Litfuse Reviewer

Hearts Made Whole by Jody Hedlund

Book Review

Hearts Made Whole by Jody Hedlund was a great historical fiction book.  This book takes place in Michigan and I love Michigan so I knew I would at least love the setting of the book even if I didn’t end up liking the characters or the plot of the story.  From the first time you hear from Ryan I felt bad for him and had a soft spot for everything he had to have gone through.  I also really liked Caroline but at times she would get on my nerves.  I did feel bad for her and her siblings after their father died and they basically had nowhere to go when Ryan showed up to take over the lighthouse.   While I was reading this book I felt so bad for Ryan and just hoped that he would end up okay and that Caroline would be able to help him through what he was going through.  By the end of the book I ended up hoping that Ryan & Caroline would end up together but I am not going to say if they did or not.  If you love historical fiction than I would for sure check this book out.

Hearts Made Whole

About The Book

After her father’s death, Caroline Taylor has grown confident running the Windmill Point Lighthouse. But in 1865 Michigan, women aren’t supposed to have such roles, so it’s only a matter of time before the lighthouse inspector appoints a new keeper–even though Caroline has nowhere else to go and no other job available to her.

Ryan Chambers is a Civil War veteran still haunted by the horrors of battle. He’s been given the post as lighthouse keeper, and the isolation where he can drown in drink and hide from his past is appealing. He’s not expecting the current keeper to be a feisty and beautiful woman who’s none-too-pleased to be giving up her position. They both quickly realize he’s in no shape to run the lighthouse, but Ryan’s unwilling to let anyone close, ravaged by memories and guilt. Caroline’s drawn to this wounded soul, but with both of them relying on that single position, can they look past their loss to a future filled with hope…and possibly love?

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About The Author

Jody Hedlund is an award-winning and bestselling author of inspirational historical romances including books for adults and youth. She currently makes her home in central Michigan with her husband and their five busy children.

As a busy mama-writer, she has the wonderful privilege of teaching her crew of 5 children at home. In between grading math papers and giving spelling tests, she occasionally does a load of laundry and washes dishes. When she’s not busy being a mama, you can find her in front of her laptop working on another of her page-turning stories.

She loves reading almost as much as she loves writing, especially when it also involves chocolate and coffee.

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Digiprove sealCopyright secured by Digiprove © 2015 Margaret Margaret

A Hearts Danger by Colleen Coble

Book Review

A Hearts Danger by Colleen Coble was another great  book in this series.  I have read and review book one and book two so you can click on them if you missed the reviews on them.  There are 6 books in this series and this is another series where you have to read the books in order so that you know what is going on.  I have to say that I am getting tired of how short theses books are because I want to know what happens and how the story ends. I really enjoyed this book because it doesn’t really leave you hanging and it does wrap up a few loose ends that have been left open in the other books.  I am now curious as to what is going to happen in the next 3 books since the series could end with this book.  I literally am so glad that I have the next book at home because I can’t wait to read it so that is going to be the book I read this coming weekend.  If you love historical romance that you need to check out this series.

A Heart's Danger

About The Book

A Heart’s Danger (Thomas Nelson, May 2015)

On the brink of war with the Sioux, Sarah risks everything to expose the betrayal threatening the man she loves.

Christmas is coming, and the air at Fort Laramie has turned cold . . . but relations with the Sioux have turned colder. As tensions between soldiers and natives approach a tipping point, a trap has been set for Rand Campbell.
Rand’s new fiancée wants to keep him from returning to Sarah Montgomery . . . for whom his heart clearly still yearns.

Sarah just wants to move on with her life at Fort Laramie, but doing so under the watchful eyes of both Campbell—the man whose love she craves—and Croftner—the man whose lies have cost her everything.

Will Rand fall victim to the conspiracy and go through with his wedding? Or will he declare his love for Sarah and make good on the promises that brought her into the rugged western territories?

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About The Author

Colleen Coble has sold over 2 million novels worldwide.Seagrass Pier, the third installment in her acclaimed Hope Beach series, marks a new highpoint for emotion and complexity in Coble’s addictive brand of romantic suspense.

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Digiprove sealCopyright secured by Digiprove © 2015 Margaret Margaret

As Waters Gone By by Cynthia Ruchti

Book Review

As Waters Gone By by Cynthia Ruchti was a great story.  I fell in love with the crazy people who lived on Madeline Island because I could totally see people really acting they did and they made me love the story even more that I did when I started the book.  I have read one other book by Cynthia Ruchti and I have to say that she is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors which is getting harder and harder to do with the amounts of books that I am reading.  I have to say Emmalyn bugged me through out most of the first few chapters because she was almost always feeling sorry for herself but after I read more of the book I really did enjoy her and fell in love with her.  I loved watching her grow and learn while she was living on Madeline Island.  If you are a lover of general fiction than I think you should check this book out!

