The Secret History of the Pink Carnation by Lauren Willig

If I had to describe my perfect book, it would have these characteristics:

• A historical setting involving real historical figures with accurate detail
• A strong romance storyline
• Humor - both in dialog and circumstance
• A bit of mystery

 

This book has all of that, so why isn't it perfect?  I can't quite put my finger on it.  Maybe because it appears to have all of my elements on the surface, but it has too much of some and not enough of others...just not the right balance.

 

Let's start with the historical setting.  Yes, it's set in the past, so that qualifies.  There are some scenes with Napolean and some of his family members, but I'd like to have seen more interaction between them and the characters in the story.  I did love the portrayal of Josephine.  I've never read a book about her, so I need to fix that.

 

The romance storyline was strong, but c'mon....she goes by boat from England to France and without knowing his name or what he looks like, finds herself in the cabin with the exact guy she's looking for?  Really?  And then they are so in love with other but she doesn't recognize his voice when his face is covered with a mask?  I'm all for suspending disbelief...in fact, I love it...but that's just too much even for me.

 

I did enjoy the humor, although it ran a little to the cutesy side. And the mystery wrapped up very neatly.

 

So it was a solid good book that I enjoyed reading, but won't make my list of Top Ten reads at the end of the year.  I won't run out and acquire the next books in the series, but I'll pick them up if I stumble on them.  They would probably be good beach reads.

 

 

What brings value??

So I weighed in this morning and I had lost another six pounds. I should be ecstatic, right??? I mean, I've lost 36 pounds in 13 weeks....averaging three pounds a week for that long is amazing. I crossed over a number that I haven't been able to get past in over three years. On Sunday and Monday, for the first time, people who didn't already know I was working on this told me they could tell I had lost a lot of weight. So it's all good, right???

But the goal for the month was eight pounds. I walked away from the scale dejected. And could already feel the pressure to revert back to my old unhealthy ways of attacking this. "I'm gonna have to start getting up at 4am to get more exercise in...I need to clamp down harder on what I'm eating...maybe I need to start weighing more often." By the time I made it to my chair for my quiet time, I knew I needed a God intervention before I fell completely down the obsessive-compulsive rabbit hole. I prayed for God to speak directly and specifically to me from His Word this morning. I fully expected to find something happy and encouraging..."Press on, keep the faith, I'm okay, you're okay, it's the thought that counts" kinda stuff. Silly me.

My reading this morning was in Colossians 2. First I got the happy: "...I am present with you in spirit and delight to see how disciplined you are and how firm your faith in Christ is. (v. 5)" But then I got the admonishing wake-up call that I needed: "Since you died with Christ to the elemental spiritual forces of this world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its rules: "Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!"? These rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish with use, are based on merely human commands and teachings. Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence. (v. 20 - 23)"

Wow. I'm so thankful for a God who tells me what I need to hear, not what I want to hear. I can treat my body harshly to lose 8 pounds this month. I know I can do that. But that lacks any eternal value. I'm focused on re-training my cravings (sensual indulgences). I'm learning that I will crave whatever I consume, both physically and spiritually. If I eat sweets, I'll crave sweets. If I eat healthy, I'll crave healthly. If I mentally consume the TV ads for ripped abs and online articles for crash diets, I'll crave the daily weigh-ins and punishing workouts. But if I consume God's Word and digest his happy encouragement along with his loving admonitions, I'll crave more of Him. Now THAT is value!