The Governess of Highland Hall

Julia Foster needs a job. Sir William Ramsey needs a governess for his own two children and his cousin's two daughters, who are preparing for their first season in London. Julia's experience in working with orphans has made her highly qualified to fill Sir William's needs. The Governess of Highland Hall takes an old plot and serves it up once again. There are a few differences: Julia has wisdom to match Sir William's dilemmas, Sir William is open enough to Julia's advice to begin taking it, there is internal strife among the estate's staff, and a fire breaks out in the children's wing of Highland Hall that brings more worries to Sir William.

Just because this plot has been done before--the aristocracy and the service classes mixing together to find true love--doesn't mean this is not an enjoyable read, it is very much enjoyable. Carrie Turansky has well developed, believable characters with real foibles and strengths along with well defined faith.

It only took me two days to read this partially because I had a long day in the car on Wednesday this week. Because the book was so enjoyable, it was an easy read and worth the time.

Five Stars, Two Thumbs Up, and a fancy ball gown.

Revitalizing

Years ago I read a book by Liz Curtis Higgs called Reflecting His Image: Discovering Your Worth in Christ From A to Z. For each letter of the alphabet, she described an attribute of God and an attribute of who we are in God's family. So today, I just finished reading a book by Cecil Murphey called Revitalize Your Prayer Life: An Inspired Living Companion. Like Liz's book, Cecil takes attributes of God but personalizes them to us in such a way that we see God in a whole new light--in an intimate light. Cecil has awakened me to see how God isn't some nebulous being "out there" somewhere, but He's personal, He's involved, He's listening, He WANTS my prayers, He wants ME!

This book has been previously published as Invading the Privacy of God, and even though originally released in 1997, it is still relevant and implementable today.

Pattern for Romance

I read this whole book last night, I couldn't put it down. Carla Olson Gade has packed a lot into her Quilts of Love book, Pattern for Romance.

Honour Metcalf is a very talented and dedicated quilter who works for Margaret Wadsworth, the mantua maker in Boston. She is also the guardian for her young sister, Temperance. Honour meets Joshua Sutton in the middle of a hail storm that has given her a concussion. During the storm, she loses her work bag that her mother made for her. In it are all the tools of her trade and losing it seriously handicaps her ability to work.

From the very beginning, Honour intrigues Joshua and he finds reasons to be with her, inviting her employer to share space with his father's business, helping her find her work bag, replacing her lost items from the bag, and intervening on her sister's behalf at school.

There are complications, missed turns, and road blocks on the way to true love, but Honour and Joshua seem to find their way through.

Even though this is a fairly light read, it is a great book. Five Stars, Two Thumbs Up, and a quilting needle.

Beneath the Dover Sky

Last fall I reviewed the first book in this series and I seriously enjoyed it. I just finished reading the next book in the series, Beneath the Dover Sky, which continues the story of the Danforth family in the years between the two World Wars. Among the seven children, Libby is returning home from the United States, Catherine has moved to the summer home of the Danforths--an estate called Dover Sky, Kipp is widowed when Christelle dies of cancer, Edward runs for a parliament seat and is elected, Robbie and Shannon are stationed in Israel to keep peace among all the factions, Victoria's husband Ben and Libby's husband Mike enter into a flying race and crash--costing Mike his life and Ben his legs, Emma and her husband Jeremy are living in London where Jeremy is a vicar. There are a few new characters in this book, a baron from Germany, a theology professor, a Naval leftenant commander, and a few others to round out the story.

Murray Pura has researched the era he's writing about to show how the political climate allowed Hitler to rise to power, and how the Great Depression in the US affected the rest of the world.

This book is definitely worth the read. Five Stars, Two Thumbs Up, and a summer home in Dover.

What Once Was Lost

Christina Willems is the director of the poor farm in Brambleville, Kansas. She oversees an elderly couple, a widowed mother with two children, orphaned twins, two widowed sisters-in-law, a blind boy, and a few others. Her world falls apart when Tommy, the blind boy, smells fire and gets everyone out of the house--the kitchen is on fire. She spends a good part of a day finding people to take in the residents of the poor farm and then finding a place for herself.

Christina makes a deal with the owner of the local boarding house to do the kitchen work for room and board for Cora and her, hoping to have time to see after her charges. Tommy has been placed with the reclusive mill owner, Levi Jonnson, who has decided not to coddle the boy, but make him do for himself. Tommy blossoms under Levi's care but when he is placed with another family, tries to run away because he gets mistreated by that family. Tommy heads in the direction of Levi's mill and home because there he feels safe and cared for.

As Christina works to get the poor farm home rebuilt, the missions board decides not to reopen it. They place the orphaned twins in an orphanage in Kansas City, the elderly couple in another poor farm in another town, and make arrangements to sell the farm. Christina sells her father's watch in order to go to Kansas City and get the twins back only to find they have been placed with adoptive parents who will provide the children with a loving home with many advantages. Rose, one of the sisters-in-law, accompanies Christina on the trip only to be hired as the governess for the twins.

