The Christmas Dress

I'm not sure what I thought when I chose to read this book, what drew me to it; but it was a great book to read. 

Meghan has inherited an historic building in Chicago that has been converted into condominiums that house older residents.  The elevator is on its last legs, the plumbing is shot, there are structural issues that need to be repaired. The kicker is there is no money to be had to make any of the repairs and some of the residents need a safer place to live.  

Meghan has given up a career working for a fashion magazine to come and take care of the building and its residents. While Meghan is not missing being with the fashion magazine, she does miss designing.  It is through the auspices of one of the residents, she finds that her building has significant historical value.  This opens the door to possible grants from the historical society, which will help but not entirely cover the repairs needed. 

An opportunity arises for Meghan to show her designing chops in a contest that holds a purse of $300,000 for the winner.  The two second place prizes are $100,000 each, and even if she came in second, the money would go a long way toward making the needed repairs.  During the months that Meghan is sorting through all of the options and designing the dresses for the contest, her father's handyman, Logan, is doing Bandaid™ repairs to hold the building together until funding for the major renovations can be found. Everything culminates on Christmas Eve--the fashion contest, an inspection by the historical society, and a party for the residents of the building.  

Courtney Cole has woven a bit of magic into the plot of this book, making it a most entertaining read.  There is a bit of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants involved in the book, along with nostalgia for a different era, and more happy endings than anyone could thing possible.  And I do love me a happy ending. 

Five Stars, Two Thumbs Up, and a dress that not only fits, but makes you look gorgeous regardless of the occasion. 

William Morrow and Custom House and NetGalley.com provided the copy I read for this review.  All opinions expressed are solely my own. 

 

A Season on the Wind

Amish fiction is where Suzanne Woods Fisher shines, although her other fiction works are quality reads in and of themselves.  This is the first Amish fiction by Suzanne that I've read in a long while.  Most Amish fiction that I've read recently has been syrupy sweet, but not this book.  

Behind the plot of this book is birdwatching and bird counting, and it is the driving force of the plot.  Ben Zook has come back to his hometown to find a rare bird to finish off his latest book.  He hasn't been back since his  brother died over twenty years ago.  He's renting a guest house from Penny Weaver, who has loved him ever since she was twelve years old.  Her brother is trying to make a living as a birding guide and has declared a bird sighting that he hadn't actually seen himself, but he was relying on the information of a friend.  The hunt for this rare bird is the moving force in this novel, and it makes this read so worthwhile.  

Without giving away any spoilers, I will say that mistaken identities, slight disabilities, mental illness, and strong faith play big parts of this book. Suzanne deals with each of the issues with dignity and aplomb.   One of my favorite quotes from the book is this:  "Wherever God puts us, He wants us in relationship with Him.  That's for everyone wherever they are."

Five Stars, Two Thumbs Up, and the sighting of a rare bird. 

Revell and NetGalley.com provided the copy I read for this review. 

 

The Healing of Natalie Curtis

 

This is one of the most tedious books I've ever read, but in spite of the slogging plot, there are necessary issues that Jane Kirkpatrick brings to the attention of her readers. Her historical novels remind me of books I've read by Irving Stone, but her way with words in this one  is not quite as prosaic. That being said, there are interesting parts of this book. 

Natalie is a classical pianist and vocalist who has had a heartbreak that has affected her health.  Her brother has lived in the dry climates of the southwest for a while and his health issues have been resolved due to the drier air there.  Natalie goes back west with him and learns of the natives on the reservations in the southwest and the government-sanctioned deplorable conditions they are forced to live in.  They are not allowed to engage in their own cultural activities, like singing and dancing.  

The one thing Natalie has going for her is her family's connection to President Teddy Roosevelt, whose aid she enlists in preserving the cultural treasures of the natives of the southwest. By recording the songs, Natalie is able to share the richness of the Native Americans with others who are sponsoring her work. By throwing herself into her work, she finds the healing she so desperately needs. 

