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Book Review: A Most Peculiar Providence

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A Most Peculiar Providence
by Angela Hunt

My rating: 2.5 / 5
Genre: Christian fiction

Ever since he was six years old, it’s always been just Josh Donnelly and his mom. Though his mom pushes him to get out into the world more, Josh is resistant, happy with his routines and his quiet life at home. Then his mom has a stroke, and Josh is thrust out into the world. Heather Thomas has had a tumultuous life, and when she ends up in the small town of Peculiar, she can’t help but notice Josh’s kind and gentle nature when she observes him from a distance. So when she’s entrusted with finding a home for the newborn baby of another troubled young woman, she knows Josh is the perfect choice.

I’ve had a difficult time deciding on a rating for this book and even knowing how to start my review. I liked the idea of a book that is clearly an image of God’s hand guiding a situation and working it out for the best. Even though, in a fictional setting like this, it requires a bit of suspension of disbelief, I was happy to see how Hunt decided to play it all out. But it took some turns that required a bit too much suspension of disbelief. One specific event happened that never really was discussed beyond a character asking how it happened, and the response was, “I prayed.” It takes a turn toward faith healing, and since it doesn’t really have any real impact on the story, I don’t understand why it was included.

Most of this might not have been too bad, but I found the plot a bit slow. A lot of time passes in the book, which means the baby ages, and some of the details involving the baby’s development made me stop and question how they made any sense (like a baby giving a smile that, in the narrative, seems to be believe to be intentional) at around 3-5 days old. And the caregivers letting the baby that only days ago took her first steps walk (and then crawl) on a brick walkway?! And then I guess they had to clean up her scraped and bloody knees…

There’s a mystery angle that comes up in the last quarter of the book, mixed in with the climax of the main plot, that is shallow and not difficult to figure out. I wish there had been less time spent on the baby details and more on a build-up to this mystery. Josh is a steady, likeable character who makes some unexpected decisions because “God told me to,” which I wasn’t a fan of. In the end, some past trauma comes to light that I don’t recall having been hinted at throughout the rest of the book at all, and that’s another area I felt could have been built on, if other areas had been diminished. In a way, it felt like this could have been two different books. But as often happens, I’m largely in the minority so far in my rating of this book, so please check out other reviews at the link below if you’re interested in this book.

Thank you to Netgalley and Hunt Haven Press for providing me a copy of this book to review.

Find out more about A Most Peculiar Providence

See what I’m reading next.

If you’ve read this book, or read it in the future, feel free to let me know what you think!

April in Review

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I read 14 books last month, about an average amount for me lately, since I’ve had a little more time to listen to audiobooks lately. Heading into May and June, I expect to take a dip with Vacation Bible School, which I run at our church, coming up in June, but hopefully not too much of a dip.

Here are the books I read in April:

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Smith 4
Humanly Speaking
White
Boone 7
Curse Breaker
Carpenter 25
Sky Above
Stakeouts Strollers
Lunar 3
Shawshank
Pageflex Persona [document: PRS0000040_00028]
BSC7
Odd 4
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The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton (5 / 5)
Humanly Speaking by Michael Spencer (5 / 5)
Persons of Interest by Peter Grainger (4 / 5)
White by Ted Dekker (3.5 / 5)
The Accomplice by John Grisham (4.5 / 5)
The Curse Breaker by Jen Calonita (2 / 5)
Holy Chow by David Rosenfelt (5 / 5)
The Sky Above Us by Sarah Sundin (5 / 5)
Stakeouts and Strollers by Rob Phillips (2 / 5)
Cress by Marissa Meyer (5 / 5)
The Shawshank Redemption by Stephen King (4.5 / 5)
Bitter Winter by Jaye L. Knight (3 / 5)
Claudia and Mean Janine by Ann M. Martin (5 / 5)
Odd Hours by Dean Koontz (2.5 / 5)

This list includes 2 ARCs and 4 re-reads. My favorite (fiction) book from April was Cress. I started 0 series, continued 7 series, and finished 3 series*. My ever-changing short list of to-be-reads, as well as a flag for the book I’m currently reading and an ongoing list of those I’ve read and posted about can be found here.

*This includes 1 series I didn’t reach the end of, but decided not to continue reading, after being at least 2 books into the series.

