Flying Falling Catching

I was introduced to Henri Nouwen's writings in 2003 when I attended a conference on deepening my prayer life.  I started collecting his works and read him voraciously.  He had a lot to teach me and I was a sponge trying to absorb everything he taught.  When this book showed up as a potential book for me to read and review, I jumped on it.  I am so pleased that HarperOne chose me to read and review it through NetGalley.  

While there are many spiritual truths put forth in this book, this is more of a spiritual memoir than a teaching book.  Henri departed this life twenty-five years ago, but the legacy he left behind is one of graciousness, enthusiasm, energy, and depth.  There is just no other way to put it.  He was a deep man, with faults and foibles, but also a deep abiding love for the God he served.  

Much of this book deals with the Flying Rodleighs trapeze artists with the Barum Circus in Europe.  On a whim, Henri and his father attended the circus for something to do and that began the five year friendship Henri had with the Rodleighs.  Henri got to see the behind-the-scenes life of these performers  and even take part in sharing life with them.  In turn, they gear him up to take a ride on a trapeze.  The description of his joy in being on the swing was just priceless--something on the order of that if he didn't have ears, his smile would have met in the back of his head. 

Carolyn Whitney-Brown dealt with some of Henri's struggles with dignity and compassion, and she put together the book that Henri wanted to write about the Rodleighs. Throughout the book, she describes his last days and the care that was taken by the emergency personnel when he had his initial heart attack.  This is a poignant, funny, spiritually deep book that will keep the reader engaged from beginning to end.  I learned much, but most of all I learned to love the man himself for who he was.  He lived his life as well as he felt he could.  He took the time to learn from those around him, even when their communication skills are non-existent. He was always ready to share with those who needed something--a word of encouragement, a friend to stand beside them, or even a meal.  He was an extraordinary, yet ordinary person, who lived his life as well as he could. 

Five Stars

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

Much Ado About A Latte

Maple Falls, Arkansas, is a small town where everyone knows not only your name, but also your business.  It seems like a nice place to grow up and to raise a family, because even if everyone's nose is in your business, they care about you.  

Anita is a waitress at the Sunshine Diner, but the building next door is vacant and she wants to open a coffee shop in it.  Tanner Castillo is her high school crush/tutor, and he's also the chef at the Diner.  George, the owner, has decided to sell the diner and Tanner thinks it would make a good investment.  What's really aggravating about the situation with the empty building and the diner is that Anita and Tanner keep their plans a secret and both of them become angry when their plans are revealed.  It takes a bit for them to overcome their anger and to work together for the benefit of both of them.  

Kathleen Fuller is widely known for her Amish fiction, and this is the second in her Maple Falls series.  It's a lot of fun to read about a fictional town in Arkansas close to where I grew up.  Even the small town politics is familiar to places where I've lived.  Recognizing various places named within the story make it all the more compelling for me.  It is so easy for me to imagine the settings and the surroundings.  All of that added to my joy in reading the story.  I did get a bit put out with the knot-headedness of Tanner and Anita about keeping their business private and not telling the other what they were doing since their actions affected both of their businesses.  But that just added realism to the novel.  I could also understand Anita's feelings of inadequacy after being raised with over achieving brother and sister by over achieving parents.  Anita's mother set my teeth on edge with her somewhat narcissistic ways.  Even though she is a psychologist, she never stopped to listen.  My biggest pet peeve in all the world is not being listened to.  Just ask my husband.  😆  All of this makes the tale more believable.  I hope another novel in Maple Falls will be coming out soon!  

Four Strong Stars

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

 

The Do-Over

 

This is quite a good book that has twists, turns, and unexpected events, but I am not sure what the title has to do with the plot of the book.  Maybe I just missed the point.  Who knows? 

McKenna Keaton is a driven woman working in a high stress, high profile, New York City law firm as a junior partner.  In a meeting where McKenna believes she is going to be promoted, she is accused of embezzlement.  She is placed on administrative leave until the whole situation is cleared up.  At one point, she is told the investigation found out that she did embezzle the money, even though she knows she didn't.  

McKenna's youngest sister is getting married soon and is going to have an engagement party as well as having her sisters fitted for their bridesmaids dress fittings.  McKenna hadn't been sure she was going to make it for the weekend, but the loss of her job coincided with Taylor's weekend.  

McKenna has decided not to tell her family why she has really come home.  She just lets them believe that she's there for all of Taylor's events.  

Her brother-in-law was invited to a benefit for Hank Blume, a documentary producer, and took McKenna along, because McKenna's oldest sister wasn't feeling up to it.  McKenna finds out that Hank Blume is actually a classmate, Henry Blumenthal.   Sparks fly.   

