lead to a far greater appreciation of their own legacies and the love of those dearest to them.

 

My Thoughts:

All We Thought We Knew by Michelle Shocklee combines the world of World War II and the Vietnam war. This is definitely a unique and different perspective. I have not read many stories about the Vietnam war. My uncles do not like to talk about it, so I know they do not want to share the horrors that they had to endure. I know this was the Hippie era where there were many protests across America and college campus. But other than that, I really did not know much about this time period. I would have liked to see more of a justification for Mattie not wanting her brother and friend, Nash, to join the Marines to go fight in Vietnam. It was covered, but slightly. I wanted a little more depth to this aspect of the novel. This is a timeslip novel, so there is two time periods that depend on each other in order to solve the mystery by the end of the story. A little bit of romance in both periods. A horse farm as the setting and a camp in other. Shocklee does a wonderful job at bringing the settings to my imagination. Overall, All We Thought We Knew by Michelle Shocklee ventures into the Vietnam War Era and ties a thread to the World War II era. From heroic characters to characters with doubts, Shocklee invites readers into a world of questioning why readers believe what they believe. It is okay to dive deeper to cement pre-conceived ideas.

I received a complimentary copy of All We Thought We Knew by Michelle Shocklee from  Tyndale Publishing, but the opinions stated are all my own.

My Rating:  3.5 out of 5 stars

Purchase All We Thought We Knew

Jaime Jo Wright: Specters in the Glass House

By Kelly Bridgewater

An ominous butterfly house. A sinister legacy. An untraceable killer.

In 1921, Marian Arnold, the heiress to a brewing baron's empire, seeks solace in the glass butterfly house on her family's Wisconsin estate as Prohibition and the deaths of her parents cast a long shadow over her shrinking world. When Marian's sanctuary is invaded by nightmarish visions, she grapples with the line between hallucinations of things to come and malevolent forces at play in the present. With dead butterflies as the killer's ominous signature, murders unfold at a steady pace. Marian, fearful she might be next, enlists the help of her childhood friend Felix, a war veteran with his own haunted past.

In the present day, researcher Remy Shaw becomes entangled in an elderly biographer's quest to uncover the truth behind Marian Arnold's mysterious life and the unsolved murders linked to an infamous serial killer. Joined by Marian's great-great-grandson, can Remy expose the evil that lurks beneath broken wings? Or will the dark legacy surrounding the manor and its glass house destroy yet another generation?

 

My Thoughts:

Specters in the Glass House by Jaime Jo Wright reminded me of a previous novel that I read. Not the entire concept. Just the family members of the heroine thinking she was mental for the things that she was seeing. Readers will love how Wright captures the mystery element and makes the reader question every person that she comes across. The plot was interesting, scary, and delightful all the same time. I read this book within 24 hours and was a little disappointed when the story was over. I wanted more. The heroine in the past, Marian, was indifferent. She was a little naïve and tried to understand her mother that disappeared from her life. She was definitely not a strong character.  On the other hand, the heroine in the present timeline, Remy Shaw, was trying to deal with her past. But of course, her past kept haunting her in her present situation. I did like how the guy who purchased the house in order to write the biography didn’t have internet. Made it a little harder for Remy Shaw to do her research. Anything to make the heroines life’s harder. The setting was nicely detailed, and my imagination blossomed with all the details of the house. Overall, Specters in the Glass House by Jaime Jo Wright was spooky, historical, and wonderfully told. I look forward to all of Wright’s stories and own all her books. This book is no different.

I received a complimentary copy of Specters in the Glass House by Jaime Jo Wright from Bethany House Publishing, but the opinions stated are all my own.

My Rating:  5 out of 5 stars

Purchase Specters in the Glass House

Why No Paperback Books?

By Kelly Bridgewater

When I started blogging, I was given roughly 10 paperback books a month to review.

Some of the books, I wanted to review. Others not so much.

Now more and more Christian Publishing companies are not even publishing Fiction stories.

Waterbrook / Multnomah does not publish fiction books.

Tyndale publishes maybe three books in a quarter.

Thomas Nelson, which used to be a big producer of fiction books, is only publishing five fiction books from September 1^st through the end of this year.

pinterest

Even though Revell and Bethany House Publishing does publish majority of the fiction published it appears, they are limiting how many paperback books go out too.

Bethany House started about two years ago that the reviewers were put into two categories: influencers and reviewers. The influencers will have a choice of the one book that they have chosen out of all the books that are published that month to review or not. The rest of them can be downloaded through Netgalley.

Revell Reads, which is Revell publishing’s Review team, does list every book that is published, but they say they randomly select from all the people who have signed up for certain books. However, I signed up within 10 minutes of receiving the sign-up email, and I have not been given a book in over 6 months.

I know inflation is hurting everyone, thank you, Joe Biden, but this is kind of why book reviewing is something I am trying to move away from.

What about you? Do you receive many physical paperback books anymore?