Monthly Reflections #10

My goal for March was to read 10 books, I didn't quite reach that goal. I read 7 books but I had a pretty busy month so I'm still pretty happy with what I managed to read!

The books I read:

1. Dating, Dining, and Desperation by Melody Carlson

2. Poison Town by Creston Mapes

3. A Broken Kind of Beautiful by Katie Ganshert

4. Glittering Promises by Lisa T. Bergren

5. Water Walker-Episode 1 by Ted Dekker

6. Once Upon A Prince by Rachel Hauck

7. A March Bride by Rachel Hauck

My favorite reads were, A Broken Kind of Beautiful, Once Upon A Prince and A March Bride!


I'm not going to set a number of books as my goal for April, instead my goal is simply to read as many of the books I already own as I possibly can! :)

Poison Town by Creaton Mapes

This week, theChristian Fiction Blog Allianceis introducingPoison TownDavid C. Cook (February 1, 2014)byCreston Mapes



ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Creston has fond memories of his boyhood in Bath, Ohio, where he became enchanted with his future wife, way back in the fourth grade. His father, Bernie, owned and operated The Weathervane Furniture Shop in town. The whole family lived right upstairs in the century-old house known as "The Shop."



Creston studied journalism at Bowling Green State University, then began his writing career. During the past 30 years, he has worked as a reporter, corporate copywriter, creative director, freelance writer, and author.





ABOUT THE BOOK

There's More Than One Kind of Poison in This Town




People are sick and dying. Rumors are swirling. Some claim chemicals leaking from a manufacturing plant are causing the cancer that's crippling people on the poor side of Trenton City, Ohio. Yet nothing at the plant appears amiss.




 
The problem remains a mystery until reporter Jack Crittendon's long-time mechanic falls ill and he investigates. Soon Jack becomes engulfed in a smokescreen of lies, setups, greed, and scandal.




The deeper he digs, the more toxic the corruption he uncovers. As he faces off with the big-time players behind the scenes and tries to beat the clock before more people die, he realizes the chillingly unthinkable--he knows too much.



If you'd like to read the first chapter of Poison Town, go HERE.





My Review:
I really enjoyed the first book in this series (Fear Has A Name) last year, and I was very much looking forward to this new release! I really liked the premise and the characters were very well written once again! I did feel like the identity of some of the villains was a tiny bit too easy to guess, and it annoyed me a little bit that in some cases it took the good guys a really long time to figure out who the villains were! I enjoyed this read and it had enough tension to keep me turning pages, but I don't think I liked the majority of the book quite as much as the first in the series. However, I love it when a book has a climax in which everything seems to be imploding on the characters, and you think there is nothing else that could possibly go wrong but yet things do. This book definitely did not disappoint in that area!

Overall, this was a very enjoyable second installment in the Crittendon Files series, I recommend this series! And after having read the excerpt of the next book in the series "Sky Zone", I am eagerly anticipating its release!



I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via CFBA in exchange for an honest review. The above is my honest opinion. All thoughts and opinions are one hundred percent my own.

Review: A Broken Kind of Beautiful by Katie Ganshert, 5 Stars!!!

First off I just want to say that I have been in love with this book since the moment I first laid eyes on the cover, isn't it just gorgeous?!

After reading and absolutely loving Katie Ganshert's first two books last year, I knew I would love this one too! I was not disappointed! This book was amazing! I loved our heroine, Ivy. The way she changed from the person she was at the beginning of the book to the person she was at the end was truly inspirational!

And Davis, oh my gosh! He was a splendid addition to the line of incredible heroes this author has written, my heart melted at his tenderness and all the wonderful things he did for others. He was such a strong, yet delightfully flawed character. What more could you ask for? I also loved Sara, Marilyn, and Twila such wonderful secondary characters.

This is a little weird but I recently saw the movie "Breakfast At Tiffany's" for the first time, and in a way this book reminded me a little bit of that movie, at least in that it has a heroine with a broken past who doesn't know her true worth and the only way she does know to get through life is to use her physical beauty and sex appeal to her advantage, even though it has left her heart torn into a million pieces. And a hero who is seemingly the first man on the planet who is immune to her charms, and who sees her true worth and how special she really is. Not sure if that makes any sense but anyway, I LOVED this book! I was not bored for a minute while reading it, in fact I hated to put it down! 

A Broken Kind of Beautiful far surpassed all my expectations and I highly recommend it! 

Seriously go buy it now, it's that good!!! 

I cannot wait to see what other wonderful treats of storytelling Katie Ganshert has up her sleeve! 

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah in exchange for an honest review, my review was not required to be positive, the above review is my honest opinion. All thoughts and opinions are one hundred percent my own.

Review: Dating, Dining, and Desperation by Melody Carlson 3.5 Stars!

After reading and enjoying the first book in this series last year, I was looking forward to this second installment. And while I did enjoy Dating, Dining, and Desperation, I didn't like it as much as the first book in the series. Once again I really liked Daphne and it was really fun to get reacquainted with her! At first I didn't care much for her new neighbor Sabrina, but she grew on me and I ended up liking her quite a lot! And I loved it when seven year old Mabel came into the story, she was just so adorable! I also loved that Daphne was writing a suspense novel! One of my favorite things about this series is the mystery as to who Daphne will end up marrying, a mystery that is made even more complex by the entry of several new possible love interests for Daphne in this book, I look forward to seeing what happens next in this series! 

Most of the time I really enjoyed this book, but there were just times when  I found myself slightly bored with the story. 

I recommend Dating, Dining and Desperation, it probably could be read as a standalone but I think you might want to read Lock, Stock and Over a Barrel first! 

