Blog Tour by Glass Roads

ISBN: 978146599951

Paperback, 355 pages

Howard Books

AFTER ALL(a Hanover Falls Novel)

written by

DEBORAH RANEY 

Deborah Raney is a great author and all the books I have read of hers I always enjoy. Thanks to Glass Roads for sending me this book free for my review.

 The story begins the day David was buried after the fire in the Handover Falls homeless shelter had burned and these men had been killed.  She did not bury him in Handover Falls where the others were buried but had him buried beside his parents in Springfield.

After eighteen months had passed Susan Marlowe is just now beginning to heal somewhat after her husband David had died in a fire alone with four other firefighters.  She then discovered that David had carried a secret to the grave with him.

She and her sons begin their lived anew after the fire, but what is this secret?  Surly there would have been something she had noticed about David.  But when she found out, she knew she should have seen it a long time before David's death.

Can she learn to find peace again and will she ever find another man to take her late husband's place in her life?

The Good Dream

THE GOOD DREAM

ISBN:978-0312-36777-0

by

Donna VanLiere

Book will release July, 2012

also available on CD 978-1-4272-2187-2 and as an e-book 978-1-250-01150-3

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Publication date: 7/3/2012

Edition description: First Edition

Edition number: 1

Pages: 320

READ THE FIRST CHAPTER HERE!!

From The New York Times bestselling author comes a poignant, heartbreaking, and ultimately uplifting novel about an unlikely path to motherhood, and of two lost souls healing each other

1950 Tennessee, a time and place that straddles the past and present. Ivorie Walker is considered an old maid by the town (though she’s only in her early thirties) and she takes that label with good humor and a grain of salt. Ever since her parents passed away, she has hidden her loneliness behind a fierce independence and a claim of not needing anyone. But her mother’s death hit her harder than anyone suspects and Ivorie wonders if she will be alone forever.

When she realizes that someone has been stealing vegetables from her garden—a feral, dirty-faced boy who disappears into the hills—something about him haunts Ivorie. She can’t imagine what would make him desperate enough to steal and eat from her garden. But what she truly can’t imagine is what the boy faces, each day and night, in the filthy lean-to hut miles up in the hills. Who is he? How did he come to live in the hills? Where did he come from? And, more importantly, can she save him? As Ivorie steps out of her comfort zone to uncover the answers, she unleashes a firestorm in the town—a community that would rather let secrets stay secret.

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MY THOUGHTS:

This is Donna's first novel but not her first time at writing, she brought happiness to a lot of people with her "CHRISTMAN HOPE" series and now enjoy her first full length novel as I have.

Ivorie Walker is a young woman in her late twenties and unmarried.  She works at the school library but her mother was always trying to find her a husband as both her parents were up in years.  "This really relates to me as my mother was forty-five when I was born.  I was the tenth child for her"  Ivorie alone with her family  live in Morgan Hill Tennessee a small community about seventy miles from Knoxville but somewhere she had never been.  She has six brothers and all are married with families.

Ivorie did not like any man that was thrown at her, she found something wrong with all of the ones that lived in their small community.  Her dad died in 1948 and Mother was crippled with arthritis so she did most of the work in the gardens and house.  When Ivorie turned thirty her Mother passed away in January and now the house was too quite and cold.

Then there is the Boy that is being treated very bad at his home and he has some terrible dreams that he is drowning and a woman always pulls him out.  He does not know her but she always rescues him.  Someday he will get away from that shack and the man that treats him worst than a dog.

The boy meets Ivorie and finds himself into more trouble from "THE MAN" than ever before.  He is beaten and cursed at for going down past the river.

This book is so interesting that you will not want to put it down and that is why I read it so fast.  I wanted to see what the next page holds.  This book will be out in July so be sure to pick up a copy or pre-order one, you will be so glad you did.

I want to thank the author Donna VanLiere for sending me this free advanced copy for my review.

