Christian Romance

Her Secret by Shelley Shepard Gray

Book Review Graphic

FTC: I received a free copy of this book from Litfuse in exchange for my honest review. I received no other compensation and the opinions expressed in this review are one hundred percent true and my own.

Her Secret by Shelley Shepard Gray is one author that I am almost guaranteed that I will like whatever book she puts out.  This is the first book in the “The Amish of Hart County” series, and I can’t wait to read other books in this series because I feel in love with the characters in this book. This book was more of a slow starter for me but once I was a few chapters in I was once again hooked and didn’t want to put the book down.  I loved that this book took on a subject that I haven’t ever read before when it comes to Amish fiction books.  I know that is why I enjoyed this book as much as I did.  I have read just about every book of Amish fiction that has been written, and I enjoyed that this book put me in a different place than all of the others ones that I have read.  I really did enjoy the characters in this book, and I was sad when I finished it because I hate saying goodbye to characters that I fall in love with.  If you love Amish fiction, I would for sure recommend this book to you, but I would also recommend any book written by this author because I don’t think I have ever read one that I didn’t like.

About The Book

A suspenseful tale of a young Amish woman who is forced to move to a new town to escape a threatening stalker
After a stalker went too far, Hannah Hilty and her family had no choice but to leave the bustling Amish community where she grew up. Now she’s getting a fresh start in Hart County, Kentucky…if only she wasn’t too scared to take it. Hannah has become afraid to trust anyone-even Isaac, the friendly Amish man who lives next door. She wonders if she’ll ever return to the trusting, easy-going woman she once was.
For Isaac Troyer, the beautiful girl he teasingly called “The Recluse” confuses him like no other. When he learns of her past, he knows he’s misjudged her. However, he also understands the importance of being grateful for God’s gifts, and wonders if they will ever have anything in common. But as Hannah and Isaac slowly grow closer, they realize that there’s always more to someone than meets the eye.
Just as Hannah is finally settling into her new life, and perhaps finding a new love, more secrets are revealed, and tragedy strikes. Now Hannah must decide if she should run again or dare to fight for the future she has found in Hart County.

About The Author

Shelley Shepard Gray is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, 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.

Visit our blog Like us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter Find us on Pinterest

Buy A Copy

Add-On Goodreads

Let’s Be Friends

Digiprove sealCopyright secured by Digiprove © 2017 Margaret Margaret

Home At Last by Deborah Raney

Home at Last Deborah Raney

FTC: I received a free copy of this book from Litfuse in exchange for my honest review. I received no other compensation and the opinions expressed in this review are one hundred percent true and my own.

Home At Last by Deborah Raney was a good book, but it left me feeling sad because I hate to say goodbye to the characters that I fell in love with while reading the very first book.  This series had 5 books in it, so I feel like I have spent years with this family and now I have to say goodbye to them.  I had a tough time getting into the story of this list book, and I think that all had to do with me not feeling like I had anything in common with the characters in this book.  I loved that I got to find out what was going on with the rest of the family because I really do look at this characters as if they are alive and living somewhere in the United States.  In all, I really loved this series, and it is one that I could see myself re-reading in the future.  If you like contemporary fiction than I am sure you will love this series as much as I did.

About The Book

Why did their differences matter so much?
Link Whitman has settled into the role of bachelor without ever intending to. Now he’s stuck in a dead-end job and, as the next Whitman wedding fast approaches, he is the last one standing. The pressure from his sisters’ efforts to play matchmaker is getting hard to bear as Link pulls extra shifts at work, and helps his parents at the Chicory Inn.
All her life, Shayla Michaels has felt as if she straddled two worlds. Her mother’s white family labeled her African American father with names Shayla didn’t repeat in polite-well, in any company. Her father’s family disapproved as well, though they eventually embraced Shayla as their own. After the death of her mother, and her brother Jerry’s incarceration, life has left Shayla’s father bitter, her niece, Portia, an orphan, and Shayla responsible for them all. She knows God loves them all, but why couldn’t people accept each other for what was on the inside? For their hearts?
Everything changes one icy morning when a child runs into the street and Link nearly hits her with his pickup. Soon he is falling in love with the little girl’s aunt, Shayla, the beautiful woman who runs Coffee’s On, the bakery in Langhorne. Can Shayla and Link overcome society’s view of their differences and find true love? Is there hope of changing the sometimes-ugly world around them into something better for them all?

