romance

Review: “The Widow of Saunders Creek” by Tracey Bateman

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Through “Blogging for Books” I received a free copy of this book to review. “The Widow of Saunders Creek” tells the story of Corrie Saunders, a young woman recently widowed when her husband dies serving his country in Iraq. Corrie returns to her husband’s hometown and to the home they own and had planned to restore. Her husband’s family is still learning to accept her into the family and tensions are a bit high. Jarrod’s (her husband) cousin Eli, who is also a preacher, helps Corrie with work on the house; but as time progresses Eli worries that he is beginning to have feelings for his cousin’s widow. Meanwhile Corrie is still battling her grief and feelings of loss and begins to believe that Jarrod’s spirit is dwelling in their house. Will Corrie ever be able to move on with her life? And just what is going on in that house??

I have to say – I enjoyed reading this book, which combined dealing with grief, romance, and Christian elements. I found the supernatural aspect (the ghost in Corrie’s house) an interesting addition. Corrie dabbles a bit in local folklore and “craft” by trying to have a séance. She is guided by Eli to a relationship with Jesus. In some ways, this happened rather quickly and easily in the book (one minute she’s having a séance and the next she’s calling on Jesus). I also never quite figured out what the spirit in the house was, though Eli certainly thought it was a demon.

I would recommend this book to those who enjoy Christian romances and would not be bothered by the discussions of witchcraft/occult in the book.

Thank you, WaterBrook Press, for my copy!

Review: “Wildflowers from Winter” by Katie Ganshert

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Through Blogging for Books, I received a free download of “Wildflowers from Winter” to review.
In “Wildflowers from Winter”, Bethany Quinn returns to her home (which she vowed to leave behind forever) when her childhood friend’s husband dies. Bethany is uncomfortable with her mother, her friend, and her town. She hasn’t spoken to her friend in years. She relishes the time she spends with her grandfather, who owns a farm where she spent many happy childhood hours.

Evan Price is her grandfather’s farmhand, and her friend’s brother-in-law. Bethany and Evan clash from the start. Bethany is a high-powered city architect who is tough and seemingly careless. Evan is a hard-working farmer and a Christian. He’s somewhat disgusted by Bethany self-centeredness. Bethany is derisive of his faith. When a further tragedy and then a work crisis strike, Bethany is drawn to stay at home and begins to rebuild and rethink her life’s decisions.

I really enjoyed reading this book! At first I wasn’t sure if it was going to be a good fit for me as I thought I might find it predictable. I liked the story and character development. It was well-written. I also found the discussions of faith realistic.

Thank you, WaterBrook Press, for my copy!

You can visit Katie Ganshert’s website:

www.katieganshert.com

Review: She Can Run by Melinda Leigh

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         For my beach reading, I downloaded (on Amazon Prime’s read-for-free) “She Can Run”. (Just a note- it looks like this book is currently $1.99 on Kindle). This novel is a thriller of romantic suspense, telling the story of Beth Baker and her two young children as she is running and hiding from her pretty much insane congressman husband (another note- she is formerly widowed and the children are from her first happy marriage). Beth comes to work on a friend of her uncle’s horse farm; however, the friend has died unexpectedly and the farm is now the property of his attractive, young nephew, Jack (who is on leave from the police force after an injury). What follows is a lot of suspense and romance as Beth tries to get her life together and stay alive while her estranged husband seeks her out and a serial killer takes an interest in her.

     I enjoyed this light read and found it perfect beach reading in Hawaii! I always like a character that shares my name, though the book’s Beth was far more svelte/attractive/in danger than I am! 🙂

    

Quick YA Review- Titanic: The Long Night by Diane Hoh

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From Net Galley I received this teen romance/page-turner, telling the story of several teens on board the Titanic for its ill-fated voyage. Elizabeth is a bored, wealthy teen, who seeks to rebel against the conventions of her family and her class (including an impending engagement). Max, another teen, is also in first-class, but has been living the bohemian life as an itinerant artist in Europe (Elizabeth finds him irresistible). Katie has travelled from Ireland with two brother friends: Patrick and Brian (a bit of a love triangle ensues). More characters are met on board as the ship sails toward that fateful night and disaster.

