Sunday, April 20, 2008

Robin Jones Gunn's Sisterchicks Go Brit ~ Reviewed



Sisterchicks Go Brit!
By Robin Jones Gunn
Published by Multnomah Books
Pages 304




Back Cover:


Sisterchick N: A friend who shares the deepest wonders of your heart, loves you like a sister, and provides a reality check when you’re being a brat.

Two midlife mamas hop over to jolly ole England and encounter so much more than the usual tourist stops. Liz does have a bit of a childhood crush on Big Ben, and she has hoped to “meet” him ever since her fifteenth birthday. Kellie dreams of starting an interior design business and figures Liz needs to be a part of that equation – a calculation that hasn’t added up for Liz yet.

Nothing on the excursion goes the way these two friends had envisioned. They start with a village pancake race and end up being held for questioning on The Underground. Kellie and Liz take a wild tour through the land of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien and then find themselves swept up, up, and away in a hot air balloon over the Cotswalds. London beckons with the Tower of London, Windsor Castle, shopping at Portabella Road in Knotting Hill, and of course, reservations at the Ritz for a posh high tea.

A few detours along the way and the possibility of being lost in a London fog of wonderment aren’t enough to stop these two Sisterchicks!! Each step of their regal journey is lined with evidence of God’s gracious compassion, and both come to realize that God knows their every wish. He is the One who planted every dream in their hearts. And, oh, what a surprise awaits them when they return home!

REVIEW:

QUESTION: “Do you know what the dearest kindness is that a woman can offer herself in the autumn of her years?

ANSWER: “It is the gift of giving herself permission to take risks.”

Robin Gunn goes on to explain “That’s when I understood that sometimes a hibernating dream or a dormant wish might…be nudged right up to the cliff’s edge of possibility… In that risk taking moment, the wish just might discover it’s wings and fly.” I am on the verge of such a risk taking moment. I too have a sisterchick that I have known since high school. She is the dear friend that lead me to the Lord. It has been her dream that we take a trip overseas to celebrate our birthdays (our birthdays are a couple of weeks apart). The Lord has had my friend overseas many times on mission trips. I have prayed for her and experienced many new countries and customs through her travels. I feel like I have experienced the very same thing reading this book Sisterchicks Go Brit!!! I’m right up to the cliff’s edge and at that risk taking moment. I know that Robin Gunn’s book has helped give our dream wings to fly.

I love when I can experience another person’s travel adventure and learn about history along the way. Robin Gunn includes bonus pictures in the back of this book from her actual trip to London. She went to Bedford where the tradition of British afternoon tea was instituted by Anna, the Duchess of Bedford. Robin and her friends took high tea at the Ritz and several other places and pictures are included. This helped me to feel like I actually took this trip with Robin. I also loved that I learned so much about British literature and their authors. I’m not sure where my sisterchick and I will go on our trip but I might just consider England; it sure sounded like fun. This has made me want to check out some of Robin’s other “Sister Chick” books to see where the Lord is really leading my friend and I to go. I know that the Lord is the One who has planted every dream in our hearts. If you love adventure and/or are thinking of traveling; Robin Gunn’s Sister Chick books are the books for you. I know I’m hooked.

Reviewed by: Nora St.Laurent

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