Customer Reviews

Gone to Green - The Green Series #1

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Judy Christie created a marvelous story with her first novel about Lois, the big-city journalist, who finds herself the owner of a small-town newspaper in Louisiana. As this "outsider" becomes accustomed to her new surroundings, she makes many friends and enemies along the way. She is confronted throughout the story with not only her actions, but also her reactions when she is deals with injustice, compassion, judgement, and especially God's will for her life. Well-written inspirational fiction has always been a favorite media of mine. I always get wrapped up in the story, all the while finding the heroin or hero dealing with basic values that each of us face every day of our lives. Judy Christie was a journalist for many years, and writes eloquently about what she knows best. She is currently a consultant and writes Christian motivational books....which she also does very, very well. As she combined the two with well-written fiction, she wrote a story with many characters her readers hope she will develop and introduce to us more deeply. Given an opportunity, this is an author who will give us many stories from Green, Louisiana in the future. This is a good book for the individual reader and an excellent story for book club discussions. Buy it. Read it. Enjoy it. Tell a friend.

I picked up this book when it was a free offering, but just recently got around to it and finished it in one sitting - something I RARELY do for a Kindle book! I found this tale very entertaining and heart-felt. What I really enjoyed about it is that the reader could very well see himself or herself as any one of a number of the characters, even the "bad guys" who are no better or worse than typical small town leaders. I also was surprised that this was marketed as a "Christian" book. Yes, Lois (the main character) has occasional bouts where she is analyzing her personal relationship with God or gets friendly "advice" of that nature, but they add to the story, they don't distract or become the story itself. A GREAT read.

I really enjoyed this book! It was a quick read but in no way fell short on details. There are many interesting characters in here that were very familiar to me. You will probably find that you already know many of these people in your own lives. And most of us can relate to the main character "Lois" with our daily struggles and figuring out which path to choose. The story flowed very smoothly and I found myself reading several chapters in a row. Now that I think about it, I'm ready for the next one.

I enjoyed this book very much and am ready for the next one. Having worked for a small daily paper, I had no trouble becoming a part of the story.

The story had great promise but Ms. Christie had too many story lines running quickly at once. There were some great characters who I could have cared about that never got a chance to develop. Actually, the main character, Miss Lois, was one of the weakest. I tried to enjoy this book but the further along the story went the less believable it became. Properly done, this one book could have been stretched into its own series.

Having both worked on my school paper and being a high school correspondent for my local paper, I always enjoy reading books about newspapers. There's something about having to meet deadlines, getting all the facts and discovering stories that could have major impact that always make for a good read for me. Therefore reading this book had great appeal for me, as I read about the adventures Lois had to face with going from big city newspaper to twice weekly small town Green.

I was really glad that even though there are prejudices and Lois having to deal with the "good ol' boys club", the book did not go into the way of stereotypes of both the south or small towns. There was nothing horribly cliched in the book which I was very grateful for. The town had a bunch of quirky and genuine characters that helped Lois get settled into a new life in Green. Even though some of the people took a while for both Lois and them to get warmed up to each other, after a while they began to accept her in their town and she began to feel like one of them. The main attraction of the story for me was seeing how the newspaper was run. I was glad to see that even though it was a small paper, the people took pride in running in. There were staff members who took their job seriously and had potential to move away to bigger things in the future.

If there was any qualms I had about the book, I would say that the resolution of the book happened really fast and I felt like I had missed it somehow. I found myself flipping back to make sure I had read what happened to everyone. Other than this, I thought this was a great read. It's not preachy at all, faith is mentioned but it is not a main focus point. The story introduced me to how a small newspaper has to survive and also to the local flavor of the town of Green. I know that I am going to be excited to read the next book in the series and more adventures from the townsfolk!

I bought this book for my kindle because of the good reviews I read on it. They were right on with the reviews! This is a hidden treasure worthy of a best seller list anywhere. Easy to read, characters to identify with, fun, and light. You won't regret this read!

Gone to Green is anything but a story about saving trees, although it is about saving paper. A newspaper. And saving the main character's sanity through a series of insane adventures. It's a fun, clever story with something a little unexpected on almost every page.

When I started reading Judy Christie's Gone to Green, I found myself setting aside other projects I really should have attended to so I could keep reading! The author made me love her main character with all her flaws and foibles, so I felt the rough surface of every wall she bumped up against. My own heart stirred when she claimed a small victory. I knew Lois Barker well enough to presume she would make the right decisions in the end, but the author included some delightful twists and such rich characters that every chapter was enjoyable.

Even though the setting was Louisiana, it could've been my backyard. It takes high writing skill to develop such a clear locale but make it seem as if the characters and their "issues" could be your own neighborhood.

I downloaded this for my Kindle when it was free, not really paying much attention to the reviews. The premise seemed interesting but after 25-30 pages I started to wonder about all the passing references to God and the shallow theology expressed by the main character. Came back to read some reviews and it turns out this is a work of "Christian fiction." Go figure. (Despite having two degrees in theology that is not a category of literature I would chose to read in normally.)

The main character is not terribly well developed and the first third of the novel relies heavily on obvious stereotypes and fish-out-of-water cliches. Once you throw in the baggage of having to be "Christian" (which really does seemed tacked on for the first half; I wouldn't have missed a word of it) the novel becomes rather dull. If this novel is typical of the genre then it's akin to Christian music, in the sense that by insisting it conform to someone's perception of what "Christian" means it loses track of what being good art might mean. This is the literary equivalent of the 1980s Christian pop songs (think Sandi Patti or Steve Green) that feature treacley keyboard intros and saccharine sentiment that takes the place of any real passion or conflict.

Not recommended unless this genre is something that interests you for personal reasons. There are much better novels about newspapers, editors, and visitors to the south. Anything by Fannie Flagg would trump this in a few pages. Indeed, there are much better novels about religion as well.

Ugh...this book started out with such promise, but quickly became a dud! I could hardly finish it. I felt let down by the reviews.

Lois' story could have been interesting, but the small town politics and pat answers to small town problems quickly took on the feel of a city council report!

In summary...It was boring and predictable.