Books I Love

Summer’s List by Anita Higman

Book Review

Summer’s List by Anita Higman was a great book for the summer.  I loved following along with Summer as she goes through the list of things her grandma wants Summer to complete before her grandma passes away.  This was such a unique story which I love because after reading a ton of books I feel like all the stories are basically the same and they follow the same pattern.  Now this story did follow a pattern but I was still intrigued because the plot was unique.  I have read several other books by Anita Higman and I have loved them all.  This is another author that I am pretty sure I would love anything they wrote because she is an amazing author.   I loved watching Summer & Martin work through the list together.  If you are looking for a great summer  book to read please check this one out and let me know what you think when you finish the book.

Summer's List by Anita Higman

About The Book

Summer’s List (River North, June 2015)

A dying wish alters the course of a young woman’s life.

Life hadn’t been easy for Summer Snow. In acts of selflessness—caring for her ailing parents and running her grandmother’s bookstore—she had forfeited her youth and dreams for the needs of others. And the only tries she had at love . . . didn’t turn out. She had the bookstore, she had her beloved granny, but she was missing something—or someone.

Opportunity strikes when Granny sends Summer on an unexpected adventure with one Martin Langtree, a kind but gangly young man from Summer’s past. A childhood friendship is rekindled, a romance is sparked, and mysteries are solved in one magical Texas summer. Will Summer strike out on love again, or will things finally go her way?

Anita Higman

About The Author

Best-selling and award-winning author, Anita Higman, has over thirty books published (several coauthored) for adults and children. She’s been a Barnes & Noble “Author of the Month” for Houston and has a BA degree, combining speech communication, psychology, and art. Anita loves good movies, exotic teas, and brunch with her friends.

 

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Digiprove sealCopyright secured by Digiprove © 2015 Margaret Margaret

Firefly Summer by Kathleen Y’Barbo

Book Review

Firefly Summer by Kathleen Y’Barbo was a great book.  I loved this book from the start right up until the end of this book.  I love when books have meaning and things that you can learn from while you are reading and this book does that.  I loved watching the characters grow throughout this story and see how they grew.  This was a super easy book to read and one that I recommend to everyone this summer.  It was a sweet story and a very easy read.  If you read this book please let me know what you think of it.

Firefly Summer

About The Book

Artist Sessa Chambers may never recover from losing her prodigal son. Even as she grieves the tragic decisions that led to his death, and left her with a toddler to raise, she’s asked to work on her dream project—restoring carousel horses for the Smithsonian. But she can’t do it on her own…

Dr. Trey Brown can’t pick up a scalpel again. Yes, he acted in self-defense, but the events of that awful night haunt him. He was trained to save lives, not take them. When he goes to the young man’s widowed mother to apologize, she’s not at all what he expected. For one thing, she’s not as alone as he thought—not with the fearsome ladies of the Pies, Books, and Jesus Book Club in her corner. For another, she’s beautiful, and being in her presence is more jolting than any eight-second bronco ride from his former rodeo days. Before he knows it, she’s captured his heart as easily as they capture the fireflies gracing Sessa’s Texas ranch.

How can they overcome their past to embrace a future together?

Kathleen Y'Barbo

About The Author

While wearing her publicist’s hat, Kathleen has secured interviews with radio, television, and print media for clients at NavPress, Hatchette, Integrity, Barbour Publishing, and Broadman & Holman, to name a few. She also brings her own unique blend of Southern charm and witty prose to the more than 350,000 award-winning novels and novellas currently in print. Her novels have been nominated for American Christian Fiction Writers Book of the Year in 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2006; and 2007 will see the release of her 25th book.

Kathleen is a tenth-generation Texan and a mother of three grown sons and a teenage daughter. She is a graduate of Texas A&M University. Kathleen is a former treasurer for the American Christian Fiction Writers, and is a member of the Author’s Guild, Inspirational Writers Alive, Words for the Journey Christian Writers Guild, and the Fellowship of Christian Authors. In addition, she is a sought-after speaker, and her kids think she’s a pretty cool mom, too…most of the time, anyway.

