Life, Love and Books

Anything But Plain by Suzanne Woods Fisher In Anything But Plain, Suzanne Woods Fisher takes the reader back to our dearly loved Stony Ridge. We meet the bishops daughter Lydie Stolzfus; a delightful young lady who has struggled with understanding where she belongs. She does not feel like she fits in with the other Amish girls and secretly plans to leave. When Lydie is given an opportunity to work for the local doctor for  few months, she sees it as chance to form her goodbye to a dear friend. Nathan Yoder has been more than just an next door  neighbor to  Lydie; their friendship has grown over the years until recently. Nathan is confused by Lydies actions and has started to believe that his childhood friend is in love with his brother. After spending time with her niece, Dok has come to a realization that Lydie may have a rare disorder. Will her brother allow her to take the steps to help Lydie or will he reject her assistance. Will Lydie come to see that her home is wit...

Listening to Love by Beth Wiseman   In the second installment of the Amish Journey series, we find englischer Natalie Collins and Lucas; the older brother of Levi Sheltar having friday night suppers together. As time passes, the two have become very much best friends to the concern of their family and dear friends Levi and Mary. The opinions of those around them, starts to frustrate Natalie, who adamantly says that it is friendship only. But deep down she is realizing that her feelings have grown toward love for Lucas.  Lucas loves getting to talk with Natalie in the late night hours, but time has come that he has to face the truth of the struggle between their two ways of life. To leave would cause so much pain for his family. Also he knows that asking Natalie to walk away from her plan to become a veterinarian, would break her heart. But the more time they spend together the truth starts coming out that they have feelings for each other When Natal...

Engraved on the Heart by Tara Johnson This book brings to Pre-Civil War Savannah Georgia, to the home of a very staunch Confederate family. We meet Debutante Keziah Montgomery who is being brought out to meet her potential suitors, but her family hides a very deep secret from the public eyes.  This beautiful young woman has lived her life being forced to hide her illness from others. Now she has to be the object of attention for the balls and parties  to come. When one evening she runs into an old classmate that introduces her to a very life changing truth. It is at this moment she feels she can do something to help others out of the circumstances by becoming an conductor in the underground railroad.  Dr Micah Greyson never dreamed he would come back home and run into his childhood classmate at a ball.  But the moment Keziah waltzes back in to his life, he is taken in by her beauty and reminded why he...

An Amish Harvest: Four Novellas by Beth Wiseman, Amy Clipston, Kathleen Fuller and Vanetta Chapman Four very wonderful authors come together to bring us another amazing novel with four uplifting stories. Under the Harvest Moon  by Beth Wiseman After suddenly losing her husband, Naomi Dienner is not looking for love again. All she wants to do is be able to provide for her family and get the harvest in for the fall.When her father suggests a English family friend, Brock Mulligan; that will be able to help her in her time of need. As the time passes Naomi struggles with a very deep and dark feeling that seems to weigh her down with concerns. What seems to be a innocent option to help with this weighted down feeling turns out to be very much a bad thing. With the help of her handsome harvest worker, will she be able to see the light God has provided and the love that is in front of her. Love and Buggy Rides  by Amy Clipston On her first day working ...

                                                      A Book Review of:                                   Sea Rose Lane                                             by Irene Hannon After suffering from a devastating layoff, attorney Eric Nash heads back to the one place that where things have not changed. Only to find out that his childhood home  is being transformed into a bed and breakfast.  Where he thought he would find peace and quiet to contemplate his next move in his career; instead he finds noise, chaos and distractions in the form a prickly blonde architect named BJ Stevens.  BJ is not looking...

The Quieting by Suzanne Woods Fisher  In the second book in  "The Bishops Family" series we meet Abgail the niece of the bishop who has come with her sister to help her uncle out in their time of need. Her second goal is to finish her father's genealogical project for a client that lives in Stony Ridge. Unbeknownst to Abgail, her grandmother has other plans for her elusive granddaughter. She has set her sights on finding a husband for Abgail and plans on finding the right one there in Stony Ridge. Stony Ridge is not overrun with eligible bachelors, except for one who is not right for Abgail in many ways. Bearing the last name Glick and a relative to the church bishop that is at odds with Abgails's uncle. Dane Glick has his sights set on marrying Abgail, but she does not have her sights set on marriage. Her goal is to help her father break out of his mood of melancholy that he is stuck in. As the conflict grows between the two families, relationships...

