Reclaiming Lily by Patti Lacy

This is one of those books that after you pick it up you have to keep reading because you can’t even begin to predict what will happen next. I learned much about China’s cultural revolution and its effect on a Chinese family, about adoption from China, both during Mao’s time in power and more currently. I also found out a great deal about PKD, a deadly kidney disorder. The stories of the Chinese family’s history that are interspersed throughout remind me of my beloved Pearl S. Buck books that I read as a teenager.

Dr. Chang Kai, a Chinese immigrant and Harvard educated doctor searches out and finds her younger sister who has been adopted by an American couple. She had medical information that may be crucial to the young girl’s life. How they meet and how the pieces come together for the adoptee, the adoptive parents, the older sister (Kai) is the heart of the story. Each person has things in their past that is making their present difficult. As they find each other, many of those issues are dealt with. Not the least of these issues is the search for God by both the sisters and the total surrender to God by the adoptive mom.

This story is so compelling I recommend it to anyone who wants an enjoyable read and anyone who wants to gain knowledge when they read. Bethany House provided me with a copy of this book for review.

Love on the Line by Deanne Gist

When Bethany House offered Deanne Gist’s latest book for review, I jumped at the opportunity. I have read every one of Ms. Gist’s books so far and they never disappoint. In fact, they just get better and better. This book was one of those page-turners for which you want to put everything else in your life on the back burner. Georgie Gail is a telephone operator around 1910 in a small Texas town. Lucious Landrum, a.k.a. Luke Palmer, is a Texas Ranger undercover as a lineman for the telephone company. He is trying to track down a famous outlaw and his gang. He is hindered by the fact that the outlaw has the sympathy of the townspeople due to the popular pulp fiction that is circulating and the outlaw’s Robin Hood-like manners during the train robberies.

Add to the mix, Georgie’s campaign to stop the use of bird parts on women’s millinery and Luke’s genuine enjoyment of hunting and some sparks are sure to fly. This story had a lot of interesting twists and turns and had me up late trying to find out what was going to happen next. If you want something far from ordinary and mundane and unlike the formula novels some authors are churning out, then just pick up this, or any other, book by Deanne Gist and enjoy!