Christian’s Hope by Ervin R. Stutzman

October 30, 2016

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.

Christian’s Hope by Ervin R. Stutzman was a fantastic book. This is the third book in the series, and I know that I will be going back and reading the first two books because I want to know the entire story from start to finish. Even though this is the last book in the series, I still understood what was going on, so you don’t have to read the books in order or even read them all if the others don’t interest you. I enjoyed this book because even though I have read tons of Amish fiction books, this book takes place in a different period. It is also is one of the few books that I have read from this period in history as well, so I went in not knowing much of what happened during that period. I have read other books where I didn’t know much about the period and I had a hard time getting into those books, but this book was one that I didn’t want to put down until the book was finished. I loved this author’s style of writing and how he could make me understand what the characters were feeling and why they did the things that they did. Once I was done with this book I went and bought digital copies of the first two books in this series because I want to know the whole story like I said before. If you love historical and Amish fiction, I think you would enjoy this book and should check it out for yourself. If you have read it, let me know what you think of it.

About The Book

Christian’s Hope (Herald Press, October 2016)

When Christian Hochstetler returns to the Amish after seven years in captivity, he finds that many things have shifted.

Captured as a child during the French and Indian War, Christian has spent much of his life among Native Americans, who cared for him and taught him their ways. Now that Christian is home, his father wants him to settle back into their predictable Amish life of farming, and Christian’s budding friendship with Orpha Rupp beckons him to stay as well.

Yet Christian feels restless, and he misses his adoptive Native American family—who raised him as their own son. When faced with a life-altering decision, will Christian choose the Amish identity that his father desires for him? Or will he depart from his family and faith community yet again?

Christian’s Hope tells the story of the younger brother of Joseph and son of Jacob, whom readers have come to love in the first two books in the Return to Northkill series. Based on actual events and written by a descendant of the Hochstetler family, Christian’s Hope brings the sweeping epic of the Return to Northkill series to a soul-stirring end.

About The Author

Ervin R. Stutzman is author of Jacob’s Choice,Joseph’s Dilemma, Tobias of the Amish, and Emma, A Widow Among the Amish. Born into an Amish home in Kalona, Iowa, Stutzman based the Return to Northkill series on the life of his ancestor, Jacob Hochstetler. He has been featured on TLC’s Who Do You Think You Are?

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Weekly Wrap-Up!

October 28, 2016

I am so glad that it is finally Friday because it has been a super long week to say the least. Lets get right into the links from this past week.

Andy Warhol – Quote Of The Week

23 Minutes Past 1 A.M. by Robert J. Dornan

Killer In The Band by Lauren Carr

Monthly Favorites – October 2016

Those are all of the posts from this past week. I am hoping to get an Multiple Sclerosis up in the next few weeks because I had an MRI on the 22nd of October. Here a few things that I saw and loved the past week on Facebook. I hope you all had a great week and I will see you back here next week!

Monthly Favorites – October 2016

October 27, 2016

How are we already at the end of October?!?!? My birthday is in less than a month, and I am so not ready to be thirty-two yet. I wish that there was a way to stop having birthdays once you reach a certain age.

Anyway, let’s get on to the things that I have loved from this past month. This first thing I have loved this month is a song by Shawn Mendes call “Stitches.” I heard this song on Pandora for the first time this month, and I have it on repeat most of the month. Here is the music video in case you haven’t heard it before.

I have also been loving the song “Rise” by Katy Perry. The first time I listened to this song it was a cover of the song Super Fruit. I will have the cover of it that I loved, and I will also include the video of Katy Perry as well in case you haven’t seen either of them.

I also have been loving these new Mentos that I found this month. The only place I have been able to find them is at a gas station that I pass on my way to work in the mornings. They remind me of Milk Duds, but they don’t stick to my teeth like Milk Duds do.

I have also been a huge fan of these freezer meals that I have gotten from the store they are called Evol. I love them because they have so many different choices. I had one that was vegan and I had another one that is gluten free. The boxes are all marked with what they are and they are so good. They are a little bit more expensive, but I don’t mind spending more on lunch items that are vegan and gluten free. Here is a picture of one if you are interested in seeing if your grocery store carries them.