The Do-Over is highly entertaining.  The story between McKenna and Henry is sweet, the relationships of McKenna and her family underwent a number of changes and cleared a lot of air with some humor thrown in for good measure.  The characters are believable, the settings are totally enchanting, and the movement of the plot is satisfying.  Bethany Turner has done a masterful job in putting words to paper to make an enjoyable story for her readers.  

Four Strong Stars. 

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

Meet Me in the Margins

 

Savannah has a secret--she's written a novel that she wants to have published.  The reason it is so secret is that she is an editor for a publishing company that doesn't "do" fluff, Pennington Publications.  Their market is higher tier literary fiction--not romance.  

Will Pennington has been brought in to stop the financial bleeding from toppling the Pennington empire.  He's the son of the owner of the company and he recently left one of the big publishing houses in New York to help save Pennington.

This book gives a peek into the parts of the publishing world that aren't all hype and glitz.  It gives a nitty-gritty behind the scenes look into the actual process of getting a book from inside someone's head to actual words on paper bound in a nice, neat package for the consumer. 

Some of the plot lines that flesh out this novel include Savannah's over-achieving younger sister who polices everything Savannah eats, drinks, and every step she takes; all while planning her wedding to Savannah's former boyfriend, Ferris.   Throughout the book, Ferris is portrayed as a nice guy overall, but still the fly in Savannah's ointment.  It is not until the very end that his true, slimy colors are revealed. 

When Savannah drops her manuscript during one of the weekly meetings, someone picks up the pages and reads them, giving her harsh, but not un-due criticism of her writing.  She decides to ask for help from her mystery editor to get her manuscript ready for submission in forty-four days.  That's all the time the publisher she's chosen for her book has to give Savannah for the book.  

I am not sure why Will took such an interest in Savannah, nor what the original attraction was.  He seemed to seek out her advice on things at the publishing house when she was not one of the premier editors for the company.  She was definitely not one of his mother's pet editors and was rather on the outside of the inner circle.  It was surprising that Will took Savannah's opinions to heart and made sweeping changes within the company based on those opinions.  

The romance was very understated throughout the novel and when it did show up, it was very sweet.  Melissa Ferguson knows just how much humor to add into the mix to make her novels enjoyable reads. 

Thomas Nelson and NetGalley.com provided the copy I read for this review and I am surprised at what Thomas Nelson allowed in this book to be categorized as Christian Fiction.  While it's a minor part of the plot, Ferris and Olivia (Savannah's sister) living together is rather unexpected.  Still it is a four-star book.  All opinions expressed are solely my own.  

Every Word Unsaid

There is something familiar in Kimberly Duffy's writings that take the readers to exotic places without ever leaving their homes.  With the protagonist's travels, Kimberly once again takes her readers to India in the late 1800s to a time under British rule, unspeakable poverty, desperate conditions, and astounding beauty.  

Augusta "Gussie" Travers escapes her family's climb into social status by writing for Ladies Weekly magazine as "Miss Adventuress." She travels throughout the United States, taking photographs and writing articles that allow her readers to escape the drudgery of daily life.  Her writing is light-hearted and witty, and her photographs are breath-taking illustrations of her travels.  When her identity is leaked on the morning of her sister's wedding, she is denigrated and renounced by her family.  Her parents decide to exile her to her aunt's in Chicago, where she might learn some of the finer societal manners, and where she won't be able to harm their social status by her outrageous behavior. Her boss at Ladies Weekly offers to send her to India for a more exotic trip than she's been on before. 

As Gussie is leaving for Chicago in the company of her uncle--once a Pinkerton agent--she ditches the train she's on and heads to Boston to catch a ship to England and then India.  While in India she meets up with her childhood friends Specs and Catherine. And while in India, she finds that she has come home.  She has found the place where she is accepted for who she is, where she is valued for her thoughts and ideas, where she is treated with respect and honor--all things that have been missing from her family's treatment and opinions of her. She also finds love.  It's a topsy-turvy road to romance for Gussie (and dare I say it, a rather formulaic road to romance).

I am not sure where Kimberly came up with the title for Every Word Unsaid, because there were not many words left unsaid by the time the book is finished.  Gussie and Specs hashed, rehashed, and sometimes over-hashed their words with each other.  But this book is one that was surprisingly compelling. There are events that bring out anger, compassion, excitement, betrayal, understanding, and several other emotions. It will cause readers like me to lose sleep because they just can't put it down, but it's worth every minute.  I looked back to see that I have read all of Kimberly's books and they are all just as enjoyable as this one.  

Five Stars, Two Thumbs Up, and a ride on an elephant to fulfill a bucket list item. 

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

 

Saving Mrs Roosevelt

First off:  Five Stars, Two Thumbs Up, and a signal buoy to relay information. 

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

Third:  My reasons for choosing this book to read have much to do with my father's service in the Coast Guard during World War II and my love for novels set during this era.  

