Two Crosses - by Elizabeth Musser

It is 1961, and Gabriella Madison has left her missionary family in Senegal to study in France.  She has no idea that the cross she wears is about to draw her into secret missions and a raging war.  It will also bring her healing and relationships that will shape her faith and her future.  The war between Algeria and France is being fought not just between those who want to see Algeria free and those who want to see it belong to France, but there are those who are using the war as cover for their own acts of revenge.  David Hoffman, Gabriella's professor, and Anne Marie Duchemin are allies working together to save innocent lives, and Gabby and Ophelie are caught somewhere in the middle, united by the Huguenot cross they both wear.

I admit that my knowledge of this portion of history including the Huguenots, Algeria, and France is minimal, making some of the facts and historical details confusing for me to follow at first.  However, the characters were so engaging, and the war so devastatingly brutal, that I was quickly invested in the story and transported to the period of time depicted.  So there's your warning if you do not enjoy either historical fiction or honest descriptions of the horror of war.  There are definitely scenes of heart-wrenching acts of brutality and murder that were difficult to read.  It certainly made me grateful for the religious freedom we've been granted, and opened my heart to pray for those who continue to be persecuted and murdered for their faith in God.

This is the first book in a trilogy, and I am looking forward to continuing to follow the story of these characters and their mission to assist those in desperate circumstances.  I give this book 4 stars.

You can buy the book HERE.
You can read an excerpt from the book HERE.
And you can find the author's website HERE.  (I've read several of her books, and have enjoyed them all!)

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

The Scent of Rain - Kristin Billerbeck

Daphne Sweeten has been Paris-trained to be a professional "nose," someone who can recognize over 5,000 different scents.  Dreaming of a job in the French perfume industry, and with ambitions to create her own fragrances, she instead finds herself left at the altar and heading to Dayton, Ohio to work in a failing household goods department.  As if that doesn't seem drastic enough of a change, she now finds herself without the one thing she prides herself on - her sense of smell is completely gone.  How will she find herself and her true worth without being able to do what she does best?

The Scent of Rain had an intriguing premise - who are we if we lose our most identifying feature?  Daphne had to deal with unexpected turn after unexpected turn, and she couldn't even rely on the self she knew.  While I enjoyed the idea of the story, and I cheered for the Daphne who kept trying to make the most of the situation, this book fell a little flat for me.  There was the letter from the ex-fiance, Mark, which Daphne never found time to read, and nobody explained to her.  Wouldn't it be natural to read it immediately?  Or have someone leak the information in it if it's that juicy?  It just felt like a plot hole to me.

Also, the relationship between Daphne and her boss, Jesse, didn't ring true.  (Possible spoilers here!) While it seemed natural for them to be drawn together, and I actually enjoyed the idea of them falling for each other, it happened too quickly to feel real.  There was just no transition between them both saying they needed time, or refusing the idea of the relationship, to being committed to each other.

I liked the idea of the story, and I liked most of the characters, but I really feel this story could have been done better.  So, I feel that I can only give this book 2 stars.  I have read other books by Kristen Billerbeck and have enjoyed them more, so I can still recommend this author!

I received a copy of this book from Thomas Nelson, in exchange for my honest review.

Accidentally Amish - Olivia Newport

Annie Friessen has lived a life steeped in technology.  She co-owns a software development company and has made a small fortune with her computer skills.  However, when she feels threatened by her friends and business partner, she ends up experiencing life with an Amish family and begins to wonder whether the simple life is better.  Rufus, the Amish man who helps her out, also has his livelihood threatened by a jealous competitor, but believes in the Amish way of turning the other cheek.  How will these two communicate? Is it possible for them to understand each other? Is there the possibility of their lives joining?

Usually, I shy away from Amish fiction, but I liked the idea of a story where the Amish and English world intersect so completely, where an Outsider truly tries to see what Amish life is like.  While it felt a little over the top for Annie to frequently make mental notes of things about the Amish that she could Google later, it felt very true to the tech generation, and I liked that the characters commented on the oddness of it directly.  Over the course of the book, it felt more natural for her to turn from her computer to the people around her. She began to learn that people, rather than computers or even money, are what people need for help and healing.  At one point, Rufus says "You have been in our home.  you have been in our church, among our people.  You have even used your technology to study us.  Still you do not understand.  Just when I think you begin to grasp our ways, you take things into your own hands again."  He also says "Our life is grounded in submission, and yours seeks control.  you can't have both."  This is a fundamental shift in worldview for Annie, and I like how it's a gradual shift in both thought and lifestyle for her.  The additional backstory of her research into how her and Rufus' families intersect historically lends weight to the very real conflict of decision to lead an Amish life.

