About the book:
Jessilyn Lassiter no longer has to convince people she’s not a child. Having just turned 19 in the summer of 1938, her love for Luke Talley has never been more real. And Luke is finally beginning to care for her in the way she’s always dreamed of. But their budding romance is interrupted when Tal Pritchett—a young, black doctor—comes to Calloway, stealing the heart of Jessilyn’s best friend, Gemma, and stirring up the racial prejudice that has been simmering just beneath the town’s surface. The tension starts to bubble over when Jessie’s elderly neighbor Miss Cleta becomes the first white townsperson to accept Tal’s treatment. And when a young black man is lynched, Calloway is brought to its knees once again as Jessilyn realizes that her anger can make her heart as full of hate as the klan members who have terrorized her town and her family.
My review:
Jennifer Erin Valent's voice is so amazing in this book! All of the teasing the characters did toward each other and the southern sayings sprinkled throughout the book were adorable, too. In fact, I enjoyed the "voice" in the beginning so much that I read the first chapter out loud to my husband on the way to church on Sunday. Less than four days later I'd finished the book. That's a good story. I would've finished even sooner, but I had to work. Anyway, I loved the dialog in this book because it planted me solidly in the setting. I could literally hear the characters talking in my head as I was reading.
There were so many things to love about this story. I thought it was awesome that even though it's the third book in a series, you can read it without having to read the previous books. I haven't read them and I didn't get the sense that it was necessary to enjoy this book because the facts were touched on enough to give you a sense of history with the characters. I loved how there was danger, intrigue, and heart pounding romance in this novel. There was also a great lesson in the story about what it means to really know Jesus compared to knowing about Him because you were raised going to church.
I appreciated the message that Jesus and hate can't live in the same heart. That was shown so well in the story! I also cried through a few of the chapters toward the end. The situation at the funeral was so beautiful that it really moved my heart. I loved how Jessie realized that one of the things that made the people she cared about so beautiful to her was their faith in Jesus. That was a nice touch and so very true.
Jessie's faith journey was genuine, honest, and realistically portrayed. Her insight into the darkness in her own soul was powerfully written. There were a few things that were vividly described and thus made me cringe, but it was necessary to appreciate the situation the characters were in. Some things just don't feel right when they are glossed over - like prejudice in the south. Thankfully the author didn't gloss over anything. This book was awesome on so many levels that I could go on and on. It's making my best fiction for 2010 list.
Catching Moondrops was published by Tyndale and released in October 2010. An ARC of this book was sent to me by the publisher for the purpose of reviewing only. I was not compensated in any way for my opinion of this book.
1 comment:
One line alone made me want to read this book.
"I appreciated the message that Jesus and hate can't live in the same heart."
Thanks for a fanatastic book review. I'll definately put this book on my TBR list.
Blessings.
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