"Top Gun" Started It All

"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...