Womens Fiction

Not So Far Away by Deborah Pierson Dill

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FTC: I received a free copy of this book from the author 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.

Not So Far Away by Deborah Pierson Dill was a hard book to read for the first several chapters of the book. This book could also be triggering to people who have dealt with domestic abuse because of some of the things that happen in the book. I have never dealt with anything like domestic abuse, but I felt like I understood what she went through because of the authors writing. At times this book was hard to read because of the subject matter, but I loved that because it made me feel like I was there with the characters in the book. This was an easy read, and I was able to read in just a few hours one day. This would be a great book for people who don’t have a ton of time to read because you can get through it pretty quick if you need to. I did find this book kind of predicable but I still really enjoyed the book and the story. If you love chick lit books than I am sure you will enjoy this book.

Not So Far Away by Deborah Pierson Dill

About The Book

Laurel Kerr lives each day fearing it could be her last. Years of pleading with God for deliverance from her husband’s deadly temper have convinced her that she’s beneath the Lord’s notice. Still, she perseveres, hoping that a redeemed husband and a Christ-centered marriage might one day be possible. Dr. Boyd Wendall has a soft spot for Laurel. Although she’s not his to take care of, she stirs his protective instincts. Time and again he finds himself in the midst of her trouble, and he can’t help but believe there’s a reason for it. When Laurel’s deliverance comes suddenly and unexpectedly, it raises questions about Boyd’s integrity, reopens wounds from his past, and leads to a trial the two cannot escape. Apart, they are just one man and one woman facing tribulation. Together, they’ll discover that God is not so far away.

Deborah Pierson Dill

About The Author

I write character driven, inspirational romance. My Blithe Settlement series was published by White Rose Publishing in 2010 and 2011. In 2012 my Christmas novella, Ransomed Hope was published by Pelican Book Group, followed by Ransomed Trust in February, 2013.

When I’m not writing I’m trying hard to get the hang of my new day job, keeping my kids more or less in order and ministering along side my husband at the First Baptist Church of Bangs, Texas.

I was born and raised in San Antonio, Texas. But I spent seven years in southern Illinois before moving back home to central Texas.

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Lowcountry Stranger by Ashley Farley

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FTC: I received a free copy of this book from the author 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.

Lowcountry Stranger by Ashley Farley was a great book. This is the second book in the series, but you don’t have to read the first book to understand what is going on in this book. You can click here to check out my review of the first book “Her Sister’s Shoes by Ashley Farley.” I enjoy reading books by this author and like I said I enjoyed this book. I love the family that is in this book, and I feel like I can relate to them and the things that they have gone through in their lives. I loved everything about this book, and I can’t wait to read the next book in the series because I love catching up with all of the characters in this series. I look at these characters like they are actual people because the author does a great job of making them seem like real people. I think that just about anyone would love this book, and I recommend this book to everyone.

Lowcountry Stranger by Ashley Farley

About The Book

Family Drama, Southern Style.
There’s a stranger in town. And it’s no coincidence when she shows up uninvited at a Sweeney family wedding. All eyes are drawn to this urchin who seems to have washed in with the tide. Before the night is over, the doe-eyed waif charms young and old with her street smarts and spunky personality. For better or worse, Annie Dawn is here to stay.

The memorable Sweeney sisters from Her Sister’s Shoes have returned with more suspense and family drama to hold you spellbound until the dramatic conclusion. As she approaches the next stage of her life as an empty nester, Jackie is torn between expanding her fledgling design business and spending these last precious months with her boys before they fly the coop. Her own worst enemy, Sam is terrified of making a commitment to Eli Marshall, handsome police officer, true love of her life. Her resolve is tested when a ghost from her past shows up after nearly two decades. Faith nurtures her seven-year-old daughter who is recovering from the trauma of her abusive father. Is the threat in the past, or is there more danger on the horizon? The sisters seek guidance from their mother, Lovie, a true Southern matriarch who shows them how to respond to adversity with grace and dignity.

Things are heating up in the Lowcountry. The Sweeney sisters remind us, once again, that being a part of a family is about more than sharing the same DNA.

