"Top Gun" Started It All

Suzanne Woods Fisher, you never disappoint!  I have read and reviewed the last two books in the Nantucket Legacy series, and absolutely loved them! "The Light Before Day" won me over just like the last two, and had me on the edge of my seat anticipating how it may end.  The book is set in 1840 and we are now following an all grown up Henry Macy after he returns home from a three year long whaling voyage, and his twin sister Hitty who is enjoying her life working at the Cent School, all the while trying to catch the eye of a handsome widower. Their late grandmother has just passed when the book opens and they are informed that they are the benefactors of her massive fortune. Henry and Hitty struggle with accepting the fortune for their own personal reasons, especially since their are some hoops the twins will have to jump through to even receive the inheritance. If they do not abide by the rules, the inheritance will go to their uncle who stole everything from their f

"The Sound of Distant Thunder" is the first Amish fiction I have read in a long time. I have read my fair share though, and I have always loved them, but this one did not meet my expectations. The book follows a young woman named Katie and her sweetheart, Jonas. They are a young couple starting to make plans for the future, and of marriage, during the time of the Civil War. When Jonas's brother gets drafted, Jonas takes his place, and goes against everything the Amish believe regarding not involving themselves in war. Will Katie and Jonas make it through the trials and distance of war and find their way back to each other to start their life together? You will, for sure and certain, have to read the book to find out. The fact that this book was going to follow an Amish man in the Army during the Civil War was a huge draw for me to read this book, but their was much to be desired. Their seemed to be a lot of plot holes and scenes that seemed unnecessary and had no t

                                                               ~Synopsis~ In 1911, Carrie Strahorn wrote a memoir entitled Fifteen Thousand Miles by Stage, which shared some of the most exciting events of 25 years of traveling and shaping the American West with her husband, Robert Strahorn, a railroad promoter, investor, and writer. That is all fact. Everything She Didn't Say imagines Carrie nearly ten years later as she decides to write down what was really on her mind during those adventurous nomadic years. Certain that her husband will not read it, and in fact that it will only be found after her death, Carrie is finally willing to explore the lessons she learned along the way, including the danger a woman faces of losing herself within a relationship with a strong-willed man and the courage it takes to accept her own God-given worth apart from him. Carrie discovers that wealth doesn't insulate a soul from pain and disappointment, family is essential, pioneering is a

"The Daily Question for You and Your Child" is a three year long journey you get to take with your child, just by asking them one question a day. Each day their is a new quesion that the book gives you to pose to your child ranging from, "What is your favorite cookie?", "If you could trade places with someone for a day, who would it be?", and "What gift would you have given the Baby Jesus? How can you give Jesus a gift now?" Their are so many amazing, thought provoking questions that may just leave you amazed at your child's wisdom, or may just make you laugh at what is going on up in their head. I have a four year old daughter and some of these questions take some explaining, but I love to see her grasp and actually think about something she may not have understood before, or when the question is as simple as, "What imaginary creature do you wish was real?" and her face immediatly lights up and replies with, "Unicorn!&quo

"A Rumored Fortune" is a book that will have you enraptured from the very first page.  It is set in England in 1866 and follows a young woman named Tressa. Her father was a bit eccentric and had hidden his massive fortune somewhere on the grounds of their family home, Trevelyan Castle, without ever revealing to anyone else where he had hidden it. With her father's untimely death, and no idea where he may have hid the fortune Tressa is thrown into a life of heartbreak, fortune hunters, and skirting on the edge of poverty and scandal. Tressa will have to waid through the mysteries of the castle, that have been building for years, to find the answers and the fortune she seeks. In the end, the fortune she's after may not be that of money, but one of love. This is only Joanna Politano's second book, and you would never be able to tell by her style of writing. She writes with such a beautiful, classic, gothic way that I haven't had the pleasure of reading in a

I have not read a historical romance that dealt with such a controversal topic in a long time, and it is not because I don't want to read one, they are just extremely hard to find. Kristi Ann Hunter has been one of the few Christian authors to address the issue of illegitament birth's of the nobility, and I absolutely adored the way she went about doing so. "A Defense of Honor" follows a young woman named Katherine who runs a secret home called, Haven Manor, for children of illegitament birth from parents of nobility. Katherine is hiding much more than just children, she's also dealing with the guilt of a past mistake that changed her life and her best friend's forever. After briefly meeting a man named Graham on a trip to London, she never would have believed he would soon be riding up to Haven Manor's doorstep as a favor to a friend. As Katherine starts developing feelings for Graham, she has to address some of her secrets, some of the things she&#

