Books for Christian Girls: "The Divine Proverb of Streusel" by Sara Brunsvold

About this book:

  “Shaken by her parents' divorce and discouraged by the growing chasm between herself and her serious boyfriend, Nikki Werner seeks solace at her uncle's farm in a small Missouri hamlet. She'll spend the summer there, picking up the pieces of her shattered present so she can plan a better future. But what awaits her at the ancestral farm is a past she barely knows.
   Among her late grandmother's belongings, Nikki finds an old notebook filled with handwritten German recipes and wise sayings pulled from the book of Proverbs. With each recipe she makes, she invites locals to the family table to hear their stories about the town's history, her ancestors--and her estranged father.
   What started as a cathartic way to connect to her heritage soon becomes the means through which she learns how the women before her endured--with the help of their cooking prowess. Nikki realizes how delicious streusel with a healthy dollop of faith can serve as a guide to heal wounds of the past.”

Series: As of now, no, a stand-alone novel.

Spiritual Content- Prayers & Blessings over food; Many Scriptures are quoted, mentioned, thought about, & read; Bible reading (Wes); Wes & Aunt Emma are members of Lutheran churches; Church going, sermons, & singing; Many talks about God, Jesus, peace, forgiveness, & those in the Bible; 'H's are not capital when referring to God; On one Sunday, Wes struggles to pay attention to the sermon because of a woman; Nikki thinks of cooking and baking as “close to God as she might get” (because she’s creating); Many mentions of God, Jesus, His peace, & forgiveness; Mentions of prayers, praying, & giving thanks; Mentions of praying for “divine whacks” for certain people; Mentions of Bibles, Bible reading, & those and events in the Bible; Mentions of the Lutheran church, their services, synod congregations, church going, sermons, pastors/vicars, hymns, hymnals, & services; Mentions of the enemy using malice and bitterness; Mentions of Martin Luther & Dietrich Bonhoeffer (including a quote by the latter); A handful of mentions of Heaven; A handful of mentions of a Lutheran publishing house (Concordia); A few mentions of a portrait of Jesus at a church; A few mentions of devotionals; A few mentions of blessings & being Blessed; A few mentions of confirmation classes; A couple mentions of the Holy Spirit; A mention of Bible studies; A mention of seminary; A mention of Sunday school; A mention of a pastor making the sign of a cross; A mention of a cross charm;
             *Note: Nikki goes to her grandmother’s gravestone to talk to her and fells silly doing so because she doesn’t think she can hear her, but says that she’s “murky on the theology of such things”; A teasing mention of expecting men to “evolve past” a gender flaw; A teasing mention of someone being called a “future teller” (the person responds that she is a “life liver or an experience haver”); A mention of hero worship; A mention of a superstition.

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘dumb’ and an ‘oh my word’; A mention of a person’s name being “like a curse word”; Finding a friend’s body (from heatstroke, barely-above-not-detailed); Grief (for the death of a friend and son-like friend, & Nikki for her parent’s divorce); Nikki’s parents are recently divorced & a major focus of this book is Nikki’s hurt and bitterness towards her father for his actions (This is discussed and mentioned often as well as many bitter comments from Nikki towards him; Uncle Wes prays hard for his involvement in both his niece and brother’s lives and tries to talk with them both throughout the book; *Spoiler* The book ends with Nikki trying to forgive and reconnect with her father *End of Spoiler*; Wes tells a lie to someone (because he doesn’t want the person’s help) & quickly tries to make the lie true; Mentions of the Nazis, an execution, a concentration camp, wars, injuries/wounds, pain, prejudices (towards German-Americans); Mentions of deaths & grief (for a mother, a sister, parents for their a son, a friend, & what could have been/close relationships with others); Mentions of a divorce & the grief from those involved (Nikki, her mother, & sister); Mentions of a man’s unhealed hurt from his father’s words and actions & therefore hurting others with his own actions (including a shouting match, a missed swing; *Spoiler* Nikki’s father *End of Spoiler*); Mentions of an elderly family member falling & her injuries (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of alcohol, people drinking at parties/celebrations, wine at communion, & a woman telling others not to tell her pastor that she had a beer; Mentions of a father spanking & “tanning the hide” of his sons when disobeying; A few mentions of the death of a farmer in a tractor rollover accident; A few mentions of a bully & a sibling punching the bully that was picking on his brother; A few mentions of lies, lying, & liars (including a woman telling one and saying she’ll ask for forgiveness later); A mention of a POW camp; A mention of rumors;
             *Note: In high school, Uncle Wes recalls that he needed to “figure out who he was” without anyone’s expectations of him; An older woman comments that “marriage used to mean so much more than it does these days. People seem to throw it away like it’s a used paper towel.”; A few comments about an older sibling not being able to have a childhood like her young sister did; Mentions of a woman’s father not being around much because of his mental health (implied that he was living in a mental institution and she tried hard to love him where he was); Mentions of a western movie & country singers and songs (Shane, Alan Ladd Western, Reba McEntire, Neal McCoy, Alan Jackson, Luke Bryan, Bob Seger, & George Strait); Mentions of authors & books (classics, Judy Blume, Beverly Cleary, & Harry Potter); Mentions of car brands; Mentions of brand names (Hostess, John Deere, Big Red gum, Juicy Fruit, Wrigley’s, Life cereal, Mary Janes, Hugo Boss cologne, & Mounds candy bars); A few mentions of baseball teams; A few mentions of stores (including Dollar General); A few mentions of Google; A mention of Rocky; A mention of Hallmark movies; A mention of Netflix; A mention of Facebook.

