Wednesday, May 23, 2018

Book Review: Waterbrooks' Where the Fire Falls by Karen Barnett

Part of whispering the Word to our kids- is being sure we are in a mindset of faith, belief, and letting the Word transform us.  I choose to read mainly fiction and non-fiction books that will help me think at higher levels and evaluate, analyze or synthesize how I process and internalize the Word of God.  This book is a great example of that.  The characters thinking and processing of a few scriptures is shared throughout the storyline and is authentic, vulnerable, and realistic even in today's world.  So I'll recommend this fiction read to teens on up... and if you have a tween who loves historical fiction with a big of suspense I don't see any issues with letting them choose a 340ish page book to read.  It could easily be a literature circle book with 10 questions at the end of the book from the author, and you could analyze many great writing elements or character development reading this together and I expect you would ALL enjoy it thoroughly.... The authors style, depth, and writing would be a great model to mirror for developing writers.  

I read a lot of books. It's new for me to regularly be reading fiction again, and historical fiction especially with a little romance has always been something I enjoy. But Karen Barnett, a new author to me, has blown me away with her ability to make a national park come alive, with intriguing characters, and unpredictable page turning plot, as both Clark and Olivia search out their identity and ultimately their identity in Christ. 

This book releases June 5, if you pre-order and submit your receipts here, you can get her first park ranger book free!  



This book is well written, and the characters come to life, as they are so well developed, but not predictable. I like that faith is a theme of the story, but in authentic real ways. Scripture is shared when it fits a conversation or when it might be present in a character's mind, but it is not overly emphasized so that someone who may not believe in the Word of God would still enjoy the tale, and might be encouraged to wonder in similar ways. 

One of my favorite parts of their storyline is that both question what God is doing in their lives, is He even still present and guiding them, and what does He have in store for the next step. Without spoiling the content, I think Chapter 18 is a great representation of a real, alive and growing faith dialogue, that many don't think can be discussed out loud, but it is portrayed in a real and authentic way, and accurate to how I have had God work in my own life. 

I enjoy a lot of books. But I feel like after reading this book, my 5 star rating may over rate other books I've read previously. I am blessed to have an ARC from the publisher, I wanted to try a new author and I'm thrilled to share an honest, positive review... now time to see if my local library has her other books!





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