elouisedouglas's Reviews (721)

A Rhythm of Prayer: A Collection of Meditations for Renewal

4.0

challenging hopeful inspiring reflective slow-paced

I received this book as a free copy in exchange for a review from NetGalley.

I thought this was a great collection of prayers and meditations, although like some previous NetGalley books, I think my experience was diminished by the fact it was an ebook not a physical copy (this is in no way a reflection on the book itself, I just feel like it would lend itself better to something physical).

The book is comprised of contributions from a number of well-known and not so well-known (to me at least) authors, but although I couldn’t directly relate to each chapter, I could tell each one was written filled with heart and soul. Some were written to be read as a prayer, some as a guide to prayer, some as a meditation on how the author experiences prayer.

What the book wasn’t, was a book of straightforward prayers you could just reel off before you go to bed. It was full of challenge and things to make you think more deeply. It was full of ideas to make you think more creatively about the way that you’re praying. For example, one of the ideas was written in the form of a recipe which was so inspired and completely unique.

I think if I read this book a hundred times, a hundred different things would resonate with me, it’s the kind of book you want to come back to again and again to feel lifted and provoked into action by the words contained within.

I would like to share a couple of my favourite quotes, to give you a flavour of what you might expect:

“They prayed living room prayers because you don’t have to be inside the four walls of a church to cry out to the God who made you. Because no matter where you sing or scream or whisper God’s ears can hear you. And despite what the laws say or what our human flaws say God’s ears don’t play favourites.”

Isn’t this a perfect prayer for the situation we find ourselves in now, all separated from each other and from the church building we would usually gather in. How comforting to be reminded that God can always hear us.

“You don’t have to be productive and you don’t have to change the world. You’re already so loved.

You don’t have to be smart. You don’t have to be simple. You don’t have to read all the right books by the right people. You’re already so loved. "

I could share many more quotes, they’re all saved in my phone for me to come back to when I need reminding of how loved I am and how precious my relationship with God is. But I would whole-heartedly recommend you pick up a copy of this book. If it’s physical, make use of the journalling space at the back, and just savour the beautiful words within.

Posted on: https://emmaloui.se/2021/01/26/sarah-bessey-a-rhythm-of-prayer/

The Original Velveteen Rabbit

Margery Williams Bianco

4.5

emotional hopeful sad fast-paced

Strong character development: N/A

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: N/A

Before I read this book, I felt like I was very familiar with the story. I never read it as a child, but since using the Calm meditation app, this has become my favourite sleep story read by Anna Acton.

It turns out, however, that the sleep story is so good at its job that I was only really familiar with the first quarter of the book and the rest was completely unknown.

If you’ve not read it, the story is about a toy rabbit made from velveteen (which is apparently a fabric that imitates velvet – may seem obvious but yes, I googled it!). He’s bought for a boy for Christmas, but quickly becomes forgotten about in favour of other flashier toys.

He speaks to another toy called the Skin Horse about what it means to become real, and from that point on it’s all he wants. And when it looks like he might be about to get his wish, something happens to get in the way. I don’t want to give away any spoilers so I won’t say anymore.

I thought it was such a sweet story about childhood love, and although it definitely brought tears to my eyes, there were funny bits too, like when the velveteen rabbit comes face to face with some real rabbits.

I wish I’d read this as a child, and I’ll definitely be saving this book to come back to in future.

Posted on: https://emmaloui.se/2021/01/24/margery-williams-the-velveteen-rabbit/

Postscript

Cecelia Ahern

5.0

emotional hopeful inspiring sad medium-paced

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

PS, I Love You was my favourite book for a very long time but as it came out so long ago I had resigned myself to never hearing anything else about Holly and her beloved Gerry.

So when I saw that there was actually finally a sequel, it was a must read! In fact, I was so excited that I also ordered a copy for my sister too.

I don’t want to give away too many spoilers here, but this is in the blurb so I think it’s okay – seven years on from Gerry’s death, Holly thinks she’s moved on and is doing okay – she has a new relationship and a job and she seems happy.

But when she’s approached by a set of people called the PS, I Love You Club who have been inspired by her story and want to do the same for their loved ones, it brings everything back and all of a sudden her life starts to shift again.

We follow Holly on a journey through the members of this club and it brings back so many memories not just for Holly of Gerry, but for me of the first book which I loved so much.

I’m sure you can probably guess this already, but you’re going to need tissues for reading this – I definitely got through a few. But although it was sad, it was full of hope and good feelings and I just loved it.

Read on: https://emmaloui.se/2021/01/23/cecelia-ahern-postscript/

The OMG Effect: 60-Second Sermons to Live a Fuller Life

Rev. Chris Lee

5.0

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective

I’ve been following Rev. Chris on instagram for a while and have loved his 60 second sermons that he posts to give a brief moment of pause during the day. When I saw that he was bringing out a book, I had to pre-order it.

