The Girl Who Could Breathe Underwater - Erin Bartels

 

Kendra grew up spending glorious summers at Hidden Lake with her grandfather, and her best friend Cami.  Years have passed since she's been to the cabin; she has published a novel, her grandfather has passed away, and nobody has heard from Cami in too long.  She returns with questions, and the answers may be harder than anyone expected.

This novel left me feeling conflicted.  There were much harder topics broached than the description hinted at - topics that may catch readers off guard.  But necessary topics to be discussed.  Kendra's past that she tries to reconcile in her heart and mind, the topics that she wrote about in her book with thinly disguised characters, while shocking, are handled well in the writing.  Kendra doesn't brush them aside.  She doesn't immediately feel healed. Her relationships are not immediately hunky dory.  She struggles with her own role in what happened to her, and whether she could have prevented any of it.  She struggles with forgiveness.  

While all of these struggles were more realistic maybe than other novels have attempted, as a Christian-published novel, I would have liked to have seen more hope, or counseling, or growth.  It doesn't need to wrap up neatly, because real life isn't like that, but there seemed to be no resources outside of Kendra's own strength and resolve to move forward.

I give this book 3 stars; I can't fault the writing, but it was not really my cup of tea, and the description led me to expect a very different book.

You can find the author HERE.
You can find The Girl Who Could Breathe Underwater HERE.

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

Tacos for Two - Betsy St. Amant

 

Rory Perez has been working hard to keep her aunt's food truck, and family legacy, alive.  Finding no joy in cooking, she remains out of family loyalty and dedication.  As the business struggles, she looks for ways to keep it afloat and to keep those she loves safe.

Jude Worthington doesn't struggle for money, but he also doesn't find joy in what he does.  Under family obligations of his own, he wonders what it would be like to break free and to strike out on his own, doing something unconventional, like running a food truck.  

Rory and Jude's lives and hopes become entangled in each other and through each other's choices.  Can they each find a way to find the joy of their hearts again?

This book had me at "tacos."  Add in food trucks, and family complications, and I found myself reading late at night and googling for taco places in my neighborhood.  This is definitely my favorite of Betsy St. Amant's works so far.  I love the food truck storyline, and the need to find joy, not just obligation.  While family is important, and caring for them is honorable, knowing that they want you to love your own life as well is a good lesson for Rory to learn.  

Even the small things in this book made me love it.  I love the banter between the online personalities.  I love that each main character has a best friend - we don't always see male characters have a supportive friend in fiction.  And I love that Rory finds confidence in what she's doing, even if she doesn't love doing it. 

I give this book 4 stars.  Fun, good characters, and it left me wanting Mexican food every day I read it.

You can find Tacos for Two HERE.
You can find the author HERE. 

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

Autumn by the Sea - Melissa Tagg

 

A blueberry farm on the coast of Maine has been in the Muir family for generations.  Neil MacKean is not officially a Muir, but under the custody of Maggie Muir since he was a child, he has poured his heart and soul into the farm, and now struggles to let Maggie know the depth of the financial hole the farm has found itself in.  Maggie herself has become physically tied to the farm's property as she has been on a hunt for her adopted daughter's child since Diana's mysterious accident many years ago.  Her latest search results have turned up Sydney Rose, who has come the farm with her own mystery of finding who her birth mother actually was, and hoping against hope to find her father as well.  What she finds may be a surprise to everybody.

Oh, what a great start to a new series by Melissa Tagg!  I love the Maine setting, on the rocky coast, with a blueberry farm and a small town with generations of history and mystery.  I loved Neil and his adopted sisters, Lilian and Indi, with mysteries and secrets of their own.  I did not expect there to be so many layers to this story, and I cannot wait to explore the depths of them in the books to come!

I give this book 4 stars - I was not expecting the central mystery to remain unresolved, but it gives me more incentive to watch anxiously for the next installment!

You can find Autumn by the Sea HERE.

You can find the author HERE.

I received a digital copy of this book, via NetGalley, from the publisher, and I have gladly provided an honest review.

The Orpheus Plot - Christopher Swiedler

 

Net Galley - 

"Lucas Adebayo grew up on a small mining ship in the asteroid belt, but wants to join the Navy and become the best pilot in the galaxy. The Navy has never accepted a Belter cadet before, but Lucas’s skills secure him a place on the training ship, the Orpheus.

Life in the Navy couldn’t be more different than life in the Belt, and Lucas struggles to find his place. As a Belter, he’s an outsider among his peers; as a Navy cadet, he doesn’t quite fit in at home anymore, either. Lucas is caught between the worlds of his past and his future when a Belter rebellion puts everyone’s lives at risk. Only he can lead the way to peace."

Wow. I just read this book and it was amazing. I really loved how Lucas came from nowhere and got somewhere. I also liked how the book focused on a smaller group of three main characters and included other important but not as important people in the story. Another great thing about this book is that 98% of important characters developed and grew as a person throughout the story. In my opinion even though Lucas comes from nowhere he is given enough tools and abilities to succeed without it being too easy or too hard. I think that the book was very well written, and  I would give it a 5 out of 5.

