Reviews for Heritage and Horizons: A History of the Open Bible Standard Churches

The average rating for Heritage and Horizons: A History of the Open Bible Standard Churches based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2007-07-27 00:00:00 William Lundell Pieced Together in a Lovely Pattern This book, Circle of Quilters, is a collection of several stories, sewn together to create a satisfying tale. The book is divided into character portraits of five people, all job applicants for a teaching position at the prestigious Elm Creek Quilter's camp in rural Pennsylvania. Some of their paths cross on interview day, but there is lengthy back-story and development for each, which elicits sympathy from the reader. I found myself rooting for each to do well during the interview for this highly desirable position. Each back-story leads to the interview experience, and not one candidate believes the interview went well. The characters are as diverse as the blocks of a sampler quilt. Maggie is humble, hardworking, smart and capable. Karen is an overwhelmed mother of two small children, whose lack of childcare (at the last minute) makes you ache with sympathy. Anna, an underappreciated chef, tolerates her boyfriend's mistreatment and has an annoying lack of self-confidence--but anyone would want to taste her homemade cookies (!) Russ, a rare male participant in the quilting world, takes up the hobby after his wife's death and perseveres to become a renowned author and teacher of the art. And finally, there's Gretchen, who spends her entire life dealing with an evil neighbor and so-called friend named Heidi. I kept hoping Gretchen would at last go off on her with a sharp seam-ripper! But Gretchen had far too much class for that. All of the candidates face the Elm Creek Quilters staff for an extensive and, due to a blonde named Diane, grueling interview. Each is also tested by a white-haired lady acting has a baffled camper in need of help with her appliqué piece. The way Jennifer Chiaverini pieces together the characters is clever and enjoyable, particularly if you have an appreciation for quilts and quilting. It was fun trying to guess which characters would receive offers for the two positions available. A very fast read.

Review # 2 was written on 2020-09-21 00:00:00 Ann Baldwin I enjoyed this one enough that I finished it in a matter of hours. In this installment, we get the back story of several potential new instructors for Elm Creek Quilt Camp - namely, how they got into quilting in the first place - and I really liked that. There were a few annoyances: the author writes as if she truly believes everyone should be coupled and that "the one" exists for every individual; young children speak unrealistically; characters gripe about being twenty pounds overweight as if that's a huge amount; and there were several very obvious typos that changed the meaning of the text. But I finished it in one day, so I still really liked it, obviously! I'll be curious to see where these new characters go in future books.