Each chapter in the book starts with one of Chris’ 60 second sermons, then continues on with that topic. Topics including Positivity, Prayer, Humble Confidence, Death and Grief, and Love.

Each chapter is part personal story, part sermon/explanation and fully backed with biblical truth. The book equally would suit dipping in and out for a particular topic, or like I did, reading all the way through.

So many times through the book, I felt completely seen, like it was just what I needed to read right now, so perfectly timed.

“The modern world is so noisy and invasive, and nor do we help ourselves much when it comes to finding inner peace. Your alarm goes off in the morning and wrenches you from sleep. You immediately look at the worrying news on your phone, and then move on to your social network feeds. You grab a quick breakfast and put the radio or TV on, then on the commute to work you’ve probably got earphones on, listening to music. Then, once at work, perhaps you put your computer on and go straight into ‘task’ mode. But at what point have you taken a breath and been sufficiently still, to remind yourself that you are an amazing creative human being waking up to a fresh and beautiful day that is full of amazing possibilities?”

I think if I could take one thing from reading this, it would be the need to slow down and spend time with God. The chapter on prayer particularly gave me a lot to think about, but there were valuable and relatable insights to take from each chapter.

“Just as the sea drains all rivers but never fills up, social media consumes all your time and never blinks as it drinks”

I would recommend this book to anyone, Christian or not. There’s a lot to take from it even if you don’t believe, but if you do, there’s so much more depth. I’ll leave you with this closing quote from Rev. Chris:

“I want you to know that God loves you in all your fragility, even when you doubt yourself. Never forget your worth, and that your very life is a miracle.”

Posted on: https://emmaloui.se/2021/01/14/rev-chris-lee-the-omg-effect/

Content Warnings

The Art of Holy Week and Easter: Meditations on the Passion and Resurrection of Jesus

Wendy Beckett

4.5

inspiring reflective slow-paced

Having no art background and having not ever gone to art galleries or spent time looking at art, I’m probably not the target audience for this book.

But then again, maybe I’m exactly the target audience, because I found this book absolutely fascinating.

Filled with some pictures that I’d seen before and a lot I’d never come across, this book opened my eyes to the deeper meanings behind the canvas.

Each picture comes alongside a blurb explaining what we see and a deeper explanation of the meaning behind some of the elements of the painting. Things that I’d never consider, like why a particular painting may be light in one area and dark in another and what significance that might have.

"It is a supremely beautiful picture, where light and shade in themselves are used to tell a story; the darkness, the shadow, is passing away to the upper right and light is coming in, flooding over Jesus and calling him back to the warmth of the world. "

I guess these might be things that other people would just see and understand, but for an art newbie like me, there were some real lightbulb moments.

As I said before, some of the paintings in the book I had definitely seen in the past, but some of them were completely new to me. All of them however had something to say.

I think the only dampener on my experience was the fact that because I’m reading this as an advanced copy from NetGalley, it’s in ebook format and this book doesn’t really lend itself well to an ebook – the pictures were really small so I had to keep Googling them on my phone to appreciate them properly – I’d definitely recommend choosing a physical copy over digital.

I think this would be the perfect book to read over lent, taking a picture each day and allowing yourself time to just sit and appreciate the details, before allowing Sister Wendy’s beautiful words to complete that picture for you and praying over the things that you can see.

What better way to lead up to Easter Sunday than to appreciate how different artists have interpreted the events of Holy Week and Easter, and have those paintings explained to you with such passion and depth of knowledge.

Posted on: https://emmaloui.se/2021/01/14/sister-wendy-beckett-the-art-of-holy-week-and-easter/

Scar

Alice Broadway

3.5

challenging dark tense medium-paced

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

The blurb of this book calls this the ‘explosive finale’, but I have to admit, unfortunately I think this was my least favourite of the trilogy. The first two books were really fast paced and I felt compelled to keep reading, but I felt like this one was just slower and not quite as gripping.

And to be honest, the ending left me feeling quite disappointed. I’m not sure if I just didn’t ‘get it’, but it felt like the conclusion happened really quickly and without much explanation and then the book ended. I guess it was more political than the usual big climax that a YA book like this would get and it just wasn’t what I expected, I just kept waiting for the fight.

BUT, I did enjoy finishing Leora’s story. Leora has experienced life as marked and blank and learnt the traditions and histories of both, and she now has the monumental task of trying to reunite them before Jack Minnow can destroy them both.

After spending much of book two in Featherstone, we spend most of this book back in Sainstone, and Leora finds herself reunited with her mum, which I thought was great after their relationship fractured when the truth of her father came out.

