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I know I've said it before with the review of her previous two novels, After the Leaves Fall and Summer Snow, but I LOVE Nicole Baart. She writes with such description and personality that I'm always left in whatever location she has placed her characters, feeling an actually friendship or kinship with them and am always so sad when I finish the last page. She is most definitely one of those authors that I just wish could write faster, always keeping a book in my hand and those characters in my mind, but alas, I do suppose she's only human like the rest of us.

The Moment Between is Baart's latest and thought slightly "different" than her previous two books, both in location and definitely in the intensity of the read, it was again, absolutely wonderful. The reader is brought to beautiful British Columbia, deep into wine country, following the main character, Abigail Bennett on her quest for knowing. Abigail wants nothing more than to find Tyler Kamp, the man she believes is responsible for the death of her sister, a woman that was already on a path of complete destruction before she met Tyler.

Abigail's "mission" is quite obviously an obsession, bringing her into a new country, giving her a new job working at a local winery, and forcing her to omit her real reasons for being there, in order to keep her relationship with her sister a secret. As Abigail is immersed with new people, wine, beauty, and this risky obsession, the reader also learns of her past with her sister, her family, and the reason she still feels the need to stand up for the sibling that is no longer alive.

Baart has this unique ability to write with such description that the reader really does feel as if he or she is there, in the moment. You will feel so strongly for Abigail, you will want to shake her at times and sometimes you just want to hug her, or drink a glass of wine with her. And believe me, the descriptions of British Columbia will leave you needing to take a vacation, fairly immediately. I've already informed my husband that the next vacation we take will be there!

This is a rather intense read, sad at times, and other times you will be filled with love...for siblings, for travel, for work, for love. The Moment Between was wonderfully breathtaking.

To learn more or to purchase, click on the book cover above to link to Amazon.

The Moment Between
Nicole Baart
384 pages
Adult fiction
Tyndale House
9781414323220
April 2009

Oh boy, has Nicole Baart done it again! Summer Snow, the sequel to last year's amazing After the Leaves Fall, is just as fantastic as it's predecessor, if not more so. The characters in these books are just so real, so relatable, that I couldn't help but form connections with these "people" I've never met. I even think, at times, Baart was channeling my thoughts as she was writing, as some similarities between my current situation and Julia's throughout the story are almost scary!

Summer Snow picks up pretty much right where the previous book left off. Julia is pregnant and still living with her beloved grandmother, after dropping out of college. Constantly dealing with worry about the baby coming, finances, and overall life disappoint, Julia is suffering from an insane amount of internal struggle, but has learned to lean on God to help her through. When her estranged mother shows up one afternoon, completely unexpectedly with a little boy she claims is Julia's half-brother in tow, Julia has no idea how to react, except with her signature anger and frustration. She doesn't know what her mother wants, but does know it can't possibly be anything good. As she takes a chance at connecting with Simon, her new-found brother, as well as come to terms with the impending birth of her baby, Julia slowly begins to understand why her mother may have done some of the things she did, and starts to think that maybe through God's grace and forgiveness, a new relationship can be formed.

I wish I had more of a talent at writing book descriptions. It is completely impossible to convey the amount of emotion and heart in this novel. The individual relationships between characters, whether it be between Julia and Simon, Julia and her mother, or anyone else, the feelings the characters are described as having are emitted in the most perfect way, truly allowing you to connect. Such an important part of enjoying a plot is to be able to put yourself into the story and with this book, that is definitely an easy task to accomplish. I loved the story, the writing, the characters, and the feelings I got after finishing each page and chapter.

I was also able to feel a great connection with God through this novel and through Julia's character...a very awesome feeling, I must say! When Julia has an ultrasound to tell her the sex of her baby, she, as I did, went into the ultrasound room already knowing what I was having. I had "known" since I became pregnant that I was having a little girl, though nothing concrete had ever been said to me. On ultrasound day, the tech was very enthusiastic, not to mention very certain, that I had a little boy in my belly. I wasn't disappointed, I was just in disbelief. I had a mother's instinct about these things didn't I? I knew I was having a little girl...how could I now be having a boy? I was disappointed in myself for lacking that instinct I thought I had. Well, Julia got over it, so did I, and now I'm ready to meet that little boy that God has so graciously given me!

Another little similarity was the whole chocolate chip and heartburn thing. I had never heard of anyone else having pregnancy heartburn from chocolate chips, besides myself, so knowing that Julia was experiencing that problem as well was pretty cool! I love those chocolate chips, but they just kill me!

