Book Club Picks: The Mother Keeper

So as you all know I started a book club, because you know me and books…

Every month we read a book and I do a little post on the book we read and discussed. What can I say, I just love books.

There is no theme, other than with each month, a different member gets to pick a book, whichever one they want. This time the book club member chose:

The Mother Keeper by Paula Scott

So in my last book club book review I had chosen The Far Side of the Sea by Paula Scott and our book club actually got to meet her!

Afterwards, we all started following her on instagram, facebook, etc. One book club member spotted this on facebook and afterwards wanted to read it.

Paula Scott told us that she started writing this years ago and tucked it away, bringing it out later when her daughters wanted a romance as she wouldn’t let them read Twilight (thank goodness).

She tweaked it here and there and rewrote it-this being the finishing product.

Jenny McBride and her husband Kevin, live in Colorado, are celebrating New Year’s Eve and ecstatic for their pregnancy. They can’t wait or the baby, dreaming of all the things they would like to do.

Both are Christians and strong leaders in their church. That night Kevin had a drink, something Jenny does not approve of, and she insists on driving them home in the snow. A car comes careening their way, and crashes into them. Jenny loses her uterus, Kevin his leg, and both their baby.

Nooooooooooooooo

Jenny can’t believe this happened to her, her whole life she has been a good Christian and this is what happens to her? She is hurt, depressed, and angry.

Noooo!

Meanwhile, in the country areas of Tennessee, teenagers Ellie Ryan and her boyfriend are making plans for the future. Jamie is a big football star and will get a scholarship, while Ellie can get one with her amazing grades. However, there is one wrinkle-Ellie is pregnant.

That is not good,

She doesn’t tell her boyfriend, she just breaks up with him. She then heads to the pregnancy crisis center where her sister had gotten an abortion before she took off to California. Ellie hasn’t heard from her since.

At the center, Ellie meets Patsy Klein, a pastor’s wife, who invites her to come stay with her and take part in their church’s Mother Keeper program. The Mother Keeper program, is when a family takes in a pregnant teen and helps take care of her until she has the baby. Sometimes they adopt the baby, help arrange adoptions, or just help them until they can figure out their next step. They pay the food and medical bills through church funding/fundraising.

Ellie stays with Pastor Klein, Patsy, and their three boys-Shawn, Seth, and Stephen. For Ellie, this a dream come true as she is finally part a perfect family.

Shawn is upset when he hears that a pregnant girl from Sutterville-Sucksville-is going to be living with  them. He has enough on his plate with football, a scholarship to Vanderbilt, his beautiful girlfriend Jill who desires him. But meeting Ellie and spending time with her-Shawn realizes that the life he has been living isn’t what he wants at all, but what does he want? Now, he doesn’t know.

Hmmm….I need to rethink my life’s choices

As Shawn and Ellie grow closer, Shawn wants to marry her and raise the baby together. But the assistant pastor contacts his sister Jenny, she having gone through a spiritual battle and grief, is ready to adopt-Ellie’s baby. What will Ellie decide?

Many more decisions will be made as secrets are brought out in the open: a secret affair, true parentage revealed, murder, rape, and a fight over who will adopt Ellie’s baby.

Wow!

This was a a fantastic story and a real page turner. Paula Scott doesn’t pull way from anything, but hits the truth hard.

What?

It’s funny because it certain characters reminded me of ones from Desperate Pastor Wives and The Masterpiece. That was completely unplanned by us. In DPW, Jennifer Shores too has lost a baby, and becomes angry with God; having to go through her journey, getting close to God, and figuring what is next in the future. In The Masterpiece, Grace Moore is kept by a family until she has her child, and goes through a similar battle over who will adopt her child, along with having family issues she has to work through.

It was a fantastic book, and I strongly recommend it.

For more Book Club Picks, go to Book Club Picks: Far Side of the Sea

For more by Paula Scott, go to Book Club Picks: Until the Day Breaks

For more Christian novels, go to Book Club Picks: Desperate Pastors’ Wives

Six Degrees of Separation

Reading books are really special, not only for their content:

But the fact that something you read can become a part of you. The characters can become your friends, family, a part of who you are.

We love them so much that if asked, it would hard to pick just one.

But have you ever thought about how a book you love is loved and touched by others? Especially a library book.

Have you ever thought about how every book you check out has been checked out by countless others. Even though each book affects people in a different way; it still is pretty amazing how many people can be reached through a book.

So there used to be something that I would do in novels I borrowed from the library. I would leave little things in them for the next reader.

Bookmarks, stickers, quotes, pictures, etc. I thought that maybe these little gifts would enhance the reader’s life, maybe make them very happy. Brighten their day.

I stopped doing it after a while because I started to think that maybe I was causing more trouble for the library workers who have to check through the books.

But after a while I started to do it again. I joined the site PaperBackSwap and as I sent out my books to trade; I sometimes include little things: bookmarks, cards, etc. To thank them and set a smile on their face too.

Is that a weird thing to do? Or something you do as well?

For more Neil Gaiman, go to One of Many

For more Virgina Woolf, go to True Treasure

For more book-filled posts, go to The Strange Case of a Fangirl and Her Fandoms

Stepping Into Another World

Yep, reality is a cold, dark, and horrifying place. But there is light!

Yep, thanks to books we can leave our dreary lives for another more adventurous, amazing, romantic, timeless life.

Yep:

So see ya real life!

For more bookish posts, go to The Meaning of Nothing

I’ve Got a Hangover

Yep, I have some big issues. I’ve got a:

I hate/love it when that happens. You have an amazing book that you just absolutely love and are involved with. You want to get to the end, the conclusion of the story, but at the same time you don’t want it to be over.

When you’re done, it’s like what do I do now?

You kind of stumble around until you find another great book and then the cycle starts all over again. Such is the life of a book lover.

 

And you know what, I don’t want help for my addiction.

For more book lover posts, go to When in Doubt

For more on Shawn Hunter, go to Simply Fantastic

For more on being a fangirl, go to Fantastic Fantasies

When In Doubt

As the caped crusader points out, there is no place better to head to. After all:

This was my favorite quote in the whole Harry Potter series. You see I love libraries. Whenever I’m lost I always seem to find them. In college, I spent so much time in the library, people thought I worked there. I just love being with all the books, the quiet, etc.

Me

Yep, a library will always be the best place you could go. After all:

So what are you waiting for? Get thee to a library!

For more on libraries, go to Conan the Librarian 

For more on my love of books, go to Simply Fantastic

For more Batman, go to Fanning All Over the Place

For more on J.K. Rowling, go to I Will Survive

For more Harry Potter quotes, go to Part XI: A Movie Lines List’s Excellent Adventure

For more of my favorite quotes, go to A Sense of Sense and Sensibility