Review: Where Treetops Glisten by Cara Putman, Sarah Sundin and Tricia Goyer

5 Stars!!!

An absolutely delightful Christmas novella collection!  

After finally reading a novel by Sarah Sundin earlier this year, and absolutely falling on love with her writing I knew I would want to read anything she wrote. This was my first  time reading stories by both Cara Putman and Tricia Goyer. 

I love books about siblings, and this collection did not disappoint! I loved all three stories, but Sarah Sundin's "I'll be Home for Christmas" was by far my favorite (For a number of reasons, and I was absolutely charmed by Linnie she was so adorable!) although Tricia Goyer's "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" was a very close second for me! It was so cool that each novella was named after a Christmas song that was released during WWII and is still a big part of Christmas in America today!  I also loved that the authors were able to include each Christmas from 1941 through 1945.

I also loved all the letters that family members sent to each other, it made me feel like I was totally a part of the Turner family!

This is such an amazing collection, I loved every minute of it! 

I can totally envision myself re-reading this collection every Christmas. 

Highly recommend to anyone and everyone! 

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah through their Blogging For Books review program, 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: A Most Inconvenient Marriage by Regina Jennings

5 Stars!!!

After reading a novella by this author several months ago and really enjoying it, I was very much looking forward to reading more of her books! I was not disappointed with this book! It has been a while since I read a book with a main female character that I really liked and could really relate to, but Abigail was absolutely that heroine! I loved how strong (Some might even say stubborn) she was, how determined she was to make sure everyone else was taken care of without a thought for herself, and of course her love for horses touched this horsewoman's heart! Jeremiah was also a great character, and this book was filled with an awesome cast of supporting characters, I adored the neighbor children Josiah and Betsy, and some of the pranks that took place between them and Abigail had me laughing out loud! The setting was really cool, and it was written so realistically that I kept having to remind myself that I was indeed in my living room not the Ozarks of Missouri in 1865! For fear of spoiling something I will stop here, but let me just say that I loved this book from start to finish! However there were a couple of horse related details that were either incorrect and/or not believable, which because I am a life long student of all things equine, really bothered me, but being that it was a fictional story I chose to give it the benefit of the doubt that these details were written this way simply for the sake of the story, and did not let it affect my enjoyment of the story as a whole which was very great indeed!

Again I loved this book and highly recommend it. I can't wait to read the next installment in this great new series. I also have Regina Jennings' first three novels on my Kindle and I am very much looking forward to reading them when I get a chance!

I was honored to receive a review copy of this amazing book from Bethany House publishers, in exchange for my honest review! 

Monthly Reflections #17

My goal for October was to read 10 books. I am thrilled that I was able to exceed that goal, I read 13 books! :)

The books I read were:

1. The Butterfly and the Violin by Kristy Cambron

2. Out Of The Storm by Jody Hedlund

3. An August Bride by Debra Clopton

4. The Headmistresss Of Rosemere by Sarah E. Ladd

5. Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

6. A Most Peculiar Circumstance by Jen Turano

7. Finding Mercy by Michael Landon Jr and Cindy Kelley

8. Hit by Lorie Ann Grover

9. Singularity by Steven James

10. Wonderland Creek by Lynn Austin

11. An October Bride by Katie Ganshert

12. A July Bride by Beth Wiseman

13. A September Bride by Kathryn Springer

Favorite read of the month: My favorite reads this month were, An August Bride A Most Peculiar Circumstance, Finding Mercy, Singularity, and An October Bride.

For November my goal is to read 6 books but I hope to be able to read a lot more than that!

Friday Memes!

Book Blogger Hop hosted by Rambling of a Coffee Addicted Writer

The Question

You can go trick-or-treating with any
fictional character (book or film).
Who would you go with?

My Answer: I would totally pick Piper McKenna from the Alaskan Courage series by Dani Pettrey, mostly just because I think we would definitely be best friends, I'm sure we could come up with some really cool costumes (Maybe, we could both dress up as Nancy Drew! ;) and I know we would have sooo much fun Trick or Treating together!

This is my first time doing a Book Beginning but it looked like fun so I decided to give it a try!

U.S. Marshal Serena Sumners entered three-year-old Brandon McIntyre's room with a packing box in hand. Her heart ached for the turmoil the McIntyre family had recently suffered. Danger had touched their lives in the most horrible of ways. A child had been kidnapped. 

-Undercover Marriage by Terri Reed-

My thoughts: This is definitely an attention grabbing beginning, I can't wait to read more and see what happens! 

Review: A Promise To Protect by Patricia Bradley

5 Stars!!!

After reading and loving the first book in this series (Shadows of the Past) earlier this year, I was eagerly anticipating the second installment! I was not disappointed. This was an excellent follow up, I loved getting to visit the small town of Logan Point, Mississippi again! I really enjoyed both Ben and Leigh as characters, though I do wish that Leigh had been a little bit more receptive to Ben's attempts to protect her from the start but I absolutely understand why she wasn't! 

