All Booked Up, book #15

 

As you may remember, I was reading like a crazy woman trying to get through all the books in April.  I can't believe I read as many as I did!  I did not get to read the first four books of The British Are Coming but I felt like I still enjoyed the book without having read the whole past stories.  

I was headed to the beach last week and decided to take an *actual* book instead of my paperwhite for all the lazy days I would be soaking up sand and sun.  This was a new book by Melody Carlson I was excited to get my hands on so took this one.  Sadly, it was freezing cold and rainy at the beach, but I still got to enjoy the time with family and lazy reading days -- just inside on the sofa and in the car instead of on the beach.  

As always, I highly recommend anything by Melody Carlson!  This story was so much fun and it made me wish I had a big old house like this and made me think about who I would like to have live with me!

Of note, however, is the continuing issue I personally have with Christian authors using alcoholic drinks in their books.  I know this could start a whole rampage (if I actually had anybody reading this! 🤣) but this is just MY personal opinion.  I have decided that if I was a grad student I would take on a thesis research project titled "The Rise in Use and Mention of Alcoholic Beverages in Christian Fiction Novels: 2000-2026".  However, since I am not in school and am not working on a thesis and have entirely too many other projects more prevalent, this will just have to be a passing issue I chew on.  I may start some sort of something tracking it.  

*If you are curious as to why this bothers me, feel free to message me and I'll tell you my whole big frustration with it*

Widowed empty nester Riva Owen lives in the Victorian house that's been in her family for three generations, but finances have become a challenge she can no longer ignore. Her daughter is pushing her to move, and after considering all her options, Riva knows selling would be the smartest course. But she just can't bring herself to leave decades of memories--and her cherished library filled with hundreds of books. When she pursues an alternative--opening her home to women like her who need a room to rent--Riva is unprepared for the mix of personalities and peculiarities of her new housemates. She is even more unprepared for Marcus, the handsome and handy older brother of one of her new tenants. The possibility of finding love again feels overwhelming, even as her tenants seem to have romantic schemes of their own. (picture and description from Amazon)

Next up is the May book in the Christian Fiction Reading Challenge!

It's almost summertime!

O:)

Melissa

Amish Home Remedy for the Heart (Amish Newspapers of Mercer County Book 1), book #14

 

My last book for the Faith, Hope and Love Readers Choice Awards.  I liked this one the least.  I did have a faith element to it, but I felt it was pretty cheesy.  I feel like this book needed a LOT MORE development.

Blindsided by a heart-wrenching pain she didn't see coming, Leanna King, home remedy columnist for the Amish View newspaper, is thrust into a life that's suddenly shattered.  When her husband of fifteen years leaves and says he's never coming back, Leanna is left alone with seven young children looking to her for answers. Leanna must find a way to fight through her grief or lose all that remains precious to her.  Swept off into the fast pace of the Englischer world, Milo King is finally living the dream. With no fields to plow, no Amish bishop to answer to, and free from a wife he says he never loved, Milo is finally in a place where he feels he can become his true self. But when the unthinkable happens, Milo is set on a path spiraling out of control, making him wonder if anything will ever be right again.  Desperate to fix their shattered lives, Leanna searches for an Amish home remedy for the heart, only to discover her answer lies along a path she'd promised herself she'd never go. (picture and descriptio at Amazon)

I believe I am moving on to a paperbook book I can take with me to the BEACH!!!  

O:)

Melissa

His Alaskan Christmas (Swan Falls #2), book #14

 

This is the third book of the ones I have been reading for the Faith, Hope, and Love Reader’s Choice Award.  It looks like there is almost 30 books total and I was given four to read.  I'll be curious to see how this all plays out. I wonder if it is like bracket where they take you to the next round, or if they  just calculate our ratings and go from there.  I wonder how many people are reading the same books?  It would be interesting to know the process behind it.  (If I find out I'll let you know!) 

I did like this book, but I was disappointed again in the lack of faith element.  The other two books were also like that.  However since my final one is an Amish book, I'm hoping there will be some in there.  

The tiny town of Swan Falls, Alaska, has everything engineer Emily Cooper needs—except a nanny for the holidays. But her Christmas wish could be granted in the most unexpected way! Grounded as he waits for corrective eye surgery, pilot Nick Bernardi needs a place to stay. And helping his best friend’s widow with her two kids is an easy yes. But it’s not long before the dedicated bachelor starts to feel more than he should…especially considering he’s moving far away to Hawaii. Could falling in love change his flight plan? (picture and description at Amazon)

I'm almost through with my mad dash reading!  

Melissa

To Find Where She Belongs (The British are Coming #5), book #13

 

Whew!  Another one down!  This is the April pick for the Christian Fiction Reading Challenge.  It is book #5 in the series, but with all the other books I am trying to read for the other thing, I just did not have time to go back and read the other 4.  I believe I already purchased them, so I am hoping to go back later this year and pick them up.  

