Sharon Downing Jarvis

This is a series that will be based on a Mormon community in Fairhaven, Alabama. Jim Shepherd has just been called to serve as the bishop of a newly formed ward that combines two former wards. A warm and lovely book that looks at the issues you face each day with a Mormon perspective. Joy Stuart.

FROM AMAZON: The bishop walked to his truck, his step a little less springy than it had been a few minutes before. "Somehow," he muttered, "that didn't go as well as I had hoped." He hit his steering wheel a resounding thump.

"Lord, help me to be patient," he prayed. "I'm not nearly as good at this as I thought I was."

Jim Shepherd is as surprised as anyone by the call to serve as bishop of the newly formed Fairhaven Ward. He's somehow pictured bishops as spiritual giants and inspired administrators, not as ordinary grocers with a pretty wife and three normal but rambunctious kids.

Bishop Shepherd's immediate challenge is to bring together the diverse memberships of two wards that are being combined. In his new flock are Ida Lou Reams, the uncertain but warm-hearted relief Society president; Tashia Jones, an eleven-year-old black girl who comes alone to sacrament meeting; Roscoe Bainbridge, an older man dying of inoperable cancer; Ralph and Linda Jernigan, whose behavior would be humorous if it weren't so bizarre; and an assortment of other unforgettable characters, who all manage to find a place in Bishop Shepherd's heart.

A book as hospitable and inviting as its Southern setting, A Fresh Start in Fairhaven depicts the joys and sorrows of a close-knit ward family blessed to have a humble and caring shepherd to guide them through life's inevitable struggles.… (més)

I enjoyed this book. The main character is used as the narrator throught and this gave the feeling she had an immediancy that might have otherwise been missing.
I was concerned that this would be a conversion novel as her next work was, however this is not in the begining, it is almost like she added this into the end as a but of an after thought, it might have been better to leave this as a change in mind about the church.
The other caracters were easy to understand, they were ofcourse viewed from a childs viewpoint, but one of the best things about this novel is the way that Emily begins to see people as more complicated as it goes through
I reccomend this book… (més)

Having read the fairhaven chronicles I was waithing for this book with a sence of anticipation, what I failed to realise was that this book was written befoire them and showes the signs of being an earlier novel.
As far as basic story line goes its quite straightforward, divorced woman end up in a location and is befriended by neighbours. This helps to heal her from the damage that life has already done to her. then insert romantic interest,
The major problem is that the author has used thinly veiled questions to fill it full of explanations of the church, its beliefs and certain parctices. The child next door tells her, she seeks for answers in temple square (but it does not progress the narrative to have a complete and total expanation given over a point of doctrine, the readers will either know it or not be that interested). oh and then just to make certain one of the neighbours guides a conversation to cover some of the same points again.
If her later novels had read this much like a publicity leaflet for the church I would not have read any more. But then again lets face it I assume she covered most o fthe doctrise that she wanted to in this book alone.
It is also a conversion story - I do have a personal hatred of conversion stories, after all they all end the same way. In this case I would have suggested that they simply made them members of the church in the first place after all, they behaved like they wer, other than actually going to church, it would have provided less chances for the tedious explantations and lets face it the actual convertion takes place outwith the written story and is commented on only in the last couple of pages.
this might have solved my other problem in that some areas of the story were not explored and were superfluence. I have yet to figure out why in the last chapters he admits to being in vietnam (but lets face it if you read books weren't all american men) he is a bit misterious about wounds and then well he was ion vietnam and they are war wounds de dum de dum, no impact.
this authors writing has improved - she better proportions the explanations and seems to priorotise the story line better rather than this jumping arround,
I reccomend the fairhaven chronicles, but give this one a miss… (més)

Unfortunately this novel perpetuates the weaknesses of the first two novels. In thinking more about this series, I also think each book lacks a defined storyline arch. While each book is following the various challenges of the different members in Bishop Shepard's ward, it sort of feels like 'more of the same', rather than a conflict which arises and which necessitates change or growth and then comes to a conclusion. I do want to know what happens with the characters, but I wish their stories were were 'shown' instead of 'told'.… (més)