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Digiprove sealCopyright secured by Digiprove © 2015 Margaret Margaret

Mireille by Molly Cochran

 

Book Review

Mireille by Molly Cochran was a great book.  The first thing I want to let you know about this book is that it is a long one so be ready for a big book but I really did enjoy the book.  It took me awhile to get through it because I have had major headaches.  I liked that the writing in the book isn’t super small so I don’t have to strain my eyes as much.  At the start of the book I wasn’t a huge fan of Mireille and to be honest I am not sure why.  I did feel bad for her throughout parts of the book because of what she went through.  I hated Oliver from the first time he showed up right up until the end.  I would recommend this book to anyone who love historical fiction and/or books that take place during WWII.

Mireille

About The Book

Paperback

Publisher: Lake Union Publishing (June 9, 2015)

Near the end of World War II, seventeen-year-old Mireille de Jouarre flees the home of her stepfather, a Nazi collaborator and abusive drunk. She finds shelter with her childhood friend Stefan, and the two fall deeply in love. But as the fighting escalates, Mireille must escape alone to Paris, where she discovers she’s pregnant and lacking a way to provide for her child.

So begins her new life as l’Ange—the Angel. After an unlikely meeting with a wealthy aristocrat in a Parisian hotel—and her acceptance of his solicitation—Mireille becomes the most celebrated poule in all of France, eliciting huge fees and invitations to exclusive parties. At one of these events, Mireille meets Oliver Jordan, an American womanizer and film producer, and is soon launching a promising film career. As her star rises, Mireille is determined to bury her past. But her success isn’t as carefree and glittery as it seems, and when her daughter’s future is threatened, Mireille must make a deadly decision in a desperate attempt to finally choose her own path.

Molly Cochran

About The Author

Molly Cochran is the author of more than twenty novels and nonfiction books, including the New York Times bestseller Grandmaster, The Forever King, The Broken Sword, and The Temple Dogs, all cowritten with Warren Murphy. She is also the author of The Third Magic, and she cowrote the nonfiction bestseller Dressing Thin with Dale Goday. Cochran has received numerous awards, including the Mystery Writers of America’s Edgar Award, the Romance Writers of America’s “Best Thriller” award, and an “Outstanding” classification by the New York Public Library. Recently she published a series of young adult novels, Legacy, Poison, and Seduction, and two novellas, Wishes and Revels. Legacy won a 2013 Westchester Fiction Award.

Visit Molly at her website, mollycochran.com.

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Digiprove sealCopyright secured by Digiprove © 2015 Margaret Margaret

A Heart’s Betrayal by Colleen Coble

Book Review

A Heart’s Betrayal by Colleen Coble was another great book in this story.  This is the fourth book in this series and you do have to read these books in order because it is one book that was split into 6 different books.  If you missed the first 3 reviews you can click here, here, and here to check out the reviews on those books.  In this book you get to know Emmie and Isaac even though you did get to know Isaac a little bit in the second & third books.  I felt so bad for Emmie throughout this book because of what her late husband did to her.  I am not sure what I would do if it were done to me.  I can’t wait to see what happens in the next book.  I am sad that I don’t have the book already so I can’t read it this weekend.  The review for the 5th book will be up in July.

A Hearts Betrayal by Colleen Coble

About The Book

A Heart’s Betrayal (Thomas Nelson, June 2015)

Emmie finds shelter in the arms of a soldier, but her secret could drive them apart.

When Emmie Croftner answered the door to her late husband’s home, she discovered an awful truth: her deceased husband was a bigamist. And what’s more, the home she thought she inherited never belonged to her at all.
Suddenly displaced, powerless, and ashamed, Emmie can’t stay in Wabash, Indiana. She makes a hopeful start for Fort Laramie, Wyoming, to find her friend Sarah Montgomery and a new beginning. But when she arrives, she discovers she’s pregnant—and without a husband. The new start she’d hoped for slips from her fingers.

But then she meets Isaac Liddle, a handsome soldier with a kind heart. When he begins to court her, Emmie wonders whether she could ever really be his—and whether she dares to tell him she is carrying another man’s baby.

CCoble-110

About The Author

Colleen Coble has sold over 2 million novels worldwide.Seagrass Pier, the third installment in her acclaimed Hope Beach series, marks a new highpoint for emotion and complexity in Coble’s addictive brand of romantic suspense.

