Beauty on the Backroads

Stories of grace for life's unexpected turns

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The power of words to heal: Review of Things Left Unsaid by Courtney Walsh

She’s done it again. Courtney Walsh has set a deeply moving story in the tourist town of Sweethaven and not only did I love this story but now I want to go back and re-read the other Sweethaven stories she’s written! (To read about her other Sweethaven novels, you can check out my reviews here, here and here.)

Things Left Unsaid brings us a new set of characters and a story that is full of tension, and Courtney delivers the story with grace and excellence. I could feel the weight of what the characters carried.

In Things Left Unsaid, nearly every character is living with a burden that could be lifted or lightened by speaking words aloud. Some have been holding their feelings and the truth inside for a decade. A wedding and a celebration of life for a tragedy that happened 10 years ago brings all the characters together again in Sweethaven, and since so many of the burdens are related to the night their friend and daughter died, the words they won’t say hover over them like a cloud.

Throughout the story, the burdens and secrets are hinted at, and I kind of enjoyed being in the dark about the specifics until the very end.

While the story started out a little bit slow for me, mostly because I was reorienting myself to Sweethaven, by about one-third of the way through, I couldn’t put it down. I think that’s about the time all the characters came together in Sweethaven. The tension built and I kept turning the pages to find out what would happen.

Things Left Unsaid is such a powerful reminder of the importance of saying things out loud when we’re carrying burdens and secrets and how much freedom we can find when that happens.

Disclosure: I read an advanced copy of the book. Review reflects my honest opinion.

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.