Violet Miracle

A Little Bit of Coffee, Flowers, and Romance #1

by Christina Li

Mystery writer Violet Carsten has spent most of her life behind the pages of a book, either reading one or writing one. When she inherits a house in the city she ends up getting much more than she bargained for! Through some amazing coffee, a real life mystery, an overprotective older brother, and a little bit of pepper spray, she finds the man of her dreams. Will she take a chance on love or will old fears keep her heart locked up tight?

Genres: Christian, Christian Fiction, Romance, Mystery, Fiction, Clean Romance, Contemporary

184 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 24, 2012

About the author

Christina Li, BA, MA, is an author, journalist, wife, and mother of five. She and her family live in the northwest suburbs of Chicago where they serve in a great church, The Life Church of Glenview, www.thelifechurchofglenview.org

Besides writing, she loves a great cup of coffee, fresh roasted by her wonderful husband, and afternoon tea.

Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/author/ChristinaLi
Connect with her on FaceBook at www.facebook.com/ChristinaLiBooks
Check out her blog at http://ChristinaLiBooks.wordpress.com for inspiration and information on writing and publishing your own books

Reviews

[Tiffany Murphy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mystery writer, Violet Carsten, has spent most of her life hiding behind the pages of a book, either reading or writing one. Her only adventures are those she's read about. So, the only thing that would get her to leave her tiny hometown was inheriting a house, with the only way to collect her inheritance was that she actually live in the house for a time. Violet decides to look at the bright side and figures she'll be able to do some research for her mystery novels. But, she gets a lot more than she bargained for! Through the coffee house next door, an overprotective big brother, a bit of pepper spray and a real life murder mystery, Violet finds the man of her dreams, a family of her own and her very own happily ever after!
This was the first book that I've read by this author and I'm definitely looking forward to reading more of this series. The characters were very well written and all of them were vibrant and multi-dimensional. I loved the transformation that each one took and can't wait to see the further journeys that each one will take. I loved how strong they were in their faith and how it affected the way they learned from their mistakes. I can't wait to read book 2. I only wish that Jesse hadn't gotten married in the interim. It seemed like his story got completely skipped over! I would love to know how he and his wife met and to be able to read the whole thing. That was the main thing that disappointed me about the book.

[Angela · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story idea was terrific. The character descriptions and development were nicely done.

However, Li explained and reported on the story instead of SHOWING the actions of the characters and actually storytelling. Perhaps her skill as a journalist holds her back in fiction writing. I was glad I read this book, because I really did like the story; but some parts were quite difficult to read through.

All in all, Violet Miracle needed a good editor to change the describing to showing, and to cut down on the number of words used.

Sometimes Li took a whole page to tell the reader one little fact about a character, and other times she skipped entire months with sentences like, "Months went by with nothing really exciting happening. Then it was spring." (This isn't an actual passage from the book, but mighty close.)

[Loraine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ever since her parents were killed in a car accident, Violet Carsten has fought to stay in her small town of Butterfield, Illinois with her aunt. She hides behind the books she reads as well as the cozy mysteries she writes. When an unknown uncle passes and leaves her his house and all its belonging, Violet has to count on her faith to give her the strength to move to a small suburb of Chicago and start a new life. Will the Givens family who own the Coffee Shop next door be the miracle to bring Violet out of her shell?

Loved this quote: "Life hurts sometimes. I can't control that, but I can control how I respond. Do I respond with fear and by running away or by faith?"

Quick, easy to read romance novel.

[Alaina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Violet Miracle was definitely a book that I would probably never dive into on my own. Since it ended up working for a couple of challenges that I'm in, I figured it wouldn't kill me to jump into this. Luckily, for me, it wasn't horrible, but the romance was too clean for me. Which is kind of weird to say and type.

While things could be considered cute and mushy, I often found myself quite annoyed with what was going on. Especially when it started to get a bit preachy here and there which is not my cup of tea. It's definitely a con when it comes to romance tied to religion in a way. Or maybe that's just how I always feel when it's a Christian romance?

Either way, it was okay, but nothing really sparked my interest. The characters did nothing for me, and I was happy to reach the very last page. In a way, the mystery was the best part, and I could have done without the romance.

[DiAnn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just finished Violet Miracle because I couldn't put my Kindle down until I got to the end of the story! Author Christina Li does a fantastic job creating heroine Violet Carsten and the wonderful Givens family - you definitely want to read more about them and hopefully a story about Ivy and Will. Looking forward to the next story by this talented author! P.S. As a coffee fan, the backdrop of a coffee shop was perfect!

