Life, Love and Books

  Letters From My Sister                                  by Valerie Fraser Luesse This is the first book I have read by Valerie Fraser Luesse, the title drew me in and I was hooked from page one. This is one book I would recommend to anyone who loves to read an historical read.  As we open the book we meet the Bullock sisters Emmy and Callie who live a very rich and fulfilled life. One day their lives are turned upside down, when their family opens their home up to the granddaughter of one of their servants. Lily McGee was born with an exotic beauty and has a secret of her own she is trying to protect; her unborn baby.  Shortly after Lily has her little girl, terror visits the Bullock household and Callie suffers from short memory loss. The only image she can remember is an image of her sister Emmy standing on the riverbank holding Lilys baby girl in her arms. Having to take the steps to...

A Life Once Dreamed by Rachel Fordham This is my first time ever reading a book written by Rachel Fordham, I truly love getting to read new to me authors. The first thing that draws me to this book is the cover which portrays an genre that I have loved since I was a little girl, the genre historical.  As you open to the first page you are drawn back to a time when things were very different than they are know. A time when things were more simple, but also women  only had some many choices of what they could do in their life. Our heroine Agnes Pratt has a deep secret that sent her running away from the life that she had dreamed of. It has led her to the small  town of Penance, where she has established herself as the beloved schoolteacher of the their kids. Life has settled into a rhythm for Agnes and she has built friendships in the six years in her new home. But when her life is upset by the arrival of her childhood friend, things turn upside d...

An Amish Christmas Bakery by Amy Clipston, Beth Wiseman, Kathleen Fuller and Kelly Irvin Sorry I am a little late on sharing this review, but I think we need a little Christmas Cheer at the beginning of this new year.  Cookies and Cheer by Amy Clipston Alyssa Byler has amazing ideas for the bakery store display window, for this Christmas season she comes up with the idea of a Sugar cookie Nativity scene. She reaches out to the local blacksmith's son, Kyle Smoker to make the much needed cookie cutters. When the display brings in more customers than the bakery can handle, Alyssa starts to put in more hours at work then she has time for. While Kyle is starting to feel overwhelmed by the amount of orders that are coming in for the cookie cutters. Will Kyle and Alyssa be able to put aside the craziness of the holiday rush to see what it is right in front of them? Will they be able to see the beauty of Christmas and the love it bring to us?...

                  Until The Mountains Fall (Cities of Refuge Book 3) by Connilyn Cossette In the third installment of the Cities of Refuge series we revisit Kedesh, where Malakhi is now faced with marrying the one woman he has loved since he was a child. The only thing is she had been  his older brothers wife, who was now a widow and being commanded by the law to marry the younger brother of her deceased husband. Rivkah has no interest in marrying her deceased beloveds  younger brother and makes a decision to flee the city of her childhood. With plans of using her talents as a scribe to provide for herself, she escapes what she thinks is going to be her worst nightmare. There is a price for leaving the protection of her father and the safety of the city of refuge, this price takes a toll on Rivkah. After the disappearance of the one woman he has ever loved, Malakhi throws himself into t...

Wings of the Wind by Connilyn Cossette The sequel to the Out From  Egypt  is Wings of the Wind, just like the first two books we are introduced to some very amazing characters. Several characters from the first two books have a part in this book, along with meeting Tobiah and Alanah. The dedication and love of Tobiah is very touching to the heart. A man who would choose to take a stranger as a wife,  to provide protection for her from the dangers around them. Alanah is very strong and determined woman who has never seen what true love looks like in her life. Raised in a household full of men, with not knowing a touch of a woman since she was a little girl. Two very different characters that meet in a very dangerous situation and overcome many obstacles in their path to love.   I love reading biblical fiction, Connilyn Cossette takes a fresh look into the bible stories of our childhoods. As I was reading this book, I delighted in learning more abou...

Fraying at the Edge by Cindy Woodsmall With the second installment of The Amish of Summer Grove, we return to find the lives of Ariana Brenneman and Skylar Nash turned all upside down. Both girls have found out that they had been switched at birth and now are to spend a whole year living with their birth families. With only one link to there old lives, each of these girls have to take another look at the world around them. Each from very different worlds now having to take another look at their lives and decide what is the next step to take.   Cindy Woodsmall has brought us another very heartwarming series, that reaches out to each one of us and pulls us in. The story line is about two babies switched at birth, that both come from two very different backgrounds. It is not easy to be uprooted from all you ever known and be placed in a total opposite lifestyle. The way Cindy takes each of the families and intertwine each of their stories, while keeping us turning each ...

Wild Montana Skies by Susan May Warren I was blessed with the opportunity to meet Susan May Warren in person, recently at our local community library. She had chosen our library as one of her stops on her book tour for Wild Montana Skies. Her visit to our little local reading spot was a bright spot for several of our regular patrons. Susan spent some of her time with us telling us about her newest series and giving us some tips on becoming an author. In her newest series called Montana Rescue, Susan introduces us to a new group of unsung heroes. A SAR  (Search and Rescue) team that has been put together by a very wealthy benefactor in the town of Mercy Falls, Montana. In Montana Rescue we meet a former military search and rescue pilot Kacey Fairing who has returned home on a leave. During her time home she has accepted an offer to fly for the local SAR team, with the hopes of reconnecting with her teenage daughter. At the same time Ben King has placed his dreams and c...

Honor Redeemed by Christine Johnson  In the second book in the Keys of the Promise series, we meet Prosperity Jones. Two years ago she stood waving farewell to her beloved David as he headed to the faraway Key West. Now faced with no family to care for her, Prosperity travels to find the one person that can provide for her. When she arrives in Key West, only to find out that her dear fiance has married another woman. With her heart broken in many pieces, Prosperity chooses to push forward and find another way to provide for herself. When she gain the interest of a older Doctor, Prosperity starts to finally feel like she is going to be able to find hope in her life. David's choices in life have had consequences, ones that have caused heartache not just to himself and the one love of his life. Being the man he is, he chose to make things right and now life has another twist for him.  Christine Johnson has written a fast moving love story that will...