Meanwhile, back in Brambleville, Hamilton Dresden, a former poor farm resident, has decided to create trouble for Christina. He steals the watch she sold to the mercantile along with the cash in the mercantile. Hamilton has also created fear in Tommy by threatening him if he tells what he knows.

How Christina recoups What Once Was Lost is a satisfying story that leaves the reader ready for something more.

With excitement, mystery, and caring, Kim Vogel Sawyer has put together a novel that can't be put down. Five Stars, Two Thumbs Up, and an old-fashioned pocket watch.

A Simple Change

The Home to Amana Series has been one of my recent favorites. I began reading the series because I have a friend who was raised in the Amana Colonies in Iowa. Judith Miller has researched and written this series with all the respect it deserves. In A Simple Change, Jancey Rhoder's parents have decided to move back to the Colonies for her mother to spend her waning days. Jancey is caught between her love for teaching the orphans and being with her sick mother. Complicating the decision is Nathan--her father's employee and self-designated boyfriend. Nathan wants to buy her father's construction business and thinks that his relationship with Jancey will aid his cause, but when Jancey moves with her parents, a monkey wrench gets thrown into Nathan's plan.

When Jancey's family arrives at Middle Amana, they are assigned to live with the Hertigs. Sister Hanna works in the kuche, she has time to check on Jancey's mother periodically throughout the day, so that Jancey can work with Sister Margaret in the "outsider's dormitory." The Hertigs have a young daughter Madelyn and an older son Ritter. Madelyn needs help with her school work and Jancey is recruited to help her out. Ritter sits in on the lessons because he likes Jancey and wants to be near her. Pretty soon, Madelyn's friends come to Jancey for extra help too.

Jancey's father has to go back to Kansas City to see about some things that have been happening with his business in Kansas City, Missouri. When he returns, he brings Nathan back with him and Nathan feels that he can change Jancey's mind about staying in Middle Amana. He hates the rules and sees them as restrictive and unfair. He can't understand why Jancey has chosen to live under them or how much Jancey's family means to her. He thinks that he can just tell Jancey what he wants her to do and she'll jump to do it. What he fails to realize is that Jancey has her own mind and she's seeing what Amana has to offer, especially after the elders ask her to teach the younger children.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book as I have enjoyed the other books in the series. Judith Miller writes with a compassionate and engaging style. She draws the reader in and doesn't let go until the book is done. Five Stars, Two Thumbs Up, and a child to teach.

On Distant Shores

Sarah Sundin has been a favorite author of mine from the time I read her very first book. She writes World War II fiction with believable characters who have an unwavering faith in God. I love WWII fiction because my father served in the Coast Guard and since his death, my brother has been able to tell me more of his stories. I am sorry I missed hearing them first-hand.

Last night, I did something unusual--I went to bed early so I could read, Sarah's new book was just too fascinating to put down. I NEEDED to read it.

Georgiana is a flight nurse who feels she doesn't fit in, she went into this because her best friend was doing it too. Ward is Georgie's boyfriend back home and he desires for her to get out of flight nursing and come home to him. Her parents also wish for her to come back home and get out of such a dangerous profession. In other words, Georgie is coddled to the point of suffocation.

Georgie has decided to stand on her own two feet and listen to God instead of the cacophony of voices around her telling her what to do. After freezing up on a flight that ended in a collision with another plane on the ground, Georgie was sent back to the States to finish her training. Her commanding officer was hoping that Georgie would fail the training, but Georgie was determined to fulfill God's plan for her. If she failed, it was because she truly didn't have it in her to do the work. Georgie's determination is what got her through the training and allowed her to be transferred back to her original outfit.

Hutch is an enlisted pharmacist who is campaigning for a Pharmacists Corps in the Army which would allow the pharmacists to become officers instead of enlisted personnel. In the midst of his campaign, he forgets his purpose and his calling as a pharmacist, instead he pushes for the "respect" he feels he deserves from the other officers in the hospital.

During the course of their duties, Georgie and Hutch meet and have an attraction to each other, but both are faithful to those who are waiting for them back home: Georgie's Ward and Hutch's Phyllis. While Georgie was home to finish her training, she found that Hutch's Phyllis was already married and had had a son. She forces Phyllis to write to Hutch and tell him of her duplicity. At the same time, Ward's smothering ways and Georgie's decision to listen to God instead of the voices around her cause Ward and Georgie to come to a parting of the ways. When Georgie goes back to Italy, she and Hutch begin a romance, forbidden by the laws of the Army.

One of my favorite things to find in a work of fiction is finding something to learn from the characters in the book. Sarah has written a book that teaches me to block out the noise of the world and find God's voice. It reminds me of the verses in Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight. This was the lesson Georgie and Hutch both had to learn, and they learned it well.

Five stars, two thumbs up, and a good dose of trust.