A Long Time Comin' by Robin W. Pearson

Title: A Long Time Comin'

Author: Robin W. Pearson

Narrator: Robin Eller

Pages: 432

Audiobook: 11 hours 43 minutes (Oasis Audio)

Year: 2020

Genre: Woman’s Fiction

Publisher: Tyndale House

Format: Audiobook (also available in eBook, paperback, and hardcover) 

About the book:

     To hear Beatrice Agnew tell it, she entered the world with her mouth tightly shut. Just because she finds out she’s dying doesn’t mean she can’t keep it that way. If any of her children have questions about their daddy and the choices she made after he abandoned them, they’d best take it up with Jesus. There’s no room in Granny B’s house for regrets or hand-holding. Or so she thinks.

     Her granddaughter, Evelyn Lester, shows up on Beatrice’s doorstep anyway, burdened with her own secret baggage. Determined to help her Granny B mend fences with her far-flung brood, Evelyn turns her grandmother’s heart and home inside out. Evelyn’s meddling uncovers a tucked-away box of old letters, forcing the two women to wrestle with their past and present pain as they confront the truth Beatrice has worked a lifetime to hide.

My review:

     This is an incredibly thought-provoking woman’s fiction book!

     I was caught up in this story from the very beginning. The characters are so well written that I could see them and their mannerisms right before my eyes. 

     The author has done an amazing job of writing the dialogue and spelling the words the way people in the south would pronounce them many times. In fact her spelling slowed my reading down immensely. After a few days I got frustrated that I wasn’t making more progress in the story and switched to the audio book.

     The narrator did a marvelous job! I started by following along in the print book and that’s when I really understood the accuracy of the spelling. Her accents for the different characters made me able to picture these people as they interacted with each other.

     The story had me thinking long and hard about how families interact with each other and how choices made by each person affects the whole family. It amazed me to recognize the long reach that there is when one person keeps a deep secret. The author did a wonderful job of bringing this truth out for the readers to see it.

     I’m giving this wonderful story a rating of 5 stars. I highly recommend it.

The Mending of Lillian Cathleen by Linda Brooks Davis + A GIVEAWAY

About the Book

Book Title: The Mending of Lillian Cathleen  

Author: Linda Brooks Davis  

Genre: Historical  

Release date: October, 2018

It’s 1914. American women are demanding the vote. And the first flames of the Great War are igniting Europe. But a battle of a different sort rages in Oklahoma. 

The thermometer registers one hundred six degrees, an out-of-the-ordinary occurrence even for the twenty-eighth day of July. But this is no ordinary day. 

The jury has reached a verdict. 

Lily fidgets in the old church pew. Her name has clotted into a by-word. Her blood is tainted. Can she right the wrongs? Or will her past forever define her? 

She eyes the judge. And the courtroom holds its breath.

Click here to purchase your copy!

My Review

This is an amazing historical women’s fiction book.

The characters were incredibly well developed. Many times my heart broke for what they were having to deal with and go through. I wanted to step into Ella and Abbie’s place and take Lily in and protect her. She had so much thrown at her in her life.

This story was much heavier than most of the books that I read. The depth of evil that was perpetrated against others was appalling. I was completely engrossed by it though.

I loved the fact that so many of the characters we strong christians. They continually prayed about things and tried to encourage others to do the same. I was overjoyed when the need for Jesus Christ in a person’s heart and life was brought forward.

I’m giving this wonderful book a 5 star rating. I’m highly recommending it.

I received a complimentary copy of this book through Celebrate Lit. I have chosen to write this review to express my personal opinion.

About the Author

Linda Brooks Davis was born and reared on a farm in Raymondville, a small Rio Grande Valley community in the southernmost tip of Texas. Linda earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Speech Pathology from Abilene Christian University and a Master’s Degree from Houston Baptist University. She retired in 2008 after forty years as a special educator and administrator. Linda and her beloved husband Al worship and minister at Oak Hills Church in San Antonio and dote on six grandchildren, three of whom are triplets. Readers may contact Linda through her website, www.lindabrooksdavis.com. 

Linda’s debut novel, The Calling of Ella McFarland, is set in 1905 Indian Territory prior to Oklahoma statehood. It won the 2014 Jerry Jenkins Operation First Novel Award. It was released in 2015 and won the 2016 American Christian Fiction Writers Carol Award. The sequel novella, A Christmas to Remember, is set in 1908 Oklahoma and released in December, 2016. A second novella, A Christmas Measure of Love, released in 2017. It is set in 1910 and is a prequel to Linda’s second full-length novel, this one set in 1914, The Mending of Lily Cathleen, which releases in 2018.

Guest Post from Linda

Certain ancestors and their experiences appear in my stories. There’s bit of my grandmother and a strong dash of my mother in one character. My father’s sterling qualities appear in another. And there’s a low-down family reprobate in another. Don’t forget cotton planting, hoeing, and harvest time. The glorious aroma of fresh-picked cotton and the nothing-in-the-world-like-it odor from the pig pen. A sewing machine whirring. The clink of a milk pail. A cow hollering to be milked. Summer’s sun on my face, the hearty South Texas wind in my hair, and the comfort of backing up to a wall heater on a cold winter morning. All find their way into the plot lines. 

In my family’s history, my own life, and the kaleidoscope of lives in my stories, Jesus appears as the golden thread linking the past to the present and beyond. He turns an ordinary morning into a hint of the “Sweet By & By.” He adds the delicate aroma of the Rose of Sharon to the sultry stillness before a summer storm. And He wraps the bitterness of grief and failure in the richness of His incomparable grace. The Mending of Lillian Cathleen is one of those tales that reach beyond the ordinary to the extraordinary because of Jesus. 

Lily’s story captures some of the heartache of domestic abuse, but it packs a powerfully joyous punch at the end. I thought I’d add a strong dash of sweet to this post with a recipe that appears in The Calling of Ella McFarland (which is re-releasing in October 2018). Mama’s (or Papa’s) Nectar of Heaven was a treat my mother enjoyed as a child. She set the same yummy delicacy before her kids, and I, of course, have done the same. Here ’tis, ya’ll, from Texas with sweet, sweet love.

Blog Stops

Inklings and Notions, October 18

Multifarious, October 19

The Becca Files, October 19

The Lit Addict, October 20

Luv’N Lambert Life, October 20

D’S QUILTS & BOOKS, October 21

Real World Bible Study, October 21

Babbbling Becky L’s Book Impressions, October 22

Christian Bookaholic, October 22

God’s Little Bookworm , October 23

Godly Book Reviews, October 23

Reading Is My SuperPower, October 24

A Reader’s Brain, October 24

Maureen’s Musings, October 25

Baker Kella, October 25

Just the Write Escape, October 26

Mary Hake, October 26

Janice’s Book Reviews , October 27

A Baker’s Perspective, October 27

Bibliophile Reviews, October 28

Proud to Be an Autism Mom, October 28

Texas Book-aholic, October 29

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, October 29

Bigreadersite , October 30

Carpe Diem, October 31

Lis Loves Reading, October 31

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Linda is giving away a grand prize of a $50 Amazon gift card!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries! Click the link below to enter. 

https://promosimple.com/ps/d56e/the-mending-of-lillian-cathleen-celebration-tour-giveaway

Disclaimer: *Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a copy of this book for free in the hope that I would mention/review it on my blog. I was not required to give a positive review, only my honest opinion - which I've done. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.*