Bout of Books 15 Sign Up!

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, January 4th and runs through Sunday, January 10th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 15 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team

I can't wait to participate in the read-a-thon again. The challenges look super awesome too!!!

Top Ten Tuesday Double Feature!

Since I didn't get around to doing this last week, I am posting last week and this week's topics together in one post!

Last week's:

Favorite new-to-me authors I read in 2015

1. Candace Calvert-I fell in love with her writing back in May when I read The Recipe, her contribution to the novella collection Chance of Loving You. Later this year I read her book Trauma Plan and loved it as well! 

2. Debby Giusti-I read her book The General's Secretary back in October and loved it!

3. Victoria Bylin-In April I read her book Until I Found You, which I really liked!

4. Tracy L. Higley-At the very beginning of this year I read her book Rescued: An Allegory which I absolutely adored (And highly recommend!) and plan to read again many times in the future!

5. Lois Lowry-I absolutely loved The Giver, but wasn't as crazy about Gathering Blue. Though I am still looking forward to reading Messenger and Son when I get the chance! 

6. Sarah Holman-I loved her Cinderella retelling, Waltz into the Waves!

7. Carrie Stuart Parks-I loved her book The Bones Will Speak, it was a great suspense that really kept me guessing and on the edge of my seat!

8. Terry Lynn Johnson-I borrowed her book Ice Dogs from the library and loved it so much that I'm seriously considering buying a copy!

7. Katherine Reay-Loved her first book, Dear Mr. Knightley!

8. Bethany Hamilton-She has such an inspiring story and I love the movie Soul Surfer so I really wanted to read the book it was based on which was really inspiring as well!

9. Margaret Peterson Haddix-I really loved her book Running out of Time, it was super cool! And a quick read too!

10. Lee Strauss-I really enjoyed her book Gingerbread Man, it was a very enjoyable and totally mind bending tale!

And this week's:

Top Ten-ish Books I read in 2015!

These are the 2015 releases (In no particular order)

1. Three Little Words, From the Start and One Enchanted Christmas, all by Melissa Tagg

2. Always on My Mind and The Wonder of You, both by Susan May Warren

3. Love in the Details and The Proposal, both by Becky Wade

4. Love on the Mend and A Worthy Pursuit, both by Karen Witemeyer

5. The Art of Losing Yourself and The Perfect Arrangement, both by Katie Ganshert

6. A Brush With Love, How To Catch a Prince and The Wedding Chapel, all by Rachel Hauck

7. Through Waters Deep by Sarah Sundin

8. Fire & Ice by Mary Connealy

9. With Every Breath by Elizabeth Camden

10. Vendetta by Lisa Harris

 

11. Married til Monday and Falling Like Snowflakes, both by Denise Hunter

12. Retribution and No Place to Hide, both by Lynette Eason

13. Sabotaged by Dani Pettrey 

And these are the pre-2015 releases (again in no particular order)

1. The Rescuer by Dee Henderson

2. Quest for Celestia by Steven James

3. Trauma Plan by Candace Calvert

4. The Elite and The One, both by Kiera Cass

5. Running out of Time by Margaret Peterson Haddix

6. The Giver by Lois Lowry

7. The General's Secretary by Debby Giusti

8. Barefoot Summer by Denise Hunter

9. The Healer's Apprentice by Melanie Dickerson

10. Until I Found You by Victoria Bylin

Monthly Reflections #30

My goal for November was to read at least 7 books, I'm thrilled that I managed to read 10! 

Books read in November

1. Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry

2. Amish Christmas at North Star by Katie Ganshert, Amanda Flower, Cindy Woodsmall, Mindy Starns Clark and Emily Clark

3. A Worthy Pursuit by Karen Witemeyer

4. Toward The Sunrise by Elizabeth Camden

5. The Wedding Chapel by Rachel Hauck

6. Through Waters Deep by Sarah Sundin

7. Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports by James Patterson

8. Fire & Ice by Mary Connealy

9. The Proposal by Becky Wade

10. The Bronte Plot by Katherine Reay

I loved almost all of these books but my favorites were probably A Worthy Pursuit, Through Waters Deep and The Proposal 

I think December is probably going to be pretty busy for me so my goal is simply to read as many books as I can!

