I finished a few books recently that I’m going to group here together with shorter than usual reviews.

Jennifer: An O’Malley Love Story by Dee Henderson is a prequel to the acclaimed O’Malley series, which I loved (but unfortunately read before I had a blog in which to chronicle my thoughts!) Dee’s books pull me right in from the start, and this was no exception. It’s a fairly short book at 154 pages, so I can’t say too much without giving away too much, but basically it’s about Jennifer O’Malley, pediatric surgeon, youngest of the O’Malley siblings who put themselves together as a family from an orphanage. An incident in the hospital leads to Jennifer meeting a surgeon named Tom Peterson. He’s a believer, she is not, and as she gets to know Tom, she gets to know his Savior. She has some physical problems which she brushes off at first…and I’ll leave the plot at that. 🙂 It leaves off where the first O’Malley book, The Negotiator, starts (or maybe it’s the second book now and this is the first?)

I think I remember what happens to her in The Negotiator – I was hoping this book would wrap up her story. In one way I’d love to read The Negotiator again, especially to remind myself of what ultimately happens to Jennifer, but I have so many other books stacked up. I probably will find myself going back to it some time in the next few months.

One quibble I have occurs at Jennifer’s baptism, when Tom says, “On the confession of your faith…I now baptize you in the name of Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, that you might receive the forgiveness for your sins, the gift of the Holy Spirit, and the promise of eternal life” (p. 120). My quibble is with the phrase “that you might receive.” A believer receives this things immediately, and baptism pictures that fact. The way this is worded sounds to me like they’re received at baptism. Sorry to sound so nitpicky, but this is vitally important.

Hmm, that one wasn’t quite so short! But the next ones will be, I promise.

A Quiet Place: Daily Devotional Readings by Nancy Leigh DeMoss is a devotional book made up from several of Nancy’s other books. I don’t think I had read a whole book of hers before, but I loved her chapters in True Woman, and I enjoyed this very much and have several pages marked. I like her passion for the Bible and for encouraging readers to read, hear, and obey it. There were just a very few places where she seemed just a little preachy/scoldy to me, but then that just might have been my impression: I tend to be oversensitive to that kind of thing. Overall I’d highly recommend this, and I am grateful to the friend who gave it to me.

One Year Christian History by E. Michael and Sharon Rusten was another gift, and as its name might imply, it is a devotional that focuses on some event in Christian history corresponding to the date. It also shares a Scripture verse in conjunction with each story and ends with some questions to think about. I questioned a few of the inclusions being there, but overall I enjoyed it, though not in a “You have to get this!” kind of way.

The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: Book IV: The Interrupted Tale by Maryrose Wood is every bit is fun as the first three stories of three siblings raised by wolves, discovered in the woods, taken into the home of Lord Frederick Ashton, and taught by their plucky young governess from the Agatha Swanburne School for Poor Bright Females, Miss Penelope Lumley. In this story the suspicious Judge Quinzy wants to rename the school The Quinzy School for Miserable Girls and change some of its rules. Penelope has been asked to speak at an alumni event and takes the Incorrigibles with her, where she tries to save the school and decipher a book written in invisible ink about cannibals on an island before Quinzy does. It sounds crazy, but it works. 🙂 We do get a bit more information about some of the questions that have come up from the previous books, but evidently there is another book coming, so the rest of the mysteries must wait! Once again Katherine Kellgren’s narration on the audiobook is just delightful.

(This will also be linked to Semicolon‘s Saturday Review of Books.)

I picked up Lost and Found by Ginny Yttrup because I loved her first book, Words (linked to my thoughts).

Lost and Found is primarily the story of two women. Jenna Bouvier once appeared to “have it all,” but her beauty has been marred by a surgical facial scar, her fairy tale marriage came with a toxicly controlling mother-in-law, and she hasn’t produced the children that she was hand-picked to provide. As her mother-in-law threatens to ruin her reputation, she struggles with what she thought it meant to take up one’s cross and lose one’s own life to follow Christ.

Andee Bell is driven to succeed and has achieved wealth, fame, and recognition as a financial expert. She’s a take-charge woman who is dating Jenna’s brother and turned off by what appears to be Jenna’s passivity. As they get to know one another, Andee discovers there is more to Jenna than meets the eye. Andee has her own secrets which fuel her ambition but now threaten to undo her. After she brokers a deal that ends up selling out someone close to her, her carefully constructed world begins to unravel. Her desire to cling to her own life as she understands it may mean losing what is most important.

I loved the story and both women’s journeys. I was put off by the practices of contemplative spirituality (not the idea of being thoughtful and meditative, but elements of the contemplative movement or contemplative spirituality. I expressed concerns about that at the end of a another book discussion, so I won’t get into them again here.)  The book mentions Jeanne Guyon often, with a epigraph from her before each chapter. I am wary of “mystics,” though I don’t think I saw anything I disagreed with in any of her direct quotes, and I know Elisabeth Elliot read and quoted her, too. I should probably read about her some time, but I am not inclined to any time soon. I was also a bit uncomfortable with the attraction between Jenna and her spiritual director, Matthew – they both felt it was entirely spiritual and took precautions against it turning into or looking like it was turning into a romance, but in real life I think further care should be employed.

Looking beyond those concerns, as I said, I did enjoy the story and where it ended up. The last chapter takes place seven months after the climax of the story, and I would like to have known a few more details about how it all worked out, but I suppose those could have been outside what the story was really about.

(This will also be linked to Semicolon‘s Saturday Review of Books.)