REVIEW: "The Tender Years" by Janette Oke

-

 

About the Book:

✦ Title: The Tender Years

✦ Author: Janette Oke


✦ Genre: Christian historical fiction


✦ Series: Book #1 in the Prairie Legacy series


✦ Recommend for: ages 14+

My Personal Rating

⭐⭐.5/⭐⭐⭐

📖 Synopsis

Twenty years have passed since youngest daughter Belinda's story in "Love Finds A Home." Marty and Clark Davis's spiritual heritage has been lovingly passed on to their later generations. And now granddaughter Virginia faces the test of her young life. Caught in the difficult period between childhood and adulthood, feeling that she doesn't fit in, Virginia struggles against what she considers to be unreasonable restrictions and expectations. A new girl at school represents the daring and freedom that Virginia thinks she wants -- until one fateful day . . .

💭 My thoughts

It has been a while since I read this book, and all I really remember is that I found Virginia incredibly obnoxious towards the first half of the book. Also, the last few chapters were very dramatic and a little intense for a Janette Oke book. Overall, I liked seeing the family again after so many years have passed and I appreciated the themes and lessons in the book, but it was a little preachy and drama-filled for my tastes.

⚠️ Broad content note

A traumatic accident causing severe injury, disobedience/rebellion


🌹 Was this review helpful? Please consider following The Boundless Bookshelf!

Bookishly yours, 


Lottie M

Popular this week

REVIEW: "A Lady's Guide to Marvels and Misadventure" by Angela Bell

-
Image
  About the Book: ✦ Title: A Lady's Guide to Marvels and Misadventure ✦ Author: Angela Bell ✦ Genre: Christian Historical Romance (with steampunk elements and nods to Around the World in 80 Days and the Nutcracker) ✦ Series: Currently a standalone novel ✦ Recommend for: Ages 14/15+ My Personal Rating 5 ⭐️ 📖 Synopsis Miss Clara Marie Stanton's family may be eccentric, but they certainly aren't insane. London, England, 1860 When Clara's ex-fiancé begins to spread rumors that her family suffers from hereditary insanity, it's all she can do to protect them from his desperate schemes, society's prejudice, and a lifetime in an asylum. Then Clara's Grandfather Drosselmeyer brings on an apprentice with a mechanical leg, and all pretense of normalcy takes wing. Theodore Kingsley, a shame-chased vagabond haunted by the war, wants a fresh start far from Kingsley Court and the disappointed father who declared him dead. Upon returning to England, Theodore meets clockma...
Read more

REVIEW: “The Nature of Small Birds” by Susie Finkbeiner

-
Image
  About the Book: ✦ Title: The Nature of Small Birds ✦ Author: Susie Finkbeiner ✦ Genre: Triple timeline fiction w/ light faith threads (1975, 1988, 2013-2014) ✦ Series: Currently a standalone novel ✦ Recommend for: Ages 16/17+ {not for those very sensitive to war and adoption} My Personal Rating 3.5 ⭐️ 📖 Synopsis In 1975, three thousand children were airlifted out of Saigon to be adopted into Western homes. When Mindy, one of those children, announces her plans to return to Vietnam to find her birth mother, her loving adopted family is suddenly thrown back to the events surrounding her unconventional arrival in their lives. Though her father supports Mindy's desire to meet her family of origin, he struggles privately with an unsettling fear that he'll lose the daughter he's poured his heart into. Mindy's mother undergoes the emotional rollercoaster inherent in the adoption of a child from a war-torn country, discovering the joy hidden amid the difficulties. And Mind...
Read more

REVIEW: "Once Upon a Summer" by Janette Oke

-
Image
  About the Book: ✦ Title: Once Upon a Summer ✦ Author: Janette Oke ✦ Genre: Christian historical fiction ✦ Series: Book #1 in the Seasons of the Heart series ✦ Recommend for: ages 14+ My Personal Rating ⭐⭐⭐.5 📖 Synopsis Sure, his family isn't typical-Josh knows that. He's a twelve-year-old orphan being raised by his eighteen-year-old aunt. When Grandpa and Uncle Charlie start making plans to find Auntie Lou a husband-and take away the only mother Josh has ever known-he knows something has to be done. His family has shaped the young man he has become. Now, as he grows into manhood, he begins to face important questions about life, love, and faith. How can he find his way when his whole world threatens to come apart? Trying desperately to cling to the life he's always had, Josh does what he can to keep his aunt single. But when a preacher comes along, Josh sees that things are going to get complicated. 💭 My thoughts This story was overall sweet and enjoyable! I thought it...
Read more

REVIEW: "A-Spying We Will Go" by Perry Elisabeth Kirkpatrick

-
Image
  About the Book: ✦ Title: A-Spying We Will Go ✦ Author: Perry Elisabeth Kirkpatrick ✦ Genre: Clean spy-comedy novella ✦ Series: Book #5 in The Accidental Cases of Emily Abbot (see reviews for prior three books here! ) ✦ Recommend for: ages 13+ My Personal Rating ⭐⭐⭐ 📖 Synopsis Camping doesn't lead to kidnapping... usually. When Emily goes on a group camping trip in Northern Arizona, she suspects her biggest danger will be mosquito bites and bear-sightings. The trip becomes far from relaxing, however, when she hears from a family friend that they can't get in touch with her dad. Unable to call, due to spotty cell phone reception, she manages to send a text asking for Brent's help in checking on her dad. But the spy has been incommunicado for several days, and it turns out he's up North too--trying to locate a missing ICS agent with information about the Ten Thousand. Not everything is as it seems. More than bears roam the woods, and information could cost a life. 💭 ...
Read more