I’m going to admit right up front that it’s possible that my friendship with C.J. may color my review. I also received my copy free of charge as part of this book tour. However, as a reviewer for TitleTrakk, a Christian book reviews site, I get most of my to-be-reviewed books for free. So, keep that in mind, but I think I can be pretty honest here about my Bound by Guilt review.

Bound by Guilt focuses on two characters and how their lives are inter-twined by the actions of one of them. One character is Abby Dawson, a police woman who’s past makes her, well, lets just say a little over aggressive in her police work. Roxi Gold is just a scared teenager. The unwanted child of a druggie mother and a foster home drop out. Her one shot at a home came with strings attached- be a part of the family “business” or suffer the displeasure of Irene, her new foster mom and cousin to Roxi’s birth mother. That doesn’t seem so bad at first, but when the family “business” is stealing rare books, her conscience begins to interfere with her work.

Now, I took copious notes for my review as I was reading Bound by Guilt. Unfortunately, when I read them over, I realized that they were pretty much all spoilers, and one typo. So, I’m just going to wing it.

Bound by Guilt is really, really good. I’m not just saying that for the aforementioned reasons. Seriously- it’s good. There are elements of mystery and suspense, but the genre is pretty much general or maybe contemporary fiction. It’s definitely not a romance novel- although at times you really can’t help but hope that Roxi and her foster brother Diego would hit it off. They think of each other as though they really were brother and sister, and yet the chemistry is so strong and their relationship is so good, that the more romantically inclined among us just can’t help but picture this as their possible future. I swear, if I ever take up fan fiction, my first target will be CJ’s characters. Jim (from Thicker Than Blood) needs to make some woman happy, and Roxi and Diego so need to at least date.

In Thicker Than Blood, C.J. had a tendency to repeat events that we “saw” in her characters’ heads, and a few characters missed a chance to be fully fleshed out. Those are total non-issues in Bound by Guilt. Every character is thoroughly and well drawn, there are no awkward remembering scenes, and even characters that I disliked in Thicker Than Blood are much more likeable and interesting in Bound By Guilt. Oh- I should mention that several characters from Thicker Than Blood are in Bound By Guilt. None of them are major players except for Christy, but they are there.

Both books revolve around rare books from Dawson’s Book Barn, so it’s a totally natural thing that so many characters are involved in both books but without being a sequel in the usual sense. For example, while we get to see the progression of Christy’s life since the end of Thicker Than Blood, Bound By Guilt is focused on Abby Dawson and Roxi Gold- not Christy.

And the villains! Man, C.J. is so good at writing the bad guys. Which is a little worrying, as she only lives 20 minutes away from me and knows where I live… erm… So, anyway… Vince from Thicker Than Blood was a really well fleshed out psycho abuser. I mean, he was a psycho, not that he abused psychos. Irene, from Bound by Guilt is extremely manipulative and devious. And yet she’s extremely human. Maybe a little on the crazy side, but not so much so that it interferes with her life. Other people’s, maybe, but not her own.

The story progressed naturally, but not predictably. She did make me mad at one scene near the beginning, but it also answered all of her evasive “Well, that’s not going to happen… well, it will, but not for long…” answers when I tried to quiz her on certain book 2 happenings. Which actually made it strangely satisfying even though I was still mad. (And I’m still mad, C.J.! You know what I mean!) But page turner? Most definitely. You can’t help but want to know what’s going to happen to Roxi next, or what decisions she’ll make. A foster child run-away at the age of 16? So close to independance, and yet still dependant? Guilty for a crime that she did commit, and also guilty for a crime that she was merely present at… You can see what’s whirring through her head and feel yourself putting yourself in her place and wondering just what you’d do in the same predicament.

And Roxi is so real. I loved Thicker Than Blood, but Christy did come off as rather cold (the main character in book one) which made it harder to get really into the book. But Roxi is so warm, with real emotions, capable of thinking on her feet but not always making the right choices. Just as in reality, there aren’t always right choices to make.

