Bad News: Branches Book Club next Monday the 23rd is cancelled…GOOD NEWS: Don’t miss the page-turner novel (review below) while we’re all inside, and, DO Look Forward to our April 27th Meeting!

Friends! In my wildest imagination, never in a million years, could I have predicted what would be transpiring over the past two weeks. Each day and hour bring changes.  As many of you have reminded us, “Praise God He’s Sovereign and is surprised by none of this.”

Another most gracious-gift from God happened last Monday when I had my right hip replaced.  Had that been this week, it wouldn’t have happened given the surgeries that are being postponed.  The Lord sent guardian angels disguised as nurses and physical therapists last week and this week.  The stories are so uncanny, you wouldn’t believe me unless I told you.  We praise you, Lord.

So, because many churches have been cancelling big gatherings, our Branches Book Club falls under that category, thus we will not meet next Monday the 23rd.  We were to have read Secrets of Paper and Ink by Lindsay Harrel.

Don’t miss reading this clever novel!  It’ll give you something to do and will keep you guessing until the last page.

Author Lindsay Harrell was most gracious and made us a video to show at our meeting. Since we’re now cancelled, Nancy Tinnell’s posting the video on our Branches Facebook page. Don’t miss it!

One of the many reasons this novel grabbed me from the get-go was thanks to the character, Sophie, who decides to get away for the season, dashing across the pond to a lovely area known as Cornwall, England.  Oh, and this gets better!  Sophie has rented an apartment above a bookstore and part of her deal will be she gets to work in the bookstore! Can you dream of anything better?!!!

Both Sophie and the bookstore owner, Ginny, have relationship challenges with their significant others, and we readers get to see firsthand how they learn to deal with them. Their fast friendship is fun to watch, seeing how they bounce ideas off of each other.

Early on, Sophie finds a notebook in the bookstore  which has journal entries from a woman named Emily Fairfax.  Emily was a governess who lived in Cornwall over 150 years ago.

So as not to give away their discoveries, join Sophie and Willam (Ginny’s brother-in-law) and Ginny as they make connection after connection uncovering things you never could’ve predicted. Their thought processes make Sherlock Holmes’ look dim. Oh, and we also get to be in on more than one budding romance…

Author Lindsay Harrel does an absolutely stellar job in toting us readers along with her characters, never knowing what’s around the next bend.  I found the entire journey delightful and didn’t want the book to end.

Checkout Lindsey’s message to us (on Branches’ Facebook page) and we will hope to see all of you at our last meeting of the season, on April 27th (Lord willing), when we discuss Margaret Feinberg’s Taste and See:  Discovering God among Butchers, Bakers, and Fresh Food Makers.

Prayers for all of you to stay healthy and safe during this COVID-19 situation. While we wait things out, may you and your family savor your time together and perhaps read LOTS of good books!

 As Barbara Bush once said, “At the end of your life, you will never regret not having passed one more test, winning one more verdict, or not closing one more deal, you will regret time not spent with a husband, a child, a friend, or a parent.”

‘Til next time!

Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the page above are “affiliate links.”