Because Your're Mine by Colleen Coble

Because Your Mine is another winner by Colleen Coble. I think it may even be the best one yet written by her. It sort of has that gothic flair that you see in books by Phyllis Whitley and Victoria Holt. You have the run down mansion, secrets of people in the mansion, a dangerous swamp inhabited by alligators, crazy people and a marriage of convenience.

Allana is in a Celtic band and she loses her husband in a horrific accident. A friend, Jesse was in accident but survives despite disfiguring facial injuries.  Alana is carrying her husband's child but is forced into a marriage of convenience with a man she does not love in order to keep her father-in-law from getting custody of her baby once the baby is born.

It does not take long to realize who the evil people are. I guessed fairly early but what I did not guess what the string of events that took place in the story. I love twists and turns in a novel and Colleen Coble does this well. I don't know if this book is part of a series or not but I look forward to reading more if there are. This book kept me up about two hours past my bedtime reading. I had to know the end. I must say I was pleased with the ending.

Thanks to Thomas Nelson and Netgalley for providing me a digital copy of this book to review. This book will be released on January 10, 2017. Already I'm hoping that there will be more sequels.

Amish Weddings by Leslie Gould

Amish Weddings is the last book in the Amish Neighbors series. When we first met the Becks and the Lehmans in the first book the Becks and Lehmans were children. Now most of them are all grown up and making adult decisions. Zane Beck the son of the English family has decided to go Amish. He is very much in love with Lila and they plan on getting married. Rose is the next oldest daughter. She is currently dating Reuben who was previously in love with Lila in the previous story. There are some life-changing events that stand in the way of Lila and Beck getting married. I loved watching how the characters were able to overcome these obstacles. This life-changing event cause a ripple effect and other characters were affected. One character made some very unwise decisions. I could see what was going to happen and could predict. I wanted to reach out through the pages and warn this character. Stay away! Run!  I loved that this character has the loving support of the community. Overall I was very pleased with the ending.

Some of the reviews state that they were confused by all the characters. Since I have read all the previous stories I did not get confused at all but I could see where one could get confused which is why I think these stories should be read in order. It would be more enjoyable to the reader and the reader would have less confusion.

This book is due to be released on January 3, 2016. Thanks to Netgalley and Bethany House for providing me a digital copy of this book to review.

The Mark of the King by Jocelyn Green
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Julianne Chevalier is a midwife in France. When a woman tragically dies in childbirth Julianne is blamed for the woman's death and is thrown in prison. She receives a reprieve from prison but it comes with conditions. She will be forced to leave France and travel to New Orleans. One of the conditions for being able to travel to New Orleans is that she marry a complete stranger and immediately start procreating. She picks out Simon. If Julianne thought she would be escaping her troubles in France she would be wrong. Many trials ahead for her.

I did not know very much about the history of Louisiana even though I have lived here since marrying my husband. I suppose had I grown up here I would have learned all about the history. The author does a very excellent job of educating the reader on historical facts that happened.

The storyline kept me engaged. I loved it that there were twists and turns in the story that I did not expect. This is the first book I have read by this author but look forward to reading more of her works.

This book is to be released on January 3, 2017. Thanks to Bethany House and LibraryThing for providing me a copy of this book to review.


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The Angel of Forest Hill by Cindy Woodsmall
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Angel of Forest Hill was a sweet little Christmas novel. Rose is from a large family, the only girl of 12 children. Her mother was unloving and demanded a lot from her. She was sent to a neighboring community in West Virginia to help out a family where the mother had just given birth. When she gets there she finds that the women died in childbirth. She quickly agrees to enter into a marriage of convenience with Joel, the grieving husband for the sake of the children. She quickly becomes mama to his three kids. Will he ever love her the way he loved his deceased wife.

I loved how Rose took over the raising of his kids without complaint. I loved how she loved them like her own. I loved the friendship she had with Elise, a veterinarian. Elise was a shoulder to cry on and gave her good advice.

I can't say that there was anything I disliked about this novel except that I wish it could have been longer. I would say the author did a good job developing the story in a 200 page novel.


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If I'm Found by Terri Blackstock

If I'm Found is the second book in the If I Run series. Casey Cox is still on the run and dirty cops Keegan and Rollins are still in pursuit of her. If they find her she will be instantly dead. She knows too much. If you are expecting the story to resolved in this book you will be disappointed. It will not be resolved until the next book comes out. If you are hoping for a suspense-filled story you will not be disappointed! This book was even better than the last. Casey is still the same person who will go out of the way to help someone in need. She risks her freedom to help people.

I love it that the relationship between Casey and Dylan grew in this story but Casey discovered the most important relationship of all, a relationship with the Lord!

As I stated before the story is not resolved. The dirty cops are still after her and she will have to continue to run but more evidence was collected in this story and hopefully we will see the end in the next book. I am already looking forward to reading the next one. I just know it will be even better.

If I'm Found will be published on March 21, 2017. Thanks to Netgalley and Zondervan for providing me a digital copy to read and review.

My rating:  5 stars

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!