I hate to say it, but there’s not much more that I can say without getting into spoilers, so I’ll finish with the book trailer for Bound by Guilt. And an endorsement. I rarely read anything that isn’t chick-lit or fantasy, but I loved Bound by Guilt. If you are a book geek, you’ll love it too, because not only is it a great story that’s well told, but there are lots of geeky tidbits on the antiquarian book trade, and about specific rare titles. Given that C.J.’s day job is in the rare book trade, those tidbits aren’t just guesswork or gleaned from interviews. It’s the real thing.

For more information, click the Amazon link above, or visit C.J. Darlington’s official website.

Disclaimer: I received this book for free as part of C.J. Darlington’s Bound by Guilt book tour in exchange for a review.

I’m really not a memoir reader. I dislike most non-history non-fiction. For some reason, I keep choosing memoirs from Thomas Nelson’s Booksneeze program, and I’m not sure why (perhaps because there isn’t much fiction in my preferred genres). However, I loved I Am Hutterite. It read like a novel, and had very little of the “but that was to change all too soon” in it.

While I’m pretty familiar with Amish and Mennonites (I grew up in and live in Amish Country in south-central Pennsylvania), I’d never even heard of Hutterites until a few weeks ago. I’d heard them all grouped together and was intrigued, but assumed that it was simply another sect like the Amish. Within days I noticed I Am Hutterite appear on Thomas Nelson’s Booksneeze page and immediately grabbed it. I’m so glad I did. I read the whole thing through on my recent vacation to Walt Disney World (and those who know me know that I rarely have time for reading there), and have just passed it on to my mother for her vacation. I highly recommend it.

Links of interest:Thomas Nelson’s Product Page, Book Preview

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of I Am Hutterite by Mary Ann Kirkby from Thomas Nelson’s BookSneeze program for the purpose of reviewing it.

Now, I’m not used to reviewing non-fiction books, and so this might be a little shorter, or scattered than usual (and that’s saying something), but when I was offered the chance to review The Search For God and Guinness by BookSneeze, ThomasNelson’s book review blogger program, I jumped at it. Despite the fact that I don’t like most beers, I’ve always been fascinated by them. In fact, when I get a house of my own, I intend to learn how to brew.

I’m also extremely touchy on the subject of Christianity and booze. Look people, drinking is not a sin. It never has been, it never will be. Getting drunk may be a different matter, but yes, you can be a Christian and drink. All the apostles did, most of the church fathers did, Jesus not only did, but said that he would again when we’re all reunited. Ok, I digress.

I’m not a fan of non-fiction in general, but surprisingly, this book is changing that. I enjoyed The Search For God and Guinness: A Biography of the Beer That Changed the World so much that I’ve purchased 5 or 6 non-fiction titles since receiving it. The author, Stephen Mansfield, is the man that wrote The Faith of Barack Obama which was such a hot seller during the election. He’s written several other biographies, and if they’re as good as this one, I may pick up one or two later on.

Despite the title suggesting that the book is solely about the beer, it’s mostly about the Guinness family and how the beer company funded and their faith fueled their philanthropy. Much focus is put on Arthur Guinness (often referred to as “the first Arthur” throughout the book) and then subsequently the line of Guinnesses that ran the company after him. Mansfield does follow several of the Guinnesses who chose not to follow in their fathers’ footsteps, but these excursions are brief though interesting.

Towards the end is an entire section devoted to the Guinnesses For God- the many missionaries and preachers to come from the Guinness line. I found this section, and the section on Arthur Guinness (the first) to be the most interesting to me, possibly because they were the longest sections to have a single focus. Sadly, there was little discussion of the actual beer, but the author did include enough information that a reader who is totally unfamiliar with the process of brewing beer should be able to follow along without difficulty. These snippets were my favorite part, and I wish there had been more of the actual beer in the book.

In all honesty, I felt that there was not enough focus to be a biography of the Guinnesses, nor enough focus to be a biography of the beer. Not that the author wandered from his intent, but that the intent isn’t as clear to me as a reader as I would have liked. I found the story of the Guinnesses to be very interesting to read, but I chose the book because I thought the focus would be on the beer. Nonetheless, I found myself itching to pick it up, and missing it when I’d finished reading.

