Review: Everything Is Just Beginning by Erin Bartels

 

Everything Is Just Beginning by Erin Bartels

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Blurb: 

An Immersive Story of Music, Struggle, and Starting Over from an Award-Winning Author

Michael Sullivan is a talented lyricist and a decent guitarist, but since he was kicked out of his band (and his apartment), he's not sure he'll ever get a record deal. Living with his loser uncle in a beat-up trailer and working a dead-end job, Michael has little reason to hope for a better future. Until the invitation for a swanky New Year's Eve party shows up in the mailbox. It's for his uncle, with whom he shares his name, but his uncle is going out of town . . .

On the effervescent night of December 31, 1989--as the Berlin Wall is coming down, the Soviet Union is inching toward democracy, and anything seems possible--Michael will cross paths with the accomplished and enigmatic young heir to a fading musical dynasty, forever altering both of their futures.

Award-winning novelist Erin Bartels enchants with this story of two lonely souls who have exactly what the other one needs--if they could simply turn their focus from what is ending to what is just beginning.

My Review: 

Everything Is Just Beginning is another wonderful read by Erin Bartels. I have enjoyed earlier books by this author in the past and was excited to have the opportunity to read her newest release. This one is no different. I was engaged with the story, which had believable characters, an element of faith, and a wonderful setting. It is one that made me feel as though I was part of the tale and was hard to put down. I loved it.

I give Everything Is Just Beginning five stars. I believe readers and fans of clean fiction will most definitely want to pick this one up and give it a read. I would love to read more releases by Erin Bartels in the future.

I received a paperback copy of Everything Is Just Beginning from the publisher, but was not required to write a positive review. This review is one hundred percent my own honest opinion.


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Review: The Words Between Us by Erin Bartels

The Words Between Us by Erin Bartels

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Blurb: 

Robin Windsor has spent most of her life under an assumed name, running from her family's ignominious past. She thought she'd finally found sanctuary in her rather unremarkable used bookstore just up the street from the marina in River City, Michigan. But the store is struggling and the past is hot on her heels.

When she receives an eerily familiar book in the mail on the morning of her father's scheduled execution, Robin is thrown back to the long-lost summer she met Peter Flynt, the perfect boy who ruined everything. That book--a first edition Catcher in the Rye--is soon followed by the other books she shared with Peter nearly twenty years ago, with one arriving in the mail each day. But why would Peter be making contact after all these years? And why does she have a sinking feeling that she's about to be exposed all over again?
With evocative prose that recalls the classic novels we love, Erin Bartels pens a story that shows that words--the ones we say, the ones we read, and the ones we write--have more power than we imagine. 



My Review: 

The Words Between Us is a wonderful read. I loved this fun and delightful story. I enjoyed getting to know Robin. I felt connection to her right from the start. She is one of those true to life characters that I can relate to.

I am giving The Words Between Us four stars. I look forward to more like this from Erin Bartels in the future. I recommend it for readers who enjoy a well written and clean read.

I received this book from the publisher. This review is 100% my own honest opinion.

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Review: We Hope for Better Things by Erin Bartels

We Hope for Better Things by Erin Bartels

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Blurb: 

When Detroit Free Press reporter Elizabeth Balsam meets James Rich, his strange request--that she look up a relative she didn't know she had in order to deliver an old camera and a box of photos--seems like it isn't worth her time. But when she loses her job after a botched investigation, she suddenly finds herself with nothing but time.

At her great-aunt's 150-year-old farmhouse, Elizabeth uncovers a series of mysterious items, locked doors, and hidden graves. As she searches for answers to the riddles around her, the remarkable stories of two women who lived in this very house emerge as testaments to love, resilience, and courage in the face of war, racism, and misunderstanding. And as Elizabeth soon discovers, the past is never as past as we might like to think.

Debut novelist Erin Bartels takes readers on an emotional journey through time--from the volatile streets of 1960s Detroit to the Underground Railroad during the Civil War--to uncover the past, confront the seeds of hatred, and discover where love goes to hide.

My Review:

We Hope for Better Things is a great introduction for me to Erin Bartels's work. I enjoyed this book. It tells the story of several women living in different eras. I was intrigued with all three and how it all ended for them. I had it read in one day.

We Hope for Better Things gets a four and a half stars by me. I can not wait to see where else Erin Bartels takes her readers to in her next novel. I highly recommend this one.

I received this book from the publisher. This review is 100% my own honest opinion.

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