The Devoted: one woman's journey to fight for her freedom

The Devoted by Catherine Cho is a story of family and fate. As a young Korean woman whose father is a leader in an infamous crime organization. When she becomes entangled in their dangerous world, she fights to break free. Eunha was raised in Hong Kong by her grandmother, along with her brother, Solomon, in a quiet village. Their father is a Dragon Head within the Triads. Eunha is shielded from the violence and fear and her only companions are her brother and their friend, Kai. When she grows up and marries into a respectable Hong Kong family, her world begins to fall apart when her young son is kidnapped. In her desperate search for him, Eunha finds herself in the criminal underground and face to face with Kai, who is now a Dragon Head himself. Does Eunha give into the life she tried so hard to leave?

The Devoted is the debut novel by Catherine Cho. It is a mystery thriller filled with family drama, forbidden love and one woman’s determination to choose her own destiny. As I started this story, I was captivated by Eunha’s story as she recounts her past and battles the present for her son and her future. However, it felt as if Eunha was telling us what happened rather than readers experiencing it with her. I expected more suspense, more violence and more of a fight from Eunha. Overall, I am torn by this story. It is well written, beautifully lyrical. I liked Eunha. I liked that it was a different story of underground organized crime; however, it did not have the thrilling action that I expected. That being said, I may not have been the audience for this book. If you enjoy crime mystery thrillers, I recommend checking out The Devoted. 

The Devoted is available in hardcover, eBook and audiobook

When the Rain Ends: a mother and daughter learn to navigate one of life's toughest storms together

When the Rain Ends by Mary Ellen Taylor is a story of a mother and daughter who must learn to navigate one of life’s toughest storms together. After the sudden death of her ex-husband, Dani Peterson learns that she is slowly losing her vision which has left her feeling adrift. Life on the Outer Banks of North Carolina is just a painful reminder. Along with Bella, her grief stricken twelve year old daughter, Dani buys an old farm near the Virginia state line. While Bella is not happy with the drastic change, Dani is more determined to rise to the challenge. Soon the summer brings them new challenges, new friends, and the possibility of a new love. Can they learn that every storm can be weather as long as they do it together? Are sunny skies in their future after so much wind and rain? 

When the Rain Ends held so much promise that I was eager to begin reading. It soon became apparent that the book would not live up to the synopsis. This story had so much potential as the topic of grief is prevalent throughout and yet I found it hard to connect with any of the characters. Dani was okay as a mom who was trying to help her daughter with grief while dealing with grief herself. Bella didn’t act like a twelve year old in her behaviors and attitude. The plot was flat and forming. It didn’t hold my attention. In parts, I found myself zoning out. Some of the subplots were underdeveloped and others didn’t fit in the overarching story. Overall, I did not enjoy this story. It could have been a great story about grief and learning to move forward. I do not recommend When the Rain Ends. 

When the Rain Ends is available in paperback, eBook and audiobook

Mother of Pearl: how far would a mother go for her child?

Mother of Pearl by Kellie Coates Gilbert asks the questions how far would a mother go for her child? Barrie Graeber has a great life. Two wonderful kids, a loving husband and a job as a respected high school counselor in their tight knit community. Suddenly, her teenage daughter, Pearl, seems to unravel before her eyes. Barrie is at a loss how to help Pearl. Nothing prepared her for this helplessness as her attempts to help her daughter fail and Pearl pulls farther and farther away. When the unthinkable happens, Barrie is at a loss how to move forward. Until she discovers a terrible secret about her nemesis, Michael Warren, the football coach. When Barrie decides to go up against the coach, she finds herself without support. Fueled by love for her daughter, she learns to trust in something bigger than herself and fight back. 

