Sold on Love

 

I would have to say that this book is not the best of the series by Kathleen Fuller, but it is still a  good read.  There are a couple of plots to the book that make it a bit more interesting.  However, the overall pacing is just a bit slow.  

Harper Wilson is a real estate agent who bakes when she is stressed and since she's had a downturn in business, she's been a bit more stressed.  Rusty Jenkins is the mechanic who keeps her car running, even though he believes it is a lemon.  She's high fashion, he's low maintenance.  She's all about appearances, he's all about comfort. 

Maple Falls, Arkansas, is a fictional town near Hot Springs (where I grew up).  They are geographically close enough that many of the businesses in Maple Falls support charities in Hot Springs, specifically the ALS Gala and bachelor auction.  Harper is involved with helping with the gala and convinces Rusty to be one of the bachelors for the auction.  Rusty's grandfather, Senior, thinks the auction would be a lark and volunteers to be one of the bachelors. 

Rusty knows that his house is in ill repair and wants to buy something a bit bigger.  He's got his eye on a piece of property on the outskirts of town that would be a perfect place to build a house--it's got woods, a pond for fishing, and several sites suitable for building a house.  

While Harper is struggling with her business, her ex-boyfriend shows up to tell her that her arch nemesis is out to destroy her business.  Rusty and Harper had been growing closer until he sees Harper with her ex, then Harper's nemesis, Brielle, fills Rusty's mind with doubts about Harper.  

This is a typical  formulaic romance with a slight twist in that Girl meets Boy, instead of the other way around.  Still a readable book.  Four Stars

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

On the Way to Christmas

 

I wanted something light to read this week because I had some procedures coming up and I didn't want to get caught up in something deep or heavy.  This seemed to fit the bill--at least on the surface.

A Christmas Do-Over chronicles the reformation of a "Mean-Girl" and the pathway back to the good graces of those she's hurt along the way is long and humbling. 

Dashing Through the Snow made absolutely no sense to me.  Willow's boyfriend dumps her right before the wedding, but insists she take the honeymoon trip anyway, a two week train trip with various stops and excursions along the way.  So far, so good.  She develops a friendship with Clarence, the elderly owner of the train, and his son, Oliver.  Her friendship with Oliver grows into something more, but this is where it makes no sense.  At one point he says that the train was purchased when he was a child in 1953.  This makes Oliver at least forty years older than Willow.  I won't say love can't happen to two people with such a time span between them, but it is unlikely. 

The best one of the novellas is A Perfectly Splendid Christmas by Amy Clipston.  Amy is most well known for her Amish fiction, but she is coming into her own as a modern Christian romance writer.  Kacey and Drew reconnect years after high school when Kacey comes back to Splendid Lake to  help her sister out when her husband lost his job.  Their relationship begins again as an easy flowing friendship that grows and develops into something more.  

This is a four star book only because Amy Clipston's offering brings the average up. 

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

Season of My Enemy

Not every World War II Story takes place on the front lines.  Some of them occur at home where farmers have to keep their farms going to supply food to the troops overseas.  Some of the encounters with opposing forces take place on these farms where prisoners of war are working the farms.  Sometimes a friendship develops among the prisoners and the farmers. Basically, I have just described the plot of Season of My Enemy.  

Fannie O'Brien is the eldest child at the O'Brien home and is tasked with keeping the farm running to the best of her ability.  Her mother applies to have German PWs come to work the farm and help with harvest.  With only three of her five children at home and one of those in school, the extra help is needed.  Most of the PWs are just young boys who were conscripted to fight for ideologies that are not their own. A few are older, and one of the older ones develops a friendship with Fannie.  Through her work at the library, she is able to supply the PWs with reading material to aid them in learning English.  Wolf, who was a teacher in Germany, took to teaching the other PWs English as he learned it so that they all could understand the tasks at hand on the farm where they were working. 

When one of Fannie's brothers, Cal, comes home before the war was over, he is bothered by the fact that there are Germans working the farm.  His trust of the PWs comes slow, and he watches them with a gun in his hand.  He is a bit more relaxed the second season they come.  The turning point for Cal is when Liza comes to read him the riot act for his behavior. She points out to him in very real terms that he's not pulling his weight on the farm, and his bitterness is helping no one.  