Room For Hope by Kim Vogel Sawyer Neva Shilling has carried the most of the responsibility of raising her two kids, while her husband Warren travels to neighboring communities selling items from his wagon. She ran the mercantile all on her own, working her hardest to keep their business going in the midst of the Depression. Late one evening a wagon pulls up, rushing out to shower a warm welcome on her husband after his long trip; Neva and her kids are met with bad news. A deputy had come bearing the news that Warren and his wife had died and left behind three young children that he wanted to live with their "Aunt Neva".  Shocked by the news of her husband's death and betrayal of their marriage vows, Neva chooses to pick up the pieces of her life and continue her life without her husband. Knowing what it was like to live in an orphanage, she does not want these little ones to have to go thru the struggles she went thru growing up.  By taking her husbands ...

On Lone Star Trail by Amanda Cabot The third book to the Texas Crossroads series brings back the beloved characters of the first two books. Not sure of where she wants to go next in life Gillian Hodges heads to the Rainbows End Resort for some much needed R and R. Upon her way to the Resort she witnesses a motorcycle accident and stops to assist the rider.  TJ Benjamin had set out to fulfill his wifes bucket list, with no thought of what is ahead for him in the future. When a sudden thunderstorm blows in causing him to wreck on the roadway. Having no where to turn to, he takes up Gillian's offer to take him to Rainbow's End Resort.  What TJ thought was a plan to just finish the list his wife had before she died, turns into a search for his true self and a fulfilling of God's plan in his life. For Gillian all she has ever known is playing the piano, now after suffering a bad accident that crushed her hands, she has to look at her future and find a new purpo...

Shelia Wraye Gregoire has done it again, she has written another amazing read for all wives out there. If you feel like there is no hope out there for you or you are just looking for a way to better your marriage this is the book for all of you. Each of the nine thoughts that she outlines in her book comes with action steps for each thought and plenty of real life stories to go along with them. She takes the pat answers that so many people try to give us to help us thru our struggles and turns the light onto the answers. Each of these truths are written out in a language a wife can truly understand from a wife that truly understands. I found this book to very helpful with the struggles that I am facing in my marriage, I would recommend this book to all wives out there looking for hope in their marriages.  I received this book for free for a honest review by blogging for books. 

Through a Man's Eyes by Shaunti Feldhahn and Craig Gross Shaunti Feldhahn author of "For Women only" teams up with the founder the XXXChurch Craig Ross to bring us women a deeper insight on the men in our lives. This book delves deeper into the way a man's brain works and shows us how much differently they are wired than a woman's brain. Breaking  it down into a language we can understand and be able to see what our men are struggling with every day of their lives. It shows that are men are normal and there is nothing wrong with them being visual, that it actually is part of their makeup to gaze upon their beloved wives. Our culture has made it harder for men to treat a woman like a real person, when they are bombarded with sexual images everywhere they turn. We as wives and mothers need to be the support for our men and open our eyes to the pitfalls they are facing day by day. Taking the time to teach our young sons how to treat a girl like she is somethi...

Girl in the Song by Chrissy Cymbala Toledo As the daughter of the pastor of a church that started out in the rough and tumble area of Brooklyn to a well known church, Chrissy grew up seeing how much the streets could effect others. She had the life alot of kids would have loved to have,parents who loved her and friends that adored her. But as time passed she grew to crave the one thing she could not get enough of and that was the attention of others. It started out with just wanting to look beautiful in everyone's eyes, clothing and her makeup became an obsession for her.  One day while she was hanging with a group of her friends, two new guys walked in to the church. Her interest turned to these new guys, as time passed she was drawn more and more toward the one guy. The more time Chrissy spent with Jay, her obsession grew with having the attention he gave her. During their time together Jay introduced her to new music that seemed to speak to her. These s...