Life, Love and Books

Sunburst By Susan May Warren  In the second novel of the Sky ranch Series we find Ranger Kingston on a mission to rescue his brother Colt. To his surprise he recognizes one of his brother's fellow hostages; the one woman he has not been able to forget. Noemi Sutton is on a mission of her own, she was taking her young charge back to be reunited with ther family. But then they was captured by a group of terroiusts that very dark plans for their captives.  Putting the skills that her father drilled into her over the years, Noemi  puts together a plan to escape to get help. But unbeknownst to her, there is a team out  there that is working towards rescuing the captives. Ranger and his fellow team members are able to rescue the captives, but in the midst of the chaos someone falls behind. Noemi is not willing to let her charge fall prey to the terrorist's, so she fights Ranger to go back and help her. This causes them to miss their  pickup time and sends them on a jo...

Critical Alliance By Elizabeth Goddard When she receives an cryptic message from her past warning her of trouble for her family's tech company, Mackenzie Hanson heads home for the first time in many years. But it seems that trouble has arrived before her when her brother is found dead. Also her sister is refusing to speak her about what is going on. Mackenzie has to figure out another way to investigate what is going on in her families company.  Returning to Montana, Alex Knight is looking forward to some time of decompressing from his last mission. But when he starts to relax,  Alex is drawn into a mystery full of threats, suspicious deaths and hints of espionage. All of them have one thing in common, the beautiful Mackenzie who is trying to figure out things on her own. When things turn deadly, can Alex and Mackenzie piece the clues together; before danger catches them off guard?   The third book in the Rocky Mountain Courage series is as nail biting as the first two bo...

The Price of Valor by Susan May Warren   In the third installment of the Global Search and Rescue Series, we find Hamilton still trying to figure out what happened to the love his life, Signe. But when a young girl walks into his life, reminding him of the loss and pain that he carried deep inside Hamilton has to face his past.     Signe Kincaid has spent years hiding many secrets from the one that held her heart.  Her work as humanitarian aid worker had lead her into a dangerous situation, where she had to make choices that kept her alive. One of them was to protect her daughter from the ones she was running from. But she didn't realize that her decision would bring the one person she did not want too see back in her life. Hamilton is surprised to find the love of his life was alive and well, but also that she is the one that his team has been sent to rescue. Would Hamilton be able to face down the truth and  forgive Signe? W...

Home All Along by Beth Wiseman In the third installment of the An Amish Secrets Novel, we find Charlotte struggling with choosing to commit to a relationship with Daniel. Her desire for a family and home is being threatened by painful memories and fears. Just when she thinks she has found the peace that she has been longing for, chaos is stirred up with the arrival of a long lost sister. Daniel's life is upset when a illness strikes a beloved member of his family and the arrival of a shunned aunt. This combination of an unexpected death, a prodigal relative's return and the grim medical diagnosis enter into the lives of this couple. Will their love for each other and their faith in God pull them thru this time of struggles.   Beth Wiseman is an amazing writer who writes a story that touches our hearts. While also giving the message of overcoming difficulties and struggles with the hope of God in our lives. This series tells a story of a young woman searching for...

The One True Love of Alice Ann  by Eva Marie Everson This is the first book I have read by Eva Marie Everson, the thing that drew me to the book was the story line based during WWII. When I picked up the book and started to read it, I was drawn in to the story about a young girl during a time that was in a upheaval. I went thru a time period where like Alice Ann, I had a crush on a guy who had no interest in me. As the story progresses Alice Ann corresponds with her elder brothers friend Mack, that has been shipped overseas to fight the war. Letter writing was one of the ways to share news from home to the guys on the war front during that time period. Which compared to now days we have email, social media, cell phones, where we can just share news at the drop of a hat. The boys on the war front loved getting mail and packages from back home. In this story the letters that passed between Alice Ann and these two young men shared so much news of life on the front and at home...

Deep Extraction: An FBI Task Force Novel by Diann Mills  Deep Extraction brings another thrilling read that dives into the deep world of oil drilling. The story follows an FBI agent and US Marshall who are investigating the mysterious death of a businessman and friend. When an oil and gas magnate Nathan Moore is found dead by his wife, she becomes the main suspect in the murder case.  Special Agent Tori  Templeton is torn between choosing to stand by her dear friend Sally's side or focus totally on finding the person who has killed Sally's husband. Joining Tori and her partner is recently reinstated Deputy US Marshall Cole Jeffers, who has just come back from a time away.   As more clues are unearthed that reveal a secret lifestyle that was unknown by victim's family it gets to be more difficult for those investigating the case. The more the team sift thru the clues it seems they are finding that the case may be more of a maze of bad new...

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...

Love Bears All Things (An Amish Secrets Novel) by Beth Wiseman In the second installment of the An Amish Secrets series, we find Charlotte Dolinsky needing time to recover from a bad breakup with her boyfriend. When suddenly the answer to her troubles shows up on her doorsteps in the form of her Amish friend's brother. Turning away from all of her life issues, she focuses on helping this young man in his time of struggle. In the midst of all the things going on. Charlotte chooses to be very deceptive of what is going on. But she is not the only one that is hiding secrets from their friends. Daniel Byler lives with a struggle to heal every day in his beloved Amish community, after being betrayed by his fiance. Now his pain has turned to fear after he discover's that another of his family members is in danger of being shunned.His only hope is to turn to the most unlikely person for help, an  Englisher, Charlotte Dolinsky. As the two spend time together,...

