Tag: Christian Romance

Book Review | Lizzie & Jane by Katherine Reay

Excellent Foodie Fiction

Book coverElizabeth is the head chef at Feast, a chic New York restaurant. But she’s losing her touch, and when her boss brings in a celebrity chef/marketing expert to restore Feast’s reputation, Elizabeth decides it’s time for a break. She heads to Seattle, Washington, to a home and a father she’s barely seen since she left sixteen years ago. And home to an older sister who’s undergoing treatment for breast cancer, the same cancer that killed their mother.

Katherine Reay’s debut novel, Dear Mr. Knightley, was nominated for a Christy Award, nominated for two Carol Awards, and won the 2014 INSPY Award for a Debut novel. I read it. While I thought the writing and characterisation was excellent, I did wish Reay had written an original story. (Dear Mr. Knightley is a contemporary retelling of the Jean Webster classic, Daddy Long Legs—one of the first romance novels I ever read.)

Like Dear Mr. Knightley, Lizzy & Jane has links to Austen, in that sisters Jane and Elizabeth are named for the heroines of their mother’s favourite novel. Unlike Dear Mr. Knightley, Lizzy and Jane is a fresh story, not a retelling of a classic (or if it is, the retelling is unobtrusive enough that I couldn’t see what was coming in the way I did with Dear Mr. Knightley. As a result, I enjoyed it a lot more. It wasn’t that I didn’t enjoy Dear Mr. Knightley, more that I always found the ending of Daddy Long Legs a little contrived, and the ending of Dear Mr. Knightley was even more so.

Lizzy & Jane was different, in a good way.

It had all the strong writing and characterisation of Dear Mr. Knightley, with the added bonus of an original and compelling plot. Elizabeth has some deep-seated resentment towards Jane, who was never around while their mother was dying. While Elizabeth is in Seattle helping Jane face her health crisis, Elizabeth is also facing her own personal crisis, a crisis of identity and self-belief around her cooking. It’s the one thing she’s always excelled at, yet even that talent seems to be failing her.

There are touches of romance and an underlying Christian theme.

But Lizzy & Jane is very much women’s fiction, Lizzy’s story of personal, professional (and spiritual) rediscovery. Recommended.

Thanks to Thomas Nelson and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review. You can find out more about Katherine Reay at her website, and you can read the introduction to Lizzy and Jane below:

Book Review: The Shadow of Your Smile by Susan May Warren

Susan May Warren delivers one of my favourite series

The marriage of Eli and Noelle Hueston has been going steadily downhill since the death of their teenage daughter in a store shooting.  Eli blames himself for her death, and has since retired from his job as Sheriff, and spends his time either fishing or helping out Lee Nelson, who lost her husband in the same shooting. Noelle is barely surviving, and spends her time volunteering, but has made the decision that she is going to live again. A twist of fate finds her caught up in another shore shooting, but while she does not die, she loses all memory of the last 25 years. As Noelle starts to get to know her husband and two sons again, Eli realises that he has to get to know Noelle again.

I really enjoyed The Shadow of Your Smile, more so than I expected based on the plot summary.  As well as the main plot, there is a very sweet romantic sub-plot involving Eli and Noelle’s oldest son, Kyle, now a deputy in Deep Haven.  As always, Susan May Warren has delivered a book that satisfies on many levels, with likeable characters, a nice romance, a bit of suspense, and some thought-provoking plot lines.

While the Deep Haven novels are all happy-ever-after romances (well, what do you expect from a series where the first book is titled ‘Happily Ever After’?), above all, each book is a story of the power of God to heal our pain.  The Shadow of Your Smile is no exception.  This is the fifth Deep Haven book, and hopefully won’t be the last.  It features cameo appearances from many characters in the earlier books, including Liza Beaumont, the local potter.  I’m still anxiously waiting for Susan May Warren to tell us Liza’s story.  Perhaps she will meet a good-looking Nashville music producer?

This review was previously posted at Iola’s Christian Reads. Thanks to Zondervan and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review.