Lady in Waiting by Susan Meissner

Jane Lindsay never thought her husband of twenty plus years would leave her. But now he has announced that he is moving out to take another job several states away, in order to give them some space. As Jane tries to figure out where their marriage went wrong, she finds solace in discovering the past behind a ring with her name inscribed on it, which she found in the pages of an old prayer book. She discovers the story of Lucy Day, a dressmaker for Lady Jane Grey, who held the throne of England for less than two weeks. Even though Jane Lindsay tries to numb the situation with her husband, she cannot hide forever and will soon have to face the truth.
Susan Meissner has continued her new trend of writing past\present plots with Lady in Waiting. She has departed from the average historical account by discovering an obscure tale to write about. She combines this with an above-average present plot to make for an interesting read. However, Susan could still use some help with her ends.
Jane and her husband are both well-developed characters and are both at fault for their separation. As the book progresses, the reader discovers more and more how these two characters' choices drove them to where they are at the beginning of the novel. The characters in the past could be better than they are, but they are not unbearable. There are no real villains in particular, making for an interesting and ambiguous read. All in all, the characters are good, but not great.
The problem with a marriage trouble\separation plot is the inevitability of the end. There are really only two options, and Susan chose the more predictable, though it could have been worse than it was. There was one element of the past plot that Susan could not avoid being that it is historical fact. However, Susan took liberty to add unoriginal elements to the past plot. However, these issues are not something dwell on, since they can be easily forgotten in the light of other original elements, such as key character deaths.
While this book cannot be five stars, it is nonetheless an enjoyable book to read. Susan Meissner clearly knows what she is doing as an author.

The Remedy for Regret by Susan Meissner

Tess Laungher is 28 and lives the simple life working at a local boutique. She makes a nice living dressing rich women, but deep down, her heart and soul are empty. She and her fiancee, Simon, are living together, waiting for the right time to get married. Simon is currently going through a rough time because he feels guilty for a traffic accident he caused, which resulted in the deaths of two innocent people. Tess feels rejected by her father because she thinks he blames her for her mother's death, since she died bringing Tess into the world. To get away from it all, Tess agrees to a road trip with a friend of hers in order to help her friend make something wrong right. Tess finds that there is only one remedy for regret-and it is the remedy she has tried to ignore her entire life.

The Remedy for Regret

is driven by strong, imperfect characters, which is a necessity with this type of simple plot, especially when the author uses the typical plot elements Susan used here. However, these elements are the downfall of the book because they are too typical and too perfect.

Tess and Simon are realistic leads because they are both imperfect. They both make choices that effect the outcome of the plot. Susan could have made Simon into a perfect male lead, something many female authors do, but she chose not to. There are several other good characters throughout the plot that serve to help this book's rating. The characters are the strongest point of this book, as should be the case with all books, especially this type of plot. The Remedy for Regret definitely would have been worse without good characters.

The plot follows a straightforward, quest like structure because Tess goes from one problem to another, inevitably fixing it. First Tess and her friend hunt down a boy whom they rescued as a baby to tell him the truth about his mother, then Tess visits her father to try to reconcile with him about her mother's death before traveling to England to clear the air with her mother's family. Even though each situation is fixed, each one serves to add to characters' imperfection and personality. It was not the best thing she could have done, however, because Susan should have had at least one situation not be fixed.

The book could have lived through these things with an Elite rating, but what Susan did in the epilogue really ruined things for me. Anything that was left to fix, was fixed in a sped up, haphazard fashion. This is a bit cheesy, to say the least. I'm not saying that good things never happen to people and that authors should never have good things happen to their characters, but there is a realistic balance to find and realistic way to write plots.

I know Susan Meissner wrote this in her early years, and I'm glad she has learned from this and has not returned to this stage in her career. This shows the mark of a truly good author.

3 stars

Why the Sky is Blue by Susan Meissner

Claire Holland's life is changed forever one night when she is attacked and raped by an unknown assailant. She wakes up later in the hospital with no real memory of the incident. She thinks the danger is past until she discovers that she has been impregnated by her attacker. But she is married already, and has two children of her own. She knows she cannot in good faith abort the life growing inside her. She and her husband finally decide to put the unborn child up for adoption. So, when the child is born, she is whisked away into the arms of another couple. Katie Holland, Claire's daughter, cannot understand why her half-sister was taken away from her. Over a decade later, Katie receives a life-changing letter from her half-sister's adopted mother. What she reads re-opens the past and forces them to face something everyone tried to forget.

Where Susan Meissner's other books are character-driven masterpieces, Why the Sky is Blue falls short of this standard and is instead a simplistic story. Gone are her normal complex plot twists and complex characters. This novel lacks surprises, and while there is nothing inherently wrong with this, this type of plot needs complex characters, and yet there are none.

