Monday, February 4, 2013

Three Reviews and a Question


Three reviews were posted on my novels last week – one on Dancing Priest, one on A Light Shining, and one on both.

Chip Etier, writing for the Examiner.com, reviewed Dancing Priest. “Readers learn,” he said, “through Father Kent’s trials and tribulations, that every race, no matter how much it looks like the others, has its own story.”

Jennifer Dukes-Lee, in a posted review on Amazon of A Light Shining, recommended reading Dancing Priest first and then said that A Light Shining “should come with a warning like this: ‘Do not start reading unless you intend to stay up way past your bedtime.’"

Sherry at Semicolon Blog (perhaps the most voracious reader of books I’ve found on the internet), reviewed both books together. “I would recommend these companion novels,” she said,  “to anyone with an interest in well-written Christian-themed fiction, Anglican church fiction, adoption and street children, Olympic cycling, or the politics surrounding the British royal family.” You can read her review here.

Sherry noted something (in the tags) that some others have commented on. She tagged the books at both adult and young adult fiction. I’ve received emails from several readers who told me their teenage sons had picked up Dancing Priest and read it straight through, almost non-stop. One reader said her son wouldn’t wait for her and husband to finish A Light Shining and bought his own copy.

If you’ve read either or both books, do you see the appeal to young adults, especially teenage boys?

2 comments:

Martha Jane Orlando said...

Yes, Glynn, there is definitely an appeal to the young adult audience. What an inspirational and striking figure Michael models for the teen male, and I would imagine Sarah would do the same for the teen ladies.
What terrific reviews and so well deserved, my friend! Congratulations!

Louise Gallagher said...

I have read both books -- and as your reviewers state -- couldn't put them down.

I don't have teenage sons so can't really answer your question -- but... I think they'd have appeal for young adults. They're refreshingly honest and filled with drama and action and humanness -- all of which appeals. :)