Safe In His Arms by Colleen Coble

This western romance mystery takes place in Texas in the 1800s.  During that time men inherited the ranches and women were expected to marry and raise their own families.  Margaret's brother died some years earlier so only she was left of her father's children.  Margaret did not feel she would ever marry but she felt she was more than capable of running a ranch but her father had other ideas and announced to her that he was leaving the ranch to her male cousin.  Anyway her father decides to hire a foreman. The foreman, Daniel sees the beauty in Margaret that she does not see in herself.  Margaret is drawn to him to comes to realize that Daniel has secrets.  She doesn't know if she can trust him.  She thinks he is involved in bank robberies.   It is true that Daniel has secrets but he cannot reveal the secrets to her without putting her in danger.

Just when all the bad guys are reveals and you think it is all wrapped up some more stuff happens that will keep you in suspense.  You will just have to read the book to find out.

Thanks to Thomas Nelson and Netgalley for providing me a copy of this book to review.

Strand of Deception by Robin Caroll

Third in the Justice Seekers series this book featured Maddie, the third of the Baxter siblings.  The other two were featured in previous books.  Maddie is a forensic scientist who believes that science.  When the senator's daughter is murdered she must work closely with Nick Hagar using her forensic skills as the list of suspect grow to uncover the truth.  

Readers who enjoy such programs as CSI, NCIS, and Body of Proof will enjoy this Christian suspense novel.  It is not overly preachy and the romance is light enough that I feel a male reader might enjoy this book.  One thing that I did not like about the novel was Maddie was obsessed with Elvis songs and every once in a while an Elvis lyric would pop up in her head.  I felt that the Elvis lyrics were a distraction. Other than that I think it was a good novel.

Fifteen Minutes by Karen Kingsbury

Zack and Reese were in love.  They met in college and were both Christians.  Turns out Zack's grandfather and Reese's grandmother were childhood friends and Zack's grandfather made a promise to Reese grandmother to look out for her.  So it would seem that they were destined for each other and that it was God's plan that they spend the rest of their lives together but all that changed when Zack went on a national television show called Fifteen Minutes, a show very much similar to American Idol, the X Factor and the Voice.   Zack had always used his talents to glorify God but when he went on Fifteen Minutes changes began to take place in his personality.  He only went on that program to save the family horse farm that had been in the family for generations but as he became more and more famous it was less about his relationship to God, his relationship to family and his relationship to the love of her girl was put on the back burner.    And to top it off it did not help that one of his fellow contestants, Zoey,  was openly flirting with him even after her told her he had a girlfriend back home.  The media picked up on this and called them Romeo and Juliet.   And there were other ways that Zack compromised his faith.  Will he ever return to the boy that Reese fell in love with or his he too far gone for the damage to be undone.  Will he ever return to making God number one in his life instead of fame.   The way this book was written left it open for a possible sequel since there were some things that were not quite resolved.  You will have to read this book when it is due to be released later in the fall of 2013 to find out the consequences of Zack's actions are.  I think most people will enjoy reading this book.  I was pleased with the ending.

Thanks to Netgalley and Howard Books for providing me an digital copy of this book to review. 

The Winnowing Season by Cindy Woodsmall

The Winnowing Season is book 2 of the series Amish Vines and Orchards. I think the reader would enjoy this book more if they read the books in order. This book picks up from where A Season for Tending left off. In the first book a tornado came through and destroyed all the orchards on the King family properties. Half of the King family which consists of siblings Samuel, Jacob and Leah decides to establish orchards at a foreclosed farm in Maine. The Bylers are Rhoda and her brother and his family. Rhoda has a gift from God of seeing things. In her community this gift is looked upon as a curse. By moving to Maine Rhoda hopes to leave her past behind and establish a new life but troubles soon follow. Something happens and she is falsely accused of something that she did not do. Both of the King brothers are in love with her, however one of the brothers who keeps company with her most in the book is distracted helping out an Englisher woman who was from his past. I think she has feelings for both and it will be interesting to see which brother she will finally give her heart to in the third and final book which is due to come out in the fall.

