logo
Wrong email address or username
Wrong email address or username
Incorrect verification code
back to top
Search tags: Thomas-Kinkade
Load new posts () and activity
Like Reblog Comment
review 2015-12-09 02:47
Review | The Christmas Angel (Cape Light #6) by Thomas Kinkade & Katherine Spencer
The Christmas Angel - Thomas Kinkade,Katherine Spencer

As the spirit of the season spreads through the seaside hamlet of Cape Light, town mayor Emily receives an unexpected and precious Christmas gift: a baby girl tucked away in a decorative cradle set up outside the church, with a note begging whoever discovers the child to take care of her. Now, in the midst of the year's most joyous season, Emily must come to terms with her duty to her family, her own feelings of regret and loss-and what her heart truly desires.

Amazon.com

 

 

 

 

 

Emily, mayor of Cape Light, is out for her morning run one day during the holiday season when she discovers a newborn baby left abandoned in the baby Jesus' cradle of the church nativity scene. Outside. In the snow. Naturally, her immediate instinct is to get the baby someplace safe and warm, but the more time she spends with the child, the more it brings up painful memories she thought she had made peace with. Is the appearance of this child an opportunity to make past mistakes right?

 

There are also the addition stories of Pastor Ben and Sara, Emily's grown daughter. Pastor Ben has served the town of Cape Light for many years, but has recently started to question whether he still has purpose in the lives of his congregation. He suddenly finds himself feeling stifled and unsatisfied with his position. Then with the mysterious appearance of the abandoned baby, and Emily's growing attachment to the child, Sara finds herself in a tough place, emotionally. Not only is she struggling with unexpected feelings of jealousy while seeing her mother embrace a newborn, but she also has to deal with her boyfriend's ex coming back into town right when Sara and her boyfriend are having a hiccup in their relationship. Christina Cross (the ex whose presence brings the stink eye out of Sara), the more she was described, really started to remind me of Charlize Theron's character in Young Adult (a story about a writer whose career starts to go stagnant, so she decides to go back to her hometown and pursue her HS boyfriend, who is very much married).

 

We also see Lillian again, the mother of Emily and Jessica (from Cape Light #5). At first she seems to throw out the same hateful behavior as before but here and there you see flashes of a good soul buried under a lot of pain and bitterness, so I'll be curious to see how much of her story is revealed as these books continue. 

 

I thought the writing here was much improved from Book 5 and I found myself much more invested in the story. All the characters are struggling with inner questions / struggles regarding whether or not they are living with enough purpose, if they are making enough of a difference in their little corner of the world -- a theme that I think will resonate with a great many readers. I'm really enjoying the feel of revisting this village with recurring characters. I'm finding these books a nice, happy reading hug to slip into during these recent times of stress, sickness, and sadness. I'm looking forward to seeing how all these characters grow. :-)

Like Reblog Comment
review 2015-12-03 23:31
Review | A Christmas Promise (Cape Light #5)
A Christmas Promise (Cape Light, Book 5) - Katherine Spencer,Thomas Kinkade

James Cameron, a minister who runs a mission in Central America, has decided to spend the holidays in Cape Light. But when his car collides with another car, a hint of trouble befalls this close-knit community. No one is hurt, but out-of-towner Leigh Baxter is forced to stay in town until her car is fixed. What she doesn’t expect, however, is that the charm of this beautiful seaside hamlet and its citizens will soon win her over—and that she will fall in love with James, who has so generously welcomed her into his life. But will James accept Leigh in his heart once her dark secrets come to light? In the meantime, Jessica and Sam Morgan’s relationship is put to the test. More than anything else this Christmas, they want a baby to call their own. But soon they’ll discover that life’s most precious gifts often come in unexpected packages...

Amazon.com

 

 

 

 

Yes, this is #5 in the Cape Light series, but it is the first of the Christmas stories. It's also the first of the Cape Light books that I've read. While there are some little things here and there that seem to reference earlier books, I had no trouble enjoying this one as a standalone story, and assume the rest of the books in the series will read the same way. 

 

This one's a pretty simple Christmas romance. Two out-of-towners are heading to Cape Light (in separate cars) for different reasons, lost in their own thoughts, when they collided on a snowy road. One car holds a former Cape Light resident, Pastor James Cameron, returning to town after a long stint establishing a mission in a Central American village. Due to serious health concerns, he's taking a leave from heading the mission, coming back to Cape Light not only to try to heal himself but also serve as an associate pastor in the old hometown church. On his way into town he strikes the car of Leigh Baxter, a pregnant woman attempting to escape from an increasingly unsafe domestic situation. 

 

Living in this town, miracles don't seem as impossible as they once did. 

 

 

There's also a parallel story around Jessica & Sam, a couple (judging by details in their story) I'm guessing is featured in at least one of the earlier novels. But as I said, you can easily start with the Christmas novels and not be lost. Here, we learn that Jessica and Sam are really wanting a child but are struggling with getting a successful conception (this fertility issue is one of the things that I'm guessing is an ongoing topic from previous novels). Jessica is the sister of the town's mayor. I struggled with liking Jessica in the beginning because her jealousy does get a little much when Sam starts showing a fair amount of attention to one of the at-risk kids at the youth center, developing a sort of big brother relationship with him. Jessica thinks it's cute at first but over time starts sliding into "guess you're not that interested in one of our own" themed rants. Then she'll fall into these pity party moments, saying things like "Why do I always feel selfish and mean-spirited?" Because you're being selfish and mean-spirited! Poor Sam. He seems to have a good heart though and luckily just shrugs off her moodiness until she comes around and sees she's been laying the guilt on a little thick. 

