I must admit I volunteered at the local school to read this to a group of children.

Let me put it this way.  It took me about 2 weeks – their story hour was really only 15 minutes long each time – but they really enjoyed this.  That makes it a winner in my book.  Kids are choosy.  Even more than I am (yes that’s possible).

In terms of an adult reading this book to children, it was enjoyable.  I looked forward to it as much as they were.  And after reading books to kids every night, us parents have to enjoy the books as well. The book was written for children, but it gave parents places they could stop to bring up certain topics with their children. (bullying, friendships ect.)  So this book isn’t just a “good book” that you read once, but a good book that can help open discussions with your children.

Well done again Melissa.

This book is a great how-to for churches that would like to expand their congregations.  It shows examples of how other churches did it and how to avoid pitfalls.

While an interesting book, this book is targeting church leaders and those that help make decisions.  I must say that although church expansion has always happened, bringing it into the internet is a new venture.  While it has been successfully used by some churches (as you will read in the book), it is not something I would like to see happen with smaller churches.  Opening up a brick and mortar sister church is great, but bringing it into the internet seems a little odd to me.

Like the book said, not everyone can make it into a church, and putting the sermons online is a great way to make them accessible to all, but it seems like everything is about numbers.  The bigger and bigger churches get, the less personalization they are trying to achieve will get.  At some point it may get too big and the whole reason they expanded may backfire.

Hopefully church leaders reading this book will realize that although it has worked with some churches, it is not for everyone.  I wish the book focused a little more on the pitfalls on doing this and how to cut back if it backfires.

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This book surprised me.  I knew the subject matter was touchy (young boy abused by priest) and was a little worried about how it would be handled.

Expertly. Ms. Bradford has managed to write a heavy subjected book in a way that we feel sadness, happiness and shock all at the right spots.  I like that she was able to pull back just when you thought your emotions were going to burst.

For a first novel Cindy Bradford has scored one out of the park.  Patrick (main character) becomes your friend.  You want to be right there next to him as he goes through the highs and lows of his life.  You want to laugh with him at times, and at other, you want to wrap your arms around him and never let go.

Once you pick up this book, you will want to cancel all your plans just to be able to finish it.

Product Description

Keeping Faith is a story of love found, lost, and found again, of betrayal, forgiveness, redemption and healing. Most of all it holds the bitter truth of how the selfish actions of individuals far transcend the moment. As a ten year old, Patrick O’Brien is abused by his priest. Ashamed and afraid no one will believe him, for years he carries the unspeakable act alone, allowing it to eat at the recesses of his heart, destroying relationships one by one. Finally he is confronted by the one person who is determined to get to the truth no matter what the cost. She has waited almost two decades to unravel his lies, to break down his barriers, and to find out why he was more interested in saving souls than claiming her. When she appears at his door he can no longer run; there’s no escaping the past, even if it destroys him.

Storyline:

In this book, Jim Chambers shows us the views of the Fifties as he remembers them.  It was a fun book for me as I am all about the 50’s.

Jim is a likable guy.  His short stories are definitely fun to read and I always enjoy reading first hand accounts of experiences and eras.

While I enjoyed the book, it was a bit fragmented and difficult to follow.  Jim Chambers writes about many different topics and tends to jump from one to the other and back all in three paragraphs.  I would suggest he either write chapters based solely on one topic or write it as a “101 Things I Remember From the 50’s” style.  The way it is currently written, while the observations and good and funny, distracts you from really absorbing everything he is saying.

In terms of spelling and grammar, nothing screamed out at me in terms of being incorrect.  I just wish there was better organization.

It was a fun book to read if you want a peep show into the 50’s.  If it gets cleaned up and gets a new cover, it wouldn’t be that bad.

Product Description

As one of the first post-WWII Baby Boomers, Jim Chambers’ childhood and early teenage years were in the 1950s, a remarkable decade for the United States that saw enormous political, technological, and cultural changes. Although many books have covered the headline-making events of the era in great detail, few of these books give the reader a real feel for what daily life was like for Americans living in that decade, especially for kids growing up then. The author remembers the little nuts and bolts things of daily life for families during the fascinating decade known as the Fabulous Fifties. “Recollections” perfectly blends paying homage to the little day-to-day rituals with a larger scale examination of social issues and mores of the times, and it’s equally entertaining on either level. “Recollections” is a warm, lovingly honest, and fascinating portrait of America in the mid-20th Century.

REVIEW OF STORY LINE:
This was a great story. There were times where there were too many different things going on at once (pawn shop, mother, sister, friend, Jack) and it seemed a little flighty, but regardless of that, it was a great story.

This book didn’t read like a story. It felt like you were sitting in your living listening to a friend tell you what was going on with her life. There was no fakeness in the story, no “yea right” moments. Everything that happens, DOES happen. And it happens to every day folks, which is what makes this book a comforting, relatable, funny book.

REVIEW OF CHARACTERS:
The characters in this book were written perfectly. That mother will put any guilt-shoving mother to shame. The sister could be any one of our sisters and all the other characters could easily stand for any of our friends. It’s rare to find a book where there isn’t at least one character that just doesn’t seem to fit. This book managed to do it. Great job!

REVIEW OF WRITING:
I enjoyed the writing in this book. It was easy to read and most importantly, enjoyable. I found myself waiting to see what would come out of the mothers’ lips or how Susan was going to talk her way out of a situation. Well done.

REVIEW OF EDITING:
Nicely done, nothing major missing or incorrect.

REVIEW OF COVER:
It’s nice. Anyone from the South can relate to the cover and be taken back.

OVERALL REVIEW:
This was a fun read for me. Every daughter will relate to this book, and anyone with a “crazy” family will absolutely love it. It’s funny, witty and reads like real life. I will be passing this book on to friends.