Desperate to leave Hooke Manor, Keely Boyle does what she feels she must in order to flee England for America, hoping to make a new life with the help of a man who befriended her years before. But when she arrives at Eden's Gate, a large cattle ranch in the shadows of the Tetons, it is William Overstreet who offers her a fresh start.  William—a steady, God-fearing man—doesn’t need the complications falling for the pretty Irish immigrant would bring. He has enough problems already: water on the range has been poisoned and cattle are dying. But even as danger stalks the ranch, William can’t stop himself from being drawn to Keely’s fiery spirit and winsome ways.  When Keely’s secret sin is exposed, her world—and the love she’s come to cherish—teeters on the edge of ruin. But through danger and redemption, both she and William will find that belonging isn’t a matter of where they stand, but Whose grace holds them fast.  (picture and description at Amazon)

Now my goal is to finish the other two books for the Faith, Hope and Love judging before mid-May.  Then back to the Reading Challenge ~ except I just realized it is book #3 in the series 😞

I just love reading ~ it lets me jump out of my ordinary crazy life into other times and places!

Melissa

The Correspondant, book #12

 

What an utterly, utterly delightful book!  It gave me flashbacks to the Dear Dana book, who hand wrote 580 letters to her Facebook friends.  It also made me wish I had to do it.  Maybe that will be this summer's project!

Favorite quotes:

p3 ~ Just as a summer afternoon is gorgeous from inside air-conditioning, and you step into the day, hot, muggy, miserable, a postcard from France with all the lavender and sunflowers, I imagine, so far more alluring that the place itself.

p46 ~ Imagine, the letters one has sent out into the world, the letters recieved back in turn, are like the pieces of a magnificient puzzle, or. a better metaphor, if dated, the links of a long chain, and even if those links are never put back together, which they will certainly never be, even if they remain for the rest of time dispersed across the earth like the fragile blown seeds of a dying dandelion, isn't there something wonderful in that, to think that a story of one's life is preserved in some way, that this very letter may one day mean something, even if it is a very small thing for someone?

p77 ~ There's no need for me to share my birthday as I would hate for you to have a sense of obligation to send me roses.  I have plenty.

p99 ~ I was worked up and I often find myself behaving with less civility over email.

p122 ~ An email can in no way replace a written letter.

p253 ~ I found it to be absolutely astounding all the trouble living has turned out to be.

“Imagine, the letters one has sent out into the world, the letters received back in turn, are like the pieces of a magnificent puzzle. . . . Isn’t there something wonderful in that, to think that a story of one’s life is preserved in some way, that this very letter may one day mean something, even if it is a very small thing, to someone?”

Filled with knowledge that only comes from a life fully lived, The Correspondent is a gem of a novel about the power of finding solace in literature and connection with people we might never meet in person. It is about the hubris of youth and the wisdom of old age, and the mistakes and acts of kindness that occur during a lifetime.  Sybil Van Antwerp has throughout her life used letters to make sense of the world and her place in it. Most mornings, around half past ten, Sybil sits down to write letters—to her brother, to her best friend, to the president of the university who will not allow her to audit a class she desperately wants to take, to Joan Didion and Larry McMurtry to tell them what she thinks of their latest books, and to one person to whom she writes often yet never sends the letter.  Sybil expects her world to go on as it always has—a mother, grandmother, wife, divorcee, distinguished lawyer, she has lived a very full life. But when letters from someone in her past force her to examine one of the most painful periods of her life, she realizes that the letter she has been writing over the years needs to be read and that she cannot move forward until she finds it in her heart to offer forgiveness.  Sybil Van Antwerp’s life of letters might be “a very small thing,” but she also might be one of the most memorable characters you will ever read. (picture and description from Amazon)

Now I am moving back to the Christian Fiction Reading Challenge to read our book for April ~ I belive I'm going back to pioneers! 😃

Keep Reading!

Melissa

 

The Heart of the Deal, book #11

 

This is another book I read for the Faith, Hope, and Love Reader’s Choice Award.  This one was a little more casual, but still a good read.

She thought no one had ever seen her work.  She was wrong.

Liz Quinn has spent years hiding the one thing that matters most: her landscape photography.

It was never meant to be found.  Until her best friend, a curator, discovers it… and everything changes.  But her best friend isn’t the only one who’s been paying attention.  Nigel Ashworth, her best friend’s brother. Her almost. The man she’s never quite gotten over has seen her work before.  And he’s never forgotten it.  While Liz has been playing it safe, Nigel has been quietly opening doors, believing in her talent long before she ever did.  Now, as autumn settles over the vineyards of Montauk, the connection they once set aside becomes impossible to ignore.  But stepping into the life Nigel sees for her means risking more than her work. It means trusting him with her heart.  And this time, walking away may not be an option.

Because some masterpieces aren’t captured.  They’re created… together.  (picture and description at Amazon)

The Wayfaring Widow, book #10

 

I won't go into too much detail on this, as I was a judge for Faith, Hope, and Love Reader’s Choice Award and this was one of the books I read.  It was cute!

As the trio explores Boston, Detroit, Chicago, Niagara Falls, and New York City, surviving fires, disreputable innkeepers, sickness, and storms, Victoria and Harrison are loathe to find that they cannot avoid each other’s company. But in such close proximity, will Victoria and Harrison’s initial flared tempers lead to even stronger and more unavoidable feelings about each other? Feelings that have them questioning whether their journey will have the most unlikely of destinations: love and healing―and happily ever after―with each other? (Picture and description from Amazon)