Friday Books: Samuel Lake

The Homecoming of Samuel Lake by Jenny Wingfield -- I had heard this was a good book, so I was looking forward to reading it. I knew one of the characters is a Methodist minister - which my dad was, too - so I thought I might be able to relate to the story. Unfortunately, I was disappointed. Nothing "Methodist" about it resonated with me at all. The characters are one-dimensional, especially the "bad guy." He was a stereotypically bad, violent man with zero redeeming qualities. The good guys were also poorly developed and too shallow. It's a story about a family having their annual reunion, and one branch of the family ends up moving back to the home circle. There were a few things that kept me reading; I was curious about some of the characters, but overall I was disappointed and would not recommend that you spend time on this one. I give it two stars out of five.

Happy Halloween!