Imagen del autor

Katherine Spencer (2) (1955–)

Autor de Cape Light

Para otros autores llamados Katherine Spencer, ver la página de desambiguación.

Katherine Spencer (2) se ha aliado con Anne Canadeo.

29 Obras 3,852 Miembros 57 Reseñas

Series

Obras de Katherine Spencer

Las obras han sido aliasadas en Anne Canadeo.

Cape Light (1900) — Autor — 451 copias
Home Song (2002) — Autor — 372 copias
A Gathering Place (2003) — Autor — 340 copias
A Christmas Promise (2004) — Autor — 316 copias
A New Leaf (2004) — Autor — 303 copias
The Christmas Angel (2005) — Autor — 288 copias
A Christmas to Remember (Cape Light, Book 7) (2006) — Autor — 240 copias
A Christmas Visitor (2007) 218 copias
A Christmas Star (2008) 194 copias
A Wish for Christmas (2009) — Autor — 146 copias
The Wedding Promise (2011) — Autor — 109 copias
On Christmas Eve (2010) — Autor — 95 copias

Etiquetado

Conocimiento común

Nombre legal
Canadeo, Anne
Fecha de nacimiento
1955
Género
female
Biografía breve
Katherine Spencer was a fiction editor before turning to a full-time career as a writer. The author of more than thirty books, she also writes the Black Sheep Knitting Mysteries under her real name, Anne Canadeo. She lives with her husband and daughter in a small village on the Long Island Sound. Outside of her office, she is active in many community projects, including aiding the homeless, preparing food for those in need, and participating in a literacy outreach program that promotes reading and provides free books.

Miembros

Reseñas

Jack Sawyer, recent hermit after the loss of his wife 2 years past, awkwardly takes in a single mother and her young daughter when their car breaks down near his house in the country. Before long, he's as much in need of Julie's help as she is of his. At the same time, Sam & Jessica Morgan lose their beloved house to a devastating fire. Their marriage is tested in this difficult time, as rebuilding won't be as easy as they hope.

Of the books in the Cape Light series I've read, this was my favorite. The story of Jack and Julie was much more interesting to me than the saga of Sam and Jessica Morgan's tragedy. I don't think that's necessarily because I didn't like the plot arc about the fire, but because I really liked the arc with Jack and Julie. Even moreso, I liked the arc with Jack and Julie's daughter, Kate.

What I found most endearing was that this was not just the development of a relationship between a widower and a single mom, but also the development of a relationship between a father whose son has been estranged for two years and a little girl who steals the not-so-old man's heart. Jack could get a second chance at being both a husband and a father, and it's very sweet. The culmination of that storyline made the entire book worth it.

As for Sam and Jessica, they almost killed my interest in the series in the first book. Fortunately, we're past most of the drama I disliked with them, but I will say some of their annoying quirks reared their heads again. Still, I found the difficulties they go through in this book sadly all too realistic. And while the end of their story might bother some, I think it makes sense within the context of this series.

After reading the first 4 books in the series and averaging 3.5 stars, I decided not to continue with it (which becomes a series of Christmas novels after the first 4 non-holiday books). But I already owned this one, so figured I'd give it a try. I'm glad I did, as I liked it more than the first 4. I'm not sure if I'll read more or not, though. Maybe I'll go back to book #5 if I have time left in the holiday season after I've read all of the Christmas-themed books I have planned. We'll see.
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Denunciada
Kristi_D | 4 reseñas más. | Sep 22, 2023 |
(3.5 / 5)

Leading up to and going through the Christmas season, mother and daughter Emily and Sara have to figure out how they fit into each others' lives, while both also trying to work out a burgeoning relationship. Meanwhile, Reverend Ben and his family deal with some family crises, and local diner owner Charlie and his wife struggle to keep their marriage happy.

Continuing shortly after the previous book ended, book 3 continues the saga of the residents of Cape Light. The drama ramps up, and multiple characters attempt to define their romantic relationships. I found this third book to be somewhere in between the first and second, in terms of how much I enjoyed it. I was still interested in seeing where story threads that were set up in the first book would go, but less interested in some of the storylines that were focused on in this book.

One of my biggest issues is that the official blurb for this book focuses on Mayor Emily Warwick and her relationships with her newly found daughter and with newspaperman Dan Forbes. However, the book really focused a lot more on her daughter Sara and her new job at the newspaper, as well as her own romance. I found that storyline less interesting, which understandably detracted from the overall book for me. And there were 2 romantic culminations at the end of the book, which left me feeling less caught up in the one that came second.

The religion that many of the residents of Cape Light follow is more highlighted in this book, but frankly, it made me sad. It was very shallow and consisted more of passionate pleas that God would spare loved ones lives than any kind of understanding that as Christians, we shouldn't cling so tightly to this life, because we have the hope of eternity. Don't get me wrong--I am not against praying for healing in this life, not at all. However, if we let the idea that our Christian loved ones might die cripple us, we are not trusting God at all. And this is not a very good testimony to present to readers.

