Fading Starlight by Kathryn Cushman Blog Tour

Fading Starlight by Kathryn Cushman
My rating: 2.5 of 5 stars

About Fading Starlight

Paperback: 304 pages

Publisher: Bethany House Publishers (May 3, 2016)

Lauren Summers is hiding. Her fashion house internship should have launched her career, but a red carpet accident has left her blackballed. The only job she finds is unpaid, but comes with free lodging–a run-down cottage in the shadow of a cliff-side mansion. Unsure of what comes next, she’s surprised to be contacted by a reporter researching a reclusive former Hollywood ingénue who lives in the nearby mansion.
Kendall Joiner wants Lauren’s help uncovering the old woman’s secrets. In return, she’ll prove the red carpet accident was a publicity stunt so Lauren can regain her former job. With all her dreams in front of her, Lauren’s tempted by the offer, but as she and the old woman get to know each other, Lauren realizes nothing is quite as it seems.

“An inspiring plot that brims with Old Hollywood suspense, vintage fashion and modern frustrations.”—RT Book Reviews

REVIEW

First, I want to say that I'm not a big reader of Christan Fiction, it's just a genre that has never really interested me that much. However, I do love Lisa Wingate's Caroline series and I would love to read more books like that. So, I was a bit cautious when I saw that this book was Christan Fiction, and that has nothing to do with Christianity, I'm a Christian myself. I just can't stand reading books that are saccharine and preachy, no matter if it's Christian fiction or just any other kind of book.

So, now that I have gotten that said will I try to explain why this book worked for me on some levels and the things that I had problems with. I did like the book, in a way. I liked that it was easy to read and with a not too complicated story. However, that's also the problem with the book. I felt that the story and the characters lacked depth. It had potentials, but it didn't fulfil it. I found the story about the reclusive Hollywood starlet interesting, but I felt that it could have been given more room, being explored and explained more than it did. I wanted to know more about Charlotte Montgomery and her past. Perhaps some twist to the story. Something that would make the characters come to life.

Then we have the scandal that brought Lauren Summers to Santa Barbara. I don't know if it's just me having a problem with how a wardrobe accident could have her blackballed. I mean just look at the dresses the starlets have nowadays on the red carpet. Here, we have a young woman that is fighting with her parents about having a sexier image and then suddenly she is showing a little much for her parents taste. SCANDAL! This is not nipplegate we are dealing with, some undergarments are showing...

Alright, the complaining is over. I did enjoy reading the book, there were as I stated some things that bothered me, but I found myself enjoying part of the story, sure it was easy to spot the good and the bad girls in this book, but for the moment was it precisely what I needed to read. My favourite parts in the books are everything that has to do with Charlotte Montgomery, she was the one character I came to like the most. I could understand what she had gone through and I loved that she started to see that there are good people in the world.

Thanks to Bethany House for providing me with a free copy for an honest review!

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Purchase Links

Amazon | Books-A-Million | Barnes & Noble

About Kathryn Cushman

Kathryn Cushman is a graduate of Samford University with a degree in pharmacy. She is the acclaimed author of over a half-dozen novels, including  Leaving Yesterday andA Promise to Remember, which were both finalists for the Carol Award in Women’s Fiction. Kathryn and her family make their home in Santa Barbara, California.

Connect with Kathryn

Website | Facebook

Kathryn Cushman’s TLC Book Tours TOUR STOPS:

Monday, April 25th: Joyfully Retired

Friday, April 29th: A Chick Who Reads

Monday, May 2nd: Book Reviews & More by Kathy

Wednesday, May 4th: Books a la Mode – author guest post

Thursday, May 5th: View from the Birdhouse – spotlight

Monday, May 9th: Why Girls are Weird

Tuesday, May 10th: Luxury Reading

Thursday, May 12th: FictionZeal

Friday, May 13th: Kritter’s Ramblings

Monday, May 16th: Broken Teepee

Tuesday, May 17th: Reviews from the Heart

Wednesday, May 18th: A Bookaholic Swede

Thursday, May 19th: Just Commonly

Monday, May 23rd: Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers

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The Story Keeper by Lisa Wingate

