Life, Love and Books

Obession  by Patricia Bradley  The title to this book is so correct, I could not put this book down!!! Every page I turned just made me want to keep reading on to the end. Patricia  Bradley creates a storyline that keeps you wanting to know what is going to happen next. This is a must read for anyone is who loves suspense.  In the 2nd installment to the Natchez Trace Park Rangers, Emma Winters is in her own element working on a historical site in the park. But what she did not count on was seeing her ex-fiancé Sam Ryker again. One night after Emma was finishing up for the day and getting ready to leave for the night, when danger find her at the park. The one person she can trust in a situation like this is Sam, who has returned as a Natchez Trace Law Enforcement district ranger.  Sam Ryker has returned to Natchez Trace to be near his sister and her son, but along comes all the memories of the past. The one woman he loved is back in his life and now he has to fig...

  Yes Sisters by Angelia White Friendships are amazing, the people we surround ourselves with can build us and at times they can pull us down. That one time that someone says something negative or we hear the word no, can send us deep into a dark place in our lives. Maybe someone has crushed a dream that you have had since you was a little girl. Or maybe it was a dream to start your own business and someone told you that you would not be good at that. For me it was teacher who said to me that I was not going to be able to pursue a dream in the medical field if I was not able to understand Math. But I had several women who was placed in my life in very strategic times that pushed me to pursue my dreams. Angelia helps us to see how building friendships with women who become our YES Sisters can help us to pursue our dreams. She shares personal stories that give us hope to keep moving forward. Also she shows we can overcome the negativity that has been thrown...

Two Steps Forward By Suzanne Woods Fisher In the third installment of the Deacons family, we return to Stoney Ridge to meet prodigal son Jimmy Fisher. His return stirs up an old family feud for his family, but Jimmy has no longing to be part of this. When Jimmy  is offered a job by his mothers rival, the pretty violet eyed Sylvie; he jumps at the chance to train her Arabian horse. Sylvie Schrock King has a dream to build Rising Star farm into a breeding farm for buggy horse for the Amish around her. When she finds out that the grown son of her next door neighbor is a expert at working with horses, it seems that she has hope on the horizon. As Jimmy's lazy smile and teasing ways work their way into Sylvie's heart, but is she being wooed so he can have the land that his mother has been claiming belongs to her family. Will Sylvie and Jimmy find the hope that come from above and the love that is growing between them? Suzanne Woods Fisher has done...

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?...

               Cross My Heart By Robin Lee Hatcher In Cross My Heart, we meet Ashley, the owner of a horse rescue farm and Ben, who is starting up a equine therapy farm. When Ashley and Ben first  meet, they find they have several things in common. Having been both raised by single mom's and sharing a passion for helping those who are hurting. While Ashley and Ben work together to bring forth Ben's dream, they both feel drawn toward a deeper relationship. But there is a big issue that is standing in their road toward this. Being that they both have very broken pasts that have affected their choice's in life. Carrying these burden's  can also drive them apart instead of bringing healing to their lives if they do not face the truth. Will they choose to hand these burdens over to the one who can handle them or walk away from a beautiful thing in each of their lives? This is a beautifully written story about he...

Shelter of the Most High by Connilyn Cossette In the second installment of the Cities of Refuge series, we find the young Eitan as an adult living in Kedesh. The last eleven years he has been haunted by the tragedy from his childhood, while struggling with the boundaries placed on him by his mother's husband. When his life is suddenly changed when two young women are brought into the city of Refuge. Sofea has grown up with the freedom of the ocean around her, never realizing it might save her cousin's and her life. One day their village was attacked and they was kidnapped by the marauders that wiped out the village. When Sofea and her cousin escape they find themselves being rescued by a band of warriors from Kedesh. This city has provided a refuge for so many that have came thru its gates, now it has become a  safe haven for Sofea and her cousin. While Eitan considers the city of refuge his prison, all he has ever wanted is to train and become a warrior to pr...

Peace in the Valley  by Ruth Logan Herne Ruth Logan Herne has brought another heartwarming cowboy story to us. The Stafford Family is made of three brothers with all different lifes, that is connected by their rancher father and the town. Trey the youngest brother is the famous musical singer, Lucy is the distrustful neighbor that has suffered from the greed of his adopted father. Each of these characters are very well developed that they draw us each into their story. It is a story that touches the heart and makes us fall in love with Ruth Logan Herne's writings. The third novel in the Double S Ranch series, brings back home to the ranch the youngest of the Stafford sons. Knowing he owes his life to the legendary rancher Sam Stafford, Trey Walker Stafford returns to save Sam's life. Having left the ranch to pursue a musical career against the advice of his adopted father. Now Trey returns home with fame and success on his heels, still struggling to get over the tra...

An Amish Home: Four Novella's Beth Wiseman, Amy Clipston, Ruth Reid and Kathleen Fuller Four very amazing authors come together to create An Amish Home: Four Novellas. Each of these stories is very heartfelt and draw the reader into the book.  In A Cup Half Full, we meet a dear wife who longs for a child. Before they can have a family, Sarah was in an accident that causes her to lose the use of her legs. As her husband works to transform their home to adapt to the changes in their lives. Sarah to goes thru a transformation of her own in her spirit.  Home Sweet Home finds Chace and Mia O'Conner homeless and desperate to find a place to stay. When they are offered a place to stay and a job for Chace to bring in an income. Finding themselves living in a very rustic cabin with no modern conveniences, it wears on both of them. Instead of turning toward each other for the hope they end up at each other's throats blaming the other person.  With the hel...

Shine like the Dawn by Carrie Turansky Carrie Turansky brings us a very beautiful story that is set in time of  Edwardian Northern  England, Margaret Lounsbury life was uprooted four years ago when tragedy struck in the form of a boating accident taking the lives of her parents and older sister. Her grandmother took in Margaret and her younger sister providing them with a roof over their head and food on the table. Their days are spent with Margaret working in her grandmothers Millinery Shop, while she helps to raise her younger sister. Even though she is willing to do anything to protect her sister, her heart still weighs heavy with the loss of her parents and sister.  When Nathaniel Harcourt receives news from his stepmother telling him of his father's illness. He returns  back home to Morningside Manor in time to say his last goodbyes to his father. Now he is the heir to the partial control of his father's engineering company and the duty of repaying ...

Home on the Range by Ruth Logan Herne The second book in the Double S Ranch series brings us back to Gray's Glen, Washington. We find the town still trying to rebuild after the disaster that has struck them. At the same time the Stafford brother Nick, has put his whole focus on working his family ranch and is now struggling to raise his daughters on his own. Ruth has done it again and written a story that pulls you in to the book. The little girls struggling with the issue of not having a mother in the picture, then all of sudden she reappears in their life. This story deals with a issue that is not touched very often in fiction. The struggle of a doting father trying to make the right decisions for his daughters without causing them more pain in the long run. Also the pain of having a parent that leaves and then chooses to reinsert themselves in their child lives for alternative reasons. I loved the way she created her characters to each have their own uniqueness a...

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 ...