Top Ten Favorite Christmas Books!

Top Ten Favorite Christmas Books! 

This weeks topic was supposed to be 2016 debut authors I'm most looking forward to reading, but I couldn't come up with any so I decided to list my favorite Christmas books instead! 

1. The Good Little Christmas Tree by Ursula Moray Williams and Gillian Tyler-This is one of my favorite childhood books, I read it every year and it never fails to make me tear up!

2. A Christmas Star by Linda Oatman High and Ronald Himler

3. The Christmas Cat by Tasha Tudor and Efner Tudor Holmes

4. Apple Tree Christmas by Trinka Hakes Noble 

5. Where Treetops Glisten by Sarah Sundin, Cara Putman and Tricia Goyer

6. One December Night by Melissa Tagg

7. The Proposal by Becky Wade

8. Christmas Cover-Up by Lynette Eason

9. Evergreen by Susan May Warren

10. Falling Like Snowflakes by Denise Hunter

Review: The Wedding Chapel by Rachel Hauck

4 Stars!

I have read and loved four of Rachel's full length novels as well as two of her novellas! So needless to say I was very excited for this book, and while I didn't love it quite as much as I had hoped to, I still was not disappointed! This book has such a great love story (Two love stories actually!) I loved the romances and how each chapter alternated between the four main characters points of view, and it was brilliantly done, I never found myself wondering who's head I was in! The wedding chapel was such an incredible place, it truly became another character in the book; I found myself wishing it was real because I wanted to go there! As I was reading The Wedding Chapel I kept thinking to myself "My Nana would have loved this book!"

This was a really good book and I recommend it!

However, I'm giving it four stars because I just never felt like I really connected with the story and the characters, at least not as much as in the books of this author's I've read. And there were a couple of things that I didn't personally like or agree with; they were fairly minor and didn't really affect my overall enjoyment of the book, but due to subject matter I wouldn't recommend this book for young teens, while this book is clean I think it's definitely one for adults! 

I can definitely see this book having the same kind of multi-generational appeal as Nicholas Sparks' The Notebook and The Longest Ride, I am a big fan of the movie Letters to Juliet and while this book is very different, the storyline reminded me of it in many ways! I think any fans of these books and movie would really love this book!

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through the BookLook bloggers review program in exchange for my honest review, which I have done. All thoughts and opinions are one hundred percent my own.

Review: Amish Christmas at North Star by Katie Ganshert, Amanda Flower, Cindy Woodsmall, Mindy Starns Clark and Emily Clark

5 Stars!

I don't read very much Amish fiction, and I'm not gonna lie to begin with the only reason I wanted to read this book was to read the novella by one of my favorite authors (Katie Ganshert) which of course I absolutely loved but then I got sucked in and found myself loving each subsequent novella just as much as the one before it! This is a great Christmas novella collection written by some very talented authors; three of which were new to me authors! There is much more that I want to say, and normally I would do a mini review of each novella, but in this case I don't feel I could do that without away too much of the plot so I will just say that I loved this book and I am so glad that I got the opportunity to review it, this book is definitely one that will go on my keeper shelf and I anticipate re-reading it many times in the future, it just might even become a book that I read every Christmas season! 

I highly recommend Amish Christmas at North Star, even if you don't usually enjoy Amish fiction I think you should still give this one a try! 

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher through their Blogging for Books program in exchange for my honest review. Which I have done, the above is my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are one hundred percent my own.

Top Ten Tuesday!

Top Ten Sophomore Novels That I Loved Just As Much If Not More As The Author's Debut

1. Shattered by Dani Pettrey-I have loved all of her books but her sophomore novel may just be my favorite! And I can't wait to read the first book in her new series!

