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heidirgorecki
Great love story and liked how a very difficult subject was dealt with for the most part, however I found it really unrealistic that teenagers are processing trauma cold turkey like that. It seems a bit misplaced and too easily resolved.
Hope Heals: A True Story of Overwhelming Loss and an Overcoming Love
Jay Wolf, Katherine Wolf, Joni Eareckson Tada
As a 2 time stage 3 cancer survivor before I hit 40, there was so much that resonated with me on this. So much I understood how they felt in some moments on an emotional level, feeling their pain and disappointment with them at the losses and the joy and contentment as they gained hope and gave hope.
The Wolfs do such an amazing job explaining that hard-won hope and joy they found in their trial while also being real and honest. I think a lot of Christians have this insecurity about their vulnerability, feeling like they can’t tell the truths about their grief, fear, anger, and disappointment or it somehow reflects poorly on either their walk with God, or God himself. On the contrary, acknowledging their points of grief and despair gives other people the opportunity to see God in their situation and feel like they have a place in their own suffering to also find hope. Like they said, you just don’t hang out in that place, that’s the big difference. It exists, you absolutely acknowledge it and feel it, but you choose whether you live there.
Jay and Katherine did this beautifully and I have so much respect and appreciation for their story and for what God has done thru them and their losses.
The Wolfs do such an amazing job explaining that hard-won hope and joy they found in their trial while also being real and honest. I think a lot of Christians have this insecurity about their vulnerability, feeling like they can’t tell the truths about their grief, fear, anger, and disappointment or it somehow reflects poorly on either their walk with God, or God himself. On the contrary, acknowledging their points of grief and despair gives other people the opportunity to see God in their situation and feel like they have a place in their own suffering to also find hope. Like they said, you just don’t hang out in that place, that’s the big difference. It exists, you absolutely acknowledge it and feel it, but you choose whether you live there.
Jay and Katherine did this beautifully and I have so much respect and appreciation for their story and for what God has done thru them and their losses.
I honestly think what I liked best was the friends Erin and Reese had in their corner, having hard conversations full of support. The rest was good too, though the transition from not speaking to full conversation seemed a little quick.
New favorite Christmas book. The story had a great balance of sentiment, hopefulness, heart and wit. It wasn’t overly complicated but also not super predictable. Very hard to put down, while also easy to put myself in Piper’s shoes and identify with how she felt. Really loved it.
I’m not quite sure what to say about this one, but I felt like it was an overall rather unlikeable book, and felt constantly frustrated with each of the characters. I almost gave up about 20% in but pushed thru to finish it, however I didn’t change my mind by the end even so.
This is a dual timeline between 1981 and 2022. It really had almost nothing to do with WW2 but a rather inconsequential detail about the box that was a central item in the book, so just a heads up to other readers like me who thought, based on the description, that WW2 was a far more central theme/setting.
The major issue for me was that for the whole book, practically every character was lying to or hiding things from each other, refused to risk vulnerability, and constantly abandoned each other. No one fought for each other or their circumstances - they just let life happen to them.
The abandonment/leaving was a consistent theme in the book, but it wasn’t even viewed as a negative half the time. Even in the ending the sentiment was, if you love something you’ll set if free - and while in theory that’s true, in this setting where people were constantly either leaving each other or not fighting in the least for each other, that no longer holds true. At that point it just becomes an excuse to be selfish and self-protecting, or just resigned and lazy.
In addition, there were a number of unrealistic factors. A 16 year old that’s orphaned, legally can’t be left as an adult - she’d be in foster care even if she is a mother so she would not have been alone or been able to make some of the decisions she did. And for a 30 year old man to not just find and renew relationship with his biological mother but to decide to live with her - in her hoarding environment that you have to tunnel to the kitchen or sleep in a chair because you can’t get to a bedroom?? And in the process completely ditch every relationship but your work? Not believable. There were many others as well. It made the story hard to swallow, in addition to the unlike-ability of the above.
Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
This is a dual timeline between 1981 and 2022. It really had almost nothing to do with WW2 but a rather inconsequential detail about the box that was a central item in the book, so just a heads up to other readers like me who thought, based on the description, that WW2 was a far more central theme/setting.
The major issue for me was that for the whole book, practically every character was lying to or hiding things from each other, refused to risk vulnerability, and constantly abandoned each other. No one fought for each other or their circumstances - they just let life happen to them.
The abandonment/leaving was a consistent theme in the book, but it wasn’t even viewed as a negative half the time. Even in the ending the sentiment was, if you love something you’ll set if free - and while in theory that’s true, in this setting where people were constantly either leaving each other or not fighting in the least for each other, that no longer holds true. At that point it just becomes an excuse to be selfish and self-protecting, or just resigned and lazy.
In addition, there were a number of unrealistic factors. A 16 year old that’s orphaned, legally can’t be left as an adult - she’d be in foster care even if she is a mother so she would not have been alone or been able to make some of the decisions she did. And for a 30 year old man to not just find and renew relationship with his biological mother but to decide to live with her - in her hoarding environment that you have to tunnel to the kitchen or sleep in a chair because you can’t get to a bedroom?? And in the process completely ditch every relationship but your work? Not believable. There were many others as well. It made the story hard to swallow, in addition to the unlike-ability of the above.
Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Excellent writing and storytelling. I enjoyed this quite a lot. There were points that were heavy and violent, as human trafficking is, as well as the credentials of Assassin, as Nena was, but it didn’t feel overly done or inappropriate. Just allowed you to identify with her and feel for everything she went thru. I’m looking forward to the rest in the series. Very well done.
