Last things first on this review. Three stars, but now that I see that it is a novella, I guess I can squeeze it up to four stars. Love at Mistletoe Inn is not exactly what I would call a Christian novella, but through it, Cindy Kirk shows in a very real way the foibles of human beings. Hope and John eloped on their prom night ten years ago, but Hope returned John's ring after the vows were said, calling the idea a mistake. Hope lost her parents young and her Aunt Verna raised her. John was a foster child Aunt Verna also took in. The close company made a convenient atmosphere for falling in love. When John comes back to town and moves into Aunt Verna's carriage house, Hope is in a dither. That morning she found out she might still be married to him, even though the paperwork was never filed after the wedding. Hard news to digest, but she knew she had to tell him and fast. It wasn't going to be easy. Aunt Verna, in the meantime, has decided to turn her home into a wedding venue and she has just the couple to "break it in," so to speak. Naming the couple "Luke" and "Laura," she convinces Hope and John to go with her to pick out the wedding paraphrenalia--dresses, tux, flowers, cake, all the things that make a wedding beautiful.
My biggest problem with the book is that when Hope is telling John that they are, in fact, still married, he tries to comfort her by sleeping with her, and thereby complicates the matter because now the marriage has been consummated. That part really fell flat with me. The other thing that kind of turns me off this book is that I wish it were a full novel that could be more fully developed than it is. I want more to the story than what is there. But still, a good four stars.
Zondervan allowed me to read this book in exchange for my honest review.
Saturday, November 15, 2014
Friday, November 14, 2014
The Beekeeper's Son
I go in spurts of reading Amish fiction--sometimes I like it and sometimes it just gets too syrupy, but this one is different.
The Lantz family has moved from Tennessee to south Texas, because Abigail's brother lives there, and her old beau, Stephen, lives there too. The Amish community there is not doing well, and the Lantz family is a welcome addition.
Kelly Irvin has written a different sort of Amish story--two romances happening at the same time, two women falling in love with two beekeepers--mother and daughter falling in love with father and son. For Abigail, the mother, she finds her peace with Mordecai instead of Stephen--the man she is expected to marry. Deborah, the daughter, finds herself falling in love with Phineas, Mordecai's son. Abigail has to overcome her grief for her husband, dead for only two years. Deborah has to get Phineas to overcome his self-absorption, especially with the scars left from a car accident that also took his mother.
I found the Beekeeper's Son to be a different kind of Amish romance, but I didn't find it as engaging as others I've read. The story seemed to drag in places--not because there was nothing going on, there was plenty of activity. Events in the book included a hurricane, a prison escape, a trip to Mexico for dental work, a fire that takes a house, and a little girl who falls and hurts her mouth. For MY tastes, there is not enough interaction between Deborah and Phineas, or Abigail and Mordecai. It is readable and quite nice, I give this four stars.
Zondervan has allowed me to read this book in exchange for my honest review.
The Lantz family has moved from Tennessee to south Texas, because Abigail's brother lives there, and her old beau, Stephen, lives there too. The Amish community there is not doing well, and the Lantz family is a welcome addition.
Kelly Irvin has written a different sort of Amish story--two romances happening at the same time, two women falling in love with two beekeepers--mother and daughter falling in love with father and son. For Abigail, the mother, she finds her peace with Mordecai instead of Stephen--the man she is expected to marry. Deborah, the daughter, finds herself falling in love with Phineas, Mordecai's son. Abigail has to overcome her grief for her husband, dead for only two years. Deborah has to get Phineas to overcome his self-absorption, especially with the scars left from a car accident that also took his mother.
I found the Beekeeper's Son to be a different kind of Amish romance, but I didn't find it as engaging as others I've read. The story seemed to drag in places--not because there was nothing going on, there was plenty of activity. Events in the book included a hurricane, a prison escape, a trip to Mexico for dental work, a fire that takes a house, and a little girl who falls and hurts her mouth. For MY tastes, there is not enough interaction between Deborah and Phineas, or Abigail and Mordecai. It is readable and quite nice, I give this four stars.
Zondervan has allowed me to read this book in exchange for my honest review.
Tuesday, November 11, 2014
A Most Inconvenient Marriage
Regina Jennings writes historical romance with a humorous vein running through the whole book. This book is the mother-load for an entertaining read.
Abigail Stuart is a nurse in the Gallicot prison hospital. Her favorite patient is a man with a gangrenous wound on his arm stump and who won't give his name. He speaks often of his fiancee living in the Ozarks and his horse farm, his mother, and his sister. He calls himself Romeo and his fiancee Juliet. When he realizes that he is going to die and soon, he gives Abigail a proposition: to marry him and go home to take care of his family and his horse farm. He tells her his name is Jeremiah Calhoun and his sister, Rachel, has rheumatic heart failure. His mother needs the help. Abigail complies with the soldier's wishes and is soon on her way to the Calhoun farm. Rachel's acerbic tongue goads Abigail to prove her worth and to prove herself trustworthy. What Abigail doesn't expect is that the REAL Jeremiah Calhoun shows up and is not at all pleased to see Abigail there.