Sexual Content- Some Touches, Dancing, Embraces, Nearness, & Smelling (barely-above-not-detailed); Blushes; Noticing (including Wes noticing a woman’s hips and lips, barely-above-not-detailed); a ‘babe’; Nikki’s father had an affair & married the other woman after divorcing her mother (*Spoilers* Her father says they weren’t happy and is now happier with his new wife; Nikki didn’t realize that her parents were unhappy and her mother shares that “the empty nest amplifies the gaps in a relationship. The gaps had become so much bigger than we realized. We had neglected too many things for too long. I tried to work on them, but it takes two.” *End of Spoilers*); Because of the hurt of her parents’ sudden divorce and father’s affair, Nikki worries about her own relationship with her boyfriend and it shakes her view of marriage and security; Nikki’s sister tells her that “Love is often confused with infatuation. I found [her husband] attractive, for sure…but the real way I knew was because I trusted him. With everything….I trusted him to see the worst of me, the ugliest pieces, and still choose me.”; When Nikki comments on marriage being “big enough to hurt you if you get it wrong”, another woman tells her that “Yes, I suppose that is true. But marriage is also big enough to be the most noble role you’ll ever have.”; *Spoiler* The book ends with Nikki and her boyfriend forgiving each other for their words and actions *End of Spoiler*; Mentions of dating, dances, break-ups, & a broken heart; A few mentions of an elopement (with a couple moving away first and then getting married); A couple mentions of complicated relationships; A mention of a kiss; Some love, falling/being in love, & the emotions (light);
             *Note: Mentions of a calf having to be “cut” to become a steer (a few mentions of his wounds, but nothing else); A mention of underwear & sports bras; A mention of a man wearing only swim trunks.

-Nikki Werner, age 26
-(Uncle) Wesley “Wes” Werner
                                P.O.V. switches between them
                                                        336 pages

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Pre Teens-

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My personal Rating-

{This book could be triggering or potentially healing to those whose parents have divorced.}

This book is a slower pace than most books I read, so it took me a bit to get into it, but at the same time was such a comforting read in the way of the writing style. It’s easy to visualize different places and events in the book and I really like that.

My heart hurt for Nikki. With everything that she’s going through—the bitter heartbreak of her father’s affair and new marriage and then her questioning love with her serious boyfriend, I can’t blame her from running away. That said, I do wish she would have been honest and upfront with her boyfriend, because they’ve obviously been together a while and really do care for each other. I wish the ending was just a little bit longer for this reason alone because how it all worked out felt a little rushed. I do wish we could have seen more faith elements from Nikki’s point of view, as well, because personal faith moments (such as praying or reading the Bible) were mostly from Uncle Wes.

I’m pretty sure I have a great Aunt (or two 😉) like Aunt Emma in this book, so she was easily my favorite character. Even though I’m not typically one for books with recipes and/or a food focus, I was curious about this book because of my own German heritage and actually recognized a couple of the recipes mentioned.

There’s a lot to unpack in this book. There’s so many wisdom-like nuggets thrown throughout it. It’s really a book I feel like you have to savor each chapter to understand hidden conversations and meanings, to be able to understand what Uncle Wes means when he thinks about history repeating itself. Does everything wrap up with a nice, neat little bow at the end of this book? No, not necessarily, but it’s realistic. There’s hope for the future at the end of this book and that’s what made it good.

I think I would say that I liked “The Extraordinary Deaths of Mrs. Kip” just a touch more, but I still really enjoyed this one as well. I’ll definitely be watching out for any new books by this author in the future!

See y’all on Friday with a new review!