2. Here to Stay by Melissa Tagg-Her debut Made to Last was awesome, this one topped the awesomeness scale and her third book From the Start upped the ante even more, needless to say I cannot wait to read her fourth book when it releases in April!

3. Head in the Clouds by Karen Witemeyer

4. Wishing on Willows by Katie Ganshert

5. Undeniably Yours by Becky Wade

6. A Most Peculiar Circumstance by Jen Turano

7. Resurrection by Jennifer Hartz

8. The Doctor's Lady by Jody Hedlund

9. Don't Look Back by Lynette Eason-I don't know if this was actually her sophomore novel but it was her second novel with Revell publishers so I'm counting it!

10. The Pawn by Steven James-He had published numerous non-fiction titles prior to this book but I'm pretty sure this was his sophomore novel!

Monthly Reflections #29

My goal for October was to read ten books, I'm really happy that I made that goal!

The books I read were:

1. Crossed by Ally Condie

2. Joseph of Arimathea by Sarah Holman

3. While You're Awake by Amber Stokes

4. The General's Secretary by Debby Giusti

5. One Simple Act by Debbie Macomber 

6. Love in the Details by Becky Wade

7. Vendetta by Lisa Harris

8. The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

9. The Healer by Dee Henderson

10. Gingerbread Man by Lee Strauss

I loved so many of these books that it's really next to impossible to choose a favorite! I'm super pumped that I finally achieved a goal that I've had for almost three years now which is to finish Dee Henderson's O'Malley series!!! 

In November I hope to read at least 7 books but hopefully more!

Too Ten Tuesday!

10 Wishes I'd Ask The Book Genie To Grant Me (a new book from a certain author,  a reading superpower, a library that is your absolutely #librarygoals, a character to come to life, to meet a certain author etc. etc.) YOU DREAM IT AND THE BOOKISH GENIE CAN DO IT.

1. For Irene Hannon to write a companion book to her Guardians of Justice series, I'd love to have a reunion with the Taylor family!

2. To have a character named after me in a book by one of my favorite authors!

3. For one of my all time favorite series, The River of Time Series by Lisa T. Bergren to become movies or a TV series-but only if the filmmakers do it right! 

4. To meet my all time favorite suspense authors Dani Pettrey, Lynette Eason, Irene Hannon and Steven James!

5. The power to efficiently read more than one book at a time! I don't have a problem keeping storylines straight, it just seems like whenever I try to read more than one book at a time I can't seem to finish any of them in an efficient timeframe! 

6. The power to un-read my favorite books so that I could read them again for the first time! 

7. To meet my favorite contemporary romance authors Melissa Tagg, Becky Wade, Katie Ganshert and Susan May Warren!

8. To have the Genie give me some kind of winter reading gloves, so my hands would stay warm and I would still be able to turn the pages easily! 

9. To meet all my amazing book blogging friends in person!

10. And last but definitely not least, I would want the book genie to gift me all of my favorite authors 2016 releases! 

Review: While You're Awake by Amber Stokes

5 Stars!!!

Amber Stokes has outdone herself yet again!

I have read (and loved!) all of Amber Stokes books, so needless to say when I was offered the opportunity to review this book, I leaped at the chance! I was most definitely not disappointed, all of this author's books are amazing but in my personal opinion this is her best book yet! Ava and Keegan were such awesome characters, I found myself relating to Ava in many ways, and if you want to read about a swoon-worthy hero, look no further! Keegan is one awesome guy, some of the things he did for Ava totally made my heart melt!

I loved how Amber tackled rational versus irrational fears, and how they both are just as crippling, and that fear is fear, neither is more relevant than the other. I also absolutely love that this was a Sleeping Beauty retelling! 

Overall, this was such a great book, I absolutely loved it and I cannot wait to read whatever else Amber has in store for us! 