Stealing the Preacher by Karen Witemeyer

Jo wanted a preacher for her birthday but she never for her father who is an ex-outlaw to steal one off the train. She didn't intend to start developing feelings for the preacher but she did. Her community was without a preacher. She wanted so much for her father to come to the Lord and felt a preacher would help soften her father's heart. Crockette Archer had his heart set on pastoring a church in another town but the Lord had other plans for Crockett.

We got acquainted with the Archers in Karen Witemyer's previous book "Short Straw Bride" so it was nice to revisit with them again in this book. I loved all the characters. I wouldn't mind reading another sequel to find out what happens to the last Archer brother. Reading a Karen Witemeyer book is always a treat.

I received this book compliments of the LibraryThing Early Reviewer program and Bethany House.

Adoring Addie by Leslie Gould

I liked the first book in the series a lot better. I got confused with all the siblings, aunts, uncles and cousins involved in this storyline. Also the love at first sight was hard to swallow. Addie and Jonathon fall in love four hours after meeting each other for the first time.  Who falls madly in love with someone four hours after meeting someone? There was a young man that her parents tried to push her to court. This man was annoying and pesky. Her parents were a little harsh too.

We got caught up on the characters from the first book. It also annoyed me that everything is going smoothly for the spoiled rotten sister from the first book. She gave birth to a child and by the end was preggers again by the end of the book while Cate is having fertility problems. Doesn't seem fair. I hope if there is a sequel that Cate will have the babies she deserves. She is a born mother and deserved babies more than her selfish sister.

The Chance by Karen Kingsbury

Ellie and Ryan were childhood friends and then at 15 Ryan tells her that one day she will become his wife. Ellie's world is torn apart when it is revealed that her mother had an affair with a country music singer and as a result conceived the man's child. He father takes her away from her mother refusing to let her mother have anything to do with her. At the beginning I didn't like either of the parents. I thought the father was hateful and I thought the mother was selfish for thinking of herself by having an affair in the first place. She had the affair because she felt neglected. Anyway the father whisks Ellie off to another state. Ellie makes some bad decisions with boys and as a result had a child out of wedlock. She abandons the faith of her childhood. In the meantime Ryan becomes an athlete and his faith just gets stronger and stronger. He never forgets Ellie and hopes to one day be reunited with her. This book is a stand alone novel but some characters from The Bridge make an appearance in this novel. I have enjoyed these new stand alone novels by Karen Kingsbury a lot more than I did the Baxter novels that dragged on for 20 books.

A Plain Disappearance by Amanda Flower

It is the Christmas season when the book starts out. Timothy and Chloe are at an abandoned farm when they discover the body of a young Amish girl. Timothy recognizes the girl as the girl's sister is best friends with his sister. There are several suspects in her murder. Is it Billy the mechanic, the girl's strict father or one of her boyfriends. She dated two different boys and there was an English boy who had a crush on her. Was it one of them? I was kept in suspense throughout the whole book trying to guess who it was and boy was I surprised. I didn't see that one coming.

Also in this novel we see Becky Troyer, Tim's sister and Chloe's roommate still struggling with what she wants to do. Will she return to being Amish or will she pursue being English like her brother. What complicates things is that she has feeling for Aaron who is Amish and happy being Amish. Aaron has strong feelings for her too.

I enjoyed this series so far and would love to read more in this series should the author decide to write more.

This e-book was provided for me for review compliments of B&H books and Netgalley. I am not required to provide a positive review. This is my honest review. The release date for this book is September 1, 2013.
his cozy Christian mystery is the third in the Appleseed Creek mysteries and is my favorite of the series. In this book we are revisited with all the old characters from the previous books and get introduced to some new. We finally get to meet Chloe's best friend Vanessa Green. I loved Vanessa's character. I hope that if future books are written in this series we get to see Vanessa again.