PLEASE don’t think that I think that I can write poetry, as I’ve barely ever written any and it’s really not my thing.

But, was dead chuffed that someone has been able to use my ‘Burn’s Night’ poem (reply from the Lassies)…!

I had this comment on this blog just the other day:

Hello,
Just a line to thank you for putting your ‘Reply from the Lassies’ on-line. I was asked to do it for our Burns Night and was so relieved to find it! I changed it to make it relevant to us—
Once again thanks—you saved me hours of effort
Elsie Smith

and then this one:
thank GOD you posted this… it is the only useful reply from the lassies i could find anywhere. will happily plagerise parts if you don’t mind
from someone else.

Which now means that of the 2 poems I’ve ever written (well, since primary school)… one was rewarded with a box of pies (hurrah!) and the other was ‘used’ by at least 2 ‘lassies’ at a Burns Night. It’s nice to feel useful!

Don’t worry – have no plans to inflict any more ‘poetry’ on the world… at least, not until I’ve run out of pies…!

Have recently been sent this book (for free) so I could review on this blog.

That Certain Spark, by Cathy Marie Hake (published by Bethany House)

Pros:
The cover! It’s awesome. Covers are v important. I’ve never quite got over how v v bad the covers of my 2 novels are (I had no say in it). This cover is quite inviting. That said, it meant I could instantly see it wasn’t really my kind of read, but nevertheless, a good cover. I notice that some of her other books have similarly good covers. Lucky her!
The heroine’s love interest... who spends most of the book being far more interested than she is! Nice tension. Good build up of healthy passion! Of course I knew that they’d end up together, but it didn’t matter: I was quite content to follow this storyline through.
I didn’t relish the times I sat down to read this. It was more a matter of ‘Right, better read some more of that novel then, I guess, if I really have to’ (this is going to turn into a ‘pro’, honest)… but I think there was once when I was reading it, and I realised I ought to get on and cook the tea, but I realised I would rather continue with reading as it was getting interesting. ANY novel that can do that is a good one, or at least it has some good bits in it.
Overall, I found I could ‘picture’ the scene, with the main characters playing out their part and so on. Again, any novel that can act as a ‘film’ in your head, as it were, is fab. No wonder she’s sold over 25 novels. I’m not jealous. I’m only 23 behind. Who’s counting anyway?

Cons:
The ‘Christian’ stuff (not as well delivered as perhaps could have been… didn’t come across as natural enough, imho).
The relationship between the heroine’s brother and the woman he ’selected’ to be his wife… all a bit too ‘cushy’. An attempt at un-cushing their relationship comes later on, with her having a serious illness and him being her tower of strength… but this storyline just annoyed me… not sure why.
Lack of humour.

I think that’s about it. It’s hard to judge a book that’s outside the genre you normally immerse yourself in (hours and hours and hours and…) as you have little to compare it to, but still, I’ve given it my best shot… so there.