Natalie Curtis was a real woman who spent time among the various tribes on reservations, fighting for their rights, and this book chronicles her journey to find hope and healing for herself and for the natives. 

Three Stars

Revell Publishing and NetGalley.com provided the copy I read for this review.  All opinions expressed are solely my own. 

Wedding Express

My first book by Jody Bailey Day happens to be the second in a series, but it is complete enough to stand alone.  She has a realistic writing style that takes her readers on a trip that is not soon forgotten. 

Scott has had a heart attack and he is having a hard time coming to terms with what this means for him, his fiancee, and his businesses.  He goes through the stages of grief for a life that once was and for a life that won't be again.  His fiancee, Bailey, tries to stand beside him and encourage him, but he's having none of it.  Finally, he breaks off his engagement, but Bailey hasn't given up. 

This is a novella that is a quick read, that will fill a lazy afternoon with thought-provoking entertainment.  The characters are believable; the setting, while fictional, is easily imagined and fully fleshed out.  The tension in the plot keeps the reader involved all the way to the end. 

Four Stars 

Pelican Book Group and NetGalley.com provided the copy I read for this review.  All opinions expressed are solely my own. 

 

Behind Love's Wall

I had the hardest time getting into this book.  While it is a time-slip book, it seemed too disjointed for me.  I want you to understand that this is my opinion, not a solid fact.  I've read other Carrie Fancett Pagels books and enjoyed them.  This one was just a miss for me. 

Lily is a singer whose mother is implicated in a fire that took her life.  Lily holds this information close to the vest because of the stigma of her mother being in an asylum.  The man she meets who captures her interest is a psychiatrist, the very kind of person she doesn't want in her life. 

Willa is a great-grandchild to one of the major characters in the book, and is trying to solve the mystery surrounding Lily.  

There are so many convoluted plots in this book that it was hard for me to follow.  Chalk this up to my reading mood, or that time slips are not always my cup of tea, or whatever.  Someone else will enjoy this book immensely and that's great!  It just wasn't for me.  

What's right in the book:

the setting--Mackinac Island, Michigan, and the Grand Hotel.  While I've never been to Michigan, Carrie's descriptions are absolutely fantastic. 

how Carrie deals with the COVID-19 situation. She provides a clear picture of how this pandemic has had an effect on everyone--in work, in travel, in just day to day life. 

I'm not going to NOT recommend this book, but I only give it two stars.  It was just too complicated for me to muddle through. 

Barbour Publishing and NetGalley.com provided the copy I read for this review.  All opinions expressed are solely my own. 

 

Secrets Aren't Always Happy Things

 

Glory Ann is pregnant and her fiance, Jimmy, has been shipped overseas to Viet Nam.  Word comes back fairly quickly that Jimmy is listed as KIA.  The problem is that Glory Ann's father is the pastor of a church and feels that her pregnancy will cost him his ministry.  So he takes things in hand and takes her to a town an hour away to marry a grocer.  She is not allowed to come back home for visits, or to bring her daughter to know her grandparents.   First Secret.

Rosemary has grown up in the Old Depot Grocery, working there almost from the time she could walk.  The one thing that Rosemary couldn't get around is the difference in how she was treated as opposed to her sister.  She always felt that she came in second to Jessamine in Glory Ann's affections.  Right before Rosemary is to graduated from high school, she undertakes her one act of rebellion and leaves the store an hour early to go to a party. While at the party, someone broke into the store and shot her Daddy.  Rosemary feels it is her fault that her Daddy died. Second Secret. 

Sarah, Rosemary's daughter, has come back home after her husband died in a car accident.  She was going to leave him the night he was killed.  He traded celebrating their anniversary to go take care of something for work.  He was always trying to garner his own father's approval,  Sarah's secret is so secret, she doesn't even know it herself.  Third Secret.

