From Scratch - C.E. Hilbert

Maggie McKitrick has opened a bakery in Gibson's Run, Ohio.  Other than bickering with her police chief landlord over her rented space, she seems to be settling in with new friends and a growing business.  But what brought her to Gibson's Run, and why is she so easily spooked by a few out-of-place incidents?  Why does Chief Taylor feel that he's not getting all of the answers he's looking for, even as they set their differences aside?

I am a sucker for books about bakers and chefs; and I loved those scenes within this book, where Maggie is creating and interacting with customers and friends over the fantastic desserts she has crafted.  The highlight of the book, however, was watching Maggie take root in this life she'd begun without any ties.  As strangers became friends, and friends became family, it was uplifting to watch her be able to trust God in settling her in this place, allowing herself to stop hiding and confide in someone about her past.  It was also refreshing to have that happen before it was revealed through other means.  There are some disturbing sections regarding the reason for her running, but they're not over-the-top, and they serve as the means for Maggie's life as it is and give foundation to her deep faith in God.  While the online descriptions of the book promote it heavily as a romance, I would say that's only a minor portion of this bigger story of faith, friends, and family.  I do hope that this will become a series, and that we will get to look more into the characters of Gibson's Run, and perhaps the remaining Taylor brothers?

I give this book 3.5 stars.

You can find From Scratch HERE.
(Although it says that's due to be published April 1, 2016, it appears to be available now)
You can connect with the author on Facebook HERE.

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

Beyond the Silence - Tracie Peterson and Kimberley Woodhouse

When Lillian Porter sees an ad for a nanny position in Angels Camp, California, she feels she needs to take it, even though her grandfather tells her she'll no longer be welcome in his home if she leaves.  To add to her dismay, she arrives at her destination to find that gossip and rumors abound concerning her new employer, Woody Colton.  His wife was brutally murdered, and the majority of the townspeople think he did it.  Woody's young son, Jimmy, was home at the time, but hasn't spoken a word since the murder.  Can Lillian trust her new boss, and God, for her safety?  Can she reach Jimmy through his silence?  Will her grandfather ever speak to her again?

This book felt like two separate stories that didn't quite work together.  Lillian's act of leaving her life of luxury to help a struggling family was admirable, and I expected more about the contrast of her old life with the new, or more depth to the broken relationship with her grandfather.  Instead, she settled rather easily into the life of a nanny and tutor, learning to cook and tend the garden with only minor mishaps.  Once she arrived in California, the book awkwardly shifted focus to the mystery surrounding the death of Rebecca Colton, and the continuing danger around the Colton property.  Darwin Longstreet was a fully evil character, murdering without remorse, and plotting the death of his younger brother without a care; this dichotomy between the settling in of a nanny with a hurting family and the actions of a cold-blooded killer was jarring.

Although I found the combination of stories to be awkward, there were several characters whom I enjoyed; Lillian was a strong, independent woman who cared for everyone she met, yet she wasn't afraid to speak truth to those who attacked her new family.  Harry, the killer's younger brother, was endearing, caring for Jimmy and Lillian and hungering for friendship and love.  Even the supporting cast - the housekeeper, the storekeeper's wife, the pastor - they all added humor, strength, and depth to the story.

I was left not knowing how I really felt about this book overall; the darkness of the killer was not a pleasant read, yet I was eager to see Jimmy and the family find healing and forgiveness.  I give this book 3 stars.

You can find Beyond the Silence HERE.
You can find Tracie Peterson's site HERE.
You can find Kimberley Woodhouse's site HERE.

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

An Insider's Guide to Praying for the World - Brian C. Stiller

An Insider's Guide to Praying for the World contains 52 chapters of countries, people groups, and situations throughout the world in need of prayer.  Authored by the Global Ambassador of the World Evangelical Alliance, the stories and prayer guides are given a personal touch and the urgency of current needs for real people.

As my children grow up in a world that's constantly changing, I want them to be aware of where God is working, and where the prayers of His people are needed not only to change the situations around the world, but the hearts of the people who join with Him in prayer.  I requested this book for review to help open their eyes, as well as my own.  While we haven't completed the book, hoping to take our time to read and pray thoughtfully, and stretch our understanding of the world we live in.  The breakdown of this book makes it easy to go through as a family, with the combination of particular countries, people groups such as the Muslims, and larger issues such as prisons and persecution.  Current data, a history of the country, and maps for each chapter help give us context and perspective.  Tips on group use or personal use, as well as a prayer journal at the conclusion, add to this in-depth prayer resource.  My only concern with the book is that specific data and prayer concerns can only remain current for so long.  I wish that each chapter came with a link to an active ministry, or an updated website where the reader could check in to see if there are updates on situations and prayer requests.