As Waters Gone By

About The  Book

Can a marriage survive a separation of hundreds of miles and impenetrable prison walls? And are the walls around her heart more daunting than the concrete and razorwire he faces?

Emmalyn Ross shares something in common with spouses of the deployed or those whose work takes them on the road for long stretches. She’s trying to figure out how to sustain a marriage with a man who’s never home. He won’t be home until the end of his sentence, if then. His actions stole her heart’s desire and gave their relationship a court-mandated five-year time-out. What didn’t fall apart the night he was indicted fell apart in the intervening years. Now, on a self-imposed exile to beautiful but remote Madeline Island—one of the Apostle Islands of Lake Superior—Emmalyn has a handful of months left to figure out if and how they can ever be a couple again. And his silence isn’t helping.

The island hunting cottage they’d purchased on a whim when life made sense isn’t fit for habitation. But it’s all she has. Restoring it may put a roof over her head, but a home needs more than a roof and walls. As Emmalyn and the cottage grow stronger, they feel emptier. Is it possible hope lost her address?

Cynthia Ruchti

About The Author

Taking multi-tasking to new heights (or depths, depending on your perspective), Cynthia Ruchti is the award-winning author of recent releases “All My Belongings” (novel), “When the Morning Glory Blooms” (novel), and “Ragged Hope: Surviving the Fallout of Other People’s Choices” (nonfiction). She makes potato corn chowder for her husband of 42 years, loves on her three kids and five grandchildren, recently retired from 33 years of writing and producing a daily radio broadcast called THE HEARTBEAT OF THE HOME, is past president of the 2,700-member American Christian Fiction Writers and now serves as ACFW’s Professional Relations Liaison, all while working on more book projects in addition to the eight already on the shelves. The year 2010 saw the release of her debut novel–“They Almost Always Come Home” by Abingdon Press (a Carol Award finalist)–and a Christmas collection novella, “The Heart’s Harbor” in A Door County Christmas, a Family Fiction Reader’s Choice, by Barbour Publishing. “His Grace is Sufficient…Decaf is Not,” released Nov 1, 2011. Another novella collection–“Cedar Creek Seasons” (Barbour) released in spring of 2012. “When the Morning Glory Blooms” (April 2013) was followed by “All My Belongings” (2014, also from Abingdon Press). Her books have recently been honored with two Selah Awards, two Christian Retailing’s BEST Awards, and awards from CAN Golden Scrolls and AWSA Golden Scrolls. She tells stories of Hope-that-glows-in-the-dark through writing and speaking, but she gave up knitting, counted cross-stitch, sewing her own clothes, naps, and dusting baseboards a long time ago.

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Digiprove sealCopyright secured by Digiprove © 2015 Margaret Margaret

When Grace Sings by Kim Vogel Sawyer

Book Review

When Grace Sings by Kim Vogel Sawyer was a sweet romance story.  This book was slow in the beginning but it did pick up after a few chapters.  I love how she tells you who is talking when the narrator changes throughout the whole book.  I like when authors do that because than it makes it easier to read because you don’t have to try and guess who is talking.  I wasn’t a huge fan of Briley throughout most of the book and I am honestly not sure why but he just got on my nerves.  Towards the end I did start to like him and was sad to see this book end.  I didn’t read the first book in this series and I was able to figure out what was going on and follow along.  If you love romance novels than I would for sure recommend this book to you.

When Grace Sings

About The Book

When Grace Sings (WaterBrook Press, March 2015)

When trouble roars into quiet Arborville, Alexa and Anna-Grace find themselves the target for discord and exposed secrets. Can they continue to seek the God of all grace amidst the fog of confusion?

Alexa Zimmerman wonders if the Old Order Mennonite community in Arborville, Kansas will ever fully accept her. Her family roots here aren’t what anyone thought when she first arrived, but she is hopeful that her culinary and hospitality skills will win the skeptics over. The bed-and-breakfast she’s operating needs to succeed so Alexa agrees to allow Briley Forrester, the hotshot reporter from Chicago, to stay as a long-term boarder not knowing his real motives for being amongst the Plain folk.

But when Alexa agrees to host her cousin Anna-Grace Braun, the presence of extended family brings out Alexa’s insecurities and sets Briley on the trail to uncovering a web of hidden truths.

Plans for a secure future and the sweetness of young romance hang in the balance when Alexa and Anna-Grace have to face that their secrets are interconnected, binding the two in ways they could not have imagined. They must trust in a loving, heavenly Father and His plan for their futures.

