The Right Kind of Fool - Sarah Loudin Thomas

 

From christianbook.com : 

One hot summer day, 13-year-old deaf Loyal swims in the creek---and discovers a dead body. He rushes to tell his absentee father, Creed, who abandoned the family because he didn't want to deal with his disabled son's hearing loss. When Creed is drawn into a murder investigation, will he solve the killing---and reclaim his family's hearts?

Watching this family draw back together through the solving of a murder case was sweet and compelling.  Both Creed and Delphy had to admit to themselves and each other that they had failed the family, and they learned to allow Loyal to grow up, even through their fears for him.  Loyal is deaf from a childhood illness, and it was a unique view into what it must be like to live with that.  Finding ways to relate to those around him and teaching them communication beyond words was a great reminder that there are always was to connect to those you  might not initially understand.

I give this book 4 stars.  Sarah Loudin Thomas's novels are always a little slower paced, but that really gives the reader the chance to lean into the characters and the setting.

You can find The Right Kind of Fool HERE.
You can find the author  HERE.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for my honest review.

Tapestry of Secrets - Sarah Loudin Thomas

A Tapestry of Secrets is both the conclusion and the prequel to the Appalachian Blessings series.  Blending together Perla's story in the present, and her look back into the past, as she attempts to convey her life's story and lessons to her daughter and granddaughter, this book fills in the questions raised by Perla's mysterious appearance in Wise, West Virginia, so many years ago.  Who is Sadie's father? What makes a family?  How do we convey the lessons we've learned to the people we love, while allowing them to learn their own lessons?

Ella has come home for several reasons, to escape her former fiancee, and to assist her grandmother as she recovers from a stroke.  As she spends more time at home, she is forced to examine why she's there, and what she wants her life to be.  There's a section in the book where she "thought about how Jesus told His followers again and again that He would be back.  But they didn't understand.  [She] sympathized with them.  She might have a knack for understanding people, yet she knew how easy it was to miss hearing God's voice when blinded by the world."  Therein lies the truth and depth of this novel; Ella has to be able to search for God by herself, without allowing all of her fears and reservations and ties to this world to deafen her to His voice.

I read that this novel was actually written first, but took the author years and a complete rewrite to publish.  While it stands alone as a well-written book, it doesn't have the flavor of the other two to wrap it into the series; there are no carryover characters, apart from family, and it doesn't touch as much on the supernatural gifts that the other novels center on.  There is an allusion or two to Perla's gift with food, but it is easily overlooked.  Several times, Ella's "knack" for understanding her grandmother without words is key to their communication, yet it's never the focus.  It almost feels that this book could be read first or last, as its timeline fits in both places, and there's a slightly disjointed feel with its focus.

I still really enjoyed this book, and I give it 4 stars.  I am looking forward to the author's next release that she's already previewing on her website.

You can find A Tapestry of Secrets HERE.
You can find the author's website HERE.

I received a copy of this e-book, via NetGalley, from the publisher, in exchange for my honest review.

Until the Harvest - Sarah Loudin Thomas

Until the Harvest is the second book in the Appalachian Blessings series.  Perla and Casewell Phillips' son, Henry, has been attending college but returns home to help with the family after tragedy strikes.  While he's home, he seems to lose his way and finds himself becoming someone his family wouldn't recognize.  As he struggles with how to balance who he was, who he's becoming, and who he wants to be, he finds himself drawn to Margaret and her sister Mayfair, as they take root on his grandmother's farm and in his family's lives.

I really enjoyed the first book in this series, Miracle in a Dry Season, and I was excited to reconnect with the town and its characters.  This book focused in more tightly on its main characters, and I didn't feel as if I was connecting with the town as a whole as much.  The time jump from Casewell and Perla's wedding to their having a college-aged son also took some adjusting to.  However, once I was able to connect to the characters and feel Henry's loss and Margaret's despair, the side characters began to shine more clearly.  Once again, using characters that many would consider unreachable, or unworthy to bring change, the author weaves in stories of forgiveness, second chances, and how love can change even the toughest of hearts.  It was also a delight to see Angie and Frank happy in their long-awaited marriage!  And, as a reader, it was satisfying to see Perla's story come full-circle and serve to help others with the lessons she'd learned.  She even says "We're all bad girls. Just some of us are forgiven."

I give this book 3 stars; I still enjoyed following this story, but the characters in the first book were a little more dynamic and kept me more invested in their lives.

The publisher is doing a giveaway right now that sounds amazing! You can enter HERE.
You can find Until the Harvest HERE.
You can find the author's website HERE.

I received a copy of this book from Bethany House, in exchange for my honest review.