In Andrew Peterson’s On The Edge of The Dark Sea of Darkness, Janner, Tink, and Leeli Igiby live under the oppression of the horrible Fangs of Dang- lizard-like creatures who delight in torturing humans, and in eating maggotloaf and other such culinary treats. These bad boys work for Gnag the Nameless, who (whom?) the book refers to as a nameless evil… Yeah, you can see why I liked it from the start.

Unfortunately, the Igiby children manage to draw an undue amount of attention to themselves, and in order to avoid death or enslavement, they, along with their one legged ex-pirate grandfather, and sensible mother, have to escape.

The book is interesting from the start, but mainly because of the humor, which is a cross between middle school boy humor (aka: booger jokes), and Terry Pratchett. It’s an odd mix, but I love it. The majority of the book is almost like back story, however, and doesn’t really pick up the pace until the final third of the book. It’s well worth the read, but is absolutely essential if you plan to read the much more active book 2. At the very least, the secondary characters and the humorous footnotes should keep you entertained until you reach the exciting bits.

This is a middle grade fantasy, so if you’re expecting Robert Jordan, give this a miss. If you like both Narnia and Terry Pratchett, this may be worth your while.

The Vanishing Sculptor is a story about Tipper, a young emerlindian girl (an interesting take on elves) who is forced to sell her father’s masterful works of art in order to pay the house bills for years after her father disappeared. Unfortunately for her, and the world, it turns out that 3 of the sculptures she’s sold were carved out of one of the foundation stones of the earth! She must now set out on a quest (those pesky things, awfully uncomfortable these quests are- according to Wizard Fenworth) to retrieve these statues to prevent the total disolution of the world… and her father.

Even though I really miss Sir Dar, who, in this book, has not even been born yet, I love that Wizard Fenworth is back. Yes! There is nothing better than a wizard who drops off to sleep in mid sentence and who grows bark and leaves during his snoozes, not to mention the bizarre logic he follows that would make a sidewinder jealous with all the zigs and zags it takes.

Donita K Paul writes YA fantasy, and does it very well. The quality of her writing has improved with each book, and, surprisingly, each plot is remarkably fresh. Not all stories are particularly gripping, some are naturally better than others. But they’re all unique.

Happily, she’s gotten over her habit of over-naming things. In the first book of the DragonKeeper Chronicles, EVERYTHING had a weird name. It made it extremely difficult to follow the story, or even a train of thought. Particularly when the things being named didn’t actually have anything to do with the story at all.

This began to taper off until the last few books in the series were a good standard of fantasy naming. No more than is necessary.

In The Vanishing Sculptor, Paul continues to only name what’s necessary. There are only two things that I can really find fault with (aside from the lack of Sir Dar, which was necessary), and that’s that sometimes the quest seems a little too normal. As in, they go here, and then this happens, and then they go here.  So, in my opinion, a couple of scenes could have been removed with a mention of “they continued on to such and such, obtained such and such, and then proceeded to reach the such and such”. That would have left more room for what I consider to be the good stuff to be fleshed out a bit more.

The other thing that I take issue with is that they eat daggarts in Chiril. Which, as we know, is a common treat in Amara a few centuries later. I’m willing to forgive this point by telling myself that Wizard Fenworth and Librettowit brought daggarts back to Amara from Chiril and that’s how they became popular in Amara. Remember, Chiril and Amara are across the world from each other, and so travel is prohibitive. The odds of the same cookie-type treat being popular across the world when people didn’t travel across the world is pretty slim. It’s a minor point, I know, but it irritated me while I was reading.

If you’re interested in ordering The Vanishing Sculptor, it can be ordered directly from Random House, or from your favorite large bookstore.

Addendum: Donita K Paul answered the question “If you could say one thing to aspiring novelists, what would you say?” on Christian author C.J. Darlington‘s blog.

Also, I forgot to mention my other The Vanishing Sculptor review at TitleTrakk.com