Donna Smith

Huh. Zany, because Evergreen joyfully folded in Every Single Mad suggestion made for an off-the-wall Christmas romance, under girded with her usual self-aware genre bending. I wouldn't say you should start reading here, but it is fun if you are familiar with her usual tone. Witty in a... ...zany way. Yeah: I'm sticking with zany.

Clever! Interesting. Very cool character arcs, and--as with all in this series--very deft juggling tropes and expectations with more than a few winks to the audience of the genre.

I'm sticking with this author.

I like this author! The second by her I've read.

Complex and interesting, and there was actually a moment where I didn't know which trope was going to be engaged and who the romantic lead would actually be--because Evergreen is witty and skillful at acknowledging ALL the tropes in the genre and playing fast and loose with them in the most engaging ways.

Ugh: NO.

Begins with a rape--apparently between the romantic leads of the book!?!, though I quit reading before that became absolutely clear so I may be mistaken--then continues with unrealistic coincidences to move the plot along, relies on a "hooker with a heart of gold" to glamorize sex work, which sticks in my craw because of how dehumanizing and abusive the industry is. Also has a child who is angelic. I didn't like or believe in any of the characters

DNF at 14% My first by this author; probably my last.

Eh...don't bother with this one. But--DO READ other Camilla Evergreen books! The main characters here seemed flat and unrealistic, with problems that I wasn't feeling and solutions that didn't quite get there. HOWEVER, I have found others of her books to be UTTERLY delightful, especially How to Find Love if you are Weird.

Sweet and clever gender inversions in a dozen ways that mostly didn't feel modern or contrived but smart, interesting, contributing to character conflict and growth.

I shall track down more in this series.

I thought it was the first by this author I've read, then I dug deeper and found a DNF in another series which I quit because of flat characters and the utter unrealism of a modern author writing about subsistence skills like hauling water, lighting oil lamps, cooking on wood... Apparently none of that unpalatable-to-me vibe was present in Snapdragons to make me twitch, so--different domain? More author skills since Ashes on the Moor? Either way, I'll read more in this series and see what this author can do.

Two MC who are definitely autism-coded and whose special interest is...wait for it...trains. Huh. Is it too on the nose on purpose like a kind of post-ironic, like, "I can be passionate about trains and count by prime numbers when I'm stressed because that's who I am, regardless if I fit into all the stereotypes you have!"? I kept trying to decide if the non-autistic author did or did not have autistic friends/family in her life.

Probably I should have just taken it on it's merits as a sweet romance where a community of quirky people and comedic events push together two (+ kid) well-intentioned people. And defeat an evil property developer. (Again: too on the nose? or post-ironic?) I liked that all the core relationships *were* sweet and supportive. I didn't feel buckets of realism sluicing off any situation or relationship here, but it was sweet and I read the whole thing to the denouement. Which--spoilers!--takes place with a special train.

Ehh...I liked the characters, but this was a draft that needed more editing for continuity issues (had they met only once before, or...twice because they went to that restaurant with her uncle?!?) and to make the "marriage of convenience" trope believable. But, the turtle research was interesting, and I like other stuff this author has written.

A bit in the mode of At home in Mitford. Hopeful and positive, but realistic. Large cast with at least ten important character arcs.

I don’t know why I wasn’t emotionally engaged in their journey, but once I realized that I was skimming whole pages, DNF.

I should have liked this book because it contains a teacher who does actual teacher things, and children who act like children… yet I found myself skimming paragraph after paragraph, especially the descriptions about how each main character found the other hot. I get it: apparently they’re hot. <shrug> Come to think of it, it’s probably because I’m fried at the end of a school term and have the attention span of a cricket. Time for a comfort reread probably. Maybe I should reread Olivia Dade’s teacher characters in her Maryville books…

Sweet, fluffy; reads like Alexander McCall Smith. You have to suspend your disbelief for this HEA, but there are quirky characters who find community and healing. A gentle read; not that literary.

So, I knew from the start that this was yet another new author's take on urban fantasy, but was hopeful when I found some clever variations on the tried and true tropes. Alas. As the unrealistic characterisations piled up and the plot was wrenched this way and that with little regard for realism I gave up and did not finish. I just do not think any of the people in the story would act in the ways that they do, given what we are told (not shown) about their background. (Also, she's 18 years old, has been in foster care for 12 years, but her mum died at her birth...so what's with the missing 6 years? Bad editing? Did I misunderstand?) I hope this author keeps practicing on her writing group because some of the ideas showed spark, but I do want much more practice and much more editing before I attempt another one.