This book will make you feel all the feels--love, anger, sadness, grief, guilt, fear, and even a few more emotions I haven't already named. Amanda Cox's second novel is one worth reading.  Glory Ann, Rosemary, and Sarah are strong characters and all three tend to butt heads one way or another.  It's easy to see how misunderstandings get in the way of their healthy relationships, and it's easy to see how these characters could be real life people.  The Secret Keepers of the Old Depot Grocery is a five star novel, with two thumbs up, and finding a purpose in life no matter what your age is. 

Revell Publishing and NetGalley.com provided the copy I read for this review.  All opinions are my own.  

Since You've Been Gone

 

This isn't the best book I've read this year, but it is a light read that is entertaining for a few hours.  I wasn't too sure about it in the beginning, and I wasn't sure I wanted to finish it, but the more I got into it. the more I found to like about it.  

The character I liked best in the whole book was Otis, the brass hippo.  In this book, the reader finds out Otis' secrets, including how Otis came into being. and that alone makes the book worth reading.  I am glad that this is the last book in the series, because Otis is the lynchpin that held the series together. 

Tari Faris is a fairly good author whose style of writing was a bit formulaic for me.  It's still a good "palate cleanser" type book that goes well between heavier reads.  

Leah has come home to Heritage to sort out her grandmother's home and possibly reopen her grandfather's store.  The one thing standing between her and reaching her goals is Jon, the boy who teased her unmercifully in high school.  Somehow, they have to come together to make a partnership for the business.  Jon's Uncle Dale tries to throw a monkey wrench into the works at every turn as far as the business goes.  Working things out for Leah's and Jon's relationship becomes a full time job in addition to getting the store back into operating condition. 

I give this book four stars. 

Revell Publishing and NetGalley.com provided the copy I read for this review.  All opinions expressed are solely my own. 

A Picture of Hope

I have come to the conclusion that I would read a phone book written by Liz Tolsma.  She weaves a story that grabs the reader from the very first page and doesn't let go until that reader is worn out and left panting for breath.  She takes her readers on journeys they may not want to travel, but she does it with grace and aplomb that make the reader glad they went on the particular reading journey.  

A Picture of Hope details the story of Nellie, a correspondent/photographer to the Chicago Tribune, who was sent to England to cover the war.  Nellie was an intrepid character who hated being left out of the action and did what she had to do to get to France on D-Day.  She got more than she bargained for and lives the adventure of her lifetime.  She took a jeep ride with a soldier who was trying to get her into a town in France, but his driving left much to be desired.  He overturned the jeep and killed himself, although Nellie came out of the accident largely unscathed. 

While hiding out in the woods outside of town, Nellie encountered Claire, a young girl of about four years who was what was termed in those days a Mongoloid, but would be known now as Down Syndrome.  Inside the town, the German soldiers were burning a church with the women and children of the town trapped inside.  After the soldiers leave, she poses Claire in front of the burning church and takes her picture.  

It was in these woods and town that she met French resistance operative Jean-Paul, who helped her get to the convent St. Roth.  The nuns took her in with Claire and hid them.  There were two other such children in the convent that they were hiding from the Germans who wished to exterminate them.   But their hideout became too dangerous for them to stay put.  

This is a book that tells of more than the atrocities against the Jews; it tells the story of all the "cleansing" Hitler wanted to accomplish through targeting some of the most innocents there are. Nellie and Jean-Paul's work to protect these innocents and to give them a hopeful future is a mainstay of this book and make it the sensational read it is.  

I often read at night before going to sleep and I keep a pad of paper beside me to write down any notes I want to remember about what I am reading.  In a conversation between Nellie and one of the nuns, Sister Raphael, Nellie asks, "Don't you ever get tired of all the evil in the world?"  Sister replies, "That's what all of this is meant for."  Nellie asks her, "All of what?"  Sister Raphael answers, "This suffering is meant to make our souls long for heaven.  The world wearies us and weighs us down.  Oh, but there is another world where we will never weary and where we will never long for anything better."  

Later on in the book, Jean-Paul says, "Evil is strong.  It has no boundaries.  Only by God's goodness and grace is it contained. But someday, it will be eliminated--wiped away forever."  Oh but I long for that day. 

