"A Noble Heart" by Jewel Windall

About this book:

  “Some will always be young at heart, and some try too hard to stay that way.
    Ella never wanted to grow up. Life was simpler when she was younger – when laughter filled each room like the stars in the sky and the smallest wins earned her parents' praise. With her childhood and the grace for her mistakes gone, Ella resolves to be the perfect lady everyone wants. Soon, she realizes what others wish isn’t what is right, but being different will cost her the only life she knows.
    Some will always be young at heart, and some have that innocence stolen.
    James spent the last five years running from his past, the Creator who let him down, and those trying to tear the island apart. After his plans to escape the place for good go up in flames, he finds running might not be the answer. But to truly be free, he risks losing the crew he cares for and the girl who got herself wrapped up in his mess.
    Faith, trust, and pixie dust are gone. Can two lost souls save their broken land?”


Series: Book #4 in the multi-author series, “Cornerstone”. It does not seem to be connected to any other books, however. A stand-alone novel. Click on the books to be taken to that review: Book #1, Book #2, and Book #3!


Spiritual Content- Many prayers; God is called the Creator and 'H's are capital when referring to Him; Many talks about the Creator, trusting Him, Him listening, His plans, faiths, & praying; The Creator talks to both James and Ella (usually Scriptures changed to be as if God was saying it to them); James trusted the Creator growing up and after praying to escape the villains for so long and it didn’t happen, he no longer trusts or follows the Creator and has a negative, nagging voice in his head telling him lies that the Creator doesn’t care about him or the others and won’t listen to him; James doesn’t know why the Creator even made him after the hard life he has had and had prayed to die after being kidnapped and unable to escape; James prays for the Creator to save his crew in hopes the Creator will listen for their sakes, but later thinks the Creator doesn’t listen to his prayers and won’t trust Him again; James tells Ella that the Creator isn’t stopping the villains and Ella encourages him to let go of his control and trust the Creator; Ella prays to “whoever was out there”recalling how her parents had believed in the Creator and with her growing apart from her parents, she also grew apart from Him; Ella notices the light in her friend and wants it for herself (the friend witnesses to her and she in turn witnesses to James & has tough discussions about God with each other and that He is always working for their good, which they both struggle to believe for a while); *Spoilers* Halfway through, Ella says that she trusts the Creator and that He has a plan; James notices she has the light as well and isn’t sure he is ready for that yet; Close to the end, James tries to trust the Creator and when it doesn’t go well, he feels betrayed again; At the end, James hears the Creator talking to him to let go and trust Him & it’s later implied that he did *End of Spoilers*; Many mentions of the Creator, prayers/praying, faiths, trusting Him, & Him listening; A couple mentions of miracles; A mention of a book from a traveling preacher; A mention of a hymn; 
             *Note: Facing sirens and their enticing calls that also have lies about the Creator (semi-detailed); A man says he is his own god and others’ god as well; A victim of the villain has been brainwashed to believe that the villain saved him from his evil family; Mentions of evil & evil people and their plans; Mentions of sirens, fairies, & pixies (including Ella being called a pixie because of her size and personality).
 

Negative Content- Minor cussing and fictional world phrases including: a form of ‘idiot’, a ‘what in all of Edas’, two ‘shut up’s, three ‘stardust’s, three ‘stupid’s, and twenty ‘seas’s; Ella fights the urge to curse at a villain; A couple mentions of curses (said by villains, but not written); Some eye rolling & Sarcasm; Being choked & the character thinking they are going to die (up to semi-detailed); Killing an enemy (twice), Being held at knife-point, Being kidnapped and drugged, Being tied-up, Being hit/punched and knocked out, Fighting/Attacks (including by a monster and seeing it killed), Knocking others out, Pain, Injuries, Blood/Bleeding, & Passing out (up to semi-detailed); Seeing two others killed and others tortured, stabbed, injured, bleeding, in pain, & held at knife-point (up to semi-detailed); *Spoiler* James was taken as a child by the villains and then trained to be an assassin, completing his first “mission” at age fifteen of killing a government official, which he is still haunted by *End of Spoiler*; James has a couple flashbacks of his mother dying after being set on fire by the main villain (barely-above-not-detailed); When facing sirens and their calls, some of the main characters and crew nearly jump into the waters to be with them (being lured to their deaths, but everyone is saved before they jump); All about many mentions of kidnapped children, the kidnappers, children being stolen away from their families, most of the government officials doing nothing about it, & the purpose of the children being kidnapped (*Spoiler* creating a child army of assassins *End of Spoiler*); Many mentions of children and teens being tortured by the villains, nightmares of past events and torture, & their screams (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of fights, deaths, bodies, & blood (border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed); Mentions of a murder, an accident, deaths, & grief (for a mother and a friend); Mentions of planned executions & torturing others to near death; Mentions of attacks/fights, fighting, injuries, pain, & blood/bleeding; Mentions of thieves, stealing, & break-ins; Mentions of fires & living people to die; Mentions of threats of death and harm; Mentions of lies, lying, & liars; Mentions of gossip & rumors; A few mentions of a possible war; A few mentions of suicide missions; A few mentions of hatred; A mention of eavesdropping; 
             *Note: Ella feels like she is a disappointment to her parents and a failure (she tells herself that she is a disappointment & thinks that their social status is more important to them than she is, & struggles with the Creator’s voice mixing with her parents’ voices of disappointment); Both James & Ella have negative, nagging voices in their heads that tells them lies.
 
