Books I Love

The Thread That Binds by Alice Hayes

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The Thread That Binds by Alice Hayes was an amazing book.  I love that the author brings such different women together and have them all connect.  I like it because it made me realize that you never know someone else story is and what they are going through.  I loved this author’s writing and how she made me understand why the characters did the things they do and I was also able to understand the character’s background and where they had come from.  She did all of this without bogging you down with too many details and spending too much time on their backgrounds.  It is a hard thing to not over do the amount of back stories that authors give but she did it just right and she has become of my new favorite authors.  If you love books that take place in modern times than this is one you aren’t going to want to miss.

The Thread That Binds

About The Book

Sherice is a new mother, a sonographer, quilter, and wife; an overworked young woman whose elderly mother is slipping away from her.

Sylvie is a newlywed and recent immigrant, unemployed and virtually penniless. Her husband’s paycheck can’t even cover prenatal care, let alone a baby, and her due date is only drawing nearer…

Joanne’s unconventional pregnancy turns her world upside down, redefining her career and relationships, and even bringing to the surface long-buried demons from her past.

Payton is seventeen, pregnant, and on the run. She flees to her uncle in Georgia with the hope of making a fresh start, but discovers making it on her own is harder than she could ever have imagined.

Gloria is trapped in an unhappy marriage; in love with someone else. Her life is falling apart. With a baby on the way, would it be selfish to flee?

Five women, once strangers, form bonds. Set in modern day Georgia, this is the story of friendship that blossoms in the land of country music, sweet tea, and secrets kept locked tight behind closed doors. Moving, funny, and at times heartbreaking, The Thread That Binds is a lesson in empathy, strength, and the beauty of love.

Alice Hayes

 

About The Author

Originally from Winchester, England, Alice’s plans to read law at a British university were disrupted when she fell deeply in love with Georgia, USA, while studying abroad. After moving all over Georgia, Alice has finally settled in Athens and has no plans to go anywhere else.

She is a single mother to a three-year-old girl and a 65 lb hound dog. She likes coffee, wine, and anything edible with the words ‘salted caramel’ in its description.

At the time of publication, Alice is a 24-year-old history student working full time in a law office, and writing fiction at every stolen moment. She hasn’t slept in approximately two years. Her first published novel, The Thread That Binds won third place in World’s Best Story contest.

Connect with the author:  Website   Twitter

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The Golden Braid by Melanie Dickerson

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The Golden Braid by Melanie Dickerson was a good book.  This is a retelling of the fairy tale “Rapunzel” and if I am being honest I vaguely remember the story so I can’t really say much at it in that sense but I can talk about the writing and the things I liked about it and the things I didn’t like about it.  I really enjoyed the author’s writing and this entire story.  This was a quick read and even though it was about 225 pages the reading of it was super easy and light hearted.  I loved watching as Rapunzel goes through adapting to a new city along with learning how to read.  This story brought the fairy tale to life and made it even more relatable to younger generations.  If you love fantasy books than I would for sure recommend this book to you.

The Golden Braid by Melanie Dickerson

About The Book

The Golden Braid (Thomas Nelson, November 2015)

The one who needs rescuing isn’t always the one in the tower…

Rapunzel can throw a knife better than any man. She paints beautiful flowering vines on the walls of her plaster houses. She sings so sweetly she can coax even a beast to sleep. But there are two things she is afraid her mother might never allow her to do: learn to read and marry.

Fiercely devoted to Rapunzel, her mother is suspicious of every man who so much as looks at her daughter and warns her that no man can be trusted. After a young village farmer asks for Rapunzel’s hand in marriage, Mother decides to move them once again—this time, to the large city of Hagenheim.

The journey proves treacherous, and after being rescued by a knight—Sir Gerek—Rapunzel, in turn, rescues him farther down the road. As a result, Sir Gerek agrees to repay his debt to Rapunzel by teaching her to read. Could there be more to him than his arrogance and desire to marry for riches and position?

As Rapunzel acclimates to life in a new city, she uncovers a mystery that will forever change her life. In this Rapunzel story unlike any other, a world of secrets and treachery are about to be revealed after seventeen years. How will Rapunzel finally take control of her own destiny? And who will prove faithful to a lowly peasant girl with no one to turn to?

Melanie Dickerson

About The Author

Melanie Dickerson is the author of The Healer’s Apprentice, a Christy Award finalist and winner of the National Reader’s Choice Award for Best First Book. Melanie earned a bachelor’s degree in special education from the University of Alabama and has been a teacher and a missionary. She lives with her husband and two daughters in Huntsville, Alabama.

 

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A Thousand Shall Fall by Andrea Boeshaar

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A Thousand Shall Fall by Andrea Boeshaar was a good book.  I have been a huge fan of historical fiction books lately so I really enjoyed this story.  This is the first book I have read by this author and I can’t wait to check out other books by her and also reading the next books in this series.  At first I wasn’t a huge fan of Carrie.  I thought she was crazy for putting herself in danger in order to find and bring back her sister who ran off with a peddler.  After  few chapters she did grow on me but I still thought she was crazy.  I really like Peyton throughout the entire book and I loved that he kept Carrie safe and I love that he seemed like a stand up guy that all women want to meet and marry.  If you love historical fiction that takes place during the civil war I know you will love this book as much as I did.

