Litfuse Reviewer

Smitten Book Club

Smitten Book Club Coble, Hunter, Billerbeck, Hunt

Smitten Book Club was a fun book to read.  I really enjoyed this book I just wish each of the stories were longer and maybe their own books. I hated how the endings always seemed rushed. Other than that though I loved this book just as much as I loved the other 2 in the series. I can’t wait to see if they write another one because it is such a fun idea and the authors work so well together.

Smitten Book Club

About The Book

The century-oldGentlewoman’s Guide to Love and Courtship is no ordinary book club choice. But for the little book club in Smitten, Vermont, it might be their best pick yet!

The thick, leathery tome Heather pulled out of the dusty cardboard box was definitely coming home with her. Not only was The Gentlewoman’s Guide to Love and Courtship an appealing curiosity by virtue of its title; it was also written by Smitten, Vermont native Pearl Chambers, a local gentlewoman from three generations back.
Little did Heather know the repercussions this little curiosity would have on her and her friends’ romantic exploits.
When Heather and her fellow book club members begin passing the book around, their respective interpretations are unleashed on their respective love lives . . . for better or for worse. Is it a mystery? An idealist fantasy? An intimation of Jane Austen? As romantic love finds its way to each woman, the Guide proves itself both surprisingly prescient and hilariously irrelevant.
What’s more, a handwritten inscription indicates that the arcane book might hold the only extant clues leading to buried gold—exactly what one of the members needs to keep her house. How could they not go treasure hunting?
In this remarkable collaborative novel, besties Colleen Coble, Kristin Billerbeck, Denise Hunter, and Diann Hunt tackle the tale of the Gentlewoman’s Guide by writing for one book club member apiece. Smitten Book Club is a hopeful, hilarious story of friendship and healing, written by friends for friends.

Author Pics

About The Authors

RITA-finalist Colleen Coble is the author of several best-selling romantic suspense novels, including Tidewater Inn, and the Mercy Falls, Lonestar, and Rock Harbor series.

Christy Award finalist and two-time winner of the ACFW Book of the Year award, Kristin Billerbeck has appeared on The Today Show and has been featured in the New York Times. Her books include A Billion Reasons Why and What a Girl Wants.
Denise Hunter is the award-winning and best-selling author of several novels, including A Cowboy’s Touch and Sweetwater Gap. She and her husband are raising three boys in Indiana.
Diann Hunt has lived in Indiana forever, been happily married forever, loves her family, chocolate, her friends, her dog, and, well, chocolate. Diann lost her courageous battle with cancer in December 2013.

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Digiprove sealCopyright secured by Digiprove © 2014 Margaret Margaret

A Road Unknown by Barbara Cameron ***Contains Spoilers***

Barbara Cameron A Road Unknown
A Road Unknown by Barbara Cameron was a great book.  I read this book in a few days because I had to know what happened and how things turned out for Elizabeth.  This is the first book I have read by this author and I can’t wait to read more and to also read the next book in this series.  I have to say that I was so glad that she didn’t end up with Bruce because from the moment the introduced him I really couldn’t stand him.  I love how this book turned out and I can’t wait to read the next one.

A Road Unknown

About The Book

Book 1 in the new Amish Roads series

Elizabeth is at a crossroad. She’s been given the chance to experience life outside of her community, away from the responsibility to care for her eight younger siblings, but Elizabeth Bontrager can’t decide which road to take. Goshen has its charms and pressures, but Paradise, Pennsylvania, sounds . . . well, like paradise. And it’s also home to her Englisch friend, Paula. Decision made. Elizabeth is Paradise bound.

But will the small town live up to its name? When Elizabeth meets Paula’s friend, Bruce, she quickly learns he wants more than a friendship. And the same might be true of Saul Miller, her new boss at the country story that sells Amish products to the Englisch community. As the two compete for her attention, Elizabeth is surprised to realize she misses her family and becomes even more uncertain about where she belongs. She has a choice to make: return home or embrace this new life and possibly a new love?

