The Splendor Of Ordinary Days by Jeff High

October 12, 2015

***I wanted to let everyone know that this book may offend some people. I personally didn’t see anything wrong with this book and wasn’t offend in the least. I want to make sure you knew that so you are aware of this.***

The Splendor Of Ordinary Days by Jeff High was a fun book to read. This is the third book in the Watervalley series and this is the first book that I have read and I was able to figure out what was going on so you don’t have to read them in order if you don’t want to. I would recommend reading them in order if you plan on reading the series though. I really enjoyed reading about these characters and getting to know the people in the town. Even though I have read this book I think I am still going to go back and read the other books because I really enjoyed this book and the author writing. I like Luke from the first page and I also really liked the new veterinarian that you meet in the first chapter as well. I love that this book brings awareness to people about PTSD because that is such a big problem in this country right now. If you love reading I know you will love this book!

About The Book

Readers of Jan Karon’s Mitford series and Patrick Taylor’s Irish Country series will fall in love with Jeff High’s funny, heartfelt Watervalley series.

The pastoral charm of small-town Watervalley, Tenneesse, can be deceptive, as young Dr. Luke Bradford discovers when he’s caught in the fallout of a decades-old conflict…

After a rocky start as Watervalley’s only doctor, Luke Bradford has decided to stay in town, honoring the three-year commitment he made to pay off his medical school debts. But even as his friendships with the quirky townsfolk deepen, and he pursues a romance with lovely schoolteacher Christine Chambers, several military veterans’ emotional wounds trigger anger and unrest in Watervalley.

At the center of the clash is the curmudgeonly publisher of the local newspaper, Luther Whitmore. Luther grew up in Watervalley, but he returned from combat in Vietnam a changed man. He fenced in beautiful Moon Lake, posting “Keep Out” notices at the beloved spot, and provokes the townspeople with his incendiary newspaper.

As Luke struggles to understand Luther’s past, and restore harmony in Watervalley, an unforeseen crisis shatters a relationship he values dearly. Suddenly Luke must answer life’s toughest questions about service, courage, love, and sacrifice.

About The Author

After growing up on a farm in rural Tennessee, Jeff High attained degrees in literature and nursing. He is the three-time winner, in fiction and poetry, of an annual writing contest held by Vanderbilt Medical Center. He lived in Nashville for many years, and throughout the country as a travel nurse, before returning to his original hometown, near where he now works as an operating room RN in open-heart surgery. He is the author of the Watervalley novels, including “More Things in Heaven and Earth” and “Each Shining Hour.”

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More More Time by David B. Seaburn

October 8, 2015

More More Time by David B. Seaburn was such an interesting book. There were times during the first few chapters that I got confused but once you have met all the characters it is easy to follow along and you are able to understand it all. I loved learning how all the characters were connected and see how they all interacted with each other. I really like Max and I found myself feeling bad for him because I can’t even imagine how it would be to hear voices all the time and to feel like you are going crazy. If you love general fiction than you should check this one out. If you have read it what did you think of it?

About The Book

General / Literary Fiction

Date Published: July 18, 2015

Maxwell Ruth, a cantankerous, old high school history teacher falls down his basement stairs and soon thereafter starts hearing “The Words” over and over again—endingtimeendingtimeendingtime. His life is changed forever.

In this story we learn about the lives, loves, and losses of Max, Hargrove and Gwen Stinson, Beth and Bob Hazelwood, and Constance Young. They are lively, funny, at times; a little bit lost or wounded, yet resilient and hopeful. They are wrestling with life’s most challenging issues, including, abuse, loss, infidelity, aging, secrecy and what gives life meaning. And, like all of us, they would like more, more time to find the answers to life’s most important questions. The clock, though, is always ticking and time is always short.

About The Author

David B. Seaburn served a rural country parish, worked in community mental health, was an assistant professor of psychiatry and family medicine at the University of Rochester Medical Center for twenty years, and also directed a free public school-based family counseling center before his retirement in 2010. He has written five novels: More More Time (2015), Chimney Bluffs (2012), Charlie No Face (2011—Finalist in General Fiction, National Indie Excellence Awards), Pumpkin Hill (2007), and Darkness is as Light (2005). He and his wife live near Rochester, NY. They have two adult daughters and two wonderful granddaughters.