I highly recommend While You're Awake! 

I received a complimentary ebook copy of this book from the author in exchange for my honest review, which I have done. My review was not required to be positive.

All thoughts and opinions are one hundred percent my own.

Top Author Duos You'd LOVE To See Write A Book Together

Top Ten Author Duos You'd LOVE To See Write A Book Together

Four was all I could come up with!

Dani Pettrey and Susan May Warren-If you have followed my blog for any length of time you probably know that I love both of these authors so much, and I would be absolutely ecstatic if they wrote a book in which Dani's McKenna clan, and Susan's Christiansen family meet each other!!!

Karen Witemeyer and Mary Connealy-These authors both write absolutely awesome, hysterically funny historical romances and they did both contribute to a novella collection called A Match Made In Texas, but still it would be totally amazing to read something that they wrote together!

Melissa Tagg and Jen Turano-More authors that I love! Melissa writes contemporary and Jen writes historical but they both have a similar wit and a knack for making you laugh out loud at what are at first glance very ordinary sentences! A book written by these two would be beyond awesome, and it would also be really interesting to see Melissa try her hand at historical and likewise Jen try her hand at contemporary! 

Lynette Eason and Steven James-These two would craft an awesome suspense! These are two of my favorite authors and I would be so excited to read the amazing thriller that would result if they wrote a book together! 

Review: Love in the Details by Becky Wade

5 Stars!!!

I am a huge fan of Becky Wade, I've read and loved all of her books to date. So I've been super excited to read this nevella for over a year, ever since I first heard that it was happening (Even though at that time I had no idea what it was even about yet, I knew I wanted to read it!) 

Obviously my expectations were super high, and I was definitely not disappointed! I loved this story so much! It was awesome that Josh and Holly were high school sweethearts that found their way back to each other, that kept the romance from seeming unbelievable! I found myself relating to Holly a lot, I loved that she was a writer, and Josh, oh my goodness, he is the definition of a swoon-worthy hero! There were so many moments and things he did for Holly that absolutely made me melt!!! This story contains all of Becky Wade's trademarks, a strong faith story, a super sweet romance, tons of humorous moments, and a  charming, delightful and absolutely hysterical cast of supporting characters! This novella was an excellent length, it didn't feel too short, but I did wish it were longer because I didn't want it to end, hated to say goodbye to the characters! 

I highly recommend Love in the Details, if you like Christian contemporary romance you should definitely add this to your To Be Read List!!!

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through the BookLook bloggers review program in exchange for my honest review, which I have done. All thoughts and opinions are one hundred percent my own.

Top Ten Tuesday!

Top Ten Books/Bookish things I did not finish/have quit!

Bookish Habits I want to quit:

1. Only being able to efficiently read one book at a time!

2. Adding new books to my TBR pile before I finish the ones I already have! 

Books I did not finish:

3. Born of Persuasion by Jessica Dotta

4. Dawn Comes Early by Margaret Brownley-I do plan to give this one another try someday-

5. Five Days in Skye by Carla Laureano

6. Cuts Like a Knife by M.K. Gilroy-I plan to try this one again someday-

Books I finished but wanted to quit:

7. Face of Betrayal by Lis Wiehl and April Henry

8. Allegiant by Veronica Roth

9. Dangerous Passage by Lisa Harris-I loved the second and third books in the series though-

10. The Longest Ride by Nicholas Sparks

Monthly Reflections #28

My goal for September was just to read as many books as I could, I ended up being on kind of a reading roll (The two weeks of the Tackle Your TBR Read-a-thon was a big help!) and I am beyond ecstatic that I was able to read 12 books!

