book review

Sandwich With a Side of Romance

/ LaShona Sellers / Leave a comment

You can’t help but to love Maddie Buckner, the heroine of Krista Phillips‘ debut novel Sandwich, With a Side of Romance. You will root for this sassy tough girl from page one, as she lives out her new faith in Jesus while struggling to make a new life for herself and the little brother she desperately wants to get out of foster care. Her move to small town Sandwich, IL marks a new beginning and as her heart eventually accepts, so does Reuben-the-Jerk Callahan.

This novel is engaging and humorous yet seriously deals with the realities of life. Universal themes of grace, forgiveness, acceptance, and unconditional love are woven throughout the story. The characters are memorable and endearing, especially the Callahan clan, a family so rich in love that one can’t help but to cheer on a Maddie and Reuben romance. Krista writes in the novel’s Acknowledgments that “no man is an island” and this novel speaks loud and clear to how God uses the people around us to bless and enrich our lives.

Sandwich, With a Side of Romance reminds us that life is best lived with a whole lot of faith and a little help from friends.

On a personal note:

I have followed Krista’s blog for a couple of years now and though I’ve never met her personally,  it is so exciting and encouraging to see prayers answered and dreams fulfilled. God is nothing short of amazing!

Freeman

/ LaShona Sellers / 1 Comment

To call Leonard Pitts’ novel, Freeman, simply moving seems somehow inadequate. Yet it moved me from tears of joy to tears of anger, from disbelief to acknowledgment. At the core it’s an epic love story, not only of the love Sam Freeman has for Tilda; an enduring love that compels him to walk thousands of miles, but the love of family as newly freed slaves search for loved ones, and self love as black men and women struggle to define their humanity and take back the dignity stolen by years of degradation. I was engrossed from the first page, at times so invested in the lives Sam, Ben, Prudence, Bonnie and Tilda, I had to put the book aside, the anticipation too great.  Mr. Pitts so completely and vividly conveyed the setting that there were a couple of nights my dreams transported me  back to the Civil War- torn South. This novel was amazing. I love my public library but  this novel warrants a visit to Amazon and a place on my bookshelf.