A good and charming book that starts slowly and grows on the reader. Once you get involved you have to go on reading til the end.
More magic realism than fantasy, its characters are described in depth and really interesting.
Recommended!
Four stars because of the really slow beginning, it is good to build the tension but it was a bit too much
Many thanks to Thomas Nelson and Netgalley

The blurb for this novel sounded really interesting, but somehow it fell flat for me. I really liked the first part of the book where the tension slowly builds up (it actually reminded me little of "Needful Things") but during the second part it just kind of fell apart for me. The big finale was underwhelming after all the great build up in the first half of the novel and the revelation about the main characters just didn't engage me, to be honest.

Overall, this novel has a great setup but only a mediocre followthrough.

All Thing Bright and Strange, a novel by James Market, lives up to its title. This apocryphal tale takes the reader to the Deep South at the end of World War 1. Ellsworth Newberry has the end of his life all figured out, a single bullet to his head should do the trick. He went to war when he lost his beloved wife, and lost his leg in the war. Now he has nothing left to live for.

Until he notices a cardinal on his windowsill. The captivating characters of Bellhaven, South Carolina help being Ellsworth out of his depression as they turn to him to find answers to the strange happenings around town. Flowers blooming out of season, flocks of birds hovering and forming shapes in the sky, and a mysterious chapel with a healing floor that appears to bring healing to the townsfolk.

While a good tale, I struggled with the conceit of who the characters represent. As I read, I felt as if the author had Eric Bazilion’s song "What if God Was One of Us" playing on repeat in the background as he wrote. I found the characters’ daily actions disturbing.

The author paints the line between natural and supernatural, good and evil with giant strokes. On the other hand, he makes some great points about humanity’s propensity to take a good idea to excess without questioning the possible consequences.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free digital ARC of this book. This book is true to its title description. The reader won't be disappointed when reading this book.

I'm usually a fan of good fantasy but this one didn't do it for me. The basic premise is good but I wasn't attached to any of the characters and as a result didn't invest enough attention in the story.

I wanted to like this book but I could just not get in to it. It seems very choppy in the writing style.
I definitely think there was possibility in the story line but it was lacking for me.

I chose this book because I liked the look of the cover, I thought the title was clever and the story sounded a little bit different.

All Things Bright and Strange opens in 1917. Despite the differences in race and religion, the people of Bellhaven have always got along with each other. But then a group of men wearing white robes and carrying flaming torches track a young black boy, Raphael, to the town and set fire to the town hall. Several people are killed, including Eliza Newberry, the wife of Michael Elsworth Newberry.

Three years later and Elsworth is still grieving for Eliza. He lost his leg during the war, along with his best friend, and is still suffering from PTSD. He's considering suicide when a cardinal (American bird) crashes into his window, distracting him. While he's been holed up at home, strange things have been happening in the town. Trees and flowers are blossoming at the same time, the cardinals are everywhere, and what about that strange old chapel in the woods, where it's rumoured you can speak to the dead...

The strength of this story is definitely in the brilliant characters and I loved the way they interacted with each other, their old friendships shining through. The story is told by Elsworth, who has an entertaining, dry sense of humour, but I also loved Raphael, Gabriel and Anna Belle. The setting is very atmospheric and the mystery surrounding that sinister chapel kept me gripped too - until 1.00 am in the morning!

However, about halfway through the book the viewpoint switches to that of several townspeople, one after the other, revealing the grudges they feel towards their neighbours, and their plans to get their own back. This went on a bit too long and I'm afraid I ended up skipping it. And the shoot-out scene didn't seem to go with the magic realism style. Apart from that, I really did enjoy this unusual story and would give it 4.5 stars, rounded up to 5.

All Things Bright and Strange would appeal to fans of Stephen King (Needful Things) and Neil Gaiman (American Gods).


I was lucky enough to receive an advance copy of this book, which will be published on 30th January 2017.

