In bestselling author Lauraine Snelling’s new novel, a group of women realize that life is full of half-finished relationships and projects. However, they discover that the outcome is not as important as the journey.Recognizing how common it is for crafters to start many projects and finish few, a group of women join together to form a guild-Unfinished Projects Anonymous-to keep each other on … each other on track and accountable. Three of the friends are tasked with the job of home visits for their guild. Laughingly called “the Cartel,” they snoop around craft rooms and knitting baskets to report on progress for the members. They even expand their mission to include checking on half-trained dogs and half-weeded gardens.
As life unexpectedly changes for one of the members, this ensemble of women in bestselling author Lauraine Snelling’s new novel discovers that much of life is half-finished-projects, friendships, the raising of children, even our very relationship with the Lord. And that may be perfectly fine.
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Half Finished is not quite what I expected from Lauraine Snelling. It is a sweet, heartwarming story geared toward a mature audience. It is a story about a group of people (women and men) who come together to help each other. It starts with an idea to get unfinished projects completed and develops into so much more. It is nicely written with a gentle pace, but there was a great deal of repetition. There are a variety of characters (too many) with MJ, Roxie, Ginny and Amalia being the featured ones. I wish the author had taken the time to establish the main characters. We are given scant information on them. Finding their last names was a challenge. There is conversation, eating, drinking coffee & tea, walking dogs, finishing projects, cooking, and friendship (day to day activities). It develops into friends helping friends through good times and bad. One of the members suffers a terrible loss and we see how the others rally to help her. God used the group to touch so many lives. Two of the most memorable phrases from Half Finished are “grab your moments, every moment you can and be thankful” because “life changes in an instant and we have no control over it”. Half Finished is a positive novel that features friendship, helping others, having faith and encouragement. It is amazing what can be accomplished when you have positive reinforcement and good friends. I liked that the author included an epilogue so we could see the changes wrought by this creation of the UFO group. Half Finished is a relaxing, upbeat novel.
To quote her Norwegian grandmother, “Don’t that put the sizzle in the meat!”
Something new and different from Lauraine Snelling! Modern, upbeat, fast moving story. Be prepared to be inspired! There are some sad moments, but the warmth and love between these friends is wonderful. At first there were so many new faces in this small town group, but it didn’t really take long to keep everybody straight once I spent some time with them. Really nice people. People you’d like to know personally, and better than anything you see on tv these days.
The people in this story decide to start a group for people who have unfinished projects laying around. They gather together to inspire and help each other to finish them. It’s an eye opener if you’re like me and keep putting projects off. The closeness of the core people and the love they have for each other in their lives is inspiring too. You realize your life might be half finished as well. Full of great wisdom. Makes you want to cheer, hug and be part of the group. Christian fiction at it’s best.
“. . .life is not a contest to see how quickly we learn, which is an incredible gift from our God, who wants to help us grow. He never says, ‘Hurry up.'”
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher and NetGalley book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
Half Finished is a delightful story of friends, family, community, loss and gain. I’m quite certain I know a few of the folks in this story, through folks in my own life.
The story revolves around the idea of finishing UFO’s, (unfinished projects) and how an idea came to fruition to encourage a group to tackle their projects in one place. What happens when you gather a group of creative, generous people follows.
I related to the characters as I too have a rug and a quilt to finish, and several quilts to make.
If you have anything in your life started that is stuffed in a bin, closet, drawer, garage — you must read this book
This is a great read by Lauraine Smelling whoes books I just adore!! I try not to miss any if hers either!
Have you ever left anything unfinished? I know I have! I always start a project only to walk away from it and I usually dont go back for some unexplained reason. A perfect example putting ocean liner kits together. Most of the time it’s the painting part of it that frustrated me.
I think that Lauraine has done a fine job with this book! She writes about what most us feel at times!
These women are awesome!! It’s pretty cool to have an unfinished projects Club!! It’s amazing how friendships start and in the most unusual ways as well.
Maybe the Lord had this planned all along!
The supporting characters are people that I could feel I cpuld make friends with as well.
Great job Lauraine!! Keep them coming please!
Kind of wished we had one here!! She has made me feel like a part of this group and I definitely could relate to them! I love the humor part of it! This book really made my day and it also touched my heart too!
My thanks to Netgalley for a review copy. NO compensations were received and all opinions are my own.
I enjoyed the book and the characters. Very realistic which made it sad at times.
As an older woman this story appealed to me as so many novels seemed aimed at younger women. I have never read anything by Lauraine Snelling that I was disappointed in. I can see groups like this forming as it is fun to work in a group. The idea of pictures of the finished projects was meat. It was interesting to see men participating . Enjoyed “meeting” these women.
A book for older women with women who are productive and compassionate.
You can’t go wrong with any of her books!! I have yet to see one that isn’t good and so far they are all great!!!
Great book, wonderful premise, interesting characters and real-life situations.
Very slow moving. Really dragged on.
I love all of Laurianne’s books . They always remind me of my home town. I love the way her characters work together to help in the community.
I was really fond of the part where the husband died but I respect the author for added it to the story. I think it depicts what a spouse goes through after the death.
I enjoyed it so much that I wished I could join their UFO group. It sounded like so much fun.
Reading this book was not a positive experience for me. For one thing, there were so many characters to keep up with that it was overwhelming. This was a light read and I guess I prefer something with a little more meat and depth to it. If you want a simple Christian read, then this is probably your cup of tea.
Thank you to NetGalley and FaithWords Publishers for my advanced review copy. All opinions and thoughts are my own.
I had a hard time reading the book, in fact I did not finish it. The characters were wonderful, but the author wrote it as a diary, documenting even the smallest things. Kind of interesting but so slow moving I lost interest.
Another one of Lauraine Snelling books that I so enjoyed! I saw Lauraine in one of the characters and laughed at her.
I loved the half finished concept and there were even men in the group. I am a Quilter with lots of half finished or UFO’s Unfinished objects so I related with these folks and enjoyed the book very much. It wouldn’t let me color the 5th star!!! How about more Quilting stories??
Lots of fun to read.