You can find The Orpheus Plot HERE.
You can find the author HERE.

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

Paint and Nectar - Ashley Clark

 

From christianbook.com:

"In 1929, a spark forms between talented watercolorist Eliza and William, a charming young man who has been hired to forge her popular paintings. Her aunt makes it clear Eliza should stay away from him because of a feud between their families over missing heirloom silver. But the source of the rivalry was long ago, and as the two get to know each other, they fall in love. William regrets the job that desperation led him to take and their families' ongoing bitterness, but setting things right comes at a cost.

In present-day Charleston, Lucy Legare has just inherited an old house from a mysterious benefactor, along with all the secrets it holds, including an old silver heirloom. Declan Pinckney is determined to buy the house for his family's development company. But as Lucy uncovers secrets about the house, garden, and silver, she becomes more determined than ever to preserve the historic Charleston property, not only for history's sake but also for her own."

"A movement that can be summed up in this - that redemption, like sunlight, always reaches through the gates, and that we, like flowers, bend toward what grows us.  So that the imitations and likenesses we have accepted as originals are exposed as deception, and we are left with the hope of a truer inheritance, a truer promise: a second garden, where all the dead things come alive and all that is forfeited is restored , and all that is fractured becomes a mosaic of color." (emphasis mine)

The redemption theme and generational legacy that carried throughout this book were deeply engaging and gripping.  Learning the "better" thing, the "better" choice, the "truer" purpose in life is an important lesson for not just the characters in this book, but for the reader as well.

There are many ties to the author's first book, The Dress Shop on King Street, and while it would have been a spoiler before reading them both, I feel like I needed a character chart to keep everyone's relationships straight.  

Regardless of the periodic confusion, I really enjoyed this book, and give it 4 stars.  I love Ms. Clark's writing style and she does a great job tying in the past to its consequences on the present.

You can find Paint and Nectar HERE.
You can find the author HERE.

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

Hooked on You - Kathleen Fuller

 

Riley McCallister never planned to come back to Maple Falls; she'd planned to become a renowned artist in New York.  Hayden Price never planned to work at his family's hardware store; he'd planned to become a major league baseball pitcher - which he did, for one pitch.  When Riley's grandmother takes a hard slide at a church softball game and breaks her leg, Riley finds herself back in her grandmother's yarn store, planning to only be there long enough to get her grandmother literally back on her feet.  Hayden, however, has adjusted his plans, and is looking forward to settling into Maple Falls, until he finds that his family may have different plans of their own.  Can Riley and Hayden find a way to be content with their plans being changed?  

After reading through a string of overly sappy romances, this novel hit many of the right notes for me.  Riley, the self-proclaimed artistic loner, and Hayden, the popular athlete, were a great combination of characters.  I loved that this wasn't a second-chance story, per se; Riley and Hayden never connected in high school, each thinking the other never even noticed them.  I loved the Bosom Buddies, Riley's grandmother's collection of friends who bonded over knitting and crocheting and had been together so long as to be able to speak truth to each other, while also watching out for each other.  I loved how the younger version of them, dubbed the Musketeers by Hayden, easily took Riley in, even through her resistance.  

If you're looking for a Christian novel with strong threads of faith, this isn't the book for you.  While the characters go to church, there are no conversations about God, or prayer, or the Bible.  However, it is a clean novel, with themes of love and forgiveness, and how blood family is not the only kind of family.

I give this book 4 stars.  I'm excited that this is a series, and I can't wait to see which characters get the spotlight next!

You can find Hooked on You HERE.
You can find the author HERE.

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

Facing the Dawn - Cynthia Ruchti

 

From christianbook.com:

"While her humanitarian husband Liam has been digging wells in Africa, Mara Jacobs has been struggling. She knows she's supposed to feel a warm glow that her husband is nine time zones away, caring for widows and orphans. But the reality is that she is exhausted, working a demanding yet unrewarding job, trying to manage their three detention-prone kids, failing at her to-repair list, and fading like a garment left too long in the sun.
Then Liam's three-year absence turns into something more, changing everything and plunging her into a sunless grief. As Mara struggles to find her footing, she discovers that even when hope is tenuous, faith is fragile, and the future is unknown, we can be sure we are not forgotten . . . or unloved.
With emotionally evocative prose that tackles tough topics with tenderness and hope, award-winning author Cynthia Ruchti invites you on a journey of the heart you won't soon forget."

This was well written, but such a hard read.  So much sorrow, with an even greater amount of healing.  But, oh, the sorrow.  And yet, amidst the sorrow, the author did a phenomenal job of pointing the reader to the only true Healer.

"I can't know the end of my story, God.  And I have to be okay with that, don't I? But I know your heart.  Verse-verse-verse Redemption. Sorrow-sorrow-sorrow-Jesus." 

Mara starts out as bitter as she believes her name implies, but just as the story of her biblical namesake, she finds love and healing in the people who still surround her and teach her that life is still worth living, and there is still hope to be found.

4 stars; the hope within was beautiful, but it was almost too hard for me to read.

You can find Facing the Dawn HERE. 
You can find the author HERE.

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