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Wonderful! My Review of Jane of Austin - by Hillary Manton Lodge

I really enjoyed this well-written, engaging story; I did not want to put it down!  I love stories based on Jane Austen's books and this one was a modern-day spin on Sense and Sensibility, with some references to her other books thrown in for good measure.  Jane and Celia Woodward become guardians to their younger sister, Margot, after their mother died when they were teenagers and their father came under investigation for his business practices and he decided to leave the country.  Celia is the more reserved, older sister and she lost her new job soon after the suspicions about her father came to light.  Jane decided to leave college so she and Celia could open a tea shop so they could support themselves and Margot.  Jane is passionate about tea, creating new blends and growing her own plants.  They also bake pastries.  Life goes along pretty well, especially for Celia as she's dating a great guy.  After a few years, their landlord dies and his nephew and his wife inherit the place and decide they're not going to give the girls a break on rent like their uncle.  (This wife also happens to be the sister to Celia's boyfriend.)  The girls can't afford the new rent, so try to find a place in San Francisco, but don't have any luck.  Celia and her boyfriend break up and Celia comes up with the idea to move to Austin, Texas.  They have a relative there who offers them a guest cottage and hope that they can make it there, so they decide to move.

The sisters start to drift apart as Jane feels left out when Celia won't talk about her break-up.  They can't seem to find a place to rent that has what they need and when a handsome musician rescues them on the road, Jane falls hard.  Someone else has their eye on Jane, too, as retired Marine Captain Callum Beckett meets her and is reminded of a long-ago love he had for a high school sweetheart.  Character is revealed as situations play out and not everyone is what they seem.

I loved the cute love story and the humor was in turn sarcastic and dry and made me laugh out loud. Jane and Callum were both wonderful.  She was funny and loyal and passionate about her tea and taking care of her family.  Callum was such an honorable guy, trying to make up for the wrong his brother had done and putting others before himself, even at great cost to himself.  I loved, too, that he wasn't perfect.  He suffered from nightmares from being overseas and had also lost part of his leg during a mission.  He also struggled with not feeling worthy, partly because of the way his dad and brother had treated him and partly because he blamed himself for the outcome of his mission.  There were yummy sounding recipes at the end of each chapter and wonderful quotes at the beginning.  It was interesting learning more about tea and I loved the conversations about food and music.  This was a clean story and mentions faith and prayer, but it didn't talk much about it.  I did wish for more of a spiritual message.  I'd highly recommend this story if you like romance, classics or just a good novel about relationships.

I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.

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The Legacy - Secrets of the Shetlands 3 - by Michael Phillips

About the book:

The Dramatic Conclusion to the Secrets of the Shetlands

Loni Ford's unexpected inheritance of substantial real estate--not to mention a title--in the Shetland Islands has caused more than a stir in the quiet fishing hamlet of Whales Reef. How can life ever be the same with an outsider--and a woman at that--playing such a pivotal role in the life of this traditional community? But it isn't just the locals who have deep misgivings about the current situation. Loni herself never imagined this in her wildest dreams and wonders whether she's cut out for it.

Loni would hardly let herself acknowledge that she's falling in love--with Whales Reef, with its hardy people, and with local chieftain David Tulloch, whose inheritance she has usurped, at least in the eyes of some. Or has she merely been seduced by the simple, peaceful way of life that exists here?

Yet life in Whales Reef is rarely without drama. Deep rifts exist between certain lifelong neighbors, and when a dead body is discovered, suspicion is cast in the direction of the Tulloch family. How Loni and David face up to this challenge will profoundly shape their relationship, as well as the future of the island.

My review:

This was an enjoyable conclusion to the Secrets of the Shetlands series.  It definitely helps to read these books in order.  It was interesting to see how the situation with Hardy was going to play out as he was accused of murder.  I liked how the new minister was introduced and what he brought to the story.  It was very cool to see Hardy's transformation and the minister's influence.  Learning more about what led to World War II was fascinating.  It was also exciting to see Winston Churchill enter the story!  I always love the rich history Michael Phillips brings to his books.  I liked the back and forth of Brogan and Emily's story in 1924 and David and Loni's story in 2006.  It was interesting to learn more about Emily's Quaker faith, and to see that it was as strong as David and Loni's.  I especially liked seeing how David treated everyone so well, even Hardy who treated him terribly, and what a witness he was because of that.  There's a little bit of romance as David and Loni are committed to each other and there's several other people forming couples in their sphere.  There were also several wonderful secondary characters.  I would recommend this story if you like a gorgeous setting and wonderful characters you can really get to know over the course of the series.

I received this book free from Bethany House Publishers in exchange for an honest review.

 The Author

1. 

   Michael Phillips

   Michael Phillips is a bestselling author who has penned more than seventy books, both fiction and nonfiction. In addition, he has served as editor/redactor of nearly thirty more books. Over the past thirty years, his persistent efforts have helped reawaken...
   

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The Unreformed Martin Luther - by Andreas Malessa

About the book:

Will the real Martin Luther please stand up?

After five hundred years of examining the life of the "father of the Reformation," we must surely know all there is to know about Martin Luther. But is that true?

Did he really nail his Ninety-Five Theses to the church door?

Did he throw an inkpot at the devil?

Did he plant an apple tree?

Did his wife escape her convent in a herring barrel?

German radio and television journalist Andreas Malessa looks at the actual history of Luther and concludes that many of the tales we know best are nothing but nonsense.

Diving gleefully into the research, Malessa investigates many of the falsehoods and fallacies surrounding the reformer, rejecting them in favor of equally incredible facts. Full of humor and irony, this book educates and entertains while demonstrating a profound respect for Luther's life and mission.

If you're looking for the truth of the man behind the theses, come discover his faith and influence--with the myths stripped away.

My review:

This is a fascinating and funny book that was easy to read and incredibly informative.  Each chapter looks at a commonly held belief about Luther and whether or not it's true, with research to back it up. The chapters range from a few pages each to fifteen or so.  I had never heard of some of these beliefs but it was still fascinating to learn about what was happening at the time in politics, religion, society and culture and how Luther affected it or was affected by it.  I learned more about the Catholic faith, then and now, as Malessa explained the history of indulgences and what they were really supposed to be for.  I had read about them before but don't remember them explained quite the way he did.  It also still amazes me that it was so important to not marry as a priest or nun back then but it was common practice for monks, priests and nobles to have mistresses.  Luther also talked about other horrible sins that were committed because of this practice and it seems like we can still see the issues today with all of the child abuse in the Catholic church.  It was also fascinating to me the whole discussion about infant baptism versus believers' baptism and what was going on with the different reformers who were trying to change this practice.  A lot of them died horrible deaths.

An especially hard chapter to read was about Luther's anti-Semitism, though Malessa points out it's more accurate to say his anti-Judaism as it wasn't the Jewish race or culture he opposed but rather their religion and theology.  He blamed them for Jesus' death on the cross.  He even wrote a treatise called "On the Jews and Their Lies," where he says their synagogues should be burned and houses destroyed, etc.  Twenty years before, he had the opposite view.  I found it especially sad that Hitler used that treatise during his Nazi campaign.  Many people viewed Jews the same way Luther did during his time but that doesn't make it right.  Malessa points out that the Holocaust does not have its roots in Lutheranism or in Catholicism, as apparently Hitler, some of the leaders and three fourths of the concentration camp commanders were Catholic.  That attitude is not biblical and Evangelical Church in Germany denounced Luther's anti-Judaism in an official statement.

I would highly recommend this book if you like Martin Luther, church history or just learning more about history, period.

I received this book free from Kregel Publications in exchange for an honest review.