Only Claire and Katie show any hint of personality. They are both limited characters, who, though imperfect, are not in the least bit realistic. The other characters suffer for any kind of realistic nature, especially Lara, Katie's half-sister. This is very unlike Susan because she usually has very realistic characters. This is a shame and drags the entire plot down.

The book is divided into two parts-the first part being about Claire's unwanted pregnancy, the second part being about Katie's adult life. This book is so simple it could have been written by a ten-year-old. I don't understand why Susan wrote such a simple plot. The foundational idea behind the book is interesting enough, but it needed complex characters to make it work.

There is not much else to critique about the plot. Susan has not written anything like this since, so she clearly learned her lesson. This is why she is an Elite author-because she adjusts. Hopefully she will never return to this point in her career.

2.5 stars

In All Deep Places by Susan Meissner

Luke Foxbourne is a popular mystery author who is currently experiencing a bout of writer's block. His normal life is interrupted when his father dies of a stroke back in Luke's hometown. Luke returns there, not only because of his father, but to also discover what happened to his old stories, hoping they will cure his writer's block. But as he reads his stories, unpleasant childhood memories surface on the waters of his mind and he remembers the girl next door to him-Norah, one of the only friends he had, and the first girl he kissed. But something happened directly before their parting that makes Luke want to mend the breach where they left off. But first, he must relive his past and reconcile it at the same time.

In All Deep Places

is heavily marketed as one of those books about an author with writer's block who begins to see his characters in real life, but it is really not that at all. It's one of those return-to-your-hometown-and-relive-your-past-books. Normally I would say this brand of book is worn out, but Susan, as usual, has found an original way to end this otherwise typical plot.

As usual, Susan has crafted a cast of realistic and imperfect characters. They all have visible flaws, and they all make wrong choices that lead to the non-typical end. Susan has learned how to write this type of plot very well, and this is an asset to her as an author.

The book spends 90% of the time in the past, which is contrary to what I've heard people say about this book. Luke and Norah live brutally realistic lives in the small town of Halycon. Things happen there that most authors are afraid to write because they don't want to scare away readers. But In All Deep Places was a book that needed to be written. The central point of the book is that God has put eternity in the hearts of men and we were created for something better. This also is backed up by the original end.

Most authors are afraid to write an end like the end of this book because they don't want to rock the boat or they are afraid they will get bad reviews. I am not going to give this book a bad review because Susan stepped out of the box of this type of story and did the realistic thing without looking back. The market has been suffering for authors like this, but there are more of these authors now than ever. The market it becoming more original with every year.

I hope authors read this original book and learn how to be original from it. I also hope Susan will continue writing books like this.

5 stars

White Picket Fences by Susan Meissner

The Janviers live the perfect life. Amanda and Neil both have good jobs, and their teenage twins are doing well in school. They feel good about their stable family life, so that's why they take in their niece Tally to live with them-so she can see how a good family functions. Since her grandmother died and her father is traipsing all over the world in search of a treasure, they think she deserves it. But what the Janviers don't know is that in the midst of their perfect family, things are not right. Discord has been sneaking in right under their noses, ready to tear them apart.

Their son, Chase, has been struggling with the memories of a house fire he thinks he started as a four-year-old. Every time he sees fire, he thinks it's calling him, wanting revenge for the time he escaped from it. He tries to forget this as he and Tally work on a school project-interviewing two Holocaust survivors living in an assisted living establishment.

As is her new trend, Susan Meissner has been paralleling true history with a fictional present to make for an interesting story. But contrary to my previous beliefs, White Picket Fences is nothing like The Shape of Mercy. They are entirely different books, and it is a good thing to see that Susan can write with such diversity.

As usual, the characters of White Picket Fences are realistic because they are imperfect and they have personalities. This is such a welcome addition to Christian fiction because authors often overlook the importance of characters having personalities. I'm glad Susan understands that.

The Holocaust story actually plays a very small part in the plot. Most of the book is about Chase's struggles with fire and Amanda's struggles at her workplace. Susan captured the frequent denial of imperfection so many "perfect families" have throughout their lives in a very realistic way through these two subplots.

Tally's strange family life also plays an important part in the book. Sporadic letters from her father and flashbacks to her former life help the reader understand what she's been through. It's not only realistic, but intriguing.

This book came so close to being five stars. Two things kept it from receiving this honor. First, Chase's subplot ends perfectly, and second, there is a strange convenient connection at the end of the book that serves no purpose whatsoever. Susan could have easily removed these two things and it would have been five stars.