 

But really it was Leigh who really drove me batty. Her swoony-ness over James got a little sickly sweet after awhile. Even after only knowing James a few days, it seemed like she would get those cartoon heart eyes over anything remotely nice he did for anyone. I let out a little "ugh" after reading her comment about how she was always impressed with him -- that alone, she's known him a hot minute but she's always been impressed -- but then goes on to say oh, but now that he's daring to work with the impoverished. Well, I would hope if he had any respect for himself as a pastor he could humble himself to work with the poor. But that's the kind of stuff I'm talking about, wanting to give the guy a blue ribbon just for being a decent human being. I kept wanting to say calm down woman, yeah it's nice but how high are we going to build this pedestal?! I would think even a guy in that situation would tire of that much flattery pretty quickly. But this is a Christmas romance so of course James drinks it up like a thirsty camel.

 

My irritation with the Leigh / James relationship is just one aspect of what I struggled with with this novel. Though Kinkade is no longer living, it's my guess that Katherine Spencer who was the primary writer of these books and certain elements of her writing style didn't sit perfectly with me. While the writing is solid and has an easy flow to it, it wasn't overly poetic and at times seemed to lack a little subtlety. The biggest thing that irked me was how so often a character would do or say something and then it it would be immediately followed by some sort of Captain Obvious statement explaining what just happened or what the character meant by what they said. Kind of like if you were trying to watch a movie and you had a friend right next to you unnecessarily explaining every scene.

 

That being said, I'm not trying to say I didn't get anything out of this story. I think it's still a comfy cozy Christmas read with lots of charm to the Cape Light community. I especially liked the character Vera and the descriptions of her cozy Victorian home where James and Leigh rent rooms immediately after their accident. Vera just seemed like the warm grandma type you'd want to vent to over a plate of homemade cookies :-) 

 

Note: I've already finished the next book in this Christmas series and can say that the writing does get better, the issues I describe here do diminish quite a bit and I am still very much enjoying the series. The write up to that one coming very soon! 

 

 

Like Reblog Comment
show activity (+)
review 2014-02-24 23:48
Magickal IreLand
Dark Witch - Nora Roberts

Cross-posted on Soapboxing

 

When I read romance, I tend to gravitate to the paranormal ends of things - steampunkery, werewolves, (less so) vampires, superpowers, alt-histories. Some of this is just basic reading proclivities. I'd rather read science fiction or fantasy in general, so it makes sense I'd go for that edge of a genre. The other thing, for me, is that paranormal romance often allows the writer to slip her bonds and do a bunch of crazy ass shit. Once a writer can start messing with the rules of physics or magic(k) or whatever, she has the opportunity to pull some compelling gedankenexperiments, but you know, about sex and the interpersonal, not about whatever SFnal idea. A lot of these thought experiments can seriously, seriously piss me off, but they tend to produce a lot of friction, a mainline down into the hind brain. When writers can rearrange the rules of the world, or your body, or the history of it all, what they reconstruct and reconfigure can be really telling. 

Read more
Like Reblog Comment
review 2013-02-16 00:00
On Christmas Eve
On Christmas Eve - Thomas Kinkade,Katherine Spencer On Christmas Eve by Thomas Kinkaid and Katherine Spencer
Caterer Betty Bowman has been too busy to worry about her life til she meets a Santa while on a job. Betty had joined Molly's catering company when Molly had a new baby.
Lucy is a nurse and after hours she helps in her husbands Charlie cafe, When a girl who's very sick with a cold is the last customer she talks Charlie into allowing Zoey Jones to come home with them.
Cape Light is not what it seems. Reminds me of a unique postcard life, so magical.
Love catching up with the others in town and how they all come together for everybody..
Berry was rescued with the tray spilling by Nathan, and then all night she wasn't able to see him in the crowd. He was the Santa! He also helps her with a car that won't start and follows her home on his way to the square tree lighting.
Like Reblog Comment
review 2013-02-01 00:00
A Wish for Christmas
A Wish for Christmas - Thomas Kinkade,Katherine Spencer A Wish for Christmas, A cape Light Novel by Thomas Kinkaid and Katherine Spencer
Lilian is recovering from her fall and her granddaughter and husband are going to move as they need time being newlyweds. The other daughters are local and usually drop whatever they are doing to come to her rescue. When they arrive it's to find that she's just lonely. She has a new love interest.
David is home from the war, injured and his nerves don't feel a thing, yet. His father has remarried to Julie and her daughter. Family runs the tree farm and he gets annoyed with the bell ringing..
Grace was cleaning out Digger, her father's attic and found about $30,000 and they decide to give it to less fortunate people who are local. She have a new refrigerator delivered to one who posted on the church bulletin board that hers was no longer working.
Rev. Ben is always a help to all.
Lillian and her friend have a medical emergency, David has a decision to make about more surgery and what to do with his personal life..
and Grace is having a blast with the gifts for others...
Love this series!
More posts
Your Dashboard view:
Need help?