“There is much that I do not know, Leora Flint, I admit that. The beginning of wisdom is realising just that – that there is so much more to the world than you can ever know or understand.”

Like the first books in the trilogy, this book again presents interesting perspectives on understanding other people and not taking your own history for granted as being the truth.

I don’t think we need to fight about whose story is the truest; I don’t think the existence of my story blots out the need for yours. I think that both stories together give us a new truth – a better, messier truth.

One of the things I loved about the first two books were the flawed but loveable side-characters like Obel, Oscar and Gull. And the fact that we didn’t hear as much from them in this book took the shine off for me, especially considering who took their place in the pages – Jack Minnow and Mayor Longsight, both of whom were detestable people.

I also found this quote pretty relevant after everything that is going on in America at the moment:

“Oh, you weren’t holding the knife – but if you watch and do not shout ‘Stop’, you are sanctioning everything you see.”

Overall, I’m glad I read this book to finish off the trilogy, but it was quite short and I kind of feel like the author could have made the first two books a bit longer and just had a series of two.

Posted on: https://emmaloui.se/2021/01/09/alice-broadway-scar/

Spark

Alice Broadway

4.5

adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This review contains spoilers for the first book in the series – if you’ve not read it yet, look away now!

At the end of book one (Ink), Leora’s world is turned completely upside down. Everything she thought she knew about her life is in question, she doesn’t even know who her parents are (literally and metaphorically).

And now, she’s a pawn in Mayor Longsight’s game. Sent back to her blank ancestor’s land to spy on them and help the Mayor figure out a way to bring them down. But can Leora overcome everything she thought she knew about the blanks to be accepted by them? And does she truly want to be accepted or is she loyal to the marked people, despite what they’re making her do?

I found this book absolutely gripping, yet again I stayed up til 1 in the morning reading because I just couldn’t put it down. In fact, when my bedside lightbulb stopped working, I read by my phone torch so I could get to the end.

I absolutely loved seeing Leora’s relationship building with Gull, the girl she is staying with in Featherstone. Leora is not easily accepted into the community, but Gull quickly becomes an ally and a friend.

However, there is a lot of mistrust, particularly from Gull’s brother Fenn. When Leora finds out that they are the family of Obel, her mentor from Sainstone, that kind of makes sense, but it doesn’t make it any easier. And Leora doesn’t make it easy for herself either.

I loved learning about the history of Featherstone along with Leora. A lot of the stories we hear are very similar to the stories told in Sainstone in the first book, but with a slightly different twist on them. Showing how history can look different from both sides and it’s very hard to know which side is accurate, if either of them are.

This forms part of Leora’s struggle throughout this book, figuring out where is home and what her identity is. Half blank and half marked, it feels like she doesn’t fit in either place, but she still needs to decide where she wants to be.

To say this book ended on a cliffhanger would be an understatement. I think my jaw literally dropped. I can’t say more or there’ll be major spoilers, but I have a feeling book 3 is going to be ace.

Posted on: https://emmaloui.se/2021/01/03/alice-broadway-spark/

Ink

Alice Broadway

4.5

adventurous dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

First book of 2021 and it was a good one! For some reason, despite going to bed at 1am, I woke up at 3.30 and couldn’t get back to sleep. I thought I’d read to make me sleepy, but this book was so gripping that I couldn’t put it down.

Leora lives in a world with no secrets. Everything about you is inked on your body – your age, your occupation, things you’ve done wrong. Imagine living in a world where everyone can see the misdeeds you’ve committed…

Leora is just finishing school and hasn’t even picked her first voluntary tattoo yet, the ink that she can choose to show who she is. She’s about to start her first job in the real world, but first she needs to pass her exams to find out what career she can go into. She’s always dreamed of being an inker, but that’s not a common role for a woman, perhaps she should be a flayer like her dad. Yes, flaying. I tried not to think too hard about that…

Leora is also blessed with the skill of ‘reading’. By looking at someone’s tattoos, she can see past the ink to the meaning behind it. This seems like it would be completely exhausting, not being able to walk down the street without knowing intimate details about people who walk past you.

When we start the book, Leora’s dad has just died. When you die in Saintstone, your skin is turned into a book (hence the need for flayers…). Since your life is literally written on your skin, that book decides whether you will be remembered, or forgotten. If you’ve done too much bad, your book will be burned and you will be erased from history.

“We’re all a bit bad. We all have things in our lives that bring us shame and regret. Things that have hurt our souls or hurt the people we love. But we’re all a bit good too. I reckon we’re mostly good actually. And life is about trying to learn the balance, plot our place on the continuum.”

