An enjoyable, if implausible, journey story.
A Job-like pastor comes to terms with his dramatic past in this Christian novel.
Hunky pastor Jack Douglas has a perfect life outside Savannah, Georgia, until his wife and two children are killed in a horrible car accident. The trauma of the loss shakes Jack’s faith in God, so he sells his house and car, buys some supplies from a sporting goods store, and sets out on foot into the anonymous vastness of North America. “I have to just go,” he thinks, walking along the highway, “go somewhere, anywhere but Georgia to sort things out. This is not about finding myself, purpose, or even about finding God. Heck, I thought I’d found Him before. It’s about moving. Keep on moving.” As he wanders overland, he encounters duplicitous homeless men, wild bears, and armed robbers before taking a job at an oil rig in North Dakota. When tragedy strikes the rig, Jack realizes he must get even farther away from civilization than he’s been thus far, so he sets out for the Last Frontier. He ends up befriending a wolf, whom he names Amaroq, in the Alaskan wilderness. Even more surprising, he meets an innkeeper in Nome—an Inuit woman named Qaniit—who takes his mind off his tragic past. But if Jack thinks he can escape tragedy in the far north, he has another thing coming. The question is, will God find him there as well? Charles (My War with Hemingway, 2015) writes in a muscular prose that suits the no-nonsense directness of his protagonist: “He lowers the knife and unzips the tent. Peering out through the opening, he sees a large stag standing nearby watching him. Stark naked, he eases out of the tent, stands, holding the knife in his hand.” Jack has perhaps too much of an action hero in him—he wins many fistfights, tames a wolf, and becomes the object of affection of every woman he meets—and the novel is loaded with familiar tropes. Even so, the plot and setting are wild enough to keep the audience entertained. Charles’ tale probably won’t affect readers’ faith in God, but it might stir their wanderlust.
An enjoyable, if implausible, journey story.Pub Date: Feb. 15, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-984198-61-7
Page Count: 274
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: May 7, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
With frank language and patient plotting, this gangly teen crush grows into a confident adult love affair.
Eleven years ago, he broke her heart. But he doesn’t know why she never forgave him.
Toggling between past and present, two love stories unfold simultaneously. In the first, Macy Sorensen meets and falls in love with the boy next door, Elliot Petropoulos, in the closet of her dad’s vacation home, where they hide out to discuss their favorite books. In the second, Macy is working as a doctor and engaged to a single father, and she hasn’t spoken to Elliot since their breakup. But a chance encounter forces her to confront the truth: what happened to make Macy stop speaking to Elliot? Ultimately, they’re separated not by time or physical remoteness but by emotional distance—Elliot and Macy always kept their relationship casual because they went to different schools. And as a teen, Macy has more to worry about than which girl Elliot is taking to the prom. After losing her mother at a young age, Macy is navigating her teenage years without a female role model, relying on the time-stamped notes her mother left in her father’s care for guidance. In the present day, Macy’s father is dead as well. She throws herself into her work and rarely comes up for air, not even to plan her upcoming wedding. Since Macy is still living with her fiance while grappling with her feelings for Elliot, the flashbacks offer steamy moments, tender revelations, and sweetly awkward confessions while Macy makes peace with her past and decides her future.
With frank language and patient plotting, this gangly teen crush grows into a confident adult love affair.Pub Date: April 10, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5011-2801-1
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2018
Heartfelt and funny, this enemies-to-lovers romance shows that the best things in life are all-inclusive and nontransferable...
An unlucky woman finally gets lucky in love on an all-expenses-paid trip to Hawaii.
From getting her hand stuck in a claw machine at age 6 to losing her job, Olive Torres has never felt that luck was on her side. But her fortune changes when she scores a free vacation after her identical twin sister and new brother-in-law get food poisoning at their wedding buffet and are too sick to go on their honeymoon. The only catch is that she’ll have to share the honeymoon suite with her least favorite person—Ethan Thomas, the brother of the groom. To make matters worse, Olive’s new boss and Ethan’s ex-girlfriend show up in Hawaii, forcing them both to pretend to be newlyweds so they don’t blow their cover, as their all-inclusive vacation package is nontransferable and in her sister’s name. Plus, Ethan really wants to save face in front of his ex. The story is told almost exclusively from Olive’s point of view, filtering all communication through her cynical lens until Ethan can win her over (and finally have his say in the epilogue). To get to the happily-ever-after, Ethan doesn’t have to prove to Olive that he can be a better man, only that he was never the jerk she thought he was—for instance, when she thought he was judging her for eating cheese curds, maybe he was actually thinking of asking her out. Blending witty banter with healthy adult communication, the fake newlyweds have real chemistry as they talk it out over snorkeling trips, couples massages, and a few too many tropical drinks to get to the truth—that they’re crazy about each other.
Heartfelt and funny, this enemies-to-lovers romance shows that the best things in life are all-inclusive and nontransferable as well as free.Pub Date: May 14, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5011-2803-5
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: March 2, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2019
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
bookshelf