Barbara Cameron

About The Author

Barbara Cameron is a best-selling author who has a heart for writing about the spiritual values and simple joys of the Amish. She is the author of more than 38 fiction and nonfiction books, three nationally televised movies, and the winner of the first Romance Writers of America Golden Heart Award. Barbara is a former newspaper reporter. Some of her non-fiction titles include the Everything Weddings on a Budget Book and Her Restless Heart: A Woman’s Longing for Love and Acceptance. Cameron currently resides in Edgewater, Florida.
Learn more about Barbara at: http://barbaracameron.com

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Digiprove sealCopyright secured by Digiprove © 2014 Margaret Margaret

Hopeful by Shelley Shepard Gray

Shelley Shepard Gray Hopeful
Hopeful by Shelley Shepard Gray was a  great book to read.  I loved this book but I figured I would because I have loved the other books I have read by this author. In this book you follow along with Miriam as she tries to help the person that she has had a crush on her whole life win over one of her friends. I felt bad for her throughout the whole book but I also knew how she felt because I have felt like her. I didn’t really like Mary Kate in the beginning but by the end of the book I understood why she acted the way that she did. I have to say that I loved the ending of the book and I can’t wait to read more books with these characters. If you love books about the Amish than I know you will love this one as much as I did.

Hopeful

About The Book

Return to Sugarcreek, Book One

In the Amish town of Sugarcreek, love comes in many forms. But will it come at all for Miriam?

Miriam Zehr has worked at the Sugarcreek Inn longer than she cares to admit. The restaurant is a favorite of town residents as well as the many tourists who come to taste the famous Amish fare. Though she always tries to have a smile for every customer, deep down Miriam knows something’s missing: a family of her own.

Miriam has never felt particularly beautiful, especially because she’s always been a bit heavier than other girls her age. When Junior, the man she’s pined for all her life, suddenly seeks her out, she’s thrilled to be noticed . . . until she realizes he’s only asking her to help get the attention of Mary Kathryn Hershberger, her pretty friend.

If Miriam helps Junior court Mary Kathryn, she’ll get to spend a lot of time with him, but she might lose him in the process. Are these few stolen moments worth a lifetime of sacrifice? Is Miriam right to even hope for the life she dreams of?

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About The Author

Shelley Shepard Gray is a two-time New York Times bestseller, a two-time USA Today bestseller, a finalist for the American Christian Fiction Writers prestigious Carol Award, and a two-time Holt Medallion winner. She lives in Southern Ohio, where she writes full-time, bakes too much, and can often be found walking her dachshunds on her town’s bike trail.
Learn more about Shelley at: http://www.shelleyshepardgray.com

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Digiprove sealCopyright secured by Digiprove © 2014 Margaret Margaret

The Calling by Suzanne Woods Fisher

The Calling Suzanne Woods Fisher

I love this series because I have fallen in love with the characters but I do have to say I haven’t been overly excited about the endings. Even though things do get wrapped up to a certain point I was still left with questions and wondering what is going to happen next. This one you follow along with Bethany as she lets go of the man she thought she was going to marry and realize that the one she is meant to be with is the one who is always around her. You also have the return of her brother so that takes the story in different directions that I didn’t think it would go. I can’t wait for the next book in this series because of all the unanswered questions that were left in this book.

The Calling

About The Book

Book Two in the Inn at Eagle Hill series.

Bestselling author Suzanne Woods Fisher delivers her trademark twists, turns, and tender romance in this delightful and exciting visit to the deceptively quiet community of Stoney Ridge.

Twenty-year-old Bethany Schrock is restless. Her love life has derailed, her faith hangs by a thread, and she is spending the incredibly hot summer days wading through a lifetime’s accumulation of junk at the home of five ancient Amish sisters. About the only thing that holds her interest is the spirited and dangerously handsome Jimmy Fisher—and he seems bent on irritating her to no end.

When the sly old sisters and a guest at the Inn get Bethany involved in running the local soup kitchen and starting a community garden, she suddenly finds herself wondering, Shootfire! How did that happen? Despite her newfound purposefulness, a gnawing emptiness about a childhood mystery continues to plague her. Encouraged by Jimmy Fisher, she will seek out the answers she craves—and uncover a shocking secret that will break her heart, heal it, and point her to love.

