All She Left Behind, book #28

 

Moving right along during my Reading Era this summer ...

Already well-versed in the natural healing properties of herbs and oils, Jennie Pickett longs to become a doctor. But the Oregon frontier of the 1870s doesn't approve of such innovations as women attending medical school. To leave grief and guilt behind, as well as support herself and her challenging young son, Jennie cares for an elderly woman using skills she's developed on her own. When her patient dies, Jennie discovers that her heart has become entangled with the woman's widowed husband, a man many years her senior. Their unlikely romance may lead her to her ultimate goal--but the road will be winding and the way forward will not always be clear. Will Jennie find shelter in life's storms? Will she discover where healing truly lives? (Picture and description at Amazon)

I'm really thinking the next one will for sure be a non-fiction.  

Summer is over for me, as the students where I work will be back on Monday.  I've been at work for three weeks, but it always still feels like summer because we wear shorts & messy clothes and doesn't really feel like real work.  (But trust me, it is! 😏)

What are you reading these days?

Melissa

Sunrise Reef (Hope Harbor #11), book 27

 

Sigh, I always love me some Hope Harbor!  Last night as I was going to bed I told Katie I was going to finish this book and I was going to be sad, because I always hate ending these.  I did find out she is writing another one, but it won't come out until next spring!

After years of searching, Bren Ryan has found her place in Hope Harbor. Working as a barista suits her to a T, as does the laid-back vibe of her adopted town. Nothing is lacking in her life--except romance. But that's okay. Men are a complication she doesn't need.  Buttoned-up CPA Noah Ward isn't looking for love, either, when he arrives in town on a mission to convince his father to move closer to him. And he certainly doesn't intend to fall for the quirky, free-spirited woman who's taken up residence in his father's guest cottage. But when he finds himself sucked into her quest to help a struggling teen, might the two of them discover there's more to each other than meets the eye?  (picture and description at Amazon)

This week for Book Club we are making a road trip to Bowling Green to see our friend Marilyn who moved up that way.  We are all very excited!

Happy Reading!

Melissa

Driftwood Bay (Hope Harbor #5), book #26

 

When we decided to read the latest Hope Harbor novel I realized I had never read this one, so I went and remedied that quickly!  It is just amazing that even though I have read these with months in between, I con go right back to Hope or and see all my friends in a minute :)  Oh, if only Hope Harbor was a real place!

After tragedy upends her world, Jeannette Mason retreats to the tiny Oregon seaside town of Hope Harbor to create a new life. Vowing to avoid emotional attachments, she focuses on running her lavender farm and tearoom--until a new neighbor with a destructive dog and a forlorn little girl invades her turf. But she needn't worry. Dr. Logan West is too busy coping with an unexpected family, a radical lifestyle change, and an unruly pup to have any interest in his aloof and disagreeable neighbor.  Yet when both Jeanette and Logan find themselves pulled into the life of a tattered Christian family fleeing persecution in war-torn Syria, might they discover that love sometimes comes calling when it's least expected? (picture and description at Amazon)

I'm already half way through the new one, but I don't want it to end!  

Happy Summer Reading!

Melissa

The Last Exchange, book #25

 

Ok, when I first started this book I wasn't sure I was going to like it.  I mean, I'm always up for a good mystery, but this one had me stumped.  The chapters were all titled either After or Before and it took me nearly 3/4 of the book to figured out what happened to make an After and a Before.  I read it pretty quick, despite the fact that it leaped back and forth in time, mainly because I kept waiting for it to make sense.  But if you stick with it, in the end it all becomes clear.  There weren't too many surprises once you started figuring things out, but it was still a good read in the end.  

When MacThomas Pockets finished his last tour as part of the Scottish Special Forces, he was hired to consult for a film director to finesse some scenes that weren't working. In a twist he never saw coming, he ended up moving to L.A. to work as the bodyguard for movie star Maybe Joe Sue.  It didn't take long for Pockets to realize there were two Joe Sues: The Joe Sue the public saw with her perfect life and her Hollywood husband. And the private Joe Sue: the one with the traumatic youth that no amount of pills could cover up, who desperately wanted a child of her own.  Even after their paths diverged, he continued to track Joe Sue's life. Only a few would notice when the bottom fell out. But he did. And that's when he stepped in. (picture and description at Amazon)

I'm debating picking up a non-fiction for next time, but I'm just not sure yet.  I'm excited about our book for Book Club, but we aren't meeting until later in the month, so I feel like I could for sure squeeze in another book before I read that one.

