A Sea View Christmas by Julie Klassen - A Book Review

  

A Sea View Christmas is the fourth book in Julie Klassen's On Devonshire Shores, and it is just as lovely as the others. The Summers family relocated to Sidmouth on the Devonshire shores after the death of Mr. Summers. In order to survive the daughters, along with their mother, opened and operate a guest house. Their stories and those of their guests make for delightful reading for fans of early 1800 historical fiction. Sarah Summers, the second eldest sister,has been a steady feature in each book. Now it is her time to shine, although she may be the last to realize it. Family, hospitality, and loving one's neighbor as yourself are consistent themes throughout the series with a touch of romance to help move the story forward.

A Sea View Christmas will delight readers with nostalgic Christmas and New Year games and traditions. Klassen's writing is filled with enough lighthearted fun to balance the weightier parts of the story, just as Sarah must learn to balance responsibility and the enjoyment of life. I am grateful to have received a complimentary copy of this book from Bethany House via NetGalley without obligation. All opinions expressed here are my own. 

The Bitter End Birding Society by Amanda Cox - A Book Review

  

I greatly enjoyed the most recent, beautiful, and poignant story by Amanda Cox. As with her previous stories, The Bitter End Birding Society is filled with beautiful souls who are finding their way back from painful circumstances often not of their own making. It is truly an encouraging story of beauty from ashes, beauty once hidden by loss, despair, and self-reproach and rediscovered by being re-introduced to the Creator through His creation. Nature has a way of healing hurting hearts when one allows oneself to sense God's presence and to let down one's defenses.

This story is the type that makes me very stingy with five star reviews because I need something to separate the truly special stories, like this one, from those that are merely very good. I am grateful to have received a complimentary copy of The Bitter End Birding Society from Revell via NetGalley without obligation. All opinions expressed here are my own. 

Gelato at the Villa by Robin Jones Gunn - A Book Review

  

It is thrilling to be off on another travel adventure with two sweet friends courtesy of Robin Jones Gunn. There is always so much food, art, culture, and did I say food? And as always there are also important life lessons to be learned and shared. These lessons evolve over time as we travel to Venice, Florence,and San Mamete, meeting hosts who truly understand the meaning of hospitality and generously offer it to people along the way. We are blessed to see the impact that has on the lives of the recipients.

Robin Jones Gunn is a gifted writer, one who touches women's hearts in a special way. Her writing is tender as she ministers to readers who identify or empathize with the hurts experienced by her characters. I am grateful to have received a complimentary copy of Gelato at the Villa from Revell without obligation. All opinions expressed here are my own. 

 

Last Light Over Galveston by Jennifer L. Wright - A Book Review

  

Last Light Over Galveston is a very original historical fiction book. It is a dual timeline story with the same main character in each timeline. In March of 1900 Kathleen McDaniel was beyond excited to return home to her father after two years at a finishing school in Switzerland. By May, she was a lady on the run with no money and no one to lean or count on. Finding herself in Galveston, Texas, Kathleen throws herself on the mercy of the nuns at St. Mary's Orphan Asylum, where she is given temporary shelter. She avoids thoughts of Croton-on-Hudson, New York and the night she fled from her father and the only home she remembered.

Kathleen's circumstances and personality so differed between her life in Croton-on-Hudson and Galveston, where she used an alias. I frequently had to remind myself that it was the same character. While she and her father are fictional characters, on-line research confirmed that the labor disputes while building a dam in Croton-on-Hudson to provide water to New York City and the 1900 Galveston hurricane were both true events. I was very disappointed that the author had not provided an Author's Notes section informing readers of her research and the basic facts of these two events.

The theme concerning where and how individuals find their personal identity was well crafted as Kathleen struggled to meet the demands of society and her family while attempting to reconcile those values with her longing to do something worthwhile, something to help others, as well as to see the value in those she meets in something other than their financial net worth. I am grateful to have received a complimentary copy of Last Light Over Galveston from Tyndale House Publishers via NetGalley without obligation. All opinions expressed here are my own. 

