Lady Jayne Disappears Book Review

Title: Lady Jayne Disappears

Author: Joanna Davidson Politano

Genre: Christian, Historical Fiction, Romance, Mystery,

Plot: Aurelie Harcourt grew up in debtor's prison with her father who beguiled away the days with stories of her mother, Lady Jayne. But he died before he could reach the end and finally tell her what actually happened to her mother. Released from the only home she's ever known, Aurelie is forced to stay with her father's stony cold relatives who do everything in their power to keep her from digging too deeply into the past and unearthing their dirty secrets. Meanwhile, she has a job to do. Her father wrote and published the stories he told her under the name of Nathaniel Droll and now, with a deadline approaching, it's up to Aurelie to take up the pen and finish the story. But how does it end?


Likes/Dislikes: The summary of this book intrigued me when it was up for review so I requested it and was sorely disappointed to find it was not what I'd hoped it would be. The writing is so weird. The descriptions come in jabs and broken fragments at badly placed moments {like the ridiculous wet skirt in the opening pages} and I couldn't relate to Aurelie as a writer at all. She kept getting stuck and picking the wrong moments to mentally drift off. It just jarred with me. I actually skipped ahead to see what happened next and it still didn't sit too well. There seemed nothing graphic or overly bad in it, just the writing style. Maybe I'll try again at a future date and see if time fixes our first impression.

Rating: PG-12 and up, mainly for reading level.

Date Review Written: November 18th, 2017

I received a copy of this book courtesy of the publishers for my honest opinion. I wasn't required to write a positive review and the opinions expressed in the above review are my own.

A Name Unknown Book Review

Title: A Name Unknown

Author: Roseanna M. White

Genre: Christian, Historical Fiction, Romance, World War 1, Writing, Drama

Plot: Rosemary Gresham is a talented thief whose family is a band of orphans and also more talented thieves. Ever since her parents died of fever when she was a child, Rosemary has been on her own and kept her back to a seemingly heartless God. With rumors flying and trouble from Germany brewing, Rosemary accepts a job that could pay off big time and finally allow her family a chance at food on the table every day and new shoes. But the cost of the job could be very high.

Meanwhile Peter Holstein flees London for his quiet country house to finish his story and try to dig into his family's past, hoping to unearth solid proof that he is in fact English and not a German spy. But given the state of his library, he's certain the needed information won't be found in time, possibly not even for years. That is, until a lovely lady librarian from London arrives on his doorstep.

With both harboring secrets of their own, will Peter and Rosemary be able to find the missing papers before its too late?

Likes/Dislikes: The premise of this book intrigued me and it had promise. Who doesn't want a capable girl thief running around pre-war? But it quickly lost its appeal; we only see Rosemary's thief family for the first couple chapters and then the last chapter {I skipped ahead} though she talks about them consistently. Peter stutters horribly and it was very badly written. Some characters who stutter are written so well that you hardly noticed but this was too obvious and his "fault" was repeated too many times. I can't stand a stuttering hero. I liked how his mental process went through working on his story; that was a familiar writing high. Rosemary's sense of organization for the library really bothered me, mainly because I would've done it differently. And it's four hundred pages of them whining stuttering, worrying and going off on tangents inside of actually doing something. At a different season in my life this would've made a great story but right now it just didn't gel with me. Maybe I'll try it again in a few years.

Rating: PG-12 and up, mainly for reading level. Very clean book.

Date Review Written: November 16th, 2017

I received a copy of this book courtesy of Bethany House for my honest opinion. I wasn't required to write a positive review and the opinions expressed in the above review are my own.

The Daily Question Book Review

Title: The Daily Question

Author: Waterbrook

Genre: Journal, Self-Help, Five Year Record, Spiritual

Plot: As the cover proudly states, "365 Questions, 5 Years, 1,825 Answers," this journal promises to last you quite a long time on your spiritual journey as you grow and mature. It's even thoughtful enough to keep a record of your growth for you to look back over as time lengthens. Each page has thought-provoking question such as "What are your New Years resolutions for this year?" "What has caused you to feel the nearness of God?" "What have you been studying in the Bible lately?" And plenty of other queries.

Each page is beautifully lined with the month and day marked clearly, and each month has its very own lovely cover page which makes it very easy to tell the months apart and rather exciting to start a new one. And the cover is gorgeous blue design that you could just sink into. There's one golden ribbon marker to help you keep your place. A pen is not included but with such a treat as this journal, I'm sure finding your own pen shouldn't be too much of a worry.

Likes/Dislikes: I love this journal! I have the 365 Q&A edition and have found that the spaces for writing your answers are sometimes too small but that's mainly because I like to ramble when journaling. It's a good size to carry around and fill in the day's entry while on the go and my sister and I had a lot of fun looking up birthdays and anniversaries to see what the question was for that day. Highly recommended.

Rating: G-all ages, though more geared toward 14 and up.

Date Review Written: November 9th, 2017.

I received a copy of this book for review courtesy of Blogging for Books and wasn't required to write a positive review. The opinions in the above review are my own.