Ashley Farley

About The Author

Ashley Farley is a wife and mother of two college-aged children. She grew up in the salty marshes of South Carolina, but now lives in Richmond, Virginia, a city she loves for its history and traditions.

After her brother died in 1999 of an accidental overdose, she turned to writing as a way of releasing her pent-up emotions. She wrote SAVING BEN in honor of Neal, the boy she worshipped, the man she could not save. SAVING BEN is not a memoir, but a story about the special bond between siblings.

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The Average Girl by Angelina Goode

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FTC: I received a free copy of this book from Pump Up Your Book 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 Average Girl by Angelina Goode was a fun chick lit book. This was a great book, and I loved that the premise of the story was different from any other book that I have read lately.  I usually am not a huge fan of this type of book but this author hooked me right from the start, and I didn’t want to put it down until the book was done. I enjoyed Olivia because she seems like someone that I would get along with in real life. I can say that this book was predicable but I still really enjoyed this author’s style of writing. She was able to make me feel like I was there with the characters. She also made me feel like I was a part of the story and I enjoyed that about this book. If you love chick lit or and looking for a fun book to read this summer, I would for sure recommend this book to you.

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About The Book

Sometimes being average can lead to wonderful things…

Olivia Fowler, helper of the star-struck, runs a successful business helping average people meet celebrities in everyday ways. She is so good at what she does, the celebrities don’t have a clue they’re part of a pre-planned meeting. Business is booming and Olivia knows everything there is to know about Hollywood’s famous and their behavior. Her clients trust her because she is just like them, not famous.

But when Olivia accidentally meets the uber-famous Alexander Young at the grocery store, her world is flipped upside-down. She can’t possibly resist those charming eyes and sexy arms. As their romance blossoms, Olivia learns she may not know as much as she thought she did about celebrities and their ways.

Then Olivia’s most important and loyal client requests to meet Alexander. Suddenly, Olivia is forced to choose between her love and her business.

Will Olivia be able to keep her booming business a secret from her soon-to-be boyfriend? Will her clients still trust her if she is no longer the average girl?

Angelina Goode

About The  Author

Angelina Goode began writing as a teenager. Though her first works were poems about love-struck teenagers, she grew her craft while earning her degree in Journalism and Creative Writing. A former grade school teacher that loved teaching children to write, she enjoys finding creative ways to present everyday events. Now she primarily writes light-hearted contemporary women’s fiction. She lives in Los Angeles where she enjoys the occasional celebrity sighting and year-round sun.

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My Father’s House by Rose Chandler Johnson

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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.

My Father’s House by Rose Chandler Johnson was a book I wasn’t sure if I was going to like when I started it. I always hate when I am not certain if I will like because I hate forcing myself to read books that I don’t like but let’s get on to this book. By the end of the first chapter, I didn’t want to put the book down. I did feel so sorry for Lily, and I had to keep reading because I had to know how things worked out for her in the book. I love that this book covered a good amount of time, but it wasn’t super long and didn’t leave me feeling like things were rushed or as if things were missing in the story. I have read other books that they cut things out to keep the book shorter, but they didn’t in this book, and I loved that about it. I felt terrible for Lily most of the book, and I think that is because I can see a lot of myself in her. If you love books that seem like they are real stories than you need to pick this book up because it is one that I could see happening.

My Father's House by Rose Chandler Johnson

About The Book

My Father’s House (March 2016)

Growing up, life is idyllic for Lily Rose Cates due to one constant — her father’s love.

But in her sixteenth summer, all that changes without warning. There begins Lily’s struggle to find herself and the life she’s lost. . . . Marriage promises fulfillment, but her happily-ever-after barely survives the honeymoon. Her husband’s sophisticated façade hides a brooding man with even darker secrets.

When all illusions shatter, Lily must make hard choices — abandon her husband or risk losing much more than her marriage. She flees their home in Detroit and sets out on a fearful journey to a house in Georgia that her husband knows nothing about. This is one woman’s compelling tale of love and survival as she finds her way back home to who she’s meant to be . . . in her father’s house.