[Monique the Book Geek · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like the concepts behind this story as well as its characters. The story surrounds Violet Carsten, who at a young age was in a horrible car accident that killed both of her parents. This incident deeply scarred Violet and affected nearly every aspect of her teenage and early adult years. After finishing high school, writing crime/suspense/mystery books becomes an escape for Violet—an escape from her anxieties—until her life becomes a bit of its own crime/suspense/mystery story.

An easy and enjoyable read, I finished this book in a day. My reasoning for giving this book three instead of five stars is that it has a lot of room for improvement. Much of this story is told rather than shown, which fiction writers are almost always advised against (here is some information on showing versus telling in writing). I also discovered several errors in grammar, vocabulary, and spelling within this book. For example:

In Chapter Four's "Violet was always so much fun to give presents too," too should be to.

In the opening paragraph of Chapter Seven, "No need to for a repeat," should be "No need for a repeat." The to in this sentence is not needed.

In Chapter Eight there was a sentence that really stood out to me because it used too many repeating words in one sentence, making the sentence awkward. "She had often found in her research if she did a little on-line research before doing her physical research (interviewing people or checking out locations), she found the physical research much more meaningful." I would have reworded this to be: "Her physical research (interviewing people or checking out locations) was often much more meaningful when she did a little on-line digging first." Similar repetitiveness is found in other areas of the text. For example, dictatorial was used to many times to describe a certain character. I would have liked to see more of a variety of descriptive words.

In Chapter 11, "She wasn't sure what she expected, but why wasn't her at least angry, or upset, or... something?" should read: "She wasn't sure what she expected, but why wasn't her aunt at least angry, or upset, or... something?"

In Chapter 18, "Had she been really been doing avoiding relationships?" should be: "Had she really been avoiding relationships?"

I wish I could point these things out (along with a few others) to the author, because other than some errors that can easily be changed, Violet Miracle is a book with great substance and interesting characters that I really enjoyed reading!

[Melody · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute

It was kinda mushy and cliche, and it did get a bit preachy at times. The redeeming quality was the mystery. It just wrapped up too quickly and neatly at the end; I wish there’d been more drama or the solution had been more drawn out. *shrug*

3 Stars.

[Julie Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful christian romance

This is a book worth reding! The characters are so vivid and true, a romance about row people who v found love and conquered fear by allowing God to lead their oaths.

[christine · Rating 5 out of 5]

A new fan

This was a great wholesome book. The characters were strong supportive and brilliant group that I found delightful. Violet was a little sheltered and naive but all in all I saw her character emerge into a confident woman. I highly recommend this book.

[Jean Hall · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an interesting, wholesome book. Violet was rather sheltered and naive. She lives with her mother and they are barely getting by, then Violet loses her job. Coincidentally, she receives a letter telling her of an inheritance but she has to go to Chicago to receive it. There is a funny scene where she feels threatened and proceeds to pepper spray 2 men, who turn out to be members of the family who runs the restaurant next door. So many crazy things happen and Violet has to rely on her faith to get her through. It was nice to see Violet come out of her shell and gain confidence.

[Tracy · Rating 2 out of 5]

A lady mystery writer gets asked to go to Chicagoland to collect an inheritance which she figures will take a few weeks. Yet, she finds out from the lawyer that she must live in the house for three months before she could get the inheritance. So, the adventure begins. We are told that she has struggled with phobias for years which makes the idea of driving to Chicagoland a scary prospect for her but she does it and meets new friends.
I liked the story but the author spent too much time telling me things rather than showing me them. Also, she shifted the point of view some without signaling that she was doing so. This confused me at times when I didn't recognize the shift at times. She also populated her story with mostly Christians which seemed to find forgiving others to be real easy. Forgiveness is something that we all need to learn but it is a hard lesson that doesn't seem to just happen like it did in this story. So, I would have expected some of the characters to struggle with forgiving her.

[Jess (Shepherdjel) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5! I loved the family in this book! loved Violet and Sam so much! You have to have faith that everything will happen for a reason, when and how it is supposed too. My main issue with this was that it was a bit rushed, otherwise I loved the characters and the story!!

[Natalya · Rating 2 out of 5]

poorly written, still cute

[Susan Faloon · Rating 2 out of 5]

I reallywish the author has edited and pilished at least one more time. Great story idea but it could be so much better.

[Monica Akinyi Odhiambo · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a lovely read:)So sweet and adorable.

[Lila · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating tale and characters. It could have been edited a bit more, but the story captured my interest anyway.