 

About The Author

Deborah Raney’s novels have won numerous awards including the RITA, National Readers’ Choice Award, HOLT Medallion, the Carol Award, and have three times been Christy Award finalists. She and her husband, Ken Raney have traded small-town life in Kansas-the setting of many of Deb’s novels-for life in the city of Wichita.
Find out more about Deborah at http://deborahraney.com.
Like us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter Find us on Pinterest View on Instagram

Buy A Copy

Add-On Goodreads

Let’s Be Friends

 

Raney2

Digiprove sealCopyright secured by Digiprove © 2017 Margaret Margaret

The Elusive Miss Ellison by Carolyn Miller

Book Review Graphic

FTC: I received a free copy of this book from Litfuse in exchange for my honest review. I received no other compensation and the opinions expressed in this review are one hundred percent true and my own.

The Elusive Miss Ellison by Carolyn Miller was a rich historical fiction book.  This is the first book I have ever read by this author, and I was surprised by how much I liked this book. On the back of the book they compare this author’s writing to Julie Klassen, and if I had to pick between this author and Julie, I would choose this author.  I was interested in this book right from the first page right up until the end of the book.  I liked both Livvie and Nicholas from the outset because they seemed like they were people who were alive at one point.  I love when I find that characters in historical books seem like they were alive at some time because it means I was able to feel like I was part of the book and that doesn’t often happen when I am reading historical romance.  If you are looking for a great book to read I would one hundred percent recommend this book.  I also think that this book would be a great book for some who is looking to start reading historical fiction.

About The Book

Handsome appearance counts for naught unless matched by good character and actions.

That’s the firm opinion of not-so-meek minister’s daughter Lavinia Ellison. So even though all the other villagers of St. Hampton Heath are swooning over the newly returned seventh Earl of Hawkesbury, she is not impressed. If a man won’t take his responsibilities seriously and help those who are supposed to be able to depend on him, he deserves no respect from her. In Lavinia’s pretty, gray eyes, Nicholas Stamford is just as arrogant and reckless as his brother-who stole the most important person in Livvie’s world.

Nicholas is weighed down by his own guilt and responsibility, by the pain his careless brother caused, and by the legacy of war, he’s just left. This quick visit home to St. Hampton Heath will be just long enough to ease a small part of that burden. Asking him to bother with the lives of the villagers when there’s already a bailiff on the job is simply too much to expect.
That is, until the hoydenish, intelligent, and very opinionated Miss Ellison challenges him to see past his pain and pride. With her angelic voice in his head, he may even be beginning to care. But his isn’t the only heart that needs to change.

These two lonely hearts may each have something the other needs. But with society’s opposition, ancestral obligations, and a shocking family secret, there may be too many obstacles in their way.

Fans of Georgette Heyer, Lori Wick, and Julie Klassen will enjoy the spirited exchanges between the bluestocking minister’s daughter and the bruised war hero as they move past pride and presumption to a humbled appreciation of God’s grace and the true strength of love.

About The Author

Carolyn Miller lives in New South Wales, Australia, with her husband and four children. A longtime lover of Regency romance, Carolyn’s novels have won a number of RWA and ACFW contests. She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers and Australasian Christian Writers.

Visit our blog Like us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter Find us on Pinterest

Buy A Copy

Add-On Goodreads

Let’s Be Friends

Digiprove sealCopyright secured by Digiprove © 2017 Margaret Margaret

Grace and the Preacher by Kim Vogel Sawyer

Book Review Graphic

FTC: I received a free copy of this book from Blogging For Books in exchange for my honest review. I received no other compensation and the opinions expressed in this review are one hundred percent true and my own.

Grace and the Preacher by Kim Vogel Sawyer was a sweet story.  I don’t read many historical books anymore because I find that I get bored with them and I do have a hard time getting into them.  This is the third book that I have read by this author, and I am starting to think that she can’t write a book that I won’t enjoy.  This book was a slow start for me, but by the third chapter I was hooked, and I ended up staying up way too late because I didn’t want to put the book down.  I didn’t like Theo throughout the entire book, and I am not sure why I didn’t like him.  I did, however, love Grace right from the start of the book.  If you are looking for a new historical fiction book to read I would recommend this one to you.

About The Book

The Kansas community of Fairland anticipates the arrival of their new minister, and in recent months, late in 1882, postmistress Grace Cristler has communicated with Reverend Dille via letters, answering his questions about the little town, and developing affection for the man who pens thoughtful missives.

Theophil Garrison grew up under the loving influence of his saintly grandmother but was roped into his cousins’ train-robbing plan. When they fail and are apprehended, Theo fled the scene, evading jail time. Now an angry cousin is out to avenge Theo’s duplicity, and he’s on the run. He encounters a fatally ill traveler–a minister. Seeing a way to keep hidden, Theo trades identities with the man, dons his fine black suit, carries a Bible, and prays that he’ll be accepted as Rufus Dille.

Once in Fairland, if Theo’s true identity is uncovered, what will be left of the world he has built for himself, Grace, and those in the town who have come to love and accept him?

