{This post contains affiliate links. I received a complimentary copy of this book through BookLook Bloggers in exchange for my honest review.}
I've done product review many times since I began my blog in the spring of 2008(!). I'd sworn off of it recently, though, because I find it difficult to talk about a product or a book objectively when I know there is a real person affected by my words. Do I sugarcoat it and recommend something I find mediocre or do I speak honestly and risk hurting feelings?
I routinely mention books on my Facebook page, but those are books I've picked up on my own and want to share with you, my fellow moms and readers. Plus, I only need mention the good books. The bad (or boring or weird or poorly written) ones, I just return to the library without a word.
This book, though? With this book I was willing to agree to a review because I've read every other book the author has written and never read one I didn't like.
Still Lifeby Christa Parrish is highly character driven. I've realized that when I'm reading a book, if characters are highly developed and the author gives them strong voices, I don't need a twisting plot to keep me interested.
Still Life flip-flops between the stories of two women: Katherine, a working mom of two teenagers, who has made decisions in the past that are leaving her wracked with guilt; and Ada, a young woman who grew up in a religious sect and escaped to marry a man she barely knew but who offered her Hope.
I've done product review many times since I began my blog in the spring of 2008(!). I'd sworn off of it recently, though, because I find it difficult to talk about a product or a book objectively when I know there is a real person affected by my words. Do I sugarcoat it and recommend something I find mediocre or do I speak honestly and risk hurting feelings?
I routinely mention books on my Facebook page, but those are books I've picked up on my own and want to share with you, my fellow moms and readers. Plus, I only need mention the good books. The bad (or boring or weird or poorly written) ones, I just return to the library without a word.
This book, though? With this book I was willing to agree to a review because I've read every other book the author has written and never read one I didn't like.
Still Lifeby Christa Parrish is highly character driven. I've realized that when I'm reading a book, if characters are highly developed and the author gives them strong voices, I don't need a twisting plot to keep me interested. Still Life flip-flops between the stories of two women: Katherine, a working mom of two teenagers, who has made decisions in the past that are leaving her wracked with guilt; and Ada, a young woman who grew up in a religious sect and escaped to marry a man she barely knew but who offered her Hope.
Though we know almost from the beginning what will ultimately weave these two women together, we watch their stories play out from a distance until eventually they meet. The plot (which includes a plane crash, a runaway, and an award-winning photographer) is interesting, but the subtlety (how each women changes internally to experience grace and growth) was more intriguing.
Admittedly, this was not my favorite of Parrish's books. That would have to be Stones for Bread
which I've mentioned over and over here on my blog and was the book that set me on my journey with sour dough bread! What books have you enjoyed during these cold days of winter? Do you have a go-to author who always writes books you love?
I've kind of been in a book funk. I read "In a Heartbeat" by Leigh Anne and Sean Touhy at the beginning of the year but nothing much since. So strange for me!!
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