“Stay-at-home wife, homeschool mom and gardening enthusiast, Franny Ancrumb finds herself embarking on new life adventures. Not only is she dealing with her new identity of entering her middle age years, but she is also trying her best to keep her coming-of-age daughter, Lindsey, from flying the coop too soon. Surprised with a very energetic border collie puppy on her birthday, she thinks she has found the perfect solution to help her daughter see that summers are for fun, not studies.
Lindsey Ancrumb just wants her mom to understand she is ready to make something of herself. She knows God has given her the dream of becoming a doctor like her father for a reason. Meanwhile she is dealing with the competition of both a know-it-all younger sister, and a best friend who is graduating a year early to start her college career. To make matters worse, a trouble-making puppy has entered the equation and is taking up a lot of the family’s time, making Lindsey feel invisible and causing further strife between mother and daughter.
Can this mother-daughter duo find common ground and remember that these moments between them are to be cherished as a gift from God?”
Series: Book #1 in the “Moments in Maplecreek” series.
Spiritual Content- Scriptures are read, remembered, quoted, mentioned, & referenced; At the end of the book, the author’s husband asks the reader if they will be in Heaven someday and how to get there (with many Scriptures referenced and quoted); Many prayers, thanking God, and blessings over food; Church going & church events; Witnessing to someone; Talks about God, Jesus, trusting His leading, & His plans; ‘H’s are capital when referring to God; Set during Easter & Christmas; Many mentions of God, His creation, His timing, Him leading others, & having peace; Mentions of prayers, praying, thanking God, & blessings over food; Mentions of Bibles, Bible reading, Bible studies, & devotionals; Mentions of those & events in the Bible; Mentions of witnessing to others; Mentions of churches, church going, church groups and events, pastors, sermons, services, & hymns; Mentions of blessings & being blessed; Mentions of Easter & Christmas; Mentions of VBS; A few mentions of mission work; A couple mentions of Christian role models; A mention of Christian novels;
*Note: A woman shares with Lindsey that she grew up in church, but came to believe that church was full of hypocrites (including one who said she was “bound for hell” due to not going to church) and that God didn’t come looking for her (a main character witnesses to this woman and invites her to the family’s church; *Spoiler* The woman comes to their church and later accepts Jesus as her Lord and Savior *End of Spoiler*).
Negative Content- Some eye rolling and sarcasm; A bit of sibling bickering/jealousy between Lindsey and her little sister (but Lindsey prays to do better); Lindsey feels competitive with her best friend at times & aims to make her jealous (regarding school plans, but later realizes that while their competition has made Lindsey excel past her own goals in an effort to top the best friend’s actions, she feels bad for thinking like this and prays about her pride while also thanking God for her best friend); A scene of an injury with pain (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of injuries, pain, & blood/bleeding (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of jealousy; Mentions of sick pets, concerned owners, & treatments (including antibiotics); A few mentions of someone abandoning a pet rabbit in the forest; A couple mentions of children being chased and bitten by loose dogs; A couple mentions of bullies; A mention of the possibility of a dog being hit by a car; A mention of rumors;
*Note: Franny struggles with the idea of Lindsey growing up and leaving home for college (this includes hoping to convince her not to take her school plans so seriously and enjoy the summer; Franny starts to pray about it after realizing she’s been selfish regarding all of it); Lindsey feels like she’s drifting apart from her mom and feels like Franny is holding her back from her goals (this causes Lindsey to be smug a couple times when she gets to start working on her goals with her dad because it bothers her mom); Lindsey resents the puppy for stealing her mom’s attention from her; Lindsey finds some things about her family embarrassing (such as having to dress in color-coordinating outfits for Easter, but *Spoilers* by the end of the book, she plans doing it because she knows it makes her mom happy *End of Spoilers*); Mentions of actors, movies, and books (Roy Roger, ‘Lone Ranger’, ‘It’s the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown’, & ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’); Mentions of car brands; A few mentions of brand names (Cool Whip, Benadryl, & Airbnb); A mention of a public figure (Annie Oakley).
Sexual Content- Three forehead kisses, four not-detailed kisses, and three barely-above-not-detailed kisses (all kisses except one are done by a married couple); Some embraces (between a married couple, barely-above-not-detailed); Blushes; A bit of noticing (barely-above-not-detailed); Two ‘hot’s; One of Lindsey’s friends is boy-crazy & she talks about a hot guy a couple of times and flirts with him (Lindsey does not have an interest in dating or boys right now as she’s focused on her schooling and does not feel mature enough to pursue a real relationship); *Spoilers, but about a light romance* Towards the end, Lindsey meets a new guy at church and blushes around him; They become very good friends and in the epilogue, he proposes to her after they’ve been dating for some time *End of Spoilers*; Mentions of dating & boyfriends/girlfriends; Mentions of blushes; A few mentions of crushes; A mention of flirting;
*Note: A couple mentions of Franny’s figure (when referencing how she dresses age appropriate and modest).
-Franny Ancrumb, age 39-40
-Lindsey Ancrumb, age 15-16
P.O.V. switches between them
320 pages
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Pre Teens-
New Teens-
Early High School Teens-
Older High School Teens-
My personal Rating-
In all my years of reading and reviewing, I think I’ve only seen a main character with my name (and the correct spelling of it) twice before this book—so I’m up to three times now, which is more than keychains I’ve ever found with my name on it, haha! The Lindsey in this book is fifteen and wanting to plan for her future, but her mother (Franny) is having a hard time with her oldest growing up. We see both of their perspectives and it’s a very “slice-of-life” style plot-line with the book really being about their lives, interests, and just them going through their day-to-day busyness.
There was a lot of information about characters and side characters shared that while didn’t feel like info dumping as I read, there were quite a few parts that I didn’t find relevant to know all the details about a side character’s life. It definitely wasn’t info dumping, though, as it was written more like a friend was catching me up on the life of another friend’s family…but I’ll admit that I wasn’t super interested in those moments, so the book’s plot felt a little slow. That works great if you want a slower paced book that isn’t highly plot-driven, but is about the characters and their lives. The title is actually a great nod to this as it really is the moments between Franny and Lindsey, our main characters and a mother and her daughter. Because there wasn’t much happening in the book besides their daily lives, I did find myself a bit bored. I think this was more of a me thing than the book’s fault. There were also a lot of “I’m proud of you” speeches or just conversations that went on for a while plus a lot of saying a character’s name often in conversations, which felt a little awkward at times.
It felt a bit like a Guidepost mystery, but without the mystery, if that makes sense? A very small town, cozy, lots of details kind of plot. Plus strong Christian faith content throughout the book that felt natural for the main characters—which was lovely to see! I think those wanting a calmer book featuring a mother and daughter and their relationship would enjoy this book. I personally really enjoyed how clean it was and all the faith content. :)
See y’all on Wednesday 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.
*I received this book for free from the Author for this honest review.
No comments:
Post a Comment