Beneath a Southern Sky

Rating:
Summary: How this book helped me
Review: HI, I am going through a tough time now,and a friend had given me this book a while back to read and I just read it, as I felt it was calling me.I read it in a shortest time I think I've ever read a book.Only a few hours less than 12.And it helped me to see that I really needed to go home and let my Father take away my pain,anger and take care of things as he wills.This is a touching story and romance, but touched me on levels that have nothing to do with the story itself and more to do with what I think God was trying to tell me through this story.I don't know if Deb meant this or not, but I can say in my case he used this story to reach me.Thank you and I would recommend this book to anyone who is in doubt and needs to just feel love and peace.

Rating:
Summary: POORLY DONE! 1 STAR
Review: I bought this book for 2 reasons.

I read Vow to Cherish by Raney and thought it was well done.
Secondly I thought Beneath a Southern Sky sounded like an interesting story line.

BUT

This book made me furious. It was so shallow! It was more like a "Christian Harlequin" than anything else. This book had the potential for being a really good book featuring an emotionally charged story line. In the following description I am not giving away anything that is not written on the back of the book.

Daria and Nathan are young missionaries in Columbia and very much in love which is nicely portrayed in the beginning chapters. Daria is shown to be a young woman emotionally dependent and totally in love with her husband.

Nathan however has to go to a neighboring village and there is a fire and he is presumed dead. This is where the book really slides downhill.

Daira's grief is so shallowly and unrealistically portrayed. It should have been heart wrenching but the most Raney delves into it is "she cried on her bed until she could cry no more"
She should have been DEVASTATED, refusing to believe Nathan was dead, demanding a search, incapacitated etc.
Instead we see her 2 weeks later, back home in the USA, at Nathan's memorial service laughing with old school chums, feeling like her old self again. (It actually says that .. she was strting to feel like her old self again. People grieve longer over a lost family pet!!!) I was so COMPLETELY disgusted. That is a trashy, pathetically unreal "grief" scenario. A tragic accident and grief like that, takes months if not years to come to terms with.

Next faux-pas. 11 months later, after having Nate's baby (yes she was pregnant when he died) she goes to work at a vet clinic. I kid you not .. the FIRST time she meets the doctor this is what Raney writes "their hands brushed .. and she found his touch strangely intimate. Heat rose to her face ..." and this is page 62 of the book and on page 83 she is telling her Mom that she has "feelings for Dr. Cole" and soon after they are married. This is a little over a year since her "beloved one and only" died tragically. And his baby to boot!

Anyway, you can skip the whole marriage thing with Cole and not miss a thing. A lot of screwy family dynamics and not much romance at all. In fact Cole is often portrayed as a brute and mentally unstable with a dark past which is WAY overdone. I call that manipulative writing.

The ending when Nate comes back is only slightly better writing but Raney does not even scratch the surface of how emotionally wrenching such an experience would actually be.

I am VERY disappointed and I will not buy another book by Raney which has proven to be your standard, warmed over Christian bookstore fare.... which unfortunatley as you can see from the ratings is perfectly fine with most people. No wonder really good books are rare. There is no demand for them!

Rating:
Summary: A Heartbreaking Read -- Not Recommended
Review: I feel as if I've been clubbed over the head by the author of this book. She had a spiritual message she wanted to convey. Rather than working it gently into my heart, she's driven it in like a stake. I don't recommend the experience.

Please don't read this book if you like happy endings. There isn't one. Don't read it if you have a tender heart because it will surely break. Don't read it if you hate injustice.

If, on the other hand, you love in your face gritty reality, you'll love this book. If you'd enjoy reading a fictionalized version of much that goes on in our world these days - heartbreak, tragedy, loneliness, pain, deceit - you'll enjoy the book. If you like your spiritual message plastered on so thickly you can barely breathe, get the book shipped immediately.

As for me ... never again.

Rating:
Summary: Unrealistic and bland
Review: I found the writing poor and the believabilty of the story REALLY shaky.

No matter how strong you are in the Lord (and Daria wasn't. She was totally dependent on her husband) you will have a grieving period ... a wrenching grieving period. To be laughing and and joking with school chums at your husband's funeral is offensive and stupid and unrealistic.
Ask Elisabeth Elliot who could hardly get herself out of bed in the morning weeks after her husband died in the jungle.

I also found Daria's marriage to Cole nauseating. The guy was a neurotic and a little scary.

I think Ms. Raney can do better but "don't ya know" ya gotta keep cranking them out when you have a deadline. That's the flavor of this book.

I was expecting so much more. For the most part - I hated it.

Rating:
Summary: BENEATH A SOUTHERN SKY is another Raney winner!!!
Review: I have read everything I could get my hands on that Deborah Raney has written, and having just finished BENEATH A SOUTHERN SKY in a single day, I have one overwhelming emotion - I WANT TO READ EVERYTHING SHE WRITES!!!

Rating:
Summary: Waste of Time and Paper
Review: I too agree that this book is poorly done but typical of the warmed over mush in Christian bookstores (I am a Christian)

This book has very little feeling even though considering the subject line it should be wrenching. I found it unrealistic and almost juvenile.

Rating:
Summary: How this book helped me
Review: I'm a romance reader, but most of the books I read are not Christian romances. Still, that was a complete non-issue to me in enjoying this book. As a romance novel, I thought it was really top notch.

First of all, the writing style. It's a carefully written book that provides a rich atmosphere. But it never gets bogged down in dull detail or caught on insignificant events. It keeps moving and pulling the reader along. I never once got bored.

Secondly, it's an EMOTIONALLY INTELLIGENT book. Everything that happens in this book - you feel it. When something sad happens, your heart will sink. When something surprising happens, your jaw will drop open, and when something romantic happens, you will have a big silly grin on your face. It is a right-brained book as well as left-brained. It's a book you can feel right down to your bones.

