Books I’m Grateful for

The following books are books that I read at the right time in my life when I needed them most. One, however, was read at the right but not by me, but by my sister when she needed it most. Books have a habit of getting through to us when nothing else seems. Books tend to come into our lives at the right moment.

A Moonbow Night by Laura Frantz tops this list even though there’s no order. It’s bittersweet why this book is on this list.  As it is the first Laura Frantz book that I had to read without my mom. My mom was the one who actually discovered Laura’s books. We were in a bookstore in 2009 looking in different areas of the store I was in the young adult section when my mom rushes over to me with The Frontierman’s Daughter she hadn’t even read the back blurb but she had two copies in her hand saying this is giving me Kentucky Frontier feels and a Daniel Boone vibe. And we had to read it together.  So we left the store that day with two copies. And once we started reading it we discovered it was set on the Kentucky Frontier at fictional Fort Click.  So from then on, we looked forward to Laura’s next book.

After losing my mom in 2016 the waiting for the next book in January 2017 was bittersweet. As this one was not only the first book without her it was also Laura’s first January and winter release after having fall releases for her previous books.  I didn’t know how I was going to handle this book set again back in Kentucky in which Kentucky’s historic Cumberland Falls and Moonbow played a part in the story as the Kentucky settings were my mom’s favorite.  But once I read that first line, “What cannot be cured must be endured.” A Moonbow Night by Laura Frantz. This opening line summed up how I felt in the eight months since losing my mom. You can’t cure the broken heart that comes from losing your mom instead you have to learn to endure it. It’s still one of the few opening lines of a book that I have memorized.

  Nobody write’s Biblical fiction like Tessa Afshar. She is my go-to Biblical fiction author and my favorite. But that’s not the reason Land of Silence is on this list. It’s literally the first book I picked up to read after losing my mom. And let’s just say I was thankful for the reminded after losing my mom and feeling like I wasn’t a daughter anymore I was reminded that even though my mom was gone I was still her daughter and more importantly I was also a daughter of the King of kings and Lord of lords and I would indeed see my precious mom again.

Though I read this one and got something from the reason I’m grateful for it because it was a book that was perfect for my sister when she read it at the right moment and it helped her process our mom’s death. This book handled the emotions in a manner that teens and young adults can relate too.

Roseanna M White is fast becoming one of my favorite authors and I enjoy the historical detail in her books.  But that’s not the reason this book is on the list, that reason is because the heroine in The Number of Love Margot De Wilde goes through something similar to an event that I went through in chapter seven. And Roseanna wrote that scene even though it was a hard and emotional scene beautifully and with grace.  Margot was the first fictional character I’ve read that has gone through that same tragedy that I did who had the same reaction that I did.

  This one is my favorite book by Kara not only because of the great story but because  Katriona McLeod that heroine suffers for the same medical condition that I do. All Made up is the first book that I’ve read in which a character had this condition and it was openly talked about.

   Romanov is the book that 10-year-old me wanted after watching the animated Anastasia as a child. Even though I now know the true story of what really happened to the Romanovs is still something that I believe most people wish had ended differently.  And this book gives a look at what might have happened with a dash of magic.

 I finally read The Blue Castle my mom’s favorite L.M. Montgomery book last year and while I wish I hadn’t waited so long to read this and wishing I had read it when she was still alive to talk to her about it. I realize now that I read it at the right moment. I was the right age to better understand the heroine Valancy and being just a few years older than her it makes it easy to relate to her.  Montgomery is most known for her Anne of Green Gables series and in that series we watch Anne grow up so in a sense they are books for teens and young women. The Blue Castle is very much a book for adults.  Timing is everything.

 This was the first non-children’s that I read with my mom and it’s the book that got me into reading classics. It’s still in my top five classic books.

   This children’s classic I read multiple times with my grandpa so much that my copy is currently held together with book tape.  I am enjoying rereading it this month as part of the read-along that Amber at Seasons of Humility is hosting.