An Amish Family Christmas by Shelley Shepard Gray
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

An Amish Family Christmas is the last book in The Charmed Amish Life. I think this one may have been my favorite of the four. This one focuses on Levi Kingsinger. He was the brother who escaped to Pinecraft Florida after the tragic fire that claimed the life of his father. He's back in Charm and living in a rundown neighborhood on Juniper Street. He meets Julia, a woman with a young child who has secrets. We learn in the first chapter that Julia is an unwed mother who has escaped an abusive fiance. I liked this part of the story that it portrays the Amish as real people who make mistakes and has the same problems as non Amish.

Another thing I enjoyed about this story is the back story around Tess. Tess is Simon's sister who we met in the previous book. Simon and Tess continue to reconnect in this book. Tess leaves her job and sets up a refuge in Charm for abused women and children. I love it that in this book Tess even found love. Enough on that. You will have to read to find out.

Overall, I was satisfied with this series and the ending. I'm looking forward to reading Shelley's next series which is the Amish of Hart County. There is a preview ate the end of this book and it looks like there will be a stalker in the next book!




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A Baxter Family Christmas by Karen Kingsbury

When I saw that there was a new Baxter novel coming out for the Christmas season 2016 I thought people were going to have to read the previous 24 novels she wrote about the Baxter/ Flanigan family to know what was going on. Guess what? You don't have too. Before the story even begins there is a two page summary of what has happened to each of the family members followed by a family tree. You could read and enjoy this book without even reading the previous 24 books which really should be read in order but not this one. 

To be honest I did not like Karen Kingsbury killing off one of the daughters and most of her immediate family in the last novel which was "Coming Home". I told myself I was not going to read another Baxter family novel again but I changed my mind and I'm glad I did. The aftermaths of that tragedy is handled by nicely in this book. It has been two years now and the family still has pain. Some of the family members are not handling too well when John Baxter, the patriarch of the Baxters wants to invite the recipient of Erin's heart to the Christmas Eve gathering. He has a couple of good reasons to invite her but I won't spoil it by revealing. You will have to read for yourself. There was also a sideline story that I also enjoyed and involved Brooke Baxter West's daughter Maddie. It has been 13 years since her sister nearly died from drowning in a pool and she feels responsible. She meets a Flanigan boy but does not feel worthy of a relationship with a boy. I think I enjoyed Maddie's story best.

Thanks to Howard Books and Netgalley for providing me an Ebook to review. A Baxter Family Christmas is due to be released October 25, 2016 and is surely going to be a bestseller!

Two by Two by Nicholas Sparks

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Not one of Spark's best books

Please don't judge the rest of the books Nicholas Sparks has written by this one. Much of the book is depressing. I loved the relationship the main character had with his daughter and the relationship he had with his sister. Up until his daughter was six his wife Vivian was a stay-at-home mom. Then she decides to go to work and then proceeds to treat Russ like crap. She was a self-centered shoppaholic woman. Russ was left with the child while she worked on her career. Nothing he did was good enough for her. She was critical of everything she did. Despite she did to him he wanted the marriage to work. She worked in PR for a billionaire. It was not a shocker when it was later revealed that she was having an affair with the billionaire. There were other things in the book that will move the reader to tears but I've said enough already so I won't reveal. Another thing that bothered me about the book was the characters had a low opinion of God and the church. I do appreciate the language was mainly clean. Not many sexual situations either but they did exist.

I have read reviews that many people have regretted spending money on this book. I'm happy that I did not. I was able to read a download from Overdrive.




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Taylor Lynne by Jennifer Peel

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Taylor Lynne is book 2 in The Women of Merryton series. I had read the first book but I think I enjoyed this one better. I enjoyed re-visitng all the women of Merryton especially Jessie Belle. It was great to get caught up with what was happening in their lives. And that Cheyenne is a hoot. She kept me laughing. I hope Cheyenne finds love and gets her own story.