Daddy served on the USS Menges DE 320.  He was a Carpenter's Mate 3rd Class, which made him a Petty Officer, and he was Shore Patrol for his ship.  Among the Menges exploits is the fact that the crew members and the rest of the crews in the Hunter/Killer group of Destroyer Escorts received one of the few ribbons for the American Theater of the war for sinking a U-Boat off the coast of New Foundland.  The Menges was torpedoed, taking the back 1/3 of the ship.  It was towed to Algiers for temporary repairs, and then towed back to Boston and put into drydock for more permanent repairs.  The damaged stern was removed and the stern part of another DE was welded to the stern to make a slightly longer sea-worthy ship. 

Saving Mrs. Roosevelt is based loosely in fact.  There are some historical characters populating the book and actual events that help to build the plot.  The plot itself is moving, intriguing, compelling, engaging, and otherwise interesting.  Treason, betrayal, heroism, and grief all play a part in the book.  

Shirley Davenport wants to do her part to aid in the war effort. She's twenty-two years old and spends her days working with her father on his fishing/lobster boat.  When Captain Leo Webber comes to Lubec, Maine, to recruit women to serve in the newly formed SPARS branch of the Coast Guard, Shirley and her best friend, Joan,  go to enlist.  She's soon sent to Iowa for Basic Training and spends much of her time studying and learning basic protocols and customs of the Coast Guard.  

When threats are made on Eleanor Roosevelt's life, Shirley is chosen to go back home under the guise of a dishonorable discharge to see if she can find the source of the threats.  Her parents are hugely disappointed in her and the gossip mill in her small town has ostracized her to the point that it is hard for her to accomplish what she's been asked by her government to do.  

This book is part three in the Heroines of World War II series, but each is a stand-alone book.  These books do not have to be read in order because the plots do not overlap.  The authors chosen for this series are top-notch writers, and Candice Sue Patterson certainly fits this bill quite nicely.  I want to read more books by her. 

 

As Dawn Breaks

The year is 1918, and Rosalind Graham is about to married to what is known as a "scunner" in the local parlance, and she can't stand the thought.  Her uncle arranged the marriage to his own benefit, and the man is abusive at best.  Her friend from the munitions factory where she works, Tilly, is holding a shower for her after work and sends Rose to her cottage to get cleaned up before the party.  Tilly gives Rose her number badge so that no one will stop her on her way out.  Once Rose is at Tilly's cottage, she hears an explosion and sees that the factory has gone, along with Tilly and her other friends.  In Tilly's cottage, she finds a five pound note and a letter telling her to take advantage of making a new life away from Chilwell and her uncle and fiance.  Tilly ends up in Gretna Green, Scotland, working for a munitions factory there using Tilly's name.  

Alex is being sent home after injuries he suffered when his brother, Ian, crashed and died.  While Alex hadn't crashed, he tried to save his brother from the burning wreckage of the plane Ian was flying.  Now, Alex is being "discharged" to try to catch the Rhymer before he can blow up another munitions plant.  It just so happens that the next plant on the Rhymer's list is in Gretna. He comes home to find his parents have rented out his room to Tilly/Rose and his sister, Hannah, is working at the munitions factory as well.  

This is a book filled with espionage, double-dealing, secrets, and treason.  It's also filled with pranks, practical jokes, and winning over the opposition.  And, just to satisfy my romantic tastes, a bit of falling in love. 

Kate Breslin is one of those authors who knows how to fill a book with enough twists and turns to keep the reader involved from beginning to end. Sometimes I get impatient with a book and I want to skip to the end and find out how it all plays out.  I couldn't do that with this book, because there was quite a bit of unpredictability in the plot.  

Five Stars, Two Thumbs Up, and some tatties and neeps. 

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

 

A Gift Most Rare

 

This is the most feel-good story of all feel-good stories.  Charlie is in the sixth grade, but he has a sensitive heart toward those who are hurting, especially the newly widowed Mr. Olsen and Viet Nam Vet, Parker.  When Skylar moves into town to work with Henry in the parks department, he recognizes Charlie's thoughtfulness and encourages Charlie in his endeavors.  Charlie is a typical sixth grade boy in all other aspects, with a group of friends who are all sports-minded like he is.  One of the boys in his group of friends is a bit of a loose cannon who is willing to step in and take credit for things he didn't do; at the same time, he races head-long into trouble while taunting the rest of the group to entice them into his trouble.  Skylar watches all of these shenanigans with a close eye.  

What the reader gets to understand is that Skylar is not exactly who he presents himself to be.  He is an angel in disguise, working inside and outside the hearts that are receptive to his help. 

There are characters the readers will absolutely love, a few they will absolutely dislike strongly, and a few that the readers will change their minds about.  Tom Leihbacher is a gifted author who has a great grasp of the work angels do in our world. A Gift Most Rare is an easy read that is compelling and entertaining.  Four Strong Stars.  I will be looking forward to reading more books by Tom.  

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