A Path Toward Love by Cara James

Katherine Osborne is a young widow who is struggling with making her business, she manages an orange grove, a success. For years she's been estranged from her parents. While the gap has mended slightly, she still feels intimated by her mother. When her father and her long time friend, Andrew Townsend, arrive in Florida with the purpose of bringing Katherine back to the family's summer vacation spot on Raquette Lake in New York's Adirondack Mountains, she resists at first but comes to an agreement with her father - spend the summer at the lake and he will loan her the funds to bring in the harvest. She arrives hoping to find peace and solitude to contemplate her next step regarding her business and her late husband's actions. Her mother is determined to see Katherine make a good marriage to a suitable young man while she's still young. As Katherine confides more and more into Andrew, both come to realize that they love each other. Will Katherine make a choice that could ruin three lives forever? Or will she find the courage to stand up to her parents and follow the path God wants her to?

Set at the turn of the century, I found the book to be rather slow moving. I've read several books by Cara Lynn James before and enjoyed them. I felt that it took a while to get into the meat of the story. And then once I was in it, it still moved slow. While Katherine is very generous, I found myself wishing that she had a bit more of a backbone. Andrew seemed too perfect. My favorite character was Aunt Letty. Aunt Letty encouraged Katherine to find true love and to seek God first. While the book was an ok read, it won't make my to-read-again list.

I received this book from the publisher, Thomas Nelson's booksneeze program, for free in exchange for my review. My thoughts and opinions are my own

The Bride wore Blue by Morna Hodgson

thVivian, the youngest of the Sinclair sisters comes to Cripple Creek to join her three sisters and to flee her past. But what starts out so innocently turns into a bigger mess than Vivian could have imagined. Each step making it harder to make the right choice.

There is also the sheriff, Carter Alwyn, what will he think when he finds out about her secrets?

Third in the Brides of Cripple Creek series, fans of the series will be happy to finally read about the youngest Sinclair sister. While it is not absolutely necessary that you read the first two books first, I believe that it would be extremely helpful. I read the first book, so I knew about two of the sisters, but I haven't read the second book yet, so I had some catching up to do!

There were times that I will honestly say that this book was difficult to read, when Vivian kept making more and more bad choices. I just wanted to be able to tell her, "No, please don't do that!" But this story had a surprisingly powerful message, that no matter how many mistakes she made, and the harder it got to get out, she still had a choice, and she could always turn to the Lord.

One of the side stories that I really appreciated was the one of Nell (one of the sisters from the first book) and her husband, who wanted children, but it just wasn't happening for them. But of course, if you want to know what happens you'll have to read and find out :)

Overall this was a terrific read! I loved how it updated me on the former characters, yet introduced new ones. This was a pretty riveting read considering how I read this book in less than one day, in a 4 hour sitting, to be more exact! And I will most certainly be picking up the second book as soon as can. The Bride Wore Blue is a book I would happily recommend, it is definitely a book that sticks with you long after the last page is turned down.

I received this book from the publisher in return for and honest review.

Dawn comes early

Paperback, 343 pages

Thomas Nelson, publisher

ISBN: 9781595



I really love to read anthing that Margaret Brownley writes, she just has a way about her that make the story come to life, she has come through again with Dawn Comes Early.

In 1895, Kate Tenney loved to write dime novels but they were just not taken well with the 549686

society and when her last book was banned she decieded to leave the city and try a new start in the Arizona Territory. She wants to try her hand at ranching as she had wrote about in her dime novels.

When she get there and finds out that ranching was much harder that she ever thought as she had been rained in the city and had never had to do this kind of work. Kate never intended to get married as she her heart had been broken too many times to ever try again. But, when Luke Adams came into the picture she might just change her mind. He made her feel things that she had only written about in her novels. Would he make her change her mind about men? Maybe God had brought her to this desert to give her a new life in the way that her novel stated.

Thanks so much to Booksneeze for sending me this book free in return for a review in my own words

THE FOURTH FISHMAN

Joe Kissack's book 'The Fourth Fisherman' is two stories in one. He overlaps the wonderful true story of three Mexican fishermen who were thought to be lost at sea back in 2006 along with the tale of his own conversion. Kissack, a high paid Hollywood film and television producer, being responsible for many popular shows reaching syndication--one being `Seinfeld', tells of his rise to wealth and eventual fall into despair.
The drawing card of the book is hearing about the nine month long ordeal the fishermen experienced after their 25 foot fishing boat got caught in a storm late in 2005. They drifted from the west coast of Mexico clear across the Pacific Ocean to the Marshall Islands where they were picked up by a Taiwanese tuna trawler manned by a mostly Chinese crew. I was encouraged by their story and the faith they practiced day to day as they waited and prayed to be rescued. Unfortunately two of the original crew of five died during the journey, after refusing to eat the raw meat the fishermen were able to catch. Starvation was their undoing.
At the same time, Kissack weaves in his own personal story of the glamour and life of excess he got caught up in. For some reason, the two stories parallel beautifully. The reader is caught up in wanting the fishermen to be rescued and hurting along with Kissack and hoping he is saved as well, though in totally different scenarios.
I heartily recommend this book. Joe Kissack comes across as a very humble man and in a day of abundant egos, that's refreshing. In addition, his take on the Mexicans' experience is generous and straight-to-the-point