All in all, there were several imperfect things that occur ed at the end that I am very pleased with. I know Susan Meissner has a deep-seated originality within her, but sometimes it gets covered up.

4.5 stars

Widows and Orphans by Susan Meissner

Rachael Flynn is a lawyer who likes to thoroughly investigate her cases before she takes them. But her next client is one she thought she would never have: her brother.
Her brother is a quiet man who just wants to help people. His life purpose, he feels, is to do whatever he can to help the widows and orphans. He has been accused of murdering the owner of a convenience store in the inner city. Two teenage girls saw him do it.
But Rachael has an uncanny ability to figure out mysteries. How? God tells her, of course.
But He isn't too speedy with his answers. He makes her investigate a little first.
Some people would say that this is kind of convenient of the author to throw this ability in their, but it's really not that big of a deal. This book is still one of the best mysteries on the market.
Another plus is the lack of a romantic subplot; Rachael is already married and has a newborn daughter. Also, there are no perfect characters. Her husband has an artist friend that is truly funny without being absurd.
The answer to the mystery is long hidden and something not many authors would do. But this fact puts it right on the Elite List.
4.5 stars

The Shape of Mercy by Susan Meissner

I like character based plots. The only way a plot like The Shape of Mercy can work is if it has character based plots. It does.
Lauren is a quiet English major living a typical life until she receives a job offer from Alice Boyles, a retired librarian. The job: transcribe a diary dating back to the 1600s. The writer of the diary: Mercy Hayworth, a woman who was accused of being a witch during the Salem witch trials. The author reveals each journal entry as Lauren transcribes them.
Lauren, Alice, and Mercy, the core characters, are the best. They should be. They are extremely believable and complex. There are also other good characters throughout the plot.
There are three romantic subplots: two in the past and one in the present. Two of them end well; the other is just average.
The main thing that keeps this book from being five stars is Meissner's extra plot "twists" at the end. One is pretty far-fetched, the others are just average.
All in all, this book was very interesting because Susan did a lot of research on the Salem witch trials. She didn't leave any holes.
She has come a long way as an author and is getting better with every book. I'm interested to see what she'll do next.
4 stars

Sticks and Stones by Susan Meissner

Where Widows and Orphans was original, Sticks and Stones falls short.
When a construction company finds a corpse on the grounds of their new building site, they must halt their work for investigation. After all, the corpse is about the size of a teenager.
Rachael, of course, sticks her nose into this smelly business and tries to get to the bottom of things. But the investigation is slow, causing the plot to be a little boring.
The saving grace of this book is that where the investigation is small, Susan fills it up with good character enactment between the three leads, which stay true to their personalities.
The answer to the mystery is interesting enough; I just did not find this book to be as interesting as the first mostly because of the lack of mystery.
But there is nothing really wrong with this book. You should probably read it sometime.
3 stars

Days and Hours by Susan Meissner

Days and Hours is back up to the original caliber of Widows and Orphans.
This time, Rachael has gotten herself into a strange family situation: the infant son of a single mother keeps disappearing and than reappearing in strange places. The single mother has two other children and is not exactly an upstanding citizen.
Several social workers are working with her, trying to coax her to give up her children for adoption because they do not believe she is responsible enough to take care of three children, since her baby keeps disappearing.
Several suspects are lined up, but none of them seem to fit. But never fear, Rachael is still receiving answers from God.
Now, you must understand that the sentence above is not meant to be ridicule. I see nothing wrong with God telling people answers to mysteries. I just find kind of funny.
The answer to this one is not one I would have planned out. While the criminal was capable of doing it, there seems to be no reason behind it at first.
The characters stay true to their personalities, which is a plus. Fig is still up to his usual tricks.
But all series must come to an end. The Rachael Flynn series has been enjoyable and, in my opinion, one of the best mystery series ever written.
But all good things must come to an end.
4.5 stars

A Seahorse in the Thames by Susan Meissner

The Rachael Flynn Series was obviously a one-hit wonder for Meissner.
A Seashore in the Thames, though the covers say otherwise, is barely a mystery at all. It's one of those everyday life kind of books about a woman whose repairman falls off her roof. She takes him in and they eventually have a romantic subplot together. Also, her mentally challenged sister goes missing from the mental home she lives in. Then her sister visits from England toting a piece of baggage she told no one about: her daughter.
The middle is very boring and does not hold the reader's attention very well. The answer to the mystery of her missing sister is interesting and original, but it would have been better if Susan had made this mystery the entire book instead of focusing all her attention on the repairman.
The title of the book in the title of a storybook the lead's niece brought over from England. But there is no connection whatsoever between this storybook and with the plot at large.
But when this book is compared with other books, it isn't really that bad; it just pales in comparison with the Rachael Flynn series.
2.5 stars