Abigail and Jeremiah butt heads at every turn and yet Jeremiah sees that Abigail knows horse flesh and knows her way around a barn. He just wants to reconnect with Laurel, his "true" fiancee and Abigail is in the way. Well, Abigail isn't the only thing in the way of his relationship with Laurel, the local doctor--Newton Hopkins--has been courting Laurel too.
Two minor players in this game of love are Josiah and Betty, two very mischievous neighbor children.
The tension holding the story together is composed of horse thieves who are stealing from all the locals.
Regina has proven, once again, that the road to true love is rocky at best, and at times impassable, but she also proves that love will win out.
Five Stars, Two Thumbs Up, and the finest piece of horseflesh you've ever ridden.
Bethany House provided this book for me to read in exchange for my honest opinionated review.
Abigail Stuart is a nurse in the Gallicot prison hospital. Her favorite patient is a man with a gangrenous wound on his arm stump and who won't give his name. He speaks often of his fiancee living in the Ozarks and his horse farm, his mother, and his sister. He calls himself Romeo and his fiancee Juliet. When he realizes that he is going to die and soon, he gives Abigail a proposition: to marry him and go home to take care of his family and his horse farm. He tells her his name is Jeremiah Calhoun and his sister, Rachel, has rheumatic heart failure. His mother needs the help. Abigail complies with the soldier's wishes and is soon on her way to the Calhoun farm. Rachel's acerbic tongue goads Abigail to prove her worth and to prove herself trustworthy. What Abigail doesn't expect is that the REAL Jeremiah Calhoun shows up and is not at all pleased to see Abigail there.
Abigail and Jeremiah butt heads at every turn and yet Jeremiah sees that Abigail knows horse flesh and knows her way around a barn. He just wants to reconnect with Laurel, his "true" fiancee and Abigail is in the way. Well, Abigail isn't the only thing in the way of his relationship with Laurel, the local doctor--Newton Hopkins--has been courting Laurel too.
Two minor players in this game of love are Josiah and Betty, two very mischievous neighbor children.
The tension holding the story together is composed of horse thieves who are stealing from all the locals.
Regina has proven, once again, that the road to true love is rocky at best, and at times impassable, but she also proves that love will win out.
Five Stars, Two Thumbs Up, and the finest piece of horseflesh you've ever ridden.
Bethany House provided this book for me to read in exchange for my honest opinionated review.
Saturday, November 8, 2014
Love Unexpected
Jody Hedlund has written some books that have captured my attention from the very first sentence, and I am never disappointed when I pick up one of her books. So I'll begin as I usually end: Five Stars, Two Thumbs Up, and a Lighthouse to light your way.
Most of this book takes place on Presque Isle, Michigan, on Lake Huron, and is based on real people, only the names were changed for poetic license.
Emma and her brother, Ryan, are on a steamer heading toward Detroit when they were boarded by pirates and lost their possessions. After the pirates set the steamer on fire, Ryan and Emma jumped ship and were rescued and pulled ashore on Presque Isle. Emma believes all hope is lost until an unusual opportunity offers itself to her--marry the Presque Isle lightkeeper and have a place of refuge. Patrick Garraty needs help at the lighthouse--mostly with his son, a two-year-old redheaded boy with more life and energy than he can keep up with. Emma immediately falls in love with Patrick's son, Josiah, and accepts the proposition of marrying Patrick.
What they have to overcome is the wagging tongue of Patrick's first wife's cousin, Bertie Burnham. She likes to sow venom, bitterness, and mistrust wherever she goes and nearly separates Emma and Patrick permanently. She was a force to be reckoned with and not very trustworthy herself. Emma wants a friend so badly that Bertie is the best opportunity to show itself in the first months of her marriage.
While Emma has many things to learn about being a wife, like cooking, and about being a mother; but she also has many things to learn about her husband--where he goes periodically that has him coming back smelling of women's perfume, what his life was like before he came to Christ, what his first marriage was like, and how his first wife truly met her death. He wants to tell her, but he's not sure how she'll take the information and whether she'll stay with him once she knows.
This book has everything: joy, sorrow, happiness, angst, laughter, tears, and a precocious two year old boy with a strong will and a temper to match (at times). The setting is well-described without taking away from the story, the characters live in the reader's imagination with a reality that works for the book, and the plots and sub-plots are well-defined and yet seamless. I recommend this book highly. You won't be disappointed.
Bethany House has allowed me to read this book in exchange for my honest review.
Most of this book takes place on Presque Isle, Michigan, on Lake Huron, and is based on real people, only the names were changed for poetic license.
