I Love You, Little One by Bonnie Rickner Jensen, illustrated by Donna Chapman

I Love You, Little One by Bonnie Rickner Jensen, illustrated by Donna Chapman is a padded board book in the Really Woolly brand.

It features 19 spreads each with a title that begins with “I Love You” and then roughly describes a theme, such as “I Love You to Love Others” and “I Love You When You’re Playing.”  A short Bible verse is followed by a two-stanza (four lines each) poem and a small illustration. The facing page has a short two-line prayer and a large illustration.

I found the themes to not be very distinct—you couldn’t really match them to specific situations. Instead, you’d probably pick one at random to read to a child. The poems are just okay.

The illustrations are the highlight of this book. They are colorful pastels featuring the Really Woolly animals. My favorites show a little duck with a newspaper folded into a sailor hat and two mice wheeling a wagon of marshmellows to toast over a fire.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher but was not required to post a positive review.

Where the Fire Falls by Karen Barnett

Where the Fire Falls: A Vintage National Parks Novel by Karen Barnett tells the story of painter Olivia Rutherford set in the 1920s. The story is part mystery part adventure part drama, but mostly romance.

Olivia is trying to hide a dark secret of her family’s past, but circumstances keep bringing the past to the present. In a chance-of-a-lifetime opportunity, Olivia is contacted to paint Yosemite for a magazine—all expenses paid. On top of that, het art dealer has found a wealthy couple to invest in her work, and they agree to go to the park with her to pose for her paintings.

Olivia becomes fast friends with the wife, but the husband is full of bad intentions. Park guide Clark becomes more than a friend after initially dismissing Olivia’s high-soceity persona. The real Olivia cares not for status or fame, but just to support her two younger sisters through school.

Paintings are destroyed, a body appears at the bottom of a crevice, and a kidnapping round out the intense second half of the book. Old friends and old enemies both appear in unexpected drama-filled ways.

The romance portion of the story is predictable and less interesting than the other parts of the book. Some of the drama was a little over the top and really stretched my suspension of disbelief. The burning question of this novel is never resolved.

I really enjoyed the descriptions of the park. I would’ve loved to see this book as full-color with showing the paintings. The way they were described made me really want to see it. I’d recommend this book as an adventure for fans of Yosemite.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher but was not required to post a positive review.