EDIT - The author contacted me and let me know that unlike the ARC that I read, the final copy does have an Author's Note section with the information I was interested in. That is wonderful!

The French Kitchen by Kristy Cambron - A Book Review

  

This dual timeline story is set largely in France in the 1940s WWII era and the early 1950s, It focuses on Kathryn (Kat) Harris, AKA Cèléne, during the time she was working for the United States Office of Strategic Services. Kat and her brother remained close even after each chose a different parent to live with following their parents' divorce. Kat was much more suited to helping in her father's garage than attending her mother's society parties. Her proficiency with languages acquired at Wellesley College, the mechanical skills she had picked up at the garage, her innate talents, and her strong will made her a perfect candidate for the OSS. Unfortunately, one skill that she lacked that became crucial to the success of her mission was cooking, in particular cooking French Cuisine. On-the-job training had to suffice, and the skills she acquired remained useful to Kat after the war as she sought to locate her brother, or at least to learn what happened to him after she'd last seen him in France.

The French Kitchen is very well-written. Readers are transported in space and time. Their emotions become highly engaged, emotions of fear, longing for things to be different, courage, regret, and even of love and joy in the midst of chaos and pain. This is a gripping story that does not easily let go of a reader even as it draws to a close. I am grateful to have received a complimentary copy from Thomas Nelson via NetGalley without obligation. All opinions expressed here are my own. 

The Undercover Heiress of Brockton by Kelly J. Goshorn - A Book Review

  

The Undercover Heiress of Brockton begins as a lighthearted read, set in 1905 Brockton, Massachusetts, about twenty-five miles outside of Boston. Henrietta Maxwell is a young woman of society, masquerading as Henry Mason, one of the top reporters for the Brockton Enterprise, a condition of her employment since a female reporter would not be taken seriously. Her personality, persistence, and the situations in which she sometimes finds herself will endear her to fans of Jen Turano's books. In Chapter Five, things take a serious turn when, based on actual events, an explosion and subsequent fire occur at the Grover Shoe Factory. In her undercover persona, Etta, as she is known by family and friends, and fireman Les Eriksson join forces to solve not only the cause of this catastrophic event, but a string of arson related fires in the Campello district of Brockton. Mixed in with the seriousness of their investigation, Goshorn has written in a developing romance with misunderstandings and setbacks. Goshorn sensitively and respectfully includes the difficulties encountered by women of the time who strove to compete in what was the man's world of business and politics. Etta, like many women of the time, struggled with being all she felt led by God to be while also being accepted and loved for being all of who she was.

I recommend this well-written and well-researched book that so well balances levity and seriousness. I would enjoy meeting the main characters as well as some of the secondary characters again in future books. I am grateful to have received a complimentary copy of The Undercover Heiress of Brockton from Barbour Publishing via NetGalley without obligation. All opinions expressed here are my own. 

These Blue Mountains by Sarah Loudin Thomas - A Book Review

 

You know how when you go to a favorite restaurant and occasionally something other than your favorite dish on the menu, and while it's good, it just doesn't live up to your favorite? That's kind of the way I feel about These Blue Mountains; it's good, but it is hard to live up to The Finder of Forgotten Things and These Tangled Threads, my two favorite Sarah Loudin Thomas books. Sometimes it is important for me to be aware of the lens I am looking through when reviewing a book, and in this case to realize when past experiences cloud that lens. If Thomas was a new-to-me author I know my reaction to this book would have been a great deal more enthusiastic. It does have a lot going for it. Most of the characters are people who are easy to care about and to empathize with; some of the ones who aren't become so; and the antagonist (even if deceased) does his job well, setting a whole series of events in motion. While I have read a lot of WWII books lately, this one takes a different approach. Rather than have the characters in the thick of things, this book allows readers to experience how those in Germany and America viewed and responded to the changes they saw coming, and to realize how the experiences of WWI and the Depression impacted the lens through which they looked. These Blue Mountains may provide new knowledge for those, including me, that were unaware of WWI enemy alien internment camps in the United States. The information provided about Black Mountain College had me searching the internet to learn more. The themes of forgiveness and reconciliation and of moving forward following adversity are well-written within an original plot. So preconceived notions set aside, I do highly recommend These Blue Mountains and am grateful to have received a complimentary copy from Bethany House via NetGalley without obligation. All opinions expressed here are my own. 

