FTC: I received a free copy of this book from Book Look 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 Gentle Revolutionaries by Don Lord I found that I had a really hard time staying interested in this book and I know it is probably because I am not as interested in this type of book right now. This book was slow moving for me, so I am sure that is a big part of why I had a hard time with this book. Books like this one aren’t for everyone so just because it didn’t work out for me doesn’t mean that I won’t work out for other people. If you love learning about things that most people don’t know that I know you will love this book because even though I was bored I still learned a ton from the book. That is the only reason that finished it because I had to know how it all ended and what happened. This is a book that I would read along with other books so that I didn’t get super bored with this book.
About The Book
prominent American missionaries, Dan and Emelie Bradley, who became close friends with the famous monk, later King Mongkut. They arrived in Thailand (Siam) in 1835 and made significant contributions to Thailand’s medical, social and intellectual history. Their diaries and letters, as well as the Thai’s evaluation of them, destroys the false image of Thailand an English writer had created. The Bradleys and their missionary coworkers came from New York’s “Burned Over District,” famous for its policy of accepting women as social equals. Thai nobles basically treated missionary women as their husbands did, respectfully and warmly.
Anna Leonowens, who served as an English teacher for the children and wives of King Mongkut, later fabricated two novels about him that were bestsellers. Unfortunately, these books were innocently used as the basis for Margaret Landon’s novel, Anna and the King of Siam, which was made into successful Broadway and Hollywood musicals.
The Thai and the missionaries were so close that two missionaries negotiated Thailand’s treaties with the United States and England. Missionaries also led the battle against smallpox and inspired the Thai to replace their antiquated educational system with one similar to Western schools. The best example of the Thai/missionary mutual respect came when an American ambassador to Thailand was shocked to discover at a royal dinner with King Chulalongkorn, that not he, but a missionary wife sat at the right hand of the king.
FTC: I received a free copy of this book from Book Look 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.
Where Hope Begins by Catherine West was one of the best books that I have read lately. First, I want to let everyone know that this book deals with quite a few hard topics such as losing a child, affairs, suicide attempts and terminal illness so be aware that this book might be hard to get through from time to time. Right from the first page of this book I was hooked, and I couldn’t put I down until I was finished with the book. I loved this book because I liked all the characters right from the start of the book. I felt bad for Savannah because I can’t even imagine how hard things had to be for her but everyone in this story had major things that they were all dealing with. The author did a great job of making me feel like I was right there with the characters throughout the entire book which I am sure is the reason I read this book so quickly. I spent a lot of this book going back and forth on what I wanted to happen in this book because I loved all the characters even the ones that were harder to love because of their choices. This is one book I could go on and on about because it is my stand out book so far this year. I would recommend this book to just about anyone who is looking for a story of growth but also knows that there are hard parts but pushing through those parts is totally worth it.
About The Book
In the aftermath of her husband’s act of adultery and abandonment, Savannah must finally face the ghosts that haunt her and discover for herself whether authentic faith, grace, and ultimate healing really do exist.
When her husband of twenty-one years leaves her, Savannah Barrington believes she’s lost almost everything she’s ever loved. With her daughter in college and her son in boarding school, Savannah retreats to her parents’ lake house in the Berkshires, where hope and healing come in the form of an old woman’s wisdom, a little girl’s laughter, a touch of magic, and a handsome man who’s willing to risk his own heart to prove she’s still worth loving.
But when her husband asks to reconcile, Savannah is faced with the hardest challenge of all: Forgiving the unforgivable. Somehow she must find freedom from the chains of their past and move forward, or face an unknown future without him.
About The Author
Catherine West writes stories of hope and healing from her island home in Bermuda. When she’s not at the computer working on her next story, you can find her taking her Border Collie for long walks or reading books by her favorite authors. She and her husband have two grown children and one beautiful granddaughter. Catherine is the winner of the 2015 Grace Award (Bridge of Faith) and the Romance Writers of America’s Faith, Hope & Love Reader’s Choice Award (The Things We Knew). Her most recent novel, The Memory of You, released March 2017. Catherine loves to connect with her readers and can be reached at Catherine@catherinejwest.com
FTC: I received a free copy of this book from iRead Book Tours 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.