The books I read were:

1. A Match of Wits by Jen Turano

2. The Perfect Arrangement by Katie Ganshert

3. Now & Forever by Mary Connealy

4. The One by Kiera Cass

5. The One Safe Place by Tania Unsworth

6. Dear Mr Knightley by Katherine Reay

7. Quest for Celestia by Steven James

8. Doon by Carey Corp and Lorie Langdon

9. Gone Without a Trace by Patricia Bradley

10. Running out of Time by Margaret Peterson Haddix 

11. Falling Like Snowflakes by Denise Hunter

12. The Snowflake by Jamie Carie 

Absolutely impossible for me to pick a favorite from these reads! 

My goal for October is to hopefully read at least 10 books! 

 

Tackle Your TBR Wrap Up!

I am so excited that I was able to reach my goal of reading seven books, I really enjoyed all of these and made a big dent in my TBR pile (At least my TBR of books I already own!)

The books I read were:

1. Dear Mr Knightley by Katherine Reay

2. Quest for Celestia by Steven James

3. Doon by Carey Corp and Lorie Langdon

4. Gone Without A Trace by Patricia Bradley

5. Running Out Of Time by Margaret Peterson Haddix

6. Falling Like Snowflakes by Denise Hunter

7. The Snowflake by Jamie Carie

Tackle Your TBR Book Scavenger Hunt Challenge!

Scavenger Hunt

A 2015 Debut Author’s Book!

-Dauntless by Dina L. Sleiman-

Books that You Have Read at Least Twice!

-The Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer- 

-The River of Time Series by Lisa T. Bergren-

A Cover-Love Book (a book that has a beautiful cover)!

A Book You Always Recommend!

-The Bowers Files by Steven James-

A Book That Has A Kick-Butt Female Protagonist!

-The River of Time Series by Lisa T. Bergren-This one had two awesome heroines! 

Review: Falling Like Snowflakes by Denise Hunter

5 Stars!

Denise Hunter is fast becoming one of my favorite authors, I loved her entire Chapel Springs series, and this first book in her new Summer Harbor series most definitely did not disappoint! One of the things that I loved the most about this book was the suspense, I was not expecting that but it was awesome and just might make this my favorite of her books! The characters were great, I loved Eden, her son Micah, Beau and his brothers as well as Aunt Trudy. Beau was definitely a great hero though I admit there were times I felt very frustrated with him, but overall I liked him a lot. I also loved that Beau's cousin Abby (from Married Til Monday) appeared in this book, it was really nice to get updated on her and Ryan's life, and it came in very handy that she just happened to be a private investigator! :) 

I don't really what else to say without accidentally giving something away but I absolutely loved this book and highly recommend to all fans of Christian contemporary romance with a thread of suspense! 

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through the BookLook bloggers review program in exchange for my honest review, which I have done. All thoughts and opinions are one hundred percent my own.

Tackle Your TBR Seasons Challenge!

Your challenge, if you choose to accept it is to find one book with each of the seasons in each title – not A Man for All Seasons, but one for Spring, one for Summer, one for Autumn, and one for Winter.

If you can’t find the titles including the season, you can include a book that is specifically set or related to the season.  Obviously Christmas stories relate to winter (or summer, if you’re in the southern hemisphere); The Longest Day is summer.

You can find them on your own shelf (more fun), or in your library, online, or already in your TBR list (even more fun).

Top Ten Books on My Fall TBR!

Top Ten Books on My Fall TBR!

1. Love in the Details by Becky Wade

2. The Gifting by K.E. Ganshert

3. Season of Fire by Lisa T. Bergren 

4. Vendetta by Lisa Harris

5. A Worthy Pursuit by Karen Witemeyer

6. Wildwood Creek by Lisa Wingate 

7. The Healer by Dee Henderson

8. Fire & Ice by Mary Connealy

9. The Wedding Chapel by Rachel Hauck

10. If I Should Die by Amy Plum

Tackle Your TBR Day Five Challenge!

The Spine Sentences Challenge.

All you do have to do is look at the book that you are currently reading and tell us the title that runs along the spine. Then you make a sentence out of it! 

I'm reading Quest for Celestia by Steven James

Here is my attempt, it's pretty sad but this was the best I could come up with!

