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Plain Fame by Sarah Price
2.0
This book is the first in a series of books following a Cuban hip-hop star and a young Amish girl whose worlds literally collide, and I suggest that you do not read this novel unless you are intending to read the whole series. That being said, I do not suggest you read the whole series unless:
1. You are fine with a hero whose professes to have faith in God, but whose music contains explicit and immoral lyrics (these are never detailed in the books, but his music is described several times in these terms);
2. You do not mind that the hero repeatedly blasphemes in Spanish;
3. You are fine with a heroine who, despite her Amish upbringing, does not see anything inconsistent with faith in God and writing/performing/singing such music;
4. You don’t mind watching a young Amish girl gradually compromising more and more in order to fit into the hero’s world;
5. You don’t mind that the hero and heroine have a limited understanding of the Bible and experience no spiritual growth;
6. You want a sensual and lustful romance where only one of the main characters believes you should wait until marriage and where you are regularly given glimpses into the bedroom once the characters are married;
7. You don’t mind that the bulk of the series is simply spent trailing our hero and heroine while they meet each other, deal with the paparazzi, perform, pander to their fans, give interviews, and attend awards ceremonies and parties, and so on.
To be fair, much of this is not fully apparent until the second novel in the series, but the first novel is not intended to be a stand-alone, and will not be a satisfying read in itself. Needless to say, I do not recommend this series, but my initial rating of this book (prior to reading the rest of the series) was two-stars, partly because I still harboured some hope that this series would go in the right direction.
I was initially attracted to this series because I thought it had an interesting premise – super-celebrity meets young Amish girl in rather unfortunate circumstances, and an unlikely friendship begins to develop into something more. The two worlds couldn’t be more different. How would it work out? It was not clear from any of the synopses (or this novel) that Alejandro’s lyrics were so immoral and explicit, and as it is marketed as Christian fiction, I had a general expectation that Alejandro’s growing weariness at maintaining his bad-boy image and his fascination with Amanda’s innocence and purity would cause him to reassess his life. In the end I felt that the opposite occurred: Amanda was seduced (in an emotional and spiritual sense) into putting her trust in Alejandro rather than God, and the rest of the series develops along this theme.
We learn early on that Alejandro doesn’t have a rosy past. He learned to survive on the streets of Miami and that came at a price. Part of that price, apparently, is a daughter he provides for, but whom he doesn’t actually know. He explains to Amanda, “Things happen. I take care of them as best I can. I send money. That’s all they want actually.” Amanda then feels a deep sorrow on his behalf at the thought that people only want him for his money. Personally, I was more disappointed that he could be so dismissive of his own child. But then, in this same conversation he explains that he and his mother had little more than each other and their faith in God to take care of them when he was growing up. I know even Christians make mistakes like having a child out of wedlock, but I was little taken aback that he could so casually dismiss his illegitimate daughter in one breath, and talk of his faith in God then next. Nevertheless, I anticipated that Alejandro would have plenty of opportunity to grow in his faith as the novel progressed, and so I read on.
Unfortunately my hopes were never realised. Despite the initial impression that Alejandro was growing weary of his bad-boy image, he is quite casual, even deliberate, in his admission that many of his female fans make their way backstage at his concerts in the hope of an invite back to his hotel room for the night; a hope that is often realised. There is no indication that he sees anything particularly wrong with this, only that he wishes Amanda didn’t have to see him in this light. I also found it a little difficult to believe that such an innocent and pure Amish girl (as we are repeatedly reminded she is) would have continued this conversation for as long as she did, and taken it in the direction she did.
The novel was also unnecessarily sensual in a few places, particularly in light of its intended Christian/Amish romance audience. There is a scene where Amanda and Alejandro dance together with rather a lot of body contact and later in the book, when Alejandro is trying to divert the media’s attention from Amanda and her family, he ‘dances erotically’ with another woman at a nightclub (book’s description, not mine), which includes “a deep kiss that appeared to be full of passion and lust.” Even the kiss Amanda and Alejandro share is on the high end of the sensuality scale for a Christian novel. We are told this is because “Amanda’s inner beauty had a stronger pull on him (Alejandro) than his own moral strength.” I felt it was simply trying to romanticise lust.
**SPOILER**
The final clincher for many Christian readers will be the conclusion of this novel (looking towards the next in the series), which sees Amanda leaving her home to live with Alejandro (no, they do not get married in this book) because she needs to leave her community as a result of the disruptive media attention that has been focused on them. I find it difficult to believe this would have been God’s will in the situation, although considering Amanda never actually sought God’s will in the matter, perhaps this is not surprising.
**END SPOILER**
Probably the most disappointing aspect of this novel was the spiritual references (especially Alejandro’s habit of taking the Lord’s name in vain in Spanish). At one point Alejandro shows Amanda his Santa Barbara medallion (Santa Barbara being the saint who protects him). Being Cuban-born, the Catholicism is not surprising, however when Amanda counters that it is God who protects him, Alejandro replies that even God can use some help from time to time. This didn’t sit well with me, but then Alejandro goes on to say there are many religions in the world and maybe there is more than one way to worship God. Later, during the service at her church, Amanda reflects on this and apparently has a moment of ‘clarity’: Despite his worldly lifestyle, Alejandro is still a child of God. Just as there is more than one way to worship God, perhaps there was more than just one path that led to heaven.
It is possible that the author’s intended meaning was that the Amish way of life isn’t the only expression of Christian faith, and I agree with this, but that is not the way this reads. The Bible is quite clear that the only way to Heaven is to acknowledge our inherent sinfulness and that Christ paid that penalty in full for those who believe. No religion but Christianity teaches this. Just believing that there is ‘a God’ does not mean anything unless you also believe that humans are inherently sinful, and cannot overcome that in their own strength. If you believe IN God, then you believe that anything the Bible designates as sin is just that: sin. And if you believe in God, you believe that sin equals death, both spiritually and, eventually, physically. And if you believe that, then you don’t embrace sin or promote it; you turn away from it, you mourn when you fail, and you come to God for forgiveness and the strength to do better in the future. This is what it means to be a child of God, but it is not what I see lived out in Alejandro’s life.
In light of all of the above, it seems almost irrelevant to mention that I felt the writing itself left something to be desired. Considered independently of the other aspects mentioned above I probably would have given it a three-star rating. There is a lot of telling versus showing, and the point-of-view characters would suddenly switch for a paragraph or a sentence (once even within the sentence!) which could be quite disorienting for the reader. I got tired of having everything explained to me, over and over again, like how the photos that were being taken would soon be posted on social media networks, and how different the Amish and celebrity ways of life are. Alejandro is repeatedly struck by Amanda’s innocence and purity, or her beauty, the clichéd finger brushing gets overused, and so on. The characters spend a lot of time analysing their own and each other’s thoughts and actions, doing day to day stuff, recovering and travelling back to Amanda’s home, and we kind of drift along in the knowledge that we’re going to hit the ‘our worlds are too different’ snag eventually (especially since so much of the story is spent pointing out the differences between the two lifestyles), but other than that there’s not a lot happening until we get around the 65% mark and the media intrudes.
All in all this was a premise with great potential, but a disappointing outcome.
1. You are fine with a hero whose professes to have faith in God, but whose music contains explicit and immoral lyrics (these are never detailed in the books, but his music is described several times in these terms);
2. You do not mind that the hero repeatedly blasphemes in Spanish;
3. You are fine with a heroine who, despite her Amish upbringing, does not see anything inconsistent with faith in God and writing/performing/singing such music;
4. You don’t mind watching a young Amish girl gradually compromising more and more in order to fit into the hero’s world;
5. You don’t mind that the hero and heroine have a limited understanding of the Bible and experience no spiritual growth;
6. You want a sensual and lustful romance where only one of the main characters believes you should wait until marriage and where you are regularly given glimpses into the bedroom once the characters are married;
7. You don’t mind that the bulk of the series is simply spent trailing our hero and heroine while they meet each other, deal with the paparazzi, perform, pander to their fans, give interviews, and attend awards ceremonies and parties, and so on.
To be fair, much of this is not fully apparent until the second novel in the series, but the first novel is not intended to be a stand-alone, and will not be a satisfying read in itself. Needless to say, I do not recommend this series, but my initial rating of this book (prior to reading the rest of the series) was two-stars, partly because I still harboured some hope that this series would go in the right direction.