Boy On The Beach by R.D. Maddux wasn’t my favorite book I have read lately. It was a slower moving book and those are always hard for me to stay interested in. I am glad that I didn’t give up on it and that I kept reading because in the end, I did enjoy that book it just had slow parts where I had to force myself to keep reading. There were parts where at the beginning of the book that I wished I knew where things were headed because I did wonder from time to time why we needed to know certain information but after I was a good way through the book everything made sense and I totally understood why everything was in the book. I had a hard time to like Andrew through most of the book and I think that has to do with his personality but that is more of a personal thing and not because of the authors writing. This would be a great mystery/suspense book for people who don’t like fast moving books.
About The Book
Book Title: Boy on the Beach by R.D. Maddux
Category: Adult Fiction; 304 pages
Genre: Mystery / Thriller
Publisher: Ezekiel 12 Publications
Release date: March 11, 2017
Content Rating: PG-13 + M (There are implied sex scenes but no graphic descriptions of lovemaking. There is one scene with some violence.)
Andrew Foster, a real estate developer in San Diego, is a man suddenly haunted by his past. Memories, like specters from his former life of sex, drugs and rock and roll have come crashing into his current world of business in this sunny coastal city. The ominous, repeated appearance of a black SUV at the beach where he meets his sister each week, has triggered fears that it’s payback time for a bad choice he made years ago.
To add to his frustrations, his hopes of a big breakthrough in the San Diego real estate market haven’t come to pass. He’s starting to wonder if his visions of success will ever come true when an investor offers to finance his dream project. Soon things start to fall into place for Andrew in business, life, and even love. He starts dating the beautiful and business-savvy Nicole but even with her at his side he can’t seem to shake the ghosts of his past. As the relationship with Nicole deepens, Andrew opens up to her about the many loves and adventures that have taken him from the crazy days of living in Big Sur and Joshua Tree to business success in San Diego. Her wise insights help him face the character flaws that have caused him to fail in his past relationships.
Rounding out his social life is his once-a-week task of assisting his sister with her nanny job watching a young boy named Chandler. They build sand castles on the beach and enjoy the beauty of nature together. But the now ominous weekly appearance of a strange car at the beach has awakened Andrew’s fears. Is the boy in danger? Or worse, has an enemy from Andrew’s past come seeking revenge and now Chandler’s caught in the middle?
A strange twist of events threatens to destroy Andrew’s dreams, but as he searches for answers, a sudden revelation offers hope of a future he never imagined.
R.D. Maddux has story telling in his blood. Since he was young he’s always loved a good tale. He’s been writing seriously since he was in high school and college. His novels range from Mystery and Intrigue to Sci-fi/fantasy. With Boy On The Beach he’s set the story in modern America, to be exact, on the West Coast of California. He’s a native of the golden state and has been a resident of San Diego since 1987. Before that he grew up in northern California and lived in the Sacramento Valley and Bay Area with sojourns in some of the beautiful parts of our state.
Living in California for over 60 years he couldn’t help but watch the way things have changed in our culture and the impact this coast makes on the rest of America and the world. So even though Boy On The Beach is fiction, like most serious novels, it is not without a context and comment on issues we all face in our changing world. It takes place in real locations that are very familiar to him and its characters, which are fictional, no doubt have their counterparts in the real world. Boy On The Beach is a story of intrigue, suspense, revenge, love and redemption with flashbacks to the era when sex, drugs and rock and roll set our culture on it’s inevitable journey to our present day. This idea has been rattling around in his heart and mind for a decade and it’s finally coming to the page.
FTC: I received a free copy of this book from Partners In Crime 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.
Bad Time To Be In It by David Burnsworth was a book that kept me on my toes while I was reading it. This was a quick read for me and I loved that about this book because I was able to read it in one day and move on to the next book in my stack. I loved that this book moved quickly because there is nothing worse than reading a mystery book that moves to slow because I always end up reading ahead because I get bored. Like I said before this book was a quick read for me and it made me want to go and read the other books in this series because I really loved these characters in this series. The author did a great job of making these characters come to life for me and because of that, I know that I will go back and read the other books in this series in the future. I know anyone who loves’s reading fast-paced mystery books will enjoy this one just as much as I did.
