The Words Between Us (Book Reviews)

By Benjamin H. Liles

          The author of We Hope for Better Things, Erin Bartels, has done it once again with her latest book The Words Between Us. I have to agree with another reviewer of Erin's work that she is indeed a "new-to-me" kind of author. While I know I reviewed her previous book We Hope for, she still seems new to me in the sense of not knowing how her writing will affect me or how I end up reviewing her work. That said, what I can truly say is she's one of those masterful storytellers for the Christian genre, but I'd say she'd rank up there with other giants such as Stephen King, Dean Koontz, and James Scott Bell.

          What grabs you from the start is the opening lines of the book talking about how the main character has a dislike for her soon to be incarcerated father (actually she's remembering the events from when she was younger). The first thing I want to say is the simple design for the book is pretty cool. Almost immediately we, as the reader, find out the main character works in or owns a book store and that would make sense. She's hiding from a rather disturbing past she'd like to forget. I can sort of relate to that.

          What I can truthfully say is that Erin Bartels is one of those authors that once you find and read you want to find more of her books to keep reading. In that sense, she's one gifted and talented writer of the modern age I'd keep watching for in terms of writing style and in her prose for the books she writes. It's almost like every page is gift-wrapped and handed to us so we can be as much fascinated and also horrified at the same time, but then we find God's merciful loving-kindness being shown through the pages. Revell sent me a copy of this book to review and to give a fair and honest feedback on.