I’m also keeping my Goodreads page updated with a more extensive list of to-be-reads. Despite my almost too-long TBR list, I’m always looking for more to add. Feel free to offer suggestions of your favorites or just recent reads you enjoyed.

Book Review: Stakeouts and Strollers

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Stakeouts and Strollers
by Rob Phillips

My rating: 2 / 5
Genre: Mystery

Charlie Shaw is a journalist-turned-private-investigator who, on his first case, ends up getting caught up in a high-stakes mystery involving a teenage girl looking for her estranged dad and a couple of shady bar owners. Meanwhile, he has a six-month-old daughter at home who isn’t sleeping through the night, so he’s running low on sleep too.

I was intrigued by the idea of this new dad trying to balance a new job with his upended home life, and I enjoy a good mystery to boot. However, I realized a little ways into this book that I just wasn’t very engaged. The main character isn’t all that interesting to me, the mystery is lackluster, and the new-baby angle is weirdly both too present and not present enough. The MC does take the baby on a couple of stakeouts with him, which seems like a questionable move, but her irregular sleeping patterns mostly just cause the MC and his wife to yawn at each other randomly. But then conversations about the baby and the MC checking up on her using a monitor app on his phone all just get a bit repetitive. I suppose I’m the wrong audience for a book that focuses this much on what life with a baby is like, because I’m about 16 years removed from that part of life and was never one that wished the helpless-baby phase could have lasted forever.

There were elements of the story that just felt off to me, too. For example, a character that is touted as being super tough and a veteran investigator, etc., lets someone get the jump on him way too easily. And the mystery seemed like it sort of plodded along, until the MC watched his baby do some particular thing and then suddenly was struck with a realization that is kept from us at first, to be revealed later—all of this is a common mystery trope, but the realization he had turned out to be a HUGE leap. Maybe I missed a vital clue, but even when it was explained, it was clear that it was a major guess made by the MC, rather than information he cleaned in passing, experience, or anything like that, coming into play. I kinda think that the target audience for this book is a bit too niche—men who have daughters and enjoy procedural mystery stories. Also, there’s quite a bit of language. I don’t think I could really recommend this book to anyone, but please check out the link below for other reviews if you’re interested.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing me a copy of this book to review.

Find out more about Stakeouts and Strollers

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If you’ve read this book, or read it in the future, feel free to let me know what you think!

Book Review: The Curse Breaker

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The Curse Breaker
Isle of Ever #2
by Jen Calonita

My rating: 2 / 5
Genre: Middle grade fantasy

Spoiler notice: The following review may contain some spoilers for the previous book in the series, Isle of Ever.

After discovering that what she thought was the end of the game to win a massive inheritance was just part 1, Everly “Benny” Benedict will have to scramble to solve more clues in time. But it turns out the betrayal by her new friend was just the beginning of the adversaries she’ll be up against now.

I didn’t enjoy the previous book a whole lot—the story wasn’t particularly compelling, fantastical elements were confusing, and I am not a fan of a dead-stop cliffhanger. But I was curious enough to at least read the 2nd book, especially since I wouldn’t have to wait very long to do so. Sadly, this book had a lot of the same issues as the previous, not enough answers given, and another cliffhanger. The characters are also fairly weak. We’ve got the girl with future sight who is wise beyond her years, yet annoyingly cryptic to the point of being coy. We’ve got the mom who is far too happy to let her daughter solve this mystery that could change their lives completely alone, running around in a new town without even checking in, all so the mom can hang out with her newest boyfriend. We’ve got the kid who has basically just jumped 200 years into the future (to our time) and frankly, I think it was the wrong decision to make him a POV character, because I don’t think enough time was really given to him trying to understand this new world.

Some revelations do come out in this book, one of which I guessed way in advance, but I think the clues were intentionally dropped to allow that possibility. I don’t know what, if anything, it really means for the characters, though. And the urgency in the first book with the deadline is just wiped away in this book—extended, actually, but it still feels far too much like obvious plot contrivance for my enjoyment. In the end, I have no desire to continue on to the third book. I don’t care enough about what happens to the island or anyone who is trapped on/by it to keep reading something that I don’t really get any enjoyment out of. However, these books have a lot of 4- and 5-star reviews, so please look into those if the series interests you at all.

Thank you to Netgalley and SOURCEBOOKS Kids for providing me a copy of this book to review.

