Goodbye, Magnolia by Krista Noorman

August 26, 2015

Goodbye, Magnolia by Krista Noorman was a great read. Once I learned that one of the main characters is named Margaret I love it even more. I could see a lot of myself in Maggie and that helped me connect more with the story and the book. I really enjoyed this authors style of writing and how she went about telling the story. Some authors have either too much detail or not enough but this author had just the right amount of detail to keep me interested but not so much that I got bogged down in details and didn’t want to finish the book. I would be lying if I wasn’t hoping that Maggie and Simon would end up together in the end. From the first chapter they seemed so perfect for each other. If you love romance novels than I would for sure have recommend this one to you

About The Book

Wedding photography is Maggie’s passion. The art of capturing a moment forever in time is magical to her, and she’s worked hard to become the best of the best. Week after week, she works with couples as they plan their happily ever afters, but she hasn’t been so lucky in love.

Behind the camera, it’s easy to hide from the pain and rejection of her past. The life she has made for herself is safe and predictable, until the owner of a rival photography studio sets up shop in her small town and comes to her with an unexpected proposal. Suddenly, everything she has worked so hard to build is threatened and her simple, controlled life is thrown into chaos.

As she travels the state of Michigan photographing weddings, she struggles to keep her business afloat and the wall around her heart intact. But along the way, she learns more about loyalty and love than she ever imagined.

About The Author

Krista Noorman is the author of the young adult novel, The Truth About Drew , and the contemporary romance, Goodbye, Magnolia . Most of her life has been spent scribbling away in journals, honing her writing skills, while documenting her every day life. But it wasn’t until she took part in National Novel Writing Month that she found her true calling and turned her pen (or rather her computer keyboard) to fiction.

Krista studied music education at Cornerstone University. After college, she turned to her love of photography and spent nearly a decade running her own wedding photography business. She is constantly inspired by books and movies, enjoys beautiful instagram feeds, and loves a great cup of coffee. Krista makes her home in a small town in western Michigan with her husband, Jacob, and their two children. She writes about life, family, faith and whatever else comes to mind at bykrista.com .

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Seaside Gifts by Gayle Roper

August 25, 2015

Seaside Gifts by Gayle Roper was a great quick read. It isn’t a very long book so I was able to get it read within a few days of starting it. This was another great summer read and like I said it is a super easy book to read. This is the first book I have read by thing author and I wasn’t let down. Even though I knew what was probably going to happen I still wanted to finish the book because I fell in love with the characters and the authors writing. If love sweet romance novels than I would for sure recommend this book to you especially if you are are look for a for a sweet end if summer read.

About The Book

Nan Patterson has finally found her niche: operating a boardwalk gift shop in the quaint beachfront town of Seaside. Everything is perfect–until valuable items start just…showing up. At worst, they’ve been stolen and abandoned in her shop. At best, someone doesn’t realize they’ve lost them. Either way, Nan knows she’s out of her depth. Time to call in the local police.

Officer Rog Eastman has bigger worries than a bunch of misplaced treasures—but it is his job to help local shop owners. The fact that she’s adorable doesn’t even come into the equation. Especially since he’s sworn off women for the foreseeable future.

But there’s an imp at work in the background. Someone who knows exactly what these two people need: each other!

About The Author

Gayle Roper has been in love with story for as long as she can remember whether reading one or writing one. She began her writing career when she wanted to be a SAHM for her two sons. She sold her first short story to a teen magazine for $10. The road to fame and glory awaited. Since then she’s written some 50 books both fiction and non-fiction, adult and children’s. All have been written from a strong Christian world view. She considers herself a novelist and teacher of writing. A three-time Christy Award finalist, Gayle has also won the Inspirational Readers Choice Award twice, the Carol Award, the RITA Award, the Lifetime Achievement Award, and 3 Holt Medallions.