I was initially attracted to this series because I thought it had an interesting premise – super-celebrity meets young Amish girl in rather unfortunate circumstances, and an unlikely friendship begins to develop into something more. The two worlds couldn’t be more different. How would it work out? It was not clear from any of the synopses (or this novel) that Alejandro’s lyrics were so immoral and explicit, and as it is marketed as Christian fiction, I had a general expectation that Alejandro’s growing weariness at maintaining his bad-boy image and his fascination with Amanda’s innocence and purity would cause him to reassess his life. In the end I felt that the opposite occurred: Amanda was seduced (in an emotional and spiritual sense) into putting her trust in Alejandro rather than God, and the rest of the series develops along this theme.
We learn early on that Alejandro doesn’t have a rosy past. He learned to survive on the streets of Miami and that came at a price. Part of that price, apparently, is a daughter he provides for, but whom he doesn’t actually know. He explains to Amanda, “Things happen. I take care of them as best I can. I send money. That’s all they want actually.” Amanda then feels a deep sorrow on his behalf at the thought that people only want him for his money. Personally, I was more disappointed that he could be so dismissive of his own child. But then, in this same conversation he explains that he and his mother had little more than each other and their faith in God to take care of them when he was growing up. I know even Christians make mistakes like having a child out of wedlock, but I was little taken aback that he could so casually dismiss his illegitimate daughter in one breath, and talk of his faith in God then next. Nevertheless, I anticipated that Alejandro would have plenty of opportunity to grow in his faith as the novel progressed, and so I read on.
Unfortunately my hopes were never realised. Despite the initial impression that Alejandro was growing weary of his bad-boy image, he is quite casual, even deliberate, in his admission that many of his female fans make their way backstage at his concerts in the hope of an invite back to his hotel room for the night; a hope that is often realised. There is no indication that he sees anything particularly wrong with this, only that he wishes Amanda didn’t have to see him in this light. I also found it a little difficult to believe that such an innocent and pure Amish girl (as we are repeatedly reminded she is) would have continued this conversation for as long as she did, and taken it in the direction she did.
The novel was also unnecessarily sensual in a few places, particularly in light of its intended Christian/Amish romance audience. There is a scene where Amanda and Alejandro dance together with rather a lot of body contact and later in the book, when Alejandro is trying to divert the media’s attention from Amanda and her family, he ‘dances erotically’ with another woman at a nightclub (book’s description, not mine), which includes “a deep kiss that appeared to be full of passion and lust.” Even the kiss Amanda and Alejandro share is on the high end of the sensuality scale for a Christian novel. We are told this is because “Amanda’s inner beauty had a stronger pull on him (Alejandro) than his own moral strength.” I felt it was simply trying to romanticise lust.
**SPOILER**
The final clincher for many Christian readers will be the conclusion of this novel (looking towards the next in the series), which sees Amanda leaving her home to live with Alejandro (no, they do not get married in this book) because she needs to leave her community as a result of the disruptive media attention that has been focused on them. I find it difficult to believe this would have been God’s will in the situation, although considering Amanda never actually sought God’s will in the matter, perhaps this is not surprising.
**END SPOILER**
Probably the most disappointing aspect of this novel was the spiritual references (especially Alejandro’s habit of taking the Lord’s name in vain in Spanish). At one point Alejandro shows Amanda his Santa Barbara medallion (Santa Barbara being the saint who protects him). Being Cuban-born, the Catholicism is not surprising, however when Amanda counters that it is God who protects him, Alejandro replies that even God can use some help from time to time. This didn’t sit well with me, but then Alejandro goes on to say there are many religions in the world and maybe there is more than one way to worship God. Later, during the service at her church, Amanda reflects on this and apparently has a moment of ‘clarity’: Despite his worldly lifestyle, Alejandro is still a child of God. Just as there is more than one way to worship God, perhaps there was more than just one path that led to heaven.
It is possible that the author’s intended meaning was that the Amish way of life isn’t the only expression of Christian faith, and I agree with this, but that is not the way this reads. The Bible is quite clear that the only way to Heaven is to acknowledge our inherent sinfulness and that Christ paid that penalty in full for those who believe. No religion but Christianity teaches this. Just believing that there is ‘a God’ does not mean anything unless you also believe that humans are inherently sinful, and cannot overcome that in their own strength. If you believe IN God, then you believe that anything the Bible designates as sin is just that: sin. And if you believe in God, you believe that sin equals death, both spiritually and, eventually, physically. And if you believe that, then you don’t embrace sin or promote it; you turn away from it, you mourn when you fail, and you come to God for forgiveness and the strength to do better in the future. This is what it means to be a child of God, but it is not what I see lived out in Alejandro’s life.
In light of all of the above, it seems almost irrelevant to mention that I felt the writing itself left something to be desired. Considered independently of the other aspects mentioned above I probably would have given it a three-star rating. There is a lot of telling versus showing, and the point-of-view characters would suddenly switch for a paragraph or a sentence (once even within the sentence!) which could be quite disorienting for the reader. I got tired of having everything explained to me, over and over again, like how the photos that were being taken would soon be posted on social media networks, and how different the Amish and celebrity ways of life are. Alejandro is repeatedly struck by Amanda’s innocence and purity, or her beauty, the clichéd finger brushing gets overused, and so on. The characters spend a lot of time analysing their own and each other’s thoughts and actions, doing day to day stuff, recovering and travelling back to Amanda’s home, and we kind of drift along in the knowledge that we’re going to hit the ‘our worlds are too different’ snag eventually (especially since so much of the story is spent pointing out the differences between the two lifestyles), but other than that there’s not a lot happening until we get around the 65% mark and the media intrudes.
All in all this was a premise with great potential, but a disappointing outcome.
Plain Return by Sarah Price
1.0
This is the fourth novel in the ‘Plain Fame’ series, and it follows on directly from the end of the previous book. This review will contain spoilers if you haven’t read the first three books in this series. That said, I strongly suggest that you read my reviews for the previous three novels (‘Plain Fame’, ‘Plain Change’, and ‘Plain Again,’) before deciding whether this is a series worthy of the investment of your time.
I commented at the end of my review for the previous book that I was beginning to feel this series was becoming more of a cautionary tale (albeit a very protracted one) than a romance. I still feel that the concept of a young Amish girl and a Cuban hip-hop star meeting and falling in love is a great premise for a novel, but so far I have been very disappointed with the series (which is marketed as Christian fiction) for a number of reasons:
1. Throughout all four novels published to date, the hero (Alejandro) writes and performs explicit and sensual songs, but also professes to have faith in God. So far there is nothing in any of the novels to suggest that these two things are incompatible.
2. The heroine (Amanda) leaves her Amish community and marries Alejandro, ignoring her discomfort with his music and Englische lifestyle, because the strength of her feelings supposedly left her no choice. Her attempts at justifying this decision show a shallow understanding of Scripture.
3. There is a high level of sensuality in the series, despite its ‘closed door’ policy, some of which is describing Alejandro’s interactions with other women.
I began the series thinking that the simplicity and purity of the Amish life would reach out to Alejandro and lead him to re-evaluate his life. Instead, I have watched Amanda compromise her own values more and more in an attempt to fit into Alejandro’s world, all because Alejandro ‘makes her feel like a princess’. Ironically, the man who ‘makes her feel like a princess’ has shown little regard for Amanda’s discomfort with the demands placed on her, and in this book it all begins to come to a head.
So far, Amanda has had to make concessions regarding her clothing, shoes, drinking alcohol, and dancing with Alejandro in public. She regularly watches her husband ‘gyrating’ with female dancers in his concerts and videos, his hands all over their bodies, their mouths less than an inch apart (if you’re getting uncomfortable reading this, I strongly suggest you give the whole series a miss!) He demands that Amanda accompany him on his concert tours, resenting the time she has spent helping out on her parents’ farm following her father’s accident. He deliberately used video footage of her in one of his performances (without her prior knowledge) that shows a close up of her bereft expression as she watches him dance seductively with another woman (because he knew she would say ‘no’ if he asked). But don’t worry folks, it’s all just part of the Viper image, not the real Alejandro. Little does Amanda realise how much more confronting everything will be in South America.
Needless to say, I could see this coming a mile off. Surprise, surprise, Amanda is struggling. She’s noticed that Alejandro never reads the Bible, despite his profession of faith. She admits (to herself) that although his mother raised him to respect God, he chose a path that was as far from godly and righteous as a path could be, and does not attend church. She acknowledges that her love for him is matched by his power over her – that he overwhelms her with his sensual gestures and glances. But still, the huge red warning light and blaring siren don’t seem to register. And that is why she once again gives in when Alejandro informs her (not asks, you will note) that she will be joining him on stage and dancing with him for ‘her’ song – and wearing a far less modest dress than she would like.
