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A Portrait of Emily Price–forgiveness
A Portrait of Emily Price
by Katherine Reay
There is depth to Katherine Reay’s A Portrait of Emily Price. A story of painful pasts, the approaching death of a patriarch, and the love of family, it is a novel that draws the reader in with characters who seem straight forward at first, but are actually struggling to find their ways through life. It is the tale of people who, like all of us, have events in their pasts that affect their relationships and their futures.
Emily Price is a restorer and an artist. She has a talent for fixing thing. Ben is a handsome Italian chef who comes to Atlanta to reconnect with his brother Joseph after 18 years of separation, but quickly falls in love with Emily. In Italy she finds herself in a situation where she is unwanted; no matter what she does, she ruffles feathers.
Ben’s family has experienced great trauma, but no one is willing to bring the source out in the open so the distance between Joseph and his mother grows and their hearts harden. The author only gradually reveals the core of the difficulties as Emily confronts them. The tale is spun organically at just the right speed. We learn about Emily’s family’s troubles and Ben’s family’s problems as part of the pair’s character development and in such a way that, like Emily, we want to be able to fix them.
Life is not always easy and hurts do not always go away quickly. Giving and accepting forgiveness can be difficult. In the process of negotiating problems and overcoming pain, we learn more about ourselves and others. We grow through those trials. This book records a portion of the journey Emily experiences as she becomes part of a noisy, messy, Italian family.
I would like to extend my thanks to Edelweiss and to HarperCollins Christian Publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
Rating: 5/5
Category: General Fiction (Adult)
Notes: Ends with questions for discussion or thought.
Publication: November 1, 2016—HarperCollins Christian Publishers
Memorable Lines:
It almost made me wonder if I’d gotten it all wrong. Perhaps fixing things wasn’t about the end product—it was, oftentimes, about the process.
Home. That word again. In my life, it had always been transient, replaceable with each stepfather or with Mom’s next job. But there was nothing transient about this place. Lucio had said eight generations. This was the dream—stones warmed from above and roots that gripped deep below.
…while I might not know much about his family, I understood pressure, fear, the need to fix things, and the black hole that opened within you when you realized nothing could fix all that was broken.
Too Many Crooks Spoil the Plot–great plot and characters
Too Many Crooks Spoil the Plot
by Sarah Osborne
Too Many Crooks Spoil the Plot begins with “Nothing warned me that my world was about to tilt on its axis and never tilt back again,” a sentence full of promise for a good cozy mystery. Author Sarah Osborne manages to pack a lot of background into her opening chapter. We are introduced to the main character, Dr. Ditie Brown, a pediatrician who works in a refugee clinic, her two pets, and her brother Tommy. There are hints of family troubles. Ditie reunites with her old friend Ellie whose emotions bounce all over the place. She asks a huge favor: “Do you think the kids could stay with you for a few days?” Unfortunately someone was gunning for Ellie—literally.
The plot is quite complex with lots of threads that seemingly don’t connect…until they do. Meanwhile, who are the good guys and who are the bad guys? What do Ellie’s children have that is worth killing for? Through all of this we watch Ditie, her friend Lurleen (with an interesting faux French background and accent), Detective Garrett, P.I. Dan, and Garrett’s mother, a retired cop, work diligently to solve the mystery and keep the children, Lucie and Jason, safe.
I see in Lucie a level of responsibility that a former student of mine had. In my student’s case, the mother was an alcoholic and my first grader got herself and her kindergarten brother ready for school and on the bus each day. Therefore, I find realism in Lucie, a fictional child whose mother is erratic; Lucie has to step in and be the “adult” for her brother.
Initially I felt that the two romances in the books happen way too quickly. On the other hand, extreme circumstances can cause extreme emotional reactions. I quickly got over my hesitation with that aspect of the story and enjoyed watching the two couples grow in their relationships as the story progresses.
This book is a winner. I’m looking forward to the next cozy mystery in this series.
I would like to extend my thanks to netgalley.com and to Lyrical Underground (Kensington Press) for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
Rating: 5/5
Category: Mystery
Notes: #1 in the Ditie Brown Mystery Series
Publication: May 29, 2018—Lyrical Underground (Kensington Press)
Memorable Lines:
It’s not every dog that can smile, but when you find one who does, you know you have a treasure.
He could hide behind the lights, the glitter, so that no one, least of all his sister, ever knew who he really was.
I felt uneasy. The murders felt so neatly solved. It was just the murderers that didn’t quite fit.
education pathways 