Thank you to James Markert, Thomas Nelson, and Netgalley for my copy of this book, which I received in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was really interested in this book because I saw that many compared it to Stephen King's Needful Things and I am a big fan. But this book was extremely slow and dull for me. I almost DNF but I sat it aside for a bit and started on another book and came back to it and slowly finished it. There were bits and pieces of the book that I enjoyed but it was really rough for me. Stephen King it is NOT.

All Things Bright and Strange is a fun and inspiring read about loss and finding magic in daily life. There are many characters from the town we meet, but Ellsworth is the most endearing. He is grieving the recent loss of his wife. In the beginning of the story, he feels as though he has nothing to live for and is ready to end it all. However, lucky for us, he continues on in this little town. Then, strange things start happening in town and we see things are not as they seem. The book is richly inspiring and filled with tragedy and perseverance.

I was interested in reading this book but it had a very slow start. Once I got further into the book it just couldn't hold my attention so this was a DNF for me. The writing itself is lovely but the story just didn't hold my attention.

I initially struggled with this due to a slow beginning, but it finally caught my interest and held it. This mysterious Southern town was creepy in just the right ways. Recommend for someone who likes a touch of creepiness, but no slasher, horror bits.

Received an ARC for an honest review. I originally suspected a long, drawn-out story that seemed to devolve into a YA novel, but the characters and time-period made it hard to get off that easy as a genre-type. I was surprised to see a very descriptive development of the characters and their respective roles in the story as it went on. The length may be deceiving for a book with this plot, but when finished, realize why the author kept its length as-is.

The characters are rich and involved throughout the entire story and the ending didn’t leave me saying, “I figured.” Although the story follows a hoped-for path for the reader, it does a great job of showing the interactions between adults and humanity when facing an existential and theological crisis/Armageddon. This book makes for a very entertaining read, and worth the time investment for a feel-good plot and outcome.

Elsworth Michael Newbury has nothing to live for. Nonetheless he keeps cheating death, even as those around him die. He has returned from the war to his small hometown in the South, and is trying to fade away. But Elsworth is special. He is the key to solving the mystery of strange happenings in his town. Magic, redemption, love, religion and justice are all woven into the tapestry of the town and its varied inhabitants.
This novel is well-paced and beautifully written. It's humorous at times and tragic, often both at the same time. Well worth a read.

This clearly was not for me. Though objectively I can appreciate the writing, the story started off way too slow and I got bogged down. I left it, started again, but it still didn't resonate. I must be me because I can see many other readers did like it. I could see where it was going and could to a certain extent sympathize with the loss of the main character, but it ended up too far out for me.

Um, definitely not what I was expecting from this book at all. All Things Bright and Strange feels like it has a thousand characters and about the same number of elaborated back-stories. That is why I feel this book was struggling to reach cohesion and well-rounded message. Is it a mystery? A thriller? A religious, mythical satire? I don't know and I really didn't care in the end. I didn't feel like there was any point to the story and don't get me started on the ending.

People of a little town, conveniently called Bellhaven, discover a chapel in the woods. This “little piece of heaven” is healing and bringing peace to everyone who goes there, but at a price. They are losing control over themselves and they become addicted to this serene feeling of happiness and connection to their lost ones. I went into this book expecting a meaningful tale about the power and deception of religion, how dangerous it can be and so on. I got an action-packed disconnected plot.

Our main character Ellsworth Newberry, was depicted as a dominant and guiding figure, unofficial sheriff of Bellhaven, and he was the one who discovered the bad ways of church-goers. He lost a leg in the war, his wife passed away, so it's no wonder he is grumpy and negative. But there is a difference between a likeable grumpy old man (like Ove from now popular The Man Called Ove and just plane Mr. Know-it-all who is rude and unkind. I didn't really buy his savior figure.

Looking back over the time I spent reading this book, I get an intense feeling of dissatisfaction. Unimportant plot points; many long, slow parts where nothing happens, and even the more action-filled parts were not particularly interesting. Also, there was a confusing, probably symbolic-like number of birds that were mentioned, but I didn't feel like thinking about it.