If I thought Alejandro’s lack of consideration and respect for Amanda was evident in the previous books, then this one put it on a whole new level. I won’t spoil the story by listing the worst of the examples, but suffice it to say I was almost in tears at the heartlessness of his attitude and his complete inability to see beyond himself (and just a warning, you are really left hanging at the end of this book, so in the event that you finish this review and still want to read the book, consider waiting until the fifth one is out). He repeatedly uses guilt to manipulate Amanda into falling in line with his wishes. He performs sensually with other women again and again, and yet gets irate with the dancing instructor HE HIRED and forced Amanda to take lesson from when he catches them doing a few impromptu dance movements backstage to help Amanda gain more confidence. And the way he handles the ‘someone from his past’ just left me gobsmacked. To be honest, I’m struggling to find anything to like about him after this book.
And yet, in all of this, never does it enter Amanda’s head that perhaps she has followed her own will, not God’s, in marrying Alejandro; that perhaps this is why the Bible exhorts us not to be ‘unequally yoked’. In fact, there are several points throughout the novel where she maintains that this is all part of God’s plan. She even goes so far as to say, “She knew now that God had placed her on that street corner, where she’d been so unfamiliar with traffic lights, and guided her into the path of Alejandro’s car.” Say what now?! There are a number of reasons I think this is an unbiblical conclusion to reach.
Firstly, it negates free will. It suggests that God is a master puppeteer in the sky orchestrating every person’s movement. It is precisely this idea that causes people to label God as cruel, because if it is true, then every bad thing that has ever happened can also be laid at God’s feet. It leads people to ask, “If God is so good, why does he allow bad things to happen?” The fact is, people can choose to act contrary to God’s will. God can guide us, to the extent that we actually give him any room in our lives, but we are the ones who make the choice to heed that guidance or not. The promise that we hold to as Christians is that (a) nothing that happens here on earth can take away our salvation in Christ, and (b) regardless of the poor choices we (and others) make, God can use all for His glory if we turn our circumstances over to Him and seek His will from this point on.
Secondly, the suggestion that God is a master puppeteer in the sky absolves us of our culpability for our sins. Why should we be held responsible for our sins if they weren’t committed of our own free will? Judas’ betrayal of Christ helps to illustrate this more clearly. God knew that Judas would make that choice, and he used that to accomplish His will (this being that Christ offer himself as the final sacrifice for sin), but that does not mean that it was His will for Judas to betray Jesus. In fact, the Bible clearly states that it was the devil that prompted Judas to betray Jesus. Suggesting that God is orchestrating everything that happens here on earth ignores the constant war between waged between good and evil.
I honestly do not remember ever having been this disappointed in a Christian fiction series before, and I’m not convinced that the final instalment will change my opinion. The book of James says, “Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.” I wonder whether this isn’t equally true of writers of Christian fiction. Whatever the specifics of the plot, you are making a representation to the reader about good and evil, wisdom and foolishness, temptation and the power to resist; a representation that is often absorbed subconsciously as we get caught up in the world of the characters. This is an awesome responsibility, and I mean awesome as in we should be in awe of the potential to impact people’s understanding of who God is and what it means to be His child in our fallen world. Unfortunately I do not think this series has made an accurate representation at all. Not only that, but the ‘romance’ has been little more than romanticised lust on one part, and naïve response on the other. Not at all what I expect from Christian fiction.
I commented at the end of my review for the previous book that I was beginning to feel this series was becoming more of a cautionary tale (albeit a very protracted one) than a romance. I still feel that the concept of a young Amish girl and a Cuban hip-hop star meeting and falling in love is a great premise for a novel, but so far I have been very disappointed with the series (which is marketed as Christian fiction) for a number of reasons:
1. Throughout all four novels published to date, the hero (Alejandro) writes and performs explicit and sensual songs, but also professes to have faith in God. So far there is nothing in any of the novels to suggest that these two things are incompatible.
2. The heroine (Amanda) leaves her Amish community and marries Alejandro, ignoring her discomfort with his music and Englische lifestyle, because the strength of her feelings supposedly left her no choice. Her attempts at justifying this decision show a shallow understanding of Scripture.
3. There is a high level of sensuality in the series, despite its ‘closed door’ policy, some of which is describing Alejandro’s interactions with other women.
I began the series thinking that the simplicity and purity of the Amish life would reach out to Alejandro and lead him to re-evaluate his life. Instead, I have watched Amanda compromise her own values more and more in an attempt to fit into Alejandro’s world, all because Alejandro ‘makes her feel like a princess’. Ironically, the man who ‘makes her feel like a princess’ has shown little regard for Amanda’s discomfort with the demands placed on her, and in this book it all begins to come to a head.
So far, Amanda has had to make concessions regarding her clothing, shoes, drinking alcohol, and dancing with Alejandro in public. She regularly watches her husband ‘gyrating’ with female dancers in his concerts and videos, his hands all over their bodies, their mouths less than an inch apart (if you’re getting uncomfortable reading this, I strongly suggest you give the whole series a miss!) He demands that Amanda accompany him on his concert tours, resenting the time she has spent helping out on her parents’ farm following her father’s accident. He deliberately used video footage of her in one of his performances (without her prior knowledge) that shows a close up of her bereft expression as she watches him dance seductively with another woman (because he knew she would say ‘no’ if he asked). But don’t worry folks, it’s all just part of the Viper image, not the real Alejandro. Little does Amanda realise how much more confronting everything will be in South America.
Needless to say, I could see this coming a mile off. Surprise, surprise, Amanda is struggling. She’s noticed that Alejandro never reads the Bible, despite his profession of faith. She admits (to herself) that although his mother raised him to respect God, he chose a path that was as far from godly and righteous as a path could be, and does not attend church. She acknowledges that her love for him is matched by his power over her – that he overwhelms her with his sensual gestures and glances. But still, the huge red warning light and blaring siren don’t seem to register. And that is why she once again gives in when Alejandro informs her (not asks, you will note) that she will be joining him on stage and dancing with him for ‘her’ song – and wearing a far less modest dress than she would like.
If I thought Alejandro’s lack of consideration and respect for Amanda was evident in the previous books, then this one put it on a whole new level. I won’t spoil the story by listing the worst of the examples, but suffice it to say I was almost in tears at the heartlessness of his attitude and his complete inability to see beyond himself (and just a warning, you are really left hanging at the end of this book, so in the event that you finish this review and still want to read the book, consider waiting until the fifth one is out). He repeatedly uses guilt to manipulate Amanda into falling in line with his wishes. He performs sensually with other women again and again, and yet gets irate with the dancing instructor HE HIRED and forced Amanda to take lesson from when he catches them doing a few impromptu dance movements backstage to help Amanda gain more confidence. And the way he handles the ‘someone from his past’ just left me gobsmacked. To be honest, I’m struggling to find anything to like about him after this book.
And yet, in all of this, never does it enter Amanda’s head that perhaps she has followed her own will, not God’s, in marrying Alejandro; that perhaps this is why the Bible exhorts us not to be ‘unequally yoked’. In fact, there are several points throughout the novel where she maintains that this is all part of God’s plan. She even goes so far as to say, “She knew now that God had placed her on that street corner, where she’d been so unfamiliar with traffic lights, and guided her into the path of Alejandro’s car.” Say what now?! There are a number of reasons I think this is an unbiblical conclusion to reach.
Firstly, it negates free will. It suggests that God is a master puppeteer in the sky orchestrating every person’s movement. It is precisely this idea that causes people to label God as cruel, because if it is true, then every bad thing that has ever happened can also be laid at God’s feet. It leads people to ask, “If God is so good, why does he allow bad things to happen?” The fact is, people can choose to act contrary to God’s will. God can guide us, to the extent that we actually give him any room in our lives, but we are the ones who make the choice to heed that guidance or not. The promise that we hold to as Christians is that (a) nothing that happens here on earth can take away our salvation in Christ, and (b) regardless of the poor choices we (and others) make, God can use all for His glory if we turn our circumstances over to Him and seek His will from this point on.
Secondly, the suggestion that God is a master puppeteer in the sky absolves us of our culpability for our sins. Why should we be held responsible for our sins if they weren’t committed of our own free will? Judas’ betrayal of Christ helps to illustrate this more clearly. God knew that Judas would make that choice, and he used that to accomplish His will (this being that Christ offer himself as the final sacrifice for sin), but that does not mean that it was His will for Judas to betray Jesus. In fact, the Bible clearly states that it was the devil that prompted Judas to betray Jesus. Suggesting that God is orchestrating everything that happens here on earth ignores the constant war between waged between good and evil.