The suspense in this book was OH SO GOOD, it's one of those stories in which just when you think no other awful things could possibly happen to the characters, something big happens! I loved the multiple layers and twists of the mystery in this book, it could easily have made the story lose it's edge by making it too complicated, but Patricia Bradley wrote it perfectly and it added depth to the story in a wonderful way! I must admit I was stumped as to the identity of the one villain who's true identity was not revealed until late in the story, I had no clue who he/she was until right before it was revealed! I loved the fact that Leigh and Ben had had a relationship in the past so there was no insta-romance factor, and in fact them realizing they still had feelings for each other happened in a very realistic and believable way, which was great! 

I absolutely loved this book and I highly recommend it anyone who enjoys God honoring romantic suspense novels! I can't wait for the next book in the series which I recently learned will be about my favorite character in the series so far, Ben's cousin Livy! 

I was honored to receive a review copy of this amazing book from Revell publishers in exchange for my honest review! 

Finding Mercy by Michael Landon Jr & Cindy Kelley

This week, theChristian Fiction Blog Allianceis introducingFinding MercyDavid C. Cook (October 1, 2014)byMichael Landon Jr. and Cindy Kelley



ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Michael Landon Jr., son of television legend Michael Landon, is an award-winning storyteller, first in television and film, and now in books. His print works include One More Sunrise co-written with Tracie Peterson. 


****

Cindy Kelley is the co-author of the novel The Silent Gift, and Traces of Mercy. Her career as a screenwriter with long-time writing partner, Michael Landon, Jr., began with the adaptation of Margery Williams’ classic story, The Velveteen Rabbit, which had a theatrical release. Several television movies followed, most notably Love Comes Softly, (based on Janette Oke’s novel) which won a CAMIE Award and the Epiphany Prize for Movie Guide’s most inspirational television movie of 2003. Cindy and her husband, Jim, make their home in the Southwest; have three adorable grandchildren and four big dogs who rule the house.





ABOUT THE BOOK

When Mercy abandons Captain Elijah Hale to search for her true identity, he goes after her. With the threat that bounty hunters might be hot on her trail, Mercy does all she can to stay ahead of the danger, frustrating both the bad men who are after her—and Captain Hale who wants to find her and escort her safely home. But when she stumbles upon clues that help her learn who she is and where she's from, the danger escalates and she has to learn to keep her friends close and her enemies even closer—if she can determine which is which!



If you'd like to read the first chapter of Finding Mercy, go HERE.

My Thoughts:

5 Stars!

I have been impatiently waiting to read this book since last year when I read and absolutely fell in love with the first book, Traces Of Mercy! Needless to say, when I was given the opportunity to review this book I jumped at the chance! I had very high expectations for Finding Mercy and I'm thrilled to say that it surpassed all of them, I loved every minute of this book! Just when I thought it couldn't get anymore awesome, it did! I once again loved Mercy and Elijah and I absolutely adore Isaac! Finding Mercy took me on an emotional roller coaster, mainly on the two extremes of grinning from ear to ear in pure joy, to sitting on the edge of my seat in suspense wondering what would happen next, this book made me feel it all! Both this book and the first one made my favorites shelf, I highly recommend this book but Traces Of Mercy should definitely be read prior to this one! 

I just loved this book so much, I know I will be re-reading it many times in the future! 

My only complaint about this book was that the ending did seem just a tad rushed and abrupt, but granted this could simply be due to the fact that I didn't want the book to end, and it also made me a bit sad because by the ending it seems this is likely to be the last book about these characters and I really didn't want to say goodbye to them! 

In closing, I adored this book and I'm thrilled that I got the chance to read it! 

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.

Hit by Lorie Ann Grover

My Thoughts: 

4 Stars!

I have been intrigued by this book since I first heard about it several months ago. So when I got the opportunity to review it I jumped at it! This was a really good book, I liked the characters though I didn't feel like I really fully connected with any of them, and I must admit there were times that the main character Sarah annoyed me just a tad, I mean I felt tremendous compassion for all she had been through but still there were moments when her attitude got on my nerves a bit! I loved how realistic this book was, I felt like I was really there living every step of the story alongside the characters! I also liked how Sarah's family members reacted in realistic and believable ways and that even though there were many times that they struggled to get along, I really did feel that by the end of the book they were a much stronger family unit! I also liked that I was able to feel all of Haddings' deep emotions. I loved the message in the book, about seeing yourself for who you truly are, I think all teenagers should read this book! 

I am a poetry fan and I really enjoyed seeing the works of different poets sprinkled throughout the story.

For a fairly short book, I was surprised by the amount of depth the story and the characters possessed. I do wish this book had been a little bit longer and I would have liked an epilogue so that I could have seen what Sarah's life was like down the road, but still this was a very good book which I really enjoyed reading, I recommend it to all teens and fans of YA fiction.

I received a free copy of this book from Book Look book bloggers group in exchange for my honest review, which I have given. All thoughts and opinions are one hundred percent my own.