Books in Brief

What's new in Christian fiction series

by Staff -- Publishers Weekly, 8/28/2006

Earthly Vows
Patricia Hickman. Warner/FaithWords, $13.99 paper (312p) ISBN 0-446-69235-2

Hickman's final installment in the Millwood Hollow quartet delivers what fans have come to expect—a satisfying and well-told tale of family and survival during the Great Depression—while delving a bit deeper into the murkier places in the human heart. Rev. Jeb Nubey is engaged to the hard-won Fern Coulter, but in her distance and his blame-filled lack of understanding, Hickman shows readers just how much individuals can hurt one another even when they are in love. Jeb's foster daughter, Angel, also has an awakening of sorts when she finds that the long-awaited reunion with her biological family isn't all sweetness and light. Hickman skillfully weaves a dust bowl drought into the story, making its heat and apparently never-ending dryness an apt metaphor for her characters' spiritual and emotional isolation. She hits a strong note with the 1930s historical setting, which is well-researched and authentic but not obtrusive. Fans will enjoy and be subtly challenged by this conclusion to the series, though newcomers should be warned to start with the first novel (Fallen Angels) lest they be overwhelmed by the dizzying cast of characters. (Nov. 16)

Partonville, the beloved "circle-the-square town in the northern part of southern Illinois," is back in book five of Baumbich's enjoyable series. As Christmas approaches, Katie Durbin's plans to create a minimall in the town square are threatened by some mutinous citizens, and 88-year-old Dorothy Jean Wetstra will need all of her shrewd diplomacy and powerful prayers to "The Big Guy" to win them all over. Meanwhile, the town is in a dither because of the untimely accidental death of one of its leading residents. This installment features a sweet 60-something romance, a promising subplot about Dorothy's attorney son Jacob,and the usual dose of good humor and funny happenings. Despite some recurring technical problems with abrupt shifts in point of view, Baumbich's writing shows that she knows—and still loves—smalltown people. (Nov.)

Like its predecessor, Sahm I Am, this charming holiday novel tracks the e-mail correspondence of a group of stay-at-home moms. As Christmas approaches, their stress levels increase exponentially, but they have friendship and much laughter to sustain them. The women deal with humorous things, like children who get Polly Pockets shoes lodged up their noses, but also with weighty issues: unemployment, decreased sex drive, infertility, cheating spouses and the ups and downs of both pregnancy and adoption. Efken nails the characters' various voices and keeps the pacing brisk, lacing some uproariously funny moments amid the ladies' virtual sturm und drang. Her skillful satire of Rosalyn, the self-righteous and controlling list moderator whose own family is secretly falling apart, is delicious, and she offers a balanced and loving take on gender roles, faith and child-rearing. Both stay-at-home and working Christian moms will recognize their struggles here, and feel the novel's lighthearted humor lessening their load. (Oct. 24)

Coble's first novel in the Smoke Jumpers series features the excitement of fire fighting in the Arizona wilderness, with heroine Tess Masterson jumping from airplanes to put out the wildfires that a local arsonist keeps setting. Soon, however, she begins to suspect that there's a connection between these fires and the one that resulted in a family tragedy when she was a teenager. Coble attempts to balance several complex plot threads, mostly successfully, though readers may find themselves exhausted by the many catastrophes that befall Tess and those she loves. The final third of the novel is filled with surprising plot twists as well as some starry-eyed romance. But to get there, readers will have to overlook abrupt scene shifts and hackneyed lines like "She'd been a burr under his saddle from the day he first clapped eyes on her." (Oct. 10)