I honestly do not remember ever having been this disappointed in a Christian fiction series before, and I’m not convinced that the final instalment will change my opinion. The book of James says, “Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.” I wonder whether this isn’t equally true of writers of Christian fiction. Whatever the specifics of the plot, you are making a representation to the reader about good and evil, wisdom and foolishness, temptation and the power to resist; a representation that is often absorbed subconsciously as we get caught up in the world of the characters. This is an awesome responsibility, and I mean awesome as in we should be in awe of the potential to impact people’s understanding of who God is and what it means to be His child in our fallen world. Unfortunately I do not think this series has made an accurate representation at all. Not only that, but the ‘romance’ has been little more than romanticised lust on one part, and naïve response on the other. Not at all what I expect from Christian fiction.
Plain Again by Sarah Price
1.0
Please note that this is the third book in this series, and it follows on directly from the end of the previous book. This review will contain spoilers if you haven’t read the first two books in this series. That said, I do not suggest you read this series unless:
1. You are fine with a hero whose professes to have faith in God, but whose music contains explicit and immoral lyrics (the lyrics are never detailed in the books, but are described several times in these terms);
2. You do not mind that the hero repeatedly blasphemes in Spanish;
3. You are fine with a heroine who, despite her Amish upbringing, does not see anything inconsistent with faith in God and writing/performing/singing explicit and immoral music;
4. You don’t mind watching a young Amish girl gradually compromising more and more in order to fit into the hero’s world;
5. You don’t mind that the hero and heroine have a limited understanding of the Bible and experience no real spiritual growth;
6. You want a story that romanticises the hero’s lust and gives regular glimpses into the bedroom;
7. You don’t mind that the bulk of the series is simply spent trailing our hero and heroine while they deal with the paparazzi, perform, pander to their fans, give interviews, and attend awards ceremonies and parties, retire to the bedroom, and so on.
Much of what I have said in my reviews on the previous two books in this series (‘Plain Fame’ and ‘Plain Change’) can also be applied to this book. As far as the actual writing is concerned, I thought it was fairly average with some point-of-view errors, a lot of telling, and a lot of explaining and inner monologues from the characters, much of which is already repetitive after the first two novels. The plot is more of the same, excepting a sudden crisis that appears out of the blue about 80% of the way through the novel. Naturally, it resolves fairly quickly. And I might add that I was pretty indignant when Alejandro reprimanded Amanda for not having had more faith in him. He didn’t even have faith in himself, and I have to say I can understand why.
Once again, the biggest disappointment was the in the novel’s content, particularly in light of its categorisation as ‘Christian Fiction’. I wrote at length in my previous reviews about the incongruity of a hip-hop musician whose songs glorify immorality through sensual and explicit lyrics, and yet professes to have faith in God. This book continues to ignore this. In fact, Amanda tells her sister Anna that, although Alejandro is not Amish, “God is still at the core and centre of his life, and he thanks God every minute of every day for having blessed him with so many opportunities.”
Oddly enough, Anna doesn’t argue with this, but asks Amanda where God is in her life. Amanda thinks about this and comes to the conclusion that, although she was doing all that she could to honour her upbringing (not God, I couldn’t help but note) while being immersed in Alejandro’s very Englische lifestyle, her focus has shifted to supporting Alejandro rather than obeying God’s will. I thought it ironic (and perhaps indicative of her complete blindness when it comes to Alejandro) that she could identify her own shift in focus, but be completely blind to Alejandro’s true focus! Nevertheless, I held my breath and thought, ‘At last! The light is beginning to dawn!’ Unfortunately, another character opens the door at this point and walks in bringing a gust of cold air. And just like that, the light is snuffed and we hear no more on the subject. I was deeply disappointed that such a significant realisation was not taken anywhere.
I was also disappointed that there were several instances of Scripture being taken completely out of context in order to support Amanda’s observations – observations that were not actually in line with Biblical teaching. For example Amanda recalls the verse in James exhorting believers to “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you,” likening this to Alejandro’s habit of praying before each concert and thanking God for the rewards that had followed his hard work. The fact that this hard work was all about glorifying immorality seems to escape her. In reality, this verse is part of a larger section of the book of James exhorting us to submit ourselves to God: “Don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God...Submit yourselves, then, to God...Humble yourselves before the Lord.”
Ironically, Amanda later observes that “she had never seen him (Alejandro) pray before a meal. While she knew that he prayed with his band and dancers before the concerts, she had quickly learned that many entertainers did that. For some, it was rumoured to bring bad luck to not do so.” This was just one of many instances where I was left feeling totally confused. Are we still supposed to see his prayer before each concert as an act of humility, or is Amanda now recognising that there may be another reason for it? Why make this observation at all if she’s not starting to question the sincerity of Alejandro’s faith, and if it’s not sincere, where does Amanda go from here? All these are the sorts of questions she should have been asking from the beginning of the series, and the sorts of questions that I would expect a Christian fiction novel to tackle in this situation, and yet here is another instance where we see a crack of light that is quickly covered, returning us once more to blind adoration of the Hero.
Perhaps the worst example of Scripture misapplication is when Amanda tries to convince her sister that God’s hand has been in everything that brought her to Alejandro because “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” To begin with, gathering in His name means coming together for the specific purpose of seeking and implementing God’s will. It is not some blanket promise whereby being joined with another person automatically ensures God is at the centre of your endeavours. Secondly, Jesus makes this statement in the context of confronting sin within the church. It has absolutely no relevance here. If we are not continually seeking God’s guidance through reading the Bible and prayer, then we are more than likely NOT putting God at the centre of our lives.
Another difficult thing for me to swallow was Alejandro’s sudden conversion from philanderer to completely faithful and devoted husband. Not that I wouldn’t like it to be true; I’m just not convinced it’s realistic. Even if it is, that would suggest that Amanda’s love has been able to transform Alejandro in a way that God’s love has not. That is certainly NOT Biblical. Further, it’s somewhat ironic that he continues to ‘preach’ immorality through his music, and yet becomes annoyed that women try to seduce him into being unfaithful to Amanda. The inconsistencies abound! But seriously, I find it difficult to believe that this is a permanent transformation on Alejandro’s part, particularly when it is obvious that he is still very much focused on having his own needs met with little regard as to what that requires of those around him, particularly Amanda.
If activity in the bedroom is anything to go by (and there are plenty of references to this), then Alejandro and Amanda’s marriage is going strong, but reading between the lines I can see cracks beginning to show in their relationship. Alejandro resents any implication that Amanda’s home is anywhere other than by his side. He is an extremely jealous husband, even when it comes to letting Amanda spend time with her family, and he insists that she is no longer Amish. In one of the most stunning examples yet of Alejandro’s complete disregard for Amanda’s feelings, he deliberately does not tell her about a video he is having played during a live performance. When she confronts him about it afterwards, he says, “You would have said no, si?” She acknowledges that she would have, and he smiles. “That is why I didn’t show it to you.”
Amanda, on the other hand, is beginning to realise that she needs time away from the Englische culture to help temper its ‘corrupting influence’. This is despite having been critical of the Amish community in the first half of the novel for its self-righteousness and hypocrisy (yet another thing that really confused me).
I can’t help but think that unless Alejandro undergoes a true transformation at the hand of God, Amanda will begin to truly understand the meaning of ‘unequally yoked’. All in all, the series is beginning to feel like a very protracted cautionary tale about choosing your marriage partner wisely (ie, based on more than the overwhelming strength of your physical attraction to one another) but I’m not sure that even this would warrant a recommendation to read the series, particularly since so many readers seem to be blind to the issues I have raised. All in all, a Christian romance with little authentic Christianity and little authentic romance.
1. You are fine with a hero whose professes to have faith in God, but whose music contains explicit and immoral lyrics (the lyrics are never detailed in the books, but are described several times in these terms);
2. You do not mind that the hero repeatedly blasphemes in Spanish;
3. You are fine with a heroine who, despite her Amish upbringing, does not see anything inconsistent with faith in God and writing/performing/singing explicit and immoral music;
4. You don’t mind watching a young Amish girl gradually compromising more and more in order to fit into the hero’s world;
5. You don’t mind that the hero and heroine have a limited understanding of the Bible and experience no real spiritual growth;
6. You want a story that romanticises the hero’s lust and gives regular glimpses into the bedroom;
7. You don’t mind that the bulk of the series is simply spent trailing our hero and heroine while they deal with the paparazzi, perform, pander to their fans, give interviews, and attend awards ceremonies and parties, retire to the bedroom, and so on.