Enough rambling from me...just make sure you read this book. And if you haven't read After the Leaves Fall, make sure you pick up that one first. You will most certainly not be disappointed. These are incredibly unique stories that will leave you with that special feeling when you are finished. Just lovely.

This is what it looked like when they opened the doors at 10:00...




...and what it looked like all day long, while several thousand people poured into the festival on the campus of Monroe Community College.

I am in AWE of the volunteers from the Rochester Area Children's Writers & Illustrators who put this festival together. I've never seen so many kids, clutching so many shiny, new, autographed books, looking so excited.  Saturday's festival was a high-energy, joyful celebration of reading, and I was  thrilled to be a part of it.  I sold out the bookstore's 50 copies of SPITFIRE and was especially happy to hear that some of those copies are on their way to classrooms & libraries. I met lots of great readers, too!



My family and I came home with a huge pile of books signed by some of our favorite authors as well.

You can't see her smiling face here, but this is Vivian Van Velde, my festival table-next-door-neighbor... and this was the view I had of her most of the day!  She signed about a zillion books for excited readers-- every one with a huge smile.



Here's Vivian's smile!  She's on the left, with fellow festival organizer Kathleen Blasi on the right.  My E loves American Girl books and other historical fiction, so she was thrilled to have a signed copy of Kathy's book A Name of Honor.  (She'll get to read it as soon as I'm done!)




Tedd Arnold was busy signing his zany picture books here, but he signed a copy of his new YA called Rat Life for J.  If you read the review I posted of Rat Life last week, you know how much I loved it.  It's a great, great book, and I was excited to meet Tedd and tell him how much I enjoyed it.



I was also excited to meet Coleen Murtagh Paratore, since I love the voice in her writing (and because d_michiko_f  told me I had to go see her.  Coleen says hi, Debbie!)



James Howe had a loooonnng line of people waiting for him to sign when he came back from his presentation.  Here he is, getting started.



Here's Kathy Blasi (left) with Rebecca Stead (right) , author of First Light, which I've heard such good things about and have been dying to read.  Now I have a signed copy waiting for me on the bookshelf.



Michelle Knudsen signed so many copies of Library Lion that they were gone by the time I made it over to take her picture.  This was the only photo I got of Michelle, so I decided to share it, even though her eyes are kind of closed, because she looks so cute anyway.  When my eyes are closed in a photo, I just look sleepy.



I met fellow North Country  Books writer Sally Valentine for the first time on  Saturday, too.  Her book, The Ghost of the Charlotte Lighthouse, was a popular choice, since it's set near Rochester, NY.



Carol Johmann was still smiling after doing double-duty at the Children's Book Festival -- as both an author and the festival organizer.  Carol is an AMAZING woman whose organizational skills astound me. Thanks, Carol, for EVERYTHING you did to make the festival so fantastic.



Here's another amazing lady from behind the scenes of the festival... Annie Crane from the Lift Bridge Book Shop in Brockport.  Annie and her staff handled sales at the event and worked tirelessly all day long to make sure everyone had what they needed. Thanks, Annie!




This was such an incredible festival, with so many fun, amazing moments, but there's one in particular that I have to share...

One ten-year-old boy kept coming back to my table.  I had given him a bookmark and a Spitfire temporary tattoo.  He had tasted the hardtack that I offer up as samples to show kids what life was like on the gunboats during the American Revolution.  We had chatted about the real 12-year-old boy who's one of Spitfire's narrators and what it must have been like for him to be in a battle when he was so  young. 

Finally, the boy came back with his mom and siblings, each of whom carried a single book.  (His sister had Coleen's The Wedding Planner's Daughter and was holding it so tightly that you would have needed a crowbar to get it away from her.) 

"Do you see why I'm having trouble choosing?"  he said, looking up at his mom.  And then I understood why he kept leaving and coming back.  In a room with more than fifty authors and hundreds of books, he could choose one.

"I sure do," she told him.  "But pick the one you think you'll enjoy the most."

He nodded.  "I want this one,"  he said, and handed me a copy of Spitfire to sign.  I barely made it through the signature and my thank you to him before the tears came.  He came back one more time a few minutes later, so his aunt could take his picture with me.

No matter how many books follow Spitfire, I think that's the moment I'll to remember the most when I think about why I write for kids.