The last thing I have been loving this month is the TV show “The First 48”. I have talked about this show in the past because it is a show I have been watching for years and I am sure I will keep watching it for years to come. I love watching as the detectives investigate and solve murders. It is something that has always interested me, and I am sure that it always will. It is on A&E in case you want to check it out.

Those are just a few things that I have loved this month. What have you enjoyed this month?

Killer In The Band by Lauren Carr

October 26, 2016

About The Book

Summer of Love & Murder

Joshua’s eldest son, Joshua “J.J.” Thornton Jr., has graduated at the top of his class from law school and returns home to spend the summer studying for the bar exam. However, to Joshua’s and Cameron’s shock and dismay, J.J. moves into the main house at Russell Ridge Farm, the largest dairy farm in the Ohio Valley, to rekindle a romance with Suellen Russell, a onetime leader of a rock group who’s twice his age. Quickly, they learn that she has been keeping a deep dark secret.

The move brings long-buried tensions between the father and son to the surface. But when a brutal killer strikes, the Lovers in Crime must set all differences aside to solve the crime before J.J. ends up in the cross hairs of a murderer.

Praise for Lauren Carr’s Mysteries

“Lauren Carr could give Agatha Christie a run for her money!”

– Charlene Mabie-Gamble, Literary R&R

“As always, Lauren Carr brings an action-packed story that is almost impossible to put down. Her mystery plots have so many twists and turns that I didn’t know if I was coming or going. And the action just didn’t stop from the very beginning till the very end.”

– Melina Mason, Melina’s Book Reviews

About The Author

Lauren Carr is the international best-selling author of the Mac Faraday, Lovers in Crime, and Thorny Rose Mysteries—over twenty titles across three fast-paced mystery series filled with twists and turns!

Book reviewers and readers alike rave about how Lauren Carr’s seamlessly crosses genres to include mystery, suspense, romance, and humor.

Lauren is a popular speaker who has made appearances at schools, youth groups, and on author panels at conventions. She lives with her husband, son, and four dogs (including the real Gnarly) on a mountain in Harpers Ferry, WV.

Connect with Lauren: Website ~ Twitter ~ Facebook

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23 Minutes Past 1 A.M. by Robert J. Dornan

October 25, 2016

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.

23 Minutes Past 1 A.M. by Robert J. Dornan was an interesting book, to say the least. I have always been a huge fan of books like this that take a part of history and tell a story about something that could have happened during the period. This one-time frame that comes to mind would be how much I love the WWII period, and I love the books that are fiction but could have happened, and this book was like that for me. I don’t know much about this event so I am not sure how accurate this book would be but I did love this book. I felt like I knew a little bit more about this period than I did when I started the book. I did find at times that I would bog down in some of the details in the book so I would just put the book down and come back to later when I was able to focus more. I felt like I got to know the characters and understand what and why they were thinking and doing the things that they did. It was also a pretty easy book to read, so I also enjoyed that about this book. I believe that if you love thriller books then this book will be a great fit for you. If you have read this book what, did you think of it?

About The Book

In the early morning of her sister’s wedding day, Mila Kharmalov stared in stunned silence at the coloured sparks streaming from Reactor Four of the Chernobyl Nuclear Plant. At that very moment, her life and the lives of everyone she knew changed forever.

Years later and on another continent, Adam Byrd was writing biographies for everyday people looking to leave their legacy in book form. When the woman he loved phoned from Kiev offering him the chance to write the story of a lifetime, he jumped at the opportunity not realizing that his voyage would be a bumpy ride through a nations dark underbelly. With the help of his friend’s quirky cousin, Adam is nudged into a fascinating adventure of love, greed, power and psychotic revenge, culminating with a shocking finale.
23 Minutes Past 1 A.M. is a work of fiction based on factual events from Chernobyl and villages throughout Ukraine.

About The Author

Robert J Dornan is someone who wishes to leave a better world to his children. He realizes that the odds are slim but he will do whatever he can to increase the probability of success. He is always open to discuss new and innovative ideas and hopes someday to see the building of a functional solar city as well as a fair and community-driven compensation system.

Robert’s latest book is the historical fiction, 23 Minutes Past 1 A.M.

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