Much of what I have said in my reviews on the previous two books in this series (‘Plain Fame’ and ‘Plain Change’) can also be applied to this book. As far as the actual writing is concerned, I thought it was fairly average with some point-of-view errors, a lot of telling, and a lot of explaining and inner monologues from the characters, much of which is already repetitive after the first two novels. The plot is more of the same, excepting a sudden crisis that appears out of the blue about 80% of the way through the novel. Naturally, it resolves fairly quickly. And I might add that I was pretty indignant when Alejandro reprimanded Amanda for not having had more faith in him. He didn’t even have faith in himself, and I have to say I can understand why.
Once again, the biggest disappointment was the in the novel’s content, particularly in light of its categorisation as ‘Christian Fiction’. I wrote at length in my previous reviews about the incongruity of a hip-hop musician whose songs glorify immorality through sensual and explicit lyrics, and yet professes to have faith in God. This book continues to ignore this. In fact, Amanda tells her sister Anna that, although Alejandro is not Amish, “God is still at the core and centre of his life, and he thanks God every minute of every day for having blessed him with so many opportunities.”
Oddly enough, Anna doesn’t argue with this, but asks Amanda where God is in her life. Amanda thinks about this and comes to the conclusion that, although she was doing all that she could to honour her upbringing (not God, I couldn’t help but note) while being immersed in Alejandro’s very Englische lifestyle, her focus has shifted to supporting Alejandro rather than obeying God’s will. I thought it ironic (and perhaps indicative of her complete blindness when it comes to Alejandro) that she could identify her own shift in focus, but be completely blind to Alejandro’s true focus! Nevertheless, I held my breath and thought, ‘At last! The light is beginning to dawn!’ Unfortunately, another character opens the door at this point and walks in bringing a gust of cold air. And just like that, the light is snuffed and we hear no more on the subject. I was deeply disappointed that such a significant realisation was not taken anywhere.
I was also disappointed that there were several instances of Scripture being taken completely out of context in order to support Amanda’s observations – observations that were not actually in line with Biblical teaching. For example Amanda recalls the verse in James exhorting believers to “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you,” likening this to Alejandro’s habit of praying before each concert and thanking God for the rewards that had followed his hard work. The fact that this hard work was all about glorifying immorality seems to escape her. In reality, this verse is part of a larger section of the book of James exhorting us to submit ourselves to God: “Don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God...Submit yourselves, then, to God...Humble yourselves before the Lord.”
Ironically, Amanda later observes that “she had never seen him (Alejandro) pray before a meal. While she knew that he prayed with his band and dancers before the concerts, she had quickly learned that many entertainers did that. For some, it was rumoured to bring bad luck to not do so.” This was just one of many instances where I was left feeling totally confused. Are we still supposed to see his prayer before each concert as an act of humility, or is Amanda now recognising that there may be another reason for it? Why make this observation at all if she’s not starting to question the sincerity of Alejandro’s faith, and if it’s not sincere, where does Amanda go from here? All these are the sorts of questions she should have been asking from the beginning of the series, and the sorts of questions that I would expect a Christian fiction novel to tackle in this situation, and yet here is another instance where we see a crack of light that is quickly covered, returning us once more to blind adoration of the Hero.
Perhaps the worst example of Scripture misapplication is when Amanda tries to convince her sister that God’s hand has been in everything that brought her to Alejandro because “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” To begin with, gathering in His name means coming together for the specific purpose of seeking and implementing God’s will. It is not some blanket promise whereby being joined with another person automatically ensures God is at the centre of your endeavours. Secondly, Jesus makes this statement in the context of confronting sin within the church. It has absolutely no relevance here. If we are not continually seeking God’s guidance through reading the Bible and prayer, then we are more than likely NOT putting God at the centre of our lives.
Another difficult thing for me to swallow was Alejandro’s sudden conversion from philanderer to completely faithful and devoted husband. Not that I wouldn’t like it to be true; I’m just not convinced it’s realistic. Even if it is, that would suggest that Amanda’s love has been able to transform Alejandro in a way that God’s love has not. That is certainly NOT Biblical. Further, it’s somewhat ironic that he continues to ‘preach’ immorality through his music, and yet becomes annoyed that women try to seduce him into being unfaithful to Amanda. The inconsistencies abound! But seriously, I find it difficult to believe that this is a permanent transformation on Alejandro’s part, particularly when it is obvious that he is still very much focused on having his own needs met with little regard as to what that requires of those around him, particularly Amanda.
If activity in the bedroom is anything to go by (and there are plenty of references to this), then Alejandro and Amanda’s marriage is going strong, but reading between the lines I can see cracks beginning to show in their relationship. Alejandro resents any implication that Amanda’s home is anywhere other than by his side. He is an extremely jealous husband, even when it comes to letting Amanda spend time with her family, and he insists that she is no longer Amish. In one of the most stunning examples yet of Alejandro’s complete disregard for Amanda’s feelings, he deliberately does not tell her about a video he is having played during a live performance. When she confronts him about it afterwards, he says, “You would have said no, si?” She acknowledges that she would have, and he smiles. “That is why I didn’t show it to you.”
Amanda, on the other hand, is beginning to realise that she needs time away from the Englische culture to help temper its ‘corrupting influence’. This is despite having been critical of the Amish community in the first half of the novel for its self-righteousness and hypocrisy (yet another thing that really confused me).
I can’t help but think that unless Alejandro undergoes a true transformation at the hand of God, Amanda will begin to truly understand the meaning of ‘unequally yoked’. All in all, the series is beginning to feel like a very protracted cautionary tale about choosing your marriage partner wisely (ie, based on more than the overwhelming strength of your physical attraction to one another) but I’m not sure that even this would warrant a recommendation to read the series, particularly since so many readers seem to be blind to the issues I have raised. All in all, a Christian romance with little authentic Christianity and little authentic romance.
Plain Change by Sarah Price
1.0
Please note that this is the second book in this series, and it follows on directly from the end of the previous book. This review will contain spoilers if you haven’t read the first book in this series. That said, I do not suggest you read this series unless:
1. You are fine with a hero whose professes to have faith in God, but whose music contains explicit and immoral lyrics (these are never detailed in the books, but his music is described several times in these terms);
2. You do not mind that the hero repeatedly blasphemes in Spanish;
3. You are fine with a heroine who, despite her Amish upbringing, does not see anything inconsistent with faith in God and writing/performing/singing such music;
4. You don’t mind watching a young Amish girl gradually compromising more and more in order to fit into the hero’s world;
5. You don’t mind that the hero and heroine have a limited understanding of the Bible and experience no spiritual growth;
6. You want a sensual and lustful romance where only one of the main characters believes you should wait until marriage and where you are regularly given glimpses into the bedroom once the characters are married;
7. You don’t mind that the bulk of the series is simply spent trailing our hero and heroine while they deal with the paparazzi, perform, pander to their fans, give interviews, and attend awards ceremonies and parties, and so on.
While the first book in this series was centred around Amanda’s life on her parents’ farm in the Amish community of Lititz, Pennsylvania, this second book takes us into the world of The Viper, Alejandro’s musical alter-ego. Having left her parents’ farm, Amanda is now touring and living with Alejandro (though they are not in an intimate relationship) and being introduced to Alejandro’s world and the media hoopla that entails.
Firstly, I will briefly say that I found many of the same basic writing errors here as in the first novel. There are point-of-view errors that jar the reader, there’s a lot of telling rather than showing, and a lot of explaining to the reader again, particularly in the constant comparisons between what Amanda is experiencing and what she is used to or familiar with. The comparisons became repetitive as the story progressed (like Amanda being too aware of everyone looking at her, being so innocent about what is going on, etc), and even began to seem a little over-done at times. I also began to pick up on some inconsistencies in the narrative, such as Amanda dancing with Alejandro and realising that she had never been held so closely by a man, despite exactly the same thing having happened in the previous book in the series, and Amanda getting upset about Alejandro seeing her hair down when she says nary a peep in the first book when it comes loose during their passionate kiss.
We also get annoying flashbacks all the way through this novel, most of which have little more significance than Amanda remembering a parallel experience from her childhood (and even then, the significance was often obscure). As a less obscure example, at one point Amanda is stunned by all the attention from photographers and fans and feels embarrassed because Alejandro had to prod her along like a child. Cue flashback to time when she was the object of similar attention from some tourists and she was embarrassed because her mother had to prod her to move along like a child. These really did very little for the story, and I was fed up with them by the end.