Going into this story, I knew it was described as “emotionally riveting and profoundly moving,” so I was expecting emotions. However, this story was more of a roller coaster of emotions. Without giving up plot points, which spoils the emotional impact, it truly was a roller coaster. It is a powerful story of one mother’s determination to do right by her daughter and protect other daughters from the same situation. I loved the Christian faith aspect. It wasn’t overdone. It was a great and honest portrayal of faith and even the resistance to such a faith. I enjoyed all the characters especially Jackie who becomes a source of comfort for Barrie. I also enjoyed the double meaning of the title which is fairly subtle if you aren’t looking for it. I enjoyed this book so much! I highly, highly recommend Mother of Pearl. 

Mother of Pearl is available in paperback and eBook

Elizabeth: a woman of faith and extraordinary circumstances

 Elizabeth is best known as the mother of John the Baptist, the forerunner for the Messiah. Elizabeth was a descendant of Aaron and was described as a woman “upright in the sight of God” (Luke 1:6). She is praised for observing all of the Lord’s commandments and regulations without blame. She is also the first to acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah (Luke 1:43). Her greatest sorrow was she was childless and aging. She faced the stigma of childlessness within her community. However, her greatest strength is her deep faith. She kept her focus on God and his promises. What is her story? Why is there a stigma of childlessness? What lessons can we find from her life? 

Elizabeth and her husband, Zechariah found contentment in their quiet home. As a descendant of Aaron, Zechariah travels to Jerusalem once a year to perform his priestly duties. This particular year, he was chosen for a high honor. A once in a lifetime privilege to burn incense before the Most Holy Place. As he is performing this duty, a figure appears and declares that Elizabeth will bear a son and he will be called John. Zechariah responds, as we probably would too, with skepticism. As a consequence, Zechariah is rendered mute. Six months later, Elizabeth is well into her pregnancy when Mary visits. As Mary approaches, the baby in Elizabeth’s womb leapt, which causes Elizabeth to proclaim, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her! (Luke 1:42-45). Elizabeth recognizes the amazing privilege Mary has been given and rejoices with her. When Elizabeth delivers her son, she proclaims his name is John as the family protests. Zechariah confirms the name by writing it down. When he does, his ability to speak returns and praises God. The people are filled with awe and wondered what this child would be (Luke 1:66). 

For many cultures, a woman’s value is largely measured by her ability to have children. To be aging and childless was a personal hardship and a public shame. Barrenness was viewed as a sign of disobedience and divine disfavor. Deuteronomy 7:12-14 directs the people to follow the laws and He will bless them with children and the crops of the land. Those who don’t follow the laws will not be blessed. However, despite Elizabeth and Zechariah’s piety and faithfulness, they are childless. There is a deep stigma attached to childlessness. When a couple gets married, the first question they are ultimately always asked is when are you going to have children? Having children is a deeply personal choice and emotional journey. For some, it is as saying “yes, we’re going to have a baby” and while others agonize over why it isn’t happening or why it is so difficult. For Elizabeth and Zechariah to be so devout and upright and remain childless must have been a debate among their community. A similar debate would be why a devout and faithful Christian is still struggling. Many people would simply state that there is some sin that needs confessing. But is it as simple as that? I think the story of Elizabeth and Zechariah shows us that it is not always the case. 

There are two lessons or themes we can take from the story of Elizabeth. First, God does not forget those who have been faithful to him. In the Parable of the Loaned Money, Jesus describes three servants who were given a task. One wasted the opportunity and the other two took the task and performed above and beyond. To this second servant, the master says, “Well done, good and faithful servant!” (Matthew 25:21, 23). It is an illustration of how we serve God. Serving him with our time, our talents in order to do our work and tasks out of love for God. When we do, He will remember us and bless us in ways that are beyond our understanding. Second, God’s timetable and methods do not have to conform or follow our timetable, methods or our views on how something should be done. Isaiah 55:8 says, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways.” We foolishly think we know how God will work within our lives. There’s a famous quote from a Yiddish adage that states, “Man plans, and God laughs.” It is foolish to put limitations on a God who is limitless. Matthew 19:26, Jesus tells us “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” A faith as small as a mustard seed can move mountains (Matthew 17:20-21). 