The Collector of Burned Books by Roseanna M. White - A Book Review

  

I was enjoying this WWII story a great deal,but it seemed like a fairly typical story of this genre. Then chapter eleven changed everything, nothing was typical from that point forward. A story I was enjoying became a story that I absolutely couldn't put down.

In addition to being an enthralling story, The Collector of Burned Books is a story filled with wisdom centered around faith and the value of the written word. Just like the value of faith increases as one practices it, the value of the written word increases as one partakes of it, especially when one reads books that challenge one to think.

I am grateful that Roseanna M. White has given me food for thought that challenges me to extend mercy even when difficult, and when harsh justice might seem well-deserved. She also has motivated me to consider creating a more well-rounded to-be-read list. My thanks goes to Tyndale House Publishing for providing me with a complementary copy via NetGalley without obligation. All opinions expressed here are my own. 

Perilous Tides by Elizabeth Goddard - A Book Review

  

Romantic suspense books can become very patterned and predictable. Elizabeth Goddard avoided that quite well when writing Perilous Tides with a quite unpredictable, original plot. Jo Cattrel has been hiding out in the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state for three years, ever since her mother's telling Jo to hide if anything ever happened to her, followed not long afterward by her murder. Having connected with her biological father following her mother's funeral, Jo had settled down into her new life, her real problem being the rejection by her almost boyfriend, well that and always feeling like she had to look over her shoulder. There is a reason for the saying about being paranoid doesn't mean someone isn't after you, and after her they are! Now Jo is ready to take a stand and hunt down the person who is hunting her. There will be a lot of pain along with the danger she will face while tracking down this threat.

This intense story is filled with twists, turns, and dead ends. Sometimes it is difficult to discern whom should be trusted and whom should not. Throughout, the reader will be thoroughly enthralled. I highly recommend Perilous Tides and the Hidden Bay series of which it is the second book. I am grateful to have received a complimentary copy from Revell via NetGalley without obligation. All opinions expressed here are my own. 

Wyoming Wilderness Survival by Jill Elizabeth Nelson - A Book Review

  

Wyoming Wilderness Survival is a good, quick romantic suspense story. The romance was sweet and the suspense intense as Tracey Graham; her protector, Callum Mitchell; his two-year-old son, Brody; and Callum's dog work to survive in the wilderness of Wyoming as they flee from a crew sent to murder them all. Callum's skills as a former Idaho State Police officer are invaluable in their endeavor to stay alive as is his knowledge of the area, but being chased by a band of mercenaries while caring for a toddler and lacking adequate provisions certainly complicates matters.

I appreciate romance that follows a godly path, yet is not so idealistic that it avoids difficulties that accompany any maturing relationship. I am grateful to have received a complimentary copy of Wyoming Wilderness Survival from Love Inspired via NetGalley without obligation. All opinions expressed here are my own.   

 

Vanished by Dr. David Jeremiah with Sam O'Neal - A Book Review

   

This book reads as if it may have occurred just weeks or months in our future. As the price of daily necessities rises along with the temperature, and people across the globe deal with more frequent earthquakes, weather events, conflicts between nations, and pandemics; a group of people with varied areas of expertise work for the United States Army to find solutions to the world's woes. Of course their unsolicited intervention can sometimes be a source of additional conflict. The time these people devote to these efforts to save millions of others takes a toll on their families and their own health, both mental and physical. The tension in this book is palpable, and keeps the reader turning pages. The sense that this may be closer to reality than fiction is its own source of tension, but also one that keeps readers reading into the night. Yet, there is hope, and its source is revealed as the story progresses.