Still, when all is said and done, the primary responsibility for my low rating rests with the story itself. I simply do not see how a Christian novel can have a male protagonist whose whole lifestyle centres around writing and performing music about “things that were intimate and inappropriate” and “relationships with women that were as unchristian as could be” using “language that she (Amanda) had never heard spoken before”. And yes, these are exact quotes from the novel. 1 John 2:15 says, “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world – the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life – comes not from the Father but from the world.” Alejandro may be sincere in his belief that he loves God, but all I can see in this novel is love of the world. I assumed that Amanda would help him to see this, but again, the exact opposite seemed to happen.
Amanda certainly gives lip-service to her discomfort with various aspects of Viper’s lifestyle, but I really began to feel as though Amanda’s ‘Amishness’ was suppressed or enhanced as necessary to serve the story. Otherwise why would she describe Viper’s music during a radio interview as ‘spiritual’, saying, “At my church, we sing to God. We honor him through hymns. Our songs tell stories and teach lessons. It is a way to pass along our traditions. To connect with the Lord. To keep our community together. His (Viper’s) music is no different, ja?” I hope I am misunderstanding her meaning, because it seems blasphemous to suggest that there is no difference between hymns in praise of God and music that uses explicit language and glorifies ‘unchristian relationships with women’ (to use Amanda’s own words!) Personally, I find it hard to believe an Amish girl would so readily come to this conclusion, particularly when she continues to be shocked by the explicit and sensual nature of his music. The two just don’t add up.
Amanda also admires the way Alejandro gives so much of himself for others, which leads into one of those pesky flashbacks where she recalls a conversation with her younger brother about another man who gave up everything for others: None other than Jesus Christ himself. Again, everything in me revolts at such a comparison. Even Viper himself gives God the credit for his success, saying “I especially thank God, who led me down this path and showed me the way from the streets to the stage.” I just wanted to cry, not only because Alejandro truly seems to believe that God would use music glorifying the lust of the flesh to give him worldly success, but because Amanda obviously does not have the Biblical knowledge or wisdom to challenge this. How is this any kind of Godly example to aspire to?
The amount of sensuality definitely increases in this novel in comparison to the first, which is not surprising considering Viper’s image and lifestyle. At one point he admits that he has been avoiding Amanda because “I’m not used to waiting for and wanting someone the way I have waited for and wanted you.” Apparently he needs to remove himself from her vicinity in order to protect her. I suppose it sounds noble, and I applaud anyone for recognising and removing themselves from temptation, but this just felt like another example of how this series romanticises lust. Paradoxically, he is somehow able to keep this rampant desire at bay when he insists on being able to hold Amanda while they sleep, allaying her protests with a promise to respect her wishes not to take things any further than this. It all smells like author manipulation to me.
As inconsistent as Amanda’s character is beginning to feel, I had an even harder time with Alejandro’s character. Despite repeated assertions that he respects Amanda, it seems to me that this respect is limited to not sleeping with her (and even then, only in the intimate sense of the phrase), because she is forced to compromise on just about every other point, including clothing, shoes, alcohol, and dancing with Alejandro in public (and sensually, at that). Basically, if he says jump, she’s supposed to say ‘How high?’ and it’s all about his image, his needs. Any time Amanda expresses discomfort, she is persuaded to compromise. Whilst Amanda’s submissiveness is hardly surprising given her upbringing, and even a Godly quality in certain circumstances, Alejandro treats is as nothing less than his due. Never does he show the sacrificial love that Christ demonstrates towards His bride by considering Amanda’s needs and wishes before his own. I can’t help but feel that Amanda’s heading for heartache.
I am truly sorry to be so negative about a book but I have to be honest. There was all the potential here for Amanda to shine as a light in the world to the glory of God the Father, and I had to remind myself that she was just a character in a book because I found myself praying, as I read, that she would begin to do just that. Instead, we find her continually compromising in order to support Alejandro’s worldly image, whilst paying lip service to the values of her Amish upbringing. In essence, this is completely the opposite of what we should find in a Christian novel. A very disappointing read indeed.
1. You are fine with a hero whose professes to have faith in God, but whose music contains explicit and immoral lyrics (these are never detailed in the books, but his music is described several times in these terms);
2. You do not mind that the hero repeatedly blasphemes in Spanish;
3. You are fine with a heroine who, despite her Amish upbringing, does not see anything inconsistent with faith in God and writing/performing/singing such music;
4. You don’t mind watching a young Amish girl gradually compromising more and more in order to fit into the hero’s world;
5. You don’t mind that the hero and heroine have a limited understanding of the Bible and experience no spiritual growth;
6. You want a sensual and lustful romance where only one of the main characters believes you should wait until marriage and where you are regularly given glimpses into the bedroom once the characters are married;
7. You don’t mind that the bulk of the series is simply spent trailing our hero and heroine while they deal with the paparazzi, perform, pander to their fans, give interviews, and attend awards ceremonies and parties, and so on.
While the first book in this series was centred around Amanda’s life on her parents’ farm in the Amish community of Lititz, Pennsylvania, this second book takes us into the world of The Viper, Alejandro’s musical alter-ego. Having left her parents’ farm, Amanda is now touring and living with Alejandro (though they are not in an intimate relationship) and being introduced to Alejandro’s world and the media hoopla that entails.
Firstly, I will briefly say that I found many of the same basic writing errors here as in the first novel. There are point-of-view errors that jar the reader, there’s a lot of telling rather than showing, and a lot of explaining to the reader again, particularly in the constant comparisons between what Amanda is experiencing and what she is used to or familiar with. The comparisons became repetitive as the story progressed (like Amanda being too aware of everyone looking at her, being so innocent about what is going on, etc), and even began to seem a little over-done at times. I also began to pick up on some inconsistencies in the narrative, such as Amanda dancing with Alejandro and realising that she had never been held so closely by a man, despite exactly the same thing having happened in the previous book in the series, and Amanda getting upset about Alejandro seeing her hair down when she says nary a peep in the first book when it comes loose during their passionate kiss.
We also get annoying flashbacks all the way through this novel, most of which have little more significance than Amanda remembering a parallel experience from her childhood (and even then, the significance was often obscure). As a less obscure example, at one point Amanda is stunned by all the attention from photographers and fans and feels embarrassed because Alejandro had to prod her along like a child. Cue flashback to time when she was the object of similar attention from some tourists and she was embarrassed because her mother had to prod her to move along like a child. These really did very little for the story, and I was fed up with them by the end.
Still, when all is said and done, the primary responsibility for my low rating rests with the story itself. I simply do not see how a Christian novel can have a male protagonist whose whole lifestyle centres around writing and performing music about “things that were intimate and inappropriate” and “relationships with women that were as unchristian as could be” using “language that she (Amanda) had never heard spoken before”. And yes, these are exact quotes from the novel. 1 John 2:15 says, “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world – the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life – comes not from the Father but from the world.” Alejandro may be sincere in his belief that he loves God, but all I can see in this novel is love of the world. I assumed that Amanda would help him to see this, but again, the exact opposite seemed to happen.
Amanda certainly gives lip-service to her discomfort with various aspects of Viper’s lifestyle, but I really began to feel as though Amanda’s ‘Amishness’ was suppressed or enhanced as necessary to serve the story. Otherwise why would she describe Viper’s music during a radio interview as ‘spiritual’, saying, “At my church, we sing to God. We honor him through hymns. Our songs tell stories and teach lessons. It is a way to pass along our traditions. To connect with the Lord. To keep our community together. His (Viper’s) music is no different, ja?” I hope I am misunderstanding her meaning, because it seems blasphemous to suggest that there is no difference between hymns in praise of God and music that uses explicit language and glorifies ‘unchristian relationships with women’ (to use Amanda’s own words!) Personally, I find it hard to believe an Amish girl would so readily come to this conclusion, particularly when she continues to be shocked by the explicit and sensual nature of his music. The two just don’t add up.
Amanda also admires the way Alejandro gives so much of himself for others, which leads into one of those pesky flashbacks where she recalls a conversation with her younger brother about another man who gave up everything for others: None other than Jesus Christ himself. Again, everything in me revolts at such a comparison. Even Viper himself gives God the credit for his success, saying “I especially thank God, who led me down this path and showed me the way from the streets to the stage.” I just wanted to cry, not only because Alejandro truly seems to believe that God would use music glorifying the lust of the flesh to give him worldly success, but because Amanda obviously does not have the Biblical knowledge or wisdom to challenge this. How is this any kind of Godly example to aspire to?