I've given a rather disjointed accounting of what happens in the book, but I assure you that this story by Naomi Musch works together as a cohesive whole.  I've left out significant events, but those are the ones that add excitement to the book and make it so hard to put down.  

This is a five star book, with two thumbs up, and a successful farm harvest. 

Barbour Books provided the copy I read for this review.  All opinions expressed are solely my own. 

 

The Fixer Upper

Aly Aresti works at an ad agency in London but now she has a side hustle as a relationship fixer.  When she is hired by a reality tv star to fix her boyfriend. Her boyfriend turns out to be Aly's best friend from years ago.  While, Nicki, the reality star and social media influencer, seems to not realize her boyfriend's past with Aly, it turns out she does and the whole thing is a publicity stunt.  

Aly's and Dylan's past come back to haunt them when they finally admit their feelings for each other. Nicki uses the situation to further her own social media presence.  

Aly has coworkers who also help with her fixer upper business, and their involvement adds to the comedy of the story.  

Lauren Forsythe has written a really nice book that has way too much swearing that really doesn't add much to the story.  The amount of alcohol consumed in the book also makes me wonder if some of the characters aren't alcoholics.  Just my opinion.  It is an entertaining read that will while away a few hours when the reader has nothing else to do.

Three and a half stars--rounded up to four. 

G P Putnam and Sons and NetGalley.com provided the copy I read for this review.  All opinions expressed are solely my own.  

 

All That Fills Us

I chose this book to read because of the cross-country hiking involved in the plot.  My husband and both my children are adventurers, while I sit home and support them by sending resupply packages.  

Melanie Ellis is on the brink of a total body breakdown between starving herself and compulsively exercising.  She has fainted, injured herself, and managed to find herself in the hospital again.  When she is released, she promises to check into rehab, but instead, packs her backpack, grabs what little food she has in her apartment, and walks away with only a map and  a quest on her mind.  She takes what little cash she has and sets out to walk to Mount Rainier in Washington state from Grand Rapids, Michigan.  

What makes this book so interesting is not Mel's thought processes, but the people she meets along the way who support her, help her, get inside her mind and prove to her she's worth more than she values herself. One line in the book (and I'm going to misquote it) made the whole book worthwhile to read.  It said something like, "Before I meant anything to anyone, I meant everything to God." 

This is a book about eating and exercise disorders, but it could be translated to many other disorders and the impact other people can have on our lives.  It is a book about loving others, loving yourself, but most importantly finding your love for God through finding God's love for you.  

Generally I hate buzz-words, but there are a few toxic characters in this book who are oblivious to their own toxicity, and that alone makes things harder for Mel and her recovery.  Autumn Lytle writes with first-hand knowledge of the disorder and the struggles to overcome.  I hope that this book will be widely received because those who have an eating disorder will get to say, "Someone gets me!  Someone finally understands." 

In many ways this book is a metaphor for how unprepared each of us is for this journey called life.  

Five Stars, Two Thumbs Up, and prayers for those who are going through the struggle of an eating disorder. 

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

Home? Where is Home?

 

Isabelle's mother is dying of cancer and she's in a crisis, but the doctor doesn't get there in time to save her, so Isabelle gets angry. 

Isabelle's father commits suicide because he is over-extended to the point of bankruptcy.  The man working for her father who was soon to become her fiancé leaves her reeling.  Isabelle gets angry again.  

Isabelle's sister is hiding a secret and when the truth comes out, Isabelle gets angry--but not with her sister.  She's angry with the boy her sister loves and his brother. 

Mark Henshaw is the doctor to Isabelle's mother and the brother of the boy Isabelle's sister is in love with.  He is also the target of Isabelle's anger. But, he gets angry at turns with his brother, with Isabelle's sister, and ultimately with Isabelle herself.  

