About this book:
“Aidyn
Kelley is talented, ambitious, and ready for a more serious assignment than the
fluff pieces she’s been getting as a cub reporter for the Kansas City Star. In
her eagerness, she pushes too hard, earning herself the menial task of writing
an obituary for an unremarkable woman who’s just entered hospice care. But
there’s more to Clara Kip than meets the eye. The spirited septuagenarian may
be dying, but she’s not quite ready to cash it in yet. Never one to shy away
from an assignment herself, she can see that God brought the young reporter
into her life for a reason. And if it’s a story Aidyn Kelley wants, that’s just
what Mrs. Kip will give her—but she’s going to have to work for it.”
Series: As of now, no, a stand-alone novel.
Spiritual Content- 2 Peter 1:15 at the end; Many Scriptures are mentioned,
read, quoted, & repeated; Bible reading; Many, many prayers, praising,
& thanking God; Church going & helping at a mission; Witnessing to
others (including Mrs. Kip witnesses to a man and prayers hard for his
salvation, there is a scene of him apparently seeing Someone after their
witnessing, before his death); Many, many talks about God, His will, trusting Him,
& witnessing; ‘H’s are not capitalized when referring to God; All about
many, many mentions of God, His will, & trusting Him; In a flashback scene,
Mrs. Kip is mad at God and doesn’t understand why He allowed something to
happen and in another scene, she thinks that God is a bully (in the next
flashback scene, she’s a new Christian); Many mentions of God, witnessing,
& His will; Many mentions of Bibles, Bible reading, books of the Bible, those
in the Bible, & Scriptures; Mentions of Heaven & longing to be there; Mentions
of churches, church going, Bible classes, Sunday school classes, pastors,
worship, & songs; Mentions of mission trips, missionaries, & martyrs; Mentions
of angels & God’s hidden warriors; Mentions of blessings & being
blessed; Mentions of a cross necklace (Aidyn wears one, but keeps it under her
shirt at work since “newsrooms aren’t exactly harbors of faith”); A few
mentions of God’s creation; A few mentions of different Christian denominations;
A few mentions of godsends & God speed; A few mentions of Buddhists
learning about Christianity because it gives hope; A couple mentions of baptisms;
A couple mentions of devotionals; A couple mentions of miracles; A couple
mentions of someone being like a saint; A couple mentions of a Chris Tomlin
song; A couple mentions of a Faith section of a newspaper being the article is
code for being “relatively buried”;
*Note: A couple mentions of Aidyn
and her friend (Rahmiya)’s difference in faith and how they rarely talk about
it (the end of the book leaves it open ended about Aidyn talking to her about
it); A couple mentions of someone believing in Jesus, but struggling to deal
with his own demons and “taking their power for granted”; A mention of a group
of people having been through hell; A mention of a godforsaken place.
Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘freaking’, a ‘suck it up’, a form
of ‘stupid’, two forms of ‘dumb’; A little bit of (playfully) eye rolling; Mrs.
Kips is in hospice care (cancer), has pain, has to take morphine at times, and
also needs help going to the bathroom (up to semi-detailed); Seeing signs of
death approaching (written mostly in a medical way), seeing someone die, & helping
clean them (up to semi-detailed); See an infant that died (up to semi-detailed);
In a flashback scene, Mrs. Kips drinks Scotch after her husband’s death (though
she doesn’t like it); A nightmare of a child being attacked by a beast (not
gruesome, but in a spiritual-way, barely-above-not-detailed); While not technically
lying, Aidyn fishes for information by acting like she knows what the other
person is talking about; Many mentions of wars, fighting, deaths, families
being separated, & Communists (including a new government that wants to
murder someone); Many mentions of death, deaths, how they happened, signs of
death approaching, & grieving (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of a car
accident, death, & how it happened (hinted to be drunk-driving, up to semi-detailed);
Mentions of pain & injuries; Mentions of alcohol, drinking, someone who “battled
the bottle”, & a bar; A few mentions of killers, thieves, and liars; A few
mentions of prejudice & trying to help foreigners despite others being
small-minded about it; A couple mentions of terrorists & bombs; A couple
mentions of the Great Depression; A couple mentions of jealousy; A couple
mentions of smoking & a pipe; A couple mentions of humans being cruel to
animals; A mention of the Japanese internment camps in the 1940s; A mention of a
possible murder; A mention of illegal dogfights;
*Note: Mentions of social media
& technology (FaceTime, YouTube); Mentions of Harley motorcycles; A couple
mentions of a store & items (JCPenney, Barbie); A couple mentions of Elvis
& a song; A couple mentions of car brands; A mention of Starbucks; A mention
of McDonald’s; A mention of a brand name (Vuitton).
Sexual Content- A bit of Mrs. Kip
recalling her husband’s embrace, warmth, and scent (barely-above-not-detailed);
A few mentions of an out-of-wedlock pregnancy (a businessman and a “naïve waitress”);
A mention of rescuing young girls from the red-light districts;
*Note: A couple mentions of a
younger brother’s rancid boxers.
-Clara Kip, age 79
-Aidyn Kelley, age 24
P.O.V.
switches between them
Set in 2016 & Flashbacks back
to other times (1969, 1971, 1975-1979, & 1983) 368 pages
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
{ This
book may be a hard read for those who recently lost a loved one due to the many
mentions of deaths and death nearing, though, it could also help if the loved
one was a Christian.}
To be frankly honest, I had been
pushing reading this book off for the last couple of weeks. I was hearing great
things about it, but I either wasn’t feeling it or wasn’t sure what to expect.
So here I am two weeks later, finally have read this book with dried tears on
my cheeks.
What a faith-filled story this
was.
This is what Christian Fiction is
in the best possible way: a story showing someone’s faith being steadfast during
the hard times, not forgetting Him in the easy times, and also witnessing God’s
love to others. I adored the message that this book carried.
I wasn’t the biggest fan of Aidyn
at first (she grew on me about half-way, though), but Mrs. Kips quickly caught
my attention. Nearly every word out of her mouth was a prayer or praise to God
and it was truly inspiring to read. Part of me wishes that we would have
learned a bit more about Aidyn or even more details about Mrs. Kip, but the
important details—their faiths—were there. I thought it was interesting to be introduced
to a character through one person’s eyes and then when the point of view
switches, we learn different things about that same person. I loved the
missions aspects of this book and foresee myself going on some research bunny
trails soon.
For those looking for a Christian
Fiction book that isn’t the normal book in the genre, I highly suggest you
check this one out.
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.
*I received this book for free
from the Publisher (Revell) for this honest review.