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...

                                                      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...

  Murder Comes by Mail by A. H. Gabhart The first thing that caught my eye about this book is the cat on top of the mailbox, that sold me on reading this book.Upon reading it, I find out a cat does play a crucial part in the book. I love when authors give animals a part to play in their storylines. I have read several other books by A. H. Gabhart and she has done it again with this very cozy mystery. She grabs you from the first page and keeps you till the end of the book. As the second book in  the series, the tile holds true that murder comes by mail. When Deputy Michael Keene receives a package containing photos from a murder scene, with it a letter that points him toward a suspect. The same guy that he stopped from jumping off the local bridge the week before. Feeling like he could have stopped this murder, Michael chooses to assist on the investigation of  this murder. When a second body is found, the reality hits home that Hidden Springs is no longer a q...

Silence in the Dark by Patricia Bradley This is the first book I have read by Patricia Bradley, from the moment I opened the book till I finished it I was  hooked. Even though this is the fourth book in the series, I was able to read it without having to read the three books before it. I truly love getting to read a good mystery and this was a read that kept you guessing to the end of the story. You will cheer for the heroine and the hero as they escape from the bad guys and return back to Logan Point to try to solve the mystery. Bailey Adams is excited to go back home for a visit with her family before returning back to her missions work. She has accepted an offer of escorting  the young niece of a local businessman back to the US for a visit with the child's grandparents. When they are chased by a local cartel, she has no one to turn to except her ex-fiance Danny Maxwell. With the combined help of a local hero and an waitress; the five are able to escape across ...

My Dating Journey: Meeting My Hubby  I did not start dating till I was twenty years old, my first date was with a guy that I had met thru a mutual friend. I truly enjoyed going out on the date with this guy, but we did not hit it off very well. I was told by the mutual friend that I talked to much. It was a year before I went on another date with a guy that my boss had wanted me to meet. He was interesting, but he did not like that I was focused on volunteering as an EMT/FF. I even went on a few blind dates, each of them ended up not calling me back. One of my rules for dating was I only went out once with the guy and if I did not feel a connection with him I did not go out with him again. I struggled with being single and not having someone to be with. I dedicated myself to volunteering with my local fire and EMS company. Also I spent my weekends volunteering at a dirt racetrack with our ambulance. It was not till I was 30 did I meet the guy that would sweep me off my ...

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 ...

A Sweet Misfortune  by Maggie Brendan The second book in the Virtues and Vices of the Old West takes a step into the world of dancehall girls. Rachael Matthews is homeless and alone, with no where to go she turns to the world of dancehalls to support herself. When he brother finds out she has become a dancehall girl, he sends a concerned letter to his best friend with a plea for his best friend to rescue his sister from the life she has turned too.  Cattle Baron John McIntyre is focused on acquiring as much land as he can to build his ranch as the best in Montana. The las thing on his mind is dealing with his best friends kid sister who has turned to the profession of  being a dancehall girl. But his devotion to his best friend urges him to go and play the prince on horseback.  Stubborn Racheal sees John as someone who is trying to stop her from earning a living, until he tells her that he holds  the deed to her parents land. Determined to get t...

Roots and Sky: A Journey Home in Four Seasons by Christie Purifoy Arriving at her new home in September, all Christie was longing for was a place to settle down in the craziness of this world. This was going to be the place where her family could settle down and grasp the things that was right in front of them, a place they would call home. An old farmhouse sitting on top of hill, called to them with so many possibilities. Looking forward to welcoming her fourth child into her family, she had many plans of making this new home a place of sanctuary for her family. Roots and Sky tells of the first year of life spent at Maplehurst thru the trials and triumphs for the family. It starts with the September they moved thru to the next august. We get a glimpse into a life and struggles of a mother and wife setting roots down and  learning to branch her limbs out to make friends in a very different area than what she was raised in.  There is so much spiritual and life...

Hannah's Choice by Jan Drexler As the eldest daughter, Hannah Yoder has shouldered alot of the responsibilities  in her family. Striving to bind the threads of her family back together with her mothers depression, her sisters rebellion and her fathers worries, she becomes the strong one. She loves the settled and peaceful life that her family has living along the banks of the Consetoga Creek. Believing that at some time she will settle down with her best friend and have a family in the same area as her family is settled. When suddenly her father is offered a chance at moving west  closer to a amish community by another fellow amishmen that is moving. Along comes a young amish man that truly believes Hannah is the one he is to marry. Forced to face making a decision of staying behind near her beloved home or following the one who promises her life of adventure following God's call west. Will Hannah choose to stay with what is familiar or choose to follow her heart ...

A Refuge at Highland Hall by Carrie Turansky The third installment to the Edwardian Brides Series by Carrie Turansky, brings us back to  Highland Hall. Set during the time period of the WWI, Penny Ramsey travels to London to help her sister Kate with the eight orphan children that have been taken in by Kate and her husband. Devoted to doing her part to help with the war effort, Penny has had no time to think of  her dreams of romance. Until one day a Royal Navy Air service pilot in  training, Alex Goodwin walked into her life. Determined to prove his worth and do his part in defending his country, Alex does not want to form any romantic attachments. As Penny and Alex write letters back and forth to each other, their friendship grows giving Alex a link to normalcy and home. As Alex confronts the enemy and returns home badly injured, it pushes him to a point of beyond Penny's reach. Will Alex be able to see the good that is right in front of him and will Penny be ...