Book Review Groups

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

Love At First Flight by Tess Woods

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Love At First Flight by Tess Woods was a great book that enjoyed from the very first page right up until the last page.  I am a sucker for books like this one even though they usually follow a pattern so I know basically what is going to happen but I still love them.  I believe I love them since I am single and this way I can live through the characters in my books.  I really like both Mel & Matt throughout the book even though I don’t agree with what they were doing.  I was sad when this book ended because I really fell in love with the characters.  If you love romance novels than I would recommend this book to you!

love at first flight

About The Book

What would you risk to be with the love of your life? A family is threatened by an irresistible attraction in this compelling debut that will appeal to fans of Liane Moriarty and Anita Shreve.

Looking back on it now, I can see it was instant. the second we locked eyes. Boom. Just like that. the me I had spent a lifetime perfecting began its disintegration from that moment. And despite the carnage it brought to all our lives, I still don’t regret it.

What would you risk to be with the love of your life? And what if your soul mate is the one who will destroy you?

Mel is living the dream. She’s a successful GP, married to a charming anaesthetist and raising a beautiful family in their plush home in Perth. But when she boards a flight to Melbourne, she meets Matt and her picture perfect Stepford life unravels as she falls in love for the first time ever.

What begins as a flirty conversation between strangers quickly develops into a hot and obsessive affair with disastrous consequences neither Mel nor Matt could have ever seen coming. Mel’s dream life turns into her worst nightmare.

Love at First Flight will take everything you believe about what true love is and spin it on its head.

 

tess woods

About The Author

Tess Woods is a health professional who lives in Perth, Australia with one husband, two children, one dog and one cat who rules over all of them. Love at First Flight is her first novel for HarperCollins. When she isn’t working or being a personal assistant to her kids, Tess enjoys reading and all kinds of grannyish pleasures like knitting, baking, drinking tea, watching Downton Abbey and tending to the veggie patch.

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Digiprove sealCopyright secured by Digiprove © 2015 Margaret Margaret

Irene In College by Lori Goldson

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Irene In College by Lori Goldson was an interesting book to read.  At times this book made me smile it also reminded me of when I was in college.  This book kept me smiling throughout the thing which is always a good thing.  I spent most of the book waiting for the next crazy thing to happen to Irene because she always seemed to be into something and something was always going wrong in her life.  I loved following along with her and see what she went through but by the end of the book I was a little tired of it all but I did truly enjoy this story.

irene in college

About The Book

In book 1 of The Life & Times Series, “Irene in College”, Irene comes face-to-face with the realization that college is anything but easy. At the mercy of an insufferable mother, pompous boyfriend, malevolent best friend, dim-witted nuisance, and an ineffable college professor, what would be easy about it? Come join Irene as she learns how to deal with it all.

Irene thought college would be the easy part—get good grades, make new friends, and say good-bye to a daunting past. Little did she know that the whimsy of life would have other plans for her!

lori goldson

About The Author

Lori Goldson the Middle School Academic Director for the Philadelphia non-profit organization SquashSmarts.  She has been in education for seven years. During her years as a college student at the University of Delaware, Lori took a fondness to Latin American culture. She has traveled to Dominican Republic, Spain, Mexico and Puerto Rico. She currently lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, Erik.

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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

L.A. Rotten: A Tom Tanner Mystery by Jeff Klima

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L.A. Rotten:  A Tom Tanner Mystery by Jeff Klima was a great book.  I loved this book because it is a return to the genre of books that I love the most.  I don’t usually read tons of books like this and it is so nice to get to read ones like this and find new authors.  Anyway back to this book.  I enjoyed everything about this  book so much so that I was sad when it ended because I loved the author’s style of writing and I also loved the characters in this book.  I had to keep reading right up until the end because I had to know how it ended and how things worked out.  I have to say that I really liked Tom from the start of the book and I hope that there will be more books with him in them because I loved him as the main character in this book.  It is fast past and it kept me on the edge of my seat throughout the book.  If you love mystery books than I know you will love this story.

LA Rotten

About The Book

On Sale: May 12, 2015
Pages: 268
Published by : Alibi

For fans of Dexter and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Jeff Klima’s debut thriller is a chillingly suspenseful novel set in a world of violence and chaos—where one man finds himself right at home.

As an expert crime-scene cleaner, Thomas Tanner charges big money to carve out bullets, mop up fluids, disinfect walls, and dispose of whatever’s left of whomever was unlucky enough to require his services. For a handsome young ex-con determined to stay out of trouble, it’s practically a dream job—until he discovers a grisly pattern to his work: a string of gruesome murders at a cheap motel chain, always in Room 236.

While prying into a serial killer’s nasty scheme, Thomas finds himself with a sharp-witted strip-bar waitress plastered to his side—and his conscience. Even more surprising, the killer starts prying into his life, luring Thomas into a twisted friendship. As Thomas struggles against his adversary’s wicked whims, risking the lives of the few people he holds dear, bodies pile up everywhere he turns. With a psychopath calling the shots, Thomas has little choice but to clean house once and for all.

About The Author

Jeff Klima is the author of The Dead Janitors Club and the cofounder of Orange County Crime Scene Cleanup.

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Digiprove sealCopyright secured by Digiprove © 2015 Margaret Margaret