The Return of the Prodigal...

'Where My Heart Belongs' by Tracie Peterson.

I really enjoy novels written by this author - Tracie Peterson. She is a bestselling author who writes in both historical and comtempory genres. She lives in Montana with her family.

In this novel, the sudden re-appearance of a long lost daughter/sister after 12 years, sends the Halbert family into a frenzy of mixed emotions. If you are familiar with your Bible stories, you will recognise its correlations to the parable of the prodigal son.

If you are not apprised with this Biblical message, a quick outline would reveal a son who takes his inheritance from his father and leaves for a 'better' life on his own terms, leaving the other son to run the farm with the father. After he squanders all his money on frivolous living, loses all his belongings and ends up living with pigs, he decides to make his way back home with his head hung in disgrace. The father, who has waited for his son's return since the day he left, sees him coming in the far distance and runs to meet him, his arms open wide. The brother is not so welcoming.

In 'Where My Heart Belongs', we see this similar story unfold only it's two sisters and one very happy father on the return of the 'prodigal' daughter. Like the Bible story (only in more detail), you will be exposed to many emotions and issues to deal with...bitterness, resentment, hurt, longing, jealousy, anger. But the biggest, most amazing theme is the issue of FORGIVENESS.

The story of the prodigal is a sure demonstration of the need for and power of forgiveness. Just like the father opens his arms to receive his son/daughter back, so God opens His arms to His children and accepts them NO MATTER WHAT! Only when forgiveness is given and received, can true healing take place. After this happens, burdens are lifted, relationships restored and life regains its purpose and meaning.

Join Kathy and Sunny as they make this intricate journey through turmoil and restoration with many twists and turns along the way!

Grab a copy and enjoy. 8/10

Mastering the Art of French Cooking...

I finished this book a few days ago. As you may see and probably already know is that it is now also a movie. Have you seen it? Or have you read this book? Or both? Well I purchased this book to read after I'd seen the movie because I was intrigued and wanted to see how accurate the movie really was. And it was actually pretty well in line with the book. But I'll compare these abit later - I'll start with commenting on the book.

The author - Julie Powell. I find her quite a rough character but in an endearing kind of way. She can be quite crude at times but at the same time funny. I found myself giggling at her antics or the way she described some things. It was very amusing. I also found myself asking - 'Is life in America really like that? Eating dinner/tea at 10 or 11 at night? That would never happen here, well not in my circle of family and friends anyway. Maybe in the cities? Maybe a Sydney or Melbourne lifestyle is like this but I'm a country girl through and through and, although I have had tea late before, it has rarely or never been that late. I can't imagine sitting down at 11pm and choof down a great serving of Boeuf Bourguignon swiftly followed by Bavarois á l'Orange for dessert and then whisk yourself off to bed. I seriously don't know how they do it - or how Julie and Eric did it! I often see the movies where the characters book a dinner date for 9pm. I just thought it was a 'movie' thing but no, apparently it really happens - as I have discovered in this book.

What I like about this book is that it is not censored. Julie is just Julie. No fluffy 'can't write that in a book' stuff. It just says what she thought, what she said, how she felt, what she did and how she did it. No frills. Just Julie, in the raw! There was alot of things you could identify with and situations that Julie went through that you could see yourself in aswell. I liked that.

And now for the movie...

If you saw this movie first and then read the book, I will warn you that you may be a tad surprised at the 'real' Julie as opposed to the 'acted' Julie. I feel that the 'movie Julie' was slightly too gentle and 'together' than the 'real' Julie you meet in her book. Don't get me wrong, Amy Adams is a great actor and I do like what she did in the role of Julie but in comparison to the book, I found she was the 'cute' version of Julie. No offense to the real Julie Powell because I think she is great and I really admire what she did - Mastering the Art of French Cooking in 365 days - sounds like fun! Watching the movie and reading her book has got me into the world of blogging! And I'm loving it!

But in the end, this is my opinion. Why don't you see what you think? Read the book and watch the movie. Or maybe you would rather only do one or the other. I admire those people who can do that. I am too curious. I need to see if the movie or the book was better and then choose which one I liked best and stick to that! Let me know what you do and what you thought about either or both. 7.5/10

Happy Reading (or watching)
Anna

My First Review...

I bought this book at the local bookshop in town when my husband, daughter and I first moved to Western Australia back in March. After reading the blurb and author details, I found that it was by a Western Australian author who happens to live not too far from where we are!

I really enjoyed this book. This story gets you in right from the beginning. In a rugged, outback setting, we are taken to a large cattle/sheep station run by a young widow. The plot is predominantly based around the issue of cattle stealing with a nice dollop of romance and the themes of loyalty and trust mixed in as well. As the story unfolds and you begin to imagine going through the situations Gemma finds herself in, you too start to question people's loyalty and wonder who you can trust and who you can't.

I found it even more intriguing and interesting because I now live on a large farm property and I can relate to the isolation of living and working on the land in these parts and the issues faced by those in these communities! My favourite part was the feeling I got at the end. I didn't realise that I was holding my breath in suspense, hoping that the people I thought and wanted to be the good guys or girls, actually were. Turns out, I was only wrong about one or two characters and all the rest I was spot on so I felt good and relieved to have it all sorted out. All in all, a great read. 8.5/10