Hello! I have exciting and great news! Kellyn Roth, author of The Dressmaker’s Secret and her newest novella, The Lady Of The Vineyard, is doing a blog tour for her book’s release! It’s a big deal and super great! 😀 So, congratulations, Kellyn! Let’s get this rollin’. 🙂
Now, I did and author interview and a book review. Here’s the author interview, and this post shall be my book review for her dear lil’ book; The Lady Of The Vineyard. 🙂 I had the honor and fun of beta-reading the novella.
Synopsis:
Judy has lived with her egocentric mother since her parents divorced when she was a baby. When her father, Troy Kee, shows up at her sixth birthday party and whisks her away to his vineyard in France, Judy is more than happy to go with him. But Adele, Judy’s mother, isn’t quite ready to give up her daughter. Can Judy forgive Adele? More importantly, can Troy?
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Order The Lady of The Vineyard on Amazon
Find The Lady of The Vineyard on Goodreads
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This book is set in the 1930’s, in England/France. So yes; not my ordinary cup o’ tea. But let me tell you something; and amazing new cup of tea for me.
This book was quite excellently written. The story unfolded and was portrayed in such a way, that it really fit. It wasn’t a load of information all happening messily and fast; and it wasn’t a small portion dreadfully pulled out. The book was a current of events, emotions, and lessons- that all flowed and spilled and came about in a realistic way.
The story had such a quaint feeling to it… And the characters all fit that feeling. It was very pleasant!
The roles each character played was great. I don’t want to give huge spoilers on them, or like retell the entire book (haha, which I’m good at… ); but they were all rather real. You felt for some of them, and you got frustrated with some. You had Judy, the innocent eyes that held the story together, that wove things back together. You had Judy’s mother, Adele. Sure, you got frustrated with her, but in the end, she woke up. You had Judy’s father, Troy, and you had to respect the guy (even if you thought he was crazy for a split second… haha). And Judy’s granny- she was way too real, let me tell you! ;D
Personally, for me, this story was sort of familiar, personally…. And this book held hope. 🙂
It was really nice to feel and see that: hope.
I know that the author (Kellyn) wanted to have God in it, and God was shown in the story (Troy was a Christian, and we saw him talk about stories and faith with Judy). This book had Yahweh in it, I think. Troy knew Yeshua: this was shown in small ways, in his words- and they were so very true. I feel Troy was praying for Adele the whole time: we all knew he loved her still. It can be very hard to love someone, and them not return that love so readily. That was where love and hope came in this book.
Adele wasn’t directly going to Yahweh at first: she was acting on the spirit that had entered her… to do what she thought ‘felt right’. I believe this is an actual thing: Yeshua can put things in our hearts, whether we are ‘saved’ or not…. If we are His, we are His before we meet Him. This was so great with Adele.
I know no one is perfect: Adele, she was a lost lady. She and Troy made mistakes. But to see them come back together… I by no means am saying that anyone can get unlost, or saved, or find joy, without Yeshua our Abba. He is the Only Way. In this book, Kellyn wanted to have this as one of the lessons I think. Of course, perhaps it w0uld be easier to have such a spiritual, important journey unfold over a course of time- and this was a short novelle. But I think Adele did come to find Yeshua- the moment she came to and found her family again… I do believe Yeshua was with her, and that she found Him soon after. It was a God given miracle she felt moved to do better in the first place.
So, personally, I don’t think it was at fault of not having a lot of ‘Christianity’ in it… Yeshua was in it, and I was thinking when I read the epilogue- man, they’re a family. Of course Yeshua’s love came in them all… We saw them happy, joyous, and I just felt that yeah; Yeshua was with them right then. For me to feel that; it was better for me, rather than say, a bunch of preaching about God, but no SPIRIT of Yehovah…
I think that Kellyn did a great job weaving Yeshua into this book. The story line, the matters; weren’t happy go lucky. They’re real things that happen, and the emotions and ‘results’ or real, too. Sometimes in life, these kind of stories don’t have the happy endings we all like. But this book did. It gave me hope, too. Yahweh was found and known in this little book, and it was done in such a way, it wasn’t preachy or nonexistent. It was realistic and hopeful. I loved it.
The writing style! I think it really fitted the mood and story. The author did their research, because it had quite the air of fancy and British to it. 😉 It was usually flowing pretty smooth, and the dialogue fit each character nicely, and it was all very easy to understand. Again, I beta read, so stuff was edited when needed- but it wasn’t needed often. And, I went over and skimmed the final draft after Kellyn edited it after we beta read it… I really was cooeing then because it was soo nice. ;D *ahem* Anyway…
It was a sweet little story. It made me laugh. It made me think about it. It made me smile with nice soft feeling. And… it made me feel like I had been sucker punched in the gut. 🙂
It was told wonderfully, with truth; and it showed that sometimes we can be lost, but there is always someone who loves us and Yeshua loves us most of all. I loved this book, it was unlike anything I’ve ever read, and Kellyn’s little masterpiece was absolutely endearing.
Congratulations, Kellyn Roth, because you’re a great writer, and this book is fantastic. 🙂 *cheers! Celebration
time! *spreads cookies, grape juice, and balloons all around*
YHVH bless!
-Angela
Author Bio:
Kellyn Roth lives with her parents, two little brothers, incredibly needy cat, and faithful border collie Gidget on a ranch in the country. She’s a Christian, country girl, and professional skydiver (yes, we are playing two truths and a lie here). Ever since she could talk, she had a fascination with words, always making up songs and poems. Now a homeschooled highschooler, she spends her spare time (away from the real world) writing novels when she’s not procrastinating or blogging (which is just a higher form of procrastination) at kellynroth.wordpress.com.
Author blog:https://kellynroth.wordpress.com/
Book blog:https://reveriesreviews.wordpress.com/
Goodreads:https://www.goodreads.com/KellynRoth
Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/Kellyn-Roth/e/B01B0W0O7U?ref_=pe_1724030_132998060
Blog Tour:
Thursday (the 8th):
Lana (The Music of Words) ~ author and character interview
Faith Potts (Stories by Firefly) ~ review, book spotlight
Aardvark Magazine (Aardvark) ~ author interview, book spotlight
Friday (the 9th):
Jesseca Wheaton (Whimsical Writings) ~ review, book spotlight
April McLauren (April Dreams) ~ author and character interview, book spotlight
Alyssa (Writing Anyone) ~ review
Saturday (the 10th):
Lily (Living By Chapters) ~ review, author and character interview
Grace (The Girl Upstairs) ~ author interview, book spotlight
Selene Silver (Hearth) ~ review, character interview, book spotlight
Katrina (Katrina Creative) ~ author and character interview
Kate (Wandering in Bookland) ~ review, author interview
Sunday (the 11th):
Angela R. Watts (The Peculiar Messenger) ~ review, author interview
J.C. Buchanan (Beyond the Amethyst) ~ review
Daisy Ferrell (Happy Days with Anonymous A) ~ character interview
Monday (the 12th):
Morgan Dusky (Studies in Character) ~ author/character interview
Willowy Whisper (http://willowywhisper.com/) ~ book spotlight
Kate Willis (Once Upon an Ordinary) ~ author interview
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