I give Accidentally Amish 3 stars.  It was an interesting read to watch the transition from a technologically-driven life to a simpler one where she could seek God more easily.  Obviously, I do not believe that technology needs to be shunned, or I would not be writing this blog.  However, I can acknowledge that it can be distracting from the important things in life.

I received a copy of this book for free from Barbour Publishers, in exchange for my honest review.

A Lady in the Making - Susan Page Davis

A Lady in the Making is book #3 in the Prairie Dreams Series, by Susan Page Davis.  As is typical for me, I did not realize that it was part of a series when I requested it. However, the author does a pretty good job of giving the reader enough details from the past that after a few chapters, it's easy to forget that you don't know the complete backstory of the characters.  Millie Evans has a history of being a thief and living a life of crime with her half-brother Sam.  Yet, she has decided that she wants to lead a better, honest life, and she wants Sam to go straight with her.  When he tries to draw her back into their old life, she runs away, only to be met on the stagecoach by one of her past marks, a man she tried to get to marry her so she could live a life of luxury.  Now, stuck with David through limited travel options, she tries to convince him that she's changed as they cross the country together.

This book was a little lighter than what I have been reading lately, but I still found it an enjoyable read.  Millie's past weighed on her, not so that she couldn't move forward, but in a way that made her more aware of each choice she made and caused her to want to atone for her actions.  She was a hard worker and eager to prove that she wasn't who she used to be.  I was glad David's upbringing as a "gentleman," and the circumstances throughout their travel forced him to remain in Millie's company long enough to see that her change was genuine.  Even though the list of catastrophes which befell the pair bordered on outrageous, they didn't feel overly contrived, and the story flowed fairly well.  I enjoyed watching their friendship and trust develop slowly, and then continue to bloom into romance.

I give this book 3 stars.  I enjoyed it, and it was decently written, but it didn't really teach me or make me think.

The author has a website HERE.

I was provided a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Too Far to Say Far Enough - Nancy Rue

Too Far to Say Far Enough is the concluding book in the Reluctant Prophets trilogy.  Allison Chamberlain is a prophet who gets Nudges from God about the work He wants her to do.  In this story, the Nudge she continues to get is "Go one more mile."  After traveling many literal miles, she begins to realize that maybe this job isn't about the physical distance, but the extra effort required to forgive and to heal broken relationships and to love her enemies.  Having officially adopted her son, and now taking in a runaway 14-year-old girl, Allison's life is filling up with just the day-to-day needs of caring for the people around her.  Add in the criminals trying to exact revenge on her for the work she's both done in the past and is doing now in her rescue work, and she has way too many "piles" to keep straight without help from God and the people He has put in her life to serve as her extended family as well as her extra hands and feet and hearts.

Allison is a compelling character.  Her compassion for broken women and children entrenched in street life is admirable and heartbreaking.  The people who have filled her life are real, they're dirty with real life, and they're working for a better one together.  They are healing, but it is taking time, and it's taking hard work.  They make you root for them, and they make you realize that there really is a dirty side to life that we all too often ignore.

This book made me wish I had started at the beginning of the trilogy.  The characters were so deep and their ties to each other so strong, that I really wish I had known the beginning of their story.  There were so many references to their past that affected the present story, that I felt pretty lost for a lot of the book.  Despite that, I was still able to invest in the characters and be drawn into the desperation they felt.  I was not expecting such a thriller/crime type aspect to this novel, and it certainly wasn't a simple conclusion to resolve the story.

When I first read the title of the book, I didn't get it.  Eventually, it turned out that once you've started doing the work God has called you to, you can never go "too far to say far enough," you need to complete the work He has given you.

Overall, I can only give this book 3 stars as a stand alone novel, but I definitely think if I had read the previous two books, it would have rated much higher as a conclusion to a compelling trilogy.  I will definitely be looking to read the other two, and possibly re-reading this one to get a sense of the complete journey of Allison and her circle of characters.