I highly recommend Vanished. It may very well be a book that you will want to share with friends and family. I am grateful to have received a complimentary copy from Thomas Nelson via NetGalley without obligation. All opinions expressed here are my own. 

The Highland Heist by Pepper Basham - A Book Review

  

While Hurricane Helene may have pushed back the deadline of The Highland Heist, it was well worth the wait. This fourth book in Basham's Freddie & Grace mystery series is every bit as delightful as all the rest. Lady Astley might not be the most adept at demonstrating the manners of a well-bred lady, but she is quite adept at solving crimes, especially with the assistance of her husband. This time the crime is her brother-in-law's murder with her sister being a prime suspect. Things are complicated further by the clock's ticking on the discovery of a hidden treasure.

The Highland Heist is a lighthearted read. The protagonists' reliance on God is a testimony to the other characters as well as to the reader, yet the faith-based element is tastefully done and not heavy-handed. While it will work well as a stand-alone read, the book will be best enjoyed by reading the series in sequence.

I am grateful to have received a complimentary copy of The Highland Heist from Barbour Publishing via NetGalley without obligation. All opinions expressed here are my own. I highly recommend Pepper Basham's historical novels. 

The Codebreaker's Daughter by Amy Lynn Green

  

I have always enjoyed Amy Lynn Green's books, but The Codebreaker's Daughter is by far my favorite. This dual timeline novel tells the story of Lillian Kendall's life and her work as a codebreaker in WWI; and the life of her daughter, Dinah, who was trying to serve her country in her own way during WWII. The true historical characters are well-portrayed alongside their fictional counterparts. The themes of mental health and overcoming insecurities are developed as we come to know the characters better and as the intrigue intensifies. Determining whom to trust while working in intelligence and special operations is not an easy task. Ulterior motives abound, even where least anticipated.

I am grateful to have received a complimentary copy of The Codebreaker's Daughter from Bethany House via NetGalley without obligation. All opinions expressed here are my own. 

Capturing You by Robin Patchen - A Book Review

  

It always feels like Christmas or my birthday when Robin Patchen has a new release. Enjoying that anticipation of opening up one of her new books, digital or hardcopy, is like peeling back the wrapping paper on a gift. Surprises are always in store. The themes woven throughout the story are a treasure to hold onto. In the case of Capturing You, the theme of God's goodness and presence being with us even when not readily apparent will have readers recalling or realizing how in hindsight they were visible in their personal lives. The intensity of the suspense element of this story will compel readers to set aside the mundane, at least temporarily, for a bit of excitement coupled with expectation and surprising twists. The sweet romance compliments the story without taking over. As an added gift, a bonus epilogue is available on-line.

I highly recommend Capturing You and the series The Wright Heroes of Maine, of which it is the sixth installment. I am grateful to have received a complimentary copy from the author without obligation. All opinions expressed here are my own.

Where Secrets Lie by Colleen Coble and Rick Acker - A Book Review

  

Colleen Coble and Rick Acker are a dynamic duo as a writing team. Each time I read a new book in their Tupelo Grove series, I am unsure how they could ever top it, and then they do! Where Secrets Lie is an amazing piece of romantic suspense, but if you haven't read the first two books, please do yourself a favor and begin at the beginning. Each story, and most especially this latest release, has multiple storylines that intersect. The plot is most definitely not predictable, which fascinates me. The characters are realistic with weaknesses and past sorrows that work to assert themselves when least welcomed. They are also prone to seeking hope even when it seems blocked at every turn, something that would benefit us all.

The writing in Where Secrets Lie is crisp and focused. It evokes strong emotions of many kinds. The authors' voices consistently meld forming a harmony that creates a strong, singular voice. I am grateful to have received a complimentary copy of this book from Thomas Nelson via NetGalley without obligation. All opinions expressed here are my own.

  

An Unexpected Grace by Tracie Peterson and Kimberley Woodhouse - A Book Review

  

How fun to be back in Kalispell, Montana and especially to reunite with Marvella Ashbury match-maker extraordinaire! This time she has a young widow, Johanna St. John, and her childhood sweetheart, Parker Bennett, in her crosshairs. This does not sit well with her late husband's brother, as he has his own plans involving Johanna.