A PERFECT SQUARE

2nd in Amish series

written by

Vannetta Chapman

ISBN: 978-0-310-33044-8

Paperback, 344 pages

Zondervan Publisher

My Thought:

As the time draws near for Esther and Tobias to be married, Esther and her friend Deborah are out with Deborah's daughter to pick flowers they see someone lying dead in the nearby creek.  This property belonged to Reuben the brother of Tobias.

When the people came out to claim the body Reuben will not say anything and they are blaming him, but he just let's it past and keeps his thoughts to himself.  Tobias can't understand his brother keeping everything bottled up inside and letting it fall on his shoulders.

As Esther, Deborah and the owner of the quilt shop Callie decide to find out themselves what had happened to this person.  At he same time old man Ira Bontrager comes to the women and ask them to help him find out what happened to his daughter that has been missing since 1965.

In the first book of the series the women are good at solving mysteries, but can they solve these two? 

If you like to read about the Amish then you will love this series as it is also a mystery.  Something different and new with this community as they usually just keep to themselves and don't try to solve mysteries nor to get involved. I really loved the books and I didn't want to lay them down.

 

Thanks so much to Zondervan Publishers for sending me this free book in order for me to do a review.

 

WHERE LILACS STILL BLOOM

by

Jane Kirkpatrick

While "Where Lilacs Still Bloom" is a historical fiction book, it  has a biography feel to it and it takes place around 1948. Hulda Klager was actualy a  real person and she  did indeed grow lilacs. She was a German immigrant and love to grow about anything.  She started by trying to grow apples that were easy to peel, as she loved to make her apple pies.  But she really got her fame from developing over 250 varieties of lilacs.  She was a wife and a mother and had her garden in her own back yard, as that is where she experimented with her flowers.  She had no formal training and it just came natural to her to be able to do this. 

As you read through the pages you will get to know Hulda and her family and go with them through the hard and good times of their lives.

In the front of the book there is a picture of Hulda in her garden with some vistors.  If you are ever in Washington State near Mt. St. Helens you can still visit her Lilas garden that is located on the property where she lived.

I read Jane Kirkpatrick's book "The Daughter's Walk" and enjoyed it very much.  As for me I am not a gardener but my husband is.  If you want a plant to die just place it in my care. 

I was provided a book to review by Blogging For Books. I was not required to write a positive review. My opinions are my own.



 

The Face of Heaven

by

 Murray Pura

ISBN: 0736949496

Paperback, 300 Pages

Harvest House Publishers

Releases Sept, 2012 on the 150th anniversary of the battle of Antietam!

ABOUT THE BOOK
(Taken from Goodreads)  Following on the heels of The Wings of Morning, the first book in Murray Pura's Snapshots in History series, comes this compelling saga of the Civil War.
In April 1861, Lyndel Keim discovers two runaway slaves in her family's barn. When the men are captured and returned to their plantation, Lyndel and her young Amish beau, Nathaniel King, find themselves at odds with their pacifist Amish colony
Nathaniel enlists in what will become the famous Iron Brigade of the Union Army. Lyndel enters the fray as a Brigade nurse on the battlefield, sticking close to Nathaniel as they both witness the horrors of war?including the battles at Chancellorsville, Fredericksburg, and Antietam. Despite the pair's heroic sacrifices, the Amish only see that Lyndel and Nathaniel have become part of the war effort, and both are banished.
And a severe battle wound at Gettysburg threatens Nathaniel's life. Lyndel must call upon her faith in God to endure the savage conflict and to face its painful aftermath, not knowing if Nathaniel is alive or dead. Will the momentous battle change her life forever, just as it will change the course of the war and the history of her country?

The Face of Heaven is a dramatic story that will release on the 150th anniversary of the historic battle of Antietam, September, 1862. 

My Thought:

I read Wings of Morning and was so glad when I received this advanced manuscript free from Jeanne of Wynn Wynn Media to post my reviews.