The amount of sensuality definitely increases in this novel in comparison to the first, which is not surprising considering Viper’s image and lifestyle. At one point he admits that he has been avoiding Amanda because “I’m not used to waiting for and wanting someone the way I have waited for and wanted you.” Apparently he needs to remove himself from her vicinity in order to protect her. I suppose it sounds noble, and I applaud anyone for recognising and removing themselves from temptation, but this just felt like another example of how this series romanticises lust. Paradoxically, he is somehow able to keep this rampant desire at bay when he insists on being able to hold Amanda while they sleep, allaying her protests with a promise to respect her wishes not to take things any further than this. It all smells like author manipulation to me.
As inconsistent as Amanda’s character is beginning to feel, I had an even harder time with Alejandro’s character. Despite repeated assertions that he respects Amanda, it seems to me that this respect is limited to not sleeping with her (and even then, only in the intimate sense of the phrase), because she is forced to compromise on just about every other point, including clothing, shoes, alcohol, and dancing with Alejandro in public (and sensually, at that). Basically, if he says jump, she’s supposed to say ‘How high?’ and it’s all about his image, his needs. Any time Amanda expresses discomfort, she is persuaded to compromise. Whilst Amanda’s submissiveness is hardly surprising given her upbringing, and even a Godly quality in certain circumstances, Alejandro treats is as nothing less than his due. Never does he show the sacrificial love that Christ demonstrates towards His bride by considering Amanda’s needs and wishes before his own. I can’t help but feel that Amanda’s heading for heartache.
I am truly sorry to be so negative about a book but I have to be honest. There was all the potential here for Amanda to shine as a light in the world to the glory of God the Father, and I had to remind myself that she was just a character in a book because I found myself praying, as I read, that she would begin to do just that. Instead, we find her continually compromising in order to support Alejandro’s worldly image, whilst paying lip service to the values of her Amish upbringing. In essence, this is completely the opposite of what we should find in a Christian novel. A very disappointing read indeed.
Light of My Heart by Ginny Aiken
2.0
Having read and enjoyed the ‘Shop-Til-U-Drop’ Series written by this author, I was rather disappointed in this novel.
After the rejection of her services results in the loss of yet another mother and babe to childbirth, Dr Letitia Morgan, homeopathic physician, responds to the request for a female doctor to relocate to the rapidly expanding town of Hartville, Colorado. Eric Wagner lost his own wife and babe two years ago because she refused to allow a male doctor to attend her in childbirth. He has carried a burden of guilt ever since, blaming himself for not having done more to prevent their deaths, and now that the town’s population is booming as a result of the nearby silver mines, he hopes the arrival of a qualified female doctor will prevent such a tragedy from occurring again.
Of course, not everyone is accepting of a female doctor – and a homeopathic one at that – particularly when she makes it her mission to help rescue and care for the young girls who have been forced into selling themselves in order to survive. Eric’s conviction that he is not worthy husband material does not prevent him from trying to protect Letty when he sees the trouble brewing in the wake of her determination to rescue anyone and everyone who needs rescuing, but his attempts to reason with Letty only cause her hackles to rise and her heels to dig in further.
There are a few other threads woven into the plot as the story progresses, but it often felt as though the action was staged for the express purpose of putting one of the main characters in a particular situation, forcing a particular reaction, or even just to demonstrate a particular aspect of the character’s personality. I’m not sure if that makes sense, but I don’t know how else to put it. It wasn’t necessarily that it was unbelievable, simply that it felt a bit too orchestrated and pointed.
For example, when Letty is travelling to Hartville she makes several comments about looking forward to meeting Mr Wagner’s wife in such a pointed way that I immediately thought, “I bet he doesn’t have a wife and this is all a set up for the ‘He’s not at all what I was expecting’ scenario. (I was right). On her first visit to Mr Wagner’s newspaper office (the day after she arrives in town) Letty sees a man working on a typewriter and bursts into the office with, “Oh, Eric, that’s marvellous. How can his fingers move so fast? Could he teach me?” We then have this awkward and lengthy silence where Letty feels the intensity of Eric’s gaze, fiddles with the drawstring of her reticule, drops it, picks it up, scolds herself for being flustered by his stare, and says, “I’m sorry. Please forgive me for bursting in. I can be terribly impulsive when something catches my fancy.” It felt so clumsy and obvious I was almost embarrassed to read it!
Although I disagree with the reviewer who thought the characters were always about to rip each others’ clothes off, there were some rather descriptive kisses (but never the suggestion it would go further) and the physical attraction was over-done to the point where I was gagging and eye-rolling: “The curve of a slender white neck and the coffee-coloured curls that escaped the bounds of the coronet she’d fashioned from her braided hair had unduly distracted him.” The overuse of adjectives gave the writing a dramatic, soap-opera feeling at times (and I warn you now – you’ll never forget what colour Letty’s eyes are), and the healthy dose of clichés just kept coming. At times, you could smell them from a mile away!
Perhaps the most frustrating part of the book was Eric’s repeated insistence that he fight his attraction: “He had to stem his interest in her. Had Martina died differently, then he would have been free to pursue the attraction, but he was responsible for his wife’s death. His guilt stripped him of the right to become attached to a woman as worthy as Letitia Morgan.” This refrain and all the memories that come with it are repeated so often (particularly after each time he succumbs to his attraction and kisses Letty) I eventually felt like saying, “Get over it, please!” I think part of the problem was that this guilt did not seem to affect him at any time other than when he was contemplating his attraction to Letty. This doesn’t seem realistic to me and made it feel contrived for the sake of conflict.
I also didn’t like the implications for the character of a man who would give in to the temptation to kiss a woman like Eric did (and on more than one occasion) fully believing that he could never offer her marriage. Sometimes I think authors expect us to overlook considerations like that because we know they’ll end up together, or because it allows for romantic moments between the couple before the happy-ever-after, but it doesn’t work for me.
There were other smaller annoyances like some random point-of-view changes for a paragraph or two, and a lot of introspection from the characters, but the sum total is that this was a predictable and cheesy read. I won’t be reading the other books in this series.
After the rejection of her services results in the loss of yet another mother and babe to childbirth, Dr Letitia Morgan, homeopathic physician, responds to the request for a female doctor to relocate to the rapidly expanding town of Hartville, Colorado. Eric Wagner lost his own wife and babe two years ago because she refused to allow a male doctor to attend her in childbirth. He has carried a burden of guilt ever since, blaming himself for not having done more to prevent their deaths, and now that the town’s population is booming as a result of the nearby silver mines, he hopes the arrival of a qualified female doctor will prevent such a tragedy from occurring again.
Of course, not everyone is accepting of a female doctor – and a homeopathic one at that – particularly when she makes it her mission to help rescue and care for the young girls who have been forced into selling themselves in order to survive. Eric’s conviction that he is not worthy husband material does not prevent him from trying to protect Letty when he sees the trouble brewing in the wake of her determination to rescue anyone and everyone who needs rescuing, but his attempts to reason with Letty only cause her hackles to rise and her heels to dig in further.
There are a few other threads woven into the plot as the story progresses, but it often felt as though the action was staged for the express purpose of putting one of the main characters in a particular situation, forcing a particular reaction, or even just to demonstrate a particular aspect of the character’s personality. I’m not sure if that makes sense, but I don’t know how else to put it. It wasn’t necessarily that it was unbelievable, simply that it felt a bit too orchestrated and pointed.
For example, when Letty is travelling to Hartville she makes several comments about looking forward to meeting Mr Wagner’s wife in such a pointed way that I immediately thought, “I bet he doesn’t have a wife and this is all a set up for the ‘He’s not at all what I was expecting’ scenario. (I was right). On her first visit to Mr Wagner’s newspaper office (the day after she arrives in town) Letty sees a man working on a typewriter and bursts into the office with, “Oh, Eric, that’s marvellous. How can his fingers move so fast? Could he teach me?” We then have this awkward and lengthy silence where Letty feels the intensity of Eric’s gaze, fiddles with the drawstring of her reticule, drops it, picks it up, scolds herself for being flustered by his stare, and says, “I’m sorry. Please forgive me for bursting in. I can be terribly impulsive when something catches my fancy.” It felt so clumsy and obvious I was almost embarrassed to read it!
Although I disagree with the reviewer who thought the characters were always about to rip each others’ clothes off, there were some rather descriptive kisses (but never the suggestion it would go further) and the physical attraction was over-done to the point where I was gagging and eye-rolling: “The curve of a slender white neck and the coffee-coloured curls that escaped the bounds of the coronet she’d fashioned from her braided hair had unduly distracted him.” The overuse of adjectives gave the writing a dramatic, soap-opera feeling at times (and I warn you now – you’ll never forget what colour Letty’s eyes are), and the healthy dose of clichés just kept coming. At times, you could smell them from a mile away!