I give this book 4 stars; I feel that it is a well-written, nicely laid out prayer guide, and I look forward to studying it more in depth.

You can find An Insider's Prayer Guide to Praying for the World HERE.
You can find the author's website HERE.
You can find the World Evangelical Alliance HERE.

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

Not by Sight - Kate Breslin

Grace Mabry is filled with patriotism for her native England during WWI; having a twin brother serving in the war, she is certain that other able-bodied men should also be doing their part to help win and end the war.  Her passion results in her being sent to assist the war effort in a manner she did anticipate, as she serves on a farm with the Women's Forage Corps.  While there, she finds that everyone has secrets, and some are more dangerous than others.

While there were several intriguing components to this story - spies, the Women's Forage Corps, the care Grace put into showing compassion to the other women - it just didn't come together for me.  The storyline of seeing past a man's blindness and scars to see to his heart and convince him he was worth loving again should have been refreshingly different, but still somehow fell a bit flat.  Maybe I just wasn't in the right mood for this novel at this time, or maybe the story was trying to go too many places at the same time that none of it felt well-developed, but something was missing.

Even though I didn't love this story, I did appreciate the theme of not making assumptions about others, both for the good and the bad.  Everyone has secrets, but there is a story behind everyone's past, and a future even when there have been mistakes that seem unforgivable.

I give this book 2 stars, for my own personal tastes and lack of excitement about the story.

You can find Not by Sight HERE.
You can find the author's site HERE.

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

2015 - The Good, the Bad, the Surprising

Last year, my goal for books was 60, and I surpassed it to read a total of 87 books for 2014.  Not knowing what 2015 would hold in terms of reading time, I set my goal for 75 books, thinking it would be a stretch but attainable.  At year's end, these were my stats according to Goodreads:

79 books

25,257 pages

Average length: 337 pages

Longest book: Winter - 824 pages

If only I kept better track of books I picked up, but didn't finish, I think that page total would be significantly higher.  This seemed to be the year of disappointing books.  There were even a few books I had looked forward to with anticipation, only to find myself sadly setting them aside unfinished (After You, I'm looking at you).  Overall, I found myself frustrated with the quality of books I picked up this year.  Even still, I managed to give 6 books a 5-star rating on Goodreads. 

These were some of my top choices this year:

Non-Fiction

It's rare for me to even finish a non-fiction book these days, let alone give one 5 stars, but this was well worthy of both my time and my rating.  The combination of biography, WWII accounts, and history of crew as a sport was well done and incredibly interesting.


Fiction

I don't love everything by Charles Martin, but Water from my Heart was amazing.  In my review, I said "This is not a pretty book about someone who made an honest mistake with good intentions."  It's not always easy, or good, to read about someone's bad choices, but learning from someone else's redemption story can be thought-changing.

I was super excited to have won a copy of To Get to You, from Joanne Bischof this summer; I've enjoyed every one of her books, and this one was no exception.  I'm excited to see this series continue!

Children's/Middle Grade

It was a bit of a struggle to get my 7-year-olds to move from picture books to chapter books; one of them latched onto The One and Only Ivan on his kindle, and we loved reading it together.  I even bought him a copy of this in paperback to mark the first serious (325 pages!) chapter book he read.  It was so fun for him to talk to me about where we were in the book, and discuss the parts that were sad, or the parts that made us laugh.  I love having more book readers in my house!

My other 7-year-old is a bigger fan of audio books than paper books (although we're working on that), and The Mysterious Benedict Society series captured his attention early this summer.  The first audio book is in the 14-hour range, and he blew through it in less than a week.  We also read/listened to these as a family on our summer vacation drive, and we continue to refer to these characters even now, they were so fun!

Young adult/Sci-Fi

Another of my favorite authors, Katie Ganshert branched out this year under the name K.E. Ganshert to pen a series of young adult novels.  These were fantastic, and I was so glad she released them in quick succession, because I would not have wanted to wait long for each installment!  I convinced my book club to read them (even one who's typically very anti-sci-fi), and when the author ran a promotion where the proceeds all went to charity, i purchased another set for someone else who I thought would love them.


And so...

So while it wasn't a fantastic year for books in general for me, I did manage to pull several diamonds out; from all over the reading map, apparently!  Last year, I came up with a list of books I was excited to read in the year ahead, and I managed to read all but one of them this year.  While I would love to have books to list here to look forward to in 2016, I can't say I know of many.  I'm sure there will be some good surprises this year, but many of the series I'd been invested in seem to have finished up this year, and several of my favorite authors don't have any dates set for releases.