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via CFBA in exchange for an honest review. The above is my honest opinion. All thoughts and opinions are one hundred percent my own.

Monthly Reflections #9

In February my goal was to read as many books from my TBR pile as possible. I managed to get 7 books read, which I am really happy with! I also managed to reach the goal I've had for a while of reading all of Jody Hedlund's books to date, I read the last two I hadn't yet read in February, I enjoyed both of them and I think The Preacher's Bride is now tied with The Doctor's Lady for my favorite of her books! :)

The books I read were:

1. The Locket by Amanda Tru

2. A Match Made in Texas by Karen Witemeyer, Regina Jennings, Carol Cox, and Mary Connealy

3. The Preacher's Bride by Jody Hedlund

4. Remnants: Season of Wonder by Lisa Tawn Bergren

5. Catch a Falling Star by Beth K. Vogt

6. A Noble Groom by Jody Hedlund

7. Insurgent by Veronica Roth

My favorite read in February was definitely Remnants, I was so excited to read that book! It felt like I had been waiting forever to get a chance to read it! And it was amazing, even better than I was hoping!!! :)


My goal for March is to read 10 books!

Dating, Dining, and Desperation by Melody Carlson

This week, theChristian Fiction Blog Allianceis introducingDating, Dining, and DesperationB&H Books (March 1, 2014)byMelody Carlson



ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Over the years, Melody Carlson has worn many hats, from pre-school teacher to youth counselor to political activist to senior editor. But most of all, she loves to write! Currently she freelances from her home. In the past eight years, she has published over ninety books for children, teens, and adults--with sales totaling more than two million and many titles appearing on the ECPA Bestsellers List. Several of her books have been finalists for, and winners of, various writing awards.



She has two grown sons and lives in Central Oregon with her husband and chocolate lab retriever. They enjoy skiing, hiking, gardening, camping and biking in the beautiful Cascade Mountains.





ABOUT THE BOOK

Daphne Ballinger has learned to accept her deceased, eccentric aunt’s strange request that she marry in order to inherit her estate, along with taking over her aunt’s hometown paper’s advice column.

But knowing and accepting that God’s will be done becomes harder when a new neighbor, a divorced socialite, learns of Daphne’s predicament and takes on the task of finding her the perfect man, even if it includes speed dating. When God does open Daphne’s heart, it is instead to take in a young girl left parentless and in the care of her dying grandmother. It may be a temporary arrangement until the girl’s uncle returns from the Marines, but God uses Daphne to speak His heavenly love and protection into the life of the child -- whom Daphne soon discovers has a very handsome and single uncle.



If you would like to read the first chapter of Dating, Dining, and Desperation, go HERE.





My review: I'm so sorry, but my life has been really crazy busy lately and I haven't had time to finish this book yet! Again sorry, and I will post my review as soon as I finish the book!

Review: A Match Made In Texas 5 Stars!!!

It brings me great joy to present to you Bethany House publishers first ever novella collection, A Match Made in Texas. A book which I was thrilled to receive a copy to review! 

 A Cowboy Unmatched by Karen Witemeyer (5 Stars!)

 

Ever since I read Short Straw Bride back in the summer of 2012 I've been a huge fan of the Archer brothers! So needless to say I was greatly anticipating getting a chance to finally read youngest brother Neill's story! And once again Karen Witemeyer did not disappoint! I absolutely LOVED this story, it was by far my favorite novella in the collection! I loved the wonderful man Neill had grown into and Clara was such a darling; they were absolutely perfect for each other! This novella has it all, it is one of the best novellas I've ever read! And last but not least I loved that we got reunited with all the rest of the Archer brothers! It was bittersweet, knowing this was the last of their stories, I found myself wishing there were more brothers! :)

The only thing that disappointed me about A Cowboy Unmatched was that it had to end! Definitely a must read for Witemeyer fans! 

An Unforeseen Match by Regina Jennings (5 Stars!)

This was my first time reading something by this author so I didn't quite know what to expect but I'm happy to say that I really enjoyed it! Grace was such a great character, I liked that she really made me think about what it would be like and how scary it would be to be slowly losing your sight. I liked how she was tough yet vulnerable at the same time, and I really liked how she found her strength in God! Clayton was a really good hero, I liked how he struck a perfect balance of helping Grace when she needed it yet he didn't treat her like an invalid by doing things for her that she was perfectly capable of doing herself! 

I also loved the humor in this one! This was another really good novella which I highly recommend and I will definitely be reading more of Ms. Jennings work in the future! 

No Match For Love by Carol Cox (4 Stars!)

This was another good novella; though I didn't enjoy it as much as the first two in the book. The main characters Lucy and Andrew were good but they weren't really standouts, I thought Andrew's business selling and installing windmills was quite interesting! I really liked Andrew's aunt Martha, she was a great character, loved her spunk! The little bit of mystery in this novella was very interesting but it was quite easy to guess who was behind all the strange goings on. I did enjoy this story, but the main reason I'm giving this novella four stars instead of five is because the romance felt really rushed and not very believable. At least to me any way. However, I do recommend No Match For Love.

Meeting Her Match by Mary Conneally (5 Stars!)

It was really neat to finally get to meet the young woman who had a hand in matching the couples from the three previous novellas! I felt really bad for her because of all she went through, and the way her father and step mother treated her! I loved the hero Mark, he absolutely tugged at my heart! I will always love a hero who is shy and humble and truly believes he is not worthy of the heroine! :) There were a few things in this story that didn't really seem believeable  to me, however I did enjoy this novella very much! And I highly recommend this novella as well as the entire book! 

I received this book from Bethany House publishers in exchange for my honest review.

Thanks!

The above is my honest opinion.

All thoughts and opinions are one hundred percent my own