What about Minding the Light Did I Love & Hate

The balmy night air blew hair about my face as I made a long loop up the short block in front of the Lighthouse.

A young man smoking a cigarette approached, crossing the street as he did. So, I did what anyone would do. I greeted him. “Nice night.”

“It is now—just got off work.”

We laughed, and I admit it. I tried not to choke on the puff of cigarette smoke the wind tried to force down my lungs.

He nodded at my Kindle. “Reading?”

“Yep.”

“The Bible?”

It’s a valid question. After all, I was pacing in front of the town’s prayer house. I shook my head. “Novel.”

“I just bought The Outsider. My friend said it’s good. What’s yours?”

He’d be disappointed. “Minding the Light. It’s historical fiction about the Quakers on Nantucket Island.”

I’ve got to give him credit. He turned and looked right at me. “Historical like… whaling ships and stuff?”

I nodded. “Yep.”

“I hated Moby Dick.”

My laughter caught him off guard until I said, “I knew you’d be disappointed, but it’s actually good.”

Truth be told, I thought he’d take off, but he took another drag of his cigarette, stared at me for a moment, and asked, “Tell me something you like about it.”

Since that was going to be half the point of my review, I already had an answer for it. “I like how the author addresses the hypocrisy within the very group who are her heroes. She shows that the Quakers had enlightened ideas for their time but were slow to live them.”

“I thought Quakers were all about whaling.”

You gotta admit… few people under thirty know about that or care. I shook my head. “I don’t mean that they were early environmentalists. I’m talking about people of color. They were anti-slavery, pro-acceptance of natives, but neither group was good enough to mingle with. Instead, they felt superior to the less spiritually enlightened religious groups—or rather, that’s how some of them behaved. This author tackled that.”

“Cool.”

I thought he’d turn to go, and he did. But he turned back one more time and asked, “What don’t you like about it?”

My review was supposed to have both love and hate, but the hate part had been elusive until that moment. Suddenly I could explain it with simple clarity. “That I see myself in a character I hate—two, actually. Not everything about them. And not completely, but I do see myself in them. And it’s not pretty.”

His words. I’ll never forget them. He took a step away, another drag on his ash-laden cigarette, flicked off the excess, and blew out a puff of smoke that did make me cough.

He apologized.

And then he said, “I guess that’s why you read a religious novel, huh? So you can see stuff like that? Change it?”

“Repent.” I winked at him as I turned to go myself. “We ‘religious types’ call that change repentance. And you’re right. I read these things for fun but also to grow as a person. Thanks for that reminder.”

So… This book? This “religious book”? Yeah. It showed me where I need to repent.

Links in this post may be affiliates that provide me with a small commissoin–no extra cost to you, though. I also requested a review copy of this book. This is what I thought of it.

What about Minding the Light Did I Love & Hate

What did I love?

So many things. Daphne stole my heart with her feisty spirit, her gentle ways, and the fierce love she had for everyone in her life. She taught me much about forgiveness while holding fast to what is right.

I loved that Suzanne Woods Fisher wasn’t afraid to tackle the difficult subjects. Racism, bigotry, hypocrisy, foolish addiction, But more than that, I love that she tackled them with equal parts of forthright honesty and gentle compassion.

One of the most wonderful parts was the continuity of story. Not just the beautiful journal entries we’ve seen from the previous novel but also the issues of laudanum use and coming to grips with the strengths and weaknesses of your faith. She didn’t drag each of the old books into the next as much as she told each story individually while creating a beautiful arc of another story and wove it throughout each. We’re left waiting for more of Mary and her tale.

And what did I hate?

Not much. Most of what I hated had to do with seeing myself in characters I can’t like or respect. I hated having to examine my heart and find things in it I didn’t like in there—weaknesses I pretend I don’t have.

Sigh. It hurt.

But there was one thing that did mar some of the story for me. In one place in particular (but to a lesser degree in one or two more), the backstory wasn’t woven into the current tale. We were treated to an info-dump of “this is how all this got set up so you know what’s going on.”

Look, I get it. It happens in the best of stories. The fact of it isn’t even what bothered me as much as how it was done. It felt rushed… as if we were all sitting around a dinner table, and something happened outside. So instead of getting up to go see and return afterward to finish, we just were forced to shovel down that meal so we could get on with it.

It’s really my only complaint about the book and compared to a lot of books, it’s not worth noting. But, even at the end, while I’m still basking in the glow of the “light of Nantucket,” I remember that clog of information. So I mention it.

Seriously, I loved the book.

I still give it five stars because, hey. I loved the book! And after seeing the hints of what’s coming in the next one, I’m anxious for it. Too.

If you love good historical fiction that really makes you think and has a romance that feels natural and true… then yes. You’ll want to read this one. Sooner rather than later.

Minding the Light is on tour with Celebrate Lit

About the Book

Book Title: Minding the Light

Author: Suzanne Woods Fisher

Genre: Historical Romance

Release date: July 3, 2018

Six long years ago, Captain Reynolds Macy sailed away from his bride, looking forward to the day when he would return to Nantucket Island with a ship’s hold full of whale oil. But when that momentous day finally arrives, Ren soon discovers that everything has changed in his absence. Everything.

“Is nothing on this island as it appears to be?” he whispers in despair.