Leora knows that her dad was a good person, and his book tells the same story. But all is not as it seems, and she is dragged into a murky situation where things come to light that she could never have imagined.

“Our bodies heal, our bodies repair. Our bodies are built with redemption running through our veins. We don’t consist of the failures and mistakes. We are made new every morning. The past doesn’t have to define you, Leora. Your mistakes don’t have to be for ever. There’s redemption. There’s always redemption.”

A gripping book filled with twists and turns, brimming with emotion and wonderfully imagined. It has a slightly orwellian feel to it, the way that the government wants to use the ink for their own purposes, and how this gives them complete control over their citizens.

I can’t wait to see what happens in book two! I hope we get to learn more about Obel and Oscar, two characters who came into Leora’s life but who still have an air of mystery about them.

Also, I can’t finish the review without mentioning the absolutely stunning cover – how could you not pick up a book that looks like this?!

Posted on: https://emmaloui.se/2021/01/01/alice-broadway-ink/

Goodnight Mister Tom

Michelle Magorian

5.0

emotional inspiring medium-paced

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I think I read this book a few times in primary school, but I didn’t have many memories of it apart from finding it quite emotional, so I thought I’d try it again, given it’s part of my 100 book reading challenge poster that my sister bought me.

Despite it being more than 20 years later, I still found this book highly emotional, it’s impossible not to find an instant bond with young Willie as he arrives in the countryside from London, evacuated during the war.

You immediately know that he’s a poor neglected boy and all you want to do is wrap him up and take care of him, how could a sentence like this not break your heart?!

“He was such a bad boy, he knew that. Mum said she was kinder to him than most mothers. She only gave him soft beatings. He shuddered. “

It seems like Tom might not be the best fit to take of Willie; he’s grumpy and stern and not what it feels like Willie needs. And the other people in the village think so too:

“Miss Thorne said no more. Poor boy, she thought, away from his home and now dumped with an irritable old man.”

But very quickly Mister Tom comes out of his shell and we start to see Willie flourish under Tom’s gentle care and growing love. As it turns out, Tom wasn’t the grumpy old man that everyone thought he was, he was just living under a cloud of grief that he couldn’t get out of.

The first time that Tom and Willie said they loved each other, I properly started crying, it was such a lovely moment.

While it sounds like it might be a bit sweet and sickly, the book is not without it’s turbulent times and tricky parts to read – I’d forgotten a lot from first reading as a child and it took me by surprise.

For anyone who dismisses children’s books as being easy or not worth bothering, I’d argue strongly against that. You can take so much more from reading a children’s book as an adult than you did as a child, and going back to a childhood favourite is never a bad thing.

“It occurred to him that strength was quite different from toughness and that being vulnerable wasn’t the same as being weak”

Content Warnings

The Fifth Season

N.K. Jemisin

4.0

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I was recommended this book by a few people at work when I had some money to spend on my Waterstones card, and I'm always glad to find a great new fantasy series to get stuck into.

I do have mixed feelings though. The first part dealt with some pretty awful topics that would probably have stopped me from reading if the books hadn't had such good recommendations, and I found the first 150 or so pages pretty slow paced so it took me a while to get into it.

But when it got going, I just couldn't put it down, and I devoured the last 200 pages in two sittings because I was so enthralled in what was happening.

We start the book with three different perspectives; Damaya, Syenite and Essun. I spent a long time figuring out how the three stories connected and trying to predict when the characters were going to meet, and when it clicked into place, I was gobsmacked.

I thought the world building was great and the way that the new concepts are introduced gradually was good because it was so new. I loved the idea of Orogeny, the ability to sess (feel) and control the movements of the earth - I've never read anything like it and when the more powerful aspects of those abilities were demonstrated, I was a little in awe.

As I mentioned before, the book covers some awful topics (like child abuse and death - see the content warnings on The StoryGraph), and it's pretty brutal in its depictions, but that might not make you as squeamish as me; in which case, great.

I also loved how there was such a diverse cast of characters, sexuality and race were not automatically just straight and white like a lot of fantasy books, and it also didn't feel like tokenising the characters, just a natural part of who they were. The book also included sex scenes but without them feeling gratuitous like some other fantasy books (GoT, anyone?).

I feel like things started clicking into place for me quite close to the end of the book (maybe I'm just slow?), but I feel like things have been set up so well for book two. There are so many unanswered questions and I'm a little gutted I don't already own book two. Hopefully after Christmas though 🤞

"This is what you must remember: the ending of one story is just the beginning of another. This has happened before, after all. People die. Old orders pass. New societies are born. When we say 'the world has ended', it's usually a lie, because the planet is just fine. But this is the way the world ends."

Posted on: https://emmaloui.se/2020/11/20/n-k-jemisin-the-fifth-season/

Content Warnings

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