This is a five star book, with two thumbs up, and a beautiful picture of a child to cherish.  

Barbour Publishing and NetGalley.com provided the copy I read for this review. All opinions expressed are solely my own. 

 

A Christmas in the Alps

 

According to your great-grandmother and namesake, you have a treasure in France.  You are jobless, and after selling your grandmother's home where you've lived for the past three years, you are homeless. All you have is a letter telling you about this treasure and some furniture in storage--but you do have money in the bank from the sale of your home.  

Your best friend coerces you into taking a trip to France to collect the treasure, but in order to get there, you have to fly--something you are afraid of and something you've never done before. But, your friend will not be put off.  You have to go. 

Getting from southern California to Paris is going to be a bit of a challenge.  There is a non-stop flight, or there is an option that goes through Seattle which is actually cheaper.  So Seattle and connections beyond is the choice you make.  From LAX to Seattle, you try reading the book your friend got you on getting through the flight without fear overtaking you. Once you board in Seattle, you find you have a really nice looking and equally nice seatmate.  He helps you past your initial fears (again) and keeps your mind occupied until you land in Iceland for the last leg of your flight.  He's going to Oslo, Norway, but will be coming to France later to study clock-making.  

While you felt you made a connection with this nice man, you think you will probably never see him again.  To your surprise and delight, the clockworks he is wanting to apprentice to is the very clockworks owned by your extended family.   

You have much to overcome in France--a great-great-aunt who holds animosity towards you because you look like the sister who stole her beau, a language barrier--but that is getting better, and no idea where to look for this treasure your great-grandmother spoke of.  

Melody Carlson has written a delightful book that takes the reader through the ups and downs of life and family.  She makes her characters real and her settings are over the top enchanting.  The plot lines move at a pace to keep the reader involved, but not overwhelmed. This was such a fun book and I love the way she ended it with a short story that brings healing to the characters. 

Five Stars, Two Thumbs up, and a croissant with a delectable French cheese and a 100 year old wine. 

Revell Publishing and NetGalley.com provided the copy I read for this review.  All opinions are solely my own. 

The Best of All Worlds

So if I had the capacity to roam and do what I love, I'd do exactly what Aria is doing in her traveling book shop.  But if I am honest with myself, I am a homebody and that much traveling is just a bit beyond what my true makeup is.  Aria has gathered the crumbs of her life and taken it on the road. 

Aria is a young widow who has decided that her husband was her one true love and she just won't take a chance on love again.  With her friends Rosie and Max, she goes to France with her bookmobile and travels from one festival to another. Along the way she meets Jonathan, who she doesn't know is her favorite contemporary author. There is an attraction, but she's not willing to pursue it to see where it will go.  UNTIL she receives the last diary her late husband wrote.  Her mother-in-law has been holding this from her for the last three years because Aria followed her husband's wishes instead of her mother-in-law's desires. 

What Aria doesn't know is that Jonathan's book tour is following where her caravan is going, so she runs into him frequently, and he's a patient man.  

At first, this novel was a bit sluggish, but there were some significant points that Rebecca Raisin made in the book:  

1. Grief has no time-line, but, if allowed, it can consume the person in grief
2. Being yourself is the best person you can be 
3. Love is findable, if you take the blindfold off
4. Love is findable, if you don't push too hard to make it happen
5. Being a friend is more important than coming out on top

Four strong stars. 

Harper 360 and NetGalley.com provided the copy I read for this review.  All opinions expressed are solely my own. 

 

Riverbend Gap

 

I think this is the second book by Denise Hunter I've read this year.  She writes light romances with mostly believable characters and incredible settings. In Riverbend Gap, she takes on the culture of the Appalachian Trail and its hikers. This book won't take long to read and that is one of its better qualities.  I am the wife and mother of long distance hikers, and I have learned quite a bit about the culture as well as the support that goes into undertaking a hike on one of the long trails in the US and around the world. Denise has done incomplete research on the trail and its attributes.  