Kim Vogel Sawyer

About The Author

Kim Vogel Sawyer is the author of twenty-nine novels, including several CBA and ECPA bestsellers. Her books have won the ACFW Book of the Year Award, the Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence, and the Inspirational Readers Choice Award. Kim is active in her church, where she leads women’s fellowship and participates in both voice and bell choirs. In her spare time, she enjoys drama, quilting, and calligraphy. Kim and her husband, Don, reside in central Kansas, and have three daughters and nine grandchildren.

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Digiprove sealCopyright secured by Digiprove © 2015 Margaret Margaret

Called To Be Amish by Marlene C. Miller

Book Review

Called To Be Amish by Marlene C. Miller was one of the most interesting books that I have read in a long time.  It has been years since I have read any biography/autobiography and I realize how much I love those kind of books.  I love getting a first hand account of what it would be like to live if you were Amish and to help me better understand some of the fiction books that I read that have to do with the Amish.  This is another book that I didn’t want to put down.  Anyway in this book you get to hear about Marlene’s childhood and how her life was up until the time she chose to join the Amish and how things were for her after she joined them.  I loved being about to see what her childhood was like and also what lead her to join the Amish.  There are other books in this series and I am for sure going to be buying them and reading them because I love the behinds the scenes look at what life is really like for them and how things really are.  If you love books about the Amish and/or biographies than I know you will love this book and need to check it out!

Called to be Amish

About The Book

Called to Be Amish (MennoMedia, February 2015)

Fewer than one hundred outsiders have joined the Old-Order Amish—and stayed—since 1950. Marlene C. Miller is one of them.

In this rare memoir, Marlene recounts her unhappy and abusive childhood, how she throws herself into cheerleading and marching band, and how she falls in love with Johnny, the gentle young Amish man who helps her lace her ice skates.

Against the wishes of both sets of parents, Marlene and Johnny get married and begin a family. Follow the author on this unusual journey to find out how God’s love called her out of bitterness and depression and into the warm embrace of her new Amish community.

Accompany her as she dons an Amish dress and prayer covering and gets baptized. Learn how she endures the strain of ten children, a hundred-acre farm, and accidents and tragedy, and find out how she comes close to walking away from it all. Turning Amish has proven to be anything but plain and simple for this former majorette. But nearly fifty years later, Marlene is still living out God’s call as an Old Order Amish woman.

About The Author

Marlene C. Miller joined the Amish as an adult and has been a member of the Old Order Amish for almost 50 years. She and her husband of 48 years live on a farm in Ohio surrounded by their nine children, more than 40 grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.

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Digiprove sealCopyright secured by Digiprove © 2015 Margaret Margaret

A Love Like Ours by Becky Wade

Book Review

A Love Like Ours by Becky Wade was a super sweet story.  This is the third book in the series but you don’t have to read the other two in order to understand and follow along with this story.  I love when I have read the series to be able to check back in with the characters that you come to love after reading a whole book about them.  If you missed my reviews on the other two books you can click here and here to check them out.  Anyway lets get back to the review of this book.  Out of all the Porter brothers I have to say that Jake has been my favorite.  Maybe that is because I grew up in the military but I really liked him and felt so bad for him because of everything he went through.  I spent the whole time I was reading this book hoping that everything would work out great for Jake & Lyndie because I truly loved both of them.  This is a sweet story that everyone who love contemporary romance books should check out!

A Love Like Ours

About The Book

A Love Like Ours (Bethany House, May 2015)

Former Marine Jake Porter has far deeper scars than the one that marks his face. He struggles with symptoms of PTSD, lives a solitary life, and avoids relationships.

When Lyndie James, Jake’s childhood best friend, lands back in Holley, Texas, Jake cautiously hires her to exercise his Thoroughbreds. Lyndie is tender-hearted, fiercely determined, and afraid of nothing, just like she was as a child. Jake pairs her with Silver Leaf, a horse full of promise but lacking in results, hoping she can solve the mystery of the stallion’s reluctance to run.

Though Jake and Lyndie have grown into very different adults, the bond that existed during their childhood still ties them together. Against Jake’s will, Lyndie’s sparkling, optimistic personality begins to tear down the walls he’s built around his heart. A glimmer of the hope he’d thought he’d lost returns, but fears and regrets still plague him. Will Jake ever be able to love Lyndie like she deserves, or is his heart too shattered to mend?

Becky Wade

About The Author

Becky Wade is a native of California who attended Baylor University, met and married a Texan, and moved to Dallas. She published historical romances for the general market, took time off to raise her children, then felt God nudging her to pursue contemporary Christian fiction. Becky’s work has been a finalist for both a RITA and an INSPY Award.

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Digiprove sealCopyright secured by Digiprove © 2015 Margaret Margaret