Morningsong: A Novel

by Shelly Beach

After her terrifying accident on the shores of Lake Michigan, Mona Vander Molen is trying to pick up the pieces of her life. Mona's brain injury has limited her physically and the doctor's uncertain prognosis isn't helping her feel any better. As she faces the threat of permanent disability, Mona also struggles to make sense of her relationship with the kindly carpenter Adam Dean. At the peak of her own crisis, Hallie appears again, this time seeking Mona's help and refuge for both herself and her mother. But when their dear friend Harold Rawlings has a stroke, Mona and Hallie see their hidden fears come to light. Can Mona resolve her doubts about her relationship, face her uncertain future, and help her sister-all at the same time?

288 pages, Paperback

First published February 24, 2009

Reviews

[Ruth · Rating 4 out of 5]

One subject with which I have trouble is differentiating between God's active will--those things He chooses to have happen to people and His permissive will--those things He allows to happen as a result of a sinful world. It is easy to say "God blessed me with this child" when you got pregnant after you were married, the first month you "tried". Did God also bless the 14 year old incest victim who just found out she is pregnant? Did God actively will both pregnancies? Neither? The first, but not the second? If He willed the second, does that mean He willed the rape? How much is God a puppet master, moving us around the stage of the world and how much is he a watchmaker, who put us all together, but then winds us up and lets us go?

If you are wondering where the book review is, it is coming. I wrote the above because it ran through my mind while reading Morningsong by Shelly Beach. It is the story of Mona, a 40ish single woman who recently suffered a traumatic brain injury in the same accident as claimed the life of her teenage niece. Until the accident Mona had been an independent athletic woman. Now she has balance and coordination problems, problems with math, and gets frequent headaches. She talks in the book about it being God's will that what she had before was taken from her so that God could give her more. I ask, does God operate that way?

The book is mainly about Mona's relationships with her niece, sister to the one who was lost. Hallie, the niece has been caring for Ellen, her alcoholic mom, since the accident, but then Ellen ends up in the hospital in an alcoholic coma. Hallie comes to live with Mona. Ellen goes to rehab. The story is also about Mona's relationship with Adam, the man in her life. Will she learn to accept his love? When you don't see yourself as lovable, it is hard to allow yourself to be loved. Uncle Harold, the last main character, is the one who holds all these people together and leads them to wholeness. We find that his wisdom is not only a result of age, but also of sorrow. The book ends on a happy note, but as in real life, sorrow isn't far away.

This is Christian fiction. The faith of the characters and the effect it has on their lives is paramount to the story. Take out the faith, and this book fails. However, this is not an "accept Jesus and life will be grand" book either. These people have hurts, they are imperfect and they sin. They also love the Lord and it shows in their lives. This book is a good emotional read and I'm glad I read it.

Question for discussion: Do you see God more as a puppet master or as a watchmaker--or as something else? How much of what happens can we credit to (or blame on) God and how much is just the way He allows things to be?

I received Morningsong by Shelly Beach for a First Wildcard tour. Check back July 18 to read about the author and check out the first chapter for yourself.

[Renee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Morningsong is a follow-up to the Christy Award-winning Hallie's Heart by Shelly Beach. I really wish I'd been able to read Hallie's Heart before reading Moringsong. While the author did a good job of providing background information, I still feel I would have known the characters and their backgrounds better.
Mona is a woman recovering from a coma; the first chapter is a bit odd (don't want to give specifics since a spoiler would ruin the chapter) but the storyline quickly improves. Mona is busy dealing with her alcoholic sister, her teenaged niece, Adam (a suitor)and others in her life. The story is one of hope and ends mostly happily.
I enjoyed the story although was occassionally lost due to not reading the first book. I feel as if there is more story to tell especially about her sister Ellen so I will keep my eyes open for another sequel.

[Beth Warwick · Rating 2 out of 5]

[2.5 stars] I bought this book 15 years ago at a closeout sale based on the cover alone. It was not until about 100-150 pages in that I realized this is the second book in a duology. The good news is that the author does explain everything well enough that the only reason I knew is because I flipped to the back and it was advertising the first book in the series. The bad news is that overall the story felt a little...empty. There were interesting things happening, they just were not told in the most interesting of ways. It just needed a little more oomph and it is hard to put my finger on exactly where or how.
Reading this is not a waste of time, but it is not one that I will walk around recommending to people.