 
Sexual Content- A handful of Touches & Embraces (some embraces could be taken as comforting embraces and not romance leaning); A few Flutters & Blushes; A mention of a couple kissing for an “uncomfortably long time”; There is a potential future romance thread for Ella and James by the end of the book; 
             *Note: A mention of a woman unable to have children. 
 
-Ella 
-James 
                                P.O.V. switches between them 
                                                        166 pages
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Pre Teens- 

New Teens- 

Early High School Teens- 

Older High School Teens- 

My personal Rating- 

{ Add up to a full star for older teens who struggle with trusting God and/or letting go of past events/actions. }

 

My main thought while reading this book was: “They both need hugs. ASAP.” Because really, they both did. Desperately, poor things. 

 

I will say that from either a technical standpoint or the writing style, I did struggle a bit with this book. Some events weren’t clear to me about what was happening, so I felt a bit out of the loop at times and had to reread a handful of sections to pick up on the contexts’ clues to the understand what was going on. I don’t think it was just me as I reread those parts a few times each (mainly towards the beginning of the book), but it totally could have been!

 

I was pretty thrown towards the end when I realized that James is Captain James—as in Captain Hook. So you could say this is a Peter Pan retelling partially from Captain Hook’s perspective which was a really different take on the story. There is a heaviness, however, through this book because of the children being kidnapped, the torture, James’ role in that including being tortured himself, and him being unwilling to forgive himself or trust the Creator (God). 

 

The faith content was by far the strongest thread in this book—it was more like the whole tapestry, really—and I liked a lot of different parts about it. The ending felt a wee bit rushed and I would have liked a little more calm after the massive storm (literally and fugitively) these characters went through. There wasn’t really any romance—only hints to a possible future romance at the end—which was a nice change from my normal fairytale retellings.

 

 

See y’all on Friday with a new review! 

*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.

"Three Dog Knight" by Johnnie Alexander

About this book:

  “An invitation to speak at a prominent women’s group luncheon prompts Harriet Bailey to reflect on her move to Yorkshire, which makes her miss her family back in the States. Luckily, her aunt Jinny suggests the perfect attending the village’s much-anticipated antiques appraisal festival.
    When Ivy, the woman in charge of the event, is found in a nearby cave with no memory of how she got there, she claims to have been confronted by a medieval knight from local legend! Harriet knows this is impossible and is determined to find out what really happened.
    As Harriet searches for the mysterious knight’s impersonator, more incidents occur, including the theft of a valuable statue and apparent pranks against local businesses. Can Harriet find the culprit before things escalate to a dangerous level?”


Series: Book #4 in the “Mysteries of Cobble Hill Farm” series. Review of Book #1 Here!, Book #2 Here!, and Book #3 Here!


Spiritual Content- A few Scriptures are quoted, read, mentioned, & thought over; 'H's are capital when referring to God; Mentions of God; Mentions of prayers, praying, thanking God, & blessings over food (including a mention of someone looking at the ceiling as if for divine guidance); Mentions of churches, church going, services, sermons, a pastor, & hymns; Mentions of an abbey, monasteries, & monks;  A few mentions of Bibles, Bible reading, & books of the Bible; A few mentions of those & events in the Bible; A few mentions of clergy privilege & confessions; A mention of being Blessed; 
             *Note: Harriet doesn’t believe in ghosts, but says she enjoys a “delicious fear” (to quote Anne Shirley); Later, Harriet thinks that “there were so many unexplained phenomenas in the world” and wonders if it could be possible for ghosts to be real, but then stops herself firmly; A pastor is polite but firm about the fact that a living person is the attacker and not a ghost (later adding that maybe he should preach a sermon on the topic); A man tells a pastor that even though he isn’t a churchgoer, he wouldn’t attack someone; A woman tries to use clergy privilege to her advantage so she won’t be in trouble with the police (a pastor tells her that that isn’t how it works); Many mentions of a “ghost” that attacked two people in this book (*Spoiler* It was two people that were doing pranks and dares & didn’t mean for anyone to get hurt *End of Spoiler*); A couple mentions of elves causing mischief at night; A mention of a superstitious person; A mention of a possible ghost cult; A mention of a food sometimes called “devils on horseback”.
 

