Last month, I received The Blog Complainer’s Appreciation Award! In order to officially accept the award, one of the requirements is to complete a small challenge. In my post where I talked about this award, I chose to read two books for the Cosyathon readathon. While I didn’t complete these books within the readathon’s time-frame, I still chose to read them because a.) I wanted to read these books and b.) I promised my readers and followers that I would read these books. While thinking about the challenges from Cosyathon, I realized that my two choice books actually counted for four of the readathon’s challenges! As you can see in the picture, these books are The Christmas Child by Linda Goodnight and That Fatal Night: The Titanic Diary of Dorothy Wilton by Sarah Ellis.

The first book I read was The Christmas Child. I was interested in reading this book because, to me, it sounded like a Hallmark movie I would probably watch. This book fulfilled the challenges of “read a Christmas themed book” and “read a book that’s set during Winter”. Not only does this story take place within the month of December, but it also takes place around Christmas-time. The Christmas Child is about a teacher and police officer who find a young child in their town. The young child, Davey, is non-verbal, with no known family to be found. Kade, the police officer, and Sophie, the teacher, have to solve the mystery of Davey and his history. I really loved this book! It felt like I was reading a Hallmark movie, particularly from Hallmark Movies & Mysteries or Hallmark Hall of Fame. While this story had its emotional moments, it was also sweet and heart-warming. The only flaw I could find within this book was how both Sophie and Kade’s point of view were included in each chapter, making these chapters feel a little bit too long. Other than that, I absolutely enjoyed reading this story! I hope that Hallmark considers adapting The Christmas Child into a movie, either for Hallmark Movies & Mysteries or Hallmark Hall of Fame. This is the type of story that I could definitely see being shared throughout Hallmark’s Christmas line-ups, which would definitely make me a very happy reader and movie blogger.

The second book I read was That Fatal Night: The Titanic Diary of Dorothy Wilton. This story counted for the challenges of “read a book with a cold cover” and “read a book about getting stranded”. According to history, the Titanic sank in a cold environment. As you see on the cover, the Titanic’s demise is depicted in the background. Also, according to history, the passengers were stranded in the middle of the ocean when the Titanic sank. This book is a historical fiction story about a young girl who survives the Titanic tragedy. After getting expelled from school, Dorothy, the book’s protagonist, is given a journal so she can express her feelings about her traumatic situation. This is another book that I really enjoyed! What made this book so good was the author’s ability to create a fictional character that feels and sounds like a real person. While there are moments where Dorothy seems like a typical child, there were also moments where she sounded wise beyond her years. Another good thing I liked about the book was how the author created a balance between moments of sadness and joy. For me, this story only had one flaw, which was the editing. There were times when I felt that commas were missing from some of the sentences. Also, I found sentences in some parts of the book that were either too short or too long. However, because this book is written in a journal format, I’m not sure if this was a legitimate editing error or if it was supposed to reflect the idea of a child’s style of writing. I feel that Hallmark should adapt this story into a Hallmark Hall of Fame production. A film adaptation of this book would be very different from the other Hallmark Hall of Fame films that were released in recent years because a.) it’s been at least six years since a Hallmark Hall of Fame movie has featured a child or young person as the protagonist and b.) there has been few movies from Hallmark Hall of Fame that feature children or young people dealing with or overcoming traumatic situations. Also, when I think about the portrayal of the Titanic in film, I realize that not only have the main point of views never been from a child, but also barely explores the trauma that can be experienced from surviving such a horrific event.

What are your thoughts on these books? Would you like me to talk about more books on 18 Cinema Lane? Let me know in the comment section!

 

Have fun at the movies!

Sally Silverscreen