Book Review: The FIne Art of Insincerity, Angela Hunt

This is the story of three Southern sisters with ten marriages between them and more looming on the horizon. It takes a "girls only" weekend spent closing up Grandma's treasured beach house for the sisters to really unpack their family baggage, examine their relationship DNA, and discover the true legacy their much-marrying grandmother left behind.

This novel is by best-selling author Angela Hunt.  The Fine Art of Insincerity is simpy the newest in a string of successes, including The Note, which was featured as a Hallmark Channel Film Original.  This new release is a character driven novel focusing on a single weekend in the lives of three sisters, having been raised mostly by their grandmother,  and all with hidden wounds that have shaped their perceptions of the world around them and each other. 

The dysfunction begins right from the start, as the reader gets a first person glimpse into the minds of each sister.  I don't always enjoy reading first person and present tense narrative, but in this case, it is a necessary past of the storytelling.  Hunt has also done a very good job of not just making the characters different in personality, but even in their way of thinking and speaking.  It is very easy to distinguish the voice of each sister from the very beginning.  Should the reader still need a visual reminder of the change, the author has chosen to use different fonts for each sister's segments. 

Despite being just over 300 pages, I found myself reading the whole book in just two sittings.  The tricky thing about character driven narrative is that it can often come out dry and uneventful.  However this book starts with one sister confronting her husband's infidelity, another sister considering infidelity herself, and the most secret of them all, the third sister planning her imminent suicide at the end of the weekend.  The sisters have obviously not remained close in their adult years and the weekend plays out with each casting judgments on each other.  This is so perfectly executed, without any dilution of the emotions and yet still subtle, just as we are in life.  I must applaud Hunt in this respect as the mechanics of this is a sensitive and complicated business.  

As in reality, the characters' perceptions of each other are shaded by their own misinterpretations of each others' intentions and thoughts.  As the reader with a view of them all, we can see how self-absorbed each has become because of their pain.  They are all so certain about what they think they know about life and each other, and yet we can see how none of them know each other at all.  It is painful to read most of the time, because as readers, we just want to slap the selfishness out of them all.  But even if we could, we probably wouldn't, as Hunt has been successful at also making the reader extremely compassionate towards each of them.  

My heart was breaking through this novel, even more so because it was so extremely plausible.  Hunt's novel proves the saying true, that wounded people wound people.   The novel is a call to honesty at all costs for the sake of healing, redemption, and restoration.  I imagine this book will do very well, and I hope the direct and confrontational look at these sisters will help expose issues within the reader that may have been left festering from an old wound.  In some ways it might hit too close to home for some folk, but Hunt doesn't leave the reader hanging, as there is light at the end.  It is not some too clean and easy to believe cliche, but it is a beginning for the characters, a beginning filled with hope.  

It is not however for every person, as it is a very estrogen packed novel.  Although it deals with issues primarily related to marriage and children, it id not limited to a married audience.  I would expect most adult women of any background would enjoy this.  There are some elements of faith, but they are minimal, but in one moment, the inclusion of the love chapter from I Corinthians is quite profound.

I rate this book 4 out of 5 inkspots.

I received this book free from the publisher through the Glass Road PR book review for bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Book Review: Holy Guacamole, Dan and Denise Harmer

When Trace Domingo is accepted into Chef Bonnie Miller's culinary boot camp, a life-threatening journey into Bonnie's past unfolds. In a vulnerable moment, Trace discovers part of Bonnie's closely-held secret. She hasn't yet decided to trust the "bootie" when a crisis makes the choice for her. The pair embark on a race against the clock across southern California and northern Baja in Mexico.

Pegged as a "Romantic adventure for foodies," this novel promised to be a great light summer read.  I was so ready to love it even before I opened the cover.  In a genre inundated with period settings and over idealized characters, I was excited for something in a contemporary setting with relatable characters and a sense of humor, not to mention the culinary themed backdrop.  I was however really disappointed by this book.

Everything started off really great.  I think it is may be because a couple author this book that the inside voices of the characters were more realistic.  In other words, it seemed like a guy wrote what guys think, and a girl what the girl would think.  This added to the authenticity of the characters, up to a point.  Just before the halfway point, the book started to lose it stability.  So much time had been spent on developing a story arc based on an exciting discovery that it would only make sense to follow that path.  However, this story was never actually followed.  Elements from the discovery were included in later parts, but were certainly not necessary to the late developed "real" plot.

The second half of the book was as rushed as the characters in the midst of their own escape.  The main female character Bonnie became more and more unbelievable as it went on, like a manic caricature of who she was in the beginning.  There were too many story arcs added into the equation, perhaps for added intrigue, but despite their dire circumstances, they came off almost flippant.  There really could have been a profound statement about adoption, as it played a major role in Bonnie's history, and even in the resolution.  However, no statement was clearly made.  (as one who formerly worked as an adoption coordinator for a third world orphanage, there was just something about the way that was handled in the end that made me cringe a little.)  I guess having no defined statement was my biggest issue; there seemed to be no real point to any of the themes that were brought up.  

In the end, Bonnie had transformed in attitude, but even that was handled in a haphazard way.  Her transformation seemed to be only inspired by a supernatural occurrence and done out of her own will because she saw that selfishness is bad.  There was no Christ, no revelation of the need for salvation, just the kind of change anyone can make, regardless of faith.  Now, I am not one to prefer heavy-handed preachy novels, but many things were just left a little too ambiguous.  I mean I cannot put my finger on any one specific thing and say, "This was wrong and therefore..." but maybe that's a problem.  I should be able to know what exactly the authors are saying, whether I agree or disagree.  This ambiguity was most evident with Trace, the character who was supposedly the one with faith from the beginning, well I think.  He did say "Thank God" once right at the beginning.  He just kind of went with whatever.  He didn't do anything wrong or bad, but he also didn't do anything remotely related to his presumed faith even in when in crisis.  

I really really wanted to like this book.  There was so much potential within the first third of it too.   I think this might be the authors first novel, in which case I hope they can grow as there is definitely talent.  The execution needs some work though.  It is such a shame that I have to rate this book as I do. 

I give this book 2 out of 5 inkspots.

I received this book free from the publisher through the Glass Road PR book review for bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”