Review of Mysty Harbor

[Debra Morgan]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Mysty Harbor" by Thomas Grant Knight.]

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2 out of 4 stars

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Claire and Pam Summers were sisters and best friends growing up. Pam, the older of the two, was tall, slender, beautiful, and popular. Claire was happy to be in her sister’s shadow as long as she had Pam. One day that all changed. Twelve years and an emotional lifetime later, the sisters cannot be in the same room without snapping and arguing. With Pam nearly always instigating the fights, it’s obvious she wants the pain and anger to bite out as much of her sister’s heart as possible. Feeling she is jilted and outcast by the entire town, Pam makes everyone there as miserable as possible during her visits. Claire knows she is not innocent. She knows why her sister is so bitter. She is now willing to try to mend their relationship. But can she?

Former Marine Roy Higgins has just arrived in Mysty Harbor, Maine, taking his new post as the pastor of the Mysty Harbor Community Church. When Roy and Pam meet, he can see what no one else in the community, who has all come to despise her, can see. The pain in her is so intense, so encompassing he feels it physically. But, he realizes there is so much good in this woman beneath the pain. Will Pam ever let herself be vulnerable enough to try to reconcile with her sister? Will she allow God to change her heart and accept love?

Mysty Harbor by Thomas Knight is a heartfelt and heartwarming romance novel with a strong, Christian base that gives lessons in fidelity, truth, wisdom, and forgiveness. The main characters are charming and witty, with sometimes strong, sometimes weak, faith in God and their ability to follow Him. The best and most important aspect of this story is that the author leads his characters into the growth and change they experience, rather than it seems to happen at the snap of a finger. It was realistic, explaining how, when, and why a character chose to change.

There are a few things I did not like about the book. There are a lot of extra characters introduced, most of whom are unnecessary and do not add much to the story. While I appreciate Mr. Knight’s enthusiasm about emphasizing certain aspects of his characters, I believe many of those extras would be excellent material for more books. The other problem was the overwhelming number of errors. Misspellings, grammatical errors, punctuation errors, and misuse of words and phrases detract from the pleasure of reading. The misspellings include names of the sisters, with Clair, Claire, Clare, Pamalia, Pamelia being used at various points, leading to confusion about the proper spellings.

With regret, I rate Mysty Harbor 2 out of 4 stars. With the number of errors and confusion caused by name spellings, the distraction of characters, and the inclusion of so many unnecessary side plots, I feel this is a fair rating. I fully believe it would rate much higher with professional editing and consolidation of the primary story.

I recommend this Christian-based romance to anyone who appreciates a story about love, forgiveness, understanding, and romance. There are no obscenities of any type and no suggestive scenes since it is written from a Christian view.

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Mysty Harbor
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[Vivian Writes]

While there are negatives to this book like the excessive characters and poor editing, one has to admit that the plot of Pam’s story has so much potential. This kind of reminds me of those classic Harlequin romance books I used to read as a teen!

[Azuka Jessica]

Ver captivating summary. I don't think it is good for siblings to hate on themselves to that extent and i am happy that Claire took the first step. I would really love to complete this book.

[Shadreck Rogers]

Pam seems to be an intriguing characte I would love to read about.Thanks for the review.