Pragmatic, research-based, common-sensical, useful, straight forward, and comprehensive. I like Foyle's style and find the content useful and encouraging. Each chapter could be a book on its own–the topics she tackles are significant–but having them dealt with quickly and gathered together between one set of book covers makes this a great reference for people understanding the unique stressors in cross-cultural ministry. This book is a great starting place for pre-field workers and support teams who need to understand likely things to come, a great check-up and reflection tool for mid-career missionaries (like me), a great resource for those trying to articulate the effects of the manifold and serious stresses in the multicultural life.

I liked the character of Sophie enough when reading the Lei Texiera books to seek these out, but so far I like Lei a lot better. These feel very thin in the crime and not as thoughtful on the character development. I also can't get into the creepy computer stalker-turned-boyfriend the Ghost. Urk. I miss Alika Wolcott! I'm glad that Sophie has loving people in her life...but maybe too many loving men who want to save her... Yeah, these are quick, easy reads (often read two back-to-back as I did with the Lei books), but not quite as emotionally or intellectually engaging as the Lei books.

I sure am enjoying this series of very quick reads–quick because the plot trips along, the characters are interesting and engaging, the local colour is vivid, the romance hopeful and true-to-life-feeling. I keep reading two at a time, back-to-back.

3.5 stars A sweet, charming, gentle read where the power of friendship makes everyone better. A few “wave magic wand; solve poverty/homelessness/isolation/denial” plot tropes, but not egregious. It didn't break my heart with awesomeness but it was charming in its way.

Too many Big Important Issues smooshed in with not enough believably, but I liked that the Mexican jungle made a significant cameo.

DNF at about 80%. I was hoping to be engaged in a well-drawn world different than my own (spies, special forces, Australia) by compelling characters and the author's insider knowledge; instead, I encountered 1-dimensional archetypes playing with fancy spy-military toys in engaging episodes. Alas for the missed opportunity! It reminded me of the (more compelling) young-teen series Alex Rider. Jo is apparently so bad-ass, so kind, so competent, so cool, so dangerous that she always wins at everything, including charming ocean mammals better than everyone. Yawn.

The thing is: I read a lot of romance. And: my faith and spirituality are central to my identity and lived experience, a daily practice and such a high value that I've organized a great deal of my life around my Christian convictions. Like, Christianity isn't a background cultural structure for me. You might call me evangelical about it.
So, I read a lotta romance: wanting a break from stories that weighed down my spirit by not telling the truth about the human experience of sexuality or family or conflict or whatever–and maybe not so many swears because I don't need to store all that in my head especially mid-semester when my middle school students are aggravating!–I timidly decided to try to read gasp! Christian romances.
So I tried this one.
Alas.
Why, if Christianity is central to my identity, do I avoid reading Christian fiction?* Because I think that books should tell the truth about what it means to be human, not twist a story into a a tract where everyone lives happily ever after after employing a magical formula of prayer or faith. It's more complex than that! There's doubt and sin and uncertainty about what God is saying. Fall Flip presents a kind of cultural formulation of Christianity that is NOT congruent with my experience of spirituality. Characters spray a bit then just “know” what to do; the happily ever after doesn't feel earned but kind of an author-produced “ta da” after enough pages had passed by, to reward characters for giving a nod to God. Where was the heroine's anger at God about her husband's death, to pick one instance I felt lacked emotional resonance and realism? I finished the book annoyed; I don't think Fall Flip tells the truth about grief, divine guidence, forgiveness, conflict.
(Also, why were people supposed to care of someone had died in a house? Maybe that's an American cultural thing that I just don't get. Who cares? Humans die! Houses are lived in, and sometimes died in! Big whoop. Weird American culture.)
The thing is: in non-Christian fiction, people can be tropey and gimmicky and plot leaps of logic can happen and I think, “oh well, bad writing” but when a book identifies itself as Christian and uses faith as a central device to help characters grow up, find love, become their true selves and it's tropey and gimmicky it's such a let down.
I'll keep looking; surely there's hope for this genre, right?

