Friday, January 29, 2010

Monthly Book Reviews-Month 1

Hi Everyone!

Hannah at Hannah's Hangout has made up a new, fun thing to do: Monthy Book Reviews! I have the links for her blog and the guidelines for this feature on my sidebar, along with her button.

I love to read, and so I have a few books to review! :D The books that I have enjoyed most thus far are the A Life of Faith series. These are probably my favorite books ever! They are so faith-building and they also have great characters, a very exciting plot, and it all started with an amazing author, Martha Finley. Martha Finley wrote the original Elsie, Millie, and Violet books and put the Laylie character in the Millie books, who later got her own book. I will be reviewing all of the ones I have read so far, eventually. But since I have read 8 of them, I won't review them all in one post. ;)

The first book I am going to review is called Elsie Dinsmore. Elsie is a sweet, 8 year old Southern heiress. Her mother died when Elsie was a week old, and Elsie has never met her father. He is traveling Europe. She lives with her Grandmother and Grandfather and their children, Adelaide, the oldest, Louise, Lora, Arthur (Elsie's constant terror), Walter, and Enna, all of whom are not very nice to her. Through it all, Elsie bears it, with the constant love of her Heavenly Father. She reads her little pocket-Bible everyday and her tears blister it, but she knows that He "never leaves thee, or forsakes thee". Through her many dissapointments and rebukes from her family, Elsie ever stays meek, gentle, and kind to everyone around her. I really enjoyed this book, because it was extremely well written. I am a fan of the old way of writing, very passionate and the wording is splendid to my taste. I did feel that it was a bit too "good" at times when her father comes home, but only sometimes, because her father was...well, very stern with Elsie. Overall I would rate this book 4 stars!

Author: Martha Finley
Book Name: Elsie Dinsmore
Publisher: Not known
Where you can buy it: Amazon, on your Amazon Kindle, and Family Christian.

Here is my second review:

Millie's Unsettled Season is the first book in the Millie Keith series. It was originally written by Martha Finley, but the Mission City Press company changed it a bit to make it a little more modern for a new generation of readers. ;) I just love the Millie series. Millie's Unsettled Season first takes place in Landsdale, Ohio, where twelve-year-old Millie Keith is learning about herself and her faith more and more. She has 7 brothers and sisters, Rupert (Ru), Adah, Zillah, twins Donald (Don) and Cyril, Fanny (Fan) and Annis, and she is the oldest. She has a loving mother and father, but because of money issues, her family has to move. They move to the Indiana frontier, in a little town called Pleasant Planes. But to Millie, it's anything but pleasant. This book encounters her exciting journey from Ohio to Indiana and how she copes living from her friends, fasionable parties, and, well, civil living. To me, the Millie series is overall more refreshing than the Elsie series, because Millie is not in dispare and has a loving, supportive family, yet has her hardships and faith.

I give this book 4 stars!

Author: Martha Finley (and it was changed a little to be more modern)
Book Name: Millie's Unsettled Season
Publisher: Mission City Press
Where you can find it: Amazon, Family Christian, a few libraries, and probably some bookstores.

The last book I am going to review is Laylie's Daring Quest. This book was amazing. The book starts with seven-year-old Laylie Colbert. She is living on a plantation as a slave. She can't work in the fields yet, but she helps with the babies on the plantation with an elderly slave, who cares for all the children, called Jo-Ma. Laylie has been told that religion is for white people, and therefore doesn't care too much about it. She has a brother, Luke, and he takes her across the swamp to an elderly black man who lives alone to teach her how to read. The book then skips over to when Laylie is ten and able to work in the fields. When she is taken to Roselands and made a ladie's maid of Millie Keith, a Christian and an abolitionist, her whole life changes. This is an amazing book, and I really liked all the plots. I rate this book five stars!

Author: I forget...sorry!
Book Name: Laylie's Daring Quest
Publisher: Mission City Press
Where you can find it: Amazon, Family Christian, and probably some libraries and bookstores.

So, that's it! I hope you enjoyed the book reviews! :D

~Quinlyn

9 comments:

Cara said...

Today is a snow day! hurray! I like ur book reviews! I should read some of them sometime, after I read Breaking Dawn (Twilight book #4) They really aren't as bad as everyone says. It doesn't have as much "adult content" as I thought it would. (If there was any adult content at all!) And I wasn't "scarred for life". Haha, I was wrong.

Anne said...

What a great idea, Quinlyn!!
I've read two of those books, Elsie Dinsmore and Laylie's Daring Quest! I LOVE them! I also have
Millie's Unsettled Season, but I haven't had time to read it yet.
Currently, I'm reading Anne of Avonlea by Lucy Maud Montgomery! I've read Anne of Green Gables and I'm reading this one now!! They are so good and I am really enjoying reading it! I rate it 5 stars!

hannah m said...

THANK YOU for participating!!! Those sound like great books! I'm adding them to my LONG list of books that I want to read:)

Thanks again!
~Hannah

Hannie said...

Great! My family had the original Elsie Disnmore books. They are so good and sad! <3
Hannie

Hannie said...

Quinlyn, I was wondering if you recommend blogspot. I don't really like wordpress. It doesn't let you have a playlist or pictures and things at the sides of the blog like blogspot does! Or maybe it can but I can't figure it out! Hannie

Cara said...

This doesn't have anything to do with your post, but I love your new photo up at the top! It's so creative!

Madeline said...

I LOVE Elsie books!

Jasmine said...

I LOVE MILLIE'S UNSETTLED SEASON! :), BTW Violet is in my lap right now!!!

Unknown said...

I've read all twenty-eight of the original Elsie Dinsmore books (we have them all actually) and enjoyed them. Some books were better than others :)

I haven't read any of the Life of Faith books, but I've seen them at conferences or at friends' houses.