Happy Reading!

Melissa

The Best Summer of our Lives, book #24

 

This book had been on my Amazon Books list for a while, because who doesn't like a good book by Rachel Hauck?, and my sweet Katie got it for me for my birthday.  I couldn't wait to get into it, and now that it is finally summer I "dove" right in.  10 stars ~ go read it!

Twenty years ago, the summer of '77 was supposed to be the best summer of Summer Wilde's life. She and her best friends, Spring, Autumn, and Snow--the Four Seasons--had big plans.  But those plans never had a chance. After a teenage prank gone awry, the Seasons found themselves on a bus to Tumbleweed, "Nowhere," Oklahoma, to spend eight weeks as camp counselors. All four of them arrived with hidden secrets and buried fears, and the events that unfolded in those two months forever altered their friendships, their lives, and their futures.  Now, thirtysomething, Summer is at a crossroads. When her latest girl band leaves her in a motel outside Tulsa, she is forced to face the shadows of her past. Returning to the place where everything changed, she soon learns Tumbleweed is more than a town she never wanted to see again. It's a place for healing, for reconciling the past with the present, and for finally listening to love's voice. (Picture and description at Amazon)

Happy Summer Reading!

Melissa

The Hideaway, book #23

 

I'm happy to report that this book ended up better than I originally thought.  Yes, it sounded like, as Katie said, many other books I've read, but it all came together nicely.  The thing that I didn't like about this book personally, is the lack to God/Jesus.  I may have been mistaken that she was a Christian fiction author, but it was published by Thomas Nelson.  

When her grandmother’s will wrenches Sara back to her small hometown of Sweet Bay, Alabama, she must face family secrets and difficult choices. In the South, family is always more complicated than it seems.  After her last remaining family member dies, Sara Jenkins goes home to The Hideaway, her grandmother Mags’s ramshackle B&B in Sweet Bay. She intends to quickly tie up loose ends then return to her busy life and thriving antique shop in New Orleans. Instead, she learns Mags has willed The Hideaway to her and charged her with renovating it—no small task considering her grandmother’s best friends, a motley crew of senior citizens, still live there.  Rather than hurrying back to New Orleans, Sara stays in Sweet Bay and begins the biggest house-rehabbing project of her career. Amid drywall dust, old memories, and a charming contractor, she discovers that slipping back into life at The Hideaway is easier than she expected.  Then she discovers a box Mags left in the attic with clues to a life Sara never imagined for her grandmother. With help from Mags’s friends, Sara begins to piece together the mysterious life of bravery, passion, and choices that changed her grandmother’s destiny in both marvelous and devastating ways.  When an opportunistic land developer threatens to seize The Hideaway, Sara is forced to make a choice—stay in Sweet Bay and fight for the house and the people she’s grown to love or leave again and return to her successful but solitary life in New Orleans. (picture and description at Amazon)

I have gotten a fair amount of rest from our big weekend and the months leading up to it, but I feel my laziness kicks in way too quick.  I always try to find a balance in these few weeks I have off.

Keep Reading!

O:)

Melissa

Love Finds You ... in Lonesome Prairie, Montana, book #22

 

This takes us back to the pioneers & indians and it was a really good read.  The description below doesn't really do it justice, just trust me it's a good one.

In 1890, Julia Cavanaugh travels west from New York City to unite orphans in her care with new families.  Imagine her horror when she discovers that she’s to be “delivered,” too–as bride to an uncouth miner! But with no return fare, Julia’s options are bleak.  What does God have planned for her on the lonesome prairies of Montana? (picture and description at Amazon)

Not sure the next book I've already started will be as good, but we shall see.  

In other news, these two lovebirds got married last weekend! 😊I've never in my life seen two people so happy at the their wedding and laughing with joy all day long.

Keep Reading!

Melissa