Almost Home

My introduction to Valerie Luesse was a surprising delight.  Almost Home gave such a breath-taking view of life at home during World War II.  The United States is just coming out of a decade long depression and people are looking for jobs wherever they can find them. 

Dolly and Si have a boarding house in Blackberry Springs, Alabama.  They are trying to save money to pay the taxes on the house so that they won't lose it.  Si has lots of schemes to come up with the money.  His latest being building a lake and a skating rink in an old barn.  Some of the residents help Si out during their free times.

Dolly uses her home as a place of healing for those who need it.  Anna and Jesse are a young couple who have moved from Illinois to Alabama so that Jesse can work and save money to go back to their farm.  Reed is a wounded soldier who needs to heal from his mental and physical wounds.  Although Daisy doesn't live in Dolly's boarding house, she needs Dolly's healing touch too.  She is a widow of the war, and needs to give herself permission to start over.

Underneath the over-arcing story is the story of Andre and Catherine--a pirate and a preacher's daughter.  All kinds of legends and myths revolve around Andre, including a buried treasure.

This is definitely a five star book, with two thumbs up, and a diary/map to the treasure.

My thanks to Revell Publishing and NetGalley.com for providing the galley I read.

A Tender Hope

Thea Michener is looking for new horizons.  Her husband has been murdered, her son was stillborn and where she is just doesn't feel like home anymore.  Since she does have a marketable skill, she can go where she likes, but Cimarron Creek is where she knows she can make her new start. 

Jackson Guthrie is in Cimarron Creek to find the Gang of Four who have a reputation of robbing and killing. He thinks that Thea may have information about the Gang, since her husband is suspected of being part of the Gang. Thea really doesn't know anything about the Gang, or even whether her late husband was part of the Gang at all.

Amanda Cabot writes beautiful historical fiction and the quality of her writing is worth delving into.  A Tender Heart is one of those novels worth taking the time to read. Her settings are imaginative as well as believable. Her characters play off each other and make the dialog and plot move along at a readable pace.  This is a five star book, with two thumbs up, and a midwife to help you deliver.

My thanks go to Revell and NetGalley.com for providing the Galley I read and allowing me to review this book.

The King's Mercy

Lori Benton writes historical fiction that includes Native American tribes in the early years of the colonization of this country.  The King's Mercy begins in Britain and sails across the Atlantic to the Carolinas.   In the beginning Alex is taken prisoner for his part in the Scottish uprising.  Instead of being put to death, he is sent on a ship to the colonies for an indenture. 

Alex's indenture is bought by Edmund Carey whose plantation needs a blacksmith.  Edmund's daughter, Joanna, oversees most of the slaves of the Severn plantation but the field hands are watched by an Overseer named Reeves.  That is where Alex and Joanna met. 

Because of Reeves, Edmund gets sick, the slaves are mistreated, and various buildings around the estate burned down.  Reeves has a slave named Demas whose very size is intimidating, and will up to a point do what Reeves wants him to do.  When Reeves blames Alex for all the misfortunes happening at the plantation, he is locked into a shed, but Reeves lets him go and he runs away. 

After a few days, he finds one of the really young slaves following him and she wants him to take her to the Cherokee encampment. What she has hidden from everyone is that she is pregnant.  When her labor starts, the Cherokees find her and take them both captive until she reveals that she is part Cherokee. 

This book contains everything from mystery to jealousy to love to anger to lust to finding faith when it is needed most. 

Lori is one talented author whose books will always make my TBR list and THIS book is a five star book, with two thumbs up, and an Eden for a new settlement.

I want to thank Waterbrook/Multnomah for their dedication to high quality publishing and to NetGalley for providing the galley I read for this review. 

Troublesome Creek Reads

The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek is located in Troublesome Creek, Kentucky, and details the lives of the pack horse librarians, especially the life of Cussy Mary Carter.  Cussy Mary was a "colored" woman, because her skin was blue.  The era of the novel is during the Depression and this was a WPA program. What was not known was that the blue skin came from a type of anemia called methemoglobinemia, which means their blood is missing an enzyme and because of this missing enzyme, their blood was chocolate brown from lack of oxygen and their skin was blue.  But, the "Blues," as they were called were treated much like the African-Americans in the area and they were all called "Colored."

Bluet, as Cussy Mary was called, had a route near her homestead where she delivered books, stopped and read to people, and generally took care of the people on her route.  While Bluet made $28/month on her route, her father worked in the coal mines for unrealistic managers who used their employees like canaries in the mines. 

Bluet's supervisors didn't really accept her and didn't like that she had a route, but she was willing to serve in a hard area to get to.  She also had a few Blues on her route, but not very many--they were a dying breed.

Kim Michelle Richardson has written a thought-provoking book that will challenge the readers' prejudices and preconceived notions of what life has been like for people who are not like "us."

This is a five star book, with two thumbs up, and a library book delivered to you.

My thanks to SOURCEBOOKS Landmark and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review this book.

The Bishop's Daughter

Sadie is a widow with a young son.  Elijah is her first love who lured her brother, Absolom, to the Englisch world. Sadie's father is the bishop who leads their community with an iron fist on a tight rein.

When Elijah returns to help his father out with his business, the bishop hires him to do some farmwork that he is no longer physically able to do.  Everyone in the community believes Elijah is back to stay, but Elijah and Absolom have plans for a lawn service business they will run together.

Patricia Johns has put together a book on Amish life that allows the reader to understand how different Amish life is from community to community, depending on who is leading the community.  The "rules" for living life vary among the communities and the inconsistencies aren't necessarily visible to those within that community.  But Patricia has opened the eyes of the reader to what Amish life can be.

The Bishop's Daughter is a five star book, with two thumbs up, and a life of grace to see you through.

I wish to express my appreciation to Zebra Books for allowing me to read and review this book.

The Pages of Her Life

This is another one of those books that follow along on David Gregory's Lunch with a Total Stranger. It's a bit of angels interacting with humans and a bit of watching James 1:2 woven into the mix.

Allison is having difficulty with her career. She quit one architecture firm to form a partnership with her best friend, but the partnership is not working out. Allison prays for a specific solution to the dilemma and it falls right into her lap.  A friend offers her a partnership, and another architect wants to merge with Allison and her friend.  She works out all the details an Biggs begins working for Derrick, her friend who offered the partnership, but things are never what they seem.

The Pages of Her Life has a key character in the form of a journal with butter-soft leather cover. At first Allison doesn't know what to do with the journal, and then finally agreed to use it. Using the journal brings about the changes she was truly wanted for her life.

James L. Rubart has written a five-star book with two thumbs up, and a leather bound journal for the pages of your life.

Muy thanks to Thomas Nelson and NetGalley.com for allowing me to read and review this book.