In case I haven’t mentioned before, I love reading fiction books, specially christian fiction books. I think they provide excellent tools for the writer to teach us something and to make our minds “travel” to a new world created by their imagination.
Jesus Himself used those tools when He told amazing truths about God and the Kingdom of Heavens through fictional stories (also known as “parables”).
Recently I’ve read a delightful book that I wanted to share about with you. It’s Stardust, by Carla Stewart.
This is the book description as published in Amazon:
Shortly after burying her unfaithful husband, Georgia Peyton unexpectedly inherits the derelict Stardust motel from a distant relative. Despite doubts from the community and the aunt who raised her, she is determined to breathe new life into it. But the guests who arrive aren’t what Georgia expects: Her gin-loving mother-in-law; her dead husband’s mistress; an attractive but down-on-his-luck drifter who’s tired of the endless road; and an aging Vaudeville entertainer with a disturbing link to Georgia’s past.
Can Georgia find the courage to forgive those who’ve betrayed her, the grace to shelter those who need her, and the moxy to face the future? And will her dream of a new life under the flickering neon of the STARDUST ever come true?
The first thing I enjoyed about the book was Carla’s writing. As you may know, I am a non-native English speaker, and I don’t enjoy books that seem that the author wrote them using a Thesaurus. Carla’s writing is easy to read and she puts a steady pace in the narration that makes you never feel bored or never feel like skipping pages to get to the “action”. Each chapter is very objective and it tells a important part of the story (no fillers at all).
She also created very interesting and believable characters. She managed to not demonize or sanctify anyone. Even the people that do some bad things are shown as regular people who makes mistakes, like it is in real life.
I enjoyed seeing the changes that the characters went through. I don’t intend to give away any spoilers, so let me just say that there are lessons for us there. There are lessons about love, forgiveness, the importance of family ties, the problem with keeping secrets, just to mention a few.
Interesting enough, the villain of the story is a disease: polio. The story takes place during the 1950’s in a Texas city, and there is an outbreak of polio in the country which affects the lives of the characters. As I read through the story, I was amazed by the details not only about that time period, but also about the disease, the treatments available at the time, the efforts to find a cure and how it affected the lives of ordinary people.
As I read, I kept thinking what a great amount of research Carla must’ve done to be able to work with all those details.
As a brazilian, I was fascinated by her portray of life in a small city in the US in the 1950’s. Much to my surprise, things were quite similar to what I’ve heard my parents telling about life in Brazil during that same period (except for the polio outbreak).
Stardust is the kind of fiction book that I like the most: a very well written and beautiful story that entertains us and teaches us important life lessons.
This post is part of the Stardust Blog Tour.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book through NetGalley.com in exchange for my honest review.
You did an excellent job with the review. Be certain Carla is such a great author. If you have not experienced her other two books, please take time to do so. Each one is specific and you have trouble putting it down – Chasing Lilacs and Broken Wings are a MUST READ.
Thank you, Judy! In fact, this was the first Carla’s book I’ve read. I had a suspicion that I would enjoy her other books too, I loved her writing. Thanks for confirming that, Judy, I will certainly read them.
Cris, thank you so much for this wonderful review. I’m glad you pointed out the real villain in the story. I’m grateful for you taking the time to participate in the blog tour and review Stardust. Blessings.
Carla, I appreciated the opportunity to join the blog tour, thanks to you and FaithWords for that. And thank you very much for taking the time to leave a comment here.
I enjoyed the book so much that I must confess I am hoping that you consider turning it into a series so we can meet those characters again…
Thanks for your review of Stardust. She is indeed a wonderful writer who develops characters that pull you in. I look forward to reading this book.
Janette, thank you for visiting and commenting, I appreciate it. I’m sure you will enjoy this book.
I haven’t read Carla’s other books but I certainly will, I enjoyed her writing very much.
I’m glad you have read a book you enjoy. I’m still wanting to get mine edited enough to be published. Have to finish writing one about Uganda, too. However, NOW am buried in so many posts and on-line friends, [and my Bhutanese], I hardly have time to work on the books. Oh, well…God is bigger. Again, happy you were happy!
I know what you mean. I started working with my church team to build their web site and I am now also a volunteer at a non-profit organization and I am helping rebuild their web site and help them in their online presence. With only that, I hardly have time to do anything else online (I try to control my time in front of the computer to avoid another labyrinthitis episode). And I feel awful that I can’t keep up with my friends’ blogs.
But hopefully I will learn to manage my time better and I will find time for everything I need to do.