Somehow Isabelle and Mark are destined to fall in love and marry, but not without a few ups and downs along the way.  It seems that they spend more time apart than in each other's company and what time they are together, they are angry with the other. 

Susan Anne Mason has brought this series to a rather unsuccessful climax. This novel is not a very satisfying read because of all the time wasted by the characters being angry. The epilogue ties all the loose ends up nicely in a bow and gives closure to the series which will placate the reader somewhat.  I just felt that this third novel in the series fell a bit flat.  

There were a few things that surprised me about the book.  It takes place during the waning years of World War II, but the draft wasn't mentioned at all in the book.  Especially when Mark's younger brother would have been draft-able.  He did eventually enlist, but not much was said about his time in the war.  However that's not a bad thing.  It wouldn't have added much to the plot if his Army service had been delineated. 

It's a three star  book for me, but that's not to say someone else won't enjoy it more. It just didn't hit the mark for me. 

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

A Time to Bloom

 

Lauraine Snelling has such a way with writing historical fiction and her collaboration with Kiersti Giron in the Leah's Garden series is a surprising and refreshing addition to the genre.  

In the previous novel in the series, the sisters are moving westward as a real need to get away from a situation their brother got them into.  This novel opens a year later and the sisters have settled into their homestead.  Forsythia is settled into her marriage with the doctor and her new family acquired on the way to Nebraska.  Delphinium (Del) is getting ready for a new school year (without a school house), Larkspur (Lark) and Lilac are preparing to build a boarding house, and their brother, Anders, comes for a visit and to help get the boarding house off the ground. Anders brought a friend with him who was an engineering student before the war and knew how to design buildings.  The sisters hire RJ (Anders' friend) to design the boarding house and oversee its being built.  Throughout the time taken to build the boarding house and later the school house, the sisters become close to RJ, but Del becomes especially close.  

There are some pleasant surprises throughout this book.  While Lark is the oldest sister, Del often appears to be the eldest, at least to my way of thinking.  All of the sisters get along so well and complement each others strengths.  They work well together and build one another up in ways not often seen in families or friend-groups. 

The authors do tackle some tough problems and there is enough conflict within the plot to keep the reader engaged and involved in the story.  I can't wait to see whose story is next and what challenges the sisters will face in the next novel.  

Five Stars, Two Thumbs Up, and a teacher who cares about her students as much as what they learn. 

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

The Last of Hanger's Horsemen

Karen Witemeyer is a master at her craft--specifically historical romance with a bit of intrigue thrown in for good measure.   In this last book about Hanger's Horsemen, she completes the series with a look at who Luke Davenport was and who Nathaniel Baxter is going to become without some changes in his life. 

Damaris Baxter has taken on the challenge of raising her late brother's son, Nathaniel, who is a very angry boy because of the circumstances surrounding his father's death.  Nathaniel has taken on a "refuse to cooperate even if it cuts off my nose to spite my face" attitude.  The latest "prank" he has pulled on Damaris is locking her in the cellar with a table standing on the trap door so that she can't get out.  This is how Luke Davenport finds Damaris when he's been called in to find out who is rustling a neighbor's cattle.  When Nathaniel finds out that Luke is a Horseman, he begins to straighten up his act.  As in all good Western type romances, our hero (Luke) is injured in carrying out his duties and Nathaniel and Damaris take him in to nurse him back to health.  Nathaniel picks up his chores and helps Damaris with hers, especially after wiring Matt Hanger and his wife, Dr. Jo, to come to his aid.  

In Honor's Defense takes on some tough topics, like child abuse, money grubbing, rebellion, and overcoming the past.  Karen does a tremendous job of tackling hard issues without being preachy about it. While I enjoyed the first Horsemen novel the best in this series, this one is quite enjoyable to read and so satisfying when it is all said and done.  The continuity of the characters and their brotherhood stands out as a testimony to a deep abiding friendship that puts me in mind of the friendship between David and Jonathan.  The way the Horsemen stood up for each other in times of crisis is exactly how Jonathan stood for David.  

Solid Four Star book even though there is a bit of predictability in the narrative. I will still pick up any book Karen Witemeyer writes.  

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