A Paperdoll and a Bride Collector

"I'd leave all the hurry, the noise and the fray for a house full of books and a garden full of flowers." Andrew Lang

Mail is a wonderful thing. Snail mail, that is. There's a certain feeling of excitement when my little sister comes pounding up the stairs and announces, "Katie, you've got mail!" Then again, sometimes the excitement isn't worth it when the letter that I've gotten is a birthday card from my dentist, or a letter from the bank, or an information sheet from youth group with stuff that I already know. But yesterday was different. Yesterday my little sister came pounding up the stairs and announced, "Katie, you've got mail!" Turns out, it was a letter from Ali. We've talked about how we never get any good mail and decided to send each other a letter sometime. Hers came yesterday. I got another letter from church with the details of this weekend's big event. Needless to say, I was way more excited about Ali's letter.

Yesterday was full of anticipation, because Paperdoll was supposed to get here. I waited all morning. The other book I pre-ordered came out yesterday, so I wasn't expecting it to come with Paperdoll.

When I came downstairs to eat lunch, the UPS truck was outside. (Funny story: the UPS man is scared of our German Shepherd. He's been known to put packages inside our car "so that the dog won't eat me." But yesterday my other little sister came tearing out of the house to collect the packages so there wasn't any reason to be afraid.) My heart started beating faster and I got really excited. Then my younger sister came inside with two packages.

Paperdoll and the Bride Collector had arrived.

This was a big deal. I never buy books. I always get them from the library or, often, borrow them from Ali's family. This time, though, I bought two books, one by one of my favorite authors. But I was more excited by the other, Paperdoll. I scarfed down my lunch and ran upstairs to read.

I stared longingly at my books, but finished my schoolwork before I read them.

When I was done, I had a choice: Paperdoll or the Bride Collector? Paperdoll is a "God book," and Bride Collector is just a novel... But I've waited so long to read Bride Collector... But Paperdoll is a God book.

So I ended up reading Paperdoll. It is, after all, a God book.

It didn't disappoint. I think that Paperdoll is, hands down, one of the best books I've read all year. It's right up there with Crazy Love and Do Hard Things. Just like my lunch, I scarfed down Paperdoll. Almost half the book is underlined, and some parts are double underlined. Natalie is so honest in it, and it's like having a conversation with her. Definitely a re-reader.

The Bride Collector, on the other hand, wasn't so great. It was good... but not great. Ted Dekker used almost the same plot as he did in one of his other stories. Yes, most of the details are different, but it's the same basic story as Adam. The Bride Collector was better than Adam, but it was still pretty predictable. If I had the choice now after reading the Bride Collector, I would have just bought up a bunch of Paperdolls and given them to my friends instead of getting the Bride Collector.