Find out more about The Curse Breaker

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If you’ve read this book, or read it in the future, feel free to let me know what you think!

March in Review

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I read 15 books last month, which is getting to be closer to a normal month for me. And my total page count for the month was only around 300 less than my recent record-breaking month in January. It’s definitely a huge up-tick in having time to listen to audiobooks lately that’s done this, considering that 8 of the books I read last month were audiobooks (leaving only 7 that were read normally!).

Here are the books I read in March:

Lunar 1
HTTYD 8
Mists
Exiles
Smith 3
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Boone 6
Carpenter 24
Lightkeepers 1
Lunar 2
K Team 4
Lion 1
Sadie
This Book Kills
Mandie 4

Cinder by Marissa Meyer (5 / 5)
How to Break a Dragon’s Heart by Cressida Cowell (2 / 5)
Mists over the Channel Islands by Sarah Sundin (5 / 5)
Exiles by Jaye L. Knight (4 / 5)
Luck and Judgement by Peter Grainger (4.5 / 5)
Kristy’s Big Day by Ann M. Martin (5 / 5)
The Scandal by John Grisham (4 / 5)
Best in Snow by David Rosenfelt (4.5 / 5)
A Kingdom of Shadows by Emily Bain Murphy (3.5 / 5)
Scarlet by Marissa Meyer (4 / 5)
Good Dog, Bad Cop by David Rosenfelt (3.5 / 5)
A Voice in the Wind by Francine Rivers (3.5 / 5)
Sadie by Courtney Summers (4.5 / 5)
This Book Kills by Ravena Guron (2 / 5)
Mandie and the Forbidden Attic by Lois Gladys Leppard (3 / 5)

This list includes 2 ARCs and 3 re-reads. My favorite book from March was Cinder. I started 3 series, continued 6 series, and finished 3 series*. My ever-changing short list of to-be-reads, as well as a flag for the book I’m currently reading and an ongoing list of those I’ve read and posted about can be found here.

*This includes 1 series I didn’t reach the end of, but decided not to continue reading, after being at least 2 books into the series.

I’m also keeping my Goodreads page updated with a more extensive list of to-be-reads. Despite my almost too-long TBR list, I’m always looking for more to add. Feel free to offer suggestions of your favorites or just recent reads you enjoyed.

Book Review: A Kingdom of Shadows

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A Kingdom of Shadows
Lightseekers #1
by Emily Bain Murphy

My rating: 3.5 / 5
Genre: Middle grade fantasy

The light is disappearing and shadows are increasing in the world that 12-year-old Finn inhabits, along with his best friend Adrion and little sister Lydia. They have a plan to escape their town and try to make their way in the dimming world, but that plan is derailed when they meet Ehrit, an older teen who promises that he can take them to a lake of light. It won’t be an easy journey, but just maybe it will be worth it.

This book is stated to be similar to both The Wingfeather Saga and The Chronicles of Narnia, which is a tall order on both counts. The first is one of my favorite series (and a big deal in my family in general) and though the latter series isn’t as meaningful to me, it’s obviously a well-loved classic series. And unfortunately, to me at least, it doesn’t really live up to any of that hype. The story isn’t bad, but it felt like it rambled along to me and things that happened were kind of random. I didn’t get into the story very much, at least partly because of the lack of cohesion, so it wasn’t as enjoyable as it might have been. The characters overall were fairly bland, except Finn himself, who at least had a decent arc. 

A lot of people see this as a Christian (or at least generally religious) allegory, and I can see why they do, especially considering the 2 series it’s compared to. However, I don’t see any indication that it’s meant to be such. I don’t see it listed as Christian fiction anywhere (except on Goodreads, but I’m pretty sure those labels aren’t official), and the author hasn’t written other Christian fiction that I can see. It has obvious themes of good vs. evil or light vs. dark, but felt much more mystical than faith-based to me, maybe even bordering on New Age, especially considering the bizarre “inner forest” sensing that Finn has. If it is supposed to be a Christian allegory, I can’t say I care for it. The expectation of any Christian themes aside, the book was decent enough to make me interested in continuing the series. I think that readers around the age it’s meant for (maybe 12-14) will probably enjoy the adventure more than I did, too. (For anyone like me with arachnophobia, be aware that there is a scene that might be an issue. I survived, but it wasn’t fun.)

