Review: Lucretia and the Kroons

Lucretia and the Kroons by Victor LaValle
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Book Summary

Lucretia’s best friend and upstairs neighbor Sunny—a sweet pitbull of a kid, even as she struggles with a mysterious illness—has gone missing. The only way to get her back is for Lucretia to climb the rickety fire escape of their Queens tenement and crawl through the window of apartment 6D, portal to a vast shadowland of missing kids ruled by a nightmarish family of mutants whose designs on the children are unknown. Her search for Sunny takes Lucretia through a dark fantasyland where she finds lush forests growing from concrete, pigeon-winged rodents, and haunted playgrounds. Her quest ultimately forces her to confront the most frightening specter of all: losing, forever, the thing you love the most.


My Review

I'll start off by saying this is not the type of book that I normally read. However I'm trying to work through some of my collection and this was next up. The story begins with a 12th birthday party for Lucretia. The author of this novella draws you in quickly and sets up the rest of the story. Even though I'm MUCH older, I felt I could connect with Lucretia and some of the emotions she was experiencing. The supporting characters were well developed, Mom, Sunny, the three popular girls, Louis and of course the Kroons. They really contributed to the story, made it flow very nicely. As Lucretia goes on her adventure, the author really kept me interested wondering what or who she would encounter next. I couldn't put the story down! Every free minute I was picking this book up to see what happened next. As a deeper thought, this really brought home the fact that a child's life is not always sunshine and roses. I think Lucretia's adventure was representative of the emotions and escapes that children use when faced with difficulties especially death. I though the author did a great job with this book from the horror/fantasy perspective.

From A Christian Perspective

I think this book had a message although it was somewhat hard to find. While Alice was different and strange, in the end Loochie learned to love her as a friend. I think it's important for children to recognize that it's ok to love those who are different from them. Also, Loochie had to make a choice between life and death. She recognized the value of her life and chose to live. So many are faced with this decision and make a different choice. So while this book was NOT a Christian book, you can find some redeeming messages within.

Love and Blessings!
Margaret

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Review: Freedom's Child

Freedom's Child by Jax Miller
My rating: 2 of 5 stars



From the cover:

Freedom Oliver has plenty of secrets. She lives in a small Oregon town and keeps mostly to herself. Her few friends and neighbors know she works at the local biker bar; they know she gets arrested for public drunkenness almost every night; they know she’s brash, funny, and fearless.

What they don’t know is that Freedom Oliver is a fake name. They don’t know that she was arrested for killing her husband, a cop, twenty years ago. They don’t know she put her two kids up for adoption. They don’t know that she’s now in witness protection, regretting ever making a deal with the Feds, and missing her children with a heartache so strong it makes her ill.

Then, she learns that her daughter has gone missing, possibly kidnapped. Determined to find out what happened, Freedom slips free of her handlers, gets on a motorcycle, and heads for Kentucky, where her daughter was raised. As she ventures out on her own, no longer protected by the government, her troubled past comes roaring back at her: her husband’s vengeful, sadistic family; her brief, terrifying stint in prison; and the family she chose to adopt her kids who are keeping dangerous secrets.

My Review
I received this ARC in return for my honest opinion regarding the book. When I started reading the book, I thought the writing pattern was a bit odd. After a few chapters, it was clear that Freedom was a mother on a mission. She secretly kept track of her children and too late realized they were in danger. As she does what I think any mother would do, sets out to rescue them, her trail is woven through some weird situations. When a rogue cop follows her to help her out, he not only puts himself at risk but Freedom also. What threw me off was the way each chapter seemed likes it's own sub story, it didn't always flow smoothly. I thought it would get better and make more sense as I got further into the story, unfortunately for me it didn't. While Freedom was an interesting character, I never felt like I got a good understanding of her character and I couldn't connect with her very well. The supporting characters were about the same. I get the feeling that there was a much deeper meaning to this story and somehow I missed it.

From a Christian Perspective
In a weird way I think this was supposed to be a story of redemption. The Pastor had lost his focus on Christ and the servant attitude which led to his downfall. As Christians, we must remember that our every action is to serve God. Bad language and craziness aside. I think this book is definitely for the adult reader, I would not allow kids to read it.

Love & Blessings!
Margaret

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I Am Ready to Be Humble

"If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land."

This was the closing scripture to the movie a saw today, War Room.  I am humbled after seeing that movie.  Sometimes we need a reminder of what the Lord can and more importantly WILL do if we humble ourselves before Him.  

War Room Trailer:

It's very rare that I get emotional for a movie (although it seems to be happening more lately!) but this one really touched me deep in my soul.  The struggle sounded so familiar to me and to some others that I know.  Why is it so hard to believe that all we need to do is really humble ourselves before the Lord?  Why is it so hard to believe that He still answers prayer?  I don't know the answers but I know what I will be attempting to do over the next few months!  

Have you seen the movie?  What are your thoughts?

Love & Blessings!
Margaret

Review: The Truth Club

The Truth Club by Grace Wynne-Jones
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

From the cover:
Marriage seems to have stirred up all sorts of weird longings in Sally Adams. On the surface she seems to have everything she needs to be happy....so why is she guzzling so many chocolate biscuits and dreaming of elsewhere?

She has good friends, an interesting job and an almost brand new husband. Then a chance encounter with a stranger makes it all too clear that life could have been so different if she had followed her heart. She begins to wonder if the key to fulfillment lies not in the present but in the past.

Over fifty years before, Sally's Great-Aunt DeeDee, the official black sheep of the family, disappeared. When Sally uncovers a scandal that has left deep fault lines in her family she begins to understand the legacy of lies and secrets that are echoed in her complicated relationship with her sister, April. As she unravels the mystery she begins to see what she has been hiding from. And she learns that to be who she truly is and to find her soul mate, she must be honest...and she must be brave.

My Review:
This book took place primarily in Ireland. Sally had moved out from her husband Diarmund and was trying to figure out if she wanted to stay married or not. Sally was an odd sort of character and I couldn't quite connect to her. She seemed all over the place emotionally and it was a little (ok a lot!) distracting. I never quite managed to understand her. As the book progressed, I was more and more confused by the interactions and relationships. The auxiliary characters like Diarmund, Fiona and Erika seemed to have stories of their own, they didn't really "fit" if that makes sense. The story was choppy and seemed to be all over the place like the main character. There wasn't a smooth flow and that's always something that will make me lose interest. I did finish the book but it was a struggle.

From a Christian perspective:

I couldn't find any redeeming factors in this book. There were extramarital affairs, much extramarital sex, lying between partners. I found this a bit disturbing especially since it did nothing to support the story being told. I feel like some attempt was made at the end when one of Sally's "hobbies" was singing in a gospel choir with blacks. It was weak and again unnecessary.

Overall I did not enjoy this book and I would find it difficult to recommend it.  This was a  book from my personal collection and I did not receive any compensation for my review.

Love and Blessings!
Margaret

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