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House of Thieves by Charles Belfoure

October 7, 2015

House of Thieves by Charles Belfoure was a great book. I loved this book because it gives you enough information and details to understand the story but it doesn’t give you so much that you get bogged down in the details. I hate reading books where you get lost in all the details and I was so happy that this book wasn’t like that. I loved almost everything about this book and the one thing I didn’t like was how long of book that this was. I have been having a hard time reading bigger books lately so I would read it for awhile and then pick up another book for awhile and come back later. This was a great historical novel and one that I think you should look into reading if you love historical novels.

About The Book

In 1886 New York, a respectable architect shouldn’t have any connection to the notorious gang of thieves and killers that rules the underbelly of the city. But when John Cross’s son racks up an unfathomable gambling debt to Kent’s Gents, Cross must pay it back himself. All he has to do is use his inside knowledge of high society mansions and museums to craft a robbery even the smartest detectives won’t solve. The take better include some cash too —the bigger the payout, the faster this will be over.

With a newfound talent for sniffing out vulnerable and lucrative targets, Cross becomes invaluable to the gang. But Cross’s entire life has become a balancing act, and it will only take one mistake for it all to come crashing down —and for his family to go down too.

About The Author

Charles Belfoure is the nationally bestselling author of The Paris Architect and is an architect by profession, with a specialty in historical preservation. He graduated from the Pratt Institute and Columbia University, and has written several architectural histories.http://www.charlesbelfoure.com

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The Hollow Man by Paul Hollis

October 1, 2015

The Hollow Man by Paul Hollis was a book that kept me on the edge of my seat throughout the book. I love books like this one most of the time because it makes them super fun to read. I love trying to figure out what is going to happen before the end of the book. If I am being honest I couldn’t figure this book out before it ended and that means I loved it even more. I was drawn to the main character from the first page and I had to know what happened and if he managed to figure out who was trying to destroy Europe. He reminded me of Jack Reacher from the books written by Lee Child’s and since that is one of my all time favorite series of books I couldn’t help but love this book. If you love mystery books than I know you will love this one!

About The Book

A terrorist’s plot, the assassination of a prime minister, holds the key to an apocalyptic plan to destroy Europe’s economy. It’s impossible to stop, but one man doesn’t know enough to think the world can’t be saved. He’s no hero; not clever or capable, talented or tested. The Hollow Man is just trying to survive in an uncertain climate where terrorism is changing the rules of how we live.

The Hollow Man won 2nd place in World’s Best Story Contest.

About The Author

Having lived in twelve states and eventually working in all fifty, he fell in love early with seeing the world on someone else’s money. Since then, he has lived abroad nine years while working in forty-eight countries, spanning five continents. These experiences helped Paul Hollis bring his own unique viewpoint to his mesmerizing thrillers.

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The Truth About Caroline by Randi M Sherman

September 30, 2015

The Truth About Caroline by Randi M Sherman was a fun book to read. I really enjoyed this story and I am not 100% sure why but I didn’t want to stop reading until I had finished this book. There were parts of this book that made me laugh because I could actually see something like that happening. I loved the parts that had to do with her outfits that her lawyer gave her to wear to court and I wish this book would have had pictures in it because they would have been amazing. This was another new author to me and I wasn’t sure if I was going to like the story but after I was a few chapters in I really started to enjoy this book. I really felt like Caroline was a real person and she also seemed like someone who I would love to be friends with. This was a super fun chick lit book and everyone who enjoys chick lit needs to check out this book.

About The Book

Honesty has always presented a problem for Caroline.

Manipulating situations and navigating around blunders and deceptions have become second nature to Caroline. She could justify every lie she has ever told, and any truth she ever stretched. Honesty and revealing secrets would only keep her from moving forward with her life. What good would it do anyhow?

Even all of those bad financial decisions, flawed relationships and questionable life choices seem like child’s play compared to being arrested for the solicitation of her husband’s murder, and what follows. Could someone figure out Caroline? And what would happen if someone did?

About The Author

With an eye for detail, an ear for well-tuned dialogue and an incredible grasp of the obvious, all honed while performing stand-up comedy in Los Angeles and improvisational theater in San Francisco, Sherman adds just enough bawdiness to deliver character-driven contemporary novels that will have the reader laughing, thinking and even connecting with the characters in her books

Writing has been a part of Randi’s life since she was a teenager, one hundred and fifty thousand years ago. But being pragmatic and realizing that she preferred having an income, living indoors and eating regularly, she reluctantly put her dreams on hold and entered the corporate world, yet never left behind her sense of humor and creative storytelling ability, skills which were not always appreciated during budget and strategy meetings.