Thank you to Netgalley and WaterBrook Children’s for providing me a copy of this book to review.

Find out more about A Kingdom of Shadows

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If you’ve read this book, or read it in the future, feel free to let me know what you think!

Book Review: Mists over the Channel Islands

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Mists over the Channel Islands
Allegiance Under Pressure #3
by Sarah Sundin

My rating: 5 / 5
Genre: Christian historical romance

When the Germans invade the British Channel Islands, Dr. Ivy Picot is left trying to keep her dad’s medical practice afloat, with him and half of her family evacuated to England. Then Ivy is pulled into a ring of medical people who help treat hidden laborers who are in danger from their German taskmasters who are using forced labor to build fortifications on the island. One of those responsible for the new structures marring the beautiful landscape of her beloved Jersey is Gerrit van der Zee, a Dutchman who volunteered for the work in the hopes that he’d be able to help the Allies in some way. But even as he is captivated by the lovely young doctor, he can’t tell her that he is not one of the occupiers she so despises, that he’s actually on her side.

Again I’m struck by Sarah Sundin’s grasp on the history in this time period. I’ve read a few non-fiction books about (and in some cases written by) people who were involved in underground resistance rings during WWII, and Sundin’s writing here rings true for the most part. There is one character who never quite grasps the “don’t say anything to anyone ever” concept, but the codes that are set up and different ways they attempt to keep things hidden and secret kept me engage and in suspense. I kept watching the dates tick ever closer to D-Day, then to the date I knew the Channel Islands would be liberated, and wondering how badly things would fall apart as the Germans got more and more desperate. 

Sundin has a way of writing romance into her stories without making it the predominant theme or overwhelming the plot, and the same is the case here. I also really liked several of the side characters and was appropriately saddened by one particular story arc throughout the book. Then near the end, we get to reunite with characters from the previous two books in this series, and I really enjoyed that. I recommend this book to anyone who likes historical fiction from this time period in the Christian romance genre. Though this is the third book in a series, you don’t need really to read them in order. Though of course, since I enjoyed the whole series, I’d say there’s no reason not to start with the first book, Embers in the London Sky.

Thank you to Netgalley and Revell for providing me a copy of this book to review.

Find out more about Mists over the Channel Islands

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If you’ve read this book, or read it in the future, feel free to let me know what you think!

February in Review

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I read 13 books last month, a major drop-off from the record-breaking amount of reading I did in January and much closer to a normal month for me. As the month went on, I was amused to realized that all of the books I was reading were coming out to be 4 stars (minus a couple of re-reads that were 5 stars). Up until the last 3 books (again, excluding 2 re-reads), all 4 stars. Kind of bizarre.

Here are the books I read in February:

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HTTYD 7
Puzzletastic
Dead Fake
Smith 2
Silent Extraction
Boone 5
Carpenter 23
Gentleman
Red
K Team 3
Lottery
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Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir (5 / 5)
How to Ride a Dragon’s Storm by Cressida Cowell (4 / 5)
Super Puzzletastic Mysteries by Chris Grabenstein & various authors (4 / 5)
Dead Fake by Vincent Ralph (4 / 5)
But for the Grace by Peter Grainger (4 / 5)
Silent Extraction by J.N. Timmer (4 / 5)
The Fugitive by John Grisham (4 / 5)
Dog Eat Dog by David Rosenfelt (4 / 5)
The Gentleman Spy by Erica Vetsch (5 / 5)
Sad Cypress by Agatha Christie (4 / 5)
Red by Ted Dekker (5 / 5)
Citizen K-9 by David Rosenfelt (3 / 5)
Time Lottery by Nancy Moser (3.5 / 5)

This list includes 2 ARCs and 3 re-reads. My favorite book from February was Red. I started 2 series, continued 8 series, and finished 0 series. My ever-changing short list of to-be-reads, as well as a flag for the book I’m currently reading and an ongoing list of those I’ve read and posted about can be found here.

I’m also keeping my Goodreads page updated with a more extensive list of to-be-reads. Despite my almost too-long TBR list, I’m always looking for more to add. Feel free to offer suggestions of your favorites or just recent reads you enjoyed.

