Book Review - Facing the Dawn by Cynthia Ruchti

 

Mara Jacobs has been struggling for three years while her humanitarian husband, Liam, has been digging wells in Africa. She knows she should feel proud and happy for her husband who is helping widows and children nine time zones away. However, she is exhausted and working a dead end job to put food on the table. She barely has time to spend with her three delinquent children, failing to make repairs on their dilapidated house, and she feels like she is barely hanging on most days.

When Mara receives news that her husband has perished during one of his missions, her entire world gets turned upside down. Mara struggles to find joy in her life when she experiences another life alternating incident. She tries to have faith and find hope when things look bleak.

I have read other books by the author and I was looking forward to reading this book. Unfortunately, I had a hard time getting into the novel. I didn't enjoy the writing style and felt like it was fragmented. The way information was revealed felt disjointed. The book moved very slowly and it was hard for me to connect to the characters. I was more than half way done when I couldn't be bothered with reading more.

**Disclosure - I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest opinion.**

Book Review - This Too Shall Pass by Milena Busquets

Photo Credit : Amazon

Blanca is forty when the person she has loved the longest has passed. Newly motherless, Blanca has a hard time coming to terms with her mother's death. She had no idea what to do anymore and how will she go on without her mother. She decides to visit her childhood home to help with the grief and thinks about the volatile relationship she had with her mother.  She is accompanied by her two sons,  her two ex-husbands, her two best friends, and her married lover. 

Still going through a whirlwind of emotions from her mother's death, she meets up with old and new friends to discover the meaning of life. She uses sex, drugs and alcohol to deal and get over her grief and understand that life goes on after death.

The book was an interesting and quick read. However, I can't say I really cared for the novel. It seem like a person who is rambling. Because the book was translated, I don't feel some parts of the text was very fluid and especially the conversations between characters was hard to understand. This was a bawdy book with no story or purpose. While reading this  book I kept thinking, "This too shall pass".

**Disclosure - I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest opinion**