Now, after living indoors for a while and eating regularly, albeit too much, Randi has picked up her pen again and her third novel, THE TRUTH ABOUT CAROLINE is here. It is the continuation to her second novel CAROLINE STARTS OVER (2014). Randi’s first book PAULA TAKES A RISK was released in 2012. Look for Randi’s next novel THE LOBBY, Spring-ish 2016.

Randi lives in the California wine country. She would never claim to have a genius IQ, the body of a super model. However, she can spell “supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.” Randi maintains a trim, well-toned body that is cleverly concealed beneath twenty pounds of soft protective layering and she has the appetite of a bird (vulture).

Things that Randi cannot live without: people to laugh with, her car horn, a gym membership where there are chubby women who break into a sweat while putting on a jog bra, wine, waist capes, and her wife, Carol.

Randi can live without: mean-spirited people, liver, left-overs, communal dressing rooms, tight underwear, and people who point.

Randi is five-foot-seven.

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Love’s a Stage by Rene Gutteridge & Cheryl McKay

September 29, 2015

Love’s a Stage by Rene Gutteridge & Cheryl McKay was a sweet love story. I loved this book because it was super sweet and not only that but it was a shorter book and I love reading shorter books in between some of the more intense books that I have been reading and reviewing lately. I can’t say enough great things about this story. This is the first book I have read by either of these authors and I can’t wait to read more by them because they did a great job of making fall in love with both of the characters and the entire story. If you love romance novels than you don’t want to miss this story.

About The Book

Grad student and future marriage counselor Aly Brewster had a perfect childhood with perfect parents. Now she’s heading into her own perfect life: Finish her Master’s. Build a successful practice. Husband at twenty-six. But when her parents blindside her with the news they’re getting divorced, her perfect world shatters.

Actor Nick Armstrong has been in love with Aly since they met during freshman year. He’s happy to accept his assigned place in her Friend Zone because it lets him be close to her. But it’s been over five years—time to move on. Then the usually-unflappable Aly comes to him begging for help to save her parents’ marriage. Nick has the perfect plan: fake an engagement to each other to inspire her parents to fight to save their marriage. And who knows? It might trigger Aly’s feelings for him. But when Aly takes the ruse to the next level—planning a wedding in her parents’ backyard and hiring additional actors to play his family—enough is enough!

As the lines between acting and reality grow decidedly blurred, these two improvised fiancés must decide: are they going to finish the play…or exit stage right. Alone.

About The Authors

Rene Gutteridge

Rene Gutteridge is the author of eighteen novels, including Escapement, Possession, Listen, Never the Bride (2011 Carol Award Winner), The Boo Series, The Storm Series, The Occupational Hazards Series and My Life as a Doormat, a Women of Faith selection for 2006. She has a degree in Mass Communications with an emphasis in screenwriting and twenty years of experience writing, directing and publishing comedy sketches. She writes in both comedy and suspense genres. Her upcoming releases from Tyndale House Publishers: Heart of the Country, Misery Loves Company and Old Fashioned. From B&H Publishers: Greetings from the Flipside co-written with Cheryl McKay.

Cheryl McKay

Cheryl McKay has been professionally writing since 1997. Cheryl wrote the screenplay for The Ultimate Gift, based on Jim Stovall’s novel. The award-winning film stars James Garner, Brian Dennehy, and Abigail Breslin and was released in theaters by Fox in 2007. Cheryl also wrote the DVD for Gigi: God’s Little Princess, another book adaptation based on the book by Sheila Walsh, as well as the Wild and Wacky, Totally True Bible Stories audio series and books with Frank Peretti. Her screenplay, Never the Bride, has been adapted into a novel for Random House Publishers and was released in June 2009. She also released Finally the Bride: Finding Hope While Waiting, the non-fiction version of Never the Bride. She penned the film script for “A Friend for Maddie”. She recently released her autobiography, Finally Fearless: Journey from Panic to Peace. Cheryl and her husband live in Los Angeles.

Visit her website: http://www.purplepenworks.com or the ministry she runs with her husband, finallyone.com