A Thousand Shall Fall by Andrea Boeshaar

About The Book

A story of love, hope, and healing set in the midst of the Civil War Nineteen-year-old Carrie Ann Bell is independent and spirited. The only thing she really fears are the Union soldiers fighting against her Confederate friends. When her youngest sister runs away from home, brave Carrie Ann is determined to find her and bring her back. Disguised as a soldier, she sets off–only to find she’s fallen into the hands of the enemy.

Her childhood friend Confederate Major Joshua Blevins has warned her against these Yankees: they’re all devils, ready to inflict evil on unsuspecting young women. When Colonel Peyton Collier arrests her for her impersonation of an officer, it seems to confirm all her fears.

Soon, though, she finds herself drawn to the handsome, gallant colonel. He rescued her, protected her, and has been every inch the gentleman. Carrie Ann discovers that her foe has become her ally–and more than that, someone she could love. But the arrival of Joshua in the Union camp as a spy will test her loyalties. Will she protect someone who has been like family or be loyal to this stranger to whom she wants to offer her heart? When her world is being torn apart around her, whom should she trust?

Set against the backdrop of the American Civil War, A Thousand Shall Fall is framed around compelling characters and a very romantic setting in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley. Andrea Boeshaar’s extensive research guarantees historical accuracy and romance genre enthusiasts and Civil War buffs alike will enjoy the Christian perspectives on actual historical events.

Andrea Boeshaar

About The Author

Andrea Kuhn Boeshaar has been married for more than 30 years. She and her husband, Daniel, have three adult sons, daughters-in-law, and two precious grandchildren. Andrea’s educational background includes the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee, where she studied in English, and Alverno College where she studied in Professional Communications and Business Management.

Andrea has been writing stories and poems since she was a little girl; however, it wasn’t until 1984 that she started submitting her work for publication. Eight years after that, she was convicted about writing for the Christian market. She read books in her genre (Inspirational Romance & Women’s Fiction), studied the market, and worked hard to hone her craft.

 

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The Migrant Report by Mohanalakshmi Rajakumar

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The Migrant Report by Mohanalakshmi Rajakumar was a very interesting book.   I loved this book because it takes place in another part of the world and has to do with a culture I don’t know much about so I was intrigued by this story.  I love how the author talks about issues and things that are taking place in the middle east so that people who don’t know what is going on can have a sense of some of the things that are going on.  I loved everything about this book and I love the author’s writing as well.  This is an author who I know I will be reading more books by her because she is an amazing author.  If you love to read books that teach things than I know you will love this book as much as I did.

The Migrant Report by Mohanalakshmi Rajakumar

About The Book

Against the glittering high-rises of the capital, Manu, a recent arrival from Nepal, drips his days away on a construction site, cut off from the world outside the labor camp. His sister despairs of finding him among the thousands of migrant workers flooding into the Arabian Gulf to build the country’s infrastructure. Manu and Sanjana must keep their younger siblings out of poverty, even if at their own expense.

Police captain Ali’s hopes of joining the elite government forces are dashed when his childhood deformity is discovered. His demotion brings him face to face with a rising pile of unexplained dead bodies and also an aspiring journalist who is unlike any local girl Ali knows. In danger of flunking out of university, Maryam is searching for an original story that will appease her professor and keep her family’s machinations for marriage in check.

Can the unlikely trio fit the pieces of the puzzle together before agency thugs get to Manu?

Mohanalakshmi Rajakumar

About The Author

Mohanalakshmi Rajakumar is a South Asian American who has lived in Qatar since 2005. Moving to the Arabian Desert was fortuitous in many ways since this is where she met her husband, had two sons, and became a writer. She has since published eight e-books, including a momoir for first time mothers, Mommy But Still Me; a guide for aspiring writers, So You Want to Sell a Million Copies; a short story collection, Coloured and Other Stories; and a novel about women’s friendships, Saving Peace.

Her coming of age novel, An Unlikely Goddess, won the SheWrites New Novelist competition in 2011.

Her recent books have focused on various aspects of life in Qatar. From Dunes to Dior, named as a Best Indie book in 2013, is a collection of essays related to her experiences as a female South Asian American living in the Arabian Gulf. Love Comes Later was the winner of the Best Indie Book Award for Romance in 2013 and is a literary romance set in Qatar and London. The Dohmestics is an inside look into compound life, the day-to-day dynamics between housemaids and their employers.

After she joined the e-book revolution, Mohana dreams in plotlines. Learn more about her work on her website at http://www.mohadoha.com or follow her latest on Twitter: @moha_doha.

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Crimson Path Of Honor by M.B. Tosi

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Crimson Path Of Honor by M.B. Tosi was so different  from anything that I have read before.  I have read a ton of historical fiction books but none that dealt with Native Americans like this book does.  This is the third book in “The Indian Path Series” but you don’t have to read the other two books to know what is going on in this book.  It is the third book but all books can stand alone because they all focus on a different Indian tribe.  I love watching and Luci turn into Morning Star after she is captured and taken with them instead of being killed when the other people in her party were killed.  This was an amazing book and I am so glad that I chose to review.  I can’t wait to read the other books in this series in the future.