Mine is the night by LIZ CURTIS HIGGS

As an avid reader of christian fiction and Liz Curtis Higgs, I was highly anticipating reading this book. In previous works by Higgs I recall her to be a witty and humorous storyteller. While Mine is the Night is not meant to have you doubled over in laughter, it certainly held me on the edge of my seat and laid open in my hands for several hours until its completion. Mine is the Night is a modern retelling of the beloved story of Ruth from the Bible. If the 18th century can be considered "modern". While based on Ruth, it is not merely the same story with names and settings swapped out. In fact, after the initial introduction of the characters and opening plot I did not see how Higgs would follow through with her interpretation of the biblical story. Basis of the plot set aside, I found this book another complement to Higgs' collection of well-written volumes. As I said before, I could not put it down once I began reading and finished it in one day. The characters were well developed and I felt as if I were in Scotland along with Elizabeth and Marjory. And while this is the conclusion to a previous book, Here Burns My Candle, I did not feel as if I had come into the story unaware and was playing catch-up the entire time. In addition, being someone familiar with christian fiction, I was pleasantly surprised with the lack of "preaching" in this book. It is my preference not to read through pages and pages of sermons (in reality skipping over) while characters attend church services. Higgs does a wonderful job of presenting the gospel through the lives of her characters while not boring (can I say that?) her christian readers. All in all, if you're a fan of this type of literature you will find Higgs' newest book a delightful read.

[Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review. I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255 : "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."]

Shadowes on the sand by Gayle Roper

It's been a while since there has been a new original book from Gayle Roper so I was anticipating this book very much. It's been a while since I've read a good mystery and I know I can get one from Roper's books. From the cover of the book, as well as the description of the story, I wasn't expecting religious cults to play a huge factor in the plot. Cults are something that both interest and disgust me at the same time. I never can understand how people get sucked into them. I found it incredibly sad at how Andi was forced by her parents to leave her home and join the cult. Reading about the polygamous marriages and how they were making young teenage girls get married to older men was despicable. I felt that Greg's reasons for why men and women join religious cults were good explanations yet very sad at the same time. I feel like religious cults are something that needs to be brought up more because Christians need to know when God's words are being twisted and used incorrectly and not get swept up by things that sound like they are right.

While I enjoyed the story a lot, I felt sometimes that the book was going in many different directions and didn't know which one it wanted to stick with. There were times it felt like a cozy mystery, then a romance story, then suspense, then women's fiction. The different points of view that kept changing threw me off a bit too. One chapter would be first person perspective from Carrie's POV and then it'd switched to Andi's third person POV, not to mention the murderer's side of the story as well. I wasn't a big fan of how the murderer was introduced. I felt it was way too obvious and not beneficial to continue from their POV after we had already met and figured out who it was. The last thing that irked me was how people who used twitter were portrayed in this story in a negative light. As far as I know, the author isn't active on Twitter so unless she is just lurking, I don't think she really knows how to use it. The Twitter users were portrayed as rude with bad social skills and glued to the Internet 24/7. Also the false misconception of how everything you do must be posted on Twitter is used again here. It bothered me because if someone actually uses the service then they know it is not like that at all.

Despite everything I said above, I really did enjoy this story. It's a good mystery and despite the beachy looking cover, it's not really a light read at all. As I mentioned earlier, there are dark things mentioned in this book that a lot of Christians don't really want to think about or read about in their books. This appears to be the first book in a series so I'm hoping that we will be returning back to Seaside for more adventures in the future.

RESTLESS IN CAROLINA

by

Tamara Leigh

ISBN: 9781601421685

Paperback, 342 pages

Multnomah Publishing

Bridget Pickwick-Buchanan runs a nursery and loves the outdoors.  She has been a widow for four years but just can't let her husband go, she still wears her wedding band.

But as the family estate is going to have to be sold as her uncle Obe is now the full owner of the Pickwick mansion and the lands around it.  But he has the early stages of dementia and wants to get the property sold and dived up to his neices before he can't remember at all anymore.  This property sits just outside Ashville, N.C. so she is really a tom boy from the south instead of a belle.

Bridget alone with Piper and her other cousins are in control of getting this done and the best price for the property.  Then alone comes two guys that both are interesting in buying it, there is the rich J.C. Dirk and Caleb Merriman.

Now there is the challenge of picking the person that will keep the property experimental safe, as the family is really into saving the planet.

I really enjoyed this book as Bridget is really a funny person but also I live in SC and have been to Ashville a number of times and also to the famous Biltmore House.

Thanks so much to Blogging for Books for sending me this copy of the  book to review.