Welcome to my stop on Celebrate Lit’s Book Tour for “The Secret of Ink to Paper.” You will receive information on the book, its author, my review, and be able to enter a giveaway. Enjoy this post!

My thoughts

This is the first book I have read by author Lindsay Harrel. I really enjoyed her style of writing. Her book had a very nice story. It was divided into different time periods and three separate stories that intertwined. The writing immediately drew me in. I loved Emily the most of the three ladies and felt like her confidant sharing secrets. Her character was adorable yet haunting. The other two came in a close second, so obviously I loved Ginny and Sophia, also.

The Author has some powerful messages in this enchanting story. Suggesting journaling and writing to assist in healing was music to my ears. I am a believer in journaling. Making mention that bad things happen in life but God is always there for us rings true. God takes our broken pieces and puts us back together. Everyone needs to hear that.

Author Harrel has an enchanting writing style. Her words were eloquent and I had no trouble following her story. The descriptive nature of her writing picked me up and put me down in England. Obviously the author had done research on the area and time period, too. Language and descriptions were spot on.

The characters were lovable and approachable. Each one was well rounded with distinct characteristics. Their story and lives were easy to become invested in and I wanted to give them advice at times. The more I read, the more I felt like I had become the main character or characters. I felt their happiness, heartbreak, fear, confusion, and doubt.

The author provides a puzzle that eventually comes together joining all three stories seamlessly. The Christian inspiration is woven throughout the book unevenly. At times it is a subtle whisper and others a loud voice. The inconsistency bothered me. Messages of hope, trusting God, healing and finding joy abound.

I would recommend this book to any woman. The historical sections were more enjoyable to me because that is my preference. The contemporary was great, too. This would make a great small group book even lacking the consistent faith element. It earns a 5 out of 5 stars from me.

A copy was provided by Celebrate Lit but I was under no obligation to write a review. These are my own, honest words.

Rating

About the Book

Title: The Secrets of Paper and Ink 102750E4-BA14-4FBC-B52A-8B4B98C2FB45

Author: Lindsay Harrel

Genre: Women’s Fiction

Release date: February 26, 2019

Publisher: Tyndale

Lindsay Harrel presents a powerful story of healing, forgiveness, and finding the courage to write your own story.

A year after the death of her abusive fiancé, domestic violence counselor Sophia Barrett finds returning to work too painful. She escapes to Cornwall, England—a place she’s learned to love through the words of her favorite author—and finds a place to stay with the requirement that she help out in the bookstore underneath the room she’s renting. Given her love of all things literary, it seems like the perfect place to find peace.

Ginny Rose is an American living in Cornwall, sure that if she saves the bookstore she co-owns with her husband then she can save her marriage as well. Fighting to keep the first place she feels like she belongs, she brainstorms with her brother-in-law, William, and Sophia to try to keep the charming bookstore afloat.

More than 150 years before, governess Emily Fairfax knew two things for certain: she wanted to be a published author, and she was in love with her childhood best friend. But he was a wealthy heir and well out of her league. Sophia discovers Emily’s journals, and she and William embark on a mission to find out more about this mysterious and determined woman, all the while getting closer to each other as they get closer to the truth.

The lives of the three women intertwine as each learns the power she has over the story of her life.

Click here to purchase your copy.

About the Author

Lindsay Harrel is a lifelong book nerd who lives in Arizona with her young family and two golden retrievers in serious need of training. She’s held a variety of writing and editing jobs over the years and now juggles stay-at-home mommyhood with writing novels. When she’s not writing or chasing after her children, Lindsay enjoys making a fool of herself at Zumba, curling up with anything by Jane Austen, and savoring sour candy one piece at a time. Connect with her at LindsayHarrel.com.

Guest Post from Lindsay

With every book I write, it seems God has something new to teach me. That certainly was true of The Secrets of Paper and Ink.

Lately, I am learning more and more about the power of our words. I’ve become more conscious of the words I speak over myself as well as what I say to other people. It’s more than “positive thinking”—the words we say ultimately contribute to the stories we weave, and I want my story to be as positive and hope-filled as possible, regardless of my circumstances.

I’ve also become much more aware of the lies that I tell myself—“you are not worthy, you are not enough, you will never achieve what you want to achieve”—and the need to replace those lies with the truths that God says about me. I have listened to Lauren Daigle’s song You Say on repeat lately, and it has become a theme not just of The Secrets of Paper and Ink, but one in the story of my very life.

So while I may not have experienced everything my characters have—I’ve never suffered emotional abuse, or been ostracized by my family, or been orphaned and alone in a world that seems against me at every turn—I have learned alongside them. I set out to write a book that would draw readers closer to the true healer and hope giver, and I ended up being drawn closer myself.

And that, to me, is the true power of story.