Crimson Path Of Honor by M.B. Tosi

About The Book

Each of the three books in The Indian Path Series focuses on a different Native American tribe during the Indian Wars in the late 1800s, and the lives of fictional characters are woven into the true events. The books can be read in any order as each book stands alone with different characters, tribes, settings, and events in the Indian Wars.

In the newest book, The Crimson Path of Honor (Book Three), the Civil War is over, and a violent period known as the Indian Wars is erupting. Ignoring the danger, a feisty young woman from Boston rebels against her tyrannical father’s plans to marry her off to a family friend, and she seizes an opportunity to go west to teach. On the way to the Oregon Territory, her stagecoach is attacked, and she is captured by a marauding band of Lakota (Sioux) Indians who call the Rocky Mountains home.

Accepting her perilous situation, the young woman courageously confronts the daily hardships inherent in early Native American life. At first treated like an outcast, she eventually adapts to her circumstances and comes to respect the camaraderie of the Indians, even falling in love with her captor. Over time, she begins to challenge her abductor’s traditional views on bloodletting and violence as the path of honor. Torn by her inability to justify her growing feelings for her captor in a culture of violence,she continually wonders why God has abandoned her in such a desolate place.

The theme of The Indian Path Series is how to find life’s purpose and a path of peace, love, courage, and faith in times of trouble. As American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow said, “If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we should find in each man’s life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility.”

Other books in The Indian Path Series include The Sacred Path of Tears (Book One) and The Secret Path of Destiny (Book Two). In The Sacred Path of Tears, a young Cheyenne woman in Kansas is torn between two worlds at war and the two men she loves after the Sand Creek Massacre. The Secret Path of Destiny is about the Comanche in Texas and a young German-American girl who seeks refuge with the Comanche when her wicked stepfather pursues her.

MB Tosi

About The Author

M.B. TOSI is the bestselling author of The Indian Path Series, which includes Book One The Sacred Path of Tears, Book Two The Secret Path of Destiny, Book Three The Crimson Path of Honor. Book Four, The Thundering Path of Spirit, and Book Five, The Solitary Path of Courage. She also has been an editor of non-fiction books and a weekly newspaper. She teaches piano and has a bachelor’s degree in journalism and master’s degree in education. Born in Pierre, South Dakota, she has lived in Alexandria, Virginia; Bucks County, Pennsylvania; and Toledo, Ohio. She has three children and five grandchildren.

Website

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The Courtship of Utopia Miner by Linda Gilman

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The Courtship of Utopia Miner by Linda Gilman was such a cute book to read.  The entire time I was reading this book the only thing I thought was how great this story was.  I couldn’t help but laugh and love Utopia because of what she wanted to do with her life and the fact that she had 3 dads.  I loved this author’s style of writing.  There were times when I laughed out loud because the entire situation was crazy but the author wrote about in a way that makes you laugh. If you are looking for a great historical fiction novel than I know you won’t want to miss this one.

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About The Book

Title: The Courtship of Utopia Miner

Author: Linda Gilman

Series: Gold Rush

Genre: Historical Romance

Release Date: November 9th 2015

Publisher: Indie Published

Print Length: 289 pages

Format: Paperback and Digital

Print ISBN: 9781517538941

Digital ISBN: 1517538947

 

Utopia Miner is tired of hunting gold and caring for her three adopted fathers. Living in a Rocky Mountain mining camp is holding up her dream of becoming a saloon girl. If only she could learn the essential skills of singing, dancing and kissing, she’d be on her way to a glamorous life. When Utopia discovers she’s the prize in her three fathers’ marrying scheme, she sees benefits in going along with the courting contest. She now has a kissing teacher. And wow, what a teacher. One starter kiss from Lance and her body’s sweating in places it never had before.

Lancelot Jones wants to turn in his life-risking marshal’s badge for a much safer job as a reporter, but the newspaper wants articles as proof of his qualifications. When his editor sends him to a mining camp to get the scoop on a courtship contest, Lance discovers the privilege of covering the story hinges upon chaperoning the bride-to-be. He soon finds himself ensconced in Utopia’s innocent charms and demanding saloon girl lessons. In short order, chaperoning the bride-to-be becomes risky business.

Linda Gilman bio pic

About The Author

Linda Gilman is known for writing humorous western romance novels. Her stories are centered on independent, strong-willed women, and courageous heroes who always protect the innocent without violating their personal code of conduct. It’s the cowboy west readers are so enamored with and a twist of zany plot. From first page to last, her books are loaded with pain-in-your-side laughable moments.

She has a deep love of the American gold rush era and often uses this as an excuse to do book research and travel to ghost towns in the western states.

Born into a city girl life, her parents raised her in St. Louis County. However, Linda has always felt her country girl roots calling her to move west young woman. She currently lives in rural Missouri with her hubby and the oldest of her three sons.

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