Customer Reviews

The Hawk and the Jewel (Kensington Chronicles, Book 1)

5 star:		(47)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

After wearing out the copy at my local library, I decided it was time to buy my own copy of The Hawk and the Jewel. It was well worth it as I have read it many times since. I have been a reader my entire life, but Lori Wick is by far the most captivating author I have ever read. Perhaps it is because I should have been born in the eighteenth century, but Wick's series "Kensington Chronicles," from which this book comes, is one to read over and over.

Set in the English days of dukes and duchesses, peasants and servants, this novel relates the story of a young girl named Sunny and her coming to grips with herself, the Lord, and love. You will be captured into the moving story as Sunny learns that her family is not what she thought it was and is thrust into a new life completely different from anything she has ever known. You will feel Brandon's compassion as he watches Sunny try to cope with the hurt and betrayal she feels. You will rejoice with her family when she comes to know the Lord, and cry with her when she feels the knife of rejection. You will laugh at her spirited ideas, and feel the magic surrounding her as she grows older. You will experience Brandon's pain as his life seems to come crashing around him, and want to hold Holly as she deals with an unrequited love. If you are a lover of fairy tales, or simply want to get lost in a good story, allow Lori Wick to take you back a few hundred years and live in England for awhile. You will fall in love with it.

The Hawk and the Jewel was the first Lori Wick book I have read, and I was so impressed! The suspense and the captivating story line and setting were enough to make me forget the world outside and read for many hours straight. The frustration of wondering whether Sunny and Brandon will really end up together was worth it all by the end of this wonderful book. And the way Wick intertwines the Bible and Christianity with the stories was very refreshing and welcome.

This was not the first Lori Wick book I've read but I Enjoyed it.I've read this book five times and each time I am captivated by sunny and brandon. I love Lori Wick's way of writing. I would like to encourage you to read her other books like; Wings of the morning,Who brings forth the wind, the kinight and the dove, Where the wild rose blooms, whispers of the moonlight, to know her by name, promise me tommorrow, sophies heart, beyond the picket fence, pretenseand also a place called home series as well as the Caliofornians, she is a great writer, I love her.She is inspiring

This book was one of Lori Wick's best ever. The whole plot of the story-with Sunny being raised in India and suddenly sent back to London- was fascinating. I recommend every Lori Wick fan to read this book.

Luv, Cass

Lori Wick is my absolute favorite Author.
Her stories have the right amount of danger, romance, and comdedy that book needs. They leave you with a feeling of contentment. The hawk and the jewel was no different. I loved watching Sunny grow up, and become a christian, and seeing her and Brandon struggle to accept their feelings for each-other. also, you can tell how strong a writer's faith is through their books. the bible says, "and you shall know them by their fruits." i think Lori wick has done an excellent job on this book.

This is the story of a young English girl named Sunny, who is raised in the Middle East and then returns to the place of her birth when she is thirteen. Basically, the first part of the book is about her voyage back to England and her adjustment to a different way of life once she is reunited with her family. The second part of the book deals with Sunny's growing up, finding Christ, and finally, coming to terms with her love for Brandon Hawksbury.

I was never bored while reading this story and enjoyed the trouble Sunny was always getting into. I could relate to the way that Sunny was always searching for something to fill the emptyness in her life, an emptyness that can only be filled by God. I especially enjoyed the feeling of family that this book portrayed. The leading characters were not always perfect. Brandon was slightly judgemental and bossy at times, and Sunny was somewhat impulsive, but I think that it's the characters flaws that make them so real. All in all, this is an entertaining read with a good Christian message.

This book is absolutely stunning. The emotions felt as Sunny is taken from the only home she remembers are so real, so awesome. And as the book unravels, and the reader learns why things happened as they did, it is awesome. Not to mention the awesome romance between "The Hawk and the Jewel."

I had never read a Christian fiction book before and wasn't interested in starting, especially not a "romance" novel. Several friends recommended this author but I still declined. But since I was a librarian this book kept appearing over and over we had to get another copy because it was checked out so frequently. Finally I gave in and took it home. I couldn't put it down. I enjoyed the character development, could identify with their feelings, and loved the Christian perspective intelligently portrayed. Because I was so entertained, and encouraged by this book I have read all of her books and several other Christian fictian novels. I strongly encourage everyone to read this book or any book by Lori Wick. Young and old will anticipate each turn of the page. One friend read these books aloud to her older elementary school age children. But beware reading these books once may not be enoug

