Discovering Man's (and Woman's) Great End

Monday, October 14, 2013


Have you ever noticed how the hustle and bustle of the world in which we live sometimes interferes with the spiritual side of our life? The car needs an oil change, the kids have three different activities a week, dinner needs making, laundry needs washing; we go, go, go all the time. And the one thing that gets forgotten is our time with God.

I'm just as guilty of it as the next Christian, probably guiltier than most. The sacrifice we make when we don't spend time with God clouds the vision of who He has called us to be. Because He has called each and every one of us to a purpose. Surprisingly, they're all the same purpose. Oh, we might have different dreams, but the person the Lord wants us to be is the same for every one of us.

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Once Upon a Time in Wonderland (1.1)

Thursday, October 10, 2013



Once Upon a Time in Wonderland (1.1): Down the Rabbit Hole

I'm in love, head over heels gone about this show! Maybe it's the Knave's snarky sense of humor. Or it could be that my little romantic heart goes pitter-pat at the adorableness of Alice and Cyrus. Or maybe it's their bringing in Jafar from Arabian Nights complete with snake staff. Or it could just be that I love Alice in Wonderland, but whatever the reason, this first episode has me completely hooked.

Once Upon a Time was never my thing. I never thought it was something I would enjoy because it looked entirely too ridiculous. But maybe I'll give it a chance now. Or maybe I'll stick with what I know that I love. I mean, come on! Alice and the Knave land in the Mallo Marsh! And they shrink the Cheshire Cat! And, and, it's just too adorable for words!

All right, enough gushing, down to brass tacks. The premise is that no one believed Alice when she returned home. She spent years trying to convince her father that her adventures were real, but nothing worked. She finally returns to Wonderland as a young woman to find something that will convince her father, and she meets Cyrus, a djin or genie. He's like no one she has ever met, and he's equally enthralled with her, but evil forces tear them apart. Alice returns home believing that Cyrus is dead, and she's committed to an asylum because of her fanciful tales. Except that the White Rabbit and the Knave of Hearts track her down and tell her that Cyrus is in fact, alive. He is her one true love and she must find him and so she returns to Wonderland on this quest.

It's beautiful, right!?

The story probably won't run forever because the writers have a very specific goal in mind and once it's over, it's over, but until then, the show is delightful and I'm so excited to see where it leads. I want Cyrus and Alice to be happy!

Next episode is Trust Me.
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Book Reviews: The Governess of Highland Hall by Carrie Turansky

Sunday, October 6, 2013

The Governess of Highland Hall
by Carrie Turansky

Rated (3 out of 5 stars) 
 
Podcast interview with the author

When ill health forces the Foster family to return to England from their twelve-year mission trip to India, daughter Julia must do everything within her power to offer her parents monetary support. Since she is trained as a teacher, the logical choice is to become a governess, and so she immediately seeks such employment. Highland Hall is conveniently close to her parent's house, and so Julia prays desperately that Sir William will hire her to instruct his children and his two nieces. Little did she expect that upon receiving the position, Julia would find herself wishing for far more than just the place of a servant in this magnificent house. Kind and compassionate, she befriends both Sir William and his sister Sarah easily, and finds herself no longer dreaming of a return to India and her former life, but perhaps the start of a new life at Highland Hall.

To begin with the positive aspects of this novel: the heroine is charming and likeable, a secondary romance held me in rapt attention, and the children are adorable, both Millie and Andrew. It's sweet how Julia reads classic children's stories to them, like Robin Hood or The Jungle Book, and I love her patience with them. Sarah, William's sister, is a sweet creature, very compassionate and forgiving, who always tries to see the best in people. Plus, I learned about death duties, the taxes foisted upon the aristocracy by the English government when they inherit land or fortune. I had no idea that the taxes were so harsh, and that explains why so much of the aristocracy lost their homes. I just had no idea until this novel that there was such a thing.

Next, I can be a hopeless romantic, but it entirely depends upon the story I'm reading. Being choosy about the romantic fiction I read just comes with the territory for my personality type. So, while, The Governess of Highland Hall has many charming attributes, it simply did not serve to permanently peak my interest. One thing all readers should know is that the setting is in the Edwardian period, meaning Carrie Turansky is riding the coattails of the successful BBC miniseries Downton Abbey. Unfortunately for this book, I really dislike DA, or at best, have no fondness for it. It felt like watching a historic soap opera without any characters that would motivate me to care about their fate. In the same way, The Governess of Highland Hall delves perhaps a little too deeply into being a soap opera of emotions. And, if that were not enough, I feel that she based her story a little too strongly both on Downton Abbey, but also on Jane Eyre, which for me is almost unforgivable.

It is like a mishmash of both stories. Where the servants romantic lives are concerned, we have Downton Abbey. And where the young governess coming to care for the children of a brooding widower is concerned, we have Jane Eyre. I am not against people using the notion of the governess in literature. After all, Charlotte Brontë did not have sole ownership of that character type. However, if an author is going to use a governess in such a setting, it needs to be different from Jane Eyre. There was even a fire. I mean, really, that's been done and done very attractively in Charlotte Brontë's masterpiece. Also, and I hate to say this, but I dislike having Christianity be so prevalent in Christian fiction. Heavy-handed religious faith is unpleasant to read, sometimes even for Christians, and I feel that Ms. Turansky added a bit more than was good for the story.

Perhaps if Ms. Turansky's writing style had been more active, I could have appreciated the book more. As it is, the style lacks energy and excitement. She tells me everything instead of shows me. There is too much focus on the thoughts of the characters, for example, "William wanted to reply with the same sentiment, but his throat tightened, and he patted her back instead." I don't like hearing William's emotions like that. His actions need to show his emotions. She could just have easily left off the first half of the sentence and instead written, "His throat tightened and he merely patted her back." The reader is not foolish. We can understand what William is feeling without the author having to tell us what he's feeling. Show us his actions, and I guarantee that we will understand.

Finally, I'm sure that Ms. Turansky's book will be a great success. Downton Abbey is obscenely popular right now, and her book is full of charming characters. For me, it was just too similar to a great classic without having any of its meat. 

 - I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.
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The newest incarnation of Sleepy Hollow

Friday, October 4, 2013


Hmm, okay, how do I say this? I'm conflicted. It feels like I've been here before. Not here here, like a modern interpretation of Sleepy Hollow here, but there are definite elements that Tim Burton already used that this new show is utilizing. And that, my friends, isn't setting all that well with me.

Still, you want to know the best thing so far?


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