Emma and her brother, Ryan, are on a steamer heading toward Detroit when they were boarded by pirates and lost their possessions. After the pirates set the steamer on fire, Ryan and Emma jumped ship and were rescued and pulled ashore on Presque Isle. Emma believes all hope is lost until an unusual opportunity offers itself to her--marry the Presque Isle lightkeeper and have a place of refuge. Patrick Garraty needs help at the lighthouse--mostly with his son, a two-year-old redheaded boy with more life and energy than he can keep up with. Emma immediately falls in love with Patrick's son, Josiah, and accepts the proposition of marrying Patrick.
What they have to overcome is the wagging tongue of Patrick's first wife's cousin, Bertie Burnham. She likes to sow venom, bitterness, and mistrust wherever she goes and nearly separates Emma and Patrick permanently. She was a force to be reckoned with and not very trustworthy herself. Emma wants a friend so badly that Bertie is the best opportunity to show itself in the first months of her marriage.
While Emma has many things to learn about being a wife, like cooking, and about being a mother; but she also has many things to learn about her husband--where he goes periodically that has him coming back smelling of women's perfume, what his life was like before he came to Christ, what his first marriage was like, and how his first wife truly met her death. He wants to tell her, but he's not sure how she'll take the information and whether she'll stay with him once she knows.
This book has everything: joy, sorrow, happiness, angst, laughter, tears, and a precocious two year old boy with a strong will and a temper to match (at times). The setting is well-described without taking away from the story, the characters live in the reader's imagination with a reality that works for the book, and the plots and sub-plots are well-defined and yet seamless. I recommend this book highly. You won't be disappointed.
Bethany House has allowed me to read this book in exchange for my honest review.
Thursday, November 6, 2014
Treasures
I have loved Julie Klassen since I read Lady of Milkweed Manor several years ago. She writes with well-planned plots, just enough mystery, and empathetic characters. I was excited to see that The Secret of Pembrooke Place was up for reviewing. As it came up in my review list, I was having a hard time waiting until its turn for my kindle.
Julie writes fairly long books and I like that because it gives her the opportunity to fully develop the characters, the plots, and the subplots. Abigail Foster is a young woman in London, and a member of a family in financial straits because her father invested in a banking venture with her mother's brother. Because the family had to sell their house, they were looking for a place to live quickly so that Abigail's sister, Louisa, could still have her debut and season. Through their solicitor, an anonymous benefactor offered Pembrooke Park to them with a staff as long as they oversaw the upkeep and repairs to the mansion. After Abigail moved in, mysterious letters, unsigned, began arriving, with pages from a journal that was kept about the mansion.
Pembrooke Place has a history that is somewhat checkered--two brothers fought over it, a treasure was rumored to be hidden in it, and the Pembrooke name had its own miseries. Soon after moving in, Abigail meets the local parson, William Chapman, and the rest of his family. William's father had been caretaker for Pembrooke Park until the family moved out. The mysteries surrounding Pembrooke Park are woven through the book and the plots and subplots with the warp and woof of the life lived out in Easton, where Pembrooke Park is located.
I liked this book quite well, but for me, the book dragged in places, and it was predictable in places. I can give this book a solid four stars.
Bethany House allowed me to read this book in exchange for my honest review. No compensation was offered or received.
Julie writes fairly long books and I like that because it gives her the opportunity to fully develop the characters, the plots, and the subplots. Abigail Foster is a young woman in London, and a member of a family in financial straits because her father invested in a banking venture with her mother's brother. Because the family had to sell their house, they were looking for a place to live quickly so that Abigail's sister, Louisa, could still have her debut and season. Through their solicitor, an anonymous benefactor offered Pembrooke Park to them with a staff as long as they oversaw the upkeep and repairs to the mansion. After Abigail moved in, mysterious letters, unsigned, began arriving, with pages from a journal that was kept about the mansion.
Pembrooke Place has a history that is somewhat checkered--two brothers fought over it, a treasure was rumored to be hidden in it, and the Pembrooke name had its own miseries. Soon after moving in, Abigail meets the local parson, William Chapman, and the rest of his family. William's father had been caretaker for Pembrooke Park until the family moved out. The mysteries surrounding Pembrooke Park are woven through the book and the plots and subplots with the warp and woof of the life lived out in Easton, where Pembrooke Park is located.
I liked this book quite well, but for me, the book dragged in places, and it was predictable in places. I can give this book a solid four stars.
Bethany House allowed me to read this book in exchange for my honest review. No compensation was offered or received.
Tuesday, November 4, 2014
Before Amen
Max Lucado is a well loved author on living the Christian life, especially in my family. Now he has tackled the prayer aspect of the Christian life and has done it in such a gentle way as to give even the most uninitiated Christian a good guide for prayer. After reading the individual chapters, Max's daughter, Jenna, has included a study guide to help put the principles into practice. Even after that, there is included a link to a website quiz so that the reader can find his or her strengths in prayer, and then find the biblical prayer partner that most fits the found strength.
