All Will Be Well

“All shall be well, and all shall be well and all manner of thing shall be well.” 
― Julian of Norwich

Susie Finkbeiner has used this quote on which to base her new book, "All Manner of Things."  Taking place during the Viet Nam war, the book chronicles the lives of Annie, her brothers, her mother, and to some degree, her father. 

Annie lives with her family and works in the local diner belonging to her Uncle Bernie.  Her wages go to help out her mother keep food on the table for her and her brothers. 

Her older brother, Mike, comes home one day to tell his mother that he has enlisted, because he knows that his number will come up in the draft and he may as well beat the rush.  Before he leaves, there are a few family adventures he must participate in.  

His grandparents all live in the same town in Michigan, and his grandfather is suffering the debilitations of dementia.  He wanders off and all the family comes together to find him.  Annie and Mike know where he used to like to go. They find him disoriented and very slightly injured.  They bring him back home to safety.  

Annie's life is pretty much the same day to day, except when she starts getting letters from a former neighbor.  She finds out it's because his fiancee wrote him a Dear John, and he's wanting to find a replacement.  Mike doesn't approve of this man, he's known as a player.  About the same time, Annie gets a new customer in the diner, a man working for the park service.  They strike up a friendship that appears to become more than just friendship. 

When Mike is finally deployed to Viet Nam, he goes as a medic.  In one of his letters home, he uses this quote by St. Julian.  

Susie has made this book a compelling read.  The side characters fill out the plot and add to the richness of the novel.  It's a five star read, two thumbs up, and a left-over pastry from the diner. 

Revell Publishing supplied the galley I read through NetGalley.com, asking only for my honest review. All opinions expressed here are my own. 

Wooing Cadie McCaffrey

Cadie McCaffrey is the only non-sports addict working at the American Sports Network (ASN).  Her taste runs more toward romantic movies.  For her thirtieth birthday, her boss is giving her a birthday party,  but Joe Montana comes to the network studios for an interview and everyone abruptly leaves Cadie's office to go see the legend, leaving Cadie standing on her desk holding a full-size sheet cake with candles still burning on it.  Cadie's help comes in the form of Will, who helps her off her desk and then helps her remove the candles from her cake.  By that time, "Happy Birthday" on the cake had morphed into "Harpy Birdbay." Will was there for an interview for a job with the network but he was intrigued enough to ask her out for a date that night.

Speed ahead four years, and Cadie has come to the end of her rope and breaks up with Will.  He doesn't understand what went wrong.  He is totally clueless.  Over the last year, he has allowed work to interfere with his time with Cadie and she feels justifiably neglected.  She's hurt, Will is hurt, and all of her co-workers are working to get them back together.  Darby, who works in the same area as Cadie and is Cadie's best friend, tells Will to do what he does best, and research the things Cadie likes, starting with romantic movies.  Will follows the romantic movies and copies them to the letter, but that isn't really what Cadie wants.  She wants to know that she's a priority in Will's life.

Bethany Turner has a way with a phrase.  She finds a way to put laughter and subtle comedy in her writings that make them all the more enjoyable.  Wooing Cadie McCaffrey is a five star book, with two thumbs up, and a grand gesture of love.

My thanks to Revell Publishing and NetGalley.com for allowing me to read and review this book.

A Reluctant Belle

The Civil War is over, and two more amendments have been added to the Constitution.  Joelle writes anonymous articles for the newspaper about educating the freedmen.  An old beau has come to town to take over his father's run for Senate and finds that he's feeling more for Joelle than he originally thought. 

The era that the Reluctant Belle takes place is the era of the birth of the KKK and the animosities between whites and blacks. Although the animosities are not across the board, some of the blacks were treated well, and some were treated harshly.  Some whites believed the blacks could not be educated, while others believed they could and took steps to prove the point.  Joelle was one of these whites who believed the blacks should be educated so that they would know how to run their own businesses and keep track of their own finances.

Schuyler, Joelle's old beau, wants to find out who killed his father for his progressive ideas, and he needs the help of Joelle and her family.  Her brother-in-law is a Pinkerton agent and helps Schuyler. 

Beth White always writes a book with twists and turns to keep her readers involved and to compel new readers to her work.  I will admit I had to flip to read the ending before I finished the book, then I had to go back to read it all the way through to see how Schulyer and Joelle solve the many puzzles put forth in the book.

This is a five star book, with two thumbs, and a night at the Daughtry House.

My thanks go to Revell Publishing and NetGalley.com for allowing me to read and review this book.

The Number of Love

I don't think I have ever met someone who thinks in numbers, prays in numbers, lives by numbers, but that is exactly what Margot de Wilde does. She is a code-breaker for the Royal Navy.  Because she has lived in Belgium, France, and Germany, she has a good ear for the languages. She graduated from high school when she was twelve years old and had a university degree by the time she was sixteen.  While working in Room 40, Margot meets Dot and her brother Drake.  Drake was an agent for the Royal Navy and often got the code books that the code breakers used.

Drake is home for a bit after he was shot by an agent (called "Opposite Number").  Drake's mission is to find "Opposite" and neutralize the threat he presented.  What Drake doesn't know is that Margot has met him in the park playing a Japanese board game called Go.  Margot makes interesting plays that keeps Opposite intrigued.

Drake doesn't really know what Margot does, but he knows she'd be a good friend to his sister, Dot.  The three of them become very close friends, and then take in another friend who has been homeless since he got home from the war with an amputated leg.