I was eagerly anticipating Suzanne Woods Fisher's second installment in the Nantucket Legacy series, and I have to say that it was well worth the wait. "Minding the Light" jumps a century from the last book, and follows a young woman named Daphne, and Reynolds, who is married to Daphne's sister, Jane. After a sudden tragedy strikes on the day Ren returns from six long years at sea, he  must come home and meet his children for the first time, deal with his crumbling financial situation, all while struggling with the Quaker religion, when all he sees is hypocrisy.  Will he be able to become the father his children need him to be, escape financial ruin, find new love, and maybe just see the light in the Quaker faith? You will have to read the book to find out. This book was abolutely superb! I loved how the author showed how the issues of the 19th century are not too different from the issues of the 21st century. The book deals with drug abuse, racism, and also,

"Together Forever" by Jody Hedlund is the second book in her Orphan Train series and it was the first book in the series I had read. The book revolves around a young woman named Marianne Neumann who is working as a placing agent for the Children's Aid Society in 1858. She ends up traveling west on her first placing trip with a fellow agent who is a young, dashing man, named Andrew Brady. As the trip progresses and Marianne gets attached to the children she will, inevitably, have to let go, we see that Andrew and Marianne are both filled with a guilt that can't be shaken, and their individual problems start to come between their budding, passionate romance. An even greater tragedy ends up happening on their trip and it will be Marianne and Andrew's biggest test of faith, trust, and love yet. I loved the setting of this book. I have never read a historical fiction book that revolved so heavily around the orphan trains, and now I know I will have to read more,

It is very rare that I read rom-coms and "The Theory of Happily Ever After" reminded me why that is. The book is about a young woman named Maggie, who was recently dumped by her fiance, and is now having trouble getting out of the funk she has spiraled into. Her two best friends, unbeknownst to her, sign her up to speak on a singles cruise to help her snap out of her mood. Maggie is an accomplished book writer and a scientist of happiness, and now she feels unqualified to speak on happiness and the perfect life when she is far from happy and her life has spiraled out of control. Onboard the cruise ship she will be forced to break out of her shell, and maybe forgive and forget her ex, and in the process maybe just find love again. Does that plot sound unique? The answer to that is, no. You can call from a mile away what this book is going to bring. Some adolescent like behavior is what is in store from the main character who wants to whine and wallow in the fact her life

I love a historical fiction book set in the west and with handsome cowboys, and adventure around every turn, "The Accidental Guardian" has it all. Set in Nevada in the late fall of 1867 the book opens on two sisters, Deb and Gwen travelling to California with a wagon train. The wagon train gets attacked early one morning leaving the sisters and two children as the only survivors, all alone and stranded in the wilderness. They are saved by a knight riding in on a noble steed, or more like a handsome, lonely, cowboy named Trace on a horse named Black, and a pet wolf. This cowboy had been out in the mountains all alone for years after a wagon train he had headed west on, when he was 15, was attacked and left him as the only survivor. Trace holds one dark secret close to his heart, and he is out for vengeance, but now he must protect Deb, Gwen and the children first and foremost, with the outlaws who attacked the train still on the loose and winter closing in. With Trace lacki

It's not too often I honestly don't want to walk away from a book to do my everyday things, but with "A Borrowed Dream" that is exactly what happened. Their were just too many things I wanted to see resolved, so I ended up taking a lot of breaks throughout my day to get the answers to my questions. Between laundry, dinners, and the many requests for a sippy cup to be refilled I found the time to finish the book in record time. Amanda Cabot works wonders with any book she writes. I read the first book in this series, and it was great and this second installment did not dissapoint. It follows a young woman named Catherine, a widowed father named Aaron, and his daughter, Hannah. (I bet you don't know who's going to end up together.) ;) Aaron comes to town with a trunk full of secrets, and Catherine can sort of see through that and yet, she is slowly falling in love. I loved the aspects of mystery, romance, danger, and adventure that were written into the

"You shouldn't let the voices of your past or present define who you are. Let God do that. And He says you're precious. So think of yourself that way, Mercy." The amount of forgivness in this book is amazing! "A Chance at Forever" is about a young woman ironically named, Mercy and a young man named Aaron. During Mercy's childhood Aaron used to be her biggest tormentor, but he is now claiming to be a changed man and wants to establish himself back into the local community, after moving away, to make up for all the wrongs he had done in the past. Mercy can not seem to look past the man Aaron used to be and she still struggles with the pain he brought upon her as a child. Will Mercy be able to forgive her past tormentor? Will she even grow to love him after all he has done? Their are multiple side stories throughout the book and they all revolve around forgivness and past hurts.  "A Chance at Forever" really brings to light an issue that ev