I am setting a goal of 75 books again for this year; that seems to be the sweet spot for me - enough of a stretch that I feel challenged, but when I hit a slump where nothing is catching my attention, I don't feel discouraged (by an arbitrary goal, I know).

Do you have goals this year?
Do you have books to look forward to?  What should be on my '16 list?
Did you read any of my favorite books?  What did I miss?

The Choir Immortal - Katie Schuermann

In The Choir Immortal, a sequel to The House of Living Stones, we return to the town of Bradbury, Illinois, just in time for a wedding, a celebration that the whole congregation of Zion Lutheran Church has been looking forward to.  However, as can be expected, things start to go awry, beginning with the church's air conditioning units failing, and turning more serious as a participant ends up in the Emergency Room.  The book's plot line continues to take a serious turn, but the people of Zion will rise to meet the challenges head-on, and more importantly, together.

In my review of The House of Living Stones, I'd mentioned that I loved the characters of Zion Lutheran Church, and that continues to hold true in this sequel.  The secretary, Mrs. Scheinberg, is still quirky and blunt, but is the glue that holds many of the characters together, even the more prickly ones.  Blaine, the eyeliner-wearing pianist gets more of a place in this story, and we begin to see how he's gotten to where he is, and we get a glimpse of where he's going.  Evan, the formerly grouchy, unknowable organist of Zion, begins to come out of his shell, and falls lovingly into his role of grandfather, and even mentor to the lost Blaine, teaching him what it truly means to forgive and why we must.
Blaine: "Have you forgiven Shirley?"
Evan: "I have."
"Why?"
"I am compelled to forgive her."
"Why?"
"Because I am forgiven by Jesus."
"Forgiven of what?"
"Of hating Shirley."

This book is sprinkled with scriptural truths like this; even amidst the silliness of Robbie mis-naming the plants he's working with ("We're planting a hibiscuit"), we hear about eternal joy tied to mortal sorrow ("Death may hold no sting for the Christian, but it sure did its best to leave a scar."), we learn about our need to lean on God through the tough times ("God will never give us more than we can handle, right?" "I suspect He always gives us more than we can handle, that we might turn to Him again and again and again."), and we learn how to lean into each other for support.

I still wish that some of the characters had more depth to give the reader a more vested interest into the story as a whole, but I did feel that this book was an improvement over the first.  I hope that this series continues, so that we may continue to delve into the lives of these very interesting and quirky characters!

I give this book 3 stars; while I feel that it was an improvement on the first in the series, I'm still hoping for more from these fantastically unique characters!

You can find The Choir Immortal HERE.
You can find the author's website HERE.

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

The Wedding Chapel - Rachel Hauck

Jimmy Westbrook, affectionately known as "Coach" to generations of Heart's Bend football players and fans, has kept a secret from most of the people who think they know him.  Sixty years ago, he built a wedding chapel on his father's land, for the woman he intended to marry.  Sixty years later, he's still single and figures maybe it's time to sell the chapel.  First, however, a magazine wants to photograph the chapel, and sends Taylor Branson, a former Heart's Bend resident, as the photographer.  Taylor's own marriage and family issues are tangled in knots, but she senses something in Jimmy and the chapel that needs to be settled.  Sixty years and 3 generations of secrets might bring more truth than anybody bargained for.

I was looking for a light romantic book to escape into for some easy summer reading, and a book called The Wedding Chapel seemed just the ticket.  However, much like the characters, I got more than I bargained for.  Without giving any spoilers, this book gives the reader a lot to think about regarding marriages and how lightly some folks enter into them, what gives folks the right to be called family, and how to change the family legacy one's been handed.  Even with the knowledge that a character is trying to change the patterns he lives out, he acknowledges that "it was hard to harvest words that were never sown."  The book also highlighted how seeing people you love work through their own difficulties can give you courage for your own.  "[Their] journey had righted a lot of relationships this past year and set a course for new ones.  But not without the tears that come with confession, repentance and forgiveness."  Even with courage to change, change is not easy or without consequences.

There were so many good things about this book, but there were a few that gave me pause and kept me from rating it higher.  Every character seemed to have secrets, and while they were hinted at heavily, not every secret was eventually revealed.  Also, while the author did a great job of taking the spotlighted relationships of her main characters seriously, there were several major issues, life choices, and character traits that were brushed aside lightly and almost winked at, as if not a big deal.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book.  I liked that relationships weren't perfect, and that there were consequences to misunderstandings and bad choices.  I also can't help but like a character who's "stuck more this place than Lorelai Gilmore is to Stars Hollow." Ahem.
I give this book 4 stars.

You can find A Wedding Chapel HERE.
You can find the Author's website HERE.

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