About The Book
Genre: Mystery Published by: Henery Press Publication Date: July 10, 2018 Number of Pages: 254 ISBN: 9781635113587 Series: Blu Carraway Mysteries #2 Purchase Links:Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iTunes, Kobo
The past is never past. Sometimes it repeats itself. And sometimes it comes back to pay a visit. Blu Carraway, flush with cash and back in business, never had it so good. Or so he thought.The reality is his love life is in shambles, his business partner is spending too much time with women half his age and not enough time on the job, and someone close goes missing. Blu’s business partner goes off the rails, his friends show their true colors, and he realizes that getting closure sometimes means walking away from everything. With a case from the past gone wrong twice, a loved one in trouble, and an unanswered marriage proposal, it’s a bad time to be in it for Blu Carraway Investigations.
About The Author
David Burnsworth became fascinated with the Deep South at a young age. After a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Tennessee and fifteen years in the corporate world, he made the decision to write a novel. Bad Time To Be In It (July 2018, Henery Press) will be his sixth. Having lived on Charleston’s Sullivan’s Island for five years, the setting was a foregone conclusion. He and his wife call South Carolina home.
FTC: I received a free copy of this book from I Read With Audra 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.
Dangerous To Know by Megan Whitson Lee was an okay book but I did have a hard time staying interested in what was happening in this book. It wasn’t hard staying interested all the times just every once and awhile. I wasn’t the biggest fan of the characters in this book but that is because I am becoming bored with this genre, so it will be quite a while before I read one again. That is no way is a bad thing about this book it just isn’t what I am interested in. I think I am going to hang onto this book and read it again in the future because it is something that I would usually love to read. I did love some of the things that the characters talked about because it shows how far we have come regarding technology and how things are made. I know that if you love historical novels than you will love this one because it is well written it just wasn’t the right fit for me right now.
About The Book
“Don’t look at him, dear. He’s dangerous.”
Isabella Bankmill seeks a husband whose character matches her list of requirements. The man must share her faith, but he must also possess a certain je ne sais quoi. The enigmatical Lord Gregory Gordon Bromby—London’s newest literary sensation—certainly possesses the latter. Despite a deformed foot and alarming views on politics and religion, he attracts the ladies in droves.
Haunted by his past and overwhelmed by his newfound celebrity status, Lord Bromby’s obsession with his own doom leads to reckless behavior. When he is stalked by an obsessive aristocrat seeking an elopement, Bromby’s friends urge him to marry a suitable lady as soon as possible. Intrigued by Isabella’s convictions and hoping to avoid further scandal, Bromby proposes to Isabella.
Isabella also receives an offer of marriage from kind-hearted philanthropist, David Beringer—a man equally devoted to his faith—but she only has eyes for Lord Bromby. Blinded by his talent and good looks, Isabella convinces herself that he’s not as dangerous as everyone claims. But when Bromby’s world violently collides with hers, Isabella must decide once and for all who is lord of her life. God or Bromby?
About The Author
MeganWhitsonLee is an anglophile and a recovering runaway. Over the years, she escaped to England and Australia before finally settling down in the US. These days, she lives a relatively quiet life as a wife, a mom of two greyhounds, an editor for Pelican Book Group, and a high school English teacher. She now escapes by writing novels instead of jumping on planes to foreign countries. Her novel, Captives, won the 2016 Director’s Choice Award and was a finalist for a Selah Award in the women’s contemporary fiction category at Blue Ridge Mountain Christian Writers Conference.
Megan writes women’s contemporary thrillers and historical fiction featuring characters standing at the crossroads of major life decisions.
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.
Rainy Day Friends by Jill Shalvis was another great book by this author. I have read so many books by this author that I would be shocked if I ever read a book by her that I didn’t enjoy. This is the second book in the Wildstone series, but you don’t have to read them in order because I didn’t read the first book and I wasn’t lost. I love this author’s books because you don’t have to read the series if you are only interested in one of the books. I fell in love with Lanie right from the start. I felt so bad for her and everything that she had to go through. It took a few chapters for me to like Mark. It is almost like he grew on me after I was a few chapters into the book. I was sad when this book was over because I really fell in love with the characters in this book. Anyone who loves to read chick lit should pick up this book because I know that they will love this book and any of the other books that this author has written.
