Review - A light in the window by Jan Karon and Review - Village Secrets by Rebecca Shaw

Both A Light in the Window and Village Secrets were books I was tempted to pick
up because of their appealing covers! I know that sounds awfully childish or cheesy but whats to be done.

A Light in the Window deals with a aging rector in a very nice parish who is a bachelor and who has fallen in love with his neighbour but finds it so very hard to pop the question or even confirm he is madly in love with her due to more than lack of commitment, fear of saying the word "love". The book moves through village life in an American town very reminiscent of an English village. The book involves all the occupants of the village in some form or the other and is a very light, pleasant read.

Village Secrets is also a book set in a village in England and deals with the vagaries of so called English village life. In this book categorized by "class" the rector has one role to play, the workers have another and the former Lord and Lady of the Castle have another, presently ursurped by the nouveau riche gentleman of business who wants to take over the town. Needless to say traditions have to be maintained and no amount of throwing money around is going to win the villagers over. Add to this an unusual element of witchcraft and black magic going on in the woods and you bring in a sinister element which is difficult to dislodge. All ends happily however and it is a story of happily ever after.

Both books are part of a series of books, the former set in Mitford and the latter in the unlikely sounding village name of Turnham Malpas. If you like books of the Joanna Trollope vintage you will like both these authors.

Am hopefully getting to the bottom of my to be reviewed books and am so glad thats done. A happy week ahead.