Book Review: Dead Fake

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Dead Fake
Bleak Haven #1
by Vincent Ralph

My rating: 4 / 5
Genre: YA horror thriller

When a new trend takes over Ava’s school that lets students Swipe to Die, Ava seems to be the only one who wants nothing to do with it. It’s been ten years since her uncle murdered three people before dying himself, so death isn’t a game to her. Then fake videos of students being murdered start to appear, and Ava is appalled at how excited her fellow students are over the pretend tragedies. But when a student dies for real, in the same way he did in his fake video, Ava can’t help but look for patterns and answers, even if it means dredging up the not-so-buried past.

Overall, I enjoyed this book and was caught up in the slasher elements enough to have a hard time putting it down in the last third or so. It took a little bit to get going, but even early on, the hints about not only Ava’s uncle, but apparently quite a few mass murderers or serial killers in this town’s past intrigued me. There’s clearly a whole background here that I wanted to know more of. (There are 3 more books either already released or planned that are set in this same town, so maybe more of the town’s bloody history will be explored.) Some tropes of this genre were subverted in ways that I appreciated, like the town’s sheriff actually giving credence to Ava’s thoughts and discoveries.

I have to admit that the reveal of the killer was a little bit of a letdown for me, at least partly because there were some clues peppered here and there that seemed to be leading one way…only for them to be completely unrelated. Red herrings are one thing, but this felt a bit too deliberate. Plus, the killer’s revealed motivations and actions taken over time are either underwhelming or unrealistic. But even with these things, the story was overall pretty good, and I am definitely going to read more of this series. There is a little bit of language, including the f-word several times, but not nearly as much as I’ve read in other books in the same genre. And there is no sexual content that I can recall, beyond the mention of the MC’s friend and her new boyfriend making out a lot. Also incredibly light for the genre, which I appreciate. I’d recommend this for people who enjoy slasher fiction or thrillers in the teen/YA age range.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing me a copy of this book to review.

Find out more about Dead Fake

See what I’m reading next.

If you’ve read this book, or read it in the future, feel free to let me know what you think!

January in Review

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I read 17 books last month, which is quite a high to start the year. Not only is that a high monthly number for me, I broke my previous record of pages read during one month with 491 more pages than my previous high, set in December of 2022. There is one book that my husband and I read over the course of a year, so I didn’t exactly read it in January, but even without it, I would have still broken my previous record. I don’t even know that I can peg any particular reason for so much more reading last month than normal.

Here are the books I read in January:

Disappearances
Odd 3
One Min Love Lang
Pageflex Persona [document: PRS0000446_00062]
Boone 3
Grasshopper
Carpenter 22
HTTYD 6
HP 2 Minalima
Chasing Echoes
Smith 1
Ever
Boone 4
Black
K Team 2
Mandie 3
Pageflex Persona [document: PRS0000040_00028]
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The Disappearances by Emily Bain Murphy (5 / 5)
Brother Odd by Dean Koontz (4.5 / 5)
The One Year Love Language Minute Devotional by Gary Chapman (3 / 5)
The Infinite Glade by James Dashner (1 / 5)
The Accused by John Grisham (4.5 / 5)
The Grasshopper Myth by Karl Vaters (2 / 5)
Silent Bite by David Rosenfelt (4 / 5)
A Hero’s Guide to Deadly Dragons by Cressida Cowell (2 / 5)
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (MinaLima version) by J.K. Rowling (4.5 / 5)
Chasing Echoes by Jodi Perkins (3 / 5)
An Accidental Death by Peter Grainger (4 / 5)
Isle of Ever by Jen Calonita (2.5 / 5)
The Activist by John Grisham (4.5 / 5)
Black by Ted Dekker (4.5 / 5)
Animal Instinct by David Rosenfelt (3.5 / 5)
Mandie and the Ghost Bandits by Lois Gladys Leppard (4 / 5)
Samara’s Peril by Jaye L. Knight (4 / 5)

This list includes 2 ARCs and 3 re-reads. My favorite book from January was The Disappearances. I started 3 series, continued 8 series, and finished 1 series. My ever-changing short list of to-be-reads, as well as a flag for the book I’m currently reading and an ongoing list of those I’ve read and posted about can be found here.

I’m also keeping my Goodreads page updated with a more extensive list of to-be-reads. Despite my almost too-long TBR list, I’m always looking for more to add. Feel free to offer suggestions of your favorites or just recent reads you enjoyed.