From the Trade Paperback edition.

About The Author

Kim Vogel Sawyer is the author of fifteen 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 six grandchildren. She invites you to visit her Web site at http://www.kimvogelsawyer.com for more information.”

Kim’s father is author Ralph Vogel

Buy A Copy

Add-On Goodreads

Let’s Be Friends

Digiprove sealCopyright secured by Digiprove © 2017 Margaret Margaret

Door To Freedom by Jana Kelley

FTC: I received a free copy of this book from Litfuse in exchange for my honest review. I received no other compensation and the opinions expressed in this review are one hundred percent true and my own.

Door To Freedom by Jana Kelley was a great book.  This is the second book in the series and going into this book I was sure I was going to like it because I loved the first book in this series.  This is such a unique plot that I can’t help but love it because it is so different from anything else that I have ever read.  I love that with these books you get to peek inside of what it would be like to be a Christian living in Sudan.  I also enjoyed this book because it is based on true stories and I am always a sucker for books that are based on real stories.  This book made me want to share my beliefs more because if people are sharing their faith in places like Sudan, I should do the same thing here.  If you are looking for a book that is different from most of the books out there, I would recommend this entire series to you because I know you will love them like I do.

About The Book

In the dusty, Islamic country of Sudan, Mia, who is raising her family in a Muslim country, has learned to boldly share her faith. Rania, the daughter of a wealthy Sudanese Arab, seeks to find the reason for her sister’s sudden disappearance. Mia holds some of the answers, but both women quickly discover they must each walk through their own doors to freedom—the freedom that only comes when you trust God’s sovereignty more than man-made security.

Part of New Hope® Publishers’ line of contemporary missional fiction, Door to Freedom, the sequel to Side by Side, opens the reader’s eyes to modern-day persecution and the life of Muslims in Sudan. Based on real-life events, Door to Freedom also reveals some of the struggles that Christians face when living under Islamic law. The reader will be inspired to pray for those who are persecuted for their faith as well as for the salvation of the persecutors.

About The Author

Jana Kelley is a Texan who hardly ever lives in Texas. Raised in Southeast Asia, Jana developed a love for cross-cultural living early in life. Her love for writing came soon after. Jana returned to Texas to attend college. She and her husband married a month after she graduated, and by their second anniversary, they were living in a remote African town. After 13 years living in Africa and the Middle East, Jana, her husband, and their three boys moved to Southeast Asia where they currently live. You can learn more about Jana at janakelley.com.

Buy A Copy

Add-On Goodreads

Let’s Be Friends

Digiprove sealCopyright secured by Digiprove © 2017 Margaret Margaret

Home To Paradise by Barbara Cameron

Home to Paradise Barbara Cameron

FTC: I received a free copy of this book from Litfuse in exchange for my honest review. I received no other compensation and the opinions expressed in this review are one hundred percent true and my own.

Home To Paradise by Barbara Cameron was a great Amish fiction novel.  As most of you know by now, I am a huge fan of Amish fiction books.  Every time I see one I have to get it and read it because I can’t get enough of them.  This is the third book in the “Coming Home” series.  This is the first book that I have read in this series and me able to figure out what was going on.  If had had the time I would have liked to read all three books in order, but I didn’t have the time, so I am hoping that I will be able to read the other two books later even though I know what happens to them because I read this book.  I really liked Rose and John right from the start, and I was sad when the book was over because I felt like I really connected with the characters.  If you love Amish fiction like I do I would tell you to pick up the first two books so that you can read them in order.

About The Book

Rose Anna Zook has watched her two older sisters marry two Stoltzfus men and has always thought she and John, the third Stoltzfus brother, would marry, make a home together, and have children. But John has other ideas. He’s enjoying his Rumschpringe in the Englisch world a little too much and isn’t interested in returning to the Amish community–especially to marry.
Rose Anna is determined to bring her man back into the Amish fold. John is equally determined to live his life free and unencumbered. Who will win this battle of wills? Will love prevail?

About The Author

CBD, CBA, and ECPA best-selling author of 24 books (including new series upcoming for Abingdon Press in 2011/2012) including fiction and non-fiction books for Abingdon Press, Thomas Nelson, Harlequin, and other publishers.

I sold three films to HBO/Cinemax and am the first winner of the Romance Writers of America Golden Heart Award.

My two novellas won the 2nd and 3rd place in the Inspirational Readers Choice Contest from the Faith, Love, and Hope chapter of RWA. Both were finalists for the novella category of the Carol Award of the American Christian Writers Award (ACFW).

Buy A Copy

Add-On Goodreads

Let’s Be Friends

Digiprove sealCopyright secured by Digiprove © 2017 Margaret Margaret