"The most amazingly epic adventure you'll ever experience is the Quest for Celestia"

Review: Doon by Carey Corp and Lorie Langdon

4 Stars!

This was a good fantasy YA novel, which I really enjoyed. I liked how the chapters alternated between best friends Veronica and MacKenna, it was really cool to see both of their perspectives, I found myself relating to both of them in different ways. I think my favorite character was Duncan, he was just so sweet, protective, and completely swoon-worthy, he had a great ability to make me laugh yet he knew when to be serious too (He reminded me greatly of Luca Forelli from The River Of Time) I liked Jamie too, at the end if the book but for most if it he just really annoyed me! I also loved the secondary characters Fergus and Fiona, their sub-plot romance was so sweet too!

Doon was an absolutely beautiful place, I loved all the descriptions if the landscape as well as the castle. I also really appreciated that it was made very clear that the "Magic" was actually God's will triumphing over Satan. There were some things that I would preferred to have not been there but they didn't really affect my overall enjoyment of the story. I think that people who enjoy mainstream YA novels would especially like this book, and I recommend it to all my fellow fans of the River of Time Series by Lisa T. Bergren 

I will probably read the rest of the series at some point!

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through the BookLook bloggers review program in exchange for my honest review, which I have done. All thoughts and opinions are one hundred percent my own.

Tackle Your TBR Day Four Challenge!

Comfort Read Challenge

These are the books I read when I just need to spend time with an old friend, rather dive into something new! One of the things I have always loved about is that while I may change, my favorite books never will! It is such a comfort to me that when my life is crazy and hectic I can jump into one of my favorite books and know that the story hasn't changed! 

My comfort reads (There are really too many to count but these are the first ones that came to mind) 

The River of Time Series by Lisa T. Bergren

The Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer

Oh, Those Harper Girls (or Young and Dangerous) by Kathleen Karr

Tackle Your TBR Day Three Challenge!

Random page challenge

My random page is from Doon by Carey Corp and Lorie Langdon, it is location number 226 (My kindle copy doesn't list page numbers)

Top Ten Tuesday-Freebie!

Top Ten TV Shows that will ALWAYS put a smile on my face! You will be able to tell that I tend to have a taste for the classics (Shows that aired before I was born or when I was really little!) but there are some current ones that I enjoy too! Several of these shows I watch with my brother so I have lots of great memories of us bonding over these shows! 

1. Scorpion

2. MACGYVER

3. The A Team

4. Starsky and Hutch

5. Sue Thomas F.B.Eye 

6. In The Heat of The Night

7. Mcleod's Daughters

8. Heartland

9. Walker, Texas Ranger

10. A Gifted Man-This was a show on CBS that only lasted for one season but it still never fails to entertain me!

Tackle Your TBR Goals!

I am hoping to read at least 7 books during this read-a-thon (14 if possible, but we'll see!) I am so hoping to participate in all the challenges! 

I am currently about 25% done with Dear Mr Knightley by Katherine Reay

The books I will most likely be choosing from:

Quest For Celestia by Steven James

Through Waters Deep by Sarah Sundin

Gone Without a Trace by Patricia Bradley

The Healer by Dee Henderson

The Snowflake by Jamie Carie

Five Days in Skye by Carla Laureano

Doon by Carey Corp and Lorie Langdon 

Tackle Your TBR Read-A-Thon Sign Up!

The Tackle Your TBR Read-a-thon begins Monday, September 14th and ends Sunday, September 27th, with a wrap-up (including giveaway winners) on September 28th.

I can't wait to participate in this read-a-thon again, the challenges look like a lot of fun and I'm hoping that I will be able to knock several books off my TBR pile during this read-a-thon!

Monthly Reflections #27!

My only goal for August was to read as many books as I could! The Bout of Books read-a-thon was a great motivator to just sit down and read (Especially since I'd been in a bit of a reading slump up to that point! 