In conclusion, Elizabeth’s story is another example of God’s use of ordinary people for extraordinary events. God used her and her husband to be the parents of John the Baptist. Their faithfulness was rewarded by being the parents of the forerunner of the Messiah. Like with Hannah (1 Samuel 1:2-2:21), I relate to Elizabeth. As someone who struggled with infertility, it was hard to accept God’s timeline for my journey to motherhood. Accepting my journey came with peace and humility. I did not have the journey I thought I would; but I believe it serves a purpose that I may not see yet. Her story is also a reminder that God does not forget those who are faithful.  

Black Cake: a moving story of betrayals, secrets and memories

Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson is the story of two estranged siblings who must set aside their differences to deal with their mother’s sudden death. Bryon and Benny Bennett will soon learn that there was more to their mother than they ever knew. After their mother’s death, they learn she left them a voice message, sharing her past, a past she kept hidden from everyone. Her request is that after they hear her message, they sit down when the time is right and share the last black cake she has ever made, made from a family recipe steeped in tradition. Eleanor’s story begins with a headstrong young swimmer in the Caribbean who escapes under a cloud of suspicion. Together, brother and sister learn their mother’s heartbreaking tale filled with the secrets she has held, and would challenge everything they thought they knew about their mother and even themselves. Will Eleanor’s story bring them together once again? Or would the revelations prove to be too much and separate them permanently? 

This moving story of a family inheritance is so beautifully written that it's hard to fathom that it is a debut novel. Ms. Wilkerson writes a story so intricate and powerful that the reader is taken on a journey of how one family is forever changed by the choices of the generation before. It is a story of betrayals, secrets, and memories. Black Cake reminds the readers that while we cannot choose what we inherit, we can choose who we become. There are many characters with many shifts in timelines and points of view that can get confusing if one is not reading close. I enjoyed the family saga aspect of the story with the emphasis on food and the memories it can invoke. However, there were too many topics covered in terms of cultural, social and political issues that it, at times, bogged down the story. The use of foreshadowing and the element of surprise was overused that a pattern emerged that when a twist was revealed, it wasn’t much of a surprise. Some I figured out almost as soon as another person was introduced in the story. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed Black Cake and would highly recommend it. 

Black Cake is available on February 1 in hardcover, eBook and audiobook

The House by the River: a family saga set in the country of Greece

The House by the River by Lena Manta is a family saga story set in the beautiful country of Greece. Living in a small village by a river at the foot of Mount Olympus, Gerasimos and Theodora have five daughters: Melissanthi, Julia, Aspasia, Polyxeni, and Magdanlini. When tragedy strikes, Theodora is left to raise her daughters alone. As they grow into beautiful young women, Theodora knows she can’t keep her daughters at home forever. They are too curious, too free-spirited with too much wanderlust to stay in their tiny village. But before each girl leaves, she lets them know they are always welcomed to come home to the house by the river. Theodora must endure the twenty-year silence from her daughters as they live their lives. They marry, travel the world, courted various romances, fame and their own tragedy. Will their own tragedy bring them back together to the house by the river?

The House by the River is a long, in-depth family story. Separated into sections, detailing each daughters’ successes, failures, and tragedy. The stories started out strong. I enjoyed Theodora’s story as well as Melissanthi’s and Julia’s. Unfortunately, the other daughters’ stories were tedious and very unrealistic. However, the best part of the book is when the daughters, one by one, return to the house and in various ways find forgiveness and healing from their waywardness. Overall, I enjoyed the story. The imagery of the various towns and villages in Greece are stunning. However, it is hard to recommend because it is just so long and tedious to the point of repetitiveness

 

The House by the River is available in paperback, eBook, and audiobook

The First Time I Said Goodbye: a mother-daughter journey to the past to renew the present