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Counting on a Cowboy by Debra Clopton

August 24, 2015

Counting on a Cowboy by Debra Clopton was a super sweet love story. This is the second book in the series and I have read and reviewed it so you can click here if you want to check out that review. You don’t have to read the first book to understand what is going on in this book so if you are just interested in this book you can just start here. I think these two characters are my favorite so far in this series because they seem the most relatable to me. I really loved Abby because she seemed so relatable to be and there were times where I laughed out loud at the things that Bo did when Levi was first dropped of and he had to figure out what to do and how to do it. I laughed because I could see my brother doing things like that if he was forced to take care of a new baby that was just dropped off. I you love romance novels than I would for sure recommend this book to you.

About The Book

Counting on a Cowboy (Thomas Nelson, August 2015)

After losing everything she held dear, Abby never wants to love again. But a certain cowboy may just spur her to wonder if love might be worth the risk.

Running from a past that haunts her, Abby Knightly is drawn to the cozy town of Wishing Springs, Texas. Maybe this small town could offer hope and healing and a future for Abby . . . if she’s brave enough to reach out and take it by the reins.

Bo Monahan isn’t interested in the new romantic destination his little town has become—or the women who might be looking at him like he’s their next Mr. Right. Between taking care of his Pops and his growing stirrup business, he isn’t looking for serious romantic commitments. But when the infant son he never knew about shows up at his doorstep, his world is turned upside down.

This confirmed bachelor might not think he needs a wife, but he sure needs help. Even Abby can see that, and despite her best efforts to keep her distance, she can’t help but be drawn to this new father-son duo. As Abby throws herself into helping Bo navigate fatherhood, hope sparks between them, revealing that maybe, just maybe, they can navigate their dark pasts and emerge together into a future as bright as the Texas sun itself.

About The Author

Debra Clopton is a multi-award winning novelist and has written more than 22 novels. Along with writing, Debra helps her husband teach the youth at their local Cowboy Church. Debra’s goal is to shine a light toward God while she entertains readers with her words.

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The Ones We Trust by Kimberly Belle

August 20, 2015

The Ones We Trust by Kimberly Belle was a great book. Once I started reading I didn’t want to put the book down. I reminded me of books by one of my favorite authors so I know that was a big part of it for me. I love mystery books and this book didn’t let me down. I liked this one because I didn’t figure out the story after I was a few chapters in. With a lot of mystery books I tend to figure out who did it and I didn’t do that with this book so that made it interesting and kept me reading until the end of the book. If you love mystery books than I would recommend this book to you because it is so well written and I felt like I could relate to the characters.

About The Book

Paperback: 304 pages

Publisher: Mira (July 28, 2015)

When former DC journalist Abigail Wolff attempts to rehabilitate her career, she finds herself at the heart of a US army cover-up involving the death of a soldier in Afghanistan—with unspeakable emotional consequences for one family. As the story of what happened comes to light, Abigail will do anything to write it.

The more evidence she stumbles upon in the case, the fewer people it seems she can trust, including her own father, a retired army general. And she certainly never expected to fall in love with the slain soldier’s brother, Gabe, a bitter man struggling to hold his family together. The investigation eventually leads her to an impossible choice, one of unrelenting sacrifice to protect those she loves.

Beyond the buried truths and betrayals, questions of family loyalty and redemption, Abigail’s search is, most of all, a desperate grasp at carrying on and coping—and seeking hope in the impossible.

About The Author

Kimberly Belle grew up in Eastern Tennessee, in a small town nestled in the foothills of the Appalachians. A graduate of Agnes Scott College in Decatur, Georgia, Kimberly lived for over a decade in the Netherlands and has worked in marketing and fundraising for various nonprofits. She’s the author of two novels, THE LAST BREATH and THE ONES WE TRUST (August 2015). She divides her time between Atlanta and Amsterdam.