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About The Author

Suzanne Woods Fisher is the bestselling author of the Inn at Eagle Hill series, Lancaster County Secrets series, and the Stoney Ridge Seasons series, as well as nonfiction books about the Amish, includingAmish Peace. She is also the coauthor of a new Amish children’s series, The Adventures of Lily Lapp. Her interest in the Anabaptist cultures can be directly traced to her grandfather, who was raised in the Old Order German Baptist Brethren Church in Franklin County, Pennsylvania. Suzanne is a Carol Award winner and a Christy Award finalist. She is a columnist for Christian Post and Cooking & Such magazines. She lives in California. Get Amish proverbs delivered right to your mobile device! Download the Free App! http://bit.ly/10Tygyi

Learn more about Suzanne at:http://suzannewoodsfisher.com

Read An Excerpt Here!

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Digiprove sealCopyright secured by Digiprove © 2014 Margaret Margaret

Shadowed By Grace by Cara C. Putman

Cara Putman Shadowed By Grace Monuments Men
Shadowed By Grace by Cara C Putman was an amazing book.  This book takes place during WWII to and I think that made me like this book even more. I love the time period and I also loved learning about a different part of WWII that I hadn’t ever know about. I had a hard time with how it just abruptly ended but I usually have a problem with endings of books because I get so caught up with the characters. The one downside to this book is that towards the end I found that I was bored and just skimmed some of the pages because I felt there was more detail than needed to be in the book. I am glad I read this one and it is one of the few that I will keep in my collection of books.

Shadowed By Grace

About The Book

She found peace in a time of war.

Desperate to save her dying mother, an American woman accepts her newspaper’s assignment to travel to Italy where she takes photographs dangerously close to the front lines during World War II. But Rachel’s real motive in this journey is to find the father she never knew, an artist she hopes can offer the comfort and support both she and her mother need to survive at such a desperate time.

In her quest, Rachel becomes involved with what will become the Monuments Men effort to save great monuments and works of art from the Third Reich. Soon enough she will find more than she ever imagined—in war, in love, and in God.

Cara C. Putman

About The Author

Cara C. Putman graduated high school at 16, college at 20, and completed her law degree at 27. The best-selling author of more than a dozen books, Cara is active in women’s ministry at her church, teaches graduate courses at Purdue University, practices law, and is a homeschooling mom. She lives with her husband and 4 children in Indiana.

Learn more about Cara at:http://caraputman.com

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Digiprove sealCopyright secured by Digiprove © 2014 Margaret Margaret

A Promise Kept by Robin Lee Hatcher

A Promise Kept Robin Lee Hatcher
A Promise Kept by Robin Lee Hatcher was a good book to read.  This book was so sweet and it was also a book I came to love. In this book you get to follow along with Allison as she is healing from her divorce and trying to figure out everything that comes along with getting a divorce. I loved how this book went between Allison talking and her great aunt Emma talking. I wish I could say more about this book but I don’t want to give anything away. This is such a sweet story and I was glad I read it.

A Promise Kept

About The Book

God was going to save her marriage, Allison was sure of it. But neither her husband nor her marriage had been saved.

What had become of His promise?

Tony Kavanagh had been Allison’s dream-come-true. They were in love within days, engaged within weeks, married and pregnant within a year. Her cup bubbled over with joy . . . but years later, that joy had been extinguished by unexpected trials.

The day Allison issued her husband an ultimatum, she thought it might save him. She never expected he would actually leave. She was certain God had promised to heal; it was clear that she’d misunderstood.

Now, living in the quiet mountain cabin she inherited from her single, self-reliant Great Aunt Emma, Allison must come to terms with her grief and figure out how to adapt to small town life. But when she finds a wedding dress and a collection of journals in Emma’s attic, a portrait of her aunt emerges that takes Allison completely by surprise: a portrait of a heartbroken woman surprisingly like herself.

As Allison reads the incredible story of Emma’s life in the 1920s and 1930s, she is forced to ask a difficult question: Does she really surrender every piece of her life to the Lord?

Drawing from her own heart-wrenching story of redemption,A Promise Kept is Robin Lee Hatcher’s emotionally charged thanksgiving to a God who answers prayers—in His own time and His own ways.

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About The Author

Robin is the author of 65+ novels and novellas. Her home is in Idaho, where she spends her time writing stories of faith, courage, and love; pondering the things of God; and loving her family and friends.

Learn more about Robin at:http://www.robinleehatcher.com

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Digiprove sealCopyright secured by Digiprove © 2014 Margaret Margaret