Katelyn (Katie) Loveland has grown up in foster care since she was five years old and is moving to Riverbend Gap, North Carolina, to take a new job with her best friend, Avery Robinson. She has some secrets she hasn't revealed to anyone why she is moving to the small town, one of which is that her birth mother lives there and she wants to find out what was so much more important than taking care of her and her brother.  She has also the task of spreading her brother's ashes on the trail.  

As Katie is approaching town, a deer runs in front of her and she loses control of her car.  Soon after her car goes over the embankment, Cooper Robinson comes upon the site and finds Katie in a rather precarious position.  Neither of them know that Katie's current boyfriend is Cooper's brother, Gavin.  This is where the book goes sideways for me.  The attraction between Katie and Cooper nearly tears Cooper's family apart, and to a degree it does tear Cooper's family apart for a short time. 

The tension in the book is exacerbated by Cooper's run for county sheriff and his opponent's shenanigans to keep him from winning. That would have been enough for the book to have held my interest. 

What Denise got right about hiking the Appalachian Trail:

    The hiker towns depend on the business of the thru-hikers for a large part of their revenue. 

    The residents of the hiker towns, for the most part, love the hikers and often provide Trail Magic or act as Trail Angels for them. 

    Water caches are extremely important for the hikers. 

    Trail Names are one of the most fun parts of hiking.  If a hiker gets a trail name on one trail, it carries over to the other trails the hiker pursues.  My son is Pathfinder, my husband is Wayfair. It is bad form for hikers to give themselves a trail name.  There is usually a reason for the Trail Name--that's one thing Denise got right, down to the last detail. 

What Denise missed: 

    Thru-hikers for the most part choose to hike NoBo (NorthBound--Georgia to Maine), but there are a significant number who choose to hike SoBo (SouthBound--Maine to Georgia). 

    Resupply packages are more often the way hikers get their food supplies.  There are a number of hikers who will resupply in the towns, but sometimes that just isn't always possible or even feasible. Getting to towns with the post offices for picking up resupply boxes is vitally important. 

My biggest criticism is that the relationship with Cooper and Katie didn't have to destroy Cooper's family the way it did and the book would have been just as compelling to read.  Three stars. 

Thomas Nelson Fiction and NetGalley.com provided the copy I read for this review.  All opinions expressed are solely my own. 

    

Cottonwood Place

Sandy Wickersham-McWhorter is a new author for me.  Cottonwood Place was an intriguing book on the description provided on NetGalley.com's site, so I requested to read it for review. At first, I found the narrative to be a bit shallow for the depth of issues in the book, but as I got into it, I found that the author had provided significant weight to the problems of the characters. 

Ian Hunter is a doctor who fought a malpractice suit and won it, but still had his insurance premiums rise to prohibitive amounts.  He could not get past the death of the hemophiliac child, and began drinking to cope with the stress.  His landlord's assistant/niece gave him a brochure for an Inn in Boulder City, Nevada, and the place compelled him to go.  

Megan MacCloud is part Navajo and part Scottish and the manager of Cottonwood Place.  She runs it with her Grandmother Lona, her cat and dog--Cassie and Orion.  She has the capacity to see troubles in people and works to help them resolve them.  Megan was once a practicing nurse who was abused by her late husband and knows how PTSD can influence a person's actions. 

Dreams and their interpretations hold a prominent place in this novel.  The Navajo tenet of being in harmony with the universe and the Great Spirit also play an important part.  

I had a hard time working my way through the dreams and the interpretations, the events that came out of the dreams, and the way the problems in this book are solved. In the end, both Megan and Ian find their purpose and find new ways of life that sustain the Navajo. 

This is a three-ish star book for me, others will give it a higher rating.  It's a matter of taste and frame of mind while I was reading it. 

Pelican Book Group and NetGalley.com provided the copy I read for this review.  All opinion expressed are solely my own.