This is an intriguing book that holds the reader's attention and doesn't let go until the last page.  The characters are easy to follow through the plot lines and different settings. Every character is believable, likable, and compelling.  Roseanna M White is a great author and I will be looking for her next book in the Code Breaker series with much anticipation.

I am very thankful to Bethany House and NetGalley.com for allowing me to read and review this book.  It's a five star book, with two thumbs up, and a secret agent decoder ring.

Mountains of Mercy

The Amish group living in Montana is facing the terrors of a wildfire, and several of the communities are evacuating, and finding refuge where they can.  The fire is the over-arcing premise for several minor stories that occur within the book.

Mercy Yoder is the school teacher for her community and dearly loves her scholars.  Some of her friends gather up the desks and the books and take them to the garage where she is staying so that she can still hold school for the children who can still come to school.  She's very content with where she is and isn't looking for marriage or a suitor.  She has turned down a proposal from Caleb because he hides his feelings.  She meets an Englisch smoke jumper with a broken leg and befriends him, although her family disapproves.

Mercy has an Englisch friend who is in love with the deputy sheriff, but she has some issues to work out before he will give her a second look. The most important issue she has to work out is her relationship with God.

This book confused me at first because there was an overwhelming number of characters to get to know right off the bat.  The longer I read, the better it became, but it took getting pretty far into the book.  There weren't any lags in the plot, and the settings are just a bit too real for someone who lives in the Northwest and lives in the risk of wildfires coming too close.  Kelly Irvin is one of my favorite Amish authors and will continue to rank up there, but this particular book is not up to par.  Still a four star read.

My thanks to Zondervan and NetGalley.com for providing the galley I read.  The opinions expressed here are my own.

Listening to Love

Beth Wiseman is releasing book two in her Amish Journey series.  This one kind of picks up where the previous one left off. Mary and Levi are married and have friends they invite for Friday suppers every week.  Natalie, the friend, is also friends with Lucas, Levi's brother. The hitch in this tale is that Natalie is Englisch and Lucas is Amish. They see nowhere for their relationship to go.  Lucas knows he will be giving up much of what made up his life if he continues to court Natalie.

Natalie is going to vet school, but she can't stand the sight of blood and can't even give shots to dogs. She's now unsure of what she should do.

Lucas begins to realize the changes that will have to take place in his own life, but he's willing to do that for Natalie.

There aren't as many tear-jerking moments in this book as there are in Hearts in Harmony that I reviewed here:  https://beckysbookaddiction.blogspot.com/2019/01/hearts-in-harmony.html.  There are enough, though.

This is a five star book, two thumbs up, and exchanging your truck for a horse drawn buggy.

My thanks to Zondervan Fiction and NetGalley.com for allowing me to read and review this book.

The Bright Unknown

The Bright Unknown is my first book to read by Elizabeth Byler Younts.  I wish I had known more about her writings, because this book is not exactly the kind of book I'd pick up to read.  The plot is dark, the characters are sympathetic but they lived through a lot of pain, and the setting is (for me) nightmarish. 

Brighton Friedrich is living in an asylum, mainly because she was born there and her mother was a patient there.

Angel is a boy living in the boys' ward and doesn't know his real name. 

Brighton and Angel finally make a way out of the asylum--Brighton wants to find her aunt in Michigan, and Angel wants to just be himself, not the albino in the boys' ward.

I wish I had liked it more, but it just didn't meet me where I am right now.  Two Stars

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

The Amish Widow's Rescue

Grace Fisher is newly widowed and she's trying to keep hearth and home together, paying bills, taking care of the children, making jam to sell, and taking care of her farm, all the while being pregnant with child number three.  It's not an easy job, but someone had to do it. 

Elijah Beiler lives next door and helps his father with their farm and when he can takes care of Grace's farm.  He observes Grace doing so many things, he wonders why she doesn't just take care of her children.  He feels that's she's too concerned with her business to the detriment of her children. 

Rachel J Good has built a story around prejudices and incomplete understanding, and the ability of two people to overcome those blocks in their relationship.  It's truly a five star book, two thumbs up, and a jar of Amish made jam.

My thanks to Grand Central Publishing and NetGalley.com for allowing me to read and review this book.

A Reluctant Bride

Jody Hedlund writes compelling historical fiction that intrigues the reader from beginning to end.  A Reluctant Bride is no different and is based on historical fact. 

Mercy's parents are living in a hovel and running out of room for their ever-growing family.  When a new baby is born, Mercy's parents are going to send her younger brother to the docks to work.  Instead, Mercy volunteers to go out to find a position.  She finds out there is a ship going to Vancouver Island with the promise of jobs (or so she thinks) for the women who are going on the ship.  What Mercy doesn't know is that this is a bride ship for hundreds of single men waiting for wives. 

On the ship, Mercy meets Joseph, the ship's doctor. Because Mercy is rather stalwart, Joseph calls for her as a nurse as he takes care of the sick on the ship.  Feelings begin to grow between them, but when they reach shore, the lose track of each other.

Jody has given the reader a peek into life on the ship among the various classes of passengers. The most elite have all the amenities and plenteous food.  The second class have nice enough rooms with about six to a room with bunks that are comfortable enough.  The third class passengers are down in the bowels of the ship with poor food, lack of clean water, multiple people in a bed, and no time on deck to get fresh air and sunshine.

This is a five star book, with two thumbs up, and some smuggled rolls for the poorer passengers.

Bethany House and NetGalley.com provided the galley I read.  The opinions posted here are totally my own.