Unlike most islanders, bold and spirited Daphne Coffin doesn’t defer to Ren as an authoritative whalemaster, but sees through his aloofness to the aching heart beneath. She encourages him to return to his Quaker roots and “mind the Light,” finding solace in God and community. As Ren becomes the man she believes him to be–honorable, wise, faithful–she finds herself falling in love with him.

But how can she, when her heart is spoken for? Tristram Macy is Ren’s business partner, cousin, and best friend–and Daphne’s fiancé. Love always comes at a cost, but when is the price too high?

Suzanne Woods Fisher welcomes readers back to the Quaker community on Nantucket Island for this riveting love story, full of unexpected moments.

About the Author

Carol-award winner Suzanne Woods Fisher writes untold stories about inspiring people. With over one million copies of her books sold worldwide, she is the bestselling author of fiction and non-fiction, ranging from Amish Peace: Simple Wisdom for a Complicated World to the historical novel Anna’s Crossing.

Guest Post from Suzanne

8 Curious Facts You Probably Didn’t Know about Nantucket Island

This beautiful island, thirty miles off Cape Cod, is steeped in history. Here are just a few interesting reasons to add a visit to Nantucket to your bucket list.

1) During the first half of the nineteenth century, Nantucket was considered to be the wealthiest port in the world…all because of whale oil.

2) Petticoat Row is a 19th-century nickname for a portion of Centre Street between Main Street and Broad Street. Many shops on Nantucket were run by women while the men were off to sea in whaling ships for years at a time. Quakerism, with its emphasis on equality, provided working women with community respect, value and esteem. The next time you’re visiting Nantucket, be sure to stop by the Petticoat Row Bakery for a morning glory muffin.

3) The use of laudanum (opium) was described by a visiting French as prevalent among the women of Nantucket. Loyal Nantucketers vehemently denied his claim. However, in the 1980s, construction workers digging to Nantucket’s sewer lines found heaps of opium bottles buried in the ground.

For centuries, laudanum was considered to be not only harmless but beneficial.

Its very name in Latin is landare, which means to praise. Other names for it: Mother’s Helper (to sedate children), Sea Calm (for seasickness). It was used for all kinds of ailments, from sleeplessness to menstrual cramps to treatment of chronic pain, and available without prescription up until the twentieth century, when it was found to be highly addictive.

4) Nantucket Cent Schools were a carryover from England and the cost was exactly what the name implied. In New England, they were kept by refined, thrifty women who often taught their own or their neighbors’ children until they were old enough to enter schools of a higher grade. I came across a story of a boy whose mother stuck a penny in his mouth each day so that he would remember to pay the teacher.

5) Moby Dick, written by Herman Melville in 1851, was based on a true-life event that occurred in 1820 to the Nantucket whaleship Essex and her crew. You can find out more about this ill-fated voyage if you visit Nantucket’s awesome whaling museum.

6) Speaking of…the whaling museum on Nantucket Island is called the Peter Foulger Whaling Museum.

Peter Foulger was one of the early settlers to the island, and could be considered a Renaissance Man: inventor, surveyor, teacher, missionary to the Wampanoag Indians. And his grandson was none other than Benjamin Franklin.

7) Nantucketers were, for the most part, related to each other in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. The prosperous island was settled by a small group of families, with less than a dozen surnames: Coffin, Macy, Starbuck, Bunker, Hussey, Gardner, Mayhew, Swain, Barnard, Coleman, Worth, Mitchell. Those names are still common on the island.

8) There’s a good reason those surnames sound familiar to you—many of those early settlers had descendants who started business empires. Recognize these? Macy (retailer) and Folger (coffee).

Blog Stops

Carpe Diem, July 3

Livin Lit, July 3

midnightbookaholic, July 3

The Avid Reader, July 4

Margaret Kazmierczak, July 4

The Power of Words, July 4

A Baker’s Perspective, July 5

Blossoms and Blessings, July 5

A Reader’s Brain, July 5

Just the Write Escape, July 6

Babbling Becky L’s Book Impressions, July 6

Bibliophile Reviews, July 7

Mary Hake, July 7

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, July 7

Texas Book-aholic, July 8

Simple Harvest Reads, July 8 (Guest post from Mindy Houng)

Janices book reviews, July 9

Captive Dreams Window, July 9

Book by Book, July 9

Back Porch Reads, July 10

Reading Is My SuperPower, July 10

Splashes of Joy, July 10

The Morning Chapter, July 11

Vicky Sluiter, July 11

Book Bites, Bee Stings, & Butterfly Kisses, July 11

Among the Reads, July 12

proud to be an autism mom, July 12

Two Points of Interest, July 12

Abbas Prayer Warrior Princess, July 13

Tell Tale Book Reviews, July 13

Blogging With Carol, July 13

Truth and Grace Writing and Life Coaching, July 14

Maureen’s Musings, July 14

Southern Gal Loves to Read, July 14

Godly Book Reviews, July 15

Inklings and notions, July 15

Bigreadersite, July 15

Connie’s History Classroom , July 16

Locks, Hooks and Books, July 16

Pause for Tales, July 16

Have A Wonderful Day, July 16

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Suzanne is giving away a $10 Starbucks gift card to five winners!!

Be sure to leave a comment on one of the blog stops for 9 extra entries into the giveaway. Click link below to enter. https://promosimple.com/ps/d1c4/minding-the-light-celebration-tour-giveaway