A Book Review for You...

Quote for the Day:

"You cannot open a book without learning something."
~Confucius

I realized that I hadn't done a book review lately, though I have finished a couple of books recently.  So let's get right to it...

The first book that I want to tell you about is "The Devil in Pew Seven" by Rebecca Nichols Alonzo and was a 2011 Retailers Choice Award winner.

Rebecca never felt safe as a child. In 1969, her father, Robert Nichols, moved to Sellerstown, North Carolina, to serve as a pastor. There he found a small community eager to welcome him—with one exception. Glaring at him from pew number seven was a man obsessed with controlling the church. Determined to get rid of anyone who stood in his way, he unleashed a plan of terror that was more devastating and violent than the Nichols family could have ever imagined. Refusing to be driven away by acts of intimidation, Rebecca’s father stood his ground until one night when an armed man walked into the family’s kitchen . . . And Rebecca’s life was shattered. If anyone had a reason to harbor hatred and seek personal revenge, it would be Rebecca. Yet The Devil in Pew Number Seven tells a different story. It is the amazing true saga of relentless persecution, one family’s faith and courage in the face of it, and a daughter whose parents taught her the power of forgiveness.

WOW, is all I can say about this book!!  It kept me on the edge of my seat!  It's another one of those books that makes you realize that non-fiction is definitely more thrilling than fiction!  I highly recommend it! 

The second book is "The Pioneer Woman:  Black Heels to Tractor Wheels--A Love Story" by Ree Drummond.

That’s when I saw him—the cowboy—across the smoky room.

I’ll never forget that night. It was like a romance novel, an old Broadway musical, and a John Wayne Western rolled into one. Out for a quick drink with friends, I wasn’t looking to meet anyone, let alone a tall, rugged cowboy who lived on a cattle ranch miles away from my cultured, corporate hometown. But before I knew it, I’d been struck with a lightning bolt . . . and I was completely powerless to stop it.

This isn’t just my love story; it’s a universal tale of passion, romance, and all-encompassing love that sweeps us off our feet.

It’s the story of a cowboy. And Wranglers. And chaps. And the girl who fell in love with them.

I had never heard of Ree Drummond until this book, but evidently she is a blogger and has some sort of a cooking show.  (I don't watch cooking shows because to watch a cooking show would imply that I am, in some way, interested in cooking!)  The book started out as blog entries where she started telling her readers how her and her husband met.  I guess she got to a certain point and decided to stop blogging about it and turn it into a book.  

The first part of the book was enjoyable.  She has a self-depricating humor that is funny.  However, about two-thirds of the way through the book, her sweet, sappy love story just got gaggingly boring.  In the beginning of her and her husband's dating relationship she seemed to try to keep a lot of things from him so that he wouldn't know her "imperfections".  Okay.  So we all do that when we first meet someone.  We want to impress them.  But there comes a time for complete honesty about what's going on with you, etc., and it never seemed to happen.  Well...if it did, her writing was misleading.  Her trying to "impress" him and keeping things from him that were happening in her family seemed to be an ongoing theme, even after they were married.  I just wanted to scream!  I know of people who hide things from their spouses/significant others all the time and then can't figure out why they don't have a good relationship.  

DUH!

Anyway...I did see the book through all the way to the end, but definitely lost interest when I was about 70% of the way through the book.  I really began to feel like I was reading the Christmas letter that my former close friend/fellow nursing student/maid of honor sends out every year where she... (I kid you not)...LISTS, by month, in chronological order, the places she and her husband have traveled throughout the past year.  You know...one of those "my life is so much better than yours" Christmas newsletters?  Well...that's how the book began to read after a while once I got past the funny self-depricating parts of where Ree was trying to get used to some of the differences between her fiance's rural, ranch upbringing and her own father-is-a-doctor, house-in-the-country-club childhood.

Mrs. Drummond has quite a following on her blog, so there are a lot of people who like her style.  Her blog isn't too bad to peruse.  But the book got too sickeningly sappy.   

Let me just add, when I was searching for a picture of the cover of her book, the search engine brought up a site named "pioneerwomansux.com" so I guess I'm not the only one not overly impressed with Ree Drummond!   Just sayin'...

I see that the book has a rating of 4 out of 5 stars on Amazon and Barnes and Noble websites.  Personally, I would give it 2.5 stars out of 5.  

Those are my opinions...they are free...and you get what you pay for!  :)

I'll leave you with this cartoon from The Oatmeal:

Loretta