Book Review - The Extraordinary Deaths of Mrs. Kip

Sometimes I read a book that is just too big to review. Its impact is simply too grand to express with mere words. The ideas, themes, quotes sit so profoundly in my mind and on my heart. The Extraordinary Deaths of Mrs. Kip is certainly one of those books. It is particularly moving if you have known a Mrs. Kip of your own.

Aidyn Kelly is a cub reporter for the Kansas City Star with dreams and confidence bigger than her britches. To put her in her place, her section editor sends her to interview a little old lady in a hospice house. The grand insult: Aidyn is to write the obituary of one Mrs. Clara Kip. This assignment is a hurdle to be cleared on Aidyn’s climb out of the hole she has dug for herself, but God and Mrs. Kip have other plans. Cancer may try to knock the wind out of Mrs. Kip’s sails; it cannot, however, knock the shenanigans out of the spunky little old lady who is determined to “…love people as best as I could for as long as I was privileged to be with them.” As Aidyn attempts to get to the real story, an agreement is formed: Mrs. Kip will answer three questions for every extraordinary death Aidyn can create for her. But the truly extraordinary deaths of Mrs. Kip do not come from the young reporter’s creative mind and are an exquisite gift wrapped in prose that speaks to the reader on a blessedly intimate level.

The Extraordinary Deaths of Mrs. Kip by Sara Brunsvold is available now from your favorite local bookseller or online:

Baker Book House      Christian Book      Barnes & Noble      Amazon

Thank you to the author and publisher for allowing me a copy to read and review. All opinions expressed here are my own and are completely genuine.

Book Review - The Sweet Life

I am not gonna lie, peeps. I am totally in love with this book! The Sweet Life by Suzanne Woods Fisher is the first in her new Cape Cod Creamery series. I needed some good summer poolside reading and she absolutely delivered!

Dawn Dixon is super focused, very successful, and on track to achieve her life’s goals according to plan until her fiancé breaks up with her. Instead of going on her honeymoon to Cape Cod, she finds herself in a swanky hotel there with her mother. Flighty and prone to run with a half baked plan, Marnie Dixon is determined to put breast cancer behind her and is struck with inspiration when she finds the proprietor of the former ice cream shop in a hurry to sell out and leave of town. In the spirit of her late husband, Philip, Marnie decides an ice cream shop in the historic district of Chatham is the perfect venture for this stage of her life. Dawn, however, is not convinced. What will it take for Dawn to catch on to the vision Marnie has for this old building? And what will it take for both mother and daughter to begin to see each other in a different way?

Honestly, it is the character development that has me absolutely in love with Dawn, Marnie, Kevin, Linc, and even cranky old Mrs. Nickerson-Eldredge. The changing of perspective for mother and daughter is quite simply beautiful, and I totally adore the personal and romantic arc the author created for Dawn and Kevin. It is so real, so relatable, and is frankly exquisite. I am on pins and needles to get my hands on more of the Cape Cod Creamery story and encourage you to snatch up a copy of The Sweet Life and fall in love, too.

The Sweet Life, the first book of the Cape Cod Creamery series by Suzanne Woods Fisher, is available now from your favorite local bookseller or online:

Christian Book            Barnes & Noble            Amazon

Thank you to the author and publisher for allowing me a copy to read and review. All opinions expressed here are my own and are completely genuine.