Showing posts with label The Peasant King. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Peasant King. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 3, 2024

March 2024 Reading Recap & April 2024 TBR

My March 2024 Reads: 

  1. The Peasant King by Tessa Afshar - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - This time around, I read the novel with my local book club, and it seemed that everyone loved it! Read my review from last year

  2. Mom Enough: Inspiring Letters for the Wonderfully Exhausting but Totally Normal Days of Motherhood by Rachel Marie Martin. - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - A wonderfully encouraging book for moms with kids at home. Read my review.

  3. Running to You by Robin Patchen - ⭐⭐⭐⭐½ - Gripping and romantic. Just what I wanted the fourth weekend in March. Review to come.

  4. Up from the Dust by Heather Kaufmann - ⭐⭐⭐⭐ - A richly-layered story filled with grief, difficulty, and beautiful spiritual truths. Read my review. 




Expected April 2024 Reads:
  1. These Tangled Threads by Sarah Loudin Thomas.

  2. Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes. - Currently reading. This is a LONG book!

  3. Embers in the London Sky by Sarah Sundin - My local book club's selection for April.

  4. The Hudson Collection by Jocelyn Green.

  5. The Elusive Truth of Lily Temple by Joanna Davidson Politano - Currently reading.

  6. Mostly What God Does by Savannah Guthrie. - Currently reading.



What will you read this month?

Monday, January 1, 2024

Favorite Fiction Reads of 2023

The Weight of Air by Kimberly Duffy

In 1911, Mabel MacGinnis is Europe's strongest woman and has performed beside her father in the Manzo Brothers Circus her entire life. When he dies unexpectedly, she loses everything she's ever known and sets off in the company of acrobat Jake Cunningham in hope of finding the mother she thought was dead.

Learn more about the book and read my review.



The Sound of Light by Sarah Sundin

When the Germans march into Denmark, Baron Henrik Ahlefeldt exchanges his nobility for anonymity, assuming a new identity so he can secretly row messages for the Danish Resistance across the waters to Sweden. American physicist Dr. Else Jensen refuses to leave Copenhagen and abandon her research--her life's dream--and makes the dangerous decision to print resistance newspapers.

Learn more about the book and read my review.



The Words We Lost by Nicole Deese

As a senior acquisitions editor for Fog Harbor Books in San Francisco, Ingrid Erikson has rejected many a manuscript for lack of defined conflict and dramatic irony--two elements her current life possesses in spades. In the months following the death of her childhood best friend and international bestselling author Cecelia Campbell, Ingrid has not only lost her ability to escape into fiction due to a rare trauma response, but she's also desperate to find the closure she's convinced will come with Cecelia's missing final manuscript.

Learn more about the book and read my review.


The Art of Victory by Martha Keyes

Diana Donovan was raised aboard a naval ship on a steady diet of war strategy, so when her orphaned friend, Lucy, is denied a perfectly respectable love match by her controlling guardian, Diana sees an opportunity to put her battle knowledge to use in service of a deserving friend.

But Marmaduke Russell is not the middle-aged curmudgeon Diana is expecting. He is a maddeningly cool, unmarried gentleman who seems uniquely able to parry her tactics—and infuse her with even more determination to win. As battle ensues, though, it becomes clear that there may be more hearts in the balance than just Lucy's.


The Peasant King by Tessa Afshar 

Jemmah has always thought of herself as perfectly ordinary . . . until she faces extraordinary circumstances. When her mother, the Persian king’s famous senior scribe, is kidnapped, Jemmah and her sister must sneak undetected into enemy territory to rescue her. Their survival depends on the skills of a stranger they free from prison: a mysterious prince named Asher.


The Masterpiece by Francine Rivers

A successful LA artist, Roman Velasco appears to have everything he could possibly want—money, women, fame. Only Grace Moore, his reluctant, newly hired personal assistant, knows how little he truly has. The demons of Roman’s past seem to echo through the halls of his empty mansion and out across his breathtaking Topanga Canyon view. But Grace doesn’t know how her boss secretly wrestles with those demons: by tagging buildings as the Bird, a notorious but unidentified graffiti artist—an alter ego that could destroy his career and land him in prison.

Learn more about the book and read my review.


Yesterday's Tides by Roseanna M. White

In 1942, Evie Farrow is used to life on Ocracoke Island, where every day is the same--until the German U-boats haunting their waters begin to wreak havoc. And when special agent Sterling Bertrand is washed ashore at Evie's inn, her life is turned upside down. While Sterling's injuries keep him inn-bound for weeks, making him even more anxious about the SS officer he's tracking, he becomes increasingly intrigued by Evie.

Learn more about the book and read my review.

A Name Unknown by Roseanna M. White

Rosemary Gresham has no family beyond the band of former urchins that helped her survive as a girl in the mean streets of London. Grown now, they concentrate on stealing high-value items and have learned how to blend into upper-class society. But when Rosemary must determine whether Peter Holstein, a wealthy gentleman, is loyal to Britain or to Germany, she is in for the challenge of a lifetime. How does one steal a family's history, their very name? When Rosemary sees Peter's gracious reaction to his neighbors' scornful attacks, she wonders if it is too late to help him prove that he's more than his name?