Max uses a gentle approach to his writing, with many illustrations from real people. Finding that someone else has struggled in the same kinds of things that I struggle with is a true comfort and encouragement. His concepts are easily understood and readily put into practice. While I read this for review purposes primarily, I plan to go back through the book and follow the study, along with adding the principles to my prayer life. The first thing I did when I booted up my computer was to take the prayer style quiz and found out that my strength is compassion. I am quick to offer prayers to friends in need, and even offering my services to friends in need, so I feel that the quiz does measure accurately. Five Stars, Two Thumbs Up, and a prayer for your health.
I was allowed to read this book in exchange for my honest review. No compensation was offered or received.
Max uses a gentle approach to his writing, with many illustrations from real people. Finding that someone else has struggled in the same kinds of things that I struggle with is a true comfort and encouragement. His concepts are easily understood and readily put into practice. While I read this for review purposes primarily, I plan to go back through the book and follow the study, along with adding the principles to my prayer life. The first thing I did when I booted up my computer was to take the prayer style quiz and found out that my strength is compassion. I am quick to offer prayers to friends in need, and even offering my services to friends in need, so I feel that the quiz does measure accurately. Five Stars, Two Thumbs Up, and a prayer for your health.
I was allowed to read this book in exchange for my honest review. No compensation was offered or received.
Saturday, November 1, 2014
The Daughter of Highland Hall
I've read several of Carrie Turansky's books and I find she would have to go a loooooooooooooooooooooooooong way to disappoint me. She has researched her books well, she knows the period of history she writes, she develops her characters with depth, and she provides just enough suspense to keep the reader engaged. Her denouement is satisfying and pleasing. In other words, she writes a good book. I will admit that I got a bit confused about a couple of the characters, but it was my own confusion, not in her writing. I forgot for a bit who was who.
As we left the Governess of Highland Hall, Julia Foster is engaged to William Ramsey and is becoming, with William, the guardian of Katherine and Penelope Ramsey. They are in London now, getting ready for Katherine (Kate)'s debutante season. Aunt Louisa has joined the group to make sure that Kate makes a good impression in all the right circles and makes the right match for a husband. Louisa is the character in every book that the reader loves to hate, she's vituperative, condescending, critical, and thunderous about all of her opinions. She doesn't mind whom she brings down unless it will put her in a bad light in society. What she wants for Kate is for her to make a connection that will put her in the upper echelons of society. Louisa doesn't care a whit about love and believes that Kate shouldn't either.
As the novel progresses, we see Kate maturing and becoming more compassionate. Her values take a huge shift in what she wants out of marriage as well as how she wants to live her life. When she meets Julia's brother, Jon, she sees a man who wants nothing more than to help people. In deciding to help her ladies' maid, Lydia, she sees a world she never knew existed--beginning with three waifs--Jack, Ruth, and Susan--who've lost their parents and live on the street. In spite of Louisa's machinations, Kate falls in love with Jon, instead of the "more suitable" Edward.
There are many tender moments in this book, including Kate's awakening to the needs of the world. The Daughter of Highland Hall is a great book. Five Stars and two thumbs up!
Multnomah Books provided this novel in exchange for my honest opinion and review. No other compensation was offered or received.
As we left the Governess of Highland Hall, Julia Foster is engaged to William Ramsey and is becoming, with William, the guardian of Katherine and Penelope Ramsey. They are in London now, getting ready for Katherine (Kate)'s debutante season. Aunt Louisa has joined the group to make sure that Kate makes a good impression in all the right circles and makes the right match for a husband. Louisa is the character in every book that the reader loves to hate, she's vituperative, condescending, critical, and thunderous about all of her opinions. She doesn't mind whom she brings down unless it will put her in a bad light in society. What she wants for Kate is for her to make a connection that will put her in the upper echelons of society. Louisa doesn't care a whit about love and believes that Kate shouldn't either.
As the novel progresses, we see Kate maturing and becoming more compassionate. Her values take a huge shift in what she wants out of marriage as well as how she wants to live her life. When she meets Julia's brother, Jon, she sees a man who wants nothing more than to help people. In deciding to help her ladies' maid, Lydia, she sees a world she never knew existed--beginning with three waifs--Jack, Ruth, and Susan--who've lost their parents and live on the street. In spite of Louisa's machinations, Kate falls in love with Jon, instead of the "more suitable" Edward.
There are many tender moments in this book, including Kate's awakening to the needs of the world. The Daughter of Highland Hall is a great book. Five Stars and two thumbs up!
Multnomah Books provided this novel in exchange for my honest opinion and review. No other compensation was offered or received.
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