Smitten - By Colleen Coble, Kristin Billerbeck, Denise Hunter, & Diann Hunt

 

Published by Thomas Nelson

Average Blogger Rating:4.51 Stars

Book Description

Four friends devise a plan to turn Smitten, Vermont, into the country's premier romantic getaway-and each finds her own true love along the way.

With Smitten Lumber closing, residents wonder if their town can stay afloat. Then four friends and local business owners-Natalie, Julia, Shelby, and Reese--decide the town is worth saving. How will they do it? They'll turn Smitten into a honeymoon destination!

As Natalie, Julia, Shelby, and Reese work to save the town, each discovers romance in her own life. Meanwhile, the faith of a little child reminds the whole town what it means to have real faith in the God who is the always and forever Love.

Discover a novel written by four of Christian fiction's most popular romance novelists- friends in real life who've drawn an amazing story of four friends! Includes a Reading Group Guide as well as "Conversation over Coffee with the Authors".

MY REVIEW

i found this a very fun read...actually this is written like one book - it is just that each season and each main character is written by a different author. What makes this work extremely well is the fact that the authors are best friends, and according to them can finish each others sentences. Want to get to know these authors better? well, each author loosely based her main character on herself, the operative word being loosely.  This novel really invites the reader to feel the friendships that the girls enjoy - from one season to another.  Together they have a plan - to save their town, but first they must convince the residents (in particularly the men in their lives that not only is the plan good, it will work! A few anxious moments as the reader wonders if things will work out all around, many chuckles as the characters mess things up for themselves and you have a wonderful novel.

i actually checked the start of the book to see if some of these novels were a continuation from other novels, that is how comfortable i was with the characters right from page one. The story (stories) flowed with out pause from one story or season into another. i have never read a novel that took novellas and welded them together so seamlessly, unless they were written by one author. 

i was disappointed that there were a few loose ends not tied up, and that the sequel to this one does not come out until December 2012. In every other way it met my expectations.


i received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers through their program Booksneeze in exchange for an honest review. i was not required to give a postive review.

Spend Christmas with the Amish

This blog post is for those readers who love to read romance novels that in speak of heartache,and restoration in the midst of the Amish. 
The Christmas Singing by Cindy Woodsmall will bring you all this, and more! 
Not only that, but when you order from WaterbrookMultnomah.com before December 20, 2011 you can get 30% off and free shipping on The Christmas Singing and any other title from WaterbrookMultnomah publishers. Click on the links below to find out more about The Christmas Singing

The Christmas Singing




 http://bit.ly/vvg9mc -  Watch the video trailer for The Christmas Singing here

 http://scr.bi/uJkucX - Read the first chapter of The Christmas Singing here


Then head over to   http://www.waterbrookmultnomah.com to order. i'm not sure why this link isn't working, but please copy it and paste into your search engine. Same with the three links shown above. 


Great gift for yourself, or any of the readers on your Christmas list!

Book Lover's Holiday Giveaway

This giveaway hop is going on now!  and if you head over to the hosts, or cuzinlogic at
http://cuzinlogic.com  and then follow the hops, you have a great chance to win awesome books! Join me now

Product Description

Mary Lynn and Jackson Scoville are living the good life in Charleston. But as they work their way up the social ladder, Mary Lynn feels compelled to pray that Jackson will come to the Lord. When Jackson's radical conversion---including inviting street people into their home---threatens their dreams, will Mary Lynn go along with him? 320 pages, softcover from Nelson.

MY REVIEW

Sunrise on the Battery by Beth Webb Hart is an amazing look at the question of what would life look like if we really, really loved each other, and were eager to tell everyone we love how much we loved them and wanted them to know how great a life Christian Life is? Would it change the way we look at life, and what we do?

Sunrise on the Battery is written from numerous perspectives, which might make it confusing for the reader except for the fact that the names of the person from whose perspective each chapter is told is mentioned at the being of the chapter as a sort of chapter title. Mary Lynn, her husband Jackson and their oldest daughter Catherine (a teenager) tell their stories, with the lives of the two youngest daughters entwined. All use the third person point of view which is effective in bringing the story out.

A thought provoking novel, there were a few scenes I thought were rather radical, but soon realized that I was not the only one who thought so, and this made a bold statement. Family life both as a family striving after social achievements and as dedicated Christians was very realistically portrayed.

