Before We Were Yours, book #17

 

To say this book slayed me, to say it ripped me to the core ... would be an understatement.  Especially with the picture on the cover (I did read a hard copy of this, one I borrowed from Leah, although apparently I have one on my Paperwhite and didn't realize it!).  This author is known for digging deep and writing as though you are walking through emotional minefields with her, and she did not disappoint this go around.  (See here + here + here) I just can't even imagine the situation these girls were put in, and the fortitude with which Rill/May handled it.  Things 12 year olds should not have to handle!  I know our orphanage/foster care systems have improved greatly since 1950, but there is still so much that needs to be done.  

Must read = 20/10!!

Memphis, 1939. Twelve-year-old Rill Foss and her four younger siblings live a magical life aboard their family’s Mississippi River shantyboat. But when their father must rush their mother to the hospital one stormy night, Rill is left in charge—until strangers arrive in force. Wrenched from all that is familiar and thrown into a Tennessee Children’s Home Society orphanage, the Foss children are assured that they will soon be returned to their parents—but they quickly realize the dark truth. At the mercy of the facility’s cruel director, Rill fights to keep her sisters and brother together in a world of danger and uncertainty.  

Aiken, South Carolina, present day. Born into wealth and privilege, Avery Stafford seems to have it all: a successful career as a federal prosecutor, a handsome fiancé, and a lavish wedding on the horizon. But when Avery returns home to help her father weather a health crisis, a chance encounter leaves her with uncomfortable questions and compels her to take a journey through her family’s long-hidden history, on a path that will ultimately lead either to devastation or to redemption.  Based on one of America’s most notorious real-life scandals—in which Georgia Tann, director of a Memphis-based adoption organization, kidnapped and sold poor children to wealthy families all over the country—Lisa Wingate’s riveting, wrenching, and ultimately uplifting tale reminds us how, even though the paths we take can lead to many places, the heart never forgets where we belong. (picture and description at Amazon)

I think I'm going to need some light and fluffy after this!  

Happy Summer Reading!

O:)

Melissa

Home No Matter Where (Shell Collector Novel #3), book #16

 

What a sweet a delightful read.  The beach will always be a good place to escape to and find healing at.  Of course, it would help if I had family that lived in a beach house on the shore :)  This was the May read for the Christian Fiction Reading Challenge.  

Nina is at her wit's end with her teenage daughter, Kendra. Still dealing with her own wounds of divorce, Nina hopes a change of scenery will help. She and Kendra head to the serene coastal town of Whelk's Island to spend a restorative summer with Nina’s mother, Rosemary—bringing three generations under one roof for the first time in years. Amid the island's charm, old wounds begin to heal, and as new friendships bloom—especially with the steady and enigmatic Fisher—light begins to break through the cracks of Nina’s tightly controlled life.  Kendra's reckless behavior continues but Fisher’s intervention during a critical moment for Kendra sparks a sense of hope in Nina that she thought was lost. Still, change is never easy.  As the women navigate the tides of forgiveness, growing up, and letting go, healing begins and new love brings surprises. While Whelk’s Island may not hold all the answers, it has a way of reminding people that moving forward doesn't follow a set path—it requires the bravery to start anew. (picture and description at Amazon)

For anyone who cares, I have survived some of the busiest last two months of my life and amazingly only had maybe 2 migraines!  Shout out to doctors who found medicine that works!  Only 3 more quick weeks of work to finish the year, then I'll be HOME for several weeks to rest and recoup and visit family and go to the pool and do projects and ... and ... and ...

Not sure what is next up in my reading list, but I'm sure it will be good!

Holding on,

Melissa

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