Christie Leigh Babirad

This was a clean Christmas romance reminiscent of the usual Hallmark holiday movies, albeit with confusing spiritual syncretism taking place throughout the story. With references to both Christian terminology and New Age concepts, there seemed to be more of a sense of preaching the author's particular brand of spirituality than a fully fleshed-out story. It was also distracting to read this book, given the multiple tense changes. If you can disregard the syncretistic spirituality and grammatic structure, it's a fairly optimistic read with few conflicts for the hero and heroine. For those interested, the experiences of working in a library are accurate and add a nice element to the story.… (mais)

NOTE: I won a free eBook copy of this book in MOBI format from LibraryThing's Early Reviewers (September 2021).

I like mixing in poetry with my regular reading. In spite of this, I am a bit ashamed to admit it took me MONTHS to get through this pleasant collection. About two-thirds of the way through, I realized that Babirad was telling a novel in verse form, depicting what I assume is a semi-autobiographical retelling of her journal entries. The poetry gets quite personal as a result, even veering towards the self-indulgent at times. Yet the protagonist narrator undergoes a positive transformation as the poems progress, which made up for some of the earlier sentimentality. I contend that Babirad really shines in the poems that have nothing to do with love or heartbreak, such as my personal favorite in the volume, "My Violin." In all, "Scarlet Secrets" is a stimulating emotional journey from start to finish.… (mais)