This book has had such a slow and uninspiring start that I have not been compelled to finish the story....I will give it three stars because maybe it could have gotten better but I do not know because I haven't finished it.

This book got off to a slow start. A really slow one. So slow I almost forgot to keep reading. But then things start happening and being a bit strange. The relationships get deeper. The dialog becomes more real. And before you know it they are battling for not only their safety but their souls.

Parts near the end were a bit of a stretch and many times the plot felt very heavy handed. However, this period book gave more than enough chills and creepy thoughts to finish it.

All Things Bright and Strange by James Markert was exactly what the title says, all things bright and strange. When first reading I didn't expect to come to love the residents of Bellhaven as much as I did. There were so many broken characters I was sure I wouldn't get to see each of their journeys. I was sure I was going to be depressed and bogged down with so much detail. That wasn't the case, at all. I loved this book so much.

After the first few chapters the pacing picked up, Ellsworth gets off his butt and the strange comes in to play. There is a chapel in the middle of the woods with magical qualities. But we all know the saying, "Magic comes with a price". What a price this town pays.

Weaved throughout the entire story are elements of race, coming together and overcoming differences that I found relevant to today's world. Seeing it in a historical setting and how these characters/town work together and to find a solution and the error in their ways, that left me feeling right as the novel wrapped up.

Ellsworth became my absolute favorite character. As the town went to pieces, he stepped up, even though he was a one-legged, PTSD ridden, and one hundred percent lost with where his life was going to go.

There were scenes that had me laughing so hard. There were parts of this book the stomped on my heart and the entire time I was reading I wanted other people to read it as well.

Would I recommend All Things Bright and Strange to others? Oh yes.

I did receive an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

“This town is different. You’ll be welcomed here.”

Black and white alike, side by side, dancing together- can it be? Can Bellhaven truly be real? Ellsworth is prepared to die, ravaged by the war, broken by the loss of his wife, why shouldn’t he end things with his Smith & Wesson? Anne Belle Roper won’t let him, it seems, bringing him breakfast and the care he needs. Ellsworth is too young to feel and look so old. He will never be a professional baseball player, never be a father, never again know Eliza’s love. He puts the blame on the strange boy with no last name. There is something special about a little boy named Raphael, aside from his gifted piano playing skills. The beautiful soul has kept Anna Belle sane while the men were away at war. Cardinals are hanging around, strange things are happening, but Ellsworth can only remember the misery of his stillborn son Erik and his wife Eliza. The town is changing and if he can stop himself from committing suicide, he just might have to get to the bottom of things.

Why is everything blooming? What does the once hidden chapel have to do with everything that is happening? Is the healing floor good or evil? This magical place, can it be trusted? Just who or what do you pray to there, beautiful or not, is it safe? “Beautiful don’t always mean safe, is all.” Ellsworth remembers his mother’s words. How are they talking to the dead, is it possible?

The people of Bellhaven are turning to the chapel far more than they should. Ellsworth has woken from his depressed state, but can he save the people as they turn against each other? What are the secrets of the chapel? Who is more consumed by evil thoughts than Ellsworth, wanting nothing more than to kill himself after all his dreams turned to ash? What is going on with the preachers?

This is a strange supernatural tale dusted with the wounds war leaves behind, it is about faith and evil. Will Ellsworth be able to save them all with the help of his dear friend and Raphael? Should he trust in Raphael? Eerie and maybe not so beautiful a place, or is it?

Publication Date: January 30, 2018

Thomas Nelson Fiction

This book is a fabulous story of loss and hope that starts as a post war telling of how the first world war affected a group of returning soldiers from the American South. However as it unfolds the mystical nature of what lies behind the yellow painted trees is revealed. It is complex and heartbreaking with characters that develop until the tragic conclusion. a five star read and the best book I have read so far. If you enjoyed the Essex Serpent you will enjoy this too.