Jeannie Hudson's Blog: Bookmarks - Posts Tagged "hope"

Growing up in Two Rivers, Vermont during the era of Vietnam and the civil rights movement, Harper Montgomery loved Betsy
from the time they were children and marries her when they're just out of high
school. During his youth, he and two friends are involved in some dreadful activities, one of which is a horrific
racial crime. -- As the story opens, he is still haunted by his past and grieving for his mother who was murdered because of her civil rights activities, and Betsy whose death is somehow connected to the hate crime that still plagues him. His daughter Shelly was born the night her mother died and he has been a single-dad for twelve years. His life has been reduced by tragedy to a shallow existence divided between his job with the Two Rivers railroad and raising his daughter. -- While Harper
helps rescue passengers after a train
derailment, he is approached by Maggie,
a pregnant black girl who convinces him to let her live with him and Shelly. He
soon suspects that more than chance has
brought her into their lives. When he
begins unraveling the mysteries of the
past, he finds new hope and redemption
for all of them.-- TWO RIVERS is a dark,
lovely story of heartbreak and sorrow, of
making amends and finding forgiveness. I
give it three stars.

In her engrossing novel THE SISTERS,Nancy
Jensen has masterfully crafted a story where nearly a century of parental dysfunction and secrets is defeated by the courage and wisdom of future daughters and granddaughters. The story begins with tragedy that spawns consequences that warp the minds and lives of four generations of American women. Jensen's insight into subterranean family interactions is nothing short of stunning. Her grasp of the psychology among siblings taps the depth of human nature.Her characterizations are accurate and intriguing. Though I sometimes wanted to shout at these women to stop being so stupid, I empathized with their spiraling habit of repeating mistakes. Jensen intimately understands the internal landscapes within families. She mines the tender, confounded bonds of
siblings, and the childhood pain inflicted by clueless, unfeeling parents
who unwittingly consign their offspring to emotional wastelands that breed ever
greater dysfunction over time. Jensen
weaves all the convergent threads into a
viable and rewarding denouement,leaving the reader deeply satisfied. Kudos to
Nancy Jensen for a lovely, triumphant
novel. I give THE SISTERS five stars.

I really enjoyed THE BAKER'S WIFE, a
Christian thriller and a new genre for me.
The opening scenes set up a complicated mystery and I was immediately hooked and
was reading rabidly over the day or two it
took me to finish it. I admire the author's
excellent character development, weaving
their experiences past and present into a
compelling finish.