I found this novel's beginning intriguing and leaped into reading it. Wick captures the emotional upheaval of a thirteen-year-old going home to a family that unknown to her believed that she had drowned at sea as a toddler. The hero, Brandon, a family connection sent to bring her home when the family learns that she is still alive, blends firmness and compassion, and I wondered how Sunny's family would welcome her. My ultimate reaction to the book was mixed.
Liking Christian elements in books, if they aren't simplistic or inserted artificially, I found _The Hawk and the Jewel_ good but wanting. We never hear of Sunny's family attending church, except for two weddings late in the book. Church attendance seemed a naturally unfamiliar experience to show the wilful Sunny adjusting to upon reaching England. Also the person who eventually leads Sunny to her conversion surprised me, not because she has not shown herself to be a friend but because Wick gives no indication beforehand (through the first 4/5 of the story) that this character ever prays or has accepted Christ, beyond her being kind. Beyond those quibbles, the Christianity seemed a natural part of plot and characters.
Unfortunately before I could judge the book's Christian threads, problems kept jerking me out of the mid-1800's and my curiosity about the story. The problems came mostly in Wick's word choices, which repeatedly cracked the illusion of another time and place.
I found it hard to believe in Victorian English women's being named things like Sunny, Chelsea, Andrea, Caren, and Leslie (some of these names existed then but seldom as women's names). Not one character comments on such remarkable naming. Had just one or two of these names occurred, I'd have ignored them better, but Wick piles one upon another, giving most to major characters. Their pile-up without comment strained my belief, esp. since Sunny is named for her grandmother, which required me to accept that a name I already found incredible for a woman 170 years ago had gone back to the previous century.
Further, conversations between characters repeatedly sound like talk among late twentieth-century people or among Americans, instead of natives of England. Sunny's oldest brother tells his sister and brother-in-law, "I want to share" for "I want to tell you about," and then mentions "your _parenting skills_," which didn't sound at all Victorian. Several chapters earlier his wife calls for the attention of some children by saying, "O.K." O.K. was new _American_ slang when the story occurs; although Chelsea is described as having been wild as a girl, she is old enough to expect criticism for using slang when addressing a group of her and others' children. Also, although I cannot say for certain that _no_ Victorian Englishwoman called her mother- or father-in-law by first name, I wondered whether most Victorian English people wouldn't have thought Wick's characters who do so were disrespectful, rather than lovingly informal, as Wick may have intended it. These and words used by the author, like bloomers for ordinary ladies' underpants (which bloomers definitely were not in the mid-19th century, being at first a very controversial ensemble of trousers and shortened skirts that American Amelia Bloomer's cousin had not yet designed at the time of the story, as Wick could have learned from many high-school U.S. history books) and other words that might have been period-correct but sounded more modern and American to me meant that I was repeatedly falling out of and reentering the story while shoving aside annoyance with author and editor.
I tried, after the first third of the story, to read it not as a historical novel but as a fairy tale with Christian elements and Victorian costumes, but only after setting the book aside for an entire year did I manage to get more than halfway through without beginning to skim. Upon restarting the book this year with lower expectations than losing myself in a historical novel --as well as by reading the talking book version this time (talking books are unabridged recordings) instead of the Braille version I had last year--I couldn't forget what bothered me but was able to appreciate the well-developed characters and the story and finished without skimming. I thought that Sunny's reactions to the unexpected, drastic change of moving from the Middle East to England without being asked whether she wanted to, as well as her relatives' reactions, were well-portrayed, and I was glad that Wick did not fall into the stereotype of having Sunny's relatives look down their noses at her for her awkwardness. Her teenage nephew Miles's feelings for a beautiful, young aunt he has just met seemed realistic, and his sister Holly's attempted solution to her brother's attraction is entertaining. The "other woman" with whom Brandon believes himself in love enough to marry also avoids the stereotypes of this stock character of romances, and the subplot involving Holly's long-unrequited love blossoms beautifully.
If you want a romance with fairly well-blended Christian elements and characters who are generally complex enough to be interesting, and if you do not care whether historical details have been checked--or maybe they were incorrectly changed by a misinformed copyeditor--then you will likely enjoy this book, but if you want more convincing historical or English atmosphere, you may have trouble staying lost in the story. I will give Lori Wick another chance, in case she suffered the misfortune of misinformed editors or just stumbled in what seems to have been her first English setting, but I'll be reading with uneasiness.

I didn't expect to like this book...it looked like traditional Christian fiction, very romantic and sweet, but usually too saccrine for my tastes. But it was definitely worth the time. Although it is very "sweet," it has great characters! The only complaint I have is that you barely got any time with Sunny and Brandon actually together as a couple. But they are referred to in the next two books in the series so you get a little bit.