It took me awhile to get through "Judah's Scepter and the Sacred Stone", but I feel like that was because the amount of detail the author put into the book. I was expecting the book to be more focused on the couple, and while I would have loved that, I also really enjoyed all the history I was learning. I learned more about their religous customes back then, and some of the pagean rituals that I had never heard of. I feel as if the author thoroughly knows the topic they write on and they did a fabulous job portraying the time and history they were writing about. This is not a book that you can call the author's next move. I had a few times where I was quite surprised by the outcome of events in the story. The only complaint I have was that we never really see how the death of Teia's father and siblings affected her in the long run. It just seems she found out and kept going on with life. I also wish we would have had a bit more romance, but all in all an e

"Keturah" is a beautiful book that deals with some of the gritty situations of the time, and shows how a woman can overcome and rise up even after she has been told she is not good enough. The year is 1772 and the book opens in England with Keturah learning of her recently deceased father's failing financial situation. Keturah and her two younger sisters must travel to Nevis, in the West Indies, where their father owned a once very successful sugar plantation, to see if they can turn their financial situation around. Keturah is a widow who was once married to a brutal tyrant, and now she has trouble accepting any help from men, since she has been hurt by them so many times. Keturah will face many trials in the book, but the biggest one of all may just be to open up her heart again, and give herself the chance to be loved the way that God intended. This was my first book I had ever read by Lisa T. Bergren, and I think I may have found a new favorite author. This is th

I am 22 years old and I truly enjoyed this YA novel. I usually dread reading YA novels, just because the main characters are usually too whiney, and way too much drama usually goes down, but Leslea Wahl did a wonderful job creating a relatable main character, and she was very sparce with the drama, which I enjoyed. Josie, the main character, is truly a girl after my own heart. She is clumsy, a lover of musicals, and old movies which definitely made her a relatable main character for me. I loved the references to old movies, and plays and I proudly understood them all. Maybe these references will motivate some of this new generation to look up some of these classics. The romance in the book was very well written, and believable and it made me relive my high school dream of having a summer romance in a quiet little beach town. (That tends to be a popular theme in YA books.) If you want to read an uplifting book, with a bit of mystery, romance, and a clumsy, relatable main char

"Where The Fire Falls" first drew my attention when I saw it was set in Yosemite National Park, and when I saw it was also set in the late 20's with a bit of mystery and romance, I was hooked. I felt like the book had a bit of a slow start, and it took me a bit to really get into it, but when I did it met my excited expectations. The writing of the author really helped me visualize the area. I felt like I was actually at Yosemite, and one day I hope to be. It was interesting to read a bit about the history of a few of the places and people depicted in the book in the Author's Note, and I was happy to hear that The Fire Falls were a real thing, but sadly they stopped doing it back in the 60's. The romance between the two main characters unfolded beautifully, and figuring out both of their stories and pasts was well worth the wait. I would highly recommend reading, "Where The Fire Falls" if only to go to Yosemite in your mind, because the author t

Suzanne Woods Fisher has always impressed me with her writing, and "Phoebe's Light" did not disappoint. The book follows a young Quaker woman named Phoebe, back in the mid 1700's on Nantucket Island. The Quakers are a part of history that I do not know too much about, and this book gave me a bit of insight that I always love from historical fiction. If a book can surprise me and not end up with what I assume is going to happen, I am always overjoyed and this book did that for me. The ending was what I had expected, but the middle did throw me for a few loops that I truly enjoyed. My only complaint would be that I wish their may have been a bit more romance between the two main characters, but all in all it was a very good book. The second book in the series will be released this summer, and I am already anticipating it. We got to read the first chapter at the end of this book, and I'm pretty sure it will be just as good, if not better, than "Phoebe'

I was thirteen when "Kisses From Katie" came out. I remember reading it and just hoping I could do a fragment of what Katie was doing with my own life someday. Now here I am almost ten years later, a wife and mother, and this book fits so well into the time I am at in my life. I have went through some pretty dark times in the years that have passed and I have struggled in much the same way Katie has, but through it all I was constantly reminded of God's unending love and His absolutely AMAZING Grace!  I loved peaking into someone elses mind who questioned the same things as me and who may have just been a bit angry at God at some point, and I saw that I am not as horrible as I first thought for ever even dwelling on those thoughts. I have not made as noticable a mark on the world as Katie has already done, but to the people I come in contact with every day I hope to make their lives just a bit better, and hopefully I live in such a way that they can see what God ha