Michèle Phoenix

I’ve only read one other series about the Huguenots and this book was a surprise for me, because I didn’t know it was history on them. This is incredible and I do wish there had been author notes at the end to tell about her research and what was based on facts.

This is a great story that took several turns that caught me off guard. I loved the history about the Huguenots and the 2015 Paris terrorist attack at the Bataclan concert. I thought the author did a great job of dealing with the aftermath of such a tragedy.

There’s not much romance, which I appreciated, but there’s not much in the Christian faith aspect, which I wished there’d been more. But it’s a very good read, no bad language, no sex.… (más)

Fragments of Light by Michele Phoenix is a story within a story and the two take place seventy-five years apart. Ceelie and Nate have been married over twenty years when she is diagnosed with breast cancer. Soon all aspects of her life as she knew it fall apart. If not for her friendship with fellow patient Darleen, she would not have survived her ordeal. But unfortunately Darleen’s condition becomes terminal and it’s now Ceelie’s turn to help her old friend. Darleen grew up fatherless because she and her mother had been abandoned when she was an infant. In the little time she has, Darleen wants to find out about her father. It will be up to Ceelie to discover what became of this elusive man. Now for the other story. Seventy-five years ago, a paratrooper crash-landed in Normandy on D-Day and was helped to safety by two young French sisters. Now you need to read this book to discover how these stories came to be linked. This slow-moving and passionate relationship fiction is one of the best books I have read this year. I look forward to reading more books by Michele Phoenix. Thank you to Thomas Nelson and NetGalley for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.… (más)

I enjoyed this book a lot. (Four stars is a high rating for me--I rarely give five, unless a book nearly tips over into "favorites" territory.) I thought that the central conceit--survivor of the Paris attacks copes with her trauma while researching the struggles of a particular seventeenth-century Huguenot family--was well-conceived and well-executed. The characters were believable, and the writing was good.

As someone with an interest in the period, I would have appreciated a little more background and context for the Huguenots themselves--why they were being persecuted, why they weren't willing to surrender their Bibles and disperse, etc. I don't think that would have asked too much of the audience, even in a relatively light work of Christian fiction. The Patrick subplot honestly required some suspension of disbelief on my part, too. Without getting into spoilers, you might even say it bugged me a little. (Heh...)

I would also note that some of the descriptions of violence are on the harrowing side, so readers should be prepared for that (though I thought it totally appropriate in light of the events being depicted). Overall, this is a solid story and a worthwhile read. I hope it isn't Phoenix's last historical novel.

I received an advance review copy from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.… (más)