The Story Keeper by Lisa Wingate
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Jen Gibbs has recently got a job at Vida House Publishing and everyone knows that the slush-pile in the conference room is strictly forbidden to touch. So Jen is quite surprised when she finds a manuscript on her desk from it one morning. She has no idea who put it there and, at first, all she can think of is putting it back. That is until she starts to read it and get engrossed in the story about Sarra, a young woman in the Appalachia at the turn of the twentieth century, and Rand a young man that tries to save her from some brutal men. Now she just has to find the rest of the manuscript, but that means traveling to the Blue Ridge Mountains to chase a reclusive author. And, that also means that she is going home for the first time in ten years...

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The story keeper is book two in the Carolina series and as I already have read book three gave this book some insights to events and mentions in The Sea keeper's Daughters. Part of me wish that I had read the books in order because that would have made me appreciate part of The Sea keeper's Daughters much more, but I can always reread The Sea keeper's Daughters sometime in the future.

Do you need to read the books in order? No, but there are some threads that go through the books that make the reading experience perhaps more enjoyable if you read the books in order. But, I started with book 3, The Sea keeper's Daughters, and despite the fact that I hadn't read the previous books in the series did I enjoy that books very much. Actually, I came to love the book very much.

This book is good but in my opinion not quite as good as the previous book The Prayer Box or the book that comes after; The Sea keeper's Daughters. For instance, I had a much harder time really warming up the past story that is told in this book parallel to the present story. I for some reason just couldn't bond with Sarra and Rand. I much preferred to read about the present story with Jen trying to meet the author and at the same time confronting her own past when she goes home to meet her sisters and father. There were times I had to put the book down because I got so frustrated with her over religious family where the man's rule is the law. If there is something that makes me angry is men using religion to subdue women.

But despite that, I didn't find the past story as enchanting as Jen did has Lisa Wingate manages once again to write a truly wonderful book and the ending almost made me cry.

A.D. 30 by Ted Dekker

A.D. 30 by Ted Dekker
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

A sweeping epic set in the harsh deserts of Arabia and ancient Palestine
A war that rages between kingdoms on the earth and in the heart.

The harrowing journey of the woman at the center of it all.

Step back in time to the year of our Lord...A.D. 30.

The outcast daughter of one of the most powerful Bedouin sheikhs in Arabia, Maviah is called on to protect the very people who rejected her. When their enemies launch a sudden attack with devastating consequences, Maviah escapes with the help of two of her father's warriors--Saba who speaks more with is sword than his voice and Judah, a Jew who comes from a tribe that can read the stars. Their journey will be fraught with terrible danger. If they can survive the vast forbidding sands of a desert that is deadly to most, they will reach a brutal world subjugated by kings and emperors. There Maviah must secure an unlikely alliance with King Herod of the Jews.

But Maviah's path leads her unexpectedly to another man. An enigmatic teacher who speaks of a way in this life which offers greater power than any kingdom. His name is Yeshua, and his words turn everything known on its head. Though following him may present even greater danger, his may be the only way for Maviah to save her people--and herself.

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I was intrigued about reading a fiction about a woman that lived at the same time as Jesus did. But I just couldn't really find myself enjoying the story. It started off good, but then it suddenly turned into a historical romance and then I lost some interest in the book. But I did enjoy part of it. But I think I wasn’t really in the mood for a historical fiction/Christian fiction with a dash of romance in it when I read the book and that made the book a bit hard to read. Also, I read the book at a time in my life when I had read a lot of theology book since I was studying it, and I think that affected my mood. And, my main subject of reading material during the year when I read this book had been the years before and after Jesus was born. And, that probably made me a bit over critical at the time.

But, if you enjoy historical fiction/Christian fiction then you will probably enjoy this book. It’s well written, more dramatic than I expected and not as cheesy as I was afraid the book would be.

I want to thank the publisher for providing me with a free copy through NetGalley for an honest review!