I did, however, like the way the reverend himself was presented in his personal life. He was shown in his humanness, not as some kind of saint, as he dealt with his family issues and regretted his actions and attitude after certain interactions.

From the very first book, unraveling the lives of the different people in this town was what made me want to continue the series. Some of those arcs have played out, but there are some others that are still ongoing, which is enough to make me want to read the next one. After that, the series becomes all specifically Christmas novels, but at this point, I don't think I'll want to stick with it if the 4th book is a less than 4-star read for me.
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Denunciada
Kristi_D | Sep 22, 2023 |
I was really happy to find this second book a huge improvement on the first. I liked the main characters so much more this time around, and the storylines were much more compelling. By the second half of the book, I was really caught up and highly anticipated seeing what would happen.

In the first book, the closest things to main characters were Jessica Warwick and Sam Morgan. Though many characters were introduced, and many story arcs were established, they were the driving force. Their romance was the story goal--the only thing that was tied up in that book. Their personalities suffered greatly because of the daunting task of setting out an entire town's worth of characters and stories, so there wasn't much time left to develop them or their relationship to my preference. Unfortunately, that made it all the worse that their relationship drama continued in this book. The fruition of it was good, but frankly, they both made me angry in this book. Fortunately, their parts were small.

In a similar vein, another romance that developed in this book was in some ways like a rehashing of the Jessica/Sam storyline of the previous book, wherein the woman didn't want a relationship because she didn't know how long she'd be in town. The big difference is that the two characters in this case had more depth. They had actual lives and their own stories to tell. I liked them so much more, and their story definitely took a different turn.

Other arcs that were set up in the first book were continued in this one in some way, or even came to fruition. Since unraveling the lives of the different people in this town was what made me care enough about the first book to want to continue the series, I was glad to see this happen. And there is still plenty more to carry my interest into the next book. I'm looking forward to the next much more than I was after finishing the first one, and now I feel safe recommending this book, and the one before it, to fans of Christian fiction, especially involving romance.
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Denunciada
Kristi_D | 2 reseñas más. | Sep 22, 2023 |
Cape Light is a small, very connected, and generally religious New England village. In this first book of 20 (so far), we are introduced to some of the inhabitants of the village--the mayor and her family, who are still somewhat reeling from a scandal in the past; the local diner owner who is very set in his ways and has designs on unseating the mayor in the next election; the reverend and his wife, whose joyful news is overshadowed by a wayward family member. Characters are established and at least one romance blooms, in this book that covers a summer in Cape Light.

Though there are a lot of characters to keep straight, I found that it wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be. I had a few moments that needed clarity, but I followed it well enough. And for the first half of the book, I was interested in the lives and backstories of these people. In fact, I never stopped being interested in that. But what seriously detracted from it was the plight of the main character and her romantic entanglement.

Jessica Warwick, the mayor's sister, has recently moved back from not-too-far-away Boston, and she intends to return as soon as she can. She's only in town to help her ailing mother, who is starting to recover well. She has a life back in Boston, and a sort-of boyfriend. Enter Sam Morgan, whom she is immediately taken by, though she refuses to acknowledge it for a long time. But when her boyfriend conveniently gets really busy, she starts dating Sam, even while making it clear that she's moving back to Boston at the end of the summer. What follows is a ridiculously drama-filled mess that could have easily been solved in multiple ways. I don't know which of these two irritated me more--the woman who dated a guy in town while knowing that she wasn't done with the previous boyfriend yet and continued a relationship with a man who was clearly falling for her hard, despite her warning about there being no future, or the man who ignored her warning about there being no future because he held out hope that he could change her mind.

While romance novels are always pretty obvious, in that the two leads are going to end up together, I prefer those that are more in the backdrop to an interesting plot. There was little in the way of plot involving Jessica and Sam that wasn't directly related to their relationship. The situations that occurred just to make them fall in love and/or add drama to their relationship were so much more obviously contrived than I prefer. By the end, I just wanted the book to be done already, which makes me sad, because I did enjoy unraveling the lives of the others in town.

The Christianity in the book was weirdly both shallow and heavily permeating. Apparently a large amount of the village's inhabitants go to the same church, and many of them have a strong faith. Several others are seeking, and a lot of the same advice is given by different people. The series starts with 4 not-specifically-holiday books, but apparently by book 5, it continued as a Christmas series, which is what brought it to my attention at this time of year in the first place.

The writing was a bit pedestrian, but it only bothered me at times. I am going to give the series another chance, because just about every plot arc that was started in this book was left hanging, and I really do want to see what happens. Since the main thing that bothered me about this book should take a back seat in the future, I am hopeful about continuing. With proper planning, I can be ready for the first of the Christmas books by November or December.
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Denunciada
Kristi_D | 5 reseñas más. | Sep 22, 2023 |

Listas

Estadísticas

Obras
29
Miembros
3,852
Popularidad
#6,580
Valoración
3.8
Reseñas
57
ISBNs
185
Idiomas
2

Tablas y Gráficos