*excepting writers who can WRITE; I'm lookin' at you Sayers, Tolkien, Lewis, Robinson,

Hm: a mix. On the one hand, character's back stories and situations were engaging; the situation created interesting conflict that must be addresses. Clearly the geography of Manhattan had been studied for the late 70's world building. I liked the author's light touch on race because it's a pet peeve when only the non-white characters are named as non-white, but this author did that kind of description really well–context and exposition clues to fill that in, but not heavy handed–and I appreciate it.
Why did I give up at 30%? Because I felt the connection to characters/setting/conflict at 30% that I had reached at 5%. More development of all those domains of storytelling, please! Interactions felt kind of basic/formulaic when I was ready for them to be nuanced and deeper. Similarly the setting felt sketched in rather than fleshed out at that point–soooo much going on in NYC in the late 70's! It was a totally different city thannow! let's get that world-building goin' on, for the love of gritty walk-ups!!–and the back stories felt flimsier the longer they spent being not developed. A few continuity oddities made it hard to follow–like, some action read like it all happened on one day but apparently there were some months in between there that I skipped, and I'm not a careless reader.

How to break into a new-ish genre for me, Christian romance? Venn diagram book bloggers' recommendations and my library's catalogue.
I finished it, but...
This isn't an author I'll read more of. My quibbles are various and serious.
The Christian faith of the MCs seemed decorative rather than fundamental to conflict/character/plot. The book would have been better for me without it as a flourish. It was confusing to me: faith and prayer are interesting, complicated, vivid, surprising in my own life; here they seemed like a think cultural veneer that just went along with the setting rather than a source of character development or conflict/resolution.
The shallow use of faith matched shallowness in supporting characters and main characters. The h's best friend was a thinly painted character (perhaps she had her own book and I missed it?) with a nameless husband who did all the home chores so she could be an indulged princess (yuck!). Friend's advice to the h on how to get a man included wearing tighter clothes and getting gel nails. (You should see the expression on my face as I recall this because–...???!!! What the WHAT??) The main plot-turning actions of the characters also seemed kind of arbitrary and not arising from genuine character development. IOW, I didn't believe that these people were people, but rather paper dolls moved around by an author through a pre-plotted outline.
Why did I read the whole thing? It wasn't horrible.

I'm back for a re-read: the opening scene stuck with me with it's impressive display of competence, courage, and drama.

I like this book because I am picky and reject books with bad world building and inauthentic details. You can blame my rich, varied, well-lived life. I am picky about wilderness survival and hiking stories. About stories of crossing culture and learning language. About women, gender, and family dynamics. About geography, history, historical economies, technologies, textiles, and foodways. I am picky about stories of fights and self defense. This story doesn't ping my “you've got to be kidding” radar in any of these areas...plus, you know, stuff like plot and characters are cool and all.

I want more.

NB: It ends on a not-quite-cliffhanger after establishing the characters and resolving one of the main conflicts while introducing more. I care about the characters and am happy to pay $3 USD to buy the next one. This is a new author for me, but won't be my last book by her.

Edit: I've now read parts 2 and 3. They are actually ALL PART OF ONE BOOK, just split into three parts that you have to buy separately–?? The chapter numbering also continues serially from parts 1 to 2 and 3. I do recommend getting all three since they FUNCTION AS ONE NOVEL. Well worth reading, interesting development, sustained world-building and character arcs. I approve.

I've been hearing (positive things) about this book for a few years; a copy finally ended up in my possession; I've got to chapter 2 so far; I can see it becoming a standard book on my shelf and for many missiologists in Melanesia. I've appreciated Bartle's work in journals (2005) and now I'm glad to have a chance to absorb this longer case study. (How am I the first person reviewing this book? Thanks, Bartle, for your scholarship.)

And: can I give a shout-out to the Melanesian Institute and the Point series, which have been the source of so many insights that have guided my research during my student years? Cheers, guys! Keep publishing.

I'm still totally into this series. Many little details add up to a very satisfying reading experience because they are true to my own experience across places/cultures. For example, people who are learning language in Red Wolf talk like you actually would. The pre-industrial world everyday life details also feel true. The fights feel real. The hierarchical vs. egalitarian culture clashes (and all the other culture clashes) feel real. The political and economic details–so well researched. I live cross-culturally and am an historian, so I get fussy about these things, and I am just really impressed with Chase's achievement here! And also, you know, exciting, quickly-plotted, and character driven with arcs and growth of all the main characters.
It's been maybe 6 months since I read the previous ones, so I kind of forgot who some of the characters are (and there are a lot now), and I still feel like these would be better when they are all published together in one volume–they're bite-sized at present–and I don't have to put up with CLIFFHANGER ENDINGS, but I'm down for the next ones, for sure.