Wednesday, October 15, 2014

The Mason Jar by James Russell Lingerfelt BlogTour & Book Review

Disclosure of material connection- I received a copy of the book from the publisher via Litfuse Group in exchange for my honest thoughts. I was not required to write a positive review and all opinions are 100% my own.

About the book-

What if your old college roommate called, raving about a book someone sent her, calling it the most beautiful book she's ever read? "But," she said, "it's about you." The author is your college ex. In The Mason Jar, Clayton "Finn" Fincannon is a Tennessee farm boy raised at the feet of his grandfather. He and his grandfather leave letters for each other in a Mason jar on his grandfather's desk; letters of counsel and affirmation. When Finn attends college in Southern California, he meets and falls in love with a dark, debutante from Colorado, named Eden. However, when an unmentioned past resurrects in her life and she leaves, Finn is left with unanswered questions. Finn goes on to serve as a missionary in Africa, while he and his grandfather continue their tradition of writing letters. When Finn returns home five years later to bury his grandfather, he searches for answers pertaining to the loss of the young woman he once loved. Little does Finn know, the answers await him in the broken Mason jar. A story about a girl who vanished, a former love who wrote a book about her and a reunion they never imagined. Written for the bruised and broken, The Mason Jar is an inspirational romance that brings hope to people who have experienced disappointment in life due to separation from loved ones. With a redemptive ending that encourages us to love again, and written in the fresh, romantic tones of Nicholas Sparks, The Mason Jar interweaves the imagery of Thoreau with the adventures and climatic family struggles common to Dances with Wolves, A River Runs Through It and Legends of the Fall.

My thoughts-

I don't think any of us forget our first love. There is just something about that first strong, serious, romantic relationship that grabs ours hearts and always has a place there. Finn falls hard for Eden and very quickly. She is the first girl he dates and he can't get her out of his mind. I think a big part of that is the harsh and quick way she leaves without much closure for the relationship. Finn wasn't interested in having a relationship before her and there is no one that interests him after either. A part of me wishes Eden would have told him exactly why she had to leave, but I can also understand why she did what she did. I liked the idea of having a novel within the novel, that was definitely interesting. It gave us the opportunity to discover what Finn had been up to and what he had been feeling through Eden's eyes. Besides the great storyline between Eden and Finn, I absolutely adore that this book is about overseas missions and microlending. These are things that maybe the average person doesn't know a great deal about, so hopefully this book will open some new doors for some of it's readers.

I thought The Mason Jar was a beautifully written book. It only took me a few days to work my way through it. It will definitely keep the interest of anyone who enjoys a good love story. I can't wait to see what future books James Russell Lingerfelt comes up with, I will definitely be reading them!

Connect with James Russell Lingerfelt on Facebook
Connect with James Russell Lingerfelt on Goodreads
JamesRussellLingerfelt.org

No comments:

Post a Comment