And on another nearby island . . .

My other most recent read has similarities in terms of setting and background to

Driftwood Lane

, which I reviewed in my last post.

This novel, also a contemporary Christian romance, also occurs on an island off the Coast of Massachusetts near Boston.  However, in this case the entire island is fictional as is the nearby town of Cape Light.

This book is a collaboration of two authors, who as nearly as I can tell have written two series in this fictional area:  a Cape Light series and an Angel Island series.

This book, The Wedding Promise, is the second of the Angel Island series.  An interesting side note is that this is one of two series Christian romance books I have read in the past year in which I found the second book of the series far more enjoyable to read than the first and that in both such cases these series were a two author collaboration.  [The other being the Davis Bunn/Janette Oke series beginning with The Centurion’s Wife.  In that case I found both book two and three more enjoyable than the first book].

In addition to the off-the-coast of Massachusetts setting, the two books share that the female protagonists initially arrive at the island community as the result of the decease of a relative and resolution of the deceased relative’s affairs.  In this case, there are no children involved but as with

Driftwood Lane

, the primary setting location involves a place of public lodging:  in this case a full-service Inn versus a Bed-and-Breakfast.

The matter of the deceased relative factors in The Wedding Promise as well, but it is more in the background than in Driftwood Lane because of the fact that all that history is more set up in the first novel of the series.

The Wedding Promise uses conflicts that arise around the determination of a young couple other than the male and female protagonists to have their wedding at the Inn, despite the Inn’s deteriorated condition and the female protagonist’s inexperience.

Authors Thomas Kinkade and Katherine Spencer deftly build and resolve the conflicts in very organic ways, culminating in the literary epiphany that the male protagonist is hiding something.

In an unusual but effective move, the authors do not leave the full realization of the male protagonist’s mysterious past unidentified for long.  And they effectively use the “show don’t tell” principle by revealing the nature of the male protagonist’s secret through actions that speak far louder than words.

As with Driftwood Lane, the authors pack a good deal of action and resolution into the last few pages of the book.

In this case, however, as part of a series, although the romance advances towards the end of the book, we are still left without a full realization of the male and female protagonists’s romance as the book reaches its conclusion.  That is left for additional books in the Angel Island series.

On an older book

Last weekend, or one day early in the week, I was looking for a book to read that I knew I could finish on the same day I started.

So, I fished through bookshelves for things that have been around for awhile.

I came up with The Horsemasters, by Don Stanford, which has a copyright date of 1957.

I’d actually seen parts of the Disney television episode made from that book, but never read the book itself.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book. 

How it fits in with the series of review/commentaries I’m doing over this weekend is literary epiphany.

The author does an excellent job structuring the book around the focal events of, or related to, a 15 week summer course not only in horsemanship but meant to equip the students to serve as assistant riding masters or mistresses in other schools and colleges by the end of the course.

Stanford does a great job connecting up little . . . and sometimes not so little  . . . personal epiphanies for the students, particularly the viewpoint character Dinah Wilcox, with the events of the horsemanship course.

I’ve read other writers who try to structure things similarly in more contemporary novels, and not always with as much success.

The book is surprisingly contemporary for a 1957 copyright, I didn’t find anything directly out of date as I have in other works of that era.

For someone who is looking at literary technique, The Horsemasters makes a good study while also serving as an entertaining read especially for those who enjoy reading about horses and horsemanship.  But, without ‘talking down’ to the audience, Stanford includes enough detail that I think even those who have no knowledge of horses will enjoy this book if they can find it given its “vintage” status.

 I plan to be back later today with another "best read."  And, then I should be due for some practical tips again in the blog.

I may toss in one more review than I planned, having just finished a book yesterday I greatly enjoyed again for the "character epiphany" reasons.  Interestingly, this is the second of a series and I didn't enjoy the first as much as the second.

But, I will probably add a post on practical tips before I cover that additional book; and perhaps try to capture some thoughts on the spiritual season of Epiphany, as well, before I add that review.

Using Epiphany [the concept] as a segue

I’m going to talk about the books, interspersed over a series of upcoming posts, that I most enjoyed in the past year or so of reading.

I’ll be posting about books in three categories, here.  Possibly get to four.

Why is that?

Well, I have done extensive reading in Christian romance for my own study of that genre.

BUT, it turns out, that while I would recommend certain of those over others, the three books I would most recommend from my reading of the past year do not fall in that category.

I’ll recommend one Christian fiction that is not a romance, a set of contemporary romances that are serialized, and an older secular book that is neither a romance nor Christian-oriented.

So, if and when I get to it, Christian romance is actually that “fourth” category.

Of all the works I’ve read this past year, if I had only one to choose to recommend to someone, and it is precisely because of the epiphany of the book . . .

The number one Christian book I would recommend is The Cross Gardener.  Not sure of the author and the book is not handy, but I believe the author's name is Jason Wright.

I have to admit the author managed the epiphany very deftly.  I read it and thought “should have seen THAT coming.”  But I didn’t, yet it seemed very natural both that I didn’t and should have.

Especially if you know any one who is in a grief situation, The Cross Gardener stands out in my rankings as 2011 pick of the year for Christian fiction.