The books I read were:

1. Trauma Plan by Candace Calvert

2. The Queen by Kiera Cass

3. Ice Dogs by Terry Lynn Johnson

4. Are you there God? It's me Margaret by Judy Blume

5. Target by Lisa Phillips

6. The Bones Will Speak by Carrie Stuart Parks

7. Guard Duty by Sharon Dunn

8. The Art of Falling by Julie Jarnigan

9. The Rescuer by Dee Henderson

10. Soul Surfer by Bethany Hamilton

11. The Selection Stories:The Prince. And The Guard by Kiera Cass

My favorite was probably either The Rescuer or Trauma Plan or maybe The Bones Will Speak, ah it's one of those months that it's super hard to pick a fave! 

Since it seemed to work well last month, I think I will have my goal again be to read as many books as I can!

Review: The Perfect Arrangement by Katie Ganshert

5 Stars!

I am a HUGE fan of Katie Ganshert, I have read and adored all of contemporary romance/women's fiction books! So obviously as soon as I knew this novella was happening, I knew I simply HAD to read it!!! I was most definitely not disappointed, this was such an awesome story! I loved both the main characters, Amelia and Nate were just so great (And no, I didn't intend for that to rhyme!) They were both flawed characters that didn't have perfect lives but they were determined not to dwell on the negative but rather focus on all the blessings God bestowed on them, I know that I personally could (And did!) definitely learn a thing or two about life from them! And I loved how so much of the story was written through emails between the characters, that was a unique touch that I absolutely adored, as were all the references to old movies, I'm a bit of an old movie fan myself and I loved the role they played in the story! I also loved that there was just a tiny bit of a Cinderella re-telling feel to the story! (I was so glad when Nate mentioned that in the story, because I was seriously starting to wonder if it was just me reading into things that weren't really there!) It was also so neat that this novella was set in the same town as this author's previous novella (An October Bride) which was part of the first Year of Weddings collection! This was such an amazing story, I absolutely loved every moment, my only complaint is that I found myself wishing it had been a full length novel-the pages really flew and I didn't want it to end! I really hope we will get to catch up with these characters again in a future book! 

I highly recommend The Perfect Arrangement to anyone and everyone! 

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through the BookLook bloggers review program in exchange for my honest review, which I have done. All thoughts and opinions are one hundred percent my own.

Top Ten Books That Would Be On Your Syllabus If You Taught X 101

Top Ten-ish(Though I have more than ten individual books on this list, in my defense there are less than ten series listed. I couldn't leave out any of my favorites!!!)Books/series that would be on my syllabus if I taught Christian romantic suspense 101

-The Women of Justice series by Lynette Eason-

1. Too Close to Home

2. Don't Look Back

3. A Killer Among Us

Bonus short story: Gone in a Flash

-The Guardians of Justice series by Irene Hannon-

4. Fatal Judgment

5. Deadly Pursuit (One of my personal all time favorites!)

6. Lethal Legacy

-The Alaskan Courage series by Dani Pettrey-

7. Submerged

8. Shattered 

9. Stranded 

10. Silenced 

11. Sabotaged

-The Deadly Reunions series by Lynette Eason-

12. When The Smoke Clears

13. When A Heart Stops

14. When A Secret Kills

Bonus short story: Retribution

Bout of Books 14 Wrap Up!

I had a really great Bout of Books, I was able to participate in all of the challenges, and pretty much the whole week the weather was either extremely hot or raining so it made for a ton of inside reading time! I had thrown the goal of reading 7 books out there as a wouldn't-it-be-nice kinda goal, never thinking that I would actually reach it, but I am so beyond thrilled that I did!

The books I read during Bout of Books 14 (In the order I read them!)