I really liked this book, and will be looking for more of Beth Hart books. Not a suspense, with twisty surprises, just a nice deep-thinking novel.

i received this ebook free from ThomasNelson Publishers through their booksneeze program for the purpose of reviewing. i am not required to give a positive opinion, just an honest one.

chance to win $500.00 of books for your favorite charity!

i was just over at The bookish Mama http://iam-bookish.blogspot.com and does she have a great opportunity with Chronicle Books ...all you have to do is leave a comment on my blog (as i understand it) for a chance to win. These are some of the books i would choose, and the charity i would choose.
So leave a comment here and then head over to Bookish Mama to find out more.


















http://www.chroniclebooks.com/landing-pages/happyhaulidays/images/HappyHaulidays11_webbadge1.jpg

Ride of a Lifetime- Kitty McGregor

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1449711685 | ISBN-13: 978-1449711689 | Publication Date: February 10, 2011

When Lucas McCade retired from the PRCA rodeo circuit, he was an internationally famous rodeo star. In a life of conquering hard bulls and harder men, he had rarely known defeat and never given into fear. Little could he have known that as he left the arena of wild-eyed bulls and slashing hooves, he was stepping into a life filled with real danger. Once he rode for gold-buckle dreams, now ride with Lucas McCade as he scouts the back trails over the rolling hills of Oklahoma and encounters the paths of the powers of darkness. In a culture where a man's word is still his bond and a handshake seals a deal, McCade leads his family in a walk with Christ that causes outrage in the spiritual realm. Once again, ancient battle lines are drawn between the powers of the Prince of Darkness and the Heavenly forces of Jesus Christ. It promises to be the ride of a lifetime!

My Review

I think it will be awhile before i find another book with the caliber of Ride of a Lifetime. From the prologue to The End the novel is rich in description and the reader is so immersed in the story that he can smell the smoke of the cigarette, hear the hiss of the match as it fell in the coffee, see the oranges of the sunset in the Texas sky, feel the stiff muscles, taste the nicotine and feel the despair of a cowboy whose life has swung out of control, and the anger of the teen at being uprooted from all he knows.

With much attention to detail, Kitty McGregor skillfully wields her pen to draw the reader into the life of Lucas McCade and the working ranch he is foreman at. This story is one of relationships between father and son, peers, cowboy and citified, forgiveness, right and wrong, but also the Light and Dark of life.

I found it almost impossible to leave, the tension was so ratchet-up, but also very difficult to read because it is so terribly realistic, and plausible, even to the ending. This is one novel that i will want in my collection, and give to the discerning, mature  reader. 

i received this ebook free from Thomas Nelson Publishers through their Booksneeze program for the purpose of writing a review. i was not required to give a positive review in exchange for the ebook.

Shadows on the Sand - Gayle Roper

Book Description

Series: Seaside Mysteries | Publication Date: July 19, 2011

She serves him breakfast at her café every morning … but he never seems to notice her.

Carrie Carter’s small café in Seaside, New Jersey, is populated with a motley crew of locals … although Carrie only has eyes for Greg Barnes. He’s recovering from a vicious crime that three years ago took the lives of his wife and children—and from the year he tried to drink his reality away. While her heart does a happy Snoopy dance at the sight of him, he never seems to notice her, to Carrie’s chagrin.

When Carrie’s dishwasher is killed and her young waitress disappears, Greg finds himself drawn into helping Carrie solve the mysteries … and into her life. But when Carrie’s own painful past becomes all to present, her carefully constructed world begins to sink.

Will the fragile relationship she’s built with Greg implode from the weight of the baggage they both carry?

MY REVIEW

Gayle Roper has a history of writing novels that in my opinion involve the reader from the first sentence of the book to The End.  And Shadows on the Sand is no exception.

Once again Gayle uses the first person point of view for the main character, Carrie in a remarkable way that made me feel i was in the picture, watching and flinching with her as her waitress used her hands to tell the story. The other characters stories are told in third person, except for the villain whose story is also told in first person point of view, but always in italics. This makes it easy for the reader to differentiate between characters. Gayle does a great job of dealing with all manner of issues in a profound way.

It seems Gayle is not afraid to tackle stories that might not be politically correct. In this novel, she deals directly with the issue of cults and how they differ from biblical truths. adultery, dysfunctional families, runaways and forgiveness, all in the perfectly 'real' setting of life.

All this, and the story of salvation clearly explained without sounding preachy and in-your-face.

She has a lot of characters, and at one point i was a little confused about who the one was, and what relationship he had to some others in the story. Very well told, and definitely enough suspense to keep you turning pages rapidly!

i am well able to recommend this novel to anyone who loves a good romantic suspense. Although it is part of the Seaside Mysteries, it is totally able to stand on its own.

Disclaimer - i recieved this ebook free from Waterbrook/Multnomah Publishers through their Blogging For Books program for review purposes only. i was not required to write a positive review, just an honest one. All opinions stated are my own.