For Every Season by Cindy Woodsmall

For Every Season is book 3 of the Amish Vines and Orchards series.  In this book Leah is still struggling on whether or not she wants to leave the Amish.  She has a good friend in Landon and dates him some but he is not pressuring her one way or the other to leave or stay.  This is a good healthy friendship. 

Two brothers, Samuel and Jacob are interested in Rhoda romantically and this causes problems.  She has pledged her love from the beginning to Jacob but all along I was routing for Samuel.  Which one does she choose?  You will have to read to find out.  Jacob has some baggage in his life that he does not fully disclose to Rhoda.  He has different goals than Rhoda and is not always supportive of her desire to have a career in the orchards.  

This is only the third book in the series.  A new one is due out in 2014 and it's a good thing since there were a lot of things in this book that need to be explored more such as Leah's decision, a new character Iva, and the Cammile's search for a possible granddaughter.  I am looking forward to the next book so these loose ends will be tied up. 

My thanks to Librarything's Early Review Program and Waterbook for giving me a copy of this book to review.

The Longest Ride by Nicholas Sparks

The Longest Ride is the story of two couples worlds apart. We first get introduced to Ira, an elderly 91 year old widower. His beloved wife Ruth had died 9 years earlier. Ira should have given up driving years ago but being the stubborn man he is continues to do so. It's winter and he slides off into a ditch. Already dying with cancer he breaks several bones. Before he is rescued he has conversations with his dead wife. They recall their life together from the beginning until the day Ruth died.

The other story is of Sophia, an art major at Wake College. She had just broken up with her cheating boyfriend Brian when she meets Luke Collins, a farmer and a weekend rodeo rider. They develop a friendship that slowly turns into love but Luke is hiding a secret.

I kept wondering how in the world these two stories would converge. It was not until the last 50 pages that the stories converged and it was a doozy! Kept reading. You won't want to miss this last ride!

I thoroughly enjoyed this story. Some people don't like to read Nicholas Sparks novels because often his novels make you cry and have sad endings. Not so with this novel.  I give this novel  5 stars.

 

Eventide by Shelley Shepard Gray

Eventide by Shelley Shepard Gray is the third and last of the Days of Redemption series.  Ever since we were first introduced to Elsie in the first book I've been wanting to read her story.  In the first book we learn Elsie has a degenerative eye disease that will eventually take away her sight completely.  She faces this with courage but what the hardest part she has to deal with is her family smothering her to death.  They do not want her to be an independent woman.  When she meets the boy next door who takes an interest in Elsie her family tries to discourage the relationship fearing that Elsie could get hurt even more.

I felt the characters were well developed although I did get irritated with some of them at times.

Dark Justice by Brandilyn Collins

There is a reason that a Brandilyn Collins is known for seatbelt suspense. This book certainly lives up to that term. This book catches you in the first chapter and doesn't let go until the final chapter. Hannah Shire is a middle age widow taking care of her mother who has dementia. One day while traveling in the car with her mother they see a man on the side of the road. They dying man only gives his first name which is Morton and says some things to her that does not make sense. Later she discovers the dying put a computer flash drive in Hannah's pocket. Curiosity got the best of her so she plugs it into her computer and sees a film. She goes to the police and then FBI come to her house but then a series of events happen and she does not know who to trust. She does not know if she can trust the police or the FBI. Someone is trying to kill her and her senile mother and when Hannah's daughter gets involved her life is threatened too.

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.