Rose Chandler Johnson

About The Author

Rose Chandler Johnson is the author of the award winning devotional God, Me, and Sweet Iced Tea: Experiencing God in the Midst of Everyday Moments. My Father’s Houseis her first novel. She happily makes her home near Augusta, Georgia.

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Through The Shadows by Karen Barnett

 

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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.

Through The Shadows by Karen Barnett was another great book in The Golden Gate Chronicles series.   This is the third book in the series, and I think it may be my favorite in the series. I loved these characters, and I felt like I could relate to them more than I could the other characters. I also loved the subject of this book because it reminded me of one of my favorite author’s and her books that take place in North and South Korea and even though that this book takes place in San Francisco it reminded me of those books and I know that made me fall even more in love with this book. I could see myself acting like Elizabeth and Charles because the things that they are fighting against are also things that I would be against and try to change. This is a fantastic historical fiction book that I know just about everyone will love just as much as I do.

Through The Shadows by Karen Barnett

About The Book

The devastating earthquake is just two years past, but the city of San Francisco is still trying to recover. Destruction of this magnitude is not so easy to overcome-and neither are the past regrets shadowing Elizabeth King’s hopeful future.
Hoping to right her wrongs, Elizabeth dedicates herself to helping girls rescued from slavery in Chinatown brothels, even if it means putting her own life at risk to sneak through the gloomy alleys and rooftops where dangers lurk.
Putting her life on the line for a worthy cause is admirable. But opening her heart is even more terrifying. So when Elizabeth meets attorney, Charles McKinley–a man who dreams of reforming San Francisco’s crooked politics–Elizabeth begins to doubt: Can she maintain her pretense and hide her past? Or will her secret jeopardize both their futures?

Karen Barnett

About The Author

Karen Barnett is the author of Beyond the Ashes, Out of the Ruins, andMistaken. Named the 2013 Writer of Promise by Oregon Christian Writers, Karen lives in Albany, Oregon, with her husband and two kids. When she’s not writing novels, she loves speaking at women’s events, libraries, and book clubs.

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Simple Pleasures by Marianne Jantzi

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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.

Simple Pleasures by Marianne Jantzi was a good book to read. I have read one other book in this series. With that being said it, they are part of a series but not part of a series. Each book is written by a different Amish person, so they are different stories, but all have to do with what it is like to be Amish. I enjoyed the first book which you can read my review on if you click here but I had a hard time getting into this book. I enjoyed this book, but it was slower for me, and it isn’t one that I would want to read again. I think that is because it was most just her talking and not her telling stories. Even with all that being said I did enjoy parts of this book, and it is one that I know some people will love. If you love books written by the Amish and love to get an inside look at what their lives are like I would for sure have you check out this book.

Simple Pleasures by Marianne Jantzi

About The Book

Young Amish homemaker Marianne Jantzi invites readers into her family s life and Amish community. The mother of four young children, Jantzi writes about her daily routines and heartfelt faith with equal measures of wit and warmth. Sewing, cleaning, cooking, gardening, and helping to manage the family store take up most hours in her day, but Jantzi finds time to pen columns for theConnection, a magazine beloved by Amish and Mennonite readers. Never sugarcoating the frustrations of motherhood, Jantzi tells it like it is, broken washing machine and bickering children and all. But through her busy days, Jantzi finds strength in simple pleasures of family, fellowship with her Amish community, and quiet time with God.

Hear straight from Amish people themselves as they write about their daily lives and deeply rooted faith in the Plainspoken series from Herald Press. Each book includes A Day in the Life of the Author and the authors answers to FAQs about the Amish.

About The Author

Marianne Jantzi is an Amish writer and homemaker in Ontario, Canada. Formerly a teacher in an Amish school, Jantzi now educates and inspires through her “Northern Reflections” column for The Connection, a magazine directed mainly to Amish and plain communities across the U.S. and Canada. She and her husband have four young children and run a shoe store among the Milverton Amish settlement of Ontario.

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