Beauty on the Backroads

Stories of grace for life's unexpected turns

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Don’t let the genre keep you away: Review of The Edge of Over There by Shawn Smucker

Some of my favorite books these days are in the YA or middle grade categories, so let me be clear from the start of this review: you don’t have to be a young adult to read this book. And you don’t have to be any certain age to enjoy it.

Shawn Smucker’s The Edge of Over There is the long-awaited sequel to The Day the Angels Fell. It’s hard to talk about one book without talking about the other, and without revealing any spoilers, but I’ll try. (The cover is SO pretty. I love a good book cover!)

This is YA fiction with spiritual themes at its best. Page after page, I couldn’t stop reading. Smucker’s stunning writing drew me right into Abra’s adventure to find the next Tree of Life and the story was over before I knew it. This follow-up is even better than the first book in the series. (Your really need to read them both, so pause in your reading and go order TWO books for your summer reading!)

Smucker explores themes of good-and-evil, life-and-death, and what happens after we die. And it’s definitely an exploration, a creative and hopeful imagining of what’s to come rather than a firm declaration. I can’t say enough about this book! (I read an advance digital copy provided by the publisher. Review reflects my honest opinion.)

Here are a couple of my favorite lines that illustrate why I think it’s for young or older adults.

“Can those of us facing the winter of our lives somehow gather the courage to believe spring will come again?”

And:

“Maybe children are the only ones brave and true enough to save the world.”

Anne Bogel, of Modern Mrs. Darcy and What Should I Read Next, has described Smucker’s writing as “Neil Gaiman meets Madeleine L’Engle,” so if you like what those authors have to offer, I’m going to strongly encourage you to check out this series.

Buy it for your kids if you must, but make sure you sneak a read for yourself when they’re finished.

 

Learning from history with a sigh-worthy love story: Review of Together Forever by Jody Hedlund

Two things I know when I pick up a Jody Hedlund novel: I’m going to learn something about a real person or event from the past, and I’m going to read a sigh-worthy love story. Together Forever, the second in a series, taught me more about the orphan trains of the mid-1800s and the developing relationship between Marianne Neumann and Andrew Brady was what I’ve come to expect from Hedlund: charm, chemistry, conflict and curiosity (of the kind that keeps the pages turning so I find out how the whole thing will end!)

Part of my interest in this series is that the orphan trains head from New York City to Illinois, my home state, and I’m always interested in learning more about the real-life events that inspired these stories. That’s one of the strengths of Hedlund’s writing–a page-turning story based in history with evidence of extensive research wrapped in a romantic storyline. It’s a little bit of everything I love in a good book, consistently, which is why she is one of my go-to authors. (If you’ve regularly read my book reviews, you’ll know this is true. You can find my reviews for other books by Jody Hedlund here.)

I’d recommend reading book one first, although it isn’t strictly necessary for following along with this book, but it does provide some continuity.

I received a copy of the book from the publisher. Review reflects my honest opinion.