Hello, fellow campaigners of the writing world! I hope your January went well, and I hope your February goes even better.
This week’s post is about my reading haul for January 2021, which is not a bad amount due to all the planning and stuff I’ve had to do lately–not to mention school is starting up! So, though I read a good chunk this month, who knows how busy I’ll get with school, with church, with my writing, and this blog. I spent a couple days creating a feasible schedule for blog/social media work which only takes up portions of two days of the week (three if you include posting). If you guys are interested in seeing what I do for planning and how I work it all together, let me know.
So, without further ado, here is my January Book Haul:
Book #1: “Love Comes Softly” by Janette Oke [Book 1 of “The Love Comes Softly Series”]
Rating:
10/10
Review:
As one of the first books that got me into historical fiction, “Love Comes Softly” is a story close to my heart. It covers the journey of a recently widowed, Marty, who out of convenience marries Clark Davis to help raise his daughter. With expecting a baby from her late husband, Marty struggles with finding faith, becoming a mother to an independent Missie, and with how she feels towards her new husband.
This book (more like the series) was also a book that made me want to draw closer to God, because I saw how well Clark knew scripture and made me think “I want to be like that”.
Book #2: “The Enchanted Barn” by Grace Livingston Hill
Rating:
10/10
Review:
A sweet romance that slowly progresses throughout the book. The book follows Shirly Hollister who’s family only have a short amount of time before they are evicted from their house. Being a poor secretary, there isn’t much she can do, but while job searching, she finds a stone barn that is for rent and a marvelous idea enters her head–she wants to have her family live in the barn.
I thought it was a sweet book, making me want to live in a barn. I did find there was a random dash of danger in the book which escalated things, but nevertheless, it ended sweetly and I enjoyed it.
Book #3: “Loves Enduring Promise” by Janette Oke [Book 2 of the “Love Comes Softly Series”]
Rating:
8/10
Review:
This book follows Marty as she has more children, adopts two girls, and it follows them growing up, though I feel it skipped way too many years too quickly and the romances weren’t written how I wanted them to be written due to the quick jump in years. I am just a fan of prolonged slow-burns, but I guess that I can’t get my way all the time. Haha!
Book #4: “Dawn of the Morning” by Grace Livingston Hill
Rating:
8/10
Review:
“Dawn of the Morning” followed a young woman, Dawn, being manipulated into marriage, but finding herself in love with her fiancé’s brother. But due to her obliviousness, she misses how she ends up marrying her fiancé’s brother, and there is a whole misunderstanding which was a bit dramatic and annoying, but I must say it kept me on the edge of my seat.
Book #5: “Cloaked” by Rachel Kovaciny [Book 1 of the “Once Upon A Western” series]
Rating:
9.5/10
Review:
Mary Rose is sent to live with her grandmother in hopes of some reconciliation between her parents and grandmother. But something about the new hired hand, Mr. Linden, isn’t settling right, but Mary Rose keeps quiet because what does she know about it at age sixteen?
I must say, I really liked this read because it combined two genres I love–fairy tale retellings and Historical Christian Romance. I will be getting the next in the series, no question about it.
Book #6: “A Little Servant” by Grace Livingston Hill
Rating:
8.5/10
Review:
The short story left at a bittersweet ending, following a young man who doesn’t believe in God who at his new job meets his boss’s granddaughter who shows him the light of Jesus, giving him a commission as her “knight”.
Book #7: “Etania’s Worth” by M. H. Elrich [Book 1 of the “Daughters of Tamnarae” series]
Rating:
9/10
Review:
I didn’t know what to expect from this Christian fantasy, but I found myself pulled in. It follows Etania who is the daughter of a Lehrling (the equivalent of one of the 12 Apostles). She is bitter against her father and doesn’t believe he or the equivalent of Jesus could love her. She decides she doesn’t want to follow in her father’s footsteps, but apparently her Lord and Savior has other plans. The world was complex but interesting, and I’m excited to see where the author heads.
Book #8: “Love’s Long Journey” by Janette Oke [Book 3 of the “Love Comes Softly” series]
Rating:
8/10
Review:
It took me a bit to finish, but here I am! It was hard to start because it was slow-paced, but in the end it was worth it. It covers the struggles of Marty and Clark’s, Missie, as she travels West as a newly wed as her husband, Willie, starts up his ranch. It really goes in depth about her joys, disappointments, struggles, and successes away from her family but starting her own.
Book #9-11: “No Match for a Good Story”, “Blizzard at Three Bears Lake”, and “Gruff” by Rachel Kovaciny [Books 0.5, 1.5, 1.7 of the “Once Upon a Western” series]
Rating:
9/10
Review:
The three short stories by the same author as “Cloaked” were short, sweet, and enjoyable. They were retellings of “Scheherezade”, “Goldilocks and the Three Bears”, and “Three Billy Goats Gruff” which were both creative and fun spins on it. I just wished they were longer, haha!
So, that’s what I’ve read this month! I’m surprised at how much I got done! I probably won’t get as much done next month due to school and stuff. But, we shall see.
Salutations, fellow adventurers!
Respectfully,
A. F. Kopp
= Psalm 19:14 | Isaiah 53:6 | James 1:27 =
A. F. Kopp Author 