[Bree · Rating 2 out of 5]

I decided to give this one another go, since last time I DNF'd it without getting too far into it. It didn't fare much better - the only thing that I can say is that I read it. Though I found myself skimming at the very end just to get it over with.

I didn't realize when I entered the giveaway that it was a Christian book - I don't usually read them because, to put it nicely, Christianity is not my thing. So the fact that God was all over the book was a little bit tedious to slog through.

Mostly I just didn't connect with the characters. Not because of all the religious overtones, exactly, but they just felt very "old". I know that a couple of them ARE old but they acted younger than the ones who are only slightly older than me. Mona acted like she was 80, but really is mid-40? Hallie is 16 and acts way older. I don't know, just the way it was written, the ages seemed arbitrary and didn't really fit the characters at all.

Mona drove me crazy with her flip-flopping about Adam. In the space of a day she could go from loving him and not wanting to be without him, then deciding he was too good for her, and back several times. It was infuriating! Yes, I get that she has a health issue, but he was fully aware of it the entire time, and really, it was his decision to make! I kept siding with Adam whenever Mona would do something stupid.

Then there's the fact that nothing actually happens through the entire book. Little things, yes, but absolutely nothing that made me happy that I read the book. It was just so...everyday.

So, I gave it a fair shot and it is definitely not my kind of book. I should have left it in the DNF pile, but something was nagging at me to try again.

[Christy Trever · Rating 4 out of 5]

Morningsong by Shelly Beach is the powerful follow-up to Hallie's Heart. You don't need to have read the previous book to love this one, but you will probably want to by the time you finish. Mona VanderMolen has been through a rough couple of years: two years ago her niece Stacie drowned in Lake Michigan and three months she herself was beaten by the waves onto rocks until she needed brain surgery and spent time in a coma. Recovery has been a difficult process that manifests in her scarred scalp peeking through her short spiky hair and her antagonism toward Miss Emily the cat. Miss Emily also walks off-kilter and her eyes don't seem to work right either. Throw into the mix an alcoholic sister, rebellious niece Hallie, and determined suitor, Adam. She tries to juggle everyone else's problems and ignore her own, but soon discovers that she can't manage any of it without God. I love how Beach gives every character an extra pinch of personality, even the police officer acts in unexpected ways without Beach telling us exactly why. Mona sums it up best when in her joy she says that her sister is perfect, Hallie is perfect, everyone is perfect and completely messed up at the same time. That's just how God sees us, and Beach makes his shine in this poignant novel.

[Gail · Rating 2 out of 5]

Was surprise to find out that upon receiving this book as a give away that the Author was a Christian writer. Not usully something I would read I was pleasantly surprised to find I enjoyed the majority of the book. The story started out very interesting and the writing was excellant. But the more I read the more I felt like I was at church and towards the end I felt let down with the story ...it just became to much like a sermon. That's the authors choice of course but I believe she could reach out and try a more conventional book and be just as successful.

[Shannon Kelley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this follow-up to Shelly Beach's first novel, Hallie's Heart. As Mona is still recovering from her accident, her niece Hallie comes to her for help. Mona tries to ignore and even hide her own health problems and help her family and reconcile relationships. It is a powerful book about dealing with painful, complicated lives. It demonstrates forgiveness, hope, and fully relying on God and His strength.

[Margie Takala · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a touching book about the power of faith in dealing with difficult situations. The characters are real, and the problems discussed (physical maladies, alcoholism) are handled realistically. If you are like me and haven't as yet read Hallie's Heart, you may want to pick that one up and see how the story starts.

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

Received this as a Goodreads giveaway. It's a Christian novel, much more religious content than I usually read, but it wasn't heavy-handed and blended well into the story. I'd like to read the related earlier book, Hallie's Heart, sometime.

[Christine Abbey · Rating 2 out of 5]

A Christian oriented romance novel centered around dysfunctioning alcholic mother and extended family members? Glad it was a very quick read for it was not much of a story and very trite in characater development.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an ok read for me. I didn't realize there was a prequel, but I probably won't go back and read it. I thought the story droned on in places. Has some pretty serious issues going on in the book, addiction, tragedy, depressions, suicide.

[Chris · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not much for trite romance novels.

[Elaine]

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[June Guymon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was not quite as good as Hallie's Heart, but still a good read.

[Keri Kolpanen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great follow up to Hallie's Heart, however for me I liked the first one more :) It's another great summer read from Shelly!!

[Joy Kidney · Rating 5 out of 5]

The delightful sequel to Hallie's Heart.