Perhaps the most frustrating part of the book was Eric’s repeated insistence that he fight his attraction: “He had to stem his interest in her. Had Martina died differently, then he would have been free to pursue the attraction, but he was responsible for his wife’s death. His guilt stripped him of the right to become attached to a woman as worthy as Letitia Morgan.” This refrain and all the memories that come with it are repeated so often (particularly after each time he succumbs to his attraction and kisses Letty) I eventually felt like saying, “Get over it, please!” I think part of the problem was that this guilt did not seem to affect him at any time other than when he was contemplating his attraction to Letty. This doesn’t seem realistic to me and made it feel contrived for the sake of conflict.
I also didn’t like the implications for the character of a man who would give in to the temptation to kiss a woman like Eric did (and on more than one occasion) fully believing that he could never offer her marriage. Sometimes I think authors expect us to overlook considerations like that because we know they’ll end up together, or because it allows for romantic moments between the couple before the happy-ever-after, but it doesn’t work for me.
There were other smaller annoyances like some random point-of-view changes for a paragraph or two, and a lot of introspection from the characters, but the sum total is that this was a predictable and cheesy read. I won’t be reading the other books in this series.
My Brother's Crown by Mindy Starns Clark, Leslie Gould
4.0
This book essentially contains two stories: one set in the present day (narrated in the first person), and one set in France in 1685 (narrated in the third person).
Renee Talbot’s family have had the sole surviving copy of the Persecution Pamphlet in their safekeeping for more than three centuries. Originally printed in 1685 as “A Collection of Verse for the Encouragement of Young Men and Women” it actually contained carefully concealed information to assist Huguenots (French Protestants) fleeing persecution under King Louis XIV. For eleven generations it has been handed down through the Talbot family from father to eldest son, but when Renee’s grandfather inherited the document he made it known that upon his death it would be donated to a museum. The time had come for this piece of history to belong to the whole world.
Having passed away seven months previously, the story begins with Renee and her grandmother collecting the pamphlet from safe-custody in preparation for the annual Talbot family reunion, where it will be displayed for viewing by the family before an official ceremony handing it over to the National Museum of American History. But before it gets handed over Renee would really like to investigate some markings on the pamphlet. A journal written by one of her Huguenot ancestors, Catherine Gillet, suggests that the markings may have been a coded message from her brother. But even more than that, reading about Catherine’s bravery has inspired Renee to confront a demon from her own past. Well, that and the encouragement of the pamphlet’s handsome security guard who seems to be as attracted to her as she is to him...
Renee’s ancestor, Catherine Gillet, cannot renounce her Protestant faith no matter how much pressure King Louis XIV and his dragoons bring to bear, but she is beginning to have doubts about her own brother, Jules, and her betrothed, Pierre Talbot. Both seem to be keeping things from her and making decisions that will affect her life without any consultation with her. King Louis’ net closes around them ever more tightly and yet Pierre seems to be drifting further and further away. When Pierre’s brother, Eriq, shares his concern that Jules and Pierre may actually be betraying Huguenots under the guise of helping them Catherine doesn’t know who to trust. All she knows is that it is becoming too dangerous to stay in Lyon, but how can she make it to London, especially when Jules seems intent on moving the family to the Plateau? And what will become of her betrothal to Pierre?
Overall I enjoyed this book, but there were a few things that prevented me from giving it five stars. Firstly, I felt as though the writing wasn’t always as dynamic as it could have been. At times this was because the narrator (either Renee or Catherine) would waffle on a bit rather than getting to the essence of what they were relating to the reader; sometimes it was because there were action or reaction beats missing from the flow of what was taking place, or the writing didn’t pace the action as well as it could have. I also felt as though the authors were slipping into telling rather than showing sometimes. There were times where it was appropriate to summarise some of the action that was taking place, but sometimes this went on for extended periods (like at the Talbot family reunion), and sometimes it slipped in where showing would have been better.
Secondly, I felt that Renee’s story (in the present) was a little flat, mainly because the conflict (an event from the past that still haunts her) was much lower in stakes than the conflict in Catherine’s story. The conflict also resolved fairly easily in terms of its effect on Catherine, although it is left unresolved in a broader sense, presumably to be continued in the next book of the series. There was, of course, the romance between Renee and Blake, which I thought was sweet and realistic for the time frame of the novel. It was nice that the attraction seemed to be based on an emotional connection with one another rather than simply physical attraction and I hope we get to see more of its development in the next book in the series. And I have to say, I loved the name of the boat! Nevertheless, I couldn’t help but feel that Renee’s point of view was a bit lacklustre overall.
On the positive side, I thought Catherine’s story was compelling, and it was the greater percentage of the book. Only getting Catherine’s point of view meant that we were just as in the dark as she was regarding the actions and motives of those around her, and whilst the ending to Catherine’s story was the one I hoped for there were times when I wondered whether that was where the story was headed.
All in all, an enjoyable read, and I look forward to the next in the series.
Renee Talbot’s family have had the sole surviving copy of the Persecution Pamphlet in their safekeeping for more than three centuries. Originally printed in 1685 as “A Collection of Verse for the Encouragement of Young Men and Women” it actually contained carefully concealed information to assist Huguenots (French Protestants) fleeing persecution under King Louis XIV. For eleven generations it has been handed down through the Talbot family from father to eldest son, but when Renee’s grandfather inherited the document he made it known that upon his death it would be donated to a museum. The time had come for this piece of history to belong to the whole world.
Having passed away seven months previously, the story begins with Renee and her grandmother collecting the pamphlet from safe-custody in preparation for the annual Talbot family reunion, where it will be displayed for viewing by the family before an official ceremony handing it over to the National Museum of American History. But before it gets handed over Renee would really like to investigate some markings on the pamphlet. A journal written by one of her Huguenot ancestors, Catherine Gillet, suggests that the markings may have been a coded message from her brother. But even more than that, reading about Catherine’s bravery has inspired Renee to confront a demon from her own past. Well, that and the encouragement of the pamphlet’s handsome security guard who seems to be as attracted to her as she is to him...
Renee’s ancestor, Catherine Gillet, cannot renounce her Protestant faith no matter how much pressure King Louis XIV and his dragoons bring to bear, but she is beginning to have doubts about her own brother, Jules, and her betrothed, Pierre Talbot. Both seem to be keeping things from her and making decisions that will affect her life without any consultation with her. King Louis’ net closes around them ever more tightly and yet Pierre seems to be drifting further and further away. When Pierre’s brother, Eriq, shares his concern that Jules and Pierre may actually be betraying Huguenots under the guise of helping them Catherine doesn’t know who to trust. All she knows is that it is becoming too dangerous to stay in Lyon, but how can she make it to London, especially when Jules seems intent on moving the family to the Plateau? And what will become of her betrothal to Pierre?
Overall I enjoyed this book, but there were a few things that prevented me from giving it five stars. Firstly, I felt as though the writing wasn’t always as dynamic as it could have been. At times this was because the narrator (either Renee or Catherine) would waffle on a bit rather than getting to the essence of what they were relating to the reader; sometimes it was because there were action or reaction beats missing from the flow of what was taking place, or the writing didn’t pace the action as well as it could have. I also felt as though the authors were slipping into telling rather than showing sometimes. There were times where it was appropriate to summarise some of the action that was taking place, but sometimes this went on for extended periods (like at the Talbot family reunion), and sometimes it slipped in where showing would have been better.
Secondly, I felt that Renee’s story (in the present) was a little flat, mainly because the conflict (an event from the past that still haunts her) was much lower in stakes than the conflict in Catherine’s story. The conflict also resolved fairly easily in terms of its effect on Catherine, although it is left unresolved in a broader sense, presumably to be continued in the next book of the series. There was, of course, the romance between Renee and Blake, which I thought was sweet and realistic for the time frame of the novel. It was nice that the attraction seemed to be based on an emotional connection with one another rather than simply physical attraction and I hope we get to see more of its development in the next book in the series. And I have to say, I loved the name of the boat! Nevertheless, I couldn’t help but feel that Renee’s point of view was a bit lacklustre overall.
On the positive side, I thought Catherine’s story was compelling, and it was the greater percentage of the book. Only getting Catherine’s point of view meant that we were just as in the dark as she was regarding the actions and motives of those around her, and whilst the ending to Catherine’s story was the one I hoped for there were times when I wondered whether that was where the story was headed.
All in all, an enjoyable read, and I look forward to the next in the series.