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Hello, My Love by E Journey

August 20, 2015

Hello, My Love by E Journey was an amazing book to read. This is the first book in the Between Two Worlds series. I will also be reviewing the other two book in the coming weeks so make sure that you check back for those reviews. This book was an easy read and I think that has to do with the fact that the line spacing & margins on the pages are a little bit bigger than some other books I have read. I love that because I am able to read a little bit more before I have to take a break because of my eyes. I can’t say enough good things about this book and this author. I loved everything about this book and I can’t wait to read the other 2 books. I really like Elise and Greg and I loved that they threw in a little bit of a mystery so it just wasn’t a love story. This book is really well rounded and it is one that I am going to keep and add it to my collection of books. If you love romance novels than I know you will love this book.

About The Book

This thoughtful woman’s romance novel explores the inner life (thoughts, hopes, and doubts) of a couple as they contend with the realities of compelling relationships.
A modern-day pastiche of Jane Austen novels. Elise is a bright, beautiful law student, focused on a career and distrustful of men. She butts heads with Greg at her parents’ dinner parties. Dark, good-looking, internet-business owner, he finds Elise intriguing, so unlike the dark-haired seductive beauties he used to escort around.

Specter of revenge. Unable to deny their attraction for each other, they spend an unexpected night together two days before he is to wed someone else. Lori, the jilted fiancée, exacts revenge, tearing Greg and Elise apart and forcing them to face who they are and what they really want.

An accident. Older and wiser, Greg and Else reunite two years later. He is in for a surprise. Later, their lives are thrown again into disarray when Elise becomes the victim of a hit-and-run. Is Lori back to haunt them again?

A delicious romance with a literary slant, spiced with a twist of whodunit.

About The Author

E Journey is a realist who thinks she has little imagination. Credit that to her training (Ph. D., University of Illinois) and work in mental health, writing for academics and bureaucrats, and critiquing the work of others. She’s been striving ever since to think and write like normal people.

She’s a well-traveled flâneuse—a female observer-wanderer—who watches, observes, listens. And writes. A sucker for happy endings, she finds enough that depresses her about real life, but seeks no catharsis by writing about it. For her, writing is escape, entertainment. She doesn’t strive to enlighten. Not deliberately. But the bias of her old profession does carry over into her writing. So, instead of broad shoulders and heaving bosoms, she goes into protagonists’ thoughts, emotions, inner conflicts, insecurities, and struggles to reach balance and grow.

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No Poverty Between The Sheets by Pauline Kiely

August 19, 2015

No Poverty Between The Sheets by Pauline Kiely was an amazing book. I read this entire book in one day because of the authors writing style and also because of the story. I loved everything about this book and more than once I found myself laughing because of the how the story was told. I have always wanted to go to Ireland so that fact that they where from Ireland made me love it even more. The author has a way of writing that made me laugh which isn’t something that I usually do while I am reading books but she made me and I loved that. I loved that this book is about real people and things that really happened. I am a sucker for books that are true because I love learning about other people’s lives and what they went through during their lives. My favorite character I think would have to be Pauline’s dad because of how he acted the things he would do and say. I also loved that they included really pictures of some of the people she talked about because I love looking at old photographs and it was great to be able to put a face to the people she talks about. I love true stories that I would for sure tell you check this one out. If you love funny books that I know will love this book as much as I loved it.

About The Book

This book documents the strong ties that bind generations together. When the author poses the question to her Irish Granny, “If you were so poor why did you have ten children?” Says she, “To be certain, there was no poverty between the sheets!” This sassy saga of a large family that is half Irish and half French Canadian captures hilarious voices and comical antics of a vibrant family that is cloaked in love. A horse theme and song lyrics are neatly knitted throughout the layers of generations.

About The Author

Pauline Kiely has been an avid student of Creative Writing her entire life. This author has consistently taken various courses and workshops offered at University of Toronto and Trent Universities. A year long memoir course with Susan Reynolds brought out this witty honest voice that shoots straight from the hip aiming for the heart.