I really enjoy books that are the fruit of Peterson's and Woodhouse's collaboration. The settings, main characters, and dialogue are always heartwarming. There is enough conflict to build and hold fast to the reader's interest and attention. The romance is sweet. There is always a sense of hope for the future by story's end. An Unexpected Grace is no exception. I am grateful to have received a complimentary copy from Bethany House via NetGalley without obligation. All opinions expressed here are my own.

Capture the Moment by Suzanne Woods Fisher - A Book Review

  

I love the flora of nature, but fauna, well lots of times I don't want to be up close or even in the same zip code. This book, the first in Suzanne Woods Fisher's National Park Summers series, has characters whose bravery amazes me. I do appreciate both the rangers who educate the public and protect the flora and fauna of our national parks and Fisher's representation of these brave men and women. Unfortunately, sometimes, as depicted in Capture the Moment, the most dangerous creature in the parks walks on two feet. The title of this book comes from the female protagonist, a photographer who wants to move from photographing animals in the zoo to those in the wild. The change in settings poses more dangers and difficulties that she ever anticipated, but the experience grows her bravery, self-confidence, and faith.

This book is well-written, and the settings are beautifully painted with words that evoke awe of the beauty and shivers from snowy mountain trails and icy streams. The suspense element is a bit transparent, but enjoyable. I am grateful to have received a complimentary copy of Capture the Moment from Revell via NetGalley without obligation. All opinions expressed here are my own.

The Angel of Second Street by Barbara Tifft Blakey - A Book Review

  

This story is set in 1884 California, largely in the city of Eureka. The female protagonist is a young woman who is determined to share Jesus with two of the city's marginalized populations. The male protagonist is a slightly older man who is determined to follow the path God wants for his life, but must learn to accept that may not be what he had always thought it was. While these two seem perfect for one another, life seems set on keeping them apart. That causes the reader much angst as they can see what's coming next when the characters can't. Isn't that the way it is sometimes in our own lives, those around us can often see where our path is leading even when we can't? That is when we, too, must truly surrender our plans to God.

Blakey has written a story that includes a sweet romance as well as lots of family drama that revolves around opposing priorities and allegiances. We understand how her characters think and feel, but we don't know a lot about what life events brought most of them to being the person they have become. The dialogue flows smoothly. The mental images the author creates are visually and emotionally vivid. The story comes to a satisfactory ending even though not everything is tied up neatly with a bow. I am grateful to have received a complimentary copy of The Angel of Second Street from Barbour Publishing via NetGalley without obligation. All opinions expressed here are my own.

Smoky Mountain Escape by Rhonda Starnes - A Book Review

  

While I have enjoyed other books by this author, this one had enough instances in which one of the characters acted in an illogical manner that it spoiled the story for me a bit. The premise was good: a young woman previously targeted by a serial killer, now running from two killers after she encountered a sheriff who had stumbled upon them while hiking in the Smoky Mountains. The main characters are people that are easy to like. The setting is perfect for the events. This book has a lot going for it. It is true that I read an advanced reader copy provided by Love Inspired Suspense via NetGalley without obligation. Some of the concerns I had were likely reconciled prior to the final draft being published. All opinions expressed here are my own.

The Voice We Find by Nicole Deese - A Book Review

  

The Voice We Find is a well-told story that involves three narrators whose stories intertwine. Two of the narrators share their stories in real time while the third shares through past voice memos. In addition to the multiple storylines, Deese has masterfully dealt with multiple important themes in this book: prodigals, strained familial relationships, inclusive communication for the deaf community, forgiveness, and reconciliation. While the references to the physical beauty of the three central characters may have been a bit overplayed, they were offset by the focus on their personalities, virtues, and talents. The dialogue was very realistic as were the emotional reactions displayed in this highly emotional story. I highly recommend this book and am grateful to have received a complimentary copy from Bethany House via NetGalley without obligation. All opinions expressed here are my own.