My review of Something Old by Dianne Christner

About the book:

Travel to Plain City, Ohio, to witness the Mennonite and English culture clash. As Katy Yoder accepts a new job and struggles to define her place in the world, childhood friends and a past romance get in the way. Even when her friends try to help her change her judgmental attitude, Katy is certain that seeing things as black and white is the only way to please God. But as love softens her heart, slowly shades of gray seep into her world, and she discovers the right answer isn’t always the easiest one.


My review:

I was pleasantly surprised at the many deep spiritual themes in this book. The most compelling had to do with the consequences of festering anger and unforgiveness. It truly made Katy difficult, unattractive, and I daresay, downright ugly at times. In contrast, forgiveness and grace changed her countenance as well. The ordinary becomes beautiful  when gratitude and grace result in living at peace with men.

The story did a great job at illustrating how the outside of the cup can be clean (I found it ironic that Katy was a cleaning lady,) but the inside can still be full of dead man's bones. And while the heroine was a Christian and did sincerely love God, she'd let the structure and boundaries of her Mennonite faith determine how she lived her life rather than reflecting God's love onto others. In short, the symbol became more important than the meaning behind it.

But I loved how Katy often softened around Jake, and how she wanted to forgive him, but that stinkin' pride kept getting in the way. But when they kissed, wow! Sparks flew and the room got a bit warmer. I have to say I loved that this wasn't a one kiss at the end type story. That gets bonus points from me. There was realistic tension, desire, and passion between them that made for some great scenes.

Jake was the consummate hero. There was nothing not to love about him. I was actually glad at one point when he said he was tired of the fighting and maybe it wasn't meant to be. Good for him. I was getting ticked at Katy and her back and forth emotions myself, all of which were propelled by anger. That is such the antithesis to Christ's love, whether the anger is deserved or not. I loved how God used the foolish things to confound the wise, in other words, how God used the person that Katy believed was so worldly that she couldn't be a good person, to show her how to be honest with herself and others. I loved that!

Something Old was published by Barbour and released in August 2011.