1. Target by Lisa Phillips 

2. The Bones Will Speak by Carrie Stuart Parks 

3. Guard Duty by Sharon Dunn

4. The Art of Falling by Julie Jarnigan

5. The Rescuer by Dee Henderson

6. Soul Surfer by Bethany Hamilton

7. The Selection Stories-The Prince. The Guard. by Kiera Cass

8. A Match of Wits by Jen Turano (Read first 20 pages!)

Bout of Books Day Seven Challenge!

What to read next challenge!

For this Challenge, you need torecommend 3 books (and only 3 books) that you have read this year that you think should be recognized as something great - something everyone should have on their TBR list for this fall.  If you can, say a short little something about why you recommend these books. 

1. Always on My Mind by Susan May Warren-This is the fourth book of an amazing series and I totally think that this one and all the others in the series should be on the TBR list of everyone who loves contemporary romance stories that feature a close knit family!

2. From The Start by Melissa Tagg-Words truly can't describe the sheer awesomeness of this author's writing, I absolutely adore everything she writes and this book was no different, I read in under twenty four hours and hope to have the time to re-read it soon! Another one that I recommend to all fans of contemporary romance!

3. With Every Breath by Elizabeth Camden-This book was actually published in 2014 but I didn't read it until this year! It is such an amazing book, the best historical I've read so far this year, will be on my list of favorite reads for the year and is tied with Against The Tide for my favorite of this authors books (Though there are still a couple of hers I haven't read yet, I don't think that opinion will change!) 

Bout of Books Day Six Challenge!

Book Road Trip

My go to answers for these kinds of things are Ireland and Italy but I will try to avoid using those two this time around!

Alaska: The Alaskan Courage series by Dani Pettrey

Washington D.C: The King by Steven James

Spartanburg and Columbia, SC: The Women of Justice and Deadly Reunions series by Lynette Eason

New York City: A Most Peculiar Circumstance by Jen Turano

Bout of Books Day Five Challenge!

 Character Soulmates Challenge  

It's great because we are going to be shipping characters from different books. Have you ever thought __(person)__ from this book would be just perfect with __(person)__ from this other book? Well here is your chance to finally pair them up and watch the sparks fly.

1.) Pick two characters from two different books who you think will be great together in a romantic relationship. These characters must have never been in the same book together or met before.

2.) Make a post telling me which characters you picked and what books they are from. You can't forget to give them a cool ship name too! An example of a ship name can be "Percabeth" for Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase. If you have a blog or a youtube channel, you can also just put this info in a post/video and leave a link to it in the comments.

3.) Give me a short reason as to why you paired those two as a cute couple. Convince us that it is meant to be.

This was actually a really hard challenge for me because most of the books that I read are romances that end with the couple either engaged or married, and even though they are fictional characters I just couldn't bring myself to break up their relationships for the sake of this challenge! So I decided to pick two characters that either did not have a soulmate at the end of their book or their story just hasn't been written yet! 

I chose...

Megan from From The Start by Melissa Tagg and Josh Martin from Worth The Wait by Laura Jackson!

Nickname: Jogan

Why: I love both of these characters (There is a bit of an age difference but since the year isn't mentioned  in either book, I'm just going to imagine that From The Start is set about four years after Worth the Wait, which would make Josh and Megan the same age!) I love Megan's spunky, determined, sarcastic personality which hides a deeply wounded heart, she is so strong and admirable  and Josh is such a sweetheart (But yet he's not afraid to fight for what he believes in and those he loves!) I would love for Megan to realize that God has a true gentleman out there for her! I know without a doubt that Josh would stop at nothing to help her see that she is adored and cherished (Not only by him but also by Jesus) Josh is one amazing young man and I know he would fall head over heels for Megan and he would be a great father, I have no doubt that he would love Megan's  unborn child as his own! 

Bout of Books Day Four Challenge!

Four seasons of book covers challenge

For this challenge, you need to convey the four seasons in book covers – through color, title, cover, etc. You can be literal or take a more creative approach. Anything goes! Just show me four seasons in book covers. 

Winter

Spring

Summer

Fall