The First Time I Said Goodbye by Claire Allan is a story of loss, renewal, and forgiveness. The story opens as Annabel Jackson says goodbye to her beloved father after a long battle with cancer. She is devasted as her mother, Stella, is stoic. Stella asks Annabel to join to on a trip to her hometown of Derry, Ireland, a place she has not been to in forty years. Reluctantly, Annabel agrees, wondering why her mother wants to return to Ireland after so many years. Once there, she learns her mother has an ulterior motive for coming to Ireland and the unfinished business she must deal with now. Annabel quickly learns more about her mother than she ever knew before. As she learns about her mother as a young woman, Annabel begins questioning her own life including her relationship with her long-time boyfriend, Craig. Will she be able to see Stella as the woman she is and not just as her mother? Will she finally listen to her heart and follow the desires she has long put aside?

The First Time I Said Goodbye is a story of a mother and daughter, who in their own loss, find a way to connect in ways they never connected before. With the storyline switching between the summer of 2010 and the years of 1959-1962, we see Stella as a young woman in love who makes a fateful decision which brought her Ireland again. It was not what I expected when I picked up the book. I have read reunion stories before and thought it would be more a romance than a mother-daughter story. I enjoyed it as many children never truly see their parents as the individuals they were before children, with hopes and dreams and dealing with decisions of the past. One of my favorite moments in the story is when Stella’s mother Kathleen tells her “When Life says give up, Hope whispers ‘Try it one more time.’” This is essentially the theme of the story: to try one more time. One factor I did not like is that the story slowly builds up to a lover’s reunion only to be rushed at the end and it felt unsatisfying. However, I do recommend The First Time I Said Goodbye for its beautiful setting and the characters’ personal journeys.

The First Time I Said Goodbye

is available in paperback and eBook

The Food of Love: one family's crisis and the power of food

The Food of Love by Amanda Prowse is the emotional story of one family’s struggle as one of them battles anorexia. Freya Braithwaite is a freelance food writer and seemly has the perfect life. She is still desperately in love with her husband, Lockie, of 19 years. Her eldest daughter, Charlotte, is ready to take her exams and head to university. Her youngest daughter, Lexi, who despite her struggles with dyslexia, seems to be doing well. Until one day when Freya is called to Lexi’s school and the principal informs her that she suspects Lexi is anorexic. Soon the family is thrown into the battle for Lexi’s life where food is her enemy as well as her cure. Will Freya be able to help Lexi? Will Lexi be able to overcome the powerful hold that anorexia has taken over her life?

The Food of Love is a powerful and emotional story about the struggles and dangers of anorexia. The book explores the mental thought processes and the distorted thinking involved. The story also explores the impact the disease has on the loved ones and their lives. The Food of Love is an emotional, shocking and eye-opening story. My heart ached as I read Lexi’s tearful pleas and promises to stop and get help. I cried when the family was at a fork in the road and a difficult choice to make. I wept at the end. I highly, highly recommend it.

The Food of Love

is available on Amazon

in paperback, on the Kindle and Audiobook

as well as Barnes and Noble

in paperback and audiobook

All the Breaking Waves: a story of the healing going home can bring

All the Breaking Waves by Kerry Lonsdale is the story of one woman’s struggles with her past as she tries to help her troubled daughter. Molly Brennan wakes up to one of her daughter’s night terrors. Cassie has dreams and visions of terrible accidents. After two of her visions come true, her school principal places her on suspension. Cassie then has a vision involving Molly and her own death. Molly, at a loss about what to do next, goes to the one place she feared: home. She arrives at her grandmother’s Pacific Grove, California home. A house which holds many terrible memories for Molly. When she arrives, she runs into her childhood friend and sweetheart, Owen Torres. A man whose heart she broke many years ago. As Molly and Cassie try to rebuild their lives and avoid circumstances in which her visions depict, Molly confronts the past and the reasons she left home, vowing never to return. Will she be able to face the past? Will she comes to terms with who she is? Will she be able to let Owen back in and accept his support and love?

