"Top Gun" Started It All

                                                               ~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 G...

"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!...

"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...