About The Book
Following the USA Today bestseller, Lost and Found Sisters, comes Rainy Day Friends, Jill Shalvis’ moving story of heart, loss, betrayal, and friendship.
Six months after Lanie Jacobs’ husband’s death, it’s hard to imagine anything could deepen her sense of pain and loss. But then Lanie discovers she isn’t the only one grieving his sudden passing. A serial adulterer, he left behind several other women who, like Lanie, each believe she was his legally wedded wife. Rocked by the infidelity, Lanie is left to grapple with searing questions. How could she be so wrong about a man she thought she knew better than anyone? Will she ever be able to trust another person? Can she even trust herself?
Desperate to make a fresh start, Lanie impulsively takes a job at the family-run Capriotti Winery. At first, she feels like an outsider among the boisterous Capriottis. With no real family of her own, she’s bewildered by how quickly they all take her under their wing and make her feel like she belongs. Especially Mark Capriotti, a gruffly handsome Air Force veteran turned deputy sheriff who manages to wind his way into Lanie’s cold, broken heart—along with the rest of the clan. Everything is finally going well for her, but the arrival of River Green changes all that. The fresh-faced twenty-one-year old seems as sweet as they come…until her dark secrets come to light—secrets that could destroy the new life Lanie’s only just begun to build.
About The Author
New York Times bestselling author Jill Shalvis lives in a small town in the Sierras full of quirky characters. Any resemblance to the quirky characters in her books is, um, mostly coincidental. Look for Jill’s bestselling, award-winning books wherever romances are sold and visit her website, http://www.jillshalvis.com, for a complete book list and daily blog detailing her city-girl-living-in-the-mountains adventures.
Anxiety Girl, able to jump to the worst conclusion in a single bound!
Most of the time Karma was a bitch, but every once in awhile she could be surprisingly nice, even kind. Lanie Jacobs, way past overdue for both of those things, told herself this was her time. Seize the day and all that, and drawing a deep breath, she exited the highway at Wildstone.
The old wild-west California town was nestled in the rolling hills between the Pacific Coast and wine/ranching country. She’d actually grown up not too far from here, though it felt like a lifetime ago. The road was narrow and curvy, and since it’d rained earlier, she added tricky and slick to her growing list of issues. She was already white-knuckling a sharp turn when a kamikaze squirrel darted into her lane, causing her to nearly swerve into oncoming traffic before remembering the rules of country driving.
Never leave your lane; not for weather, animals, or even God himself.
Luckily the squirrel reversed direction, but before she could relax a trio of deer bounded across the road. “Run, Bambi,” she cried, hitting her brakes, and by the skin of their collective teeth, they all missed each other.
Sweating, nerves sizzling like live wires, she finally turned onto Capriotti Lane and parked as she’d been instructed.
It took a moment for her pulse to come down from stroke level. She’d been taught anti-anxiety techniques, but she’d never quite figured out how to make any of them work while in the actual throes of an anxiety attack.
It’s all good she told herself but because she wasn’t buying what she was selling, she had to force herself out of the car like she was a five year old starting kindergarten instead of being thirty and simply facing a brand new job. Given all she’d been through, this should be easy, even fun. But sometimes adulthood felt like the vet’s office and she was the dog excited for the car ride — only to find out the real destination.
Shaking her head, she strode across the parking lot. It was April, which meant the rolling hills to the east were green and lush and the Pacific Ocean to the west looked like a surfer’s dream, all of it so gorgeous it could’ve been a postcard. A beautiful smoke screen over her not-so-beautiful past. The air was scented like a really expensive sea-and-earth candle, though all Lanie could smell was her forgotten hopes and dreams. With wood chips crunching under her shoes, she headed through the entrance beneath which was a huge wooden sign that read:
Capriotti Winery, from our fields to your table…
Her heart sped up. Nerves, of course, the bane of her existence. But after a very crappy few years, she was changing her path. For once in her godforsaken life, something was going to work out for her. This was going to work out for her.
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2018 Margaret Margaret