I like to read about the Amish and I also love history so this book covers both.  Coming into the story on the heels of Wings of Morning, Lyndel Keim finds two runaway slaves in her family's barn.  But the men are captured and this hurt Lyndel and her boyfriend Nathaniel's hearts so they deside to enlist with the Union Army.  She as a nurse and and he as a solider.  Nathaniel was hurt really bad in the war of Gettysburg and they just have to trust God to heal him.  Lyndel didn't know where he was of if he was alive or dead, as the war rages on.

They both went against the Amish teaching of not fighting in a battle of any kind so they were both banished from the community.  The battle and the banishing changes their lives forever.

 

ANGEL EYES

 written by

Shannon Dittemore

Debut novel, first in a series of three.

As this is Shannon's first novel, she will take you to another world as you read this book.

When Brielle Matthews returns to her small hometown of Stratus, Oregon, she was so upset as her best friend had been murdered in the city and she had a cold feeling that she could not shake.

Jake is new in town and he has moved in next door with his guardian Canaan and when they started to school he and Brielle has a few classes together.  Brielle finds out there is something about him that she just can't place.   goes out into the woods alone to take photographs, she falls and breaks her ankle, only to be saved by Jake and healed by his hands.

Brielle just could not shake this icy feeling but when Jake and Canaan went out of town she was asked to keep a gold ring for Jake.  When she would put ring on she was filled with peace.  She placed it on her head and could see a Celestial world around her.  After Jake and Canaan returns, Brielle tell them about the way the ring made her fill, they ten told her that Canaan is Jake's Guardian Angel there to protect him from the evil.

When Brielle learns this it make her start to believe God is who they say he is and there was a reson that her mother and Ali, her friend had to die.

I want to thank BookSneeze program for sending me this free book in exchange for my review.

RELENTLESS PURSUIT

by

Kathy Herman

ISBN: 9780781403429

Paperbak, 392 Pages

David Cook Publisher



Relentless Pursuit started out with a bang and people started dying and some just being sick from somthing in the town of Les Barbes, Louisiana.  It seem all had ate or bought something from a local market.  This had everyone scared and really upset.  They found that someone had injected cyanide in water bottles and it was just one brand as far as they could tell.

Sax Henry came to town looking for his sister he had lost track of when they were in their teens.  They had an abusive father and Sax could not take it anymore, now he is feeling guilty for leaving his younger sister. It has been twenty-eight years and now both parents were dead and he just wanted to find her and ask forgiveness.  He had changed his name and in a rock band that traveled a lot, but he had some time between tours.

There are a lot of characters in this book and they are not all who they seem to be.  It kept my interest for a long time and then there was so much about the water bottles that I got bored there for awhile. But I had to see if the killer was who I thought it was and sure enough it was.  Also I had the sister of Sax fighured out a long way back.  But I read so much that in some books I just know how it will end.

I want to thank Jeanne from Wynn Wynn Media for sending me this free book to read and review.

FOLLOWING YOUR HEART

by

Jerry S. Eicher

Publisher's Description

Readers will delight in this warmhearted novel by bestselling author Jerry Eicher (more than 350,000 books sold), a former Amish man, who writes with authenticity and compassion about the people he grew up with.

Susan Hostetler a young Amish woman who had left her community for life in the outside world, returns home to her family with her English friend, Teresa Long, and TeresaÂ’s newborn, fatherless son. Teresa has come in hopes of settling with the Amish people.

Deacon Ray gets wind of the situation and forbids the unwed mother from attending the church services, fearing she will pollute the young people of the community.

SusanÂ’s estranged boyfriend, Thomas Stoll, who still has hopes of winning her back, fears the trouble with Teresa will drive Susan back into the English world.

Thomas convinces Yost Byler, an old bachelor, to propose to Teresa and adopt her child after the marriage. When Yost visits Deacon Ray with his plan, Deacon Ray agrees to the idea and removes the restriction, allowing Teresa to begin attending instruction classes.

Outraged at this turn of events, Susan is unable to persuade Teresa from her plans to marry Yost. Yet throughout it all, Deacon RayÂ’s son, James, notices the depth of TeresaÂ’s devotion to the faith and to her son, and finds himself drawn to her.

With two Amish men interested in her, Teresa has a decision to make...and so does Susan. Will Susan stay in the community she loves....or venture back to the freedom she enjoyed in the English world?

Book Two in the Fields of Home series

ISBN: 9780736944786
Paperback, 271 pages
Harvest House Publishers

MY REVIEW:

Susan Hostetler had been living in the English world as you all know that read book one in this series.  She had met another young woman that had a baby out of wedlock, so she brough back to her parent's home in the Amish community.  Teresa Long had a little baby boy, and it seemed the parents were fine with her living in their home, but the leaders of the church were not.  They would not let her attend their worship services but Susan took the baby with her.

Susan had left behind a boyfriend that she had caught kissing another your woman so she broke up with him.  As soon as he found out she was back here he came begging her for forgiveness, but she just could not let it go.  She felt as though if he cheated on her once he would do it again, but her parents thought other wise, they wanted her to get back together with him.

Mean while Teresa was having some Amish suiters of her own and one was the Deacon's own son.  Is Deacon Roy didn't want her to attend their church meetings what was he going to think about his son falling his son.  Teresa was wanting to go Amish when she first came but Susan was not sure if she wanted to give up the English life where she had some guys that she had went out with a few times waiting for her.

I want to thank Harvest House and Jerry S. Eicher for sending me this free book for my review.

 

WILDFLOWER from WINTER

Written by

Katie Ganshert

ISBN: 9780307730381

Paperback, 320 pages

WaterBrook Press

Click here to download the first chapter of Wildflowers from Winter now.

Katie Ganshert is a new author to me, but I really enjoyed the book.  This is one story that you can not guess how it will end.

Bethany Quinn is a young architect that works in Chicago and is on her way home (or where she grew up) to Iowa.  Her mother, whom she has never got alone with called her home because her grandfather had a heart attack.  Her dad had died when she and her brother was young, and her mother had moved them to an old mobile home that she hated.  She had spent as much time growing up with her grandfather on her dad' side.  But after she moved away ten years ago she just did not want to go back.  She even forgot about her best friend Robin who was now married.

When she got to Peaks, Iowa everything looked the same as when she was growing up EXCEPT a young man was living with her grandfather and taking care of the farm.  She was really surprised when she met Evan Price and a little jealous because of the way he had taken care of her grandfather.

There is a lot of tragedy in this story, and Bethany is having a hard time believing that God will take care of things in His own time.  She had stopped believing when she had been forced to go sit and listen to Pastor Fenton, whom she hated. 

Her grandfather passed away and she found out that she was left five hundred acres of farm land but Evan was left the farm house.  What was she going to do with a large farm, when she lived in Chicago?

"I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review."

CHASING THE SUN

ISBN:9780764206153

Paperback, 347 pages

BethanyHouse Publishing

Read about the author HERE

If you like to read stories taking place in the 1800s then you will love this one.  The civil war is going on and the folks in Texas are seperated between wanting the North or the South to win.  Hannah Dandridge was helping he father raise her two young siblings as her step-mother had died in childbirth.  Her dad got the word that his grandfather had been killded in the war and he left his family in the hands of their housekeeper and her family to go aid his grandmother, whom was dying.  But he never returned.  The rance they lived on had been given to him because he supported the South and he and his lawyer partener were in business together, but he had no idea what his partener was trying to do. 

When the REAL owner of the ranch returned from the war William Barnett was suprised to find someone else was living in his house.  He stayed on for the time being and helped Hannah and the others run the farm and to try and keep the Indians from attacking.

What will Hannah do when she finds out for sure her father was dead and she was going to have to raise her 3 year old sister and 7 year old brother.  Will she marry her dad's former partner Herbert Lockhart a much older man or will she find another way to survive.

Thanks so much to Bethany House Publishers for sending me this book and I choose to review it.