This is the second book I’ve read by Ms. Lonsdale. All the Breaking Waves did not disappoint! It is a great book filled with drama and family secrets, long lost love and moving forward. I loved every character even the secondary characters, the grandmother’s friends, who were only in one scene but gave the book a dose of humor that lightened the mood before diving deeper in the family secrets. I loved the love story between Owen and Molly. Every character seemed very real to me and could even be people I know. I especially loved the description of Pacific Grove. Ms. Lonsdale’s descriptions made it feel as if I were really there. I highly, highly recommend All the Breaking Waves!

All the Breaking Waves

is available in paperback and Kindle on Amazon

and in paperback with Barnes and Noble

Deliver Her: when a mother's plan goes horribly wrong

Deliver Her by Patricia Perry Donovan is a story about one mother’s desperate decision to help her teenage daughter. When the decision leads to her daughter missing and the desperate search to get her back. Meg Carmody’s 16 year old daughter, Alex, has been in a downward spiral since her best friend died in a car accident after her Sweet Sixteen birthday party. Desperate to put her back on track, Meg contacts The Birches a behavior facility which helps troubled teens. She arranges for a transport service to take Alex to the school. Carl and his friend, Carolyn, pick up Alex and they are on their way. But during a rain storm, Carl loses control of the car and when he regains consciousness, Alex is missing. The search is on. While at home, awaiting on news of Alex, Meg begins to discover the truth behind the car accident which killed Alex’s best friend. Will Meg be able to find Alex in time? Will Alex learn the truth about the accident? Will she be able to get her life back on track?

Deliver Her is a fast-paced, heart wrenching story about a mother’s desperate attempt to help her daughter and her daughter’s inner turmoil about her life after a tragic accident. I was hooked from page one as I read Meg’s desperation and fighting against all odds in order to get her daughter back. The book was fast paced and with very new revelation, a new twist in the tragic story which led Alex down this path. I highly recommend Deliver Her.

Deliver Her

is available on Amazon

in paperback for $14.95

and with KindleUnlimited

Winter Garden: a story of a mother, her daughters and a painful secret

Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah is a story about two sisters who try to reconnect with a mother who shut them out many years ago. When a fairy tale from their childhood is retold, they discover that their mother was hiding a deep and painful secret.

Meredith and Nina Witson are daughter of Evan and Anya. The story begins in December 1972 as Meredith writes a play based on a fairy tale her mother tells her. After her mother abruptly stops the play and vows to never tell the fairy tale again, a wedge is placed between Anya and her daughters. Fast forward to 2000, Meredith is now married to her childhood sweetheart with two grown daughters and Nina is a world traveling photographer. When Evan suddenly dies, Nina is determined to hear the fairy tale again. At first Anya is resistant but soon she begins to tell the story again, Meredith and Nina realize that more and more elements of the story are different. They begin to realize that this story is no fairy tale but a story of their mother’s deepest secret. A secret she wanted to die with her. Will Meredith and Nina get the real story? Or will their mother keep her wall of secrecy?

I’ve been a fan of Kristin Hannah for many years and have read nearly all of her books. None of her books have affected me more than Winter Garden. The reader discovers the facts of the story along with Meredith and Nina and there are a great many heart gasping moments. I can’t give too many details about the fairy tale as it will ruin the course of discovery. I can say that this book is among the few in which I cried. My heart broke for Anya as she finally reveals the painful secret of many years ago. Events are described in vivid detail. My favorite line in the book is from Anya who tells her daughters, “You would be amazed at what the human heart can endure.” I highly recommend Winter Garden as it is a story of a mother and her daughters and the painful events in which human often must endure.

Winter Garden and other titles by Kristin Hannah

are available on Amazon, Barnes and Nobles and a bookstore near you.