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘stupid’; Some eye rolling & sarcasm; Two sisters are very bitter towards each other & make unkind and snide remarks (on-page); Seeing someone injured & bleeding (up to semi-detailed); Helping an injured woman and dog who were both hit by someone/something (later, the dog has seizures, but will be fine; border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed); *Spoiler* The woman who is attacked was lured to the place by a note by her sister, who didn’t mean for her to get hurt, and was hit by someone else; The man who was attacked was accidentally pushed and hurt by a family member in an argument *End of Spoilers*; Many mentions of injured and sick animals (including a dog being hit and bleeding, another dog being hit by a car and paralyzed, a kitten being rescued from a burning dustbin and her scars, a deer being hit by a car, & people abandon pets when children grow tired of caring for them; all animals are fine; up to semi-detailed) & Harriet’s veterinary clinic treatments (including vaccines); All about many mentions of attacks, attackers, & injuries; Many mentions of break-ins/robberies, stealing, stolen items, thieves, crimes, & crime scenes; Many mentions of gossip & rumors; Mentions of deaths (including by heart attack and cancer) & grief; Mentions of a legend about a young drummer boy (who was allegedly have been trapped in a tunnel and never seen again; one version of the tale said the boy was eaten by a monster); Mentions of arrests & jailtime; Mentions of businesses and people cheating others; Mentions of injuries, pain, blood/bleeding, & stitches; Mentions of pirates & smugglers; Mentions of lies & lying; Mentions of jealousy (including between sisters); A few mentions of historical battles; A few mentions of cruelty & a bully; A couple mentions of eavesdropping; A mention of World War I; A mention of a mother losing a child in a tragic way (referring to the drummer boy legend); A mention of a car accident; A mention of a divorce; A mention of mocktails; 
             *Note: Harriet is homesick and wonders if her decision to move to England was a mistake at times; Harriet’s aunt tells her about a patient that wanted her to prank her family by saying the lady had a major health concern and would need their constant care (which her aunt does not do because “too many people face horrific health concerns for such a prank to be funny”); Mentions of books, fictional characters, & authors (Anne of Green Gables, Sense and Sensibility, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Jane Austen, Henning Mankell, Lewis Carroll, Anne Bronte, & Agatha Christie); A few mentions of car brands; A mention of Queen Elizabeth II.
 
 
Sexual Content- Harriet feels her stomach flutter around a male friend and pushes the sensation away because she’s not ready for a relationship or flutters; Harriet accidentally sees a couple embracing and is embarrassed; Mentions of Harriet’s assistant going out with many guys, but always viewing the men as strictly friends to have a good time with while waiting for the “right one” to come along; Mentions of dates, dating, boyfriends/girlfriends, & breakups; A few mentions of couples sneaking off for secret rendezvous (older couples); A couple mentions of blushes; A couple mentions of jealousy; A mention of a couple making goo-goo eyes at each other; 
             *Note: Harriet recalls an older woman telling her not to give away her heart after quarreling with her beau, but Harriet thinks that she isn’t about to make that vow; A woman makes a comment that her sister falls for any man who shows her the slightest attention. 
 
-Harriet Bailey, age 33 (?)
                                P.O.V. of Harriet 
                                                        258 pages
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Pre Teens- 

New Teens- 

Early High School Teens- 

Older High School Teens- 

My personal Rating- 

You could say that the “honeymoons phase” of Harriet’s move to England has worn off a bit in this book as she deals with homesickness while also trying to solve a mystery. I’ll admit that the mystery element didn’t keep my interest as much as prior books in the series, but I was curious to see what the end result would be. I think the ending was a bit of a stretch, but I was suspicious of a couple characters so it made sense in a way. I’m looking forward to the next book of the series and reading it soon!

 

 

 

See y’all on Friday with a new review! 

*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.