Review: "The Right Kind of Fool" by Sarah Loudin Thomas

If you need a break from this crazy (and highly unusual) season, let Sarah Loudin Thomas take you on a delightful trip to 1930's West Virginia.

Review: "The Christmas Heirloom" by Karen Witemeyer, Kristi Ann Hunter, Sarah Loudin Thomas, & Becky Wade

I love a good Christmas novella. I love Becky Wade's writing. So when the two combine, well, that's magic 😃.

The Christmas Heirloom: Four Holiday Novellas of Love through the Generations is a collection of novellas, written by four popular inspy fiction writers, spanning from the 1820s through today. All are loosely connected to the others, and all are delightful.

"The Sound of Rain" by Sarah Loudin Thomas

In The Sound of Rain, Sarah Loudin Thomas takes readers to the poverty of Appalachia and the wealth of Myrtle Beach in the 1950s.

"A Tapestry of Secrets" by Sarah Loudin Thomas

Sarah Loudin Thomas wraps up her trilogy featuring the Phillips family with A Tapestry of Secrets.

"until the harvest" by sarah loudin thomas

Last year, I read Sarah Loudin Thomas's Miracle in a Dry Season and fell in love with the beautiful prose, the characters (especially Casewell Phillips and Perla), and the little town of Wise, West Virginia. In Until the Harvest, readers return to Wise and specifically the Phillips family approximately 20 years after the events of Miracle in a Dry Season.

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When family tragedy derails Henry Phillips's college studies, he's left unmoored and feeling abandoned. The only things that can tamp down his grief are the family farm, his fiddle, and an unexpected friendship with sweet but unusual preteen Mayfair Hoffman. 

Unfortunately, Mayfair's older sister, Margaret, despite her spray of freckles and cute, turned-up nose, has a completely different effect. His grandmother's helper, she's always around, ready to push his buttons, and it seems at first that she doesn't care about his troubles. 
  
Henry soon realizes, though, that Margaret's facing her own struggles. Mayfair's health and unique gift sit at the heart of those worries. Henry and Margaret soon find themselves relying on each other as potential tragedy collides with growing hope in a warm story of family bonds and the surprising ways healing finds us all. 

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I had pretty high expectations going into Until the Harvest based on how much I loved Miracle in a Dry Season. These expectations were completely met by Until the Harvest.

Henry Phillips, Casewell and Perla's college-aged son, was a bit hard to like in the beginning—events at the start of the novel sent him into a tailspin that had him making some really boneheaded decisions—but I couldn't help but root for him, anyway. I was so invested in his journey that I couldn't help but yell at him a few times as he continued making poor choices!

Margaret and Mayfair, though, I loved from the get go. These sisters came from a difficult background, yet they grew and flourished under Henry's grandmother Emily's guidance.

As with Miracle in a Dry Season, there's a bit of the supernatural in Until the Harvest. In this case, Mayfair has a unique way of helping people ... but not without causing pain to herself. Really, Mayfair's gift and the way it unfolded was the novel's highlight for me.

There's a bit of a romance, too, but it doesn't overshadow the characters. From Henry, Margaret, and Mayfair to Grandma Emily to moonshiner Clint, each character is fleshed out and imperfect; basically, the characters feel like people you could encounter in real life.

Until the Harvest was a pleasure to read, and I look forward to reading more about the Phillips family when A Tapestry of Secrets releases next year. 5 stars.

Buy the book.
Read my review of Miracle in a Dry Season (5 stars).

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Sarah Loudin Thomas is a fundraiser for a children's ministry, who has also written for Mountain Homes Southern Style and Now & Then magazines, as well as The Asheville Citizen-Times. Her debut novel was Miracle in a Dry Season. She holds a BA in English from Coastal Carolina University. She and her husband reside in Asheville, North Carolina. She can be found online at www.sarahloudinthomas.com.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free for review from Bethany House Publishers through its book reviewer program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. Also, some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase an item, I will receive an affiliate commission. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

"miracle in a dry season" by sarah loudin thomas

It's 1954 and Perla Long's arrival in the sleepy town of Wise, West Virginia, was supposed to go unnoticed. She just wants a quiet, safe place for her and her daughter, Sadie, where the mistakes of her past can stay hidden. But then drought comes to Wise, and Perla is pulled into the turmoil of a town desperately in need of a miracle.

Casewell Phillips has resigned himself to life as a bachelor...until he meets Perla. She's everything he's sought in a woman, but he can't get past the sense that she's hiding something. As the drought worsens, Perla's unique gift divides the town in two, bringing both gratitude and condemnation, and placing the pair in the middle of a storm of anger and forgiveness, fear and faith.

Though I struggled to get into Miracle in a Dry Season in the early pages, I soon found myself swept into Wise, and I couldn't put the book down.

In Casewell's journey from judgement to grace, author Sarah Loudin Thomas paints a powerful—and convicting—picture of what our own Christian walks should look like. Maybe you don't struggle with extending grace to other believers, but I sure fall on the side of judgement far too often. This lesson—which I seem to need to learn over and over again—is wrapped in a wonderfully compelling story.

Really, Miracle in a Dry Season is a beautiful novel. It has a literary fiction feel to it that I don't encounter too often in Christian fiction. (The last book I can remember reading that had this same overall feel—though it was completely different—is Christa Parrish's Stones for Bread.) It's a book that I could send to my literary snob sister, and I'm confident she would love it as much as I did.

Miracle in a Dry Season is a special novel, the likes of which you don't see every day. I'm thankful that this is just the first book in a series, as I'm anxious to return to Wise! 5 stars.

Buy the book.
Get the prequel novella, "Appalachian Serenade," free for Kindle.

Sarah Loudin Thomas is a fund-raiser for a children's ministry who has also published freelance writing for Mountain Homes Southern Style and Now & Then magazines, as well as The Asheville Citizen-Times and The Journey Christian Newspaper. She holds a bachelor's in English from Coastal Carolina University. She and her husband reside in Asheville, North Carolina. Learn more at www.sarahloudinthomas.com.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free for review from Bethany House Publishers through its book reviewer program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. Also, some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."