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Digiprove sealCopyright secured by Digiprove © 2015 Margaret Margaret

Two Roads Home by Deborah Raney

Book Review

Two Roads Home by Deborah Raney was another great book by this author.  I did read and review the first book in this series so if you missed that you can check it out here but you don’t need to read the book to understand what is going on in this book.  I love when you don’t have to read the other books in the series to understand the book you are reading because not everyone has the time to read the other books before the they get to the book that they wanted to read.  In this book you get to know Corinne & Jesse and follow along as they go through problems in their marriage and how they work them out.  I also loved that you get to check in with the other characters that you got to know and love during the first book.  I have to say that I love these two characters more than I did the others because they seemed more real to me than  I did Landyn & Chase and I am not sure why that is but I did.  I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a great summer read because I can’t wait until I read the third  book because I can’t wait to get to know the third sister and see what she is all about.

Two Roads Home by Deborah Raney

About The Book

Two Roads Home (Abingdon Press, June 2015)

What if it’s too late for dreams to come true?

Minor—but-nagging setbacks continue to sour Grant and Audrey Whitman’s initiation into the world of innkeeping, but larger challenges brew when an innocent flirtation leads to big trouble for the Whitmans’ son-in-law, Jesse. Jesse Pennington’s friendly, outgoing personality has always served him well, especially in a career that has earned him and his wife Corinne a very comfortable lifestyle. But Corinne and Jesse are both restless—and for similar reasons, if only they could share those with each other. Instead, too many business trips and trumped-up charges of harassment from a disgruntled coworker threaten their marriage and possibly put their three precious daughters at risk.

With their life in disarray, God is tugging at their hearts to pursue other dreams. Can Corinne and Jesse pick up the pieces of what was once a wonderful life before it all crumbles beneath them?

DRaney-136

About The Author

Deborah Raney’s books have won numerous awards, including the RITA, National Readers Choice Award, HOLT Medallion, and the Carol Award, and have twice been Christy Award finalists. She and her husband, Ken, recently traded small-town life in Kansas-the setting of many of Deborah’s novels-for life in the (relatively) big city of Wichita, where they enjoy gardening, antiquing, movies, and traveling to visit four children and a growing brood of grandchildren who all live much too far away.

 

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Digiprove sealCopyright secured by Digiprove © 2015 Margaret Margaret

Unplanned by Alana Terry

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

Book Review

Unplanned by Alana Terry was another great book by this author.   This is the third book I have read by this author and I have loved them all so far  but with that being said this wasn’t one of my favorite books by her.  Now I really did enjoy this book but I think I like her books that take place in Asia more than this book and I honestly couldn’t tell you why that is.  I know part of it is because I feel in love with the first book so since this book takes place in America it was just different not bad in the least  but different.  I really did enjoy this story and I can’t wait to read other books in this series because it was a nice change but like I said I miss the other setting and the other characters.  I enjoyed seeing Kennedy change throughout this book and see how much she did change from the first chapter until the last chapter.  I also loved that book has some suspense in it because we all know that I love books that make me want to keep reading because I have to know what is going to happen. I still loved this book and can’t to read more books in this series and more books by this author.

Unplanned

About The Book

When Kennedy Stern’s childhood pastor asks her to volunteer at his new pregnancy center, she carves time out of her rigorous college schedule to promote the cause of the unborn.

After receiving a disturbing call from someone far too young to carry a child in the first place, Kennedy can no longer blindly hide behind the pro-life platitudes she grew up believing. She resolves to locate the unknown girl but winds up entrenched in a mystery that grows more convoluted as it unfolds.

Soon, Kennedy finds herself a pawn in a deadly game of intrigue, at the mercy of those who consider a few innocent lives a small ransom to pay in exchange for personal and political victory.

Alana Terry has won awards from Women of Faith, the Book Club Network, Grace Awards, Readers’ Favorite, and more. Unplanned was a finalist in the Deep River Books writing contest.

alana-terry

About The Author

When Alana isn’t writing, it’s likely that she’s on the floor wrestling with her kids. Or playing outside with her kids. Or chauffeuring her kids. Or trying some random science experiment with her kids. But she’s probably not cooking or cleaning.

Alana is a homeschooling mother of three who loves to write, hates to cook, and enjoys reading a good book almost as much as she enjoys writing one.

Alana won the Women of Faith writing contest for “The Beloved Daughter,” her debut inspirational novel. “What, No Sushi?” is Alana’s first book in a chapter-book series for kids published by Do Life Right, Inc.

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Digiprove sealCopyright secured by Digiprove © 2015 Margaret Margaret