An Hour Unspent by Roseanna M. White

Once London's top thief, Barclay Pearce has turned his back on his life of crime and now uses his skills for a nation at war. But not until he rescues a clockmaker's daughter from a mugging does he begin to wonder what his future might hold.

Evelina Manning has constantly fought for independence, but she certainly never meant for it to inspire her fiancé to end the engagement and enlist in the army. When the intriguing man who saved her returns to the Manning residence to study clockwork repair with her father, she can't help being interested. But she soon learns that nothing with Barclay Pearce is as simple as it seems.

Thursday, November 9, 2023

September & October 2023 Reading Recap, + November 2023 TBR

My September 2023 Reads: 

  1. Yesterday's Tides by Roseanna M. White - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Read my review.

  2. Iris by Susan May Warren - ⭐⭐⭐⭐ - I wish Iris and Hudson's story had been completely in this book instead of part of it being in "Ned." It took awhile for things to come back to me even though I read "Ned" only a few months ago. Overall, a good story that held my attention and had me rooting for the good guys.

  3. The Evangelical Imagination by Karen Swallow Prior - ⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Review to come.

  4. Creed by Susan May Warren - ⭐⭐⭐½  - Read my review.

  5. A Royal Christmas by Melody Carlson - ⭐⭐½ - Read my review.




My October 2023 Reads: 

  1. The Peasant King by Tessa Afshar - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Read my review.

  2. Julia Monroe Begins Again by Rebekah Millet - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Read my review.

  3. The Legacy of Longdale Manor by Carrie Turansky - ⭐⭐⭐ - Read my review.



Expected November 2023 Reads:
  1. He Should Have Told the Bees by Amanda Cox.

  2. The Edge of Belonging by Amanda Cox. - My local book club's selection for November.

  3. Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes. - Currently reading. This is a LONG book!

  4. The Lexicologist's Handbook by Dane Cobain - Currently reading. Similar to a dictionary, but with less words and an aim for fun.

  5. Mom Enough: Inspiring Letters for the Wonderfully Exhausting but Totally Normal Days of Motherhood by Rachel Marie Martin. - Currently reading.

  6. Suing Cinderella by Stephanie Mack.




What will you read this month?

Tuesday, November 7, 2023

Book Review: The Peasant King by Tessa Afshar

About the Book:



Jemmah has always thought of herself as perfectly ordinary . . . until she faces extraordinary circumstances.

When her mother, the Persian king’s famous senior scribe, is kidnapped, Jemmah and her sister must sneak undetected into enemy territory to rescue her. But infiltrating their adversary’s lands proves easier than escaping them. Fleeing through dangerous mountain passes, their survival depends on the skills of a stranger they free from prison: a mysterious prince named Asher.

Asher is not who the world believes he is. Despite his royal blood, he has had to climb his way out of poverty to forge success from nothing. A manufacturer of some of the best weaponry in the East, Asher has only one goal: to destroy his father. But following his escape from prison, Asher is irresistibly drawn to Jemmah, unaware that she guards her own secret.

Jemmah must convince Asher to give up everything he has worked for, all for the sake of a higher purpose he’s not sure he believes in. The fate of the Persian empire—and possibly the Judean people—hang in the balance and in the persuasive power of one ordinary woman.

Bestselling author Tessa Afshar delivers another adventurous novel filled with romance and imagination, reminding readers of what Publishers Weekly calls her “amazing talent for packing action and intrigue into the biblical setting for modern readers.”


Purchase at: Amazon


My Thoughts:

I enjoyed The Peasant King by Tessa Afshar twice, back-to-back, before writing down these thoughts. During the first reading, I eagerly flipped pages to find out what would happen and how things would conclude. The second time around, I read slowly and picked up more of the humor, cleverness, wisdom, and themes. The wonderfully unpredictable plot held my attention both times around.

Tessa Afshar’s novels always contain spiritual truths to encourage the reader, and The Peasant King followed suit. The idea of “ordinary v. extraordinary” shaped Jemmah and emerged as a story theme. As the back cover copy tells us, “Jemmah has always thought of herself as perfectly ordinary . . . until she faces extraordinary circumstances.” When the ordinary is insufficient in the story (and in real life), then the extraordinary (miraculous) is possible if a Believer follows God. It’s a message of hope for those who feel insufficient or ordinary. In the words of Jemmah, a “lowly profession can hide an exalted ability.”

The well-rounded characters in The Peasant King felt like real people (some side characters were historical figures). Jemmah’s normalcy (sense of being ordinary) and journey to healing (from childhood trauma) made her relatable and provided room for growth. She was my favorite character in The Peasant King, but I loved seeing an older Karen from The Hidden Prince and wished for Zarina to get her own story.

Reading The Peasant King by Tessa Afshar made me want to reread Karen and Jared’s story in The Hidden Prince. Though the novels have strong connections, both read well as stand-alones. I thoroughly enjoyed The Peasant King and I recommend this book to Christian fiction readers who enjoy adventurous stories with dynamic characters, strong spiritual messages, and beautiful writing. Five stars!

 



Disclosure of Material Connection: I was provided a copy of this book by the author or publisher. All opinions in this review are my own.