As far as romance, the book is an absolute dream. I can't say too much without giving away some secrets about the plot. But I wanted desperately for "us" (the heroine and me) to marry the hero. I adored the men in her life. And even though the book was tasteful, I found that the author could give me chills by mentioning just a few gestures, a few powerful words. It definitely gave me romantic flutters.

Another thing I loved was the honesty in the minute, routine observations made throughout the book. When the heroine has an argument with her husband once, the authors says that for just a moment, she kind of hated him. I appreciated that honesty! I know exactly what she's talking about - that moment when you're in an argument with someone you love, when your "I've got to win this argument" feelings are so strong that you lose all affection for the person for one moment. It's so real. And yet, their love went on - it wasn't a big deal. There were a number of things the author mentioned which occur in real relationships, in real marriages. Some of them, I'd never seen expressed on paper before. It really made me feel good to relate to those moments, and to see that the couple could just keep moving on past them.

As far as the Christian aspect, as I said, that's not usually my thing. So did the Christian theme interfere with my enjoyment? Not at all. In fact, it added a lot to the story. This was not a book about wholesome, "perfect people" who were so devout and angelic that I wanted to roll my eyes at every turn. Not at all! They were just normal people with normal problems (OK, some unusually dramatic problems as well), and I was able to understand their Christianity through their eyes ... how it affected them as characters. And it was not a shallow Christianity that was presented here. It was a more thoughtful, profound kind of Christianity. The kind where I could say, "OK, I guess I've had religious experiences that felt a little like that. I kind of know what she means."

Finally, without giving away the ending, I want to say that I was really impressed by the parallel drawn at the end of the book between one of the main character's fates, and the story of Jesus. As literature, that was well done. It was a rich and beautiful parallel that really shed light on both stories (This one, and the story of Jesus's sacrifice). Again, I don't think you have to be a Christian to appreciate how well done that was. It was good writing.

I recommend this book to any reader of romance. I recommend it to anyone who likes high quality popular fiction. And personally, I have actually had dreams about the ending of this book, that's how much it affected me. So I am putting myself on the waiting list for this author's next novel.

Rating:
Summary: This is a FIRST CLASS romance novel!
Review: I'm a romance reader, but most of the books I read are not Christian romances. Still, that was a complete non-issue to me in enjoying this book. As a romance novel, I thought it was really top notch.

First of all, the writing style. It's a carefully written book that provides a rich atmosphere. But it never gets bogged down in dull detail or caught on insignificant events. It keeps moving and pulling the reader along. I never once got bored.

Secondly, it's an EMOTIONALLY INTELLIGENT book. Everything that happens in this book - you feel it. When something sad happens, your heart will sink. When something surprising happens, your jaw will drop open, and when something romantic happens, you will have a big silly grin on your face. It is a right-brained book as well as left-brained. It's a book you can feel right down to your bones.

As far as romance, the book is an absolute dream. I can't say too much without giving away some secrets about the plot. But I wanted desperately for "us" (the heroine and me) to marry the hero. I adored the men in her life. And even though the book was tasteful, I found that the author could give me chills by mentioning just a few gestures, a few powerful words. It definitely gave me romantic flutters.

Another thing I loved was the honesty in the minute, routine observations made throughout the book. When the heroine has an argument with her husband once, the authors says that for just a moment, she kind of hated him. I appreciated that honesty! I know exactly what she's talking about - that moment when you're in an argument with someone you love, when your "I've got to win this argument" feelings are so strong that you lose all affection for the person for one moment. It's so real. And yet, their love went on - it wasn't a big deal. There were a number of things the author mentioned which occur in real relationships, in real marriages. Some of them, I'd never seen expressed on paper before. It really made me feel good to relate to those moments, and to see that the couple could just keep moving on past them.

As far as the Christian aspect, as I said, that's not usually my thing. So did the Christian theme interfere with my enjoyment? Not at all. In fact, it added a lot to the story. This was not a book about wholesome, "perfect people" who were so devout and angelic that I wanted to roll my eyes at every turn. Not at all! They were just normal people with normal problems (OK, some unusually dramatic problems as well), and I was able to understand their Christianity through their eyes ... how it affected them as characters. And it was not a shallow Christianity that was presented here. It was a more thoughtful, profound kind of Christianity. The kind where I could say, "OK, I guess I've had religious experiences that felt a little like that. I kind of know what she means."

Finally, without giving away the ending, I want to say that I was really impressed by the parallel drawn at the end of the book between one of the main character's fates, and the story of Jesus. As literature, that was well done. It was a rich and beautiful parallel that really shed light on both stories (This one, and the story of Jesus's sacrifice). Again, I don't think you have to be a Christian to appreciate how well done that was. It was good writing.

I recommend this book to any reader of romance. I recommend it to anyone who likes high quality popular fiction. And personally, I have actually had dreams about the ending of this book, that's how much it affected me. So I am putting myself on the waiting list for this author's next novel.

Rating:
Summary: A Journey of Love
Review: Imagine hearing that the love of your life has been killed....then years later that he is alive!!!!!!! This dilemma takes the reader through all the emotions possible, and then some. The background in underdeveloped Colombia is awesome, but the story grabs your heart and just won't let go. This is a MUST READ for any Christian romance/adventure reader. Months later, my heart is still torn by this book, I think you will love it as much as I do. I'm looking forward to the sequel!!!!

Rating:
Summary: A Story of REAL Devotion!
Review: In a world where love is so temporary and based on emotions, this book is about the old-fashioned REAL kind of love. The kind where a guy would lay down himself for you! And in this case TWO men. I loved the tragedy of loving two men after she's gone thru the grief of losing one. A great story!