To Be Where You Are

To Be Where You Are. Jan Karon. G. P. Putnam's Sons. October 2017. 450 pages. Source - Audio book.

First sentence: It was the first day of October, and all things considered, Mitford was pretty quiet. 

Plot: After twelve years of wrestling with the conflicts of retirement, Father Tim Kavanagh realizes he doesn't need a steady job to prove himself. Then he's given one. As for what it proves, heaven only knows.

Millions of Karon fans will be thrilled that it's life as usual in the wildly popular Mitford series: A beloved town character lands a front-page obituary, but who was it, exactly, who died? And what about the former mayor, born the year Lindbergh landed in Paris, who's still running for office? All this, of course, is but a feather on the wind compared to Muse editor J.C. Hogan's desperate attempts to find a cure for his marital woes. Will it be high-def TV or his pork chop marinade?

In fiction, as in real life, there are no guarantees.

Twenty minutes from Mitford at Meadowgate Farm, newlyweds Dooley and Lace Kavanagh face a crisis that devastates their bank account and impacts their family vet practice.

But there is still a lot to celebrate, as their adopted son, Jack, looks forward to the most important day of his life--with great cooking, country music, and lots of people who love him. Happily, it will also be a day when the terrible wound in Dooley's biological family begins to heal because of a game--let's just call it a miracle--that breaks all the rules.

In To Be Where You Are, Jan Karon weaves together the richly comic and compelling lives of two Kavanagh families, and a cast of characters that readers around the world now love like kin.

My thoughts:  I was kind of disappointed in this one from Jan Karon.  Not sure what I expected but I don't feel it lived up to the hype prior to it being published.  To be fair maybe I waited too long to actually read it.

I feel like the story didn't flow very well. It seemed to jump around from person/family often times making me think, "who is this now?".  My favorite situation in this one is when Father Tim brings home a new dog from Dooley and Lacey's.  After the passing of Barnabus I didn't think Father Tim would have another.  But I was happy to see him with another.

The Prayer Box

The Prayer Box (Carolina Heirlooms #1). Lisa Wingate. Tyndale House Publishing. September 2013. 400 pages. Source: Audio library book.

First sentence: When trouble blows in, my mind always reaches for a single, perfect day in Rodanthe.

Plot: When Iola Anne Poole, an old-timer on Hatteras Island, passes away in her bed at ninety-one, the struggling young mother in her rental cottage, Tandi Jo Reese, finds herself charged with the task of cleaning out Iola's rambling Victorian house.Running from a messy, dangerous past, Tandi never expects to find more than a temporary hiding place within Iola's walls, but everything changes with the discovery of eighty-one carefully decorated prayer boxes, one for each year, spanning from Iola's youth to her last days. Hidden in the boxes is the story of a lifetime, written on random bits of paper--the hopes and wishes, fears and thoughts of an unassuming but complex woman passing through the seasons of an extraordinary, unsung life filled with journeys of faith, observations on love, and one final lesson that could change everything for Tandi. (Goodreads)

My thoughts:  This story was a mixture of Tandi's story and Iola's story.  In learning about Iola, Tandi discovers who she is.  She is a mother who had a rough start in lift and most of her live decisions haven't been the best.  Learning to trust those who really care about her is hard to do.   I loved how Iola's story unfolded along side Tandi's.  It was really like reading two different books at the same time.  I'm really looking forward to the sequel!

The Chosen

The Chosen. Ted Dekker. December 15, 2007. Thomas Nelson. 260 pages. Source: Audio library

First sentence: Our story begins in a world totally like our own, yet completely different.

Plot: Think with your heart and prepare to die for you have been chosen.

The land of the Forest Dwellers has been decimated by the Horde under the watchful eye of the vilest of all creatures, Teeleh. Thomas Hunter, supreme commander of the Forest Guard, is forced to lower the recruitment age of his army from 18 to 16. From among thousands, four new recruits are chosen to lead--and perhaps die--for the greater good.

The chosen four are sent on a quest to prove their character, but their mission takes a dramatic turn when they are intercepted, sworn to secrecy, and redirected to a different endgame. Now they must find the seven lost Books of History. Books that have power over the past, present, and future. Books whose words are alive. Books sought by the Dark One that control not only the destiny of their world...but that of ours as well. (Goodreads)

My thoughts: These types of stories are all starting to sound the same.  These four young warriors are sent on a mission to prove their leadership ability only to be derailed from their mission by an alternate task for the Chosen one of them.  It was a good read and recommended for young adults and teens.  But I won't be continuing with the series.

Last Light

Last Light. Terri Blackstock. Zondervan. October 2005. 381 pages. (Source: Audio library book)

First sentence: Deni Branning stepped down onto the tarmac, pulled out the handle of her carry-on, and glanced back up at her dad.

Plot: In the face of a crisis that sweeps an entire high-tech planet back to the age before electricity, Deni Branning's career ambitions have vanished. She's not about to let her dream of marriage go as well.

But keeping it alive will require extraordinary measures. Yesterday's world is gone. All Deni and her family have left is each other and their neighbors. Their little community will either stand or fall together. But they're only beginning to realize it - and trust doesn't come easily.

Particularly when one of them is a killer.  

Best-selling suspense author Terri Blackstock weaves a masterful what-if novel in which global catastrophe reveals the darkness in human hearts - and lights the way to restoration for a self-centered world.

My thoughts: An EMP is something that hubby and I used to fear.  We stockpiled and prepared for a disaster of this sort.  Ten years later nothing happened so we used up most of our stores and sold things we never really used.   Now I am wondering if we have done the right thing.  The struggles that these families went through were some of the very things we were concerned about at one time.  

Though my family is not as spoiled as these poor folks were I know we should still have had problem dealing with this hard life day in and day out.  I don't think that much of this was too far fetched.  In fact I found most everything to be very believable except maybe the gas powered generators and tillers not working.  Why would they not work. 

Great lessons for any Christian the way that God works to provide for us in our time of need.  Even though we may not see it in the moment.  Anyway it was a really good read and I hope to come across Restoration #2 in the near future.