A Heart's Obsession by Colleen Coble

A Heart's Obsession is book 2 in the Journey of the Heart series by Colleen. To get the full enjoyment of this series you really should read them in order. Each book is a short read. When we last saw Sarah Montgomery she had stayed behind at her home instead of following Rand out west. She stayed behind because her father was dying and Rand was not willing to wait. I am not liking Rand much at all in this series. He goes out west and within 2 months and beguiled by a woman at the post and becomes engaged to her. Sarah father eventually dies so she goes out west only to learn that Rand is engaged. Rand is less than warm to her at first meeting. I am hoping in the next book he can redeem himself since he is not willing to break up with the beautiful and conniving Jessica Dubois. I am really liking the character of Sarah Montgomery. She has a real concern and love for the native American people.

I am looking forward to the next book. This series would be better if it were one big book instead of broken down into short novels.

 

The Inn at Ocean's Edge by Colleen Coble

Luke and Megan's mother disappeared 25 years ago. Did their abusive alcoholic father have anything to do with her disappearing?  Claire witnesses a hotel employee murdered and then she is knocked unconscious and when she awakes the body is gone.  She finds information about herself that happened when she was 4.  And then there is Kate who is the product of an affair her mother her with her biological father. Kate is in never of a bone marrow transplant and needs a close relative to give her. Are of these events related.  With each new piece of information that was present I got more involved in the story and could not put the book down until I finished.  By the time I was about 60 percent finished with the book I was able to figure out some things but there was some things in the book that was a complete surprise to me. I liked most of the females in the book but Luke was the only male in the book who was nice.

I'm looking forward to reading more stories in this series.  Thanks to Netgalley and Thomas Nelson for allowing me to read this book and review it.  This book is due to be released on April 14, 2015.

Past Suspicion by Therese Heckenkamp

This book is classified as youth fiction but I still enjoyed it. The heroine in the story is just 3 weeks shy of her 18th birthday.  Her father had died when she was quite young and her mother has recently died. Since she was a minor she was sent to live with her mother's brother, an uncle that she had never met.  Robin did not know anything about her mother's past. Her mother had kept her past a secret.  Robin grew up in California and the uncle lives in Wisconsin.  Robin cannot wait until she is 18 so she can return to California. While living with her uncle she begins to find out more about her mother. She meets two different young men who take an interest in her.  All through the book you don't know which young man to trust. Both of the young men had secrets that they kept from her. As Robin begins to unravel her mother's past she is put into danger. I kept flipping the pages to see what will happen next. This book was a free download and I am so happy I gave this writer a chance even though I've never read her before. The character in the book and the character's mother shared a love of Victoria Holt. I read Victoria Holt more than 30 years ago and reading this book renewed an interest in me to re-read some of Victoria Holt's books again. I look forward to reading more of this author.

A Heart's Disguise, Book 1 of the Journey of the Heart Series by Colleen Coble

This book is the first part in a three part series. I am enjoying this series but am wishing each book was longer or combining the three books into one longer book would have been better. I am going to have to wait one month for the next book and two months for part three. So far I am enjoying the characters but getting aggravated with them. I don't know why Sarah feels she has to make everyone happy. At the beginning she is willing to marry a man she does not love just to make her father happy? I got aggravated at Rand too. I felt he could have been a little more understanding with Sarah. I don't really like the way the book ends but I guess that will be resolved in the next book.

Plain Killing by Emma Miller

A young woman dressed Amish has been found dead in a pond. She has been missing for some time so her family assumed she no longer wanted to be Amish and left. There are a number of girls missing. Can Rachel help solve the mystery? Rachel was raised Amish but was never officially baptized so she is comfortable with both the Amish and English world. She can relate to the Amish and is very helpful with the local people in letting them know the Amish culture. She is close to her first cousin who is Amish and her cousin helps her solve mysteries. One of her cousin's best friends has been gone from the Amish for nearly two years so when a lead comes up that this girl is in New Orleans Rachel and her cousin travel to seedy parts of New Orleans to find the girl. One bothered me about the book is that Rachel's father quickly agreed that the cousin could accompany Rachel for New Orleans to find the girl. This would involve getting on an airplane. It is highly unlikely that the Amish would agree to this so this part of the story bothered me. The mystery about the girl in the pond is solved and most of the girls accounted for. Only one was not accounted for and I do wish this one could have been found too. Maybe the next book. I enjoyed this book and hope the author will write some more in this series.

Chasing Sunsets by Karen Kingsbury

Mary Catherine love God more than anything and wants to live life to the fullest way possible. She finds herself being attracted to Marcus, the baseball pitcher but she cannot let herself get too involved in a relationship with him or anybody else for that matter. She has a threatening health problem, a bad heart. She may not have much time to live. Besides Marcus currently has a girlfriend, Shelly. Shelly is shallow and immature and the more he is around Mary Catherine the more he desire a girl like Mary Catherine. The friendship between Mary Catherine and Marcus grows as they work in the community with troubled youth. One girl, Lexi is very troubled. She is involved with gangs and her boyfriend is responsible for critically injuring a young child.

I liked this book. The characters and the story were well developed but I must say that I am a little disappointed that we will have to wait until the next book in this series to find out what happens with some of the characters. This is the reason for the four stars instead of five. At the end of this book Mary Catherine was headed to Africa for six months against the advice of her doctors. The relationship between Marcus and Mary Catherine was left hanging. What will become of them? Also, will Lexi be scared straight and stay out of trouble? Will she give her life to Christ? All of these questions were unanswered in this book. I am just hoping that the time will not be long before the next book is released.

Thanks to Netgalley and Howard books for allowing me to read and review this book. Chasing Sunsets is due for a publication date of April 7, 2015.

The Amish Clockmaker by Mindy Starns Clark and Susan Meissner

The Amish Clockmaker is book 3 in the Men of Lancaster series and is the one of the series that I think it the best.  It is the story of two different Amish men. The first story is told in first person during the present time and is the story of Matthew Zook. He wants to expand the business that his grandfather started about 60 years ago. His grandfather had purchased land that was formerly owned by Claburn Raber, an Amish clockmaker who was accused of murdering his wife. He was innocent but his family and the community never believed his story that his wife was mentally ill. He was ex-communicated and left town never returning to Lancaster. It is important that Matthew locate Claburn Raber since there is a problem with the deed of one acre. A resort wants to acquire that one acre.  The second part deals with Claburn Raber. He marries the troubled Marian Beiler.  He loves her even though she does not return his love. Of course we learn in the first part that Marian dies and Claburn leaves town. I felt bad that most of Claburn's family dies believing that he a murderer. 
I felt the storyline and characters were well developed. It kept me turning the pages to determine the outcome. I don't want to give too much of the story away to spoil it for the reader. You won't regret reading this one. It is better written than most Amish fiction.

I received this ebook compliments of Netgalley and Harvest House publishers.