Taylor and Easton had once been married and had a daughter together. Taylor had left Merryton because she thought he was having an affair with his nurse. He loves her but does not fight the divorce and makes a mistake in marrying the woman he was having an emotional affair with later divorcing the second one years later but not before producing a child in the second marriage. Taylor moves back to town to that her daughter can get to know her father better. The second wife was a horrible person and stood in the way of Easton having a relationship with his daughter or even members of his family.

I loved the relationship between the two half-sisters. It was so natural and loving. Taylor's daughter was so sweet and mature. The younger daughter had emotional baggage having been damaged by biological mother who did not really love her. I love how Taylor loved Eaton's other child and treated her with kindness and love even though the child was the offspring of the woman who broke up her marriage.

I loved it that Easton realized the errors of his ways in not treating his wife the way he should have when they were first married. I love it that he pursued her but I also loved it that she did not give in easily.

Themes in this book were forgiveness. Taylor had to forgive her abusive father, her ex-husband Easton and finally herself. This was not easy for her to do. Forgiveness is not easy but it is healing.





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Fatal Frost by Nancy Mehl

I've been reading Nancy Mehl's Mennonite romantic suspense novels for years. She wrote three romantic suspense series centered around the Mennonite communities and I've read every last one. Well, with this novel she takes a different path. No Mennonite in site in her Defenders of Justice series. I started this book and I could not put it down. This book is very similar the the writings of Lynette Eason or Robin Carroll.  The characters are well-developed and the plots moves quickly. You think the characters are out of danger but don't breathe. Don't take your eyes off the page because they are very quickly in danger again. You will not regret reading this suspense driven book! You will probably stay up late reading. I'm already looking forward to reading Dark Deception which will be released sometime in May 2017.

Thanks to Netgalley and Bethany House for providing me an e-copy of this book to review. This book is due to be released November 1, 2017.

Celtic Tales: Fairy Tales and Stories of Enchantment from Ireland, Scotland, Brittany, and Wales by Kate Forrester

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I love the beautiful cover of this book. I have the hardcover of this book for review. The book came with an attached ribbon so you could mark your place. The illustrations are outstanding. I was drawn to this book because I've always liked fairy tales and my ancestors came from Ireland, Scotland and Britain, the areas covered in this book. Some of the tales are better than others. Some are just okay. I would not recommend reading this book to young children as there are tales of feeding young maidens to sea monsters.

I highly recommended this book for anyone who likes fairy tales of any kind.


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Guide Me Home by Kim Vogel Sawyer

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I did not enjoy this one as much as some of her other works but it was still a good read. I really admired Rebekah Hardin's work ethic and wanting to help out her family as much as possible. Living near Mammoth Cave in Kentucky she goes to work there as a guide. At first she dresses like a boy in order to get a job there but she does not fool the main man who does the tours, a kind older black man who lets her keep working anyway. She meets Devlin Bale, a college student who comes to map the caves. He was in a different social class than her and I was wondering how they could ever work out.
Growing up in Nashville, Tennessee I have visited Mammoth Cave a couple of times so this story was enjoyable to read.



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A Sister's Wish by Shelley Shepard Gray

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Amelia Kingsinger is the youngest of the four Kingsinger siblings. The Kingsingers had lost their mother several years ago and just recently had lost their father so they were very protective of Amelia, a little overprotective I would say. Even though they liked Simon they thought he was not good enough for Amelia because of his past. He was a loyal and hard-working employee but still not good enough for their sweet Amelia. I like it that Amelia developed a backbone and stood up for herself. There are several things in Simon's past that needed to be worked out. I would have liked to see a storyline on his two siblings who left the Amish.

I'm looking forward to the next book in the Charmed Life series which will focus on Levi. He was the one who had left home. This book, An Amish Family Christmas is due out mid-October.



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Perfectly Pretend by Jenn Faulk

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


We first met Craig Lucas in "Home to You" which was Faith Hayes's story. In that story Faith dumps her fiance Craig when she discovers that she still has feelings for Sam Huntington. This story centers on Hope Conner. We've already met some of her siblings in a previous book. I liked the character of Hope a lot better than Faith. She was a better fit for Craig than Faith ever was. I didn't like Craig in "Home to You". I thought he acted juvenile about the split. In "Perfectly Pretend" we get a glimpse of what made him the way he is and I was a lot more sympathetic toward him when I learned about his background. He felt like he was a loser but Hope continually was building him up. I really liked Hope and could not find much to fault with her character. I loved the tension in the book with them pretending to be engaged and their growing feelings toward each other. I'm looking forward to reading some of the other books Jenn has written that center on the other Lucas brothers. I really do enjoy Jenn's writings.










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The Heirloom Brides Collection: Treasured Items Bring Couples Together in Four Historical Romances by Kim Vogel Sawyer

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


These stories were just okay. With the length of the novellas I didn't feel there was enough time to develop the romance part of the story. My favorite was the one by Kim Vogel Sawyer where the Mennonite community came together to help a reclusive father and daughter after the father broke his leg and could not get his crops in.



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Stolen Child: Do You Know Who You Are? by Kimberly Rae

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This was an outstanding book! I felt it was very much similar to the Bible story of Joseph being sold into slavery in Egypt. What man meant for evil God meant for good. Asha learns more about the circumstances of her birth. For a while she is bitter about the whole thing but eventually comes to realize that had all this not happened to her she would have never had the opportunity to know the Savior and in turn introduce the Savior to her birth family. I loved the sweet reunion with Mark. He was so supportive of her even when she acted like a spoiled brat at times. I'm looking forward to reading the last book in the Stolen series which is Stolen Future. I hope the character grows up and is less impulsive.



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Dance and Be Glad by Melissa Wardwell

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


After Emma broke his heart in "What God Brings Together" I was hoping Dr. Mike would get his own happy ending and he does in this book. The road to his happiness is not smooth and several bumps in the road have to ironed out. I enjoyed re-visiting some characters from the previous book. Very good to see what is happening with Emma and Ryan and their family. Looking forward to reading more from the extended family and friends of Emma and Ryan.




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Beyond the Game by Jenn Faulk

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I had read "Resolutions" last week and really enjoyed it so I was looking forward to reading the next generation which would be Emily's daughter Sadie. I did not enjoy Sadie's story as much as Emily. For one thing it was not as humorous. Trent and Sadie just did not have the chemistry that Josh and Emily had. It was still a decent and clean story and had the happy ending.



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Home to You by Jenn Faulk

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I have enjoyed all of Jenn Faulk's books I have read so far but I have to say that Faith Hayes has been the most unlikeable heroine of all the ones I've read. I won't go into the things she did since I don't want to spoil it for the reader so I'll just leave it at that. Now Sam Huntington on the other hand was the ideal man. Who could be hateful to a man like Sam? I did like the happy ending but Faith with her tude almost ruined it for me.



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Resolutions by Jenn Faulk

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I loved this book! Emily and her family kept me laughing but then of course there were some sad moments in the book particularly when a family member starting getting dementia. Emily and her two best friends Sara and Melissa got together and made these New Years resolutions. I can't remember them all but one was to improve their health by doing something physical, travel someplace exotic, and do something to improve their house or apartment. Emily decided to take up running as a part of her resolution to improve her health. On her runs she develops a friendship with a bi-vocational pastor. To amp up her love life she thinks she is suppose to pursue the associate pastor at her church but they don't really have any electricity going on there.

I love Jenn Faulks books in that she adds quite a bit of humor in there. I like it that she writes the stories in a way that you can connect to the characters. I like it that the characters are deeply grounded in their faith but yet they are normal people. They are not perfect and suffer the same kinds of temptations we do. I like it that her characters that eventually fall in loved develop a best friend relationship first. I like Jenn Faulk books and hope to read more. This was the fourth one that I have read but I hope to read more.



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Protecting Her Daughter by Lynette Eason

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Lynette Eason books have the reputation of continuous action and this one did not disappoint. From the first chapter there was action. All Zoe Collier wanted to do was protect her daughter even if it meant constantly being on the run. She lands in Wrangler's Corner and gets the help of the handsome Aaron Starke who is the local vet. In the previous two books we have already met Clay Starke and Seth Starke. I'm looking forward to read the next in the series which will feature Amber Starke.



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