I really enjoyed this read! I found it quick and easy and with accurate details of the disaster.

Thank you Open Road and Net Galley for my download!

Quick Review: Tomorrow’s Sun by Becky Melby (coming in January, 2012)

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Another Net Galley ARC that I downloaded for my Kindle was “Tomorrow’s Sun” by Becky Melby. In this novel  Emily Foster is a young woman who is haunted by the tragic events of a past skiing accident – an accident for which she blames herself. To make money and to help herself heal, she decides to fix up and sell a house she has purchased. However, Emily is unprepared for what she finds: an old Underground Railroad stop with letters from the 1860’s. Emily is also unprepared for the feelings she begins to have for her contractor, Jake Braden. Emily’s story mirrors the story of the house in the 1860’s.

I enjoyed reading this novel, which would be considered a romance with a touch of historical fiction in it. It also had a strong Christian element in it, especially in the second half of the book (it seems I’ve gotten a lot of books with Christian themes in them lately!). Most of the story worked for me – though I will admit to finding Jak’es brother-in-law a bit too much of a villain, and I found it an awfully big coincidence that Becky had met Jake in the distant past as a teen. All in all, though, I love a historical mystery and a happy ending!

Thanks Net Galley and Barbour Publishing, Inc. for my copy!

Quick Review: The Outsider by Ann Gabhart

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To be honest, I wasn’t sure I was going to write a review of this book because I really didn’t enjoy it. I read it in August when I downloaded it to my Kindle. If I’m not mistaken, it was free at that time (but lists at $8.99 for a download as of this writing). “The Outsider” tells the story of Gabrielle Hope, a young woman who lives within a Shaker community in Kentucky during the War of 1812.  She falls in love with an “outsider”, a young doctor who lives nearby.  The book is the story of their seemingly star-crossed love, as Gabrielle struggles with her faith and the Shaker’s commitments and Brice, the doctor (were people named that back then?), tries to move on with his life.

So – here’s the good about this book: it’s historical fiction and I always enjoy reading about things where I can learn something new. (I find reading about the Shakers or the Amish rather fascinating since it’s so removed from my daily experience.) I did read this book through to the end so I could see how it turned out.

That said, here are my problems with the book. First of all, I always have trouble with story lines where two people see each other, barely interact, but become completely and irrevocably in love with each other. Did these two even get to know each other? Where did this undying love come from? I would have appreciated more of a build up of their relationship. I also had some questions about the story line, such as: where were all the other young people in this Shaker community? Gabrielle teaches school to the little girls, but do they have no mothers? I know that in Shaker groups there are no families, but except for the tragic Esther (who ends up dying), Gabrielle seems to be the only person remotely on this side of menopause. She is even referred to as “the young sister”. Where did those little kids come from? It’s always possible they were left by their families, but it didn’t make sense to me that Gabrielle had no one to be with except a couple of cranky, mean, old biddies. I honestly would put this book down at night and think: “Wow, those Shakers were a miserable lot”, and I’m not sure that is true in reality. At the same time, things were so incredibly bleak and miserable, it was puzzling to me why Gabrielle wouldn’t leave (she was free to go at any time, though you’d never know it); and if those cranky, old sisters hated her, why didn’t they encourage her to leave? Finally, there were a few plot devices that I had to wonder about. What significance was Gabrielle’s “gift of sight”? I don’t remember her using it to drive the plot forward. Also, the switch to “Brice in the war” scenes served to pull me out of the story. I couldn’t really see the point unless it was to drive the novel forward in time and show Brice as a hardened but caring doctor (though I don’t think that needed war scenes – he’s a mountain doctor in 1812!).

Anyway, if you read this book, I’d love to hear your thoughts. Or if you’ve read Ms. Gabhart’s other novels, I’d love to hear about them.

And one more question from me: did the Shakers really call their dining room a “biting room”? I have never come across that terminology before, but I’m not an expert. As Alice would say: Curiouser and curiouser…