You can find Nancy Rue's website HERE.
Find the rest of the trilogy HERE.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

The Girl in the Glass - by Susan Meissner

The Girl in the Glass covers multiple continents, various characters, and several hundred years of time.  Marguerite Pomeroy, or "Meg" as everyone calls her, is an editor at a publishing house that produces travel books.  Ever since she was a little girl, Meg has dreamed of traveling to but one place: Florence, Italy, the land of her beloved Nonna who died before she could take Meg there herself.  Her father has promised several times over the years since then to make the trip, but has never managed to come through on his promise.  Meg has made friends with a brother and sister author team who live in Florence and are excited at the possibility of her visit.  Additionally, their neighbor Sofia has recently been sending Meg chapters of a memoir about Florence that she is writing, a book where she claims to be the last of the Medici family, and where she talks about hearing a voice from the distant past speaking to her through art.  Will Meg's father come through on his promise?  Will Meg make it to Florence?  What will it be like for Meg to meet her Florentine friends in person?

This book started out a little slowly for me.  I had trouble making the transition between the points of view of Meg, Nora, and Sofia (I admit that some of this is the Kindle formatting, and may be easier to notice the transition in print!), but it did not take me long to get sucked in to the story.  Having studied architectural history in college, and having taken a trip to Florence several years ago, the descriptions of the city and the buildings and the art were very real to me, and I could picture them as if I had just been there yesterday.  Not only that, but the clear love of the city and its history made me want to go back tomorrow!

In addition to the city, I loved how the author weaved God into the creative works of the Renaissance.  She wrote "Wise Brunelleschi merely discovered what God had already set across man's path to stumble upon.," and in talking about the Uffizi: "Walking its halls was like walking through a corner of the Creator's mind."  While discussion of God and faith was very sparsely detailed in the book, it permeated the story through notes like this, making it very heartfelt.

The characters quickly became people I cared about, as well.  Sofia made me want to hug her and fix everything that needed fixing; I wanted to find the perfect match for Meg and have a character sweep her off her feet.  Even the minor characters were deep enough to feel like real people, for good or for bad.  While this book would not be classified as a classic love story, the love of the characters for each other, and Meg's search for what love should look like in her own life make it a much more believable tale of love than many others that I've read.

I admit that my own love of Florence may have biased my judgement on this book, but that said, I give this book 4 stars.  The ending seemed a little quirky to me, but overall, I really enjoyed this book and its characters.

You can find Susan Meissner's website HERE.
You can read an excerpt from Chapter 1 HERE.

Please consider ranking my review:


I received a copy of this book from Waterbrook Multnomah as part of their Blogging for Books program in exchange for my honest review.

Abducted - by Janice Cantore

Carly Edwards and Joe King are police partners, on the graveyards patrol shift, when they get the call that Joe's wife and infant son have been admitted to the hospital.  While the doctors are still figuring out what's wrong with his wife, his son is Abducted directly from the pediatric wing of the hospital.  Even as Carly tries to solve the kidnapping, she's also dealing with her ex-husband and their relationship that was looking towards reconciliation, while another man in her life begins to show interest in her.  Additionally, her roommate seems to be distancing herself from Carly, and becomes agitated at Carly's new found Christianity.  How will Carly deal with all of these relationship issues while trying to help her partner get his family back together and to solve a crime that's bigger than any of them imagined?

Abducted is the second book in the Pacific Coast Justice series, written by Janice Cantore, a retired Long Beach police officer.  While this book can certainly stand alone as a novel, there were numerous references to incidents in Carly's past, as well as several other characters, that I can only imagine were detailed in the previous book.  This book would have flowed as a story, for me anyway, without so many of those references.  Most of the past crimes referenced didn't have a bearing on this story and only served as distractions instead of helping the story along.

The deepest part of the story was that of Carly and Nick's path of forgiveness and new beginnings.  It was refreshing to read a book where, even though hurtful mistakes had been made and forgiveness wasn't easy, or even understandable by most of the people who knew them, they worked at their relationship and prayed for renewal.

Other than the forgiveness storyline, I found the book just okay.  I give it 2.5 stars, rounded down to 2 stars.

You can find more from the author HERE.

I received a copy of this book for free from Tyndale publishers, in exchange for my honest review.