The Lost Hours, by Karen White

The Lost Hours is a novel about Piper Mills, a former equestrian champion who hasn’t ridden a horse since a devastating accident six years ago, when she was an Olympic hopeful. Piper’s parents died when she was a child, and when the grandparents who raised her both die, Piper begins a journey of self-discovery that [...]

The Girl She Used to Be, by David Cristofano

The Girl She Used to Be is built on a fascinating concept.  Melody Grace McCartney has been in the Witness Protection Program ever since she was six years old, when she and her parents accidentally witnessed a brutal Mafia murder.  Since then, she’s been constantly on the move, from one bland American small town to [...]

Heart and Soul, by Maeve Binchy

You can always rely on Maeve Binchy for a good, satisfying, heartwarming read.  I’ve complained in a previous review that some of her latest novels, though categorized as novels rather than short story collections, are really more like collections of linked short stories.  Heart and Soul follows a similar pattern, focusing on the staff and [...]

The Devil’s Brood, by Sharon Kay Penman

Well, to me Sharon Kay Penman is and will always be the Queen of Historical Fiction, so let’s get that out of the way right up front. This is the third of her novels about the ill-starred marriage of two medieval powerhouses, Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitane.  This one, as the title [...]

The Passion of Mary-Margaret, by Lisa Samson

One of my ongoing reader complaints is that there isn’t enough good Christian fiction. (I am, of course, doing what I can to remedy that personally).  That, of course, leads to the inevitable question “What do you mean by Christian fiction?” There’s “fiction written by Christians,” which could include an awful lot of mainstream fiction; “fiction [...]

Acedia and Me, by Kathleen Norris

Acedia, in case you didn’t know, is a word that fourth-century Christian monks used to describe a temptation that’s difficult to translate into modern English.  The word has been used in lots of ways and contexts since, although it’s fallen out of common use: it’s closely allied to, though not identical with, the Deadly Sin [...]

10-10-10 by Suzy Welch

I’m not normally one for self-help books, but when my friend Christine reviewed this one at her site Three Deep Breaths